Tea Party = KKK?; Depression, not recession; Baucus didn't read his own bill

1) Tea Party Spells KKK, Rights Leader Says

A civil rights activist and former congressman equated the Tea Party with the Ku Klux Klan today as he blasted a conservative rally planned in Washington, D.C., this weekend.

The Rev. Walter Fauntroy, the non-voting delegate who represented the District of Columbia from 1971 to 1991, called on African-Americans to organize a "new coalition of conscience" to rebut the rally scheduled for Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial featuring Fox News pundit Glenn Beck and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"We are going to take on the barbarism of war, the decadence of racism, and the scourge of poverty, that the Ku Klux -- I meant to say the Tea Party," Fauntroy told a news conference today at the National Press Club. "You all forgive me, but I -- you have to use them interchangeably."

See: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/tea-party-compared-kkk-rev-walter-fauntroy/story?id=11489233

1a) Beck: Help us restore traditional American values

WASHINGTON – Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional American values and honor Martin Luther King's message. Civil rights leaders who accused the group of hijacking King's legacy held their own rally and march.

A predominately white crowd.” And which side of the political spectrum is always calling attention to race? Hmm?

While Beck billed his event as nonpolitical, conservative activists said their show of strength was a clear sign that they can swing elections because much of the country is angry with what many voters call an out-of-touch Washington.

Palin told the tens of thousands who stretched from the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the grass of the Washington Monument that calls to transform the country weren't enough. "We must restore America and restore her honor," said the former Alaska governor, echoing the name of the rally, "Restoring Honor."

Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2008 and a potential White House contender in 2012, and Beck repeatedly cited King and made references to the Founding Fathers. Beck put a heavy religious cast on nearly all his remarks, sounding at times like an evangelical preacher.

"Something beyond imagination is happening," he said. "America today begins to turn back to God."

Beck exhorted the crowd to "recognize your place to the creator. Realize that he is our king. He is the one who guides and directs our life and protects us." He asked his audience to pray more. "I ask, not only if you would pray on your knees, but pray on your knees but with your door open for your children to see," he said.

…Clarence B. Jones, who served as King's personal attorney and his speechwriter, said he believes King would not be offended by Beck's rally but "pleased and honored" that a diverse group of people would come together, almost five decades later, to discuss the future of America.

Jones, now a visiting professor at Stanford University, said the Beck rally seemed to be tasteful and did not appear to distort King's message, which included a recommitment to religious values.

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100829/ap_on_en_tv/us_dc_rally

2) Economy Caught in Depression, Not Recession: Rosenberg

Positive gross domestic product readings and other mildly hopeful signs are masking an ugly truth: The US economy is in a 1930s-style Depression, Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg said Tuesday.

Writing in his daily briefing to investors, Rosenberg said the Great Depression also had its high points, with a series of positive GDP reports and sharp stock market gains.

But then as now, those signs of recovery were unsustainable and only provided a false sense of stability, said Rosenberg.

Rosenberg calls current economic conditions "a depression, and not just some garden-variety recession," and notes that any good news both during the initial 1929-33 recession and the one that began in 2008 triggered "euphoric response."

"Such is human nature and nobody can be blamed for trying to be optimistic; however, in the money management business, we have a fiduciary responsibility to be as realistic as possible about the outlook for the economy and the market at all times," he said.

The 1929-33 recession saw six quarterly bounces in GDP with an average gain of 8 percent, sending the stock market to a 50 percent rally in early 1930 as investors thought the worst had passed.

1930. Ah, yes. That would be before the Hebert Hoover and later FDR “fixes” went into effect and ruined the recovery. Those who don’'t understand history are doomed to repeat it. 

See: http://www.cnbc.com/id/38831550

2a) Morning Bell: Liberalism is Failing

On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors reported that July sales of existing homes fell by 27% from June of this year and by 25.5% compared to July 2009. This annual sales rate of 3.83 million homes was the lowest since NAR began keeping track of sales in 1999. Then yesterday, the Commerce Department reported that July sales of new homes fell 12.4% from June and by 32.4% compared to July 2009. This annual rate of 276,000 new units sold is the lowest since 1963, when government records were first kept. The source of the plunge is no secret: July’s numbers reflect the first month when existing home sales received no boost from the home buyer tax credit.

Americans have seen this movie before. Last fall after the Obama administration’s Cash for Clunkers program dried up, new automobile sales plummeted. General Motors’ sales plunged 36 percent in September 2009 compared with August. Ford plummeted 37 percent. Chrysler dove 33 percent. And Americans are still feeling the hangover from the original car spending binge. Thanks to the destruction of traded-in cars mandated by President Obama, used car prices have soared this year. This means that the most cash-strapped Americans who are already dealing with 9.5% unemployment now are finding it harder to find an affordable car, all thanks to government intervention in the marketplace.

The problem with both of these liberal programs is the same: there is no such thing as a free lunch. In both cases the additional government spending did not create any new demand; it only shifted the time at which American consumers were going to make a purchase they had decided to make anyway. Instead of ensuring an environment where market participants could ascertain the true prices of the goods they want to purchase, these government interventions added uncertainty into the economy by making it harder for existing businesses and entrepreneurs to plan their next move. These government interventions, paid for with borrowed dollars, did not create new wealth. They just diverted capital and resources from the other places where markets would have invested it spontaneously absent government action.

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/26/morning-bell-liberalism-is-failing/

3) Max Baucus, author of Obamacare, admits he never read his own bill

During the debate over what later became the health care bill that was recently signed into law by President Obama, a number of federal representatives and senators both admitted that they had not read it. Some, including Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) even boasted of this fact. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) famously stated that “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

Presumably the actual people who wrote the bill might have at least some idea what was in it. Unfortunately that isn’t the case with Max Baucus (D-Mont.), lead sponsor of the Senate bill that became law. He admitted as much Monday during a constituents meeting in the small Montana town of Libby, as reported by the Flathead Beacon, a local newspaper.

According to Baucus, the idea of him reading a bill allocating nearly $1 trillion of federal funds is “a waste of time:”

The visit by Sebelius, following a town hall-style meeting earlier that day in Missoula, was part of an effort by Baucus to show the health secretary some of the needs of rural states, and to defend and explain the controversial health care reform effort Democrats recently passed.

“We’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve made great progress here,” Baucus told the crowd of about 40 gathered at Libby City Hall. [...]

Judy Matott asked Baucus if he would work to improve Libby’s image, and then asked him and Sebelius, “if either of you read the health care bill before it was passed and if not, that is the most despicable, irresponsible thing.”

