    " THE SYNTHESIS " 9-11-2011: REMEMBERING 9-11-01, 10YRS. OF WAR IN THE NEW AGE OF AMERICA... 25-30 MILLION STILL OUT OF WORK; TECHNOLOGY, RACIAL POLITICS, AND CORRUPTION FROM THE HIGHEST OFFICE:https://docs.google.com/"It is a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute." --James Madison, letter to the Dey of Algiers, 1816    2011teaparty Tea Party Chief in reflecting on Japanese surrender today ending WWII, I can't help but think that the Taliban chose 9/11 to spite our efforts #worldpeace
 *Another date that lives in infamyThe infamous attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941.When President Roosevelt spoke to a joint session of Congress the next day, he called December 7 “a date which will live in infamy”.  September 11th Memorial wall in Second Life is etched with nearly 3,000 names of victims of the 2001 terrorist attack against the United StatesFast-forward 60 yearsOn September 11, 2001, a total of 19 men affiliated with an Islamic extremist group calling itself al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger airliners en route to California from Logan International Airport at Boston, Dulles International at Washington, and Newark airport at New York City.The planes were loaded with fuel as the hijackers circled back and intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the World Trade Center in New York City — one plane into each tower — resulting in the collapse of both buildings.The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Passengers and members of the flight crew on the fourth jetliner attempted to regain control of their plane, but the hijackers crashed the plane into a field near Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania.Second Life residents show their respect for those killed in the Islamic extremist attack by placing flowers, candles and other commemorative objects near names of their lost friends and loved ones.In addition to the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people — mostly civilians — died in the attacks:
The terrorists’ main weapons were Leatherman multi-function hand tools. Remembering the heroesThe suicide attacks created thousands of victims, but also many heroes, some unsung.Among the dead were 343 New York City firefighters, 23 New York City police officers, and 37 Port Authority police officers.Visitors are entranced by the collection of pictures of most of the 2,974 victims.The attacks were immediately overwhelming to the people of the United States who who found them abhorrent and their perpetrators beneath contempt.Muslim organizations in the United States condemned the attacks. The American public felt great gratitude toward uniformed public-safety first responders, especially firefighters who had taken great risks to save lives.The attacks horrified the world. France’s Le Monde newspaper headlined: Nous sommes tous Américains.Six years laterRemembering the heroes of 9/11 on the sixth anniversary of the attacks, Second Life residents marked the day in 2007 at a new September 11th Memorial.A Second Life resident is moved by the sea of names surrounding the name of her friend lost in the 9/11 tragedyThe names of the 2,974 people from 82 countries who were lost on 9/11 are inscribed into the memorial according to their location on that fateful morning.I had to see itThe monument, which is shaped as several large engraved walls reminiscent of the Vietnam War Memorial in RL Washington, D.C., is a place of beauty that inspires great reverence and recalled emotions.All of the available photos of the victims have been mounted on inside walls — thousands of little pictures forming a giant mosaic.It rains perpetually on the land as clouds gather overhead and thunder rolls across the sky.Heavy trafficThere was a steady stream of Second Life residents teleporting in while I was there.They obviously were awestruck by the reverential beauty as they chatted solemnly and respectfully, clearly moved by the display.Winfried Ferraris, left, and Sundra Petrov greet guests at the memorial. llvllagic Merlin also was on hand for the solemn occasion.The original concept for the memorial is attributed to llvllagic Merlin. Winfried Ferraris owns the land while Liam Kanno designed and built the emotional tribute. Kanno was best known previously as chair of the Obama for President campaign in SL. Sundra Petrov also worked on the project.It was a diverse team:
“Liam Kanno was our phenomenal builder,” Petrov explained. “He graciously donated his time to the project.”  Visitors dropped flowers beneath those names they sought“This is a permanent Memorial and the donations go to cover the land cost,” Petrov said. “Those [names on the wall] with stars had photos available to place on the wall.”“Sundra’s role was for the most part in PR and promotion,” Winfried Ferraris said.“Our hope is to offer the families, friends, loved ones and visitors from all over the world a place in SL to come and pay tribute to the victims,” the memorial developers say in a notecard brochure at the site. “A place to gather with those affected and share as a way of healing and honoring those who lost their lives.”The notecard is accompanied by a white rose given to all who visit and, as you might imagine, many of those roses end up at the base of the wall where a particular victim is commemorated.“You can leave it on any spot to your likings on the memorial,” the developers say. They have left build permission open to facilitate dropping of tributes in front of the wall.Entrance to the picture roomVisitors also leave comments about 9/11 at the memorial and those are posted on the memorial’s blog.As you might expect, there also is a box for donations to help defer the costs of operating the the memorial.“This memorial will continue to stand,” the developers say, “just as our hearts will always hold those listed on the walls dear.”“We have had about 1,000 people visit here just in the last 36 hours,” llvllagic Merlin reported.“We hope it brings comfort to those visiting,” Sundra Petrov said.“This is a place for people to comfort them in light of the events of September 11th, 2001,” Winfried Ferraris said.A moment of silence and then the people spoke  About The Project |
*
Dear Friend,  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is refusing to allow members of the clergy to play a role in the upcoming public memorial service – or to allow any references to faith and prayer. As you know, faith was the spiritual backbone that carried us through. In the days just after the attacks our public officials were happy to publicly seek God’s protection at a high-profile inter-faith service at Yankee Stadium. How soon they forget. Will you stand up for free speech and religious liberty and let Mayor Bloomberg hear from you today? Tell him that our faith was what carried us through that awful day. And let him know that you think faith should play a role in memorializing those who died. Click here and join our online campaign today. Then be sure to pass it on to others and ask them to speak out as well. Add your voice to that of other Christians and stand up for prayer. Sincerely, Roberta Combs, President and CEO Christian Coalition of America | ||
Posted: 6:38 a.m. Friday, Sept. 2, 2011
Atheist Group Sues over Cross at 9/11 Memorial
By Condace Pressley
A cross controversy at Ground Zero reaches all the way to Atlanta. An atheist group is suing to stop the display of a steel cross at the September 11 memorial.
American Atheists say they have nothing against the cross. Their problem is with the presence of a religious symbol at a government-supported display.
"This is an attempt to turn this into a Christian or sacred place where in fact it is a place that is very important for all Americans whether they happen to be Christians or members of other groups," said the group's Ed Buckner.
The cross, a pair of steel beams found in the rubble of the World Trade Center, were recently lowered into the national 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Buckner's group sued to block that.
Margaret Aymer, PhD of Atlanta's Interdenominational Theological Seminary argues the cross belongs at Ground Zero.
"It became a way for them to say in the middle of this struggle, there is more, there is a way forward. That is why that cross is there," she said. "It is a historical artifact."
"They're trying to make it into a historical artifact instead of a religious one," Buckner said. "But it was in front of a church for many, many years. It was treated as an object of worship."
Despite the dispute, construction continues and the lawsuit remains in the courts.
FBI on Heightened Alert for 9/11 Anniversary
Tuesday, 30 Aug 2011 07:57 PM
By Ronald Kessler
The FBI will be on heightened alert around Sept. 11 because of the possibility of attacks timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
“In the past, al-Qaida has not been fixated on anniversaries,” says an FBI official. “But from the material seized from Osama bin Laden’s compound, we see references to the 10th anniversary indicating it had significance to him.”
As a result, “Every office will be on heightened alert,” the official says.
No agents will be given leave during that period, meaning that all of the bureau’s nearly 14,000 agents will be on duty.
“We are going to treat that period as having significance,” the official adds. “But there is no information of a specific threat.”
However, evidence that terrorists remain intent on launching an attack in the United States came with the arrest of Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a 20-year-old college student from Saudi Arabia who allegedly was planning to blow up the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. He has been charged with attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.
And it is the possibility of a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction that really keeps FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III awake at night.
“The possibility of a nuclear attack is relatively remote, but you can never dismiss it, because of the devastation that would occur,” Mueller told me in a rare interview for my book “The Secrets of the FBI.”
“A radiological attack is not so remote, because it’s relatively easy to get radiological materials and have some sort of radiological improvised explosive device. Although the damage would be far less than from a nuclear detonation, the threat is still there today.”
In fact, Dr. Vahid Majidi, chief of the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, says the probability that the U.S. will be hit with a WMD attack at some point is 100 percent. Such an attack could be launched by foreign terrorists, lone wolves who are terrorists, or even by criminal elements, Majidi says. As Mueller suggests, it would most likely employ chemical, biological, or radiological weapons rather than a nuclear device.
Even a WMD attack that does not kill a great number of people would have a crushing psychological impact.
“A singular lone wolf individual can do things in the dark of the night with access to a laboratory with low quantities of material and could hurt a few people but create a devastating effect on the American psyche,” Majidi says.
To hunt down terrorists, the FBI devised what Art Cummings, who headed counterterrorism and counterintelligence until last year, calls trip wires that might tip off the bureau to terrorist activity. For example, the FBI urges chemical supply companies to develop profiles that pinpoint large or suspicious purchases of chemicals that can be used to make explosives.
To supplement the trip wire concept, Cummings initiated a $350,000 project to, in effect, reverse engineer a terrorist operation. It looked at a potential terrorist incident and then worked backwards to pinpoint all the elements a terrorist might require to achieve his goal so that the FBI could be on the lookout for those clues.
“We set these trip wires, and when people come across them, we have abilities to report that, wait a minute, someone is buying dual-use technology or the precursors to make nerve gas or industrial strength peroxide,” Cummings told me for the book. “Someone does that, boom! We have an alert, either a HUMINT [intelligence from a human] alert from an individual or a technical alert.”
To be a terrorist, “You need communications strategy, you need to be able to raise money, you need to be able to move money, you need an organizational structure that allows for that to happen, and you need communications that go back to the mother ship,” Cummings says.
So the FBI looks at people caught by Customs with cash in excess of $10,000, he says.
“I’m going to correlate this person who is leaving the country with money with his communications. If he is raising money for Hamas and is communicating with the occupied territories, that is of interest.”
Then, he says, “You get the personal transaction reports from the bank and find he is depositing or withdrawing funds just under the $10,000 reporting requirement. You find he is a guy who is Palestinian, goes to a mosque that is dominated by Hamas supporters and Palestinians, and is wiring money on a regular basis to the occupied territories. Right there, I’ve just built a picture of a Hamas fundraiser.”
In the same way, the FBI has asked beauty shops and beauty supply stores to contact an FBI office to report purchases of chemicals like hydrogen peroxide in high concentrations.
“They are asked, if they have any suspicion of any kind whatsoever about people buying large quantities of such chemicals in industrial strength, to make a phone call to the FBI,” Cummings says. “Our guidelines are such that we’re not going to violate anybody’s civil liberties simply because they bought a certain amount of hydrogen peroxide.”
As lone wolves become an increasing threat, trip wires have become especially important. Lone wolves have no ties to existing terrorist organizations or networks.
With lone wolves, “You don’t have financial networks that if you look really, really closely you see a thousand dollars going to an operator somewhere,” Cummings notes.
“We don’t see it, because there isn’t someone sending that lone wolf a thousand dollars. This is very difficult, so we rely heavily on trip wires and HUMINT. These are the eyes and ears on the street. And we rely heavily on the lone wolves’ breaking out of that complete and absolute isolation. Human nature being what it is, they do. We’ve caught several recently who were pretty isolated, but they still wanted to talk and share their ideology with people.”
Trip wires led to the arrest of Aldawsari and thwarted the possible attack on former President Bush’s home and other sites.
The FBI received a report from Carolina Biological Supply on February 1, 2011 that Aldawsari had tried to buy large quantities of concentrated phenol, which can be used to make a deadly explosive. The order was sent to a freight company, which called police in Lubbock, Texas, where Aldawsari lived, and the police also notified the FBI.
In two covert entries of his Lubbock apartment, FBI agents assigned to Tactical Operations teams found a hazmat suit, chemicals for making explosives, and bomb-making paraphernalia. In his journal, the team found this entry: “And now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad.”
The subject line of one email message Aldawsari allegedly sent to himself said “Tyrant’s House” and included Bush’s Dallas address. Other emails listed “nice targets,” including reservoir dams, nuclear power plants, and hydroelectric plants. In addition, he emailed himself ways to construct an explosive device and convert a cellular phone to detonate an explosive device. The suspect posted jihadist sentiments on an extremist blog he created and made it clear he had been inspired by Osama bin Laden.
Aldawsari was arrested on Feb. 23 and faces life behind bars.
Mueller adds: “The biggest threat comes from individuals who have had some association with the United States, understand the United States, can move either individually or with others relatively freely into the United States and within the United States.”
Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. He is a New York Times best-selling author of books on the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. His latest, "The Secrets of the FBI," has just been published. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via email. Go Here Now.
© Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Leaders of 9/11 Panel Call Action Plan Unfinished
Digital media has been touted as new and exciting platform for international development. The Internet, cell phones and other social technologies have been used to strengthen communities by making information readily available and by empowering the voiceless. Internet and communications technology is undoubtedly a tool that can be harnessed for positive social change, but as with every other technological advancement, ICT is a double-edged sword. As access to new media increases, there is growing concern among academics, activists and technology professionals that real-world issues of privacy, security, conflict and crime are moving into the digital sphere more quickly than they can be monitored or addressed.
The following pages address the legal challenges of an increasingly global Internet community, the ways in which some private citizens are responding to the issues of cyber security, the use of new media and technology to incite violence and hate, and citizen use of these technologies to report crime and prevent it in the future.
August 31, 2011
Father Slit Throats of Daughters After They Were Raped by Qaddafi's Troops Share
Libyans demonstrate against Muammar al-Qaddafi at Green Square as they wave by Libyan rebel flags in Tripoli, Libya, early Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011. (AP Photo)
By Liz Hazelton, Daily Mail
A father slit the throat of his three teenage daughters in an ‘honour killing’ after they were raped by Gaddafi loyalists during the siege of the port city of Misrata.
Allegations of the shocking executions are contained in a report by the respected Physicians for Human Rights group into war crimes and atrocities in the embattled city, which faced two months of being cut off from the rest of Libya.
The father is said to have carried out the ‘honour killings’ because of his humiliation and shame at the rape of the sisters – aged 15, 17 and 18 – in Tomina, on the outskirts of Misrata. The victims were not named.
READ THE FULL STORY AT DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
The top coalition commander in Afghanistan told USA TODAY on Wednesday that he has ordered a "surge" in efforts to get Taliban fighters to renounce violence and return to village life based on recent intelligence suggesting they feel abandoned by their leaders.
German Officials Alarmed by Ex-Rapper’s New Message: Jihad
Rep. Carson: Tea Party Wants To See African Americans ‘Hanging On A Tree’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?
August 31, 2011 Federal, Political News 4 Comments
Florida Political Press
Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), a leading member of the Congressional Black Caucus, becomes the latest member of Congress to use strong incendiary language to attack the tea party.
His comments were made last week, at the same time Maxine Waters was telling the tea party to “go straight to hell”, and further illustrates that an orchestrated campaign is underway. With the latest polls showing a major hemorrhaging taking place with Hispanic voters, it is critical that the Left keep black Americans firmly in line and if that means using racial warfare to make it happen, then so be it.
Americans of all colors should be seriously concerned at the tone of the rhetoric in use and the repeated calls for civil unrest we are now seeing.
“I’m saying right now, under (CBC) Chairman Emanuel Cleaver’s leadership, we have seen change in Congress … but the tea party is stopping that change,” Carson said at the event, according to the video. “And this is beyond symbolic change. This is the effort that we’re seeing, of Jim Crow.”
“Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens,” Carson continued. “Some of them in Congress right now with this tea party movement would love to see you and me — I’m sorry, Tamron — hanging on a tree.”
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In each of the three videos, uploaded June 6, 2011, the man identified as Shabazz graphically demonstrates self-defense tactics using a variety of weapons, including a handgun, a machete and a baseball bat:
Shabazz first takes the audience through the basics of holding a weapon. Wearing black militant clothing and a red bandana, he crouches down and aims his gun.
“Know and understand everything around you is a weapon,” he says.
In the first self-defense demonstration, Shabazz mimes reading a newspaper while his assistant charges him. Shabazz ducks and extends his fist, giving a straight punch to the would-be attacker’s groin and knocks him down. He demonstrates several other types of blows, including to the knee and leg, and how to pivot and slam an attacker to the ground.
In the next demonstration, the would-be attacker charges Shabazz, who stops him by extending his foot into the attacker’s groin area while simultaneously pulls a gun and points it in his face.
Shabazz next holds the assistant by the throat and demonstrates how to choke off an assailant’s air supply.
“You’re cutting that wind off completely. Backing him up and put two in him,” Shabazz says, putting the gun in the assistant’s abdomen.
He demonstrates a variation of the move again.
“While you have him you may put two bullets in his legs,” he says. “I‘m going to make sure you don’t get up.” The assistant falls.
“Now, it’s your choice, you may finish off your load or you may go about your business,” Shabazz says.
Shabazz next demonstrates what to do when you’re the one placed in a choke hold.
“The first thing we don’t do?” Shabazz quizzes.
“Stay,” the audience, including the children, answer.
“Right,” he says, then steps back to his attacker’s side and demonstrates the open shot to either of his kneecaps.
“Be careful it isn’t your leg!” Shabazz cautions. “What I would do, in most cases, go right to the groin….You always want to make sure you are not in the way of your own line of fire.”
Shabazz then goes through the proper way of loading a gun, cautioning the audience never to play with a loaded weapon, while he himself waves one around, demonstrating what not to do.
“I am trained to deal with a loaded weapon,” he says.
The next set of scenarios deal with how to use a machete to defend against a baseball bat-wielding attacker. Shabazz and his assistant mime a bat and machete fight, and Shabazz locks his assistant in position.
“Now, I can either go for his fingers and cut his fingers straight off or I can go straight for his wrist,” he says.
Following through with the knife’s momentum in slow motion, Shabazz demonstrates how he can cut right through his attacker, then holds his head from behind, exposing his neck, and mimes decapitating him.
“And I can hold his head up high just like that,” he says triumphantly.
“Black power,” an audience member says.
At one point, a weapon is heard clattering to the floor and a small child appears to retrieve it and put it back on the stage.
After the second machete demonstration, an audience member comments, “Damn, you gotta do all that?”
“Overkill,” laughs another.
It’s also worth noting that in a separate video posted in May (where it’s unknown if kids were present), one month before the survival training, Shabazz addressed a group with a speech called “Exhuming of a Nation.” Among other statements, he declared, “F*** whitey‘s Mother’s Day.”
“I see black folks in here. I see no crackers in here today,” Shabazz said. “How do you feel?”
“Black power!” the audience answered.
“You love being black?”
“Yes!”
“Do you love being black?”
“Yes!”
“Will you die being black?”
“Yes!”
“Will you kill to be black?”
“Yes! Black power!”
“Are you ready for black?”
“Black power!”
The Blaze previously reported on Shabazz last September when he was shown in a video accusing “Fox Jews” of using “little black babies” as “alligator bait.” He has spoken about his hatred of white people and called on blacks to “kill crackers” and their babies.
Shabazz was also reportedly one of the New Black Panther Party members who allegedly engaged in voter intimidation in Philadelphia on Election Day 2008. The Justice Department dropped the investigation into the incident and no charges were ever filed.
The former civil rights activist is set to speak tonight in support of the Son’s of Confederate Veterans in Lexington, Virginia. He has agreed to speak because he wants to ensure Confederate flags will be allowed to fly on Lexington city poles.
Lexington outlawed the display of anything other than state or federal flags on city poles after outrage this past January when Confederate Flags were raised to celebrate Lee Jackson day.
Despite the fact that he is the former Asheville, North Carolina NAACP president, Edgerton argues that the flag is not a symbol of hatred, but rather represents the South and Christianity. Other, negative uses of the flag are the result of it being “hijacked,” according to Edgerton.
Today is certainly not Edgerton’s first foray into Confederate flag advocacy. A few years ago he marched in South Carolina in support of flying the flag at the state capital, Columbia.
He has been associated with a number of activist groups, including “Southern Heritage 411,” which has brought him scrutiny from the Southern Poverty Law Center in the past.
In defense of his past activism supporting the Confederate flag and his planned appearances today in Lexington, Edgerton said to WSLS-10 News:
You Want Americans Judged By American Law? You Racist!
With leftist judges and politicians increasingly inserting the influence of foreign laws into American life, a few Michigan legislators introduced "American Laws for American Courts." It's a simple and eminently just concept, one which shouldn't even be necessary; namely, insuring that Americans need only obey laws that originate from the democratic process and which pass Constitutional muster. The United States Constitution, that is.
Is such a law necessary? Well, in a word, yes. Just ask the Gibson Guitar Company. (1, 2) They were raided last week by the Obama administration's Department of Justice -- not for supposed infractions of American law, but Indian law! Gibson thought they were protected because they are an American company on American soil conducting themselves correctly according to American laws. But this wasn't enough. The U.S. government decided to call out the dogs in order to enforce the laws of India -- in Memphis and Nashville!
Liberals who want to reshape society have been frustrated by those two aforementioned obstacles: voters and the Constitution. And their strategy of the last few decades has concentrated on what Bible scholars call eisogesis, a reading into the text of things that aren't really there. Indeed, liberals have stretched the Constitution (and case precedents) all out of whack, absurdly discovering principles which would have horrified the founding fathers. Like the right to an abortion, homosexual marriage or the removal of Christianity from the public square.
But finding emanations from the penumbra of hidden crystals in the Constitution isn't enough for progressives nowadays. And so they are adding new strategies. They are, like Barack Obama has done with energy exploration, illegal immigration and the Defense of Marriage Act, simply ignoring existing law.
