Dedicated to America. Fusion of Politics and Entertainment With Respect To: Protecting Self-evident Freedoms Provided by Our Founding Fathers and The Constitution. Devoted to Personal Freedom and Liberty. Supporting Strong National Defense. Encouraging Fiscal Responsibility, Limited Government, and Free Market Capitalism. Defeating The Fairness Doctrine and Supporting Free Speech. Supporting The Bill of Rights. Favoring "Smart" Energy Independence. Exposing Liberal Media Bias.
WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama will allow gays to serve openly in the military by overturning the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy that marred President Clinton's first days in office, according to incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
The startling pronouncement, which could re-open a dormant battle in the culture wars and distract from other elements of Obama's agenda, came during a Gibbs exchange with members of the public who sent in questions that were answered on YouTube.
"Thadeus of Lansing, Mich., asks, 'Is the new administration going to get rid of the "don't ask, don't tell policy?'" said Gibbs, looking into the camera. "Thadeus, you don't hear a politician give a one-word answer much. But it's, 'Yes.'"
The Obama transition team declined to elaborate on that one-word answer when asked by FOX News on Wednesday about a timetable for repealing the policy, which was enacted by Clinton after a protracted public debate. Obama officials also would not explain which lawmakers or Pentagon officials would attempt to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."
Clinton, who initially sought to overturn the longstanding ban on gays in the military, ended up enacting the "don't ask, don't tell" policy as a compromise that made it illegal for commanders to ask about the sexual orientation of service members, who were also barred from announcing they were homosexual. If a service member's homosexuality becomes known anyway, he or she is expelled.
Clinton is widely viewed as having stumbled during his first days in office by getting caught up in the raging controversy, which detracted from the rest of his agenda. It is not yet clear whether Obama would face a similar debacle.
For years, Obama has said he generally opposes the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Last summer, he told a gay magazine he can "reasonably" see it being repealed. But that was a far cry from Gibbs' unequivocal promise that the policy will indeed be ended.
The gay community is eager for a quick repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," but fears it could be months before the new administration reaches a consensus with lawmakers and the military. Others think Obama could do it quickly, but is leery of the kind of fallout Bill Clinton faced when he tackled the divisive issue.
Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and officer in the Army National Guard who is fluent in Arabic and who returned recently from Iraq, received notice today that the military is about to fire him. Why? Because he came out of the closet as a gay man on national television.
Some readers might think it unfair to blame Obama. After all, the president inherited the "don't ask, don't tell" law when he took office. As Commander-in-Chief, he has to follow the law. If the law says that the military must fire any service member who acknowledges being gay, that is not Obama's fault.
Or is it?
A new study, about to be published by a group of experts in military law, shows that President Obama does, in fact, have stroke-of-the-pen authority to suspend gay discharges. The "don't ask, don't tell" law requires the military to fire anyone found to be gay or lesbian. But there is nothing requiring the military to make such a finding. The president can simply order the military to stop investigating service members' sexuality.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last month that she was briefed on waterboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques, but was unaware that the CIA actually used them.
As far as I'm concerned, any member of congress who blatantly lies about national security and intelligence should be impeached, if not tried for treason!
She knew from the beginning. According to a CIA document compiled by the Director of National Intelligence summarizing briefings to Congress on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorist detainees, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) knew from the very beginning that those techniques -- including waterboarding -- were being used on September 4, 2002.
According to the memo the very first briefing listed is 9/4/02 with then Rep. Porter Goss & Pelosi. The summary of the briefing says:
“Briefing on EITs including use of EITs on AbuZubaydah, background on authorities, and a description of the particular EITs that had been employed.”
This directly contradicts Pelosi’s story, that “we were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used.”
As HUMAN EVENTS reported earlier, Pelosi - by objecting to the use of the enhanced interrogation techniques - could have stopped them but didn't.
Pelosi's misstatements were apparently intended to divert attention from her and other Democrats in Congress who knew of all the enhanced interrogation methods -- in detail -- apparently as soon as they were being used.
This is how she represented her husband and America at the United Nations. Solid. Thanks Mrs. First Lady. As if President Obama hasn't made America look bad enough!
Strangely enough, I agree. This probably is the most productive thing accomplished so far by any Obama in the White House.
I take that back, I'm sure Sasha, Malia and Bo the First Puppy have outshined the 'rents in many ways. The kids and the dog are for more accomplished and honorable than Barack or Michelle.
That said, Michelle's appearance on "Sesame Street" is better than anything her husband has accomplished thus far.
Samuel Wurzelbacher, the Ohio man hailed as "Joe the Plumber" by Republican John McCain's presidential campaign last year, said he believes gays are "queer" and said he won't allow them near his children.
Hasselbeck and Joe the Plumber in the same sentence! Wow! Almost too good to be true!
I happen to agree with Hasselbeck here; pretty ignorant comment.
At a state level, it's up to them. I don't want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it's wrong. People don't understand the dictionary—it's called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we're supposed to do—what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we're supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they're people, and they're going to do their thing.
Guns prevent an estimated 2.5 million crimes a year, or 6,849 every day. Often the gun is never fired and no blood (including the criminal’s) is shed.
Every day, 550 rapes, 1,100 murders, and 5,200 other violent crimes are prevented just by showing a gun. In less than 0.9% of these instances is the gun ever actually fired.
A Southwest Florida pistol packing granny pulled her gun on a car of young guys - who she says were full of road rage.
Grandma Pat Cowan was in Matlacha, driving on Pine Island Road. She says Matthew Peck started riding her bumper closely because he wanted her to speed up. She pulled over to let him pass. She says Peck and his friends started giving her the finger and yelling things out the window, and didn't stop there. Peck kept hitting the brakes, so Cowan pulled out her glock to scare the kids. Now she's scared to show her face.