Baucus replied that if Libby residents assembled an economic development plan, he would do what he could to help, and he took credit for “essentially” writing the health care bill that passed the Senate.

“I don’t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the health care bill. You know why? It’s statutory language,” Baucus said. “We hire experts.”

See: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/max-baucus-author-of-obamacare-admits-he-never-read-his-own-bill-101473894.html

3a) Glenn Beck: Healthcare bill author hasn't read healthcare bill?

PAT: So Max says I don't…look, I don't think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the healthcare bill. You know why? It's statutory language. We hire experts. What?

GLENN: Wait.

PAT: We didn't hire experts. We elected you (emphasis mine)!

See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/44749/

4) Little-known fact: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war

…* Obama's stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War -- more than $100 billion (15%) more.

* Just the first two years of Obama's stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.

* Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.

* Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame.

* Iraq War spending was not even 15% of the total deficit spending in that time frame. The cumulative deficit, 2003-2010, would have been four-point-something trillion dollars with or without the Iraq War.

* The Iraq War accounts for less than 8% of the federal debt held by the public at the end of 2010 ($9.031 trillion).

* During Bush's Iraq years, 2003-2008, the federal government spent more on education that it did on the Iraq War. (State and local governments spent about ten times more.)

Just some handy facts to recall during coming weeks as Obama and his congressional Democratic buddies get more desperate to put the blame for their spending policies on Bush and the war in Iraq.

See: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Little-known-fact-Obamas-failed-stimulus-program-cost-more-than-the-Iraq-war-101302919.html

5) Glenn Beck: Ground Zero imam -- America worse than Al Qaeda

GLENN: Cut 294, please, the moderate imam and the way he has been talking about, of course, the United States. Here we go.

IMAM RAUF: We tend to forget in the West that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non Muslims.

GLENN: Okay.

IMAM RAUF: You may remember that the U.S. led sanctions against Iraq led to the deaths of over a half a million Iraqi children.

PAT: Oh, wow.

IMAM RAUF: This has been documented by the United Nations.

PAT: It's been documented by the United Nations.

GLENN: Well, the United Nations would know.

PAT: You know it's true.

GLENN: Certainly they would know. So it's not who's it's not Saddam Hussein who took the money

PAT: No.

GLENN: That he was supposed to be using for food and medicine and building palaces.

PAT: Nope.

GLENN: It's not Saddam Hussein.

PAT: United States. And we killed those half a million Iraqi children due to our brutality and we're worse than Al Qaeda. We've killed more did you notice, innocent non Muslims than they have? Because he knows they've killed probably far more Muslims than we have. How many Muslims has Al Qaeda killed in Iraq and Afghanistan?

GLENN: I have no idea, but

PAT: Tens of thousands.

See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/44637/

5a) Three Things You Should Know About Islam

1) Islam has not been hijacked.

…The Qur'an is not an a la carte menu, it is all or nothing; take it or leave it.

The message is clear, direct and immutable.

2) Global imposition of Islamic doctrine & practice is a religious duty.

Islam encompasses all aspects of society including:

-belief & ritual worship

-economic transactions

-contracts

-morals & manners

-crime & punishment

Democratic/representative forms of government are abominations.

Criticism of Allah, Muhammad and their system is punished by death.

3) Muslims are allowed to deceive non-Muslims to protect and advance the imposition of Islam. This concept is known as al-Taqiyya.

See: http://www.bloggersbase.com/politics-and-opinions/3-islam/

5b) Video: Holocaust Survivor Cursed Out By Ground Zero Mosque Supporter

In a stunning display at a protest over the Ground Zero mosque, a Holocaust survivor was berated by a mosque supporter. The mosque supporter spews vulgarities at the holocaust survivor and at one point even says he "didn't learn his lesson". Content warning, we did not bleep out the profanities.

See: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/eyeblast-tv-staff/2010/08/25/video-holocaust-survivor-cursed-out-ground-zero-mosque-supporter

6) EPA Considering Banning Lead Ammunition

NSSF is springing into action, as the public comment period opens on EPA considering a regulation that will ban all traditional lead ammunition. This would basically end the shooting sports as we know it. Remember this is a no-win situation for us, because bullets made of materials other than lead are often considered armor piercing by law. Copper is your basic material, and copper is expensive, and has much poorer performance properties than lead.

As NSSF has pointed out, there’s no real scientific basis for restricting lead ammunition. Just about all shooting ranges at this point are recycling their lead (it’s too valuable to just leave in the ground). California’s ban has not been shown to reduce lead levels in Condors, and has driven more people away from hunting. Additionally, it’s interfered with lawful self-protection in parts of California that are considered condor habitat.

See: http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/2010/08/25/epa-considering-banning-lead-ammunition

7) Venezuela, More Deadly Than Iraq, Wonders Why

CARACAS, Venezuela — Some here joke that they might be safer if they lived in Baghdad. The numbers bear them out.

In Iraq, a country with about the same population as Venezuela, there were 4,644 civilian deaths from violence in 2009, according to Iraq Body Count; in Venezuela that year, the number of murders climbed above 16,000.

…he photo in the paper, El Nacional, is unquestionably gory. It shows a dozen homicide victims strewn about the city’s largest morgue, just a sample of an unusually anarchic two-day stretch in this already perilous place.

While many Venezuelans saw the picture as a sober reminder of their vulnerability and a chance to effect change, the government took a different stand.

A court ordered the paper to stop publishing images of violence, as if that would quiet growing questions about why the government — despite proclaiming a revolution that heralds socialist values — has been unable to close the dangerous gap between rich and poor and make the country’s streets safer.

Violence IS a socialist value. And so is a larger gap between the rich and poor, Hugo Chavez.

“Forget the hundreds of children who die from stray bullets, or the kids who go through the horror of seeing their parents or older siblings killed before their eyes,” said Teodoro Petkoff, the editor of another newspaper here, mocking the court’s decision in a front-page editorial. “Their problem is the photograph.”

…But some crime specialists say another factor has to be considered: Mr. Chávez’s government itself. The judicial system has grown increasingly politicized, losing independent judges and aligning itself more closely with Mr. Chávez’s political movement. Many experienced state employees have had to leave public service, or even the country.

More than 90 percent of murders go unsolved, without a single arrest, Mr. Briceño-León said. But cases against Mr. Chavez’s critics — including judges, dissident generals and media executives — are increasingly common.