But added to that, the left is trying to make Americans subject to treaties and laws of foreign origin, making Americans kowtow to policies decreed by the United Nations, the laws of other nations, and Islamic clerics who insist that Sharia law be given higher claim than laws made by mere men.
I ask again, is such a law as "American Laws for American Courts" necessary? Well, legislators throughout America think so. Legislation similar to that of Michigan's has been introduced in 25 states. Balanced. Simple. Rational. Legislation seeking to protect the way of life that Americans have fought and died for, a way of life marked by democracy, freedom and national sovereignty.
And yet what is the charge being thrown at those who would stand behind such legislation? You guessed it. Racists!
Here's the sad story from the Detroit News:
Opposition is mounting among Muslims against pending legislation that would ban Michigan courts from considering "foreign laws" — including Sharia, or Islamic law. Muslim and community leaders gathered Tuesday in Midtown to denounce legislation from state Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, as divisive, unnecessary and mean-spirited.
"This plan goes against our country's core values of accepting people from all races and walks of life," said state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who is Muslim. "We simply cannot move forward with this plan. It's racism at its core."
Another sponsor of the Michigan bill, Rep. Martin Knollenberg, R-Troy, said the legislation is necessary because "we shouldn't allow other laws to usurp the state constitution." He scoffed at critics who called the bill racist: "Where does it say (in the bill) it's anti-Muslim?" Agema last week called the accusations of bigotry "hogwash."
A House committee has yet to take up discussion of the bill. The Council of American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter announced Tuesday it would sue if it becomes law. Gov. Rick Snyder's office hasn't done an analysis of the measure, said his spokeswoman, Geralyn Lasher. "We don't know if this is an issue taking place or whether there is a need" for a law, she said.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee also encouraged members Tuesday to contact their state representatives and urge them to oppose the bill.
Posted by Denny Hartford at 9:33 AM
Topics: Culture Wars, Freedom Issues, Hall of Shame, International Politics, Nanny State, National Politics, The Courts, The Persecuted Church
GOVERNMENT TEXAS COUNTY COURTHOUSE BECOMES FIRST IN STATE TO ADD ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’
There is a curious fact about this story, though: apparently the Smith County Court House is the first county courthouse in the history of the state of Texas to have the motto that appears on all American money, printed or minted, put on its walls. The effort was assisted by “In God We trust America,” a group calling for elected officials in cities, towns and counties all across the country to post America’s officially adopted national motto on the walls of their buildings.
In the case of Smith County, the addition of “In God We Trust” was voted on and approved by city commissioners last month and Tuesday was the first day that the motto appeared on the walls of the courtroom.
KLTV in Lindale, TX covered the story and spoke with Judge Joel Baker about the installation:
As Judge Baker speculated above, there may be challenges to the motto coming down the pike. We will follow the story and update as needed.
(H/T - Garth Maier at KTBB in Tyler, TX)
China, India workers most likely to call in "sick" - survey
Messi Mania
HELLO MA'AM I'M SORRY, BUT I CAN NOT UNDERSTAND YOU. I ONLY SPEAK GIBBERISH, NOT AMERICAN ENGLISH. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO MY SUPERVISOR, I CAN NOT GIVE YOU THAT IDENTIFICATION. THANK YOU FOR CALLING NETSPEND.
NEW YORK | Thu Sep 1, 2011 2:42pm IST
(Reuters) - Chinese and Indian workers are more likely to skip off work under the false pretence of illness than their French and Mexican counterparts, a new study showed.
The Kronos Global Absence survey conducted online in July and released this week found that respondents from countries where there is more paid leave for employees were much less likely to cry off work with an invented illness than those from countries with fewer holiday allowances.
The Harris Interactive poll commissioned by The Workforce Institute asked some 9,500 respondents, about two-thirds of whom were currently employed either full- or part-time, whether they had ever called in sick when they were not actually sick.
Nearly three-quarters, or 71 percent, of respondents in China said they had, followed by India with 62 percent.
But only 16 percent of workers in France said they had done so. In Mexico, 38 percent had.
In between were workers in the United States and Canada, where just over half had. Australia was higher at 58 percent, and Britain lower with 43 percent.
Joyce Maroney, the director of the Workforce Institute, a think tank established by the workforce management solution company Kronos Inc., called the results fascinating.
Maroney noted that France has been among the world's leading countries in state-mandated annual leave, with annual holiday allowance minimums coming in at 30 days per year.
"Contrast this with India and China, two of the three countries with the lowest holiday allowance minimums, with India only requiring their employees to take 12 days of annual holiday allowance, and China requiring 10," Maroney said.
"One could surmise that in those countries where more paid time off is given, people are less compelled to call in sick when they are not actually sick."
Far more consistent were the reasons given for staging a personal sick day, with feeling stressed and needing a day off the top response by an overwhelming margin. Sick children and insufficient sick leave were also cited by many.
And just what do workers do with this coveted time off? In most of the eight regions surveyed, the top responses were staying home and watching television, and staying in bed.
In India and Mexico, however, folks seemingly prefer socializing to sleep. While watching the tube was a top choice, meeting up with friends or relatives trumped more time in bed.
Workers were also asked what employers could do to cut down on such absenteeism, and unfailingly suggested flexible hours as the solution.
Perhaps not surprisingly, nearly half of respondents in China also said more paid time off would help.
French respondents preferred summer Fridays off and were willing to make up the time during the week.
(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Paul Casciato)
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The nightmare appeared in last week’s issue of The New Yorker, in Jeffrey Toobin’s lengthy article on Supreme Court jurisprudence, titled “Partners” and subtitled “Will Clarence and Virginia Thomas succeed in killing Obama’s health-care plan?”
It’s possible to read Toobin’s article as a partisan hit job, echoing the demands of 74 Democratic House members that Justice Thomas recuse himself from sitting on a case challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare because of his wife’s involvement in the Tea Party movement.
Never mind that this is a standard neither Toobin nor the Democrats apply to other public officials with spouses active in public affairs — and that they’re not asking Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself because of her work in the Justice Department on the issue.
Congress has never before passed and the Supreme Court has never upheld a law requiring individuals to buy a commercial product, as Obamacare does. On this the Obama Democrats, not Clarence Thomas and judges following his lead, are the ones sweeping aside precedent.
AMERICA'S DEBT CRISIS
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White House: Slower jobs recovery ahead
By Jeanne Sahadi @CNNMoney September 1, 2011: 3:17 PM ET
White House budget chief Jacob Lew said lower forecasts show need to "reinvest in economic growth and job creation."
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Like most economists, the White House's budget experts have grown less optimistic about economic growth and jobs, having been sobered by recent developments such as the debt crisis in Europe and continued troubles in housing.
The White House budget office forecast Thursday that the unemployment rate won't fall below 6% until 2017 -- two years later than it predicted in February, when President Obama delivered his 2012 budget proposal to Congress.
The Office of Management and Budget also lowered its estimates for annual GDP growth by roughly a percentage point for this year, next year and 2013. Its forecasts for 2015 and 2016 are somewhat higher than they were.
OMB said in its "mid-session review" that it now expects the economy to grow at a 1.7% rate this year, down from its 2.7% forecast in February.
Growth is expected to be 2.6% next year and 3.5% in 2013.
Despite the downward revisions, "we are not forecasting a double-dip recession," said Katharine Abraham, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
In terms of unemployment, OMB said that it still expects the jobless rate -- currently 9.1% -- to gradually come down.
But the pace of decline is now expected to be more gradual. For 2011, it forecast the rate will stay at 9.1%.
The Office of Management and Budget's mid-session review comes a week before President Obama is scheduled to deliver a series of proposals to boost employment and reduce deficits to a joint session of Congress.
"The review largely underscores the need to get back on a sustainable fiscal path and reinvest in economic growth and job creation," said White House Budget Director Jacob Lew.
The White House also lowered its 10-year Treasury interest rate expectations in the wake of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's pledge to keep rates low until mid 2013.
The budget office also said it still expects inflation to be moderate, coming in around 2% for much of the next decade.
In terms of deficits, the administration now expects the deficit for this year to be $1.32 trillion, 20% below what it had forecast in February. A key reason for the improvement: more tax receipts and less spending than expected.
Deficits over the next decade are also expected to be better than they were forecast to be at the start of the year. That's thanks in large part to the passage of the Budget Control Act, which has the potential to reduce the 10-year deficit by at least $2.1 trillion.
While slower near-term growth will have an impact on people's lives, the effect on the budget outlook over 10 years isn't that substantial, the OMB said. That's because any resulting increase in deficits is largely offset by a narrowed gap between taxes and spending.
First Published: September 1, 2011: 1:51 PM ET
Thursday, September 1st at 10:24PM EDT
18 Comments
Ever notice how adept the Democrats are at the use of euphemisms to try to hide their agenda? We’ve seen it a number of times recently: “revenue enhancements” instead of “tax increases” during the debt limit debate, or “balanced approach“, which again hid the Obama agenda of jacking up taxes. How about the efforts of Debbie Wasserman-Schulz (“competitive option”) and Nancy Pelosi (“consumer option”) to hide the real Democrat agenda of governmental intrusion in private health insurance (the semi-euphemistic “public option”). Even the Harry Reid Democrats’ use of “compromise” is a veiled attempt at hiding their agenda of “my way or the highway“.
The euphemism du jour has been established today by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Apparently FEMA has discovered that Americans really do think “government” has become a bad word. In an attempt to produce a kinder, gentler “government”, FEMA and Boss Barack have decided that they are part of a big, happy “federal family. Now I come from a pretty big extended family (my mom had > 12 brothers and sisters, which means I have a LOT of aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.)…but I’m not all that fond of a big “federal family”.
As the Palm Beach Post points out, this isn’t the first time the term has been used. It appears to have originally surfaced during the Clinton administration, courtesy of our old friend, Al Gore.
What has angered Americans about “the federal family” isn’t that it’s “government – the problem is the insatiable appetite for our tax money by “the Family”.
The problem here is that the Left doesn’t want us to understand their agenda, so they hide behind pretty words. They’re Euphocrats.
Left Wing Media Campaign Coverage Magnetic Playbook
Posted by TobyToons (Profile)
Thursday, September 1st at 7:00AM EDT
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Calling all [non biased, of course] Left Wing Media personnel! There is a front runner in the Republican bid for 2012. Get out your liberal playbooks! If you’ve misplaced your playbook, there is now an easier way to come up with your headlines… Introducing the 2012 Magnetic Democrat Playbook. Now you can create your headlines with the greatest of ease.
Need to tell everyone how DUMB the latest Republican frontrunner is…(yawn)… no problem, just rearrange the magnets!
Need to tell everyone how RACIST the latest Republican frontrunner is… (yawn)… no problem, just rearrange the magnets!
Cross-Posted: TobyToons.com (Conservative Political Cartoons)
The latest dismal employment report has thrown a monkey wrench in the White House spin machine ahead of President Obama's big jobs plan next week.
No net jobs were created in August, and the administration has acknowledged that the nation's unemployment rate — which stayed flat at 9.1 percent in Friday's Labor Department report — isn't likely to budge much before next year's presidential election.
It's a sign that the spin machine has wound down and that cold, hard, reality is all that's left, says William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton.
"How do you spin 9 percent unemployment? You don't," Galston says.
"The administration is going to have to frame the 2012 elections as a choice, not a referendum," he says. "If it's a referendum on what's happened, they can't win; if it's a choice between us and something worse, they still have a chance."
Republicans stayed fully on message Friday, placing blame squarely on the administration. In a statement issued just minutes after the Labor Department report, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus calls the August jobs numbers a further sign that Obama's economic policies haven't worked and "a painful reminder that America still awaits economic leadership."
The White House Office of Management and Budget, in its mid-session review released Thursday, also has projected that U.S. unemployment will average no better than 8.3 percent next year.
In other words, it's already too late to see any miraculous turnaround in the jobs picture before the election.
Obama's best hope is that there will be a few glimmers of improvement before voters cast judgment on his term in office, says Stephen Bronars, senior economist at Welch Consulting.
"The economy just doesn't turn around that quickly," he says. "But if there were signs that things were really starting to rebound, it could still be good" for Obama.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, says people want a president to be optimistic even in the face of grim statistics. But the current economic and the political climate in the wake of Congress' bruising budget battle may limit what Obama can realistically put in any jobs plan.
"Promising nirvana at this point is just not credible," Sabato says.
Steve Elmendorf, a political consultant and former aide to House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt in the 1990s, agrees.
"[Obama] has to propose ideas that are realistic, that Republicans are willing to go for," Elmendorf says.
"If the numbers are not going to improve to an acceptable level before the election," he says, "you have to ask people if they are going to be better off with his ideas for creating jobs or the other guy's."
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney offered a preview of sortsof his own "bold, sweeping and specific" jobs plan Friday, but it's hard to envision how sweeping his plan could be given that he faces many of the same realities as Obama.
Tags: Unemployment, President Obama
JOBS PLAN: Dems Urge Obama To 'Go Big' Sept. 2, 2011
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: Job Growth Halts Sept. 2, 2011
PLANET MONEY: From Unemployed To Unemployable Sept. 2, 2011
The Arrogant Left Hates Rural, Conservative America.
Posted by Repair_Man_Jack (Profile)
Wednesday, August 31st at 11:00AM EDT
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Let me break this down for Representative Keough. I’ll be blunt here, but without any disrespect intended. Jeremy M. Hill, a US Citizen, from Northern Idaho, shot and killed a female grizzly bear which had entered his backyard while two of his children were playing. This forced the US Government to choose whether it valued the grizzly bear more or two children of a US citizen, who happened to live in a Conservative, rural county.
So the OR geek runs the numbers, and determines there’s about a p=0.75 that Mr. Hill voted against Barack Obama. At that point the current USG believes $50,000 and 1 year of prison for shooting an endangered species is condign punishment for not being liberal. It doesn’t even begin to address the loss of the precious grizzly bear. Mr. Hill is therefore having the book thrown at him. The grizzly, as far as Liberal Democrats are concerned, wassupposed to eat Mr. Hill’s kids. Predators do keep the balance.
At this point you have to be wondering. Who sprinkled the PCP in Repair_Man_Jack’s Cheerios? The government doesn’t actually hate people like Mr. Hill. Mr. Hill can hold a job. He produces revenue. They may not respect him, but they can fill a whole bunch of EBT Cards by milking the poor, foolish herd of tax-paying bovines.
But no; you would be wrong. Let me explain to you what the Left under Barack Obama thinks of rural, Conservatives as human beings. We give you the rational and open-minded Congressman Andre Carson. He offers us a bright and shining example of the typical American Liberal.
But that’s just one idiot, Repair_Man, you can’t judge all liberals by the words of Congressman Carson. He is uniquely qualified to represent citizens from the Lower Quartile in intellect and achievement in Congress. He, like no other member of Congress since Senator Earnest Hollings retired, can empathize with what it is like to be stupid on a daily basis.
Yes, that is just one idiot. However, I don’t have to go any further than my daily list of blog-reads to get you several more. Instapundit links me to the latest smear being waged against GOP Candidate Michele Bachmann.
Bachmann attended a Christian Musical festival in Iowa on a rainy day in August. During the festival, Bachmann gave a speech. She made a fairly lame and inoffensive attempt at humor. “Who likes wet people?” She inquired of the crowd. The left-wing smear machine then launched into overdrive.
An edited video immediately surfaced that made it appear that Congresswoman Bachmann asked “Who likes white people?” This travesty was quickly set straight when an unedited video from the festival came into the public domain. Yet, even as the truth put on its boots, Michelle Castillo of the always fake, but accurate NBC News wasted no time in spreading the dishonesty.
Stacy McCain describes the utter chicanery below.
Help me out here. I can’t seem to find where The White People Soul Power Band ever performed. Does anyone have a manifest for the Crazed White Racist Stage? Oh, that’s right, apparently there wasn’t one. I’m sure glad that these baseless and malicious accusations weren’t leveled against anyone nice and sensitive like Maxine Waters.
And that “Go to Hell” sentiment voiced by Congresswoman Waters is not just a liberal taking point. It’s not just posturing. Just recently, the United States Government had a choice to make. A man in Northern Idaho saw two of his children being menaced by a grizzly bear in his own backyard. He grabbed a gun and shot the bear. I have no knowledge whether Mr. Jeremy Hill has attended a Tea Party rally or convention. One thing I can say for sure is that the liberals who currently run Washington, DC are doing everything in their power to make sure this man’s life turns into a living hell.
Most Conservative State Representative in Texas Endorses Rick Perry & Explains Trans-Texas Corridor
State Representative Wayne Christian has endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry for President in the 2012 Presidential Election.
Representative Christian is the most Conservative State Representative in Texas, based on the 2011 Conservative Legislator Rankings released by the Texas Eagle Forum. Wayne Christian received a score of 100%.
The following is a letter I received from Representative Christian Yesterday. In the letter, Representative Christian endorses Perry, explains the Trans-Texas Corridor that Perry took some heat over, and praises Perry as the best overall Conservative who can beat Obama and who has the character and leadership to stand for conservative values and help the economy (like he did in Texas).
Other high profile Conservatives from across the nation have also endorsed Rick Perry for President, which has helped boost Rick Perry's popularity among conservatives. Just a couple of days ago Conservative Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe endorsed Governor Rick Per.... I am certainly no high profile conservative, but I also support Governor Perry for President, and I am a staunch social and fiscal conservative. I really believe in Rick Perry.
Also, just for fun, you can read Kinky Friedman’s endorsement of Rick Perry for President.
From Texas State Representative Wayne Christian:
I believe Governor Rick Perry would be dynamite (which means "great" in Texas) as President of the United States. Having served approaching two decades in the Texas House, I have worked with Rick Perry during his service as Agriculture Commissioner, Lt. Governor and Governor of the State of Texas, and have come to appreciate his style of leadership, responsiveness to constituents, and character.
He has consistently presented an open door to this representative from rural East Texas. More than once, he has been willing to listen to my ideas, and then as a result of his endorsement and personal involvement, rules were changed, laws were instituted and funding was made available that benefited my constituents and all of Texas. Many times he opposed more powerful individuals and groups who could provide him much more financial support and power than could the "common folk." These common folk were the good people of Texas who depended only on his integrity to simply do the right thing.
Governor Perry is in no way perfect. He has made errors. As we say in Texas, the only person who was perfect was crucified a couple of thousand years ago. With that being said, after a quarter century in politics, Rick Perry's record shines better than most. Of course he was once a Democrat and Republicans may criticize him for that. However, the Governor is not the only Texan, who after entering into public service, experienced the Democratic Party's dramatic shift away from principles consistent with rural, conservative values, and chose to do something about it--He became a Republican.
I was the first Republican from East Texas to enter the Texas House and remained the Republican with the most Democratic district in the Texas Legislature for three sessions. Many times folks in Republican circles are quite taken aback when I do not raise my hand when asked, "Who has always voted in a Republican primary?" Fact is, as recently as a couple of decades ago, we had no Republican primary in my part of rural Texas. Thus, Governor Perry, who entered state politics farther back than me, was courageous enough to take a stand early on and join other statesmen like Ronald Reagan and Phil Gramm in acknowledging that the Democratic Party had left their conservative beliefs behind.
Much has been criticized of Governor Perry's initial support for the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). As President of the Conservative Coalition of the Texas Legislature, I was deeply involved in that entire process. My rural district was directly in the path of the TTC and the project was largely viewed by my constituents as an abuse of the governmental power of eminent domain.
Truth is, the TTC started as a expansion on the I-35 corridor. The plan was added to legislation by the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) as a new "branch" of highway that ran from south Texas to the north right through my district. TXDOT presented facts that upon the completion of the Panama Canal expansion many of the trading freighters, which currently only serve the West Coast, would be able to bring their cargo to Texas ports. It was anticipated that this would place a tremendous burden on the current highway system as it heads north. However, the flawed TXDOT presentation of the plan and threats to private land ownership were not handled well. Citizens throughout Texas were insulted by the methods of potential property seizure, foreign control of Texas properties and other abuses. It was wrong, and when presented with the will of Texas citizens, Governor Perry put a stop to it.
While driving my daughter back to begin a new semester at Baylor University, I received a call from the Governor's office requesting that I invite a group of my fellow Texas Conservative Coalition legislators to his office to meet with him and TXDOT leadership. The following week several of us met with Governor Perry and the TXDOT Commissioner and Executive Director to share the frustration and opposition of our constituents across the state to the TTC. After a lengthy meeting, Governor Perry did something that has made me respect him as I have no other leader which I have observed or served alongside. He sat back in his chair, gave our arguments thought and said, "Tell your constituents you talked to the Governor, and the Trans-Texas Corridor is no more." To this day, the handful of legislators in attendance at that meeting have respected Rick Perry--a man who was confident, honest, and exhibited absolute integrity to his citizens. He often does not receive the proper recognition and credit he deserves for his decisive response to the will of Texas citizens against the TTC. When presented with their objections and opposition, he brought a halt to the ill-conceived TTC. This is in stark contrast to our current President who sees the destructive results of his policies and has no intention of admitting fault or changing course, but instead blames everyone else for his errors in judgment.
From his action to end the TTC to his signature on legislation to protect the rights of coastal property owners struggling to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of a hurricane, Rick Perry has responded to Texan landowners' concerns about private property rights. I was one of those 125 landowners who faced a loss of property to be determined by a governmental agency's assessment of where grass grew before and after a hurricane. I applauded Governor Perry as he stood with the Texas House and Senate (and eventually the Texas Supreme Court) against some very vocal opposition to sign into law Rep. Hamilton's bill preventing a potential land grab by the state. In this past session, Governor Perry declared eminent domain reform legislation an emergency item and saw it all the way through the legislative process until he signed it into law, strengthening the rights and protections of private property owners across Texas.