"I scared that one guy, I thought he was going to drop his eyeballs out (she laughs), I did not point it at them though. I just held it in the palm of my hand. It was horrifying, I was so scared, talking to that lady on 911, I couldn't hardly talk," said Cowan.
Peck flagged down a sheriff's deputy to give his side of the story, but when they questioned Peck, they believed Grandma. Since she has a concealed weapon's permit there won't be any charges.
"These savings, large and small, add up," Obama said. "The 121 budget cuts we are announcing today will save taxpayers nearly $17 billion next year alone. That's a lot of money, even by Washington standards."
"It's as if you took a teaspoon of water out of the bathtub while you left the spicket on at full speed," Sen. Judd Greg (R-NH) on President Obama's "budget cuts".
A blog post on the White House website by Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag includes a full link to the budget document and the terminations, reductions and savings volume.
WASHINGTON -- The ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee said Thursday he's not impressed by President Obama's proposal to cut $17 billion out of the federal budget.
Appearing on FOX News, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said it's important to place the $17 billion figure in the context of the president's $3.4 trillion budget.
"It's as if you took a teaspoon of water out of the bathtub while you left the spicket on at full speed," he said.
"Basically right now we're running up a debt that is so high as a percentage of our gross national product that we couldn't even get into the European union," he said. "I mean we're headed to third-world country status if we keep this up."
Obama's $17 billion proposed cut represents a roster of 121 budget cuts and equals about one-half of 1 percent of the $3.4 trillion budget Congress has approved for next year.
Obama said the cuts appear small only in Washington.
"All across this country, Americans are responding to difficult economic times by tightening their belts and making tough decisions about where they need to spend and where they need to save," Obama said Thursday as he unveiled the details.
"The question the American people are asking is whether Washington is prepared to act with the same sense of responsibility," he said. "I believe we can and must do exactly that."
Obama acknowledged that these steps won't be easy but he urged lawmakers to act.
"For every dollar we seek to save there will be those who have an interest in seeing it spent," he said, claiming that's how unnecessary programs survive and budgets swell.
"But at this moment -- at this difficult time for our nation -- we cannot accept business as usual," he said. "We cannot accept anything less than a government ready to meet the challenges of our time."
White House budget director Peter Orszag said the president's plan for program cuts is just a start and that a lot more needs to be done to dig the government out of its fiscal hole, especially curbing the growth of the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the elderly and the poor.
"But $17 billion a year is not chump change by anyone's accounting," he said.
AP: An unusual trio has joined forces to work on education reform - Michael Bloomberg, Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton. The three held a meeting at the White House Thursday. (May 7)
A North Carolina teenager was arrested for alleged bomb threats. His mother claims his 5h and 14thAmendment "Due Process" rights are being violated by the USA Patriot Act .
This is a sticky legal issue; certainly the Patriot Act is well-intended law, but it seems to have been abused in this case.
Alas, I am not an attorney, just a "right-wing extremist" blogger.
Oxford, N.C. — Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby's bedroom in his mother's Granville County home is nothing, if not patriotic. Images of American flags are everywhere – on the bed, on the floor, on the wall.
But according to the United States government, the tenth-grade home-schooler is being held on a criminal complaint that he made a bomb threat from his home on the night of Feb. 15.
The family was at a church function that night, his mother, Annette Lundeby, said.
"Undoubtedly, they were given false information, or they would not have had 12 agents in my house with a widow and two children and three cats," Lundeby said.
Around 10 p.m. on March 5, Lundeby said, armed FBI agents along with three local law enforcement officers stormed her home looking for her son. They handcuffed him and presented her with a search warrant.
"I was terrified," Lundeby's mother said. "There were guns, and I don't allow guns around my children. I don't believe in guns."
Lundeby told the officers that someone had hacked into her son's IP address and was using it to make crank calls connected through the Internet, making it look like the calls had originated from her home when they did not.
Her argument was ignored, she said. Agents seized a computer, a cell phone, gaming console, routers, bank statements and school records, according to federal search warrants.
"There were no bomb-making materials, not even a blasting cap, not even a wire," Lundeby said.
Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there is nothing she can do.
Lundeby said the USA Patriot Act stripped her son of his due process rights.
"We have no rights under the Patriot Act to even defend them, because the Patriot Act basically supersedes the Constitution," she said. "It wasn't intended to drag your barely 16-year-old, 120-pound son out in the middle of the night on a charge that we can't even defend."
Passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Patriot Act allows federal agents to investigate suspected cases of terrorism swiftly to better protect the country. In part, it gives the federal government more latitude to search telephone records, e-mails and other records.
"They're saying that 'We feel this individual is a terrorist or an enemy combatant against the United States, and we're going to suspend all of those due process rights because this person is an enemy of the United States," said Dan Boyce, a defense attorney and former U.S. attorney not connected to the Lundeby case.
Critics of the statute say it threatens the most basic of liberties.
"There's nothing a matter of public record," Boyce said "All those normal rights are just suspended in the air."
In a bi-partisan effort, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., last month introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives a bill that would narrow subpoena power in a provision of the Patriot Act, called the National Security Letters, to curb what some consider to be abuse of power by federal law enforcement officers.
Boyce said the Patriot Act was written with good intentions, but he said he believes it has gone too far in some cases. Lundeby's might be one of them, he said.
So how does a beauty queen turn into the poster child against gay marriage? In the case of Miss California Carrie Prejean, the answer may lie in an ugly divorce that may have cemented her views on gay relationships.
Carrie's parents filed for divorce in 1988 and the divorce and custody fights went on for more than a decade -- it was a divorce filled with homosexual allegations hurled by both sides.
In one of the docs, Carrie's dad describes a confrontation he had with her mom in 1996, in which he recounts an argument in a restaurant parking lot, where "Ms. Prejean accused me, in front of our daughter, of homosexuality."