Coming to a country near you…

See: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/americas/23venez.html

8) NRA to Reid, will give you money, but not endorsement

(Uh, isn’t giving money about the same thing as an endorsement? Is the NRA going to endorse Sharron Angle, then?)

The statement from the NRA:

"In the coming days and weeks, the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) will be announcing endorsements and candidate ratings in hundreds of federal races, as well as thousands of state legislative races. Unless these announcements are required by the timing of primary or special elections, the NRA-PVF generally does not issue endorsements while important legislative business is pending. The NRA-PVF also operates under a long-standing policy that gives preference to incumbent candidates who have voted with the NRA on key issues, which is explained in more detail here."

"The U.S. Senate recently considered a number of issues important to NRA members, including the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Out of respect for the confirmation process, the NRA did not announce its position on Ms. Kagan's confirmation until the conclusion of her testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee. Her evasive testimony exacerbated grave concerns we had about her long-standing hostility towards the Second Amendment. As a result, the NRA strongly opposed her confirmation and made it clear at the time that we would be scoring this important vote."

"The vote on Elena Kagan's confirmation to the Court, along with the previous year's confirmation vote on Sonia Sotomayor, are critical for the future of the Second Amendment. After careful consideration, the NRA-PVF announced today that it will not be endorsing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for re-election in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Nevada."

BUT…Reid’s campaign manager Brandon Hall released the following statement:

"The NRA’s relationship with Sen. Reid has been long-standing and productive and – unlike for Sharron Angle – they’ve put their money where their mouth is this cycle. Along with their financial support, the declaration of NRA head Wayne LaPierre that Sen. Reid is 'a true champion of the Second Amendment' and that 'no one has been a stronger advocate for responsible gun ownership than him' shows beyond a doubt that the NRA believes Sen. Reid to be a strong advocate for Nevadans’ Second Amendment rights in the US Senate."

See: http://www.examiner.com/clark-county-elections-2010-in-las-vegas/nra-to-reid-will-give-you-money-but-not-endorsement

9) Wallis (Osama’s “Spiritual Advisor”) Admits to Soros Funding

Last month, Marvin Olasky asked Wallis to admit his affiliations on the left when reported on the money from Soros in World magazine.

George Soros, one of the leading billionaire leftists—he has financed groups promoting abortion, atheism, same-sex marriage, and gargantuan government—bankrolled Sojourners with a $200,000 grant in 2004. A year later, here's how Jim rebutted a criticism of "religious progressives" for being allied with Soros and MoveOn.org: "I know of no connections to those liberal funds and groups that are as direct as the Religious Right's ties to right-wing funders."

Since then Sojourners has received at least two more grants from Soros organizations. Sojourners revenues have more than tripled—from $1,601,171 in 2001-2002 to $5,283,650 in 2008-2009—as secular leftists have learned to use the religious left to elect Obama and others.

In a Patheos interview, Wallis suggested that Olasky was lying.

“It’s not hyperbole or overstatement to say that Glenn Beck lies for a living. I’m sad to see Marvin Olasky doing the same thing. No, we don’t receive money from Soros. Given the financial crisis of nonprofits, maybe Marvin should call Soros and ask him to send us money.

…Jay Richards of National Review and Olasky responded to Wallis. Here's Olasky again:

Want to see for yourself what someone apparently did not want you to see? Click here to download the PDF, go to page 225, and you’ll see the grant to Sojourners.

You can also see the 2006 grant by downloading the 990-PF for that year and going to page 125. And by the way, look at page 114 of the 990-PF for 2007: another $100,000 grant to Sojourners “to support the Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform campaign.”

See: http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctpolitics/2010/08/wallis_admits_t.html

10) The Hal Lindsey Report 8-27-10: Obama gets pass on claiming Christianity

…All my life I’ve heard the story about the old preacher who challenged his congregation with these words: “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” I’ll take this a step further. What if you claimed to be a Christian and nobody believed you? Two recent polls have discovered that as many as one-quarter of all Americans believe that President Obama is actually a Muslim. This is despite the fact that during his campaign he put enormous effort into convincing the voters that he was a Christian.

I remember thinking at the time, “Why is no one on the Left howling about Senator Obama’s claims of faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ?” When George W. Bush, early in his campaign, told reporters that the person who had most profoundly affected his life was Jesus Christ, it almost derailed his campaign! Even during his presidency, I don’t remember White House spokespersons having to reassure reporters that President Bush was really a Christian. The press took his faith at face value and constantly threw it back at him.

And remember how the Left ridiculed him for appointing John Ashcroft, a devout and open evangelical Christian, as his Attorney-General? When it was discovered that Mr. Ashcroft held personal Bible studies in his DOJ office, the Left and the press demanded his resignation. Yet, when Mr. Obama’s deputy press secretary insisted to reporters aboard Air Force One last week that, indeed, the President is “obviously a Christian [because] he prays every day,” every member of the Mainstream Media was as quiet as a church mouse!

As Mister Rogers might have put it, “Can you say ‘double standard’?” But, then, that’s the modus operandi for practitioners of political correctness, social Marxism, and thought-control.

But trust our old friend, Reality, to break up the party. Because of all the controversy over the Ground Zero Mosque (Formerly called “Cordoba House,” then “Park 51 Mosque”, and now we learn it’s not really a mosque, but a community center with a small prayer space!), ‘Happy Ramadan’ dinners at the White House, and the growing suspicion that our President may be a ‘closet’ Muslim, we’ve recently heard a lot of folks give Islam some wonderful reviews. Unfortunately, the truth about Islam doesn’t quite measure up to the good press that Islam has been getting lately.

See: http://www.standingforgod.com/2010/08/the-hal-lindsey-report-8-27-10/

11) Washington Must Face the Facts of Life: Parents and Teens Favor Abstinence

A recent national study shows that the majority of U.S. parents and their teens support sexual abstinence before marriage. But the Obama Administration doesn’t want you to know this.

Early last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) completed the National Survey of Adolescents and Their Parents: Attitudes and Opinions about Sex and Abstinence. Results show that the majority of parents favor abstinence and the abstinence message. However, while HHS released a brief summary of the results, when researcher Dr. Lisa Rue of the University of Northern Colorado requested to see the full report of the taxpayer-funded study, HHS repeatedly refused. They told her it was not public information. However, the study had been shared at two public venues.

Finally, at the beginning of this week, after pressure from the public, HHS released the full study.

Dr. Rue points out that taxpayers and citizens have a right to such information and that access to these results is necessary to aid in the designing of school and community sex education programs.