If ever there was a day we needed a leader in this country who does not place his pride and ego ahead of what is proven to be the will of the people and in their best interest...this is the day. A real leader who puts what is best for his citizens ahead of personal pride and opinions is what America needs.
Governor Perry stood against the temptation to use two of the worst hurricanes in Texas history to increase taxes and unnecessarily increase the burden on Texas families and businesses. He led by proposing to utilize the Obama stimulus funding for one time expenditures only (ie. to address hurricane damages), and avoid the creation or expansion of programs that future Texans would have to fund. Handing out the bacon would have been the response of many politicians who were given the opportunity to appropriate billions of federal dollars, but Rick Perry did not choose that course, and even refused federal money that had strings attached for future state spending obligations. He proved to be a leader who thought first of the impact to taxpayers in the future above the opportunity to start more government programs.
The single accomplishment that earns more of my respect for Rick Perry than any other is that he has vetoed more bills than any other Texas governor (and not because of how long he has served). As a legislator, I realize how hard and expensive it is to get a bill passed. From one committee to another to the House floor to Senate committees, to Senate floor and back to the House again--passage of any piece of legislation is a long, costly road with a great investment of money, time, expertise, and reputation. Governor Perry has vetoed a particular bill of mine that I still believe was extremely important, and to this day, I respectfully disagree with him. Yet, his individual courage and strength to stand alone on principle against the majority of the Legislature and powerful, rich special interest groups who can turn political contributions on and off proves the character of this man and that is why I want him in the White House.
I can give example after example of times when Governor Rick Perry stood on the side of "the little guy" over government expansion. There are many paths to more financial support and more power that are achieved with much less effort than standing with the common man over the rich and powerful. As Representative of a poor, rural district I can tell you Governor Perry has stood for us and what was best for Texans many times.
As I mentioned at the start of my comments, Perry isn't perfect, but unlike many politicians, he is brave enough to stand firm when he believes he is right, and courageous enough to admit when he is wrong. There can be no doubt that Texas under Governor Perry's leadership has done something right over the past decade, as we are undoubtedly the leader in jobs and business opportunities in the Free World. Texas has seen an increase of 1 million new jobs during Rick Perry's tenure as governor, while the rest of the nation has seen a loss of 2.5 million jobs, and over 70% of our job creation is in the vibrant and growing private sector of Texas. That stewardship is sorely needed in D.C.
The quote from President Harry Truman, "the buck stops here," is true of any great leader. Governor Perry has proven that when the buck stops at whatever desk he is sitting, there's a heap more good than bad. Our nation would be well-served to have a leader like Rick Perry as our President, a man who has proven his ability to successfully foster a job-creating economy while reining in government growth, as well as someone who has learned from past errors and demonstrated the genuine desire to be responsive to the people he represents.
Thank you for your time,
Wayne
Views: 4
Tags: 2012, Christian, Election, Gov., Perry,Rep., Rick, Wayne
ITALY-MAFIA Sep-1-2011 (380 words) xxxi
Shots fired at car of Mafia-fighting priest in Italy
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A southern Italian priest who is outspoken against the Mafia said gunshots fired at his car were likely meant to show him and the public that members of organized crime are still in charge of the area.
"I think it was just a serious warning," Father Giuseppe Campisano, the pastor of St. Rocco Parish in Gioiosa Ionica, told Vatican Radio Aug. 31.
The shots were fired late Aug. 29, "not in the middle of the night, but at a time when there were still a lot of people around, so I think they wanted to be heard."
News reports said three or four shots were fired at the car, which was parked outside the rectory. Father Campisano was not in the car at the time.
For years, the priest has received threatening phone calls and letters mailed with bullets in the envelope because of his commitment to fighting the 'Ndrangheta, the organized crime ring of Italy's Calabria region.
Father Campisano told Vatican Radio he thinks the shots were "tied to the feast of St. Rocco, most likely because of the position both I and the bishop took in trying straighten out the celebration a bit and give it a religious sense because it's always been marked by the most absolute paganism." This year the feast was celebrated with events Aug. 16-28.
The celebration, he said, is "linked to a form of power and control precisely because of the river of money" it brings in with an enormous fair and dozens of stalls selling all sorts of food and trinkets. Members of the 'Ndrangheta "systematically go to all the stalls for extortion," the priest said.
During the city's celebration of the feast this year, he said, the church sponsored four evenings of presentations and reflections on the importance of the rule of law.
He said the town is made up of a large "gray zone," where people put up with organized crime and the criminal mentality, and a small "black zone," where the real criminals live and operate openly.
Some parishioners, he said, "are beginning to understand the Gospel message and, sharing it, they are close to me and work with me. I count on a 'small remnant,' to use biblical language."
END
Main Content
POLITICAL COLUMN
August 29, 2011 3:38pm847 Comments
One in four Democrats wants to dump Obama
byByron York Chief Political Correspondent
Follow on Twitter:@byronyork
In response to the question, "Do you think the Democratic party should renominate Barack Obama as the party's candidate for president in 2012, or do you think the Democratic party should nominate a different candidate for president in 2012?" -- 72 percent said they wanted to see Obama renominated. But 27 percent, slightly more than one in every four, said they wanted to see Democrats nominate a different candidate. One percent had no opinion.
The poll was taken August 24-25. In a survey taken in early August, 28 percent of Democrats said they wanted a different candidate. Polls taken in July and before showed Obama in a stronger position, with no more than 22 percent saying they preferred a different candidate. The current poll is based on interviews with 463 Democrats and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
The new poll is another indication of Democratic unhappiness with the president, but it does not mean Obama will face a challenge in his party's primaries. Despite the complaints of a few liberals like Sen. Bernard Sanders, the odds of a Democrat opposing the president appear to be something less than zero. But the new poll is still a matter of concern to Democrats, because it is yet another indication that there is significant disillusionment with the president within his own party. Whether those disaffected Democrats will come around to supporting Obama next year is an open question -- and perhaps the most worrying of the president's re-election bid.
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Leaders of 9/11 Panel Call Action Plan Unfinished
By SIOBHAN GORMAN
In the decade since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. has failed to make sufficient progress on nine counterterrorism actions, ranging from border screening to terrorist-detention standards, according to the former leaders of the commission that investigated the hijackings.
Areas of success include reducing impediments to intelligence-sharing and airline-passenger screening, according to former 9/11 Commission co-chairmen Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, who issued a report Wednesday on the commission's recommendations.
"We're better off than we used to be," Mr. Kean said in an interview Tuesday. "But there are glaring gaps."
Journal Community
Nine of the 41 recommendations haven't been fully implemented, the report says. They require urgent attention "because the threat from al Qaeda, related terrorist groups, and individual adherents to violent Islamist extremism persists."
Tenth Anniversary Report Card
Read the report released by the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Security Preparedness Group, led by Messrs. Kean and Hamilton, the former leaders of the commission that investigated the hijackings.
Among the greatest continuing threats to the U.S., they say, is a pattern of increasing terrorist recruitment of U.S. citizens and residents. They also warn of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure such as electrical, financial and communications systems, saying that defending against such attacks "must be an urgent priority."
The unfulfilled recommendations include the failure to establish an entry-and-exit system using biometric technology. While the Department of Homeland Security has built an entry system that checks fingerprints and other data against terrorist databases, it doesn't check people as they exit the country.
Another unresolved issue is establishing a standardized secure form of identification, the report says. The creation of a civil-liberties board to ensure that government actions are monitored for their privacy has also stalled out, the report says.
The report highlights insufficient progress on several other items: Policies on terrorist detention are still fuzzy, and there is a limited ability to provide unified command among responders in an emergency.
Rep. King promises to reshape security after critical 9/11 report
By Jordy Yager - 09/01/11 11:44 AM ETThe chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday pledged to work with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to reorganize the lower chamber’s committees that oversee homeland security issues.
Rep. Peter King’s (R-N.Y.) promise came in response to the 9/11 Commission’s 10th anniversary report card, which found that millions of dollars have been wasted and the nation’s security has been jeopardized because of the antiquated structure of congressional oversight with regards to homeland security matters.
Efforts to reorganize congressional oversight of DHS are nearly as old as the agency itself, but have all failed due to political infighting and the reluctance of high-ranking lawmakers to concede their committee’s jurisdiction.More than 100 congressional committees and subcommittees have jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the many agencies under its umbrella. As a result, millions of dollars are wasted each year, according to the report, which states that DHS provided nearly 4,000 briefings to lawmakers in the 111th Congress and sent official witnesses to testify more than 285 times.
“This amounted to many thousands of hours of work, often duplicating efforts, and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars,” stated the report, which was released earlier this week.
RELATED ARTICLES
The report pointed to the problem of congressional overlap. As an example, it noted that one committee deals with the security of air-bound cargo, while another committee oversees sea-bound cargo.
“The security of cargo should not depend on whether it moves by air or sea and the committee that has jurisdiction over the agency that regulates that method of transit,” it states.
TOPIC 4
New Media Security & Crime: The Double-Edged Sword
Digital media has been touted as new and exciting platform for international development. The Internet, cell phones and other social technologies have been used to strengthen communities by making information readily available and by empowering the voiceless. Internet and communications technology is undoubtedly a tool that can be harnessed for positive social change, but as with every other technological advancement, ICT is a double-edged sword. As access to new media increases, there is growing concern among academics, activists and technology professionals that real-world issues of privacy, security, conflict and crime are moving into the digital sphere more quickly than they can be monitored or addressed.
The following pages address the legal challenges of an increasingly global Internet community, the ways in which some private citizens are responding to the issues of cyber security, the use of new media and technology to incite violence and hate, and citizen use of these technologies to report crime and prevent it in the future.
Contents:
- Legal Challenges in the Age of New Media
- Cyber Security and the Cyber Cops
- New Media and Real-World Crime
- New Media and Crime Prevention
Literature Review
Below, you will find a listing of recommended websites that correspond to each entry in this section.Legal Challenges in the Age of New Media
- Recent statistics indicate that the Internet use sprouted between 2000 and 2008 by 305.5 % worldwide.
- Internet penetration is compared across the globe
- The spread of Internet is a cause for concern in a developing world
- Electronic Communications Privacy Act protects anonymity of internet users
- FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) explains the term cyber crimes and provides recent statistics
- US government takes securitization of information seriously
- United States National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC)reports on cyber terrorism prevention
- Average cost of maintaining a website is $10 a year and there is no screening process to obtain one
- Pull media, as explained by Columbia Law School Professor Eben Moglen, is a powerful tool now available to cyber criminals
- International law is limited to resolving disputes between those who have international legal personality, the term that does not apply to most victims and perpetrators of cyber crimes
- United States Institute of Peace senior fellow Gabriel Weimann "Terror on the Internet: The New Arena, The New Challenges" gives suggestions on how to fight Internet crimes on national level
- US Patriot Act is one such measure
- Government’s enforced censorship of the Internet, as demonstrated in Indonesia’s Blocked You Tube case is the other
- Christopher Bronk in “Webtapping: Securing the Internet to save us from transnational terror” disscusses implications of the US Patriot Act and its impact on civil liberties citing CNN’s poll on the question of Webtapping.
- IC3 created a list of safety tips and cyber crime prevention for the Internet users
Cyber Security and the Cyber Cops
- According to a history of cyber attacks compiled by The Washington Post, the first "cyber" attacks were via the phone lines.
- Evgeny Morozov, a writer and fellow at the Open Society Institute, wrote about how he easily became a cyber soldier with just a few clicks on his computer.
- A Nov. 2008 article describing the strength of China's cyber warfare capabilities as compared to the U.S.
- Ethan Zuckerman provides nuance behind the definition of Cyber War and the 2008 exchange between Georgia and Russia on his blog.
- An article regarding "Hacktivists" Hackers with a cause. Is thisfree speech or malicious propaganda
- A white paper from The Honeynet Project explaining botnets.
- A 2005 article about the increasing problem of botnets on personal computers
- Ironcove.net an organization that seeks to provide cyber security solutions for NGO's worlwide.
- The Georgia Institute of Technology provides a list of global cyber security organizations working from a variety of different perspectives and goals.
- The Website of the Worldwide Infrastructure Report
- The Honeynet Project homepage
New Media and Violence
- Jarret M. Brachman. High-Tech Terror: Al-Qaeda’s Use of New Technology: a review by the Director of Research at the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy.
- Josh Goldstein and Juliana Rotich. Digitally Networked Technologies in Kenya's Post-Election Crisis: a summary of the positive and negative uses of new media in post-election Kenya.
- Marc Lacey. “Exploiting Real Fears With ‘Virtual Kidnappings.’” New York Times, 29 April 2008: an explanation of Mexico's mobile phone-based kidnapping trend.
- Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, “Text Messages Used To Incite Violence in Kenya,” NPR News: first-hand accounts of violent SMS messaging in post-election Kenya.
- Ushahidi: Ushahidi is a platform for crowdsourcing crisis information by allowing anyone to submit reports via mobile phone, email or web form. It has been used in Kenya to report post-election violence and to collect stories of peace heroes during the same period. It has also been implemented in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
New Media and Crime Prevention: Incorporating new technologies and digital media into government programs and public policies
August 31, 2011
Father Slit Throats of Daughters After They Were Raped by Qaddafi's Troops Share
Libyans demonstrate against Muammar al-Qaddafi at Green Square as they wave by Libyan rebel flags in Tripoli, Libya, early Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011. (AP Photo)By Liz Hazelton, Daily Mail
A father slit the throat of his three teenage daughters in an ‘honour killing’ after they were raped by Gaddafi loyalists during the siege of the port city of Misrata.
Allegations of the shocking executions are contained in a report by the respected Physicians for Human Rights group into war crimes and atrocities in the embattled city, which faced two months of being cut off from the rest of Libya.
The father is said to have carried out the ‘honour killings’ because of his humiliation and shame at the rape of the sisters – aged 15, 17 and 18 – in Tomina, on the outskirts of Misrata. The victims were not named.
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The top coalition commander in Afghanistan told USA TODAY on Wednesday that he has ordered a "surge" in efforts to get Taliban fighters to renounce violence and return to village life based on recent intelligence suggesting they feel abandoned by their leaders.
By Musadeq Sadeq, AP
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen, speaks in Kabul in July.
Marine Gen. John Allen said the effort aims to quickly capitalize on plunging morale among insurgents in southern Afghanistan, once the backbone of the Taliban movement, and to lure militants back to their homes with jobs and other incentives.
"Now is the moment," Allen said in an interview from Kabul.Commanders have said they have picked up "chatter" from insurgents in the south suggesting they are angry that their top leaders have remained in Pakistan and other sanctuaries.
"Many of these fighters who have been on the battlefield for a whole variety of reasons have felt they have been abandoned by their intermediate Taliban leadership," Allen said.
Afghan-led government efforts to reintegrate low-level fighters have been going on for more than a year, but Allen says he is redoubling efforts to take advantage of tactical gains by coalition troops. Allen assumed command in Afghanistan six weeks ago from Army Gen.David Petraeus, who retired Wednesday to head the CIA.
Allen helped spearhead efforts in western Iraq in 2007 to nurture and expand a tribal-based movement opposed to the insurgency. The movement, known as the Sunni Awakening, helped reverse insurgents' gains.
In Afghanistan, nearly 2,400 former fighters have gone through a reintegration program, and 3,000 more are waiting to do so. The program provides former militants with training and jobs to ease their reintegration into society.
Reintegration hasn't led to a groundswell of fighters switching sides yet, said Jeffrey Dressler, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. He said militants remain wary of whether the Afghan government and coalition can protect them if they switch sides, and they are unsure that the government can defeat the Taliban, which has killed some fighters who have switched sides.
Success on the battlefield is an important component of persuading fighters to lay down their arms and rejoin society, commanders say.
"Nobody reintegrates to the losing side," said Marine Gen. James Mattis, commander of Central Command, which oversees operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. "That's just not human nature."Senior Official in Egyptian Islamic Jihad: Sharia Worldwide Conquest
TUESDAY, 30 AUGUST 2011 05:47 MEMRISenior Official in Egyptian Islamic Jihad: If We Come to Power, We will Launch a Campaign of Islamic Conquests to Instate Shari'a Worldwide: 'The Christian is Free to Worship His God in His Church, but if the Christians Make Problems for the Muslims, I Will Exterminate Them'
On August 13, 2011, the Egyptian daily Roz Al-Yousef published an interview[1] with Sheikh 'Adel Shehato, a senior official in Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), who, on March 23, 2011, was freed from prison in the wake of the Egyptian revolution. He was imprisoned in 1991 upon returning from a three-year sojourn in Afghanistan.
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In the interview, Shehato expressed complete opposition to democracy "because it is not the faith of the Muslims, but the faith of the Jews and Christians." He said that although the youth of the Arab revolutions have not declared the implementation of shari'a as one of their goals, the mujahideennonetheless identify with their aspiration to overthrow the Arab rulers, whom they had always considered "infidels who must be killed because they do not rule according to the shari'a." He added, however, that "once Allah's law is applied, the role of the people will end and Allah will reign supreme." He went on to say that although he supports Al-Qaeda's ideology, shari'a law would not be enforced by violence but by da'wa(preaching), whereas violence would be used only against the infidel Arab rulers.
Shehato said that if the mujahideen came to power in Egypt, they would launch a campaign of Islamic conquests aimed at subjecting the entire world to Islamic rule. Muslim ambassadors would be appointed to each country, charged with calling upon them to join Islam willingly, but if the countries refused, war would be waged against them. He also described the nature of the Islamic state to be established in Egypt: there would be no trade or cultural ties with non-Muslims; tourist sites at the pyramids, the Sphinx, and Sharm Al-Sheikh would be shut down "because the tourists come [there] to drink alcohol and fornicate," and all tourists wishing to visit Egypt would be required to comply with the conditions and laws of Islam; all art, painting, singing, dancing, and sculpture would be forbidden, and all culture would be purely Islamic.
Following are excerpts of the interview:
Sheikh 'Adel Shehato
The Term "Democracy" is Not in the Arab or Islamic Lexicon; Once Allah's Law Reigns Supreme, the People's Role will End
Q: "Do you support the uprising?"
Shehato: "...The [Egyptian] youth rose up for a certain ideal... They did not rise up in order to put the shari'a into practice, nor did they [complain] that Mubarak's regime did not rule in accordance with the shari'a... As Muslims, we must believe that the Koran is our constitution, and that it is [therefore] impossible for us to institute a Western democratic regime. I oppose democracy because it is not the faith of the Muslims, but the faith of the Jews and Christians. Simply put, democracy means the rule of the people itself over itself... According to Islam, it is forbidden for people to rule and to legislate laws, as Allah alone is ruler. Allah did not hand down the term [democracy] as a form of rule, and it is completely absent from the Arab and Islamic lexicon..."
Q: "If you do not believe in the rule of the people, why did you go out to Al-Tahrir Square with the slogan 'he People Wants to Implement the Shari'a?' Are you exploiting democracy in order to achieve what you want [only] to then abolish [democracy]?"
Shehato: "I am not exploiting democracy, since I have never joined and will never join politics or party activity... We believe that implementation of the shari'a [must be accomplished] far from the political game, though some [other] Islamic streams are willing to participate [in this game] in order to achieve the same goal [i.e., implementation of the shari'a]. We said that 'the people wants to implement the shari'a' because most of the people are Muslims, and also based on [our] reading of the situation on the ground. [At the same time,] we did not make demands for the people's sake in the people's name, but demanded the rule of Allah. And once Allah's law is instated, the role of the people will end and Allah will reign supreme."
Q: "How do you reconcile your opposition to the will of the people with the notion of shura [consultation] in Islam?"
Shehato: "'Shura' in Islam means that alongside the Muslim ruler, there is a steering council comprising the finest of the senior Muslim clerics, to be selected on the basis of their piety and political leadership [abilities]. But there is no consultation with commoners, such as workers and fallahin, nor is there consultation over issues that contravene the shari'a."
"The Christian is Free to Worship His God in His Church, but if the Christians Make Problems for the Muslims, I Will Exterminate Them"
Q: "What solution is the EIJ suggesting [today], after the revolution?"
Shehato: "...We still espouse the old jihadi ideology that is today the ideology of Sheikh Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the late Sheikh Osama bin Laden, and Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi... If the revolution was meant to overthrow the tyrant Mubarak, then we have always said that all the Arab rulers, without exception, are infidels who must be killed because they do not rule according to the shari'a. They are apostate infidels, as opposed to infidels like the Jews and Christians, and anyone who doubts that they are infidels is an infidel [himself]."
Q: "But we Egyptians have never regarded the Christians as infidels. [In fact,] many of us have Christian friends even closer than our Muslim friends."
Shehato: "As a Muslim, I must support the Muslim and oppose the Christian. If there is a Christian who does me no harm, I will maintain limited contact with him. Islam [discusses] certain degrees of contact with the Christian, namely: keeping promises [that were made him], dealing honestly with him, treating him kindly, and befriending him. The first three are allowed, but the fourth [i.e., befriending the Christian] is deemed dangerous, for it contravenes the verse that says, 'O you who believe! Do not take my enemy and your enemy for friends: would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth' [Koran 60:1]. It is inconceivable that they should serve in judiciary or executive posts, for instance in the army or the police."
Q: "Are you against blowing up churches?"
Shehato: "Yes and no. The Christian is free to worship his god in his church, but if the Christians make problems for the Muslims, I will exterminate them. I am guided by theshari'a, and it stipulates that they must pay the jizya tax while in a state of humiliation..."
Q: "These positions of yours frighten us, as Egyptians."