The papers also quote a court-appointed doctor who said "The mother questioned [within hearing of the girls] whether [her father] was a homosexual or had a homosexual roommate."
Carrie's mom says the "gay" allegations went both ways. In court papers dated May 16, 2000, a report from the court-appointed counselor says "The mother also alleges the father told the girls their stepfather was gay, that all men with mustaches are gay." The father's response: "The father acknowledges talking with the girls about the stepfather's brother being gay, not the stepfather."
Also in the docs -- a handwritten letter from Carrie's older sister, in which she recounts a weekend stay with her dad: "One time my sister & I went in the hallway of my dad's apartment, & his roommate's door was open all the way & we saw [the roommate] in bed with another man. I don't think it's right for my sister & I to have to live that way."
So does Carrie believe gays broke up her parents' marriage? We called her rep ... no comment so far. We could not reach Carrie's dad for comment.
For the record, there are other allegations -- absolutely hideous -- in the divorce and custody papers -- which we have elected not to publish.
Prejean told pageant officials that only one provocative photo existed - the one first posted at TheDirty.com earlier this week. But the second photo, similiar to the first, was posted Thursday.
TMZ reported that Prejean sent an e-mail to Keith Lewis, co-director for the Miss California USA pageant, saying, "This was when I was 17 years old. I was a minor. It was when I was first getting into the modeling world, being naive, and young. I shouldnt (sic) have taken the photo of me in my underwear. There are no other photos of me. This was the only one I took."
But on Wednesday, pageant officials learned that at least three other racy pics exist.
"I'm absolutely stunned. This completely changes things for us," Lewis said in a statement to "Access Hollywood."
"Yesterday, we thought she had explained things accurately. We need to revisit this issue with her."
Prejean signed a contract stating she has never been photographed nude or partially nude and the Miss California USA Organization told "Access" they will meet with runner-up Miss Malibu Tami Farrell in the next few days, suggesting she may soon be taking over the title of Miss California from Prejean.
Farrell told Billy Bush of "Access Hollywood" that she was ready to assume the tiara if need be.
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) appeared this morning on "Morning Joe".
"Gay tendencies"? What the... this is why people consider Republicans homophobic, intolerant, etc.
Sure, I'm glad Sessions will look at someone's legal qualifications over anything else, but there had to be a better way to answer the question without using those words. What an idiot.
President Obama has refused a public appearance in observation of National Prayer Day. The White House says Obama will be observing in private.
Yeah, sure; and Reverend Wright loves White People.
"Fox and Friends" questions Obama's motive.
Gretchen Carlson hits the nail on the head wondering if Obama is "giving into the PC society we live in today. We're going to appease the smaller groups of people instead of the masses."
She also wonders if it's another example of Obama merely doing the opposite of what President Bush did.
(Sorry, but please ignore the Leftist propaganda at the beginning and end.)
Senator Lindsey Graham appeared on "On the Record" last night.
In January, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)called Gitmo a "well run jail".
He contradicts what he said earlier in the day, that he wants to be "the President's Partner" over prosecuting GITMO detainees.
Mr. Obama had this to say about using the Army Field Manual from The Associated Press.
"We believe that the Army Field Manual reflects the best judgment of our military, that we can abide by a rule that says we don't torture, but that we can still effectively obtain the intelligence that we need," Obama said. He said his action reflects an understanding that "we are willing to observe core standards of conduct, not just when it's easy, but also when it's hard."
By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, in order to improve the effectiveness of human intelligence gathering, to promote the safe, lawful, and humane treatment of individuals in United States custody and of United States personnel who are detained in armed conflicts, to ensure compliance with the treaty obligations of the United States, including the Geneva Conventions, and to take care that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed, I hereby order as follows:
Section 1. Revocation. Executive Order 13440 of July 20, 2007, is revoked. All executive directives, orders, and regulations inconsistent with this order, including but not limited to those issued to or by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from September 11, 2001, to January 20, 2009, concerning detention or the interrogation of detained individuals, are revoked to the extent of their inconsistency with this order. Heads of departments and agencies shall take all necessary steps to ensure that all directives, orders, and regulations of their respective departments or agencies are consistent with this order. Upon request, the Attorney General shall provide guidance about which directives, orders, and regulations are inconsistent with this order.
Executive Order 13440 was signed by President Bush July 20th, 2007. It stated that that members of al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces are unlawful enemy combatants who are not entitled to the protections that the Third Geneva Convention provides to prisoners of war.
The Third Geneva Convention provides protection for prisoners of war assuming they meet the following criteria
4.1.2 Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, provided that they fulfill all of the following conditions
that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance (there are limited exceptions to this among countries who observe the 1977 Protocol I);
that of carrying arms openly;
that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
President Bush was correct. Members of terrorist organizations DO NOT meet the above criteria and therefore President Obama is incorrect in his belief that the Geneva Conventions and The Army Field Manual apply to enemy combatants.
Further, terrorists are not covered by The Fourth Geneva Convention which applies to treatment of civilians.
Essentially, no court, domestic or international has yet to provide a definitive ruling defining any "intermediary" between a formal army, militia or organized force (which GCIII protects) and non-combatant civilians (protected by GCIV).
Article 51.3 of the Commentary states this: IV Geneva Convention also covers this interpretation: "Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.". In the words of the International Committee of the Red Cross. or ICRC "If civilians directly engage in hostilities, they are considered "unlawful" or "unprivileged" combatants or belligerents (the treaties of humanitarian law do not expressly contain these terms). They may be prosecuted under the domestic law of the detaining state for such action. Both lawful and unlawful combatants may be interned in wartime, may be interrogated and may be prosecuted for war crimes.