However, this may be precisely why the Obama Administration was reluctant to release the study. According to the National Abstinence Education Association:

[The study] calls into question whether recent sex education policy decisions truly reflect cultural norms or clear evidence-based trends.

Last year, President Obama eliminated all funding for abstinence education. While an amendment to the health care bill reauthorized $50 million for abstinence funding, also included in the bill was an additional $75 million funding stream for comprehensive sex education. Yet the results of the HHS study indicate that 70 percent of parents are opposed to premarital sex in general as well as for their teens. (The majority of teens also reported opposition to premarital sex.) Moreover, the study shows that 83 percent of parents support their teens receiving the abstinence message in school.

It’s no surprise that parents and teens support abstinence. Adolescents who abstain from sexual activity report greater academic achievement and lower rates of depression and are less likely to have a child outside of marriage. Furthermore, they are less likely to experience poverty or end up on welfare. A variety of abstinence education programs have shown positive benefits for youth, including at-risk youth.

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/26/washington-must-face-the-facts-of-life-parents-and-teens-favor-abstinence

Iran's "peaceful" nuclear reactor; Intolerance part of Islam; Feds to sue Joe Arpaio?

1) Iran starts nuclear reactor, says intent peaceful Right… BUSHEHR, Iran – Trucks rumbled into Iran's first reactor Saturday to begin loading tons of uranium fuel in a long-delayed startup touted by officials as both a symbol of the country's peaceful intentions to produce nuclear energy as well as a triumph over Western pressure to rein in its nuclear ambitions. The Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant will be internationally supervised, including a pledge by Russia to safeguard it against materials being diverted for any possible use in creating nuclear weapons. Iran's agreement to allow the oversight was a rare compromise by the Islamic state over its atomic program. Western powers have cautiously accepted the deal as a way to keep spent nuclear fuel from crossing over to any military use. They say it illustrates their primary struggle: to block Iran's drive to create material that could be used for nuclear weapons and not its pursuit of peaceful nuclear power. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100822/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear 1a) Arab Sources Say a Major Military Surprise Is Close, Iran On Full Alert "The world's going to war over this." - Lawrence Eagleburger, former US Secretary of State, speaking about the activation of Iran's first reactor at Bushehr Saturday, Aug. 21. War preparations are reported by debkafile's military sources in Tehran and Damascus, debkafile's military sources report. In Tehran, Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced Friday, Aug. 20 that the "IRGC is in full readiness to encounter firmly with the stupidity of the US and the Zionist regime." In Damascus, Syrian prime minister Naji al-Otari gathered his ministers and heads of security and emergency services Thursday and ordered them to place all their services on immediate war readiness. And sources close to the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas quoted him as saying that direct talks with Israel were not in the offing because "a big military surprise awaits the Middle East." On Thursday, too, Tehran pitched its threat level high by warning that any attack on Iran's nuclear sites would be met by the IRGC "targeting the interests of the enemies in any part of the world." Some Iranian sources have suggested that Israel's obsessive preoccupation with the Galant scandal (over a forged document designed to influence the choice of the next Israeli chief of staff) is a smokescreen for masking preparations for an imminent attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. In the United States, respected commentators this week talked and wrote openly about a possible war over Iran's progress toward a nuclear bomb capability. Former US ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, who has excellent connections in Washington and Jerusalem, wrote: "The United States is more likely than Israel to launch an attack on Iran." Lawrence Eagleburger, former US Secretary of State, had this to say about the activation of Iran's first reactor at Bushehr Saturday, Aug. 21: "The world's going to war over this. If Iran gets the weapon it's going to use it." He urged an attack on Iran before it obtained a bomb." See: http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/middle-east-update.htm 2) The Tolerant Pose Intolerance is not just part of al-Qaeda, it is part of Islam. I encourage you to read the entire article. It is that good. Excerpts are below. Non-Muslims are barred from entering the cities of Mecca and Medina — not merely barred from building synagogues or churches, but barred, period, because their infidel feet are deemed unfit to touch the ground. This is not an al-Qaeda principle. Nor is it an “Islamist” principle. It is Islam, pure and simple. “Truly the pagans are unclean,” instructs the Koran’s Sura 9:28, “so let them not . . . approach the Sacred Mosque.” This injunction — and there are plenty of similar ones in Islam’s scriptures — is enforced vigorously not by jihadist terrorists but by the Saudi government. And it is enforced not because of some eccentric sense of Saudi nationalism. The only law of Saudi Arabia is sharia, the law of Islam. As Sunni scholarly commentary in the version of the Koran officially produced by the Saudi government explains, only Muslims are sufficiently “strict in cleanliness, as well as in purity of mind and heart, so that their word can be relied upon.” Thus, only they may enter the holy cities. Authoritative Shiite teaching is even more bracing. As Iraq’s “moderate” Ayatollah Ali Sistani — probably the world’s most influential Shiite cleric — has explained, the touching of non-Muslims is discouraged, because they are considered to be in the same “unclean” category as “urine, feces, semen, dead bodies, blood, dogs, pigs, alcoholic liquors, and the sweat of an animal who persistently eats [unclean things].” These teachings are worth bearing in mind as we listen to the staunch defenses of religious liberty that have suddenly become so fashionable among proponents of the Cordoba Initiative, a planned $100 million Islamic center and mosque to be built on the hallowed ground where remains of the nearly 3,000 Americans killed by Muslim terrorists on 9/11 continue to be found. The most prominent proponent of the project, President Obama, was in high fashion Friday night, as one would expect at a White House gala in observance of Ramadan. “This is America,” he intoned, “and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.” The president’s commitment is to a vacant abstraction, not to actual liberty. If his resolve to defend religious freedom were truly unshakable, the last thing he would endorse is the construction of a gigantic monument to intolerance in a place where bigots devastated a city they have repeatedly targeted because of the pluralism and freedom it symbolizes. You can’t aspire to religious freedom by turning a blind eye to the reality of sharia (emphasis mine). …Sura 9:29, the verse of the Koran that immediately follows the commandment to exclude non-Muslims from holy sites, instructs: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the people of the Book [i.e., Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” The jizya is a poll-tax imposed on dhimmis. Those are non-Muslims permitted to live in Islamic territories. The concept is that all the world will eventually be under the thumb of sharia authorities, with dhimmis tolerated so long as they accept their subordinate legal and social status (“and feel themselves subdued”). The alternative for dhimmis is war or death. Yep. Definitely a religion of peace. See: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/243899/tolerant-pose-andrew-c-mccarthy 2a) Imam Rauf's Newly Discovered Explosive Audio Tapes Steve Emerson has unearthed 13 hours of audio tape of Imam Rauf. Emerson and his team of investigators has spent the past four weeks going through the newly found material. Rauf is a "radical extremist cleric who cloaks himself in sheep's clothing." Among the shocking revelations Emerson's team will reveal next week -- they found Rauf: Defending wahhabism - a puritanical version of Islam that governs Saudi Arabia Calling for the elimination of Israel by claiming a one-nation state, meaning no more Jewish State. Defending Bin Laden's violence Demonstrating that there is a lot more to this man than merely a cleric. The American public now sees the "deception perpetrated by all these Islamic groups that claim they are against violence and terrorism and insist that their rights be respected but in reality are fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood." Emerson states there is "definitely fraud involved in the entities that Rauf created in the last decade that are co-mingled." Emerson took it to the IRS, who said, "you have a case." There is intel that the shady developers, the Gamal brothers, will be going to radical Islamic organizations to serve as connectors -- CAIR, MPAC -- so that they do their bidding for the money. The mosque "is going to be a magnet for radicals." Emerson is not opposed to the building of mosques. He is "opposed to the building of radical mosques." ......"Unfortunately 80% of the mosques in the United States are controlled by the Wahhabists. That's the reality. No one wants to admit it. They're the ones that attract terrorists." See: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/08/imam-raufs-newly-discovered-explosive-audio-tapes.html 2b) Nancy Pelosi, house speaker, wants investigation into Ground Zero mosque opposition funding Nancy Pelosi wants some answers. The house speaker is calling for an investigation into groups protesting the building of the Ground Zero mosque. "There is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some," she told San Francisco's KCBS radio on Tuesday. Pelosi added that she joins "those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded." …Pelosi is one of few House Democrats to make a statement on the mosque. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) broke from the president on Monday and said the mosque should be built "someplace else." The move occurred shortly after his Republican opponent Sharron Angle asked where he stood. Way to go, Sharron Angle! Make Harry Reid follow YOUR lead! …Pelosi said the matter is a "zoning issue" in New York City and would like the matter to be determined by city residents. She said the issue might be "ginned up" in order to help Republican candidates. Ginned up? Republicans are the ones who want to build a mosque at Ground Zero and hold its grand opening on the TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11! See: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/08/18/2010-08-18_nancy_pelosi_house_speaker_wants_investigation_into_ground_zero_mosque_oppositio.html 2c) George W. Bush on the Ground Zero mosque? GLENN: All right. Maureen Dowd is now begging George W. Bush to speak up on the mosque. I love this story. PAT: Yeah, I do, too. She says it's time for W to weigh in. And, you know, she refers to him as W out of sheer affection. You know she does. GLENN: She wants him to weigh in on the mosque because she thinks that George W. Bush is going to agree with Barack Obama. PAT: So that Obama's got a little bit of a cover. Because he's getting some flack. GLENN: Why would you want cover from a guy who is too stupid to know PAT: Right. GLENN: exactly how to tie his own tie? PAT: Yeah, yeah. STU: That was they painted him as the dumbest man in America for eight years. See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/44446/ 2d) By Faith: I Am Proud of Franklin Graham …Specifically, this week Graham noted that Barack Obama was born a muslim. “I think the president’s problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a Muslim, his father gave him an Islamic name,” Graham told CNN’s John King in a televised interview that aired Thursday night. Likewise, Graham said if the State Department paid him or another Christian to do outreach, there’d be all sorts of outcry. But, due to double standards, there was no outcry over the State Department putting the Ground Zero mosque imam on the payroll. Lastly, his words about Islam from last year have come back into focus due to his opposition to the Ground Zero mosque. Last year, he said, in part about Islam, “I speak out for people who live under Islam, who are enslaved under Islam, and I want them to know they can be free by Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.” First, about Barack Obama’s faith — it is clear when he was enrolled in school in Indonesia his parents listed his faith as Islam. The New York Times, in 2008, buttressed that. One is not born into Islam (Rev. Graham got that point technically wrong), but as Streiff has pointed out, at one time his parents listed his religion as “Islam.” ..By faith we believe, we persevere, and we know that there will be a last day and a final judgment. On that day we who persevere win because Christ wins against this world. It is that simple. It is that offensive. It is precisely that which our secular media and political elites do not understand and cannot grasp. That is why they dwell on Franklin Graham and the political impact of his words. These people live for the now. Franklin Graham and all those who follow Christ live for eternity. See: http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/08/22/by-faith-i-am-proud-of-franklin-graham/ 3) U.S. may sue Arizona's Sheriff Arpaio for not cooperating in investigation A federal investigation of a controversial Arizona sheriff known for tough immigration enforcement has intensified in recent days, escalating the conflict between the Obama administration and officials in the border state. Justice Department officials in Washington have issued a rare threat to sue Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio if he does not cooperate with their investigation of whether he discriminates against Hispanics. The civil rights inquiry is one of two that target the man who calls himself "America's toughest sheriff." A federal grand jury in Phoenix is examining whether Arpaio has used his power to investigate and intimidate political opponents and whether his office misappropriated government money, sources said. The standoff comes just weeks after the Justice Department sued Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer (R) because of the state's new immigration law, heightening tensions over the issue ahead of November's midterm elections. The renewed debate has focused attention on Arpaio, a former D.C. police officer who runs a 3,800-employee department, and a state at the epicenter of the controversy over the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/17/AR2010081703637.html 4) Obama challenges GOP on campaign finance ruling …You'd think that reducing corporate and even foreign influence over our elections wouldn't be a partisan issue," said Obama. "But the Republican leaders in Congress said no. In fact, they used their power to block the issue from even coming up for a vote. "This can only mean that the leaders of the other party want to keep the public in the dark," said the president. "They don't want you to know which interests are paying for the ads. The only people who don't want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., scoffed at the president's message. "Americans want us to focus on jobs, but by focusing on an election bill, Democrats are sending a clear message to the American people that their jobs aren't as important as the jobs of embattled Democrat politicians," McConnell said. "The president says this bill is about transparency. It's transparent all right. It's a transparent effort to rig the fall elections (emphasis mine)." AND THE SUPREME COURT AGREES, BARACK HUSSIEN OBAMA. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100821/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_campaign_finance 5) Report Accuses Obama Administration of ‘Covert and Expensive’ Propaganda President Obama’s consummate campaign skills just might cost him. According to a report released by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Obama has orchestrated more propaganda activities to promote his agenda than any modern president — and he’s used federal funds to do it. “In 2009, the White House used the machinery of the Obama campaign to tout the President’s agenda through inappropriate and sometimes unlawful public relations and propaganda initiatives,” the House Oversight Committee staff writes. “The Obama administration’s propaganda is covert and expensive to taxpayers.” According to the report, members of the administration — including Yosi Sergant, formerly of the National Endowment of the Arts, and Tracy Russo of the Department of Justice — have misused federal agency resources to promote the president’s agenda. Sergant, the former communications director for the NEA, used his position — and, by extension, the powerful incentive of NEA grant money — to formally encourage artists to utilize their artistic abilities to promote presidential issues. Russo, a new media specialist in the Department of Justice, posted fake and anonymous comments on message boards and blogs to attack bloggers critical of the president’s agenda. The two are part of a wider pattern, according to the report. “The President’s right to sell his policy recommendations to Congress and the public is not disputed,” the report states. “[H]owever, using the resources of the federal government to activate a sophisticated propaganda and lobbying campaign is an abuse of office.” See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/17/report-accuses-administration-of-covert-and-expensive-propaganda-efforts/ 6) Dems retreat on health care cost pitch Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and the deficit and instead stressing a promise to "improve it." The messaging shift was circulated