Shehato: "I will not act [in ways] that contradict my faith just in order to please the people... We say to the Christians, convert to Islam or pay the jizya, otherwise we will fight you. The shari'a is not based on [human] logic but on divine law. That is why we oppose universal, manmade constitutions."
If the Muslims Rise to Power in Egypt, They Will Form Muslim Battalions to Enforce the Shari'aWorldwide
Q: "If you rise to power in Egypt, will you launch a campaign of Islamic conquest?"
Shehato: "Of course we will launch a campaign of Islamic conquest, throughout the world. As soon as the Muslims and Islam control Egypt and implement the shari'a [there], we will turn to the neighboring regions, [such as] Libya [to the west] and Sudan to the south. All the Muslims in the world who wish to see the shari'a implemented worldwide will join the Egyptian army in order to form Islamic battalions, whose task will be to bring about the victory of [our] faith. We hope that, with Allah's help, Egypt will be the spark [that sets off this process]..."
Q: "You said that you endorse the ideology of Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Does this mean that your way of implementing shari'a in Egypt will be through violence and war, like their [way]?"
Shehato: "No, we will implement the shari'a through da'wa [preaching], while violence will be directed only at the infidel Arab rulers. In their case, there is no choice but to use force, though the shari'a does not call it 'violence' but 'jihad for the sake of Allah.' There is no other way... because they have power and weapons..."
Q: "How will the foreign ministry [operate] in an Islamic state?"
Shehato: "There are Muslims and there are infidels. We will have ambassadors in every country. We want to call all other countries to join Islam, and that will be the task of the ambassadors. If [the countries] refuse, there will be war. We will not tolerate mutual trade and cultural ties with non-Muslims."
"In the [Islamic] State, There will Be Only Islamic Culture"
Q: "If you rise to power, what will be your approach to tourism?"
Shehato: "There will be tourism for purposes of [medical] treatment, but the tourism sites of the pyramids, the Sphinx, and Sharm Al-Sheikh will be shut down, because my task [as a ruler] is to get people to serve Allah rather than [other] people [i.e., tourists]. No proud Muslim will ever be willing to live off tourism profits, because the tourists come [to Egypt] to drink alcohol and fornicate. [If they] want to come, they must comply with the conditions and laws of Islam. We will explain to them that, according to the shari'a, the pyramids are [the remains of] a pagan and polytheistic age."
Q: "What will be the state of art and literature in such a state?"
Shehato: "In Islam, there is no such thing as art. Painting, singing, and dancing are forbidden. Therefore, in the [Islamic] state there will be nothing but Islamic culture, for I cannot teach [people] the infidel culture. As for literature, such as [the works] of Naguib Mahfouz, it is forbidden. Naguib Mahfouz was a criminal who stimulated [people's] desires and struck a severe blow to modesty. We will return to the decent culture of the Muslims and the Muslim forefathers, and to Islamic history."Endnote:
[1] Roz Al-Yousef (Egypt), August 13, 2011
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The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explores the Middle East through the region's media (both print and television), websites, religious sermons and school books. MEMRI bridges the language gap which exists between the West and the Middle East, providing timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashtu, Dari, Hindi, and Turkish media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East.
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German Officials Alarmed by Ex-Rapper’s New Message: Jihad
By SOUAD MEKHENNET
Published: August 31, 2011
BERLIN — The man German security officials call a major security risk looks like a figure from a rap video, especially with the tattoos on his hands. The right one says “STR8,” and the left one “Thug.”
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Denis Mamadou Cuspert
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“This is from the days when I lived the life of an unbeliever,” said the man, Denis Mamadou Cuspert, as he clenched his fists and looked at the tattoos. “Allah will erase them from me one day.”
Mr. Cuspert, once a popular rapper in Germany, today is one of the best-known singers of nasheeds, or Islamic devotional music, in German. Security officials say, though, that he is an influential figure who incites violence and unrest through inflammatory videos and fiery speeches that praise terrorists and attack the West.
German authorities say people like him inspired the fatal shootings of two American airmen at the Frankfurt airport in March. The 21-year-old man accused of the killings, Arid Uka, whose trial began in Frankfurt on Wednesday, has said he opened fire on a busload of American service members after seeing a video that claimed to show a Muslim woman being raped by men in United States military uniforms. American officials have said the video — which Mr. Cuspert acknowledged posting on his Facebook page, and which Mr. Uka copied — was staged by militants.
Mr. Uka said he was listening on his iPod to nasheeds calling for opposition against occupation forces and the West as he traveled to the airport just before the shootings. “It made me really angry,” Mr. Uka told the judge on Wednesday, referring to the songs’ lyrics. During a tearful confession, he said that Islam had given him strength after a period of depression, but that he now realized that “I have damaged my faith.”
German terrorism investigators see Mr. Cuspert, 35, as a threat who provokes young people angered by what they see as a Western campaign against Islam; some even likened him to Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born preacher now in hiding in Yemen who is also accused of promoting violence through speeches and videos.
“After establishing rapport through music, he introduced radical ideology to an audience already receptive to him,” said Raphael F. Perl, who runs the antiterrorism unit for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
In an interview at a mosque here, Mr. Cuspert denied any direct connection to Mr. Uka, though he said he supported his actions. “The brother hasn’t killed civilians,” he said. “He has killed soldiers who had been on their way to kill Muslims.”
That is similar to the message in videos posted on YouTube and jihadi Web sites that have made Mr. Cuspert popular among Al Qaeda supporters in Europe and elsewhere. As evidence of his reach, a man who goes by the name Abu Bilal in the tribal areas in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region said of Mr. Cuspert: “The brother’s voice has reached the hearts of many people here, too.”
Mr. Cuspert gives speeches all over Germany, and young people are drawn to elements of his personal story, including his membership in Berlin street gangs — he said he used to be a “real bad boy” — and the notion that he finally found the “right way.”
Mr. Cuspert says that Shariah, the legal code of Islam based on the Koran, permits self-defense. “My duty is to use my voice for telling people the truth, and the truth is, jihad is a duty,” he said.
Security officials say that young people who are clicking on his videos do not realize that what they are listening to has been inspired by a radical jihadist theology based on the fundamentalist Salafi branch of Islam.
At the end of June, Mr. Cuspert recorded a nasheed that praised Al Qaeda’s late leader, Osama bin Laden. “Your name flows in our blood,” he sings.
“I have sworn allegiance to Mullah Muhammad Omar, emir of the Taliban,” he said in the interview, smiling. “He is one of the greatest men.”
In his speeches, Mr. Cuspert has expressed outrage over United States drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas, Yemen and Somalia, and has said that his biggest wish right now is the death of President Obama, who he said was an enemy of Islam.
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: September 2, 2011
An article on Wednesday about a former rapper accused by the authorities in Germany of inciting violence through his videos described incorrectly one video that another man, accused of shooting two American airmen in Frankfurt in March, told the authorities had inspired his attack. The video appeared to depict a Muslim woman — not several — being raped by men in American military uniforms.
A version of this article appeared in print on September 1, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: German Officials Alarmed by Ex-Rapper’s New Message: Jihad.
(Page 2 of 2)
Suspecting that Mr. Cuspert was planning to join his friends in Pakistan, German authorities in July demanded that he surrender his passport. “I told them that I had lost it,” he said.
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So far, the authorities say, they have not had enough evidence to arrest him for his speeches, but they are trying to put him behind bars for offenses they say he committed during his former life as a rapper.
On Aug. 18, Mr. Cuspert was tried here on charges of possessing illegal weapons. Prosecutors said that he held a gun in a video and that the police found rounds of ammunition during a search of his apartment. German security officials said they sought to jail Mr. Cuspert and stop his “video propaganda for jihad.” The trial judge convicted Mr. Cuspert, but spared him a prison sentence, ordering him to pay a fine of 1,800 euros, about $2,600.
Before he took his new name, Abou Maleeq, Mr. Cuspert had another life. He was born and reared in Berlin by his German mother. His father, who was from Ghana, left the family when Mr. Cuspert was a baby.
When conflicts increased at home with his stepfather, a former American Army soldier and strict disciplinarian, Mr. Cuspert was sent to a home for difficult children. After five years, he returned home. “I grew up with racism,” Mr. Cuspert said. “Though my mother is German, some teachers back then would call me ‘Negro’ and treat all Muslim kids bad.”
His argument with American foreign policy grew in 1990 in the months leading up to the first Persian Gulf war, and he joined demonstrations in Berlin. “We marched, shouted and burned the American flag,” he said, smiling.
The 2003 invasion of Iraq became a source for new conflicts with his stepfather. He joined youth gangs, Mr. Cuspert said, because he was in search of an identity; he found it in the streets of Berlin with the children of Arab and Turkish immigrants.
He said that from an early age he trained himself in Thai boxing, tae kwon do and Brazilian jiujitsu. Social workers in Germany sent him to a special farm in Namibia that sought to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents.
In 1995, he found a new outlet for his anger: as the rapper Deso Dogg. He said, “My songs were about the time in prison, racism, war.”
His music career soared. He went on tour with rappers like DMX and worked on the soundtrack for a German film. But after surviving a car accident, he started questioning his lifestyle and turned to Islam for answers. In 2010, he ended his career as a rapper and turned his focus to fighting the United States and the West.
The message on his cellphone’s voice mail system makes no secret about his ultimate aim in life. “The martyrdom is the most beautiful,” he says in his recording. “Allah is the greatest.”
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: September 2, 2011
An article on Wednesday about a former rapper accused by the authorities in Germany of inciting violence through his videos described incorrectly one video that another man, accused of shooting two American airmen in Frankfurt in March, told the authorities had inspired his attack. The video appeared to depict a Muslim woman — not several — being raped by men in American military uniforms.
A version of this article appeared in print on September 1, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: German Officials Alarmed by Ex-Rapper’s New Message: Jihad.
Rep. Carson: Tea Party Wants To See African Americans ‘Hanging On A Tree’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?
August 31, 2011 Federal, Political News 4 CommentsFlorida Political Press
Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), a leading member of the Congressional Black Caucus, becomes the latest member of Congress to use strong incendiary language to attack the tea party.
His comments were made last week, at the same time Maxine Waters was telling the tea party to “go straight to hell”, and further illustrates that an orchestrated campaign is underway. With the latest polls showing a major hemorrhaging taking place with Hispanic voters, it is critical that the Left keep black Americans firmly in line and if that means using racial warfare to make it happen, then so be it.
Americans of all colors should be seriously concerned at the tone of the rhetoric in use and the repeated calls for civil unrest we are now seeing.
“I’m saying right now, under (CBC) Chairman Emanuel Cleaver’s leadership, we have seen change in Congress … but the tea party is stopping that change,” Carson said at the event, according to the video. “And this is beyond symbolic change. This is the effort that we’re seeing, of Jim Crow.”
“Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens,” Carson continued. “Some of them in Congress right now with this tea party movement would love to see you and me — I’m sorry, Tamron — hanging on a tree.”
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Chicago SEIU Local Leaders Probed for Terror Links
Email to friendPrinter-friendlyIt's not every day that an American labor union gets investigated for possible ties to two of the world's most lethal terrorist organizations. But Chicago's Service Employees International Union Local 73 isn't an everyday union. Last September 24, FBI agents raided residences in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan of more than a dozen radical activists in an effort to connect them to the Hamas (Gaza and the West Bank) and FARC (Colombia) guerrilla movements. Two of the occupants were SEIU Local 73 chief steward and executive board member Joe Iosbaker and former local board member-steward Tom Burke. Neither they nor anyone else has been arrested. But as the case unfolds, questions have arisen over the possibility of involvement not only by the activists, but also by elements of the Chicago-based radical network that nurtured President Obama's political ambitions.
National Legal and Policy Center about a half-decade ago released a lengthy report documenting how unions in this country have drawn increasingly close to the most extreme elements of the antiwar Left. The report, "Common Cause with America's Enemies: How Labor Unions Embraced Antiwar Extremism" (see pdf version), which I authored, emphasized that opposing the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is not subversion in and of itself. Many patriotic Americans object to the wisdom of sending U.S. soldiers to occupy those countries as part of the fight against Islamic terrorism in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The monograph distinguished between the "loyal opposition," which opposes U.S. policy, and the "disloyal opposition," which opposes U.S. interests. In other words, the disloyal opposition is more than simply against the war; it is against the very notion that the U.S. has legitimate interests anywhere in the world, whether pursued through war, diplomacy or trade. And it often acts upon that conviction in suspect and at times criminal ways.
Service Employees Local 73 is in the latter camp. Representing some 30,000 public service employees in Illinois and Northwest Indiana, the union is one of the largest labor organizations in the Midwest. Like any union, it seeks to maximize the interests of its members. But its leaders are also intensely political. Delivering good contracts is part of what leaders see as a far larger challenge: eliminating capitalist injustices against workers and "people of color" everywhere. And as the United States presumably is the de facto leader of global capitalism, racism and colonialism, they see the pursuit of social justice as requiring alignment with armed anti-American "liberation" movements. Joe Iosbaker, an employee at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Tom Burke, a stay-at-home dad and former custodian, are familiar with the intricacies of SEIU Local 73. Their pending grand jury testimony, should they ever get around to providing it, may reveal a good deal about the working relationships between "progressive" organizations here and organizations abroad that they support.
Federal officials are trying to determine whether they and a dozen other subpoenaed activists, mainly in Chicago and Minneapolis, have provided financial or other material support for armed revolutionary movements. "The warrants are seeking evidence in support of an ongoing Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into activities concerning the material support of terrorism," remarked Steve Warfield, spokesman for the FBI's Minneapolis field office. The feds aren't getting any cooperation, least of all from SEIU Local 73. The union, part of an ad hoc group calling itself the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, recently published a resolution in support of Joe Iosbaker and his wife, Stephanie Weiner (herself an AFSCME member). The statement denounced "these arbitrary and capricious FBI raids" and called upon President Obama "to order an immediate investigation into the circumstances, motivation and propriety of the judicial and police intimidation of our members and others." Local Secretary-Treasurer Matt Brandon, in a video posting on YouTube, explicitly defended Iosbaker and Burke, who at least twice, most recently this past January, have refused to appear in front of a Chicago federal grand jury.
Let us leave aside the fact that refusing to respond to a grand jury subpoena is a felony. The feds have some valid reasons to be concerned. A few of those reasons point toward one Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Chicago-based Arab American Action Network (AAAN). Mr. Abudayyeh's apartment in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood was one of the targets of the FBI September raids, though he was not at home at the time. A U.S. citizen and the son of Palestinians, Abudayyeh joined AAAN in 1999 and has served as executive director since 2003. Long suspected as a front for Hamas, the nonprofit group, founded in 1995, made headlines last December at its 15th anniversary dinner. The esteemed guest speaker at that event was longtime White House press doyenne Helen Thomas, who had resigned under pressure from Hearst Newspapers a half-year earlier following her rather tactless statement that the Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and return to Poland and Germany.
The U.S. and Israel will continue to describe Hamas, Hezbollah and the other Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organizations as "terrorists," but the real terrorists are the governments and military forces of the U.S. and Israel. The vast majority of the world sees and understands this, and is in full support of Lebanese, Palestinian and worldwide resistance to Israel and the U.S.'s naked aggression, war, imperialism and occupation. As we have seen in Iraq, where the resistance is standing up to U.S. power, the U.S. military is not indomitable.
Abudayyeh believes he is being targeted for his views rather than for any criminal wrongdoing. His attorney, Jim Fennerty, shares this conviction. "The government's trying to quiet activists," said Fennerty. "This case is really scary."
The Arab American Action Network might not be violent, but it is kind of scary, too. It's working overtime to undermine American sovereignty and rule of law. An unapologetic enthusiast for open borders, AAAN supports public aid for illegal Arab immigrants in high schools to defray tuition in colleges and universities. The group's indignation over even minimal immigration law enforcement, especially where Arabs are concerned, knows no bounds. In December 2005, for example, AAAN and other Arab ethnic organizations composed a letter to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (himself a virtual shill for the open borders lobby), denouncing a New Mexico-North Carolina joint initiative to deny driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. AAAN termed the measure "a bigoted attack on Arabs and Muslims."
SEIU Local 73, however, might well be serving AAAN interests. Former local board member Thomas Burke has acknowledged that he was served with a subpoena requesting records of possible union payments to Abudayyeh's group as well as to two groups on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the latter also known as FARC. The subpoena included a request for "items relating to trips to Colombia, Jordan, Syria, the Palestinian territories of Israel." While admitting he toured Colombia eight years earlier with members of an oil workers union in that country, Burke insisted he was not involved in transferring union or other financial resources to terrorist groups. He explained: "We pretty much all know each other. We barely have money to publish our magazine. We might write about (revolutionary groups) favorably, but as for giving them material aid, nothing." Local 73 chief steward Joe Iosbaker and his wife, Stephanie Weiner, also deny involvement in terror enabling. "We aren't doing anything differently than we have in 20 years," said Weiner.
These denials may well be true. And surely the individuals issuing them are entitled to a presumption of innocence. Yet one has to ask: Why are the individuals under investigation bent on stonewalling federal grand juries? Could it be that what they know would implicate certain higher-ups? A good way to approach this possibility is to look at a few of the organizations allegedly coaxing sympathy and possibly donations from Iosbaker, Burke and the others.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). When antiwar radicals, including Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, demonstrated at rallies across the U.S. in protest of the FBI raids in September, some of the leaflets passed out at that event were in support of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It's no great surprise. Great radical minds, such as they are, think alike. Founded in the wake of the Arab defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War with Israel, the PFLP for more than four decades has operated as a headline-making Middle East terror organization. The group retooled itself as a Marxist-Leninist movement at its 1969 convention, and since has cultivated ties to radical organizations the world over.
Though waning in influence, the PFLP is far from extinct. Under founderDr. George Habash (1926-2008), a Palestinian nationalist raised as a Christian, the PFLP quickly made a name for itself. The group in 1970 was behind the hijackings of four Western airliners over the U.S. Europe, the Far East and the Persian Gulf, plus the bombing of a Swissair jet that killed 47 people. Two years later, the PFLP recruited gunmen from the Japanese Red Army to attack Lod (now Ben-Gurion) Airport in Tel Aviv; the assault left more than two dozen persons dead. Moderation - even the perception of it - is not for the PFLP. Its leaders completely ceased relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in September 1993, once the news broke that "moderate" late PLO leader Yassir Arafat signed the Oslo Peace Accords with the U.S. and Israel. It since has relocated in Damascus and certain Palestinian Authority-administered areas.
Hamas. Larger and even more dangerous than the PFLP, Hamas, an acronym for the Arabic words for "Islamic Resistance Movement," is similar in beliefs and tactics, even though the two have been locked in a bitter power struggle lately. Hamas began in 1987 as an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, a major force behind the recent overthrow of the Mubarak regime in Egypt. Hamas is committed to violence. It has been responsible for thousands of rocket attacks on southern Israel; has actively recruited, trained and dispatched suicide (i.e., mass homicide) bombers; and planned the "humanitarian" Gaza Flotilla incident of last May 31 intended to provoke a violent showdown with Israeli authorities (it succeeded). Heavily funded by Iran, various Arab governments, and several Islamic "charities," Hamas took over the Gaza strip that adjoins Israel and Egypt in a violent June 2007 coup, deposing the PLO-affiliated Fatah organization. Though barred from operating here in the U.S., Hamas has front groups who do its public relations work, most visibly, the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
FARC. This Colombian guerrilla organization is an acronym for Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. With an estimated 9,000 to 12,000 armed combatants and several thousand additional supporters,FARC was founded in 1964 as the military wing of that country's Communist Party. It specializes in extortion, kidnapping, bombings and assassination. FARC was responsible for the hijacking and kidnapping of a Colombian senator from an aircraft in February 2002 and for the mortar attack on the Presidential Palace in August of that year, the site of then-President Alvaro Uribe's inauguration. In that latter attack, 21 residents of a nearby low-income neighborhood were killed by stray rounds. It is true that Colombia has been beset with civil war since the mid-Sixties. And its far-Right paramilitary terror units have proven to be every bit as vicious as the Leftist factions - and heavily immersed in drug trafficking with Colombian cartels. But that reality constitutes a weak justification for supporting FARC. Combating tyrants of the Right shouldn't necessitate showing solidarity with tyrants of the Left.
Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). For sheer rhetoric, this Chicago-based organization is the match of any radical organization, here or abroad. They're not exactly terrorists, but they're not the sort of people who mourn the damage that terrorists do either. And they can get downright riotous when they're in the mood. Significantly, Iosbaker and Burke are members; indeed, Iosbaker is co-chairman of its Labor Commission. Here is how FRSO's website describes its program:
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is a revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization in the United States.
We stand for the right to self-determination up to and including secession for the African American nation in the Black Belt South.
While rejecting Zionist claims on Palestine and white supremacist claims to a white southern nation or northwestern nation, we do acknowledge that fact that the most advanced section of the Black liberation movement, from the 1800s on, have demanded a Black Republic in the South.
There isn't much equivocation here. Nor does Iosbaker mince any words. Back in March 2009 he entered this post on the FRSO website: "Perhaps uniquely among left forces in labor, FRSO has a strategy to step by step transform the unions, beginning by uniting the 'militant minority' among the rank and file as we call it; a phrase borrowed from the great U.S. communist, W.Z. Foster." And the group isn't hesitant about putting words into action. Among its achievements, the FRSO helped organize the violent demonstrations designed to disrupt the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. These were no mere "protests." Rioters on various occasions smashed windows, threw garbage into the streets, threw cement bags onto buses from highway overpasses, took down orange detour road signs, punctured car tires and threw bottles. At one point, during the mass march to the convention site a group of anarchists started a trash bin fire and blocked an intersection.