So it appears there is a distinct lack of a true definition of how a terrorist, or "enemy combatant" in the international community. If anything, IV Geneva Convention affirms interrogation tactics used on the Guantanamo detainees.
The War of Terror is a unique circumstance in world history. If President Bush misjudged anything, he did so to in order to protect America and American citizens.
Obama is erring on the side of protecting the terrorists and worried about his and the United States' "Image" around the world. Pretty narcissistic, don't you think?
Mr. Obama is worried about being popular more than doing what it right.
We are sorry Mr. Obama, but America and Americans are more important than how we look to outsiders.
"The time has come to set aside childish things", Mr. Obama. You want to hang out with the popular kids in the world, putting the so-called "world opinion" above American safety? Now that is truly childish.
With all due respect, THAT is the fundamental difference between Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush.
Smith has done more harm to the British democratic system than any other person in history, the only thing that still shocks me about this awful woman is not her total disregard for democracy and her absolute arrogance but her lack of respect for the British people. This government is doing more to help the BNP get to power than any amount of canvassing done by the BNP. By the way Savage is a patriot who speaks the blatant truth, but even if you don't like him, you should fight for his right to speak openly and freely.
"For this lunatic Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary of England, to link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in (the same) league with mass murderers who kill Jews on buses is defamation. "I thought this was a joke or a mistake." He has a point. Jacqui Smith said the people who were banned were those whose views the country 'would not tolerate'. But who is she to make that decision? While it is the job of the Home Secretary to ensure the security and safety of the nation, it is not for her to decree what we should hear and to whom we should listen.
Talk radio host Michael Savage is considering legal action against Britain's top homeland security official after she released today a list grouping him with terrorists and neo-Nazi murderers banned from entry because the government believes their views might provoke violence.
In a telephone interview with WND, Savage said he is still waiting to hear back from attorneys, but he noted Britain has very strict anti-defamation laws.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to publicize the list of 16 people banned since October to show the type of behavior Britain will not tolerate, according to U.K. news reports.
Savage's immediate reaction upon hearing the news was typically wry.
"Darn! And I was just planning a trip to England for their superior dental work and cuisine," he recalled thinking.
"Then it sank in," he told WND, "and I said, 'She said this is the kind of behavior we won't tolerate? She's linking me with mass murderers who are in prison for killing Jewish children on buses? For my speech? The country where the Magna Carta was created?'"
Smith explained to Britain's GMTV that she believed it was "important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country."
"Coming to this country is a privilege," she said. "If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded."
Savage said he wants top First Amendment attorneys to represent him "in a major international case."
"I want to sue the British home secretary for defamation," he said, "for linking me up with murderers because of my opinions, my writings, my speaking – none of which have advocated any violence, ever."
Savage said the last time he was in Britain was about 20 years ago, and he had no immediate plans to return.
Sixteen people banned from entering the UK were "named and shamed" by the Home Office today.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to make public the names of 16 people banned since October so others could better understand what sort of behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate.
The list includes hate preachers, anti-gay protesters and a far- right US talk show host.
"I think it's important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country," Ms Smith told GMTV.
"Coming to this country is a privilege. If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded.
"We are publishing the names of 16 of those that we have excluded since October. We are telling people who they are and why it is we don't want them in this country."
A strong young woman; an apple who did not fall far from mama bear's tree. Yes, she made a mistake but she has handled it as well as any other teen mother can possibly do.
Baby's daddy is a jackass and so is the media. It is purely amazing how well she handles the character assassination of her family.
Chris Matthews and Richard Haass, former advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell and author of "War of Necessity, War of Choice" discuss the War in Iraq.
Again, Liberal Matthews is the one manipulating the evidence. Did we ever find weapons of mass destruction? No. Did Democrats view the same intelligence as the White House and approve military force in Iraq? Yes.
Haass, like his former boss Powell, is a sellout and a joke and a traitorous fool. Richard is truly an (haa)ass.
"It's a big freaking question, because it got us 5000 killed," says Matthews.
Afghanistan's only pig -- yes, they have one pig in the entire country, in a zoo -- is currently under solitary confinement because many Afghans are worried about contracting swine flu from the pig.
Amazing how the media and education operate over there. I'm surprised they actually know about swine flu, yet they do not realize that you cannot actually catch swine flu from the pig. This is the only pig in the country, so how could it catch the swine flu? Afghans intolerance of pigs must be ended.
Their swinophobia is their most egregious offense to the world.
Taliban? Terrorism? Heroin? Misogyny? Bubkis! People for the Ethical Treatment of Swine (PETS) should be rallying in Afghanistan asap!
Okay...what's the joke? Sen. Reid cannot be serious!?!
Nope. Not at all. Actually, he says he wants to wait until Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Feinstein and Attorney General Eric Holder have enough time to establish the facts of what actually went on.
Yup. Sounds like the banana republic witch hunt will continue. Damn fascist moonbats.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) says "The kids who voted en masse for Barack Obama are the ones being fitted with shackles and chains, and they're going to wake up one morning and find their tax rate is 65% or higher."
The radicals on the left and even some "moderate" conservatives are hell bent on an Alinsky-esque attack on Bachmann to portray her as crazy and out of touch.
I don't know, she usually makes a lot of sense to me. She says what many in her party are afraid to say about Dear Leader Obama.
It should surprise no one that Ed Shultz calls her "psycho"; that's what the Left stands for -- squashing those who dare oppose.
ACORN was officially tapped as a Census partner in February and the CRAPulus Spending "Stimulus" Bill contains over $4 Billion for "neighborhood stabilization", i.e. community organizations like ACORN.
National Review noted prior to last fall's election the shady, if not corrupt and illegal relationship between Barack Obama and his community organizer bedfellows at ACORN.