this afternoon on a conference call and PowerPoint presentation organized by FamiliesUSA — one of the central groups in the push for the initial legislation. The call was led by a staffer for the Herndon Alliance, which includes leading labor groups and other health care allies. It was based on polling from three top Democratic pollsters, John Anzalone, Celinda Lake and Stan Greenberg. The confidential presentation, available in full here and provided to POLITICO by a source on the call, suggests that Democrats are acknowledging the failure of their predictions that the health care legislation would grow more popular after its passage, as its benefits became clear and rhetoric cooled. Instead, the presentation is designed to win over a skeptical public and to defend the legislation — in particular, the individual mandate — from a push for repeal. "Straightforward ‘policy’ defenses fail to [move] voters’ opinions about the law," says one slide. "Women in particular are concerned that health care law will mean less provider availability — scarcity an issue." The presentation also concedes that the fiscal and economic arguments that were the White House's first and most aggressive sales pitch have essentially failed (emphasis mine). …The presentation's final page of "Don'ts" counsels against claiming "the law will reduce costs and [the] deficit." The presentation advises, instead, sales pitches that play on personal narratives and promises to change the legislation. See: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41271.html 7) Prop. 8 ruling ignores precedent, evidence and common sense Even some who support same-sex marriage worry that, in striking down California's voter-approved proposition defining marriage as between one man and one woman, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker went too far. They are right -- and not the only ones who should be concerned. Walker's ruling is indefensible as a matter of law wholly apart from its result. By refusing to acknowledge binding Supreme Court precedent, substantial evidence produced at trial that was contrary to the holding and plain common sense, the ruling exhibits none of the requirements of a traditional decision. This opinion is arbitrary and capricious, and its alarming legal methodology and overtly policy-driven tenor are too extreme to stand. Regardless of whether one agrees with the result, structurally sound opinions always confront binding legal precedent. Walker's is a clear exception because the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken on whether a state's refusal to authorize same-sex marriage violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th Amendment. In 1972, Baker v. Nelson, a case over whether Minnesota violated the Constitution by issuing marriage licenses only to opposite-sex couples, was unanimously thrown out on the merits, for lack of a substantial federal question. The Supreme Court's action establishes a binding precedent in favor of Proposition 8. But Judge Walker's ruling doesn't mention Baker, much less attempt to distinguish it or accept its findings. …Despite ample evidence introduced into the record that only a union of a man and woman can produce offspring (as if that needs proof), Walker's opinion denied the relevance of that biological fact. That difference has been the main reason civilization recognized the uniqueness of marriage as between a man and woman, and why courts have repeatedly relied on that common-sense truth (emphasis mine). Despite voluminous evidence and common sense pointing to the contrary, the judge also declared that opposite sexes were never part of the "historical core of the institution of marriage"; "evidence shows conclusively that moral and religious views form the only basis for a belief that same-sex couples are different than opposite-sex couples"; traditional marriage is an "artifact"; and, also without reference to the monumental evidence to the contrary, that it is beyond "any doubt that parents' genders are irrelevant to children's developmental outcomes." These assertions appear in the opinion's "findings of fact" section, yet they are not facts. These "findings" derive from arbitrary and capricious non-analysis and are forcefully contradicted by evidence in the court record. No appellate court should allow the ruling to stand. See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081604254.html?hpid=opinionsbox1 8) White House says Obama is Christian, prays daily WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily, a White House official said Thursday, trying to tamp down growing doubts about the president's religion. A new poll showed that nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, believe Obama is Muslim. That was up from 11 percent who said so in March 2009. The survey also showed that just 34 percent said Obama is Christian, down from 48 percent who said so last year. The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they don't know his religion. By their fruit, you will know them… See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100819/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_poll_obama_s_religion 9) Bam's lousy economic record: Let's just look at the facts, shall we? …At 9.5%, the unemployment rate is 1.8 percentage points higher today than when the President took office. There are 3.3 million fewer U.S. jobs than there were in January 2009. The U.S. economy has lost jobs in 12 of the 18 months he has been office, including the last two months. In early August of last year, the President declared that, thanks in part to his policies, the U.S. economy was "pointed in the right direction." We have lost jobs in six of the 12 months since then, for a net decline of 52,000 jobs. The 9.4% unemployment rate when he made this statement climbed to 10.1% and has since declined to 9.5%, still higher than it was last August. The President signed into law an $862 billion stimulus law and two health laws that will create $788 billion of new entitlements over the next decade. Combine these with countless other smaller spending bills, several of which were labeled as emergencies and therefore not paid for, and the U.S. government is $2.5 trillion more in debt than on the day this President took office. That's $8,000 more debt for every American man, woman, and child. See: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/16/2010-08-16_bams_lousy_economic_record.html 10) Sweden withdraws warrant for WikiLeaks founder STOCKHOLM – Swedish prosecutors withdrew an arrest warrant for the founder of WikiLeaks on Saturday, saying less than a day after the document was issued that it was based on an unfounded accusation of rape. They said that for the moment Julian Assange remains suspected of the lesser crime of molestation in a separate case. The accusations have been labeled a dirty trick by Julian Assange and his group, who are preparing to release a fresh batch of classified U.S. documents from the Afghan war. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100821/ap_on_hi_te/eu_sweden_wikileaks 11) Russian Deployment of S-300 Missiles Threatens U.S. Interests in the Caucasus On Wednesday, Gen. Alexander Zelin, the commander of the Russian Air Force, announced that Moscow had deployed a state-of-the-art S-300 (SA-20 Favorit) long- range air defense system in Abkhazia, a region of the Republic of Georgia that Russia has occupied since the August 2008 war. Since then, Russia recognized breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent republics. According to Zelin, the task of the air defense systems is “to prevent violation of Abkhaz and South Ossetian airspace and to destroy any aircraft intruding into their airspace no matter what their purpose might be”. …However, with this move Russia is yet again flagrantly violating the August 2008 ceasefire agreement, negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. It called upon both countries to withdraw troops to pre-war positions and restore status-quo ante bellum. In addition, Russia has built up to five military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the past two years alone. …Most importantly from the perspective of the United States, Russian actions are aimed at denying the United Space airspace and over-flight options. The surveillance aspect is no less important—depending on the actual deployment of the air defenses: associated radars will be able to picture or “paint” much of western Georgia and the adjoining Black Sea coastline. The ultimate objective for Moscow is to become an uncontested hegemon in the South Caucasus. And of course this has potential implications in case of an Iranian contingency. The Russians are committed to deployments in the Caucasus that lead to the strategic denial of U.S. power projection in that region. This bears on the U.S.’s future ability to resupply Afghanistan; to use power to disarm a nuclear Iran; to ensure energy supply from the Caspian; and to help pro-Western friends and allies. These are hardly great accomplishments for the Obama “reset” policy”. See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/13/russian-deployment-of-s-300-missiles-threatens-us-interests-in-the-caucasus