The political network surrounding Service Employees Local 73 also has distrubing linkages to political power at the highest levels. While Hatem Abudayyeh currently heads the AAAN, its co-founders are Rashid Khalidi, a Columbia University professor of Arab Studies and former PLO operative, and his wife, Columbia University Public Affairs Assistant Dean Mona Khalidi. In 1994, AAAN, not quite up and running, received a $40,000 seed grant from the Woods Fund of Chicago, a private nonprofit radical philanthropy which went into operation that year and whose charter executive board included future President Barack Obama. In 1999, unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers became a board member. During 2001-02, the Woods Fund bankrolled AAAN withtwo grants totaling $75,000. In 2003, Obama, a close friend of Mr. Khalidi (the latter has admitted to raising funds for Obama's unsuccessful 2000 run for Congress), toasted Khalidi at his going-away party. The Los Angeles Times reportedly had in its possession during the 2008 campaign a videotape of the event, but refused to release its contents. Rashid Khalidi, significantly, also is a board member of Movement for a Democratic Society whose board members over the years have included Weather Underground terrorist Bernardine Dohrn, and former SDSleaders Tom Hayden, Alan Haber and Carl Davidson. He also sits on the advisory board of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, which joined forces with Code Pink, United for Peace and Justice and other groups to support the Gaza Flotilla. As he has termed Israel a "racist" state, that makes sense.
A skeptic might say that any number of unions in this country are on the far Left, but operate within the law. Sympathizing with terrorists doesn't automatically mean collaborating with them. That's true - which is why the Justice Department would like certain individuals to answer some nagging questions. For decades, terrorism has operated as an elaborate and clandestine world network. Its participants may not know or even like each other. They have their falling outs. But they are united in a common purpose of bringing down what they see as instruments of social oppression. Under an "antiwar" guise, supporters, whether central or peripheral players, are committed to overthrowing capitalism and governments supportive of it. They habitually claim "persecution" whenever they are investigated. Unions, regrettably, are part of this coalition. In Chicago, one of them may be supplying aid.
Related:
SHOCK VIDEOS: NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY MEMBER TEACHES ‘BLACK SURVIVAL’ TACTICS WITH GUNS AND MACHETES…TO KIDS
- Posted on September 1, 2011 at 5:36pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
- Email »
In each of the three videos, uploaded June 6, 2011, the man identified as Shabazz graphically demonstrates self-defense tactics using a variety of weapons, including a handgun, a machete and a baseball bat:
Shabazz first takes the audience through the basics of holding a weapon. Wearing black militant clothing and a red bandana, he crouches down and aims his gun.
“Know and understand everything around you is a weapon,” he says.
In the first self-defense demonstration, Shabazz mimes reading a newspaper while his assistant charges him. Shabazz ducks and extends his fist, giving a straight punch to the would-be attacker’s groin and knocks him down. He demonstrates several other types of blows, including to the knee and leg, and how to pivot and slam an attacker to the ground.
In the next demonstration, the would-be attacker charges Shabazz, who stops him by extending his foot into the attacker’s groin area while simultaneously pulls a gun and points it in his face.
Shabazz next holds the assistant by the throat and demonstrates how to choke off an assailant’s air supply.
“You’re cutting that wind off completely. Backing him up and put two in him,” Shabazz says, putting the gun in the assistant’s abdomen.
He demonstrates a variation of the move again.
“While you have him you may put two bullets in his legs,” he says. “I‘m going to make sure you don’t get up.” The assistant falls.
“Now, it’s your choice, you may finish off your load or you may go about your business,” Shabazz says.
Shabazz next demonstrates what to do when you’re the one placed in a choke hold.
“The first thing we don’t do?” Shabazz quizzes.
“Stay,” the audience, including the children, answer.
“Right,” he says, then steps back to his attacker’s side and demonstrates the open shot to either of his kneecaps.
“Be careful it isn’t your leg!” Shabazz cautions. “What I would do, in most cases, go right to the groin….You always want to make sure you are not in the way of your own line of fire.”
Shabazz then goes through the proper way of loading a gun, cautioning the audience never to play with a loaded weapon, while he himself waves one around, demonstrating what not to do.
“I am trained to deal with a loaded weapon,” he says.
The next set of scenarios deal with how to use a machete to defend against a baseball bat-wielding attacker. Shabazz and his assistant mime a bat and machete fight, and Shabazz locks his assistant in position.
“Now, I can either go for his fingers and cut his fingers straight off or I can go straight for his wrist,” he says.
Following through with the knife’s momentum in slow motion, Shabazz demonstrates how he can cut right through his attacker, then holds his head from behind, exposing his neck, and mimes decapitating him.
“And I can hold his head up high just like that,” he says triumphantly.
“Black power,” an audience member says.
At one point, a weapon is heard clattering to the floor and a small child appears to retrieve it and put it back on the stage.
After the second machete demonstration, an audience member comments, “Damn, you gotta do all that?”
“Overkill,” laughs another.
It’s also worth noting that in a separate video posted in May (where it’s unknown if kids were present), one month before the survival training, Shabazz addressed a group with a speech called “Exhuming of a Nation.” Among other statements, he declared, “F*** whitey‘s Mother’s Day.”
“I see black folks in here. I see no crackers in here today,” Shabazz said. “How do you feel?”
“Black power!” the audience answered.
“You love being black?”
“Yes!”
“Do you love being black?”
“Yes!”
“Will you die being black?”
“Yes!”
“Will you kill to be black?”
“Yes! Black power!”
“Are you ready for black?”
“Black power!”
The Blaze previously reported on Shabazz last September when he was shown in a video accusing “Fox Jews” of using “little black babies” as “alligator bait.” He has spoken about his hatred of white people and called on blacks to “kill crackers” and their babies.
Shabazz was also reportedly one of the New Black Panther Party members who allegedly engaged in voter intimidation in Philadelphia on Election Day 2008. The Justice Department dropped the investigation into the incident and no charges were ever filed.
TO INVESTIGATE THE BLACK CAUCUS AND THEIR DONORS, GO HERE TO VIEW THEIR ANNUAL REPORTS: http://www.cbcfinc.org/
FORMER CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER DEFENDS FLYING CONFEDERATE FLAG
- Posted on September 1, 2011 at 7:28pm by
Buck Sexton
- Email »
The former civil rights activist is set to speak tonight in support of the Son’s of Confederate Veterans in Lexington, Virginia. He has agreed to speak because he wants to ensure Confederate flags will be allowed to fly on Lexington city poles.
Lexington outlawed the display of anything other than state or federal flags on city poles after outrage this past January when Confederate Flags were raised to celebrate Lee Jackson day.
Despite the fact that he is the former Asheville, North Carolina NAACP president, Edgerton argues that the flag is not a symbol of hatred, but rather represents the South and Christianity. Other, negative uses of the flag are the result of it being “hijacked,” according to Edgerton.
Today is certainly not Edgerton’s first foray into Confederate flag advocacy. A few years ago he marched in South Carolina in support of flying the flag at the state capital, Columbia.
He has been associated with a number of activist groups, including “Southern Heritage 411,” which has brought him scrutiny from the Southern Poverty Law Center in the past.
In defense of his past activism supporting the Confederate flag and his planned appearances today in Lexington, Edgerton said to WSLS-10 News:
“What is it that you people keep trying to make our flag out to be, this evil thing, this evil symbol, this evil presence.”
Watch the video of Edgerton’s full-throated defense of the confederate flag here, courtesy of WSLS 10 News:http://www2.wsls.com/news/
You Want Americans Judged By American Law? You Racist!
With leftist judges and politicians increasingly inserting the influence of foreign laws into American life, a few Michigan legislators introduced "American Laws for American Courts." It's a simple and eminently just concept, one which shouldn't even be necessary; namely, insuring that Americans need only obey laws that originate from the democratic process and which pass Constitutional muster. The United States Constitution, that is.Is such a law necessary? Well, in a word, yes. Just ask the Gibson Guitar Company. (1, 2) They were raided last week by the Obama administration's Department of Justice -- not for supposed infractions of American law, but Indian law! Gibson thought they were protected because they are an American company on American soil conducting themselves correctly according to American laws. But this wasn't enough. The U.S. government decided to call out the dogs in order to enforce the laws of India -- in Memphis and Nashville!
Liberals who want to reshape society have been frustrated by those two aforementioned obstacles: voters and the Constitution. And their strategy of the last few decades has concentrated on what Bible scholars call eisogesis, a reading into the text of things that aren't really there. Indeed, liberals have stretched the Constitution (and case precedents) all out of whack, absurdly discovering principles which would have horrified the founding fathers. Like the right to an abortion, homosexual marriage or the removal of Christianity from the public square.
But finding emanations from the penumbra of hidden crystals in the Constitution isn't enough for progressives nowadays. And so they are adding new strategies. They are, like Barack Obama has done with energy exploration, illegal immigration and the Defense of Marriage Act, simply ignoring existing law.
But added to that, the left is trying to make Americans subject to treaties and laws of foreign origin, making Americans kowtow to policies decreed by the United Nations, the laws of other nations, and Islamic clerics who insist that Sharia law be given higher claim than laws made by mere men.
I ask again, is such a law as "American Laws for American Courts" necessary? Well, legislators throughout America think so. Legislation similar to that of Michigan's has been introduced in 25 states. Balanced. Simple. Rational. Legislation seeking to protect the way of life that Americans have fought and died for, a way of life marked by democracy, freedom and national sovereignty.
And yet what is the charge being thrown at those who would stand behind such legislation? You guessed it. Racists!
Here's the sad story from the Detroit News:
Opposition is mounting among Muslims against pending legislation that would ban Michigan courts from considering "foreign laws" — including Sharia, or Islamic law. Muslim and community leaders gathered Tuesday in Midtown to denounce legislation from state Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, as divisive, unnecessary and mean-spirited.
"This plan goes against our country's core values of accepting people from all races and walks of life," said state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who is Muslim. "We simply cannot move forward with this plan. It's racism at its core."
Another sponsor of the Michigan bill, Rep. Martin Knollenberg, R-Troy, said the legislation is necessary because "we shouldn't allow other laws to usurp the state constitution." He scoffed at critics who called the bill racist: "Where does it say (in the bill) it's anti-Muslim?" Agema last week called the accusations of bigotry "hogwash."
A House committee has yet to take up discussion of the bill. The Council of American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter announced Tuesday it would sue if it becomes law. Gov. Rick Snyder's office hasn't done an analysis of the measure, said his spokeswoman, Geralyn Lasher. "We don't know if this is an issue taking place or whether there is a need" for a law, she said.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee also encouraged members Tuesday to contact their state representatives and urge them to oppose the bill.
Posted by Denny Hartford at 9:33 AM
Topics: Culture Wars, Freedom Issues, Hall of Shame, International Politics, Nanny State, National Politics, The Courts, The Persecuted Church
Culture of Corruption
Rep. Carson Stands By Tea Party/Lynching Remarks
Carson told a meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and some of its supporters last week in Miami that, "some of them in Congress right now, of this Tea Party, would love to see you and me...hanging on a tree." He also stated that some members of Congress would like to see blacks as second-class citizens.
Meeks' Crony Ahmad Indicted in $50 Million Fraud
In January 2010, we exposed Meeks involvement in a charity called New Direction Local Development Corporation that raised money for Hurricane Katrina victims who never received it, among other questionable dealings. In March, we asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Meeks for paying $830,000 for a newly built home in 2006 that was worth more than $1.2 million. Media coverage of these events apparently triggered the FBI inquiry.
- Culture of Corruption
- Edul Ahmad
- FBI
- Government Integrity Project
- Gregory Meeks
- House Ethics Committee
Ethics Committee to Probe Fraudster's Loan to Meeks
The payment was an unsecured $40,000 "loan" from Edul Ahmad, a Guyanese businessman who was last month arrested in a massive mortgage-fraud scheme. On July 22, the FBI reportedly removed Ahmad in handcuffs from a Guyana-bound aircraft on the tarmac at JFK International Airport.
- Culture of Corruption
- Edul Ahmad
- Government Integrity Project
- Gregory Meeks
- House Ethics Committee
- Office of Congressional Ethics
Rep. Wu to Resign After Debt-Ceiling Resolution
Moments after Oregon's two United States Senators, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, asked the congressman to step down, Wu addressed the House and said his resignation would go into effect after the resolution of the debt-ceiling crisis.
Meeks' Crony Ahmad Busted by FBI
According to one report, "Ahmad had already boarded Delta 383 at JFK International to head to Guyana when Federal agents boarded the aircraft, handcuffed him and removed him from the aircraft."
- Culture of Corruption
- Dennis Mehiel
- Ed Ahmad
- Government Integrity Project
- Gregory Meeks
- House Ethics Committee
Maxine Waters Asks for Dismissal as Ethics Committee Hires Outside Counsel
John Bresnahan reported on documents obtained by the Politico that Waters' attorney, Stanley Brand, say compromise the case. Late last year, former chief counsel of the Ethics Committee, Blake Chisam, advised then-Committee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) that two lead attorneys in the case, Morgan Kim and Stacy Sovereign, provided confidential materials to Republicans on the Ethics Committee.
Justice Dept. STILL Refuses to Disclose Mollohan Documents
In 2006, the DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launched an investigation on Mollohan and his connections to five non-profit organizations he created that were managed by close friends and real estate partners.
- Alan Mollohan
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
- Culture of Corruption
- Department of Justice (DOJ)
- Government Integrity Project
House Democrats Attack Republicans — On Ethics
Out of the six representatives under fire, four of them are new to the House. The congressmen include: Charlie Bass (N.H.), Vern Buchanan (Fla.), Stephen Fincher (Tenn.), Frank Guinta (N.H.), David Rivera (Fla.) and Scott Tipton (Colo.).
- Charlie Bass
- Culture of Corruption
- David Rivera
- Democratic Congressional Campaign Commitee
- Frank Guinta
- Government Integrity Project
- Scott Tipton
- Stephen Fincher
- Vern Buchanan
Ethics Committee (Finally) Staffs Up Amid Trial Delays
The Committee recently hired 10 new and internal counsels, bumping their staff up to 23 members. But even with the beefed-up staff, the status of other, more high profile cases is still unknown.
- Culture of Corruption
- Eric Massa
- Government Integrity Project
- House Ethics Commitee
- Rep. Gregory Meeks
- Rep. Maxine Waters
House Ethics Committee Investigating Rep. Gregory Meeks
In January 2010, we exposed Meeks involvement in a charity called New Direction Local Development Corporation that raised money for Hurricane Katrina victims who never received it, among other questionable dealings. In March 2010, we asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Meeks for paying $830,000 for a newly built home in 2006 that was worth more than $1.2 million. Click here to download a 26-page pdf of the Complaint.
GOVERNMENT TEXAS COUNTY COURTHOUSE BECOMES FIRST IN STATE TO ADD ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’
- Posted on September 1, 2011 at 11:20am by
Mike Opelka
- Email »
There is a curious fact about this story, though: apparently the Smith County Court House is the first county courthouse in the history of the state of Texas to have the motto that appears on all American money, printed or minted, put on its walls. The effort was assisted by “In God We trust America,” a group calling for elected officials in cities, towns and counties all across the country to post America’s officially adopted national motto on the walls of their buildings.
In the case of Smith County, the addition of “In God We Trust” was voted on and approved by city commissioners last month and Tuesday was the first day that the motto appeared on the walls of the courtroom.
KLTV in Lindale, TX covered the story and spoke with Judge Joel Baker about the installation:
“We had to go through some legal channels to make sure it covered every base. We know that there may be some challengers, we‘ve already heard some criticism but it’s something that, as I said, this nation was founded on, we believe in it and supported it and we‘re glad it’s here,” says Baker.
There are over 250 counties in Texas and Smith County can claim the honor of being the first in the Lone Star State to proudly display “In God We Trust” on the walls of its courtroom.As Judge Baker speculated above, there may be challenges to the motto coming down the pike. We will follow the story and update as needed.
(H/T - Garth Maier at KTBB in Tyler, TX)
China, India workers most likely to call in "sick" - survey
Messi Mania
HELLO MA'AM I'M SORRY, BUT I CAN NOT UNDERSTAND YOU. I ONLY SPEAK GIBBERISH, NOT AMERICAN ENGLISH. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO MY SUPERVISOR, I CAN NOT GIVE YOU THAT IDENTIFICATION. THANK YOU FOR CALLING NETSPEND.
NEW YORK | Thu Sep 1, 2011 2:42pm IST
(Reuters) - Chinese and Indian workers are more likely to skip off work under the false pretence of illness than their French and Mexican counterparts, a new study showed.
The Kronos Global Absence survey conducted online in July and released this week found that respondents from countries where there is more paid leave for employees were much less likely to cry off work with an invented illness than those from countries with fewer holiday allowances.
The Harris Interactive poll commissioned by The Workforce Institute asked some 9,500 respondents, about two-thirds of whom were currently employed either full- or part-time, whether they had ever called in sick when they were not actually sick.
Nearly three-quarters, or 71 percent, of respondents in China said they had, followed by India with 62 percent.
But only 16 percent of workers in France said they had done so. In Mexico, 38 percent had.
In between were workers in the United States and Canada, where just over half had. Australia was higher at 58 percent, and Britain lower with 43 percent.
Joyce Maroney, the director of the Workforce Institute, a think tank established by the workforce management solution company Kronos Inc., called the results fascinating.
Maroney noted that France has been among the world's leading countries in state-mandated annual leave, with annual holiday allowance minimums coming in at 30 days per year.
"Contrast this with India and China, two of the three countries with the lowest holiday allowance minimums, with India only requiring their employees to take 12 days of annual holiday allowance, and China requiring 10," Maroney said.
"One could surmise that in those countries where more paid time off is given, people are less compelled to call in sick when they are not actually sick."
Far more consistent were the reasons given for staging a personal sick day, with feeling stressed and needing a day off the top response by an overwhelming margin. Sick children and insufficient sick leave were also cited by many.
And just what do workers do with this coveted time off? In most of the eight regions surveyed, the top responses were staying home and watching television, and staying in bed.
In India and Mexico, however, folks seemingly prefer socializing to sleep. While watching the tube was a top choice, meeting up with friends or relatives trumped more time in bed.
Workers were also asked what employers could do to cut down on such absenteeism, and unfailingly suggested flexible hours as the solution.
Perhaps not surprisingly, nearly half of respondents in China also said more paid time off would help.
French respondents preferred summer Fridays off and were willing to make up the time during the week.
(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Paul Casciato)
Clarence Thomas: Liberal nightmare on Obamacare
September 1, 2011Share
The nightmare appeared in last week’s issue of The New Yorker, in Jeffrey Toobin’s lengthy article on Supreme Court jurisprudence, titled “Partners” and subtitled “Will Clarence and Virginia Thomas succeed in killing Obama’s health-care plan?”
It’s possible to read Toobin’s article as a partisan hit job, echoing the demands of 74 Democratic House members that Justice Thomas recuse himself from sitting on a case challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare because of his wife’s involvement in the Tea Party movement.
Never mind that this is a standard neither Toobin nor the Democrats apply to other public officials with spouses active in public affairs — and that they’re not asking Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself because of her work in the Justice Department on the issue.
Congress has never before passed and the Supreme Court has never upheld a law requiring individuals to buy a commercial product, as Obamacare does. On this the Obama Democrats, not Clarence Thomas and judges following his lead, are the ones sweeping aside precedent.
AMERICA'S DEBT CRISIS
732 comments
White House: Slower jobs recovery ahead
By Jeanne Sahadi @CNNMoney September 1, 2011: 3:17 PM ET
White House budget chief Jacob Lew said lower forecasts show need to "reinvest in economic growth and job creation."NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Like most economists, the White House's budget experts have grown less optimistic about economic growth and jobs, having been sobered by recent developments such as the debt crisis in Europe and continued troubles in housing.
The White House budget office forecast Thursday that the unemployment rate won't fall below 6% until 2017 -- two years later than it predicted in February, when President Obama delivered his 2012 budget proposal to Congress.
The Office of Management and Budget also lowered its estimates for annual GDP growth by roughly a percentage point for this year, next year and 2013. Its forecasts for 2015 and 2016 are somewhat higher than they were.
OMB said in its "mid-session review" that it now expects the economy to grow at a 1.7% rate this year, down from its 2.7% forecast in February.
Growth is expected to be 2.6% next year and 3.5% in 2013.
Despite the downward revisions, "we are not forecasting a double-dip recession," said Katharine Abraham, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
In terms of unemployment, OMB said that it still expects the jobless rate -- currently 9.1% -- to gradually come down.
But the pace of decline is now expected to be more gradual. For 2011, it forecast the rate will stay at 9.1%.
Big deficit for 2011, but some improvement on tap
At the same time, its forecast for unemployment this year is actually lower than predicted in February.The Office of Management and Budget's mid-session review comes a week before President Obama is scheduled to deliver a series of proposals to boost employment and reduce deficits to a joint session of Congress.
"The review largely underscores the need to get back on a sustainable fiscal path and reinvest in economic growth and job creation," said White House Budget Director Jacob Lew.
The White House also lowered its 10-year Treasury interest rate expectations in the wake of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's pledge to keep rates low until mid 2013.
The budget office also said it still expects inflation to be moderate, coming in around 2% for much of the next decade.
In terms of deficits, the administration now expects the deficit for this year to be $1.32 trillion, 20% below what it had forecast in February. A key reason for the improvement: more tax receipts and less spending than expected.
Deficits over the next decade are also expected to be better than they were forecast to be at the start of the year. That's thanks in large part to the passage of the Budget Control Act, which has the potential to reduce the 10-year deficit by at least $2.1 trillion.
While slower near-term growth will have an impact on people's lives, the effect on the budget outlook over 10 years isn't that substantial, the OMB said. That's because any resulting increase in deficits is largely offset by a narrowed gap between taxes and spending.