It's amazing that Rick Sanchez actually tries to defend his friend, saying "he wasn't with a little kid, he was with a woman, a consenting adult...good looking guy, you kind of feel for this guy, don't you?" Unreal. Another MSM attack on religion. If you don't believe in the religion, fine. But don't belittle the rules, okay Rick? Catholic Priests take a vow of celibacy, you moron!
Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle speak about Health Care with House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Rep. Cantor doesn't really have an answer to what the Republican plan would be and that is exactly part of the GOP's problem!
Bill O'Reilly was correct last night when he made the case that the GOP needs to articulate a clear, concrete platform; that is, give Americans a reason to vote for Republicans instead of simply rejecting the Liberals.
Republicans need to give Americans a reason to vote for Conservative ideas, instead of simply voting against the populist policy of the radical Liberal ideologues.
Barnicle interviews Cantor first, followed by Scarborough's reaction at 2:00.
An unidentified man tried to push his way past Pentagon security Wednesday and was wrestled to the ground by police and arrested, officials said.
The man tried to get into the huge military headquarters near the building entrance that fronts on Washington's subway system and a number of bus routes. But it was unclear how he got to the Pentagon.
"Pentagon police wrestled him to the ground ... he is under arrest," said department spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin.
She said it was unclear whether the man was armed. Building police — members of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency — drew their weapons but no shots were fired, she said of the attempted security breach that happened at about 1:15 p.m. EDT.
The man's identity and other details were not immediately available.
However, he recently contradicted himself , saying "I hope he's going to be with us when we need him."
He lies further, saying that despite having a 60 Vote "super majority", the Senate still has to work in a bipartisan manner. There you go again, Senator!
"For this lunatic Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary of England, to link me up with skinheads who are killing people in Russia, to put me in (the same) league with mass murderers who kill Jews on buses is defamation.
"I thought this was a joke or a mistake." He has a point. Jacqui Smith said the people who were banned were those whose views the country 'would not tolerate'.
But who is she to make that decision? While it is the job of the Home Secretary to ensure the security and safety of the nation, it is not for her to decree what we should hear and to whom we should listen.
Talk radio host Michael Savage is considering legal action against Britain's top homeland security official after she released today a list grouping him with terrorists and neo-Nazi murderers banned from entry because the government believes their views might provoke violence.
In a telephone interview with WND, Savage said he is still waiting to hear back from attorneys, but he noted Britain has very strict anti-defamation laws.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to publicize the list of 16 people banned since October to show the type of behavior Britain will not tolerate, according to U.K. news reports.
Savage's immediate reaction upon hearing the news was typically wry.
"Darn! And I was just planning a trip to England for their superior dental work and cuisine," he recalled thinking.
"Then it sank in," he told WND, "and I said, 'She said this is the kind of behavior we won't tolerate? She's linking me with mass murderers who are in prison for killing Jewish children on buses? For my speech? The country where the Magna Carta was created?'"
Smith explained to Britain's GMTV that she believed it was "important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country."
"Coming to this country is a privilege," she said. "If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded."
Savage said he wants top First Amendment attorneys to represent him "in a major international case."
"I want to sue the British home secretary for defamation," he said, "for linking me up with murderers because of my opinions, my writings, my speaking – none of which have advocated any violence, ever."
Savage said the last time he was in Britain was about 20 years ago, and he had no immediate plans to return.
Sixteen people banned from entering the UK were "named and shamed" by the Home Office today.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she decided to make public the names of 16 people banned since October so others could better understand what sort of behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate.
The list includes hate preachers, anti-gay protesters and a far- right US talk show host.
"I think it's important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country," Ms Smith told GMTV.
"Coming to this country is a privilege. If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded.
"We are publishing the names of 16 of those that we have excluded since October. We are telling people who they are and why it is we don't want them in this country."
For example, the report defines "Right Wing Extremism" as:
A movement of rightwing groups or individuals who can be broadly divided into those who are primarily hate-oriented, and those who are mainly antigovernment and reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority. This term also may refer to rightwing extremist movements that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.
Apparently, you are an "extremist" if you actually believe in the 10th Amendment and state's rights? Who are these people? I believe in the Constitution and I'm demonized?
Leftwing extremism is defined as:
A movement of groups or individuals that embraces anticapitalist, Communist, or Socialist doctrines and seeks to bring about change through violent revolution rather than through established political processes. The term also refers to leftwing, single-issue extremist movements that are dedicated to causes such as environmentalism, opposition to war, and the rights of animals.
Um...so, Obama and most other Liberals ares officially extremists according to DHS?
A DHS spokesperson said the dictionary was not authorized, that it was recalled shortly after it was let out and state and local law enforcement officials have been told to ignore it.
But this is precisely the way Team "O" thinks and perceives America. Lead by Obama, they are radical, arrogant, dishonest and dangerous to the American way of life.
Dobbs calls it "the kind of egregiously offensive product coming from the agency"
"Another controversial report and more damage control from the Department of Homeland Security, the same department that issued a report suggesting returning war veterans were susceptible to extremist groups. Also issuing what it calls the quote "domestic extremism lexicon", end quote. It's like a dictionary with definitions for various extremists or terrorist groups and some definitions. Here's an entry. Anti-immigration extremism -- the Department of Homeland Security's definition -- people who are quote "highly critical of the U.S. government's response to illegal immigration and oppose government programs that are designed to extend rights to illegal aliens, such as driver's licenses and in-state tuition."
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) responds:
Lou, actually, it's very distressing. You and I can have a lot of fun with this, we could show you ridiculous it is how off- target it is, but the reality is that the department of homeland security is supposed to be defending us against another attack from Islamic terrorism, yet it appears to be the gang that can't shoot straight.