Fannie/Freddie at it again; Activist Judge in CA and Prop 8; More Climate Change Hoaxing

 Sorry so long with no post; I’ve been on vacation and then attending a doula conference.  While I was gone, Supreme Court “Judge” Elena Kagan (I put “judge” in quotation marks because she has NO experience as a judge, but I guess that’s irrelevant?) was confirmed by the Senate.

Did you miss me?

1) Morning Bell: The Dodd-Frank Bailout is Already Here (The Return of the $1,000 Down Mortgage)

 On July 21, when President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, he promised: “There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period.” How long will this Obama promise last? Well, The New York Times reports today that  “the Obama administration on Wednesday pumped $3 billion into programs intended to stop the unemployed from losing their homes,” including a program announced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that “will draw on $1 billion authorized by the new financial overhaul law.” That’s right. The Dodd-Frank “no more taxpayer-funded bailouts forever” bill is not even a month old, and already President Obama is using it to turn your tax dollars into yet another bailout.

 …Faced with the utter failure of its TARP funded mortgage bailout, the Obama administration is now turning to the left's old stand-in for housing market interference: the government-sponsored entities (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae is now working with the National Council of State Housing Agencies to let people buy houses with little or no down payment just like the GSEs did at the height of the housing bubble (emphasis mine). And last week, Freddie Mac was also promoting no-down payment loans, this time through an array of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs. All this despite the fact that last week Fannie Mae announced it lost $1.2 billion in the second quarter of this year, and this week Freddie Mac announced a $4.71 billion loss. Both companies were also forced to ask for more Obama bailout cash, including $1.5 billion of your tax dollars for Fannie and another $1.8 billion for Freddie.

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/12/morning-bell-the-dodd-frank-bailout-is-already-here

And: http://washingtonindependent.com/93795/the-return-of-the-1000-down-mortgage

2) House Republicans Suggest Names for Democrats’ Untitled, $26-Billion ‘Second Stimulus’ Bill 

(CNSNews.com) - Washington Democrats are in such a rush to pass one more stimulus-type bill that the legislation to be voted on Tuesday doesn’t even have a name, Republicans note. 

As CNET reported, a watchdog Web site on Sunday evening noted that the Democrats’ $26-billion spending measure includes a few blank spaces. 

Congress’ official Web site calls it the ‘______Act  of____,’ and the Library of Congress’ Thomas Web site displays it as the ‘XXXXXX Act of XXXX.’” 

“A nameless bill for a hopeless cause is a fitting metaphor for a Democratic Congress that refuses to listen to the American people and abandon its job-killing agenda,” said House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio). 

Boehner on Monday offered 10 possible names for what he called the “union-boss bailout” bill: 

-- Save Our ‘Stimulus’ (SOS) Act

-- ‘Recovery Summer’ Bailout Act (Cash for Flunkers)

-- Delivering Unions a Major Boost (DUMB) Act

-- Helping Election Expenditures, Hurting American Workers (HEEHAW) Act

-- Democracy is Strengthened by Clearly Leveraging and Optimizing Special-Interests’ Effectiveness (DISCLOSE) Act

-- Holding Union Bosses Over Until Card Check Act

-- Rescuing Incumbent Democrats Is Costly (RIDIC) Act

-- Summertime Cash for Union Bosses Instead of Spending Cuts for Taxpayers Act

-- Frivolous Act of Ineffective Largesse (FAIL) Act

-- Naming These Things Hasn’t Gotten Us Anywhere, So Why Bother? Act 

See: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70813 

3) A Bipartisan Vote on the Obamacare Road to Repeal 

Tucked away in the legislation that made Obamacare into law is a tax provision that will be a compliance nightmare for small businesses if it ever goes into effect. The provision calls for all businesses to file 1099 forms with the IRS for all transactions with other businesses over $600. 

Businesses are not like individuals. They purchase lots of items in large quantities. As a result, if the Obamacare reporting requirement goes into effect as scheduled in 2012, it would create an enormous compliance burden on businesses. Businesses would have to file millions of new forms with the IRS. Small businesses would be especially hard hit, because they do not have large accounting departments that can absorb more bureaucracy like larger businesses. 

Businesses large and small have made their position clear to Congress: Repeal this burdensome new requirement. The House of Representatives voted on a bill that would’ve done that recently but failed to pass the measure. 

The Senate is working on its own version of repealing the 1099 rule now. Senator Mike Johanns (R–NE) is leading the effort and has garnered support from Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR). 

The catch in both the House and the Senate will be how to replace the $17 billion in revenue the 1099 provision is estimated to bring in. Congress passed the 1099 rule under the mistaken belief that businesses will pay more income taxes if they report more of their transactions. In reality, the 1099 rule won’t bring in a fraction of that revenue—if any at all. This is just another example of the unrealistic offsets used to “pay for” the new health care law. All the more reason to repeal this provision—and the entire law itself. 