First Published: September 1, 2011: 1:51 PM ET
The Euphocrats
Posted by Bill S (Profile)Thursday, September 1st at 10:24PM EDT
18 Comments
Ever notice how adept the Democrats are at the use of euphemisms to try to hide their agenda? We’ve seen it a number of times recently: “revenue enhancements” instead of “tax increases” during the debt limit debate, or “balanced approach“, which again hid the Obama agenda of jacking up taxes. How about the efforts of Debbie Wasserman-Schulz (“competitive option”) and Nancy Pelosi (“consumer option”) to hide the real Democrat agenda of governmental intrusion in private health insurance (the semi-euphemistic “public option”). Even the Harry Reid Democrats’ use of “compromise” is a veiled attempt at hiding their agenda of “my way or the highway“.
The euphemism du jour has been established today by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Apparently FEMA has discovered that Americans really do think “government” has become a bad word. In an attempt to produce a kinder, gentler “government”, FEMA and Boss Barack have decided that they are part of a big, happy “federal family. Now I come from a pretty big extended family (my mom had > 12 brothers and sisters, which means I have a LOT of aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.)…but I’m not all that fond of a big “federal family”.
As the Palm Beach Post points out, this isn’t the first time the term has been used. It appears to have originally surfaced during the Clinton administration, courtesy of our old friend, Al Gore.
During the Clinton administration, Vice President Al Gore responded to 1999 flooding in Iowa by pledging that “the federal family is committed to providing the necessary resources to comfort every person and family devastated by this disaster and to help them return to their normal way of living as fast as possible.”
A Google search shows the phrase appearing 10 times on FEMA’s website during the Bush years. Since Obama took office, “federal family” has turned up 118 times on fema.gov, including 50 Irene-related references.
The Post also notes:“’Government’ is such a dirty word right now,” says Florida State University communication professor Davis Houck. “Part of what the federal government does and any elected official does is change the terms of the language game into terms that are favorable to them.”
I think Obama and FEMA are simply misreading the public and are fundamentally mistaken here. ”Government” isn’t a dirty word – too much government and the wrong kind of government is the problem. Conservatives are not anarchists – we don’t unilaterally oppose government, although we do believe it should be no larger than what the U.S. Constitution dictates. We also believe government does have its place, and there are right and appropriate places for government to act. For example, with respect to Hurricane Irene, the National Weather Service (NOAA) provided an invaluable resource in forecasting the path of the hurricane and giving residents in the path ample warning to seek shelter and high ground to escape the impact of the storm. As a resident of Tornado Alley, every year I personally am thankful for NOAA Weather Radio and the warning services they provide.What has angered Americans about “the federal family” isn’t that it’s “government – the problem is the insatiable appetite for our tax money by “the Family”.
The problem here is that the Left doesn’t want us to understand their agenda, so they hide behind pretty words. They’re Euphocrats.
Left Wing Media Campaign Coverage Magnetic Playbook
Posted by TobyToons (Profile)
Thursday, September 1st at 7:00AM EDT
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Calling all [non biased, of course] Left Wing Media personnel! There is a front runner in the Republican bid for 2012. Get out your liberal playbooks! If you’ve misplaced your playbook, there is now an easier way to come up with your headlines… Introducing the 2012 Magnetic Democrat Playbook. Now you can create your headlines with the greatest of ease.
Need to tell everyone how DUMB the latest Republican frontrunner is…(yawn)… no problem, just rearrange the magnets!
Need to tell everyone how RACIST the latest Republican frontrunner is… (yawn)… no problem, just rearrange the magnets!
Cross-Posted: TobyToons.com (Conservative Political Cartoons)
Spin Machine Slips A Gear On Latest Jobs Report
Categories: Economy
01:16 pm
September 2, 2011
by SCOTT NEUMANThe latest dismal employment report has thrown a monkey wrench in the White House spin machine ahead of President Obama's big jobs plan next week.
No net jobs were created in August, and the administration has acknowledged that the nation's unemployment rate — which stayed flat at 9.1 percent in Friday's Labor Department report — isn't likely to budge much before next year's presidential election.
It's a sign that the spin machine has wound down and that cold, hard, reality is all that's left, says William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton.
"How do you spin 9 percent unemployment? You don't," Galston says.
"The administration is going to have to frame the 2012 elections as a choice, not a referendum," he says. "If it's a referendum on what's happened, they can't win; if it's a choice between us and something worse, they still have a chance."
Republicans stayed fully on message Friday, placing blame squarely on the administration. In a statement issued just minutes after the Labor Department report, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus calls the August jobs numbers a further sign that Obama's economic policies haven't worked and "a painful reminder that America still awaits economic leadership."
The White House Office of Management and Budget, in its mid-session review released Thursday, also has projected that U.S. unemployment will average no better than 8.3 percent next year.
In other words, it's already too late to see any miraculous turnaround in the jobs picture before the election.
Obama's best hope is that there will be a few glimmers of improvement before voters cast judgment on his term in office, says Stephen Bronars, senior economist at Welch Consulting.
"The economy just doesn't turn around that quickly," he says. "But if there were signs that things were really starting to rebound, it could still be good" for Obama.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, says people want a president to be optimistic even in the face of grim statistics. But the current economic and the political climate in the wake of Congress' bruising budget battle may limit what Obama can realistically put in any jobs plan.
"Promising nirvana at this point is just not credible," Sabato says.
Steve Elmendorf, a political consultant and former aide to House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt in the 1990s, agrees.
"[Obama] has to propose ideas that are realistic, that Republicans are willing to go for," Elmendorf says.
"If the numbers are not going to improve to an acceptable level before the election," he says, "you have to ask people if they are going to be better off with his ideas for creating jobs or the other guy's."
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney offered a preview of sortsof his own "bold, sweeping and specific" jobs plan Friday, but it's hard to envision how sweeping his plan could be given that he faces many of the same realities as Obama.
Tags: Unemployment, President Obama
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The Arrogant Left Hates Rural, Conservative America.
Posted by Repair_Man_Jack (Profile)Wednesday, August 31st at 11:00AM EDT
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“It seems unjust to me that someone would be charged when they were protecting their family,” state Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, said after the hearing. “I’m at a loss to understand why the U.S. government is pursuing this in the manner they are.”
(HT: The Spokesman Review)Let me break this down for Representative Keough. I’ll be blunt here, but without any disrespect intended. Jeremy M. Hill, a US Citizen, from Northern Idaho, shot and killed a female grizzly bear which had entered his backyard while two of his children were playing. This forced the US Government to choose whether it valued the grizzly bear more or two children of a US citizen, who happened to live in a Conservative, rural county.
So the OR geek runs the numbers, and determines there’s about a p=0.75 that Mr. Hill voted against Barack Obama. At that point the current USG believes $50,000 and 1 year of prison for shooting an endangered species is condign punishment for not being liberal. It doesn’t even begin to address the loss of the precious grizzly bear. Mr. Hill is therefore having the book thrown at him. The grizzly, as far as Liberal Democrats are concerned, wassupposed to eat Mr. Hill’s kids. Predators do keep the balance.
At this point you have to be wondering. Who sprinkled the PCP in Repair_Man_Jack’s Cheerios? The government doesn’t actually hate people like Mr. Hill. Mr. Hill can hold a job. He produces revenue. They may not respect him, but they can fill a whole bunch of EBT Cards by milking the poor, foolish herd of tax-paying bovines.
But no; you would be wrong. Let me explain to you what the Left under Barack Obama thinks of rural, Conservatives as human beings. We give you the rational and open-minded Congressman Andre Carson. He offers us a bright and shining example of the typical American Liberal.
Rep. Andre Carson, a Democrat from Indiana who serves as the CBC’s chief vote counter, said at a CBC event in Miami that some in Congress would “love to see us as second-class citizens” and “some of them in Congress right now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me…hanging on a tree.” Carson also said the tea party is stopping change in Congress, likening it to “the effort that we’re seeing of Jim Crow.”
Politico.comBut that’s just one idiot, Repair_Man, you can’t judge all liberals by the words of Congressman Carson. He is uniquely qualified to represent citizens from the Lower Quartile in intellect and achievement in Congress. He, like no other member of Congress since Senator Earnest Hollings retired, can empathize with what it is like to be stupid on a daily basis.
Yes, that is just one idiot. However, I don’t have to go any further than my daily list of blog-reads to get you several more. Instapundit links me to the latest smear being waged against GOP Candidate Michele Bachmann.
Bachmann attended a Christian Musical festival in Iowa on a rainy day in August. During the festival, Bachmann gave a speech. She made a fairly lame and inoffensive attempt at humor. “Who likes wet people?” She inquired of the crowd. The left-wing smear machine then launched into overdrive.
An edited video immediately surfaced that made it appear that Congresswoman Bachmann asked “Who likes white people?” This travesty was quickly set straight when an unedited video from the festival came into the public domain. Yet, even as the truth put on its boots, Michelle Castillo of the always fake, but accurate NBC News wasted no time in spreading the dishonesty.
Stacy McCain describes the utter chicanery below.
Castillo writes: Everything that comes out of Michele Bachmann’s mouth is gold. A new video has her asking a crowd of people, “Who likes white people?” It doesn’t make any sense, so many explanations are surfacing from “White People Soul Power” being the band that played before, to the fact it was raining and Bachmann is asking about “wet” people.
My first thought was to search the actual concert manifest for White People Soul Power. Here is the Main Stage performer list. Here is 99.5FM The Pulse Rock Stage performance manifest. The Tent Stage featured the following artists. The Truth Talk Stage featured mostly revival preaching, rather than musical acts.Help me out here. I can’t seem to find where The White People Soul Power Band ever performed. Does anyone have a manifest for the Crazed White Racist Stage? Oh, that’s right, apparently there wasn’t one. I’m sure glad that these baseless and malicious accusations weren’t leveled against anyone nice and sensitive like Maxine Waters.
And that “Go to Hell” sentiment voiced by Congresswoman Waters is not just a liberal taking point. It’s not just posturing. Just recently, the United States Government had a choice to make. A man in Northern Idaho saw two of his children being menaced by a grizzly bear in his own backyard. He grabbed a gun and shot the bear. I have no knowledge whether Mr. Jeremy Hill has attended a Tea Party rally or convention. One thing I can say for sure is that the liberals who currently run Washington, DC are doing everything in their power to make sure this man’s life turns into a living hell.
Most Conservative State Representative in Texas Endorses Rick Perry & Explains Trans-Texas CorridorMost Conservative State Representative in Texas Endorses Rick Perry for President - Explains Trans-Texas Corridor
State Representative Wayne Christian has endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry for President in the 2012 Presidential Election.
Representative Christian is the most Conservative State Representative in Texas, based on the 2011 Conservative Legislator Rankings released by the Texas Eagle Forum. Wayne Christian received a score of 100%.
The following is a letter I received from Representative Christian Yesterday. In the letter, Representative Christian endorses Perry, explains the Trans-Texas Corridor that Perry took some heat over, and praises Perry as the best overall Conservative who can beat Obama and who has the character and leadership to stand for conservative values and help the economy (like he did in Texas).
Other high profile Conservatives from across the nation have also endorsed Rick Perry for President, which has helped boost Rick Perry's popularity among conservatives. Just a couple of days ago Conservative Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe endorsed Governor Rick Per.... I am certainly no high profile conservative, but I also support Governor Perry for President, and I am a staunch social and fiscal conservative. I really believe in Rick Perry.
Also, just for fun, you can read Kinky Friedman’s endorsement of Rick Perry for President.
From Texas State Representative Wayne Christian:
I believe Governor Rick Perry would be dynamite (which means "great" in Texas) as President of the United States. Having served approaching two decades in the Texas House, I have worked with Rick Perry during his service as Agriculture Commissioner, Lt. Governor and Governor of the State of Texas, and have come to appreciate his style of leadership, responsiveness to constituents, and character.
He has consistently presented an open door to this representative from rural East Texas. More than once, he has been willing to listen to my ideas, and then as a result of his endorsement and personal involvement, rules were changed, laws were instituted and funding was made available that benefited my constituents and all of Texas. Many times he opposed more powerful individuals and groups who could provide him much more financial support and power than could the "common folk." These common folk were the good people of Texas who depended only on his integrity to simply do the right thing.
Governor Perry is in no way perfect. He has made errors. As we say in Texas, the only person who was perfect was crucified a couple of thousand years ago. With that being said, after a quarter century in politics, Rick Perry's record shines better than most. Of course he was once a Democrat and Republicans may criticize him for that. However, the Governor is not the only Texan, who after entering into public service, experienced the Democratic Party's dramatic shift away from principles consistent with rural, conservative values, and chose to do something about it--He became a Republican.
I was the first Republican from East Texas to enter the Texas House and remained the Republican with the most Democratic district in the Texas Legislature for three sessions. Many times folks in Republican circles are quite taken aback when I do not raise my hand when asked, "Who has always voted in a Republican primary?" Fact is, as recently as a couple of decades ago, we had no Republican primary in my part of rural Texas. Thus, Governor Perry, who entered state politics farther back than me, was courageous enough to take a stand early on and join other statesmen like Ronald Reagan and Phil Gramm in acknowledging that the Democratic Party had left their conservative beliefs behind.
Much has been criticized of Governor Perry's initial support for the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). As President of the Conservative Coalition of the Texas Legislature, I was deeply involved in that entire process. My rural district was directly in the path of the TTC and the project was largely viewed by my constituents as an abuse of the governmental power of eminent domain.
Truth is, the TTC started as a expansion on the I-35 corridor. The plan was added to legislation by the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) as a new "branch" of highway that ran from south Texas to the north right through my district. TXDOT presented facts that upon the completion of the Panama Canal expansion many of the trading freighters, which currently only serve the West Coast, would be able to bring their cargo to Texas ports. It was anticipated that this would place a tremendous burden on the current highway system as it heads north. However, the flawed TXDOT presentation of the plan and threats to private land ownership were not handled well. Citizens throughout Texas were insulted by the methods of potential property seizure, foreign control of Texas properties and other abuses. It was wrong, and when presented with the will of Texas citizens, Governor Perry put a stop to it.
While driving my daughter back to begin a new semester at Baylor University, I received a call from the Governor's office requesting that I invite a group of my fellow Texas Conservative Coalition legislators to his office to meet with him and TXDOT leadership. The following week several of us met with Governor Perry and the TXDOT Commissioner and Executive Director to share the frustration and opposition of our constituents across the state to the TTC. After a lengthy meeting, Governor Perry did something that has made me respect him as I have no other leader which I have observed or served alongside. He sat back in his chair, gave our arguments thought and said, "Tell your constituents you talked to the Governor, and the Trans-Texas Corridor is no more." To this day, the handful of legislators in attendance at that meeting have respected Rick Perry--a man who was confident, honest, and exhibited absolute integrity to his citizens. He often does not receive the proper recognition and credit he deserves for his decisive response to the will of Texas citizens against the TTC. When presented with their objections and opposition, he brought a halt to the ill-conceived TTC. This is in stark contrast to our current President who sees the destructive results of his policies and has no intention of admitting fault or changing course, but instead blames everyone else for his errors in judgment.
From his action to end the TTC to his signature on legislation to protect the rights of coastal property owners struggling to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of a hurricane, Rick Perry has responded to Texan landowners' concerns about private property rights. I was one of those 125 landowners who faced a loss of property to be determined by a governmental agency's assessment of where grass grew before and after a hurricane. I applauded Governor Perry as he stood with the Texas House and Senate (and eventually the Texas Supreme Court) against some very vocal opposition to sign into law Rep. Hamilton's bill preventing a potential land grab by the state. In this past session, Governor Perry declared eminent domain reform legislation an emergency item and saw it all the way through the legislative process until he signed it into law, strengthening the rights and protections of private property owners across Texas.
If ever there was a day we needed a leader in this country who does not place his pride and ego ahead of what is proven to be the will of the people and in their best interest...this is the day. A real leader who puts what is best for his citizens ahead of personal pride and opinions is what America needs.
Governor Perry stood against the temptation to use two of the worst hurricanes in Texas history to increase taxes and unnecessarily increase the burden on Texas families and businesses. He led by proposing to utilize the Obama stimulus funding for one time expenditures only (ie. to address hurricane damages), and avoid the creation or expansion of programs that future Texans would have to fund. Handing out the bacon would have been the response of many politicians who were given the opportunity to appropriate billions of federal dollars, but Rick Perry did not choose that course, and even refused federal money that had strings attached for future state spending obligations. He proved to be a leader who thought first of the impact to taxpayers in the future above the opportunity to start more government programs.
The single accomplishment that earns more of my respect for Rick Perry than any other is that he has vetoed more bills than any other Texas governor (and not because of how long he has served). As a legislator, I realize how hard and expensive it is to get a bill passed. From one committee to another to the House floor to Senate committees, to Senate floor and back to the House again--passage of any piece of legislation is a long, costly road with a great investment of money, time, expertise, and reputation. Governor Perry has vetoed a particular bill of mine that I still believe was extremely important, and to this day, I respectfully disagree with him. Yet, his individual courage and strength to stand alone on principle against the majority of the Legislature and powerful, rich special interest groups who can turn political contributions on and off proves the character of this man and that is why I want him in the White House.
I can give example after example of times when Governor Rick Perry stood on the side of "the little guy" over government expansion. There are many paths to more financial support and more power that are achieved with much less effort than standing with the common man over the rich and powerful. As Representative of a poor, rural district I can tell you Governor Perry has stood for us and what was best for Texans many times.
As I mentioned at the start of my comments, Perry isn't perfect, but unlike many politicians, he is brave enough to stand firm when he believes he is right, and courageous enough to admit when he is wrong. There can be no doubt that Texas under Governor Perry's leadership has done something right over the past decade, as we are undoubtedly the leader in jobs and business opportunities in the Free World. Texas has seen an increase of 1 million new jobs during Rick Perry's tenure as governor, while the rest of the nation has seen a loss of 2.5 million jobs, and over 70% of our job creation is in the vibrant and growing private sector of Texas. That stewardship is sorely needed in D.C.
The quote from President Harry Truman, "the buck stops here," is true of any great leader. Governor Perry has proven that when the buck stops at whatever desk he is sitting, there's a heap more good than bad. Our nation would be well-served to have a leader like Rick Perry as our President, a man who has proven his ability to successfully foster a job-creating economy while reining in government growth, as well as someone who has learned from past errors and demonstrated the genuine desire to be responsive to the people he represents.
Thank you for your time,
Wayne
- By David Bellow at Sep 2, 2011
Views: 4
Tags: 2012, Christian, Election, Gov., Perry,Rep., Rick, Wayne
- < Previous Post
Comment by Faith 1 26 minutes ago
It was kinda thrown at me that I am gung ho about Rick Perry's run for the presidency. Well honestly I have every right to be but more than that .. I have every reason to be as well. LOOK .. I am not here to change anyones mind to vote Rick Perry .. altho that would be nice. But I am here to make sure that the conspiracies .. rumors and out and out lies are proven with FACT and shot down! Living in Texas .. in which I am very proud of but I've had first hand experience in how we live here. I have vetted Perry from beginning to end. I KNOW what i'll be voting for! Hes not only been vetted by me but by some of the best on all sides. The ONLY things anyone can seem to come up with are tired OLD rumors and lies dating back to his earliest. So please allow me to share my thoughts, opinions and above all else .. the FACTS so when you read the garbage (and there is ALOT of garbage out there) You will know the truth at least!
With that said .. Wayne Christian took a very bold and potentially career ending stand against Speaker Straus at the beginning of this session. He is not a guy who simply tows the party line. Thats why this endorsement is BIG! Its BIG enough for everyone to sit up and take notice! Perry supporters know that he is not "perfect". We know he has learned through the years and he has given Texans that chance to teach him what we like and dont like. He has not ever to my personal knowledge rammed something down our throats. When we speak thru the process .. he listens!
Now think of this .... as President .. he will have to answer to how many in DC? The votes will have to be there to pass anything at all .. correct? But I know by experience that he will listen to WE THE PEOPLE! He will protect our military .. he will protect and secure our borders and he won't be swooning over foreign countries trying to kiss their butts for peace. We will DRILL for oil and knowing Perry .. he will get all those companies that moved out of America because of Obama .. back into the USA where there are JOBS for all!
He is a strong campaigner!!!! If you have not seen his campaign in action .. you have missed out! I have seen it running for Gov. I cant wait till it ramps up for President!! Obama and Libs will be knocked back to size .. promise ya! lol Anyway thats all I gotta say .. if you view me as gung ho .. hmmm I guess its cuz I am .. I'm proud to be a Texan and I'm proud to have a Governor like Rick Perry!
Comment by Beth Bowra 3 minutes ago
Comment by Beth Bowra 3 minutes agoYou're doing a great job of keeping the rumors shot down :) mind if I paste that letter on my blog?
ITALY-MAFIA Sep-1-2011 (380 words) xxxi
Shots fired at car of Mafia-fighting priest in Italy
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A southern Italian priest who is outspoken against the Mafia said gunshots fired at his car were likely meant to show him and the public that members of organized crime are still in charge of the area.
"I think it was just a serious warning," Father Giuseppe Campisano, the pastor of St. Rocco Parish in Gioiosa Ionica, told Vatican Radio Aug. 31.
The shots were fired late Aug. 29, "not in the middle of the night, but at a time when there were still a lot of people around, so I think they wanted to be heard."
News reports said three or four shots were fired at the car, which was parked outside the rectory. Father Campisano was not in the car at the time.
For years, the priest has received threatening phone calls and letters mailed with bullets in the envelope because of his commitment to fighting the 'Ndrangheta, the organized crime ring of Italy's Calabria region.