And also to me, it's missing its purpose. You went through all those different definitions of different type of extremists. Nowhere in that dictionary do you see the term "Islamic extremist." The department was set up primarily to protect us from another terrorist attack from Islamic terrorists, and yet they talk about everything but that. Any time they word "terrorist" since Secretary Napolitano took over was several weeks ago when they said the returning veterans and anti-illegal immigration organizations could be terrorists.
So this is really wrong and the fact that it's happened twice now shows that the department is really off control. There's a tremendous lack of discipline here.
The Department of Homeland Security is reining in a "maverick" division of the agency following criticism of a report it issued that details domestic "extremists" ranging from anti-tax movements to pro-environment groups, a DHS official told FOX News on Tuesday.
The report, released in March and recalled within hours, was on top of a controversial document the same office produced last month that said U.S. veterans were ripe for recruitment by terrorist groups.
The quickly withdrawn report, titled the "Domestic Extremism Lexicon," comes from the department's Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the same unit that produced the report on right-wing extremists recruiting vets. The document, first uncovered by The Washington Times, uses a broad brush to define terms used when analyzing dozens of supposedly extremist ideologies inside the United States.
They cover: Jewish extremists, animal rights extremists, Christian identity extremists, black separatism extremists, anti-abortion extremists, anti-immigration extremists, anti-technology extremists, Cuban independence extremists and tax resistance extremists, to name a few.
Department spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the report was not authorized and is not being used.
"The lexicon was not an authorized I&A product, and it was recalled as soon as management discovered it had been released without authorization," Kudwa said. "Since this happened prior to our last experience, our new internal protocols were obviously not in place. Even so, this product is not, nor was it ever, in operational use."
The Homeland Security official who spoke to FOX News said the office that released the report had taken on a "maverick" attitude by acting without authorization and is now being "reined in."
In addition to the report on right-wing threats issued last month -- for which DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized -- DHS detailed left-wing threats in a similar report released in January.
The "Domestic Extremism Lexicon" covers ideologies across the spectrum.
An explanation at the top of the document claims the glossary is meant to provide "definitions for key terms and phrases that often appear in DHS analysis that addresses the nature and scope of the threat that domestic, non-Islamic extremism poses to the United States."
The authors wrote "that DHS/I&A intends this background information to assist federal, state, local, and tribal homeland security and law enforcement officials in conducting analytic activities."
The definitions are rather broad and apparently raised flags within the department.
According to the document, for example, tax resistance extremists are people who "vehemently believe taxes violate their constitutional rights ... Members (of this group) have been known to advocate or engage in criminal activity and plot acts of violence and terrorism in an attempt to advance their extremist goals."
The top of the document also defines "alternative media" as something sinister -- though the term is commonly used to describe blogs and popular publications like New York's Village Voice.
"Alternative media" is "a term used to describe various information sources that provide a forum for interpretations of events and issues that differ radically from those presented in mass media products and outlets," the report says.
The report also covers domestic groups more commonly referred to as extremist, like neo-Nazis.
Despite promises from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) would retain his seniority after switching parties, Specter will be put at the end of the seniority line on all his committees but one under a resolution approved on the floor late Tuesday.
Under the modified organizing resolution, Specter will not keep his committee seniority on any of the five committees that he serves on and will be the junior Democrat on all but one — the chamber’s Special Committee on Aging. On that committee, he will be next to last in seniority.
As a result, Specter — who as a Republican was ranking member on the Judiciary Committee and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, as well as ranking member of the panel’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education — will now rank behind all the other Democrats, at least until the end of this Congress.
According to a senior Democratic aide, it remains unclear whether Specter — who will still retain his seniority in the Senate outside of the committees — will see a boost in his committee seniority should he be re-elected for the next session. The status of his seniority for the next Congress will be determined once the 112th Congress convenes in 2011, the aide said.
The Democrats have succeeded in portraying Republicans as the "party of no" for the GOP's disapproval of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi radical socialist takeover of America. Like it or not, most Americans continue to view Obama as a popular, likable guy and opposition to his ideology does not sit well with America. When properly educated on the issues, it remains possible to sway opinion away from the radical "populist" Liberal agenda, but the GOP need to express a real alternative and get its message to the people.
Bill O'Reilly gives conservatives some good advice. He says Republicans cannot just oppose Liberals, but must say how and why are they against things like same-sex marriage and Liberal immigration reform. The GOP needs to articulate a clear, concrete platform; that is, give Americans a reason to vote for Republicans instead of simply rejecting the Liberals.
"Get solutions to problems...stick up for America, because the Democrats simply are not," says O'Reilly. Sounds like pretty good advice to me!
Yesterday on "Hardball", Pat Buchanan discusses the Frank Ricci affirmative action lawsuit with Joan Walsh from Salon. Ricci was denied a promotion because of an archaic affirmative action law that throws out the test if only white test takers pass.
Buchanan is not being racist in the least here, he is speaking the truth. Affirmative action was never intended to "put down" White or cause whites to suffer for being white!
We have an African-American President; I would like to think that affirmative action is become increasingly unnecessary.
"Least reliable Democrat?" That's odd considering he wasn't a particularly reliable Republican. One could conclude that maybe Specter is simply not a very reliable Senator!
ConservativeXpress encourages you to donate to Pat Toomey's Senate campaign to help send Specter out to pasture where he belongs!
Carville gives Specter "credit" for becoming a Democrat just to win an election; sounds just about right for a Liberal to win an election at any cost.
In a separate interview with the Huffington Post, Democratic strategist James Carville was equally sour on Specter's recent party switch, calling the defection a potential "major event in terms of how the Senate conducts its business," but "a relatively minor event in political history."
"[Specter] was the least reliable Republican. So he will just switch to become the least reliable Democrat," said the longtime Clinton confidant and author of the upcoming book, "40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation." "I wouldn't try to make much more out of it than the political survivor comes up with one more act in a long running play of political survival... The one thing I will give him is I will give him some points for candor for being so upfront about [his switch]."