Father Campisano told Vatican Radio he thinks the shots were "tied to the feast of St. Rocco, most likely because of the position both I and the bishop took in trying straighten out the celebration a bit and give it a religious sense because it's always been marked by the most absolute paganism." This year the feast was celebrated with events Aug. 16-28.
The celebration, he said, is "linked to a form of power and control precisely because of the river of money" it brings in with an enormous fair and dozens of stalls selling all sorts of food and trinkets. Members of the 'Ndrangheta "systematically go to all the stalls for extortion," the priest said.
During the city's celebration of the feast this year, he said, the church sponsored four evenings of presentations and reflections on the importance of the rule of law.
He said the town is made up of a large "gray zone," where people put up with organized crime and the criminal mentality, and a small "black zone," where the real criminals live and operate openly.
Some parishioners, he said, "are beginning to understand the Gospel message and, sharing it, they are close to me and work with me. I count on a 'small remnant,' to use biblical language."
END
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POLITICAL COLUMN
August 29, 2011 3:38pm847 CommentsOne in four Democrats wants to dump Obama
byByron York Chief Political Correspondent
Follow on Twitter:@byronyork
A group carries signs asking for immigration reform as they protest outside of the Fairmont Hotel before U.S. President Barack Obama arrives for a fundraiser May 25, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Hundreds of protestors from different political groups staged the demonstration at a campaign fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
A new poll by CNN and ORC International finds that 27 percent of Democrats would like to see their party nominate a candidate other than Barack Obama for president in 2012.In response to the question, "Do you think the Democratic party should renominate Barack Obama as the party's candidate for president in 2012, or do you think the Democratic party should nominate a different candidate for president in 2012?" -- 72 percent said they wanted to see Obama renominated. But 27 percent, slightly more than one in every four, said they wanted to see Democrats nominate a different candidate. One percent had no opinion.
The poll was taken August 24-25. In a survey taken in early August, 28 percent of Democrats said they wanted a different candidate. Polls taken in July and before showed Obama in a stronger position, with no more than 22 percent saying they preferred a different candidate. The current poll is based on interviews with 463 Democrats and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
The new poll is another indication of Democratic unhappiness with the president, but it does not mean Obama will face a challenge in his party's primaries. Despite the complaints of a few liberals like Sen. Bernard Sanders, the odds of a Democrat opposing the president appear to be something less than zero. But the new poll is still a matter of concern to Democrats, because it is yet another indication that there is significant disillusionment with the president within his own party. Whether those disaffected Democrats will come around to supporting Obama next year is an open question -- and perhaps the most worrying of the president's re-election bid.
Stocks plunge after US hiring dries up in August
US stocks dive after government says that hiring halted in August, adding to recession fears 
Companies:
-
Topics:
In this Aug. 18, 2011 photo, trader William Sachs, right, talks with a fellow trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Global stock markets slumped Friday, Sept. 2, 2011, ahead of the release of U.S. employment figures, which will be scrutinized for clues about the state of the world's largest economy. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)Daniel Wagner, AP Business Writer, On Friday September 2, 2011, 12:22 pm EDT
Stocks tumbled Thursday after an awful report on the job market renewed fears of another recession.No new jobs were created last month, the government said early Friday. It was the worst report in 11 months. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.1 percent. It has been above 9 percent in all but two months since May 2009.
Treasury yields fell and gold rose as cash flowed into investments seen as less risky than stocks. Overseas markets followed U.S. stocks lower. They already had fallen on reports that talks about Greece's shaky finances were breaking down.
Just after noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 180 points, or 1.6 percent, at 11,313. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 21, or 1.8 percent, to 1,183. The Nasdaq composite index fell 42, or 1.7 percent, to 2,504
All 30 stocks in the Dow fell. Only one, Verizon Communications Inc., briefly turned positive.
The losses wiped out most of this week's gains, leaving the Dow up just 0.3 percent. Stock indexes rose last week for the first time in five weeks.
Volume was thin ahead of the holiday weekend. Shares dropped Thursday, breaking a four-day rally. Analysts said many traders had sold shares before taking off a day early.
The weakness of the Labor Department's closely watched jobs report surprised investors. Previously reported job addition figures for June and July were also revised lower. The average work week declined and hourly earnings fell.
The report further dampened hopes that the economy will improve in the second half of the year. Stagnant hiring and declining wages leave consumers with little money to spend. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent the U.S. economy.
Cash poured into investments seen as lower-risk after the dismal jobs news. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.04 percent, from 2.14 percent shortly before the report came out. Bond yields rise as their prices fall.
The price of gold rose 2.8 percent to $1,880. Fears that a stalling economy could reduce demand for oil and gasoline pushed benchmark crude oil down $1.90, or 2.1 percent, to $87.03 in early-afternoon trading.
The VIX, a measure of market volatility, rose 3 percent to 33. The index has fallen from a recent high of 48 on Aug. 8, when the Dow lost 634 points following a downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating. It traded below 20 for most of the year.
Fears of another recession grew last month after markets swung wildly and global growth slowed. Consumer confidence plunged in August to a two-year low. A key category that tracks business investment fell sharply in July. Recent data were more encouraging, suggesting weak but steady economic expansion.
European stocks fell as negotiations about Greece's shaky finances appeared to break down. The fell even more after the U.S. jobs report. Germany's DAX closed down 3.4 percent and France's CAC-40 fell 3.6 percent.
Bank of America Corp., the nations' largest bank, sank 7 percent after The Wall Street Journal reported that regulators asked it to develop emergency plans because of its sagging share price and the weakening economy. Bank of America is down 44 percent this year, largely on concerns about legal costs related to shoddy mortgage investments that it sold.
Other big banks dropped on separate reports that the government is preparing to sue some of them, also over mortgage investments they sold that lost value when the housing market collapsed. The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac says banks lied about the quality loans that they pooled. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell and Morgan Stanley fell about 4.5 percent. Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. lost about 3.5 percent
Netflix Inc. plunged more than 9 percent after talks collapsed with a key provider of movies and shows. Starz Entertainment said late Thursday that it won't renew a contract that allows Netflix to stream recently released movies and TV shows online.
The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq all had their worst August since 2001 as economic fears and instability in financial markets and European banks added to investors' worries.
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The Mythical President
by Pat_S on September 1, 2011Posted in: Moronic Convergence, Pat Post, Politics
You know you have a failed presidency when the president’s supporters fantasize about beating up the opposition. It’s a defense mechanism. Obama should just tell ‘em this is what we’re going to do. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Joe Scarborough is so angry with Obama he’s regressing. Joe projects his temper tantrum onto Obama who probably will have a temper tantrum in next week’s speech.
Obama wants to go to congress to deliver his speech because, as usual, he will lecture, berate and blame them. Obama postures as the only rational person in government who heroically has to step in from time to time to save the day. His supporters are as fed up as we are with his pretense of being the coach, the guru who has to contend with faulty humanity and whimsical nature.
They want him to strike fear into his opponents. We’re waiting for him to grow up.
Speaking about the President’s jobs speech conflicting with the GOP debate–
Barnicle: I think it shows a complete lack of fear of the presidency, this particular president…a little element of disrespect. But on the president’s side, the lack of fear comes from the fact that — and you hear many democrats talk about this…there’s no punch back.
Scarborough:…from Democrats, frustration that this White House doesn’t know how to fight tough. Imagine, imagine congress telling LBJ, no, you’re not going to give a speech here. It’s not any more complicated than the fact that politicians are moved mainly by fear. They really are. Fear of their voters or fear of a president, fear of reprisals. LBJ, there is not a single member of congress that would do that to LBJ because they know he would…hit them where it hurt.
Obama was sold as the man who would change the way Washington works. Now his supporters long for the bad old days. Those who have been bemoaning the lack of cooperation are now advocating raw bullying. It’s the last defense.A reminder to Joe from Obama’s inaugural address.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
Obama’s career has always been based on other people’s fantasies. As reality dawns on the once true believers, the sun sets on the Obama administration.Related Posts
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9 Comments | Leave a comment
TinkerSo this epic crisis du jour is so epic that it could wait while he took his latest vacation, but it couldn’t be postponed one more night? This is the kind of speech he should be making from the Oval Office anyway, not a joint session of Congress. But he likes the big stage doesn’t he?
Is it just me or are the lefties really getting frustrated with this whole silly idea of co-equal branches of government?
Kimj7157Right. This is a joke. Jobs were going to be his “number one priority” for the last three years, but he REALLY means it this time. He’s playing politics–again–and has no real plan. Never did. He’s a narcissistic, arrogant candy-ass who is using the Presidency as a four year joy ride. It’s all about him. Always was.
angelaismsI think perhaps Obama’s jobs plan is buried under the same pile of soft peat where Nixon’s plan to get us out of Vietnam lived back in the day.
otlset
I wish the left would COOL IT with the violent rhetoric. Geez the flash mobs are bad enough, do they want to get the Bill Ayers crowd worked up now too?otlset
LJZumpanoI saw that this morn. Kept thinking , hey guys, TEA is all about changing that DC attitude you are pining for. No more thuggery and big bullies!. Notice how they are all going back to the history books trying to find a way for BHO to promote progressive policy the way FDR & LBJ did.
striderI think they’re correct about LBJ. Part of the current problem is LBJ’s revenge on the hippies – “The Great Society”.
bluegrassriver“Is it just me or are the lefties really getting frustrated with this whole silly idea of co-equal branches of government?”
They’re not frustrated, they just plain don’t believe in it if it gets in their way of bringing us Utopia.
The Prince of HeftReally great show today!!! A real pick me up:)
Some great quotes worth repeating to your conservative friends and family.
Tammy Bruce: “For generations Republicans have compromised.
Conservatives and Christians have become almost trained to not expect the best, or to not believe that they can have the best.
Conservatives and Christians need to begin to believe not only that they deserve the best, but them getting the best is what will save this country and there is no reason to compromise!”
Tabatha Hale: “This is the time. This is our opportunity to duke it out, and I’m not willing to sit back and not fight for the best candidate because I am too afraid that he is going to lose!”
“The Senate is as important if not more important then the presidency!”
This is great conversation for my mother, an extremely religious evangelical, who wants to favor Perry. -of course because of his religiosity. She doesn’t feel Palin can win because of the MSM smears. She admits that Perry is not as conservative as Palin.” I sent her two pics, one with him speaking at La Raza, and another sitting around a bunch of ACORN stooges. I’m gonna keep working on her. Plus I think Palin is still the better candidate even if you value Christianity over policy.
Looking forward to streaming the speech at Palinstock Saturday! And new Hampshire on Monday! Hope she announces, but I can wait. (maybe one day I need to be slapped around like the lady in Airplane-the movie, cuz I can’t handle the wait no mo;)
Until then, think Mel Gibson in Brave Heart. Hoooold! Hooooooold! NOW!!!
Keep your powder dry!
TeriThis moronic sonofabitch marxist and his machine that put him in the White House will never turn our America into a socialist/marxist state as they had hoped. We the people will never let that happen. Evil gets a swift kick in the ass as we send them back to their rotten communes in 2012.
August 31, 2011
Obama Trying Desperately to Head Off Coming Crash in Clean-Energy Industry
67By Coral Davenport, National Journal
The Obama administration is trying desperately to head off what many economists say is a coming crash in the clean-energy industry. To make the case, Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday equated spending on clean energy during a recession to spending on crucial weapons and technology during a war, previewing a theme likely to recur this fall as the White House and Democrats try to save what’s left of the federal clean-energy budget.
“If we shrink from deciding we’re going to lead in the area of renewable energy, then we will make the worst decision we’ve made in this nation’s history,” Biden said, delivering the keynote speech at the fourth annual National Clean Energy Summit, hosted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
In the next year, the small but growing U.S. clean-tech sector, which President Obama sees as crucial to transforming the nation’s energy economy, will face a trifecta of challenges: Roughly $30 billion in federal spending the industry enjoyed in the 2009 stimulus law will come to an end; the congressional panel charged with slashing $1.2 billion from the federal deficit this fall will likely target the government’s existing clean-energy tax credits, subsidies, and research funding; and new energy policies that Obama once hoped would spur massive market demand for renewable energy—such as a national clean-energy mandate or a price on carbon pollution—will be halted in Congress with a Republican-controlled House.
 * | Government + Liberal + Program = FailureBy Craig Andresen on August 30, 2011 at 6:19 am |
*Liberals LOVE to harp on and on endlessly about the separation of church and state – but when the church is THEIR brand of religion, separation be DAMNED and FULL STEAM AHEAD!Liberals bow to the altar of global warming and believe their messiah can walk on Brita filtered water without leaving a carbon footprint. What’s more, they want us ALL to become obedient little green disciples and worship the great and mighty Oz Gore.
Liberals have for years been attempting to bully nonbelievers into the green jobs crowd and have, at least to some extent, been weirdly successful. We can no longer buy good old regular light bulbs. Thanks to the greenie weenies, we have to buy…CFL bulbs. GREAT JOB liberals. Break one and you have to call the HAZMAT team and what if you toss one into a land fill? They’re full of mercury and they are all made in China!
I digress.
What’s happening now is quite possibly the biggest scam since the Gore got ordained. Seattle, a city full of green freaks and a bastion of liberalism received a federal grant to weatherize homes less than a year and a half ago. So far, with their 20 million dollars of YOUR money, Seattle has created an overwhelming 14 jobs and weatherized ever so slightly more than 2 homes.
3…to be exact.
Unquestionably, Seattle can pat itself heartily on the back and boast of enormous success. After all, when you combine the number of 
Were it not for the federal government and liberals getting involved, the owners could have gone to the Home Depot, purchased the needed supplies and done their own weatherization. Even if the home owner didn’t even OWN a home, it’s a fair bet they could have built one from scratch for less than a million dollars, depending on the neighborhood and proximity to the nearest Starbucks – and it’s certain that in the process of doing so they could have created more than 14 jobs.
Let’s take the cost of materials out of the equation as that could not possibly amount to much more than a drop in a 20 million dollar bucket and with what are you left? Labor and the salaries of those 14 hard working administrators. Labor huh? Well if liberals had anything to do with it, and they did, it’s not out of the question they used illegal labor and we all know that comes pretty cheap.
How can I make a leap like that? That illegal aliens provided labor for this project? Well, while liberal’s heads explode at this baseless accusation, you might want to remind them that in the 2010 midterm elections…well…this quote from a Fox News report pretty much says it all.
“The 42-year-old is one of dozens of volunteers — many of them illegal immigrants — canvassing neighborhoods in the Seattle area trying to get naturalized citizens to cast a ballot for candidates like Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who is in a neck-to-neck race with Republican Dino Rossi.”
“The 42-year-old is one of dozens of volunteers — many of them illegal immigrants — canvassing neighborhoods in the Seattle area trying to get naturalized citizens to cast a ballot for candidates like Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who is in a neck-to-neck race with Republican Dino Rossi.”Well, if they DID use illegals to perform the necessary weatherization on any or all 3 of the houses in question, they were the highest paid illegals in the country. To qualify as a contractor for this obtuse mission, the federal government requires you to pay the workers $21.00/hr with FULL benefits AND retirement.
Sounds like a union gig huh?
So, let’s say it takes 10 workers to complete the weatherization of a house and they work like busy beaver for 10 hours a day and it takes 10 days per house…$21.00 x 8hrs x 10 workers = $1680.00/day x 10 days = $16,800 x 3 houses = $50,400.00 in hourly wages. Add in benefits and retirement and what could you possibly be up to as a total? Let’s say $100,000.00 just to pick a nice round number and that leave us $19,900,000.00 short of the 20 million dollar grant.
That leave us with 14 administrators receiving the bulk of 20 million dollars. I am not saying they got all that money in salary as they had to rent some sort of office space, buy some office supplies, the mandatory benefits and retirement package and Trenta Caramel Lattes skinny no whip for 14 can run things up a bit but still…
All of this is overseen by the watchful eye of the Department of Energy.
The Secretary of Energy is one Dr. Steven Chu whose website bio reads: As United States Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steve
Dr. Chu is a distinguished scientist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics (1997). He has devoted his recent scientific career to the search for new solutions to our energy challenges and stopping global climate change – a mission he continues with even greater urgency as Secretary of Energy.
Hmmm…a Nobel prize winning global warming devotee.
Anyway, SOMEONE from the DOE has been quoted as saying of the national program, “While communities are advancing their programs at different rates, we are pleased with the progress.”
So, this great and efficient program is not just limited to Seattle. How is it going elsewhere? Well, it’s a $508,000,000.00 program taking place in 41 states which has, so far, created 600 jobs. Okay, that’s created or SAVED 600 jobs and we know it’s not possible to quantify “saved” jobs so the number created can and IS smaller than 600.
600 jobs divided by 41 states equals 14.63 jobs per state average.
So far, 9,000 homes have been weatherized nationwide under this program – which is basically half over after a year and a half so taking that figure means for the whole program, 18,000 homes can be upgraded. $508,000,000.00 divided by 18,000 comes out to an average of $28,222.00 per house.
Now then, the GOAL over the 3-year program is to weatherize 150,000 homes nationwide which means the average cost per home would be $3,386.00 and that figure would INCLUDE the salary and benefits of the administrators and contractors meaning each house retrofitted would receive less than that amount in actual material costs.
What does it take to weatherize the average home? New insulation, maybe new doors, windows, weather stripping? The point is, you really can’t do much retrofitting of this sort in a home for a couple thousand dollars or less unless the house doesn’t really NEED much retrofitting.
Here’s the other part of the equation and arguably the real genius of it: The 508 million dollar program for 150,000 homes is estimated to save each home owner a whopping $36.00 per month on their utilities.
Okay, take ALL of this into account when you see the quote from the Mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn, who says, “It’s too early to declare the program a failure. We may have to adjust how we market it and the incentives we provide. Nobody has really cracked the green jobs code.”
Mayor McGinn…Really?
It’s too early to declare the program a failure?
You may have to adjust how you market the program?
Nobody has cracked the green jobs code?
What???
There’s a green jobs code that apparently is super double top secret, and until somebody cracks that code targeting the marketing for this program is about as accurate and efficient as a drunk trying to shoot down a humming bird with a slingshot while wearing a blindfold and you think it’s too early to declare this program a failure?
It really makes one wonder, doesn’t it, just how many carbon credits you would have to buy from the Reverend Al to offset the burning of 20 million dollars?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 at 6:19 am and is filed under Conservative, Craig Andresen, Economy, Envionment and Regulations, Liberals, Progressives, Socialists, Tea Party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You canleave a response, or trackback from your own site.
3 Responses to “Government + Liberal + Program = Failure”
- kay austin Says:
- God Bless us all…this is very scary..what next
- Global Warming Alert: The Sun Controls Earth’s Climate | Red Dog Report bit.ly/okH30I reddog tcot sgp teaparty p2 tpp tlot
- Scarlett M Says:
- Craig, forcing ‘green’ jobs now is like asking a bi-plane to fly to the moon. The will might be there, but the ‘how?’ is still out of reach. Until science and technology reach the point where the ideas on alternative energy are doable and cheap it’s not going to happen.
W.H. furious over speech delay
The scheduling mess shows how hyper-partisan politics have become, says Simon. | AP PhotosClose
By ROGER SIMON | 9/1/11 4:42 PM EDT Updated: 9/1/11 6:32 PM EDT
It seemed like a trivial matter: On Wednesday, House Republicans forced the president to delay his speech to a joint session of Congress by one day.
Who cares? The White House cares. Very much.
Echo Chamber: Date debate
W.H.: No objection from Boehner
POLITICO 44
“It is a big deal that the House said ‘no’ to the president from our end,” a White House source with intimate knowledge of what took place between the House and the president told me Thursday. “This confirms what we all know: They will do anything in the House to muck us up.”On Wednesday, the White House staff did not know exactly what President Barack Obama was going to say in his major jobs speech, but it knew exactly where and when he was going to say it.
The location would be before a joint session of Congress in the august marble-clad chamber of the House of Representatives. And the speech would be next Wednesday night, when the House returned from vacation, and there would be maximum TV viewership.
The speech would be dignified, sober and important. But the planning turned out to be a mess, a mess that illuminates just how hyper-partisan politics have become on Capitol Hill at exactly the time Obama is calling for bipartisanship.
The White House was well aware the president’s speech would conflict with a planned Republican debate sponsored by POLITICO and NBC to be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The debate would be broadcast live by MSNBC and live-streamed by POLITICO. CNBC and Telemundo will re-air the broadcast.
Yet the White House did not see this as an obstacle. “With all due respect, the POLITICO-MSNBC debate was one that was going on a cable station,” the White House source said. “It was not sacrosanct. We knew they would push it back and then there would be a GOP debate totally trashing the president. So it wasn’t all an upside for us.”
And, at first, things seemed to fall into place.
At about 10 or 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, White House chief of staff Bill Daley called House Speaker John Boehner and asked that a joint session of Congress be assembled the following Wednesday night. The White House viewed Boehner as a political opponent, but not an enemy and the call was cordial, even pro forma considering such a request had never before been refused.
And, according to the White House source, Boehner said “okay” to Daley’s request for the Wednesday evening date. (Asked for comment, Boehner’s press secretary, Brendan Buck, said he had nothing to add to his statement of Wednesday that read in part: “No one in the speaker’s office - not the speaker, not any staff - signed off on the date the White House announced today.”)
Then things quickly unraveled. It turned out not everyone was as sanguine as Boehner with the notion that a Democratic president was going to step on a Republican debate.
At 11:55 a.m. Wednesday, the White House tweeted the news about the joint session. “And then Rush Limbaugh beat Boehner up,” the source said.