"I'm not sure this is going to have a great ending," added Carville, who has worked extensively in Pennsylvania politics. "He could get primaried, you know... If [Rep. Joe] Sestak runs, [Specter] will have to fight."
President Obama and Vice President Biden visited popular Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington, Va. for an informal and relaxed lunch. Both men ordered and paid for themselves. Obama left a $5 tip to avoid be called "freeloaders" as Obama says!
Of course, we have no proof they actually used their own money. Somehow I highly doubt it.ss
I threw up a little in my mouth when Obama stands on the edge of his Limo to wave to his adoring fans like he's a rock star or something. Hmmm.... scroll down to see how CBS News White House Reporter Mark Knoller uses this stupid PR stunt to attack President Bush! The media is relentless!
UPDATED The president’s schedule today showed he was to have lunch at 12:30PM with Vice President Biden in the Oval Office. There’s pretty much nothing they couldn’t order from the staff of White House chefs. Instead, they went out.
They fired up the motorcade and headed across the Potomac to a place called Ray’s Hell-Burger in Arlington, Va. It’s a casual eatery, no waiter service; you stand on line, order your burger and toppings, get handed a number, and wait for it to be cooked, plated and handed over.
What the ambience lacks appears to be more than made up for by the beef. People who have eaten there say the burgers are among the best they’ve ever tasted.
“Killer burgers,” says CBS News producer Mary Hager.
Like any other customer, the president waited in line with Biden right behind him. They spent the time examining the chalkboards listing the various cheeses and other toppings available for their burgers.
When he made it to the counter, Mr. Obama let loose with a presidential directive.
“I’m gonna have just your basic cheddar cheese burger, medium well," he said. "I just want mustard. No ketchup. Lettuce and tomato.”
“Are your fries pretty good?” he asked. “Can you vouch for your fries?”
“No french fries,” counterman Tim Murray informed the president. “We’ve got cheesy tater puffs.”
“Is that right?” said the president, sounding a bit surprised by the absence of fries.
“We’ll have one order of that,” he said of the tater puffs. “We’ll check that out.” He offered to share the flash-fried pureed potatoes and cheddar cheese with Biden.
The president placed burger orders for a number of his aides, and even offered to buy lunch for the members of the press pool accompanying him. He had only a few takers.
“You guys are cheap dates,” he told the media. “I can’t believe I couldn’t get more people to order a burger.”
Some in the press were worried about the appearance of the leader they cover buying them lunch.
The counterman offered to make the order on the house, but the president wouldn’t hear of it.
“No, no, no. We gotta pay for it," he said. Referring to reporters, he added: "See all these people, they’ll write about how we were free-loading.”
The president and vice president dug into their pockets and pulled out the cash to pay the tab. Obama tucked a $5 bill in the tip jar.
He was handed a ticket for his order - #42 - even though he’s President #44.
I don’t recall President Bush and Vice President Cheney ever going out for burgers – or any other of their predecessors for that matter.
If nothing else, today’s lunch outing gave the local economy a boost – and no doubt will bring Ray’s Hell-Burger a lot more business.
A police chase in Peñitas, Texas ends in a load of drugs, but what police say they've never seen is what the smugglers wrote on the bundles of marijuana.
"Obama U.S.A, Calderon Mexico" was inscribed on the packages of weed. Police said they believe the words are "trying to mock the Presidents effort in fighting the drugs."
"One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and, in essence, compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight."
--Attorney Tom Lauria
Thomas Lauria is the Global Practice Head of the Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Group at White & Case, which is comprised of over 130 lawyers located in over 20 countries around the world. Mr. Lauria has led White & Case teams in efforts to restructure more than US$100 billion of debt in some of the largest and most complex restructurings in history, including Washington Mutual Inc., WCI Communities, Delphi Corporation, Adelphia Communications Corporation, Mirant Corporation, Corporación Durango, PhyAmerica Physician Group, The Williams Companies, and Williams Communications Group.
On May 4, Fox Business co-hosts Cheryl Casone and Tom Sullivan and radio host Rush Limbaugh advanced the disputed claim by lawyer Thomas E. Lauria that his client, Perella Weinberg Partners, was, in Limbaugh's words, "threatened with reputation ruination from the White House press corps" to compel the firm to support the terms of the Chrysler bankruptcy offer. While both Casone and Sullivan's report and Limbaugh's noted that the White House has denied the allegation, neither noted that Perella Weinberg has done so as well.
On Fox Business Network's Fox Business, Casone teased Lauria's upcoming appearance on that evening's broadcast of FBN's Cavuto by noting that the "White House [is] denying claims that it strong-armed at least one of Chrysler's creditors to accept the terms of the bankruptcy offer." Casone then aired an audio clip of Lauria stating during a Detroit radio interview: "One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and, in essence, compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight." Sullivan later asserted: "I did not know the White House had control over the White House press corps to go destroy a company."
Similarly, on his nationally syndicated radio show, Limbaugh cited the interview in which Lauria made the comments aired on Fox Business. Limbaugh went on to state: "[N]ow the White House, by the way, is denying all of this, but there's a pattern here, ladies and gentlemen, that sort of gives the lie to the denial. I mean, this is -- we've referred to the situation that's going on in Washington as loan-sharking, Obama loan-sharking people."
In a May 2 post to his Political Punch blog, ABC News senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper reported that Lauria "told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration's Auto Industry Task Force, threatened" Perella Weinberg "that if it continued to oppose the administration's Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation." Tapper subsequently updated the post to note that "[t]he White House and a spokesperson for the investment bank in question challenged the accuracy of the story" and quoted a Perella Weinberg spokesperson saying, "The firm denies Mr. Lauria's account of events."
Additionally, a May 3 post on The New York Times' DealBook blog reported that "Perella Weinberg said in a statement that the firm decided to back the government-proposed settlement Thursday afternoon, after Mr. Obama criticized the lenders in harsh terms," and included the following "full statement by Perella Weinberg":
Suggestions have been made that the Perella Weinberg Partners Xerion Fund changed its stance on the Chrysler restructuring due to pressure from White House officials. This is incorrect. The decision to accept and support the proposed deal was made by the Xerion Fund after reflecting carefully on the statement of the President when announcing Chrysler's bankruptcy filing. In considering the President's words and exercising our best investment judgment, we concluded that the risks of potentially severe capital loss that could arise from fighting this in bankruptcy court far outweighed any realistic potential upside.
We have a very specific mandate from our investors, and that is to carefully weigh investment risks and rewards. It is not our investment mandate to pursue political or risky legal campaigns with our investors' money. This was our assessment of investment risk and reward, nothing else.
While we did and still do believe that the lenders would be justified in pressing their objections under conventional bankruptcy law principles, we believe a settlement would now be in the best interests of all parties in the context of avoiding a drawn out contested bankruptcy litigation proceeding, and we encourage our colleagues in the loan syndicate to pursue this immediately.
From the May 4 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: Now we know, ladies and gentlemen, I was right. Now we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I was right; option number three: They are scared to death. My buddy Frank Beckmann at WJR in Detroit interviewed one of the bankruptcy lawyers for one of the bondholders at Chrysler, one of the clients. His name is Tom Lauria.
Tom Lauria said, "Let me tell you, it's no fun standing on this side of the fence opposing the president of the United States. In fact, let me just say people have asked me who I represent. That's a moving target. I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday. One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and, in essence, compelled to withdraw its opposition to the Chrysler deal under the threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That's how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence."
And Frank Beckmann said, "Was it Perella Weinberg?" Lauria says, "It was Perella Weinberg."
Now, this happened in Friday -- on Friday in Detroit. It's made the news throughout the weekend. I -- so here's -- now the White House, by the way, is denying all of this, but there's a pattern here, ladies and gentlemen, that sort of gives the lie to the denial. I mean, this is -- we've referred to the situation that's going on in Washington as loan-sharking, Obama loan-sharking people.
Basically what happened was, as we mentioned last week, the bondholders, the investors at Chrysler, were leaned on by Obama and called out personally by the name of hedge funds and they were selfish and they were holding out for a better deal. These people were forced to settle for 20 to 30 cents on the dollar, while the UAW was made whole in the whole thing. And the lawyer, Thomas Lauria, now says that his client was threatened with reputation ruination from the White House press corps.
From the May 4 broadcast of Fox Business Network's Fox Business:
CASONE: The White House denying claims that it strong-armed at least one of Chrysler's creditors to accept terms of the bankruptcy offer. The accusation comes from the attorney for the creditor, Thomas Lauria, in an interview with Detroit radio station WJR -- WJR. Let's listen in to this.
LAURIA [audio clip]: One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and, in essence, compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight.
CASONE: And it turns out that the bondholding firm Perella Weinberg eventually agreed to the bankruptcy terms proposed by the White House. We're going to have much more on this story when Neil Cavuto talks to attorney Thomas Lauria tonight at 6 p.m. Eastern time right here on Fox Business.
SULLIVAN: That brings up the whole question about -- I did not know the White House had control over the White House press corps to go destroy a company. But I'm sure Neil will sort it all out for us.
Prayers for Bella Santorum
-
Word came down tonight that Rick Santorum has canceled his Sunday campaign
events to be with his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, who was admitted to
Children’s...
Blog posts by Ron Devito
-
Blog posts by Ron Devito
- Gov Palin on Pirro: Keep Vetting, No Endorse, but Strong Newt Support
- Gov Palin Interviewed on Tom Sullivan Show
Gingrich, Ignoring Attacks, Plays Up Ties to Reagan
-
At *New York Times*, "Gingrich Predicts a ‘Wild and Woolly’ Campaign":
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Despite signs that he could lose the important
Florida pri...
I accuse this chart of being racist!
-
James Pethokoukis calls this "*the economic chart that may doom the Obama
presidency*."
Even if [Friday's] GDP report—for the fourth quarter of 2011—shows ...
The Cain-Gingrich Endorsement
-
The loonier far right celebrities are lining up to show their support for
Newt Gingrich -- Chuck Norris, Sarah Palin, and now Mr. 999, Herman Cain.
WEST ...
We’re Changing Hosting Platforms Tonight
-
(Eugene Volokh) Comment posting will be disabled; with luck, this change
and some others should keep our site from going down, and also help us fix
the del...
Selected News For The Week Jan 28 – Feb 3
-
This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news articles that may not
warrant their own thread. Posting Guidelines To make the articles as
readable as...
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-01-08
-
We are paying a price for making a Kenyan-Indonesian-Muslim-Marxist POS the
POTUS 4 years ago. Shame on us if we do it again this year. #
Go Occupy This
-
Defending American values is the solemn duty of every citizen. As
self-absorbed entitlement addicts occupy our cities, Americans are assured
this vile beha...
Occupy Wall Street
-
Click on image to make it larger. Source
***This is a content summary only. Visit Notoriously Conservative for full
links, other content, and more.***
Psalm 23 for Liberals
-
Obama is the shepherd I did not want. He leadeth me Beside the still
factories. He restoreth my faith in Conservatism. He guideth me in the path
of unemplo...
Watch out Twitter, Facebook, You Tube - Users!
-
I told you about this in obama's secret plan how obama is taking your
information and harvesting it without your consent well he is not even
trying to hi...