The conservative talk show personality was in his familiar state of high dudgeon. “This is a pure campaign speech and to give it the imprimatur of a speech before a joint session of Congress, there’s no way, he doesn’t deserve that,” Limbaugh said. “Boehner’s got to say no. Now, whether he will, I have no clue.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/
A number of Republicans in the House and a few in the Senate did have a clue and they told Boehner that while they would allow the joint session – it was hard not to for both historic and political reasons – the timing had to be on their terms, which meant it could not conflict with the Republican debate.
At which point Boehner’s office announced that Boehner had never agreed to the Wednesday date, that Congress did not get back into session until 6:30 p.m. on that day, that various votes had to be taken, that security had to be arranged and Obama should push his speech back a day to Thursday.
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Which just happened to be the evening the Green Bay Packers were meeting the New Orleans Saints in the NFL season opener. Which meant Obama would have to move his speech up an hour or so before the kick-off at 8:30 p.m.
The White House was not pleased. In reality, it believed, Congress really had never gone out of session, a parliamentary move that blocked Obama from making recess appointments. “And they had to arrange security?” the White House source scoffed. “As if they couldn’t do that! This was a political thing, a tea party thing, a Rush Limbaugh thing. They were all giving Boehner gas.”
The White House did not want to give in and look weak, but what was the alternative?
An Oval office speech instead?
“You can’t speak for 40 minutes from the Oval Office,” the source said.
How about the East Room?
“He’s going to speak to an empty East Room with just the Teleprompters and staff there? No,” said the source
So it had to be in the House of Representatives, which the Republicans control. “But we couldn’t go if they didn’t let us come,” the source said. “You can’t hold the speech in the lobby or in the parking lot. And you’re not going to get network coverage if you hold it at George Mason University.
“After a month of world chaos, the setting had to match the topic. And you don’t get any better setting than a joint session of Congress.”
In the end, the White House felt it had no choice but to give in on the date, and Obama sent an email to his supporters with the subject line: “Frustrated.”
“It’s been a long time since Congress was focused on what the American people need them to be focused on,” Obama said in the email. “I know that you’re frustrated by that. I am, too.”
Obama said he was going to put forward “a set of bipartisan proposals to help grow the economy and create jobs” and he was “asking lawmakers to look past short-term politics and take action on that plan.”
It was, perhaps, not the friendliest message, but the White House was not in a friendly mood. Some Democrats were attacking Obama for once again “caving in” to Republicans, though others thought that it was an inconsequential matter.
The White House is viewing it as very consequential, however. “It is a big deal,” the source said. “It shows the House Republicans will do no outreach, nothing.”
And who does the White House believe was really behind treating the president so shabbily?
“At first, I didn’t think it was Boehner, but his caucus,” the source said. “But maybe not. Maybe it is him.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/
August 31, 2011 3:53 PM
ShareBoehner to Obama: postpone jobs speech
In regards to Obama's attempt to grandstand (which will still occur as he is giving an address that should be from the Oval Office with all the pomp and ceremony of a State of the Union) and usurp the Republican debates, a swift resonse from the House Speaker.
According to the Washington Times:
Speaker of the House John Boehner sent a letter back to President Obama regarding the president's request for a joint session of Congress on September 7. However, Mr. Boehner told the president that the date of September 7 would not be available and proposed September 8 instead. Below is an excerpt of the letter:
I like the way he found other reasons - allowing Obama to save face.
By now, most everyone sees Obama for what he is. All but the most Kool-Aided understand that every single move now is carefully calculated to get him re-elected. He couldn't care less about the American people, jobs, housing, small business or anything else. For the next 14 months, we will see him pull out all stops, making taxpayers fund his campaigning under the guise of being president.
Love,
Posted in 2012 Campaign | Permalink
Limbaugh: Obama a 'One-Man Wrecking Crew'
"Our nation is in turmoil, it is disintegrating from the lack of leadership and failed Democrat principles, therefore, does Obama 'man-up' and do what he can to help our withering economy? No, he is going back on vacation. Is there a janitor in the White House which can run America while Mr. Obama is in the hot tube?" Steve Eichler - TeaParty.org
Rush Limbaugh
(NewsMax) - Rush Limbaugh questioned President Obama's ability to manage the nation's economy today as U.S. Labor Department reports show new-job growth screeched to a halt in August."Our nation is in turmoil, it is disintegrating from the lack of leadership and failed Democrat principles, therefore, does Obama 'man-up' and do what he can to help our withering economy? No, he is going back on vacation. Is there a janitor in the White House which can run America while Mr. Obama is in the hot tube?" Steve Eichler - TeaParty.org
Rush Limbaugh questioned President Obama's ability to manage the nation's economy today as U.S. Labor Department reports show new-job growth screeched to a halt in August.
“Actually, there was a guy hired in August,” Limbaugh said Friday on his radio program. But he was laid off Aug. 31, “less than two weeks after he was hired!” he laughed.
“Obama is a one-man wrecking crew” when it comes to the U.S. economy, Limbaugh said.
“After almost three years of Obama jobs programs…80 percent of Americans agree that we are in another recession,” he said.
Limbaugh called out CNN for defending the president during the financial crisis.
“CNN is so eager to save Obama’s bacon, that they point out, ‘But they’re wrong’,” he said of the poll that shows eight in 10 American believe the economy is, once again, in the doldrums.
“When there is a Republican in the White House, if most people think we are in a recession, we are,” he said. “That’s all that it takes.”
The White House is using the Labor Department report and the recent poll data to build momentum for the Sept. 8 presidential address to a joint session of Congress, Limbaugh said.
There’s no doubt the president will ask for another round of stimulus spending next week during the much-touted jobs speech, Limbaugh said.
“All of this talk about slipping back into recession, and even the jobs number — zero — I tell you, it’s gearing to next week’s big speech,” he said.
He said Obama’s speech, much like his 2008 presidential campaign, will be “devoid of any substance.”
“I think the only thing that Obama could do…that would be convincing…is to resign,” Limbaugh said.
http://www.newsmax.com/
Illegal Aliens Receive $4.2 Billion in Additional Child Tax Credits
What happened to the balanced approach toward revenue?
Posted by Daniel Horowitz (Profile)
Friday, September 2nd at 1:49PM EDT
No Comments
Throughout the entire debt ceiling imbroglio, Democrats incessantly regurgitated the talking point about the need for “a balanced approach.” They were so uniform and synchronized that they sounded like the sheep in Animal Farm. Ironically, their idea of a balanced approach was singularly focused upon Oil Company and corporate tax deductions, which are negligible compared to the crushing debt. The targeted oil tax deductions would have brought in $2 billion in annual revenue, while the cancellation of the corporate jet depreciation deduction would have saved only $3 billion over 10 years!
Well, it turns out that illegal aliens, most of which pay zero in net taxes, enjoyed $4.2 billion from the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) last year. That’s more than the annual revenue from the selected oil tax deductions and corporate jet deductions combined!
Yesterday, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Collection released a shocking report detailing how illegal aliens are able to utilize a filing loophole to obtain billions in ACTC funds. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and ACTC (unlike the base child tax credit) are totally refundable and can award the recipient with a negative tax balance. Appropriations for the EITC in FY 2010 were $54.7 billion and $28.3 billion for the ACTC. While EITC appropriations are protected from illegals (those who don’t engage in identity theft) because they are only awarded to those who provide a valid Social Security number, the same cannot be said for the ACTC.
Here is the punchline of the Inspector’s report:
Many individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States, and thus not eligible to obtain a Social Security Number (SSN) for employment, earn income in the United States. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides such individuals with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to facilitate their filing of tax returns. Although the law prohibits aliens residing without authorization in the United States from receiving most Federal public benefits, an increasing number of these individuals are filing tax returns claiming the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), a refundable tax credit intended for working families. The payment of Federal funds through this tax benefit appears to provide an additional incentive for aliens to enter, reside, and work in the United States without authorization, which contradicts Federal law and policy to remove such incentives. […]
Because concerns were raised by Congress, the Government Accountability Office, and the IRS regarding noncompliance with EITC requirements, a law was passed in Calendar Year 1996 to deny the EITC to individuals who file a tax return without an SSN that is valid for employment. As such, filers using an ITIN are not eligible for the EITC. The change in the law was made prior to the establishment of the ACTC. However, the same law prohibits aliens residing without authorization in the United States from receiving most Federal public benefits, with the exception of certain emergency services and programs.
Nonetheless, IRS management’s view is that the law does not provide sufficient legal authority for the IRS to disallow the ACTC to ITIN filers. In addition, the Internal Revenue Code does not require an SSN to claim the ACTC and does not provide the IRS math error authority to deny the credit without an examination. As such, the IRS continues to pay the ACTC to ITIN filers.
According to the latest employment data, we’ve lost 2.57 million jobs since Obama took office, even though there are 5.1 million additional people of working age in the country. Illegals are not only competing for scarce jobs; they are enjoying billions in handouts ensconced in the tax system, due to willful negligence on the part of the IRS. For most Americans, they are the most belligerent agency in the government, yet they are suddenly indolent in going after illegals. Obama wants them to clamp down on tax deductions for corporations that pay billions in taxes, while blithely allowing them to ignore billions in refundable handouts to those who shouldn’t be here in the first place.Talk about a balanced approach.
Republicans Know That Job Growth is Job Number One
For too long, the American people have been asking “Where are the jobs?” Unfortunately, the 13.9 million unemployed Americans have been ignored by the President and Democrats in Washington. Higher taxes, record spending, and bigger government has failed to create jobs or boost economic growth. Put simply, this economy is growing too slowly to replace the millions of jobs that have been lost. Instead of expanding the size of government, Republicans in Washington are committed to a pro-growth economic agenda that will put America back to work.
Our Solutions
REPUBLICANS UNVEIL THEIR JOB STRATEGY IN SUPPLEMENT TO TEA PARTY PLAN LAST WEEK:
"TAKE BACK AMERICA" -- SLAYING THE BEAST OF BIG GOVERNMENT...http://lnk.ms/
Download the Summary (PDF)
1 Page • 111 KB
August 29, 2011
Memo On Upcoming Jobs Agenda
MEMORANDUM
TO: House Republicans
FR: Eric Cantor
DT: Monday, August 29, 2011
RE: Upcoming Jobs Agenda
As you know, we released The House Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators earlier this year. While the debt crisis has demanded much of our attention, our new majority has passed over a dozen pro-growth measures to address the equally troubling jobs crisis, such as the Energy Tax Prevention Act and the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act. Aside from repeal of the 1099 reporting requirement in ObamaCare, however, each House Republican jobs bill now sits dormant in the Democrat-controlled Senate. You can view the progress of our jobs bills at MajorityLeader.gov/JobsTracker
When we return next week, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction will begin meeting to take an additional incremental step towards addressing our debt crisis. During this time, it is essential that the House continue our focus on the jobs crisis. Below are two areas of our jobs agenda that I want to bring to your attention for our upcoming fall and winter legislative schedule.
REPEAL OF JOB-DESTROYING REGULATIONS TO CREATE MIDDLE CLASS JOBS
Since passage of H.Res. 72 on February 11, our committee chairmen have been investigating and inventorying regulatory burdens to job creators. They’ve found many that have tied the hands of small business people and prevented job growth. By pursuing a steady repeal of job-destroying regulations, we can help lift the cloud of uncertainty hanging over small and large employers alike, empowering them to hire more workers.
Our regulatory relief agenda will include repeal of specific regulations, as well as fundamental and structural reform of the rule-making system through legislation like the REINS Act, the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act, and reform of the Administrative Procedures Act (all three bills are expected on the floor in late November and early December).
The following is a list of the 10 most harmful job-destroying regulations that our committee chairmen have identified, as well as a selective calendar for their repeal. These regulations are reflective of the types of costly bureaucratic handcuffs that Washington has imposed upon business people who want to create jobs.
Top 10 Job-Destroying Regulations:
- NLRB’s Boeing Ruling (Week of September 12): On April 20, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint against The Boeing Company for the alleged transfer of an assembly line from Washington to South Carolina. Yet, not one union employee at Boeing’s Puget Sound facility has lost his or her job as a result of the proposed South Carolina plant. Still, the NLRB is pursuing a “restoration order” against Boeing that would cost South Carolina thousands of jobs and deter future investment in the United States. H.R. 2587, the Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act, sponsored by Rep. Tim Scott (SC), would take the common sense step of preventing the NLRB from restricting where an employer can create jobs in the United States.
- Utility MACT and CSAPR (Week of September 19): The Administration’s new maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards and cross-state air pollution rule (CSAPR) for utility plants will affect electricity prices for nearly all American consumers. In total, 1,000 power plants are expected to be affected. The result for middle class Americans? Annual electricity bill increases in many parts of the country of anywhere from 12 to 24 percent. H.R. 2401, the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act, sponsored by Rep. John Sullivan (OK), would require a cumulative economic analysis for specific EPA rules, and specifically delay the final date for both the utility MACT and CSAPR rules until the full impact of the Obama Administration’s regulatory agenda has been studied.
- Boiler MACT (Week of October 3): From hospitals to factories to colleges, thousands of major American employers use boilers that will be impacted by the EPA’s new “boiler MACT” rules. These new stringent rules will impose billions of dollars in capital and compliance costs, increase the cost of many goods and services, and put over 200,000 jobs at risk. The American forest and paper industry, for example, will see an additional burden of at least $5-7 billion. H.R. 2250, the EPA Regulatory Relief Act, sponsored by Rep. Morgan Griffith (VA), would provide a legislative stay of four interrelated rules issued by the EPA in March of this year. The legislation would also provide the EPA with at least 15 months to re-propose and finalize new, achievable rules that do not destroy jobs, and provide employers with an extended compliance period.
- Cement MACT (Week of October 3): The “cement MACT” and two related rules are expected to affect approximately 100 cement plants in America, setting exceedingly stringent requirements that will be cost-prohibitive or technically infeasible to achieve. Increased costs and regulatory uncertainty for the American cement industry—the foundation of nearly all infrastructure projects—are likely to offshore thousands of American jobs. Ragland, Alabama, for example, recently saw the suspension of a $350 million cement production facility, putting 1,500 construction jobs on hold and additional permanent and high-paying plant operation jobs in limbo. H.R. 2681, the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act, sponsored by Rep. John Sullivan (OK), would provide a legislative stay of these three rules and provide EPA with at least 15 months to re-propose and finalize new, achievable rules that do not destroy jobs, and provide employers with an extended compliance period.
- Coal Ash (October/November): These anti-infrastructure regulations, commonly referred to as the “coal ash” rules, will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, affecting everything from concrete production to building products like wall board. The result is an estimated loss of well over 100,000 jobs. H.R. 2273, the Coals Residuals Reuse and Management Act, sponsored by Rep. David McKinley (WV), would create an enforceable minimum standard for the regulation of coal ash by the states, allowing their use in a safe manner that protects jobs.
- Grandfathered Health Plans (November/December): We all remember when President Obama promised Americans that if they liked their health care plan they could keep it. Now, the Obama Administration has been issuing further restrictions against those previously protected plans. The result, by the Administration’s own estimates, will be a loss of 49 to 80 percent of small employer plans, 34 to 64 percent of large employer plans, and 40 to 67 percent of individual insurance plans. Meanwhile, employers losing their grandfathered status will face steep penalties, increasing their costs and negatively affecting wages and job growth. The Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Workforce committees will soon be working on legislation to repeal these ObamaCare restrictions.
- Ozone Rule (Winter): This effective ban or restriction on construction and industrial growth for much of America is possibly the most harmful of all the currently anticipated Obama Administration regulations. Consequences would reach far across the U.S. economy, resulting in an estimated cost of $1 trillion or more over a decade and millions of jobs. Unlike her predecessors, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is pushing for a premature readjustment of the current ozone standards, dramatically increasing the number of “nonattainment” areas. The new readjustment rule is expected early this fall and I expect the Energy and Commerce Committee to act swiftly to prevent its implementation, in order to protect American jobs.
- Farm Dust (Winter): The EPA is expected to issue revised standards for particulate matter (PM) in the near future. Any downward revision to PM standards will significantly impact economic growth and jobs for businesses and people throughout rural America that create dust, like the farmer in Atkinson, Illinois, who raised his concerns with the President at a town hall earlier this month. While the President may have sent him on a bureaucratic wild goose chase, the House will act promptly on H.R. 1633, the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act, sponsored by Rep. Kristi Noem (SD). H.R. 1633 would protect American farmers and jobs by establishing a one year prohibition against revising any national ambient air quality standard applicable to coarse PM and limiting federal regulation of dust where it is already regulated under state and local laws.
- Greenhouse Gas (Winter): The EPA’s upcoming greenhouse gas new source performance standards (NSPS) will affect new and existing oil, natural gas, and coal-fired power plants, as well as oil refineries, nationwide. While the impact on the economy and jobs are likely to be severe, the rules are quickly moving forward, once again revealing the Administration’s disregard for the consequences of their policies on our jobs crisis. Again, I expect Chairman Upton and the Energy and Commerce Committee to move swiftly in the coming months to protect American jobs and consumers.
- NLRB’s Ambush Elections (Winter): This summer, the NLRB issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that could significantly alter current union representation election procedures, giving both employers and employees little time to react to union formations in the future. The result will increase labor costs and uncertainty for nearly all private employers in the U.S. The House will soon consider legislation that will bring common sense to union organizing procedures to protect the interests of both employers and their workers.
IMMEDIATE TAX RELIEF TO CREATE MIDDLE CLASS JOBS
The second focus of our jobs agenda this fall and winter will pursue tax relief designed to help American employers create middle class jobs. Small businesses, in particular, are overburdened with taxes that destroy jobs and in a fragile economy, the worst thing government can do is impose tax increases that prevent small businesses from hiring. Instead, government should be focused on ways to enable businesses small and large to unlock more capital and create new jobs.
Therefore, under Chairman Dave Camp’s leadership, the Ways and Means Committee will be exploring a number of ways to remove tax burdens for job creators and incentivize small businesses. These targeted efforts will not interfere with House Republicans’ continued pursuit of fundamental tax reform, just as we proposed in our budget resolution this spring. Rather, the following proposals represent bipartisan and pro-growth steps that can be taken immediately to help businesses hire those struggling to find a job today.
3% Withholding Rule Repeal:
Beginning in 2013, federal, state, and local governments will be required to withhold three percent of all government payments made to contractors in excess of $100 million. While the law has been delayed multiple times, its effect once implemented will be massive—causing accounting burdens on governments and potentially harmful cash flow disruptions for contractors and subcontractors across all sectors. Therefore, we will move quickly this fall to repeal this burdensome requirement and relieve construction contractors, medical providers, manufacturers, farmers, and many others providing goods and services under government contracts of the uncertainty the impending law is creating.
20% Small Business Tax Deduction:
Small businesses employ about half of all Americans, yet President Obama is proposing federal tax rates that could take away more than 40 percent of their income. While the previous Democrat majority was pushing through their nearly $1 trillion stimulus, we began work on a proposal to allow small business people to take a tax deduction equal to 20% of their income. The goal was simple—immediately free up funds for small business people to retain and hire new employees, and reinvest in and grow their businesses. In light of the stimulus’s failure, and our current position in the majority, I expect the House to move quickly in the coming months on this common sense and pro-growth small business proposal to create middle-class jobs.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In the weeks and months ahead, we will move aggressively on the items outlined above. But, our increased focus on the repeal of job-destroying regulations and pursuit of pro-growth tax relief will not distract from other equally important areas of our jobs agenda.
As he has promised in the past, we expect the President to transmit three vitally important trade agreements this fall. When he finally sends them our way, I will not hesitate to schedule them. In addition, the Senate has set up a vote on the House-passed patent reform bill next week. Increased movement in both of these areas on the part of the President and the Senate is welcomed. I hope the Senate and the President will join the House in acting on the other many pro-growth items we have already passed and will be passing in the coming months.
See you next week.
Sincerely,
Eric
Vitter Recognizes One-Year Anniversary of Moratorium; Introducing Bill to Put “Moratorium” on Agencies Over-Regulating
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter today, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the moratorium on Gulf of Mexico energy production, said he will be introducing the Agency Overreach Moratorium Act. The legislation would require congressional approval for expansion of federal regulations restricting energy exploration on federal lands and the Outer Continental Shelf that could provide domestic natural resources and generate revenue to the federal treasury that could be used to pay down the deficit.“The moratorium was one of the most poorly thought out, mismanaged and ill-conceived policy decisions regarding domestic energy production in the history of this country,” Vitter said. “Look no further than $3.98 per gallon of gas or the seven rigs that have left the Gulf and five that are not working to see how damaging the moratorium has been to our economy. Enough is enough, and my bill would prevent those overreaching federal actions that would further destroy jobs on our domestic energy businesses.”
Watch Sen. Vitter’s floor speech here
Vitter’s legislation would do the following:
• Prevent any agency from retroactively withdrawing any permit on federal lands or the OCS that should have been utilized to produce or harvest domestic natural resources or create one or more jobs without congressional approval.
• Prevent any agency from prohibiting access to resources on federal lands and the OCS without congressional approval.
• Allow no designation under the Antiquities Act to be implemented without congressional approval.
• Require that any agency action that would expand a federal regulation for permitting on federal lands or make a designation of federal lands under any law to require the Commerce Department to first do a full economic analysis to see if it has the potential to reduce revenue to the federal treasury, and how it would impact property rights and existing contracts.
Vitter recently introduced the 3-D Act: The Domestic Jobs, Domestic Energy, and Deficit Reduction Act of 2011. The 3-D Act would create more than 2 million jobs, $10 trillion in economic activity and $2 trillion in federal tax receipts (conservative 30-year estimates) by unleashing our vast domestic energy potential. The 3-D Act currently has 30 cosponsors.
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