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/11/a-bipartisan-vote-on-the-obamacare-road-to-repeal/ 

4) Missouri Voters Oppose Mandatory Health Insurance 

Voters in Missouri overwhelmingly opposed requiring people to buy health insurance, in a largely symbolic slap at the Obama administration's health overhaul. 

The referendum was the first chance for voters to express a view on the overhaul, although turnout in the state was low and Republican voters significantly outnumbered Democrats. 

With all precincts reporting, 71% of voters supported Proposition C, establishing a state law that says Missouri cannot compel people to pay a penalty or fine if they fail to carry health coverage. Twenty-nine percent voted against the proposition. 

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703970704575408202618964626.html 

5) Appeals Panel Should Reinstate Stay on Prop 8 Ruling 

Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision to lift the stay on his ruling striking down California’s voter-approved Proposition 8 is, fortunately, not the last word on whether same-sex couples in the Golden State will be able to obtain marriage licenses while this case is under appeal.  The appropriate panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has until August 18 to act on the request by attorneys defending this state constitutional amendment for a stay pending the conclusion of the Prop 8 appeal. 

In the interest of clarity and certainty about the law, the panel should promptly grant the defendants’ emergency request and keep current law in effect. Commentators on both sides of the policy debate over same-sex unions recognize the immense social impact Judge Walker’s ruling will have and the extraordinary degree of judicial activism it represents (emphasis mine).  There are powerful bases both for granting the stay and keeping this issue in the hands of the people and their elected representatives. 

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/12/appeals-panel-should-reinstate-stay-on-prop-8-ruling

 6) Only 29 Percent of Americans Approve of Obama’s Handling of Immigration, Says Gallup 

(CNSNews.com) - As the Senate reconvened on Thursday, taking a rare break from its August recess to pass a $600-million bill to fund border security provisions that had passed in a specially-reconvened-session of the House on Tuesday, new numbers from the Gallup Poll showed that only 29 percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the immigration issue.

See: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/71035 

7) State Department uses taxpayer funds to sponsor controversial Imam’s trip to Middle East (headline mine) 

An advocacy group fighting the so-called Ground Zero Mosque has called on the State Department to back off plans to sponsor the imam of that controversial mosque on an upcoming trip to the Middle East. 

The State Department confirmed Tuesday that the administration is sponsoring Feisal Abdul Rauf's trip to Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, which is described as part of a program to send Muslims abroad to educate other countries about the role of religion in the United States. Rauf made similar trips during the Bush administration. 

Rauf and his partners are preparing to build a $100 million Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero, the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that left nearly 3,000 dead. 

The American Center for Law and Justice objected after learning about the plans to sponsor Rauf's upcoming trip. The group said it will file a protest letter with the State Department demanding the government halt its sponsorship of the trip. 

"This shows a tremendous lack of judgment on behalf of the State Department; and for the American taxpayers to be funding this global journey is not only wrong, but deeply offensive," Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the organization, said in a written statement. "It seems with each passing day we learn more disturbing information about this project and the people behind it. We demand that the State Department put a halt to the Imam's participation in this publicly funded trip." 

See: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/10/advocacy-group-urges-state-department-drop-sponsorship-imam-trip/ 

8) U.S. bailouts benefited foreign firms, report says 

The federal government's effort to stabilize the financial system in 2008 by flooding money into as many banks as possible resulted in a boon to many foreign firms and left the United States shouldering far more risk than governments that took a narrower approach, according to a new report by a panel overseeing the Treasury's $700 billion bailout fund. 

Members of the Congressional Oversight Panel, in a report due out Thursday, note that America's broad financial rescues had more impact internationally than the narrower bailout programs of other countries had on U.S. firms. 

They cite as a case study the bailout of insurance giant American International Group. While the Treasury committed up to $70 billion to AIG through its Troubled Assets Relief Program, the report states, much of that money ended up in the coffers of foreign trading partners in France, Germany and other countries. The cash that the United States poured into AIG alone equaled twice what France spent on its total capital injection program, and half what Germany spent. 

"The point we make forcefully in this report is that there were no data about where this money was going, no information about where this money was going," said panel chair Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor. "Without that information, no one could make a deliberate policy choice" about whether to ask foreign governments to contribute to the financial rescues. 

See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/11/AR2010081106215.html 

9) President’s Commission Recommends President Reconsider Drilling Ban 

The President’s National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling has called on the Obama Administration to consider lifting the ban on drilling for certain rigs.  It will be interesting to see if the President listens to his own commission. 

…This is a big reversal for the commission.  The President’s commission would like to see the Obama Administration take a hard look at how economically destructive the moratorium is to the Gulf region and provide information to the Commission justifying the moratorium. 

The Times-Picayune reports: 

The presidential commission, which is chaired by former Florida Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly, has done a near-180-degree reversal on the moratorium. Prior to the commission’s first hearing in New Orleans last month, the chairmen said it would not be their charge to investigate the rationale, effectiveness or impact of the moratorium. 

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/10/president’s-commission-recommends-president-reconsider-drilling-ban 

10) US Government in Massive New Global Warming Scandal – NOAA Disgraced 

Global warming data apparently cooked by U.S. government-funded body shows astounding temperature fraud with increases averaging 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The tax-payer funded National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has become mired in fresh global warming data scandal involving numbers for the Great Lakes region that substantially ramp up averages. 

A beleaguered federal agency appears to be implicated in the most blatant and extreme case of climate data fraud yet seen. Official records have been confirmed as evidence that a handful of temperature records for the Great Lakes region have been hiked up by literally hundreds of degrees to substantially inflate the average temperature range for the northeastern United States. 

The web pages at the center of this latest climate storm were created by NOAA in partnership with Michigan State University. 

Someone under the pseudonym ‘Sportsmen’ anonymously tipped off skeptic blog, Climatechangefraud.com. Independent analysts affirm the web pages as genuine. 

In his email the faceless whistleblower explains that what precipitated the scoop was “a rather dubious report in the media that the Great Lakes temperatures have risen 10 to 15 degrees, I found it was downright laughable.” 

…While another web page identifies that Michigan State University’s ‘Coastal Watch’ site is officially connected to NOAA thus implicating both institutions in a climate data conspiracy. At the bottom of the web page mention is made of ‘Sea Grant’ that is described as a “unique partnership of public and private sectors that combines research, education and technology transfer for public service.“ 

The legend further boasts that such data is shared across “ a national network of universities meeting the changing environmental and economic needs of Americans in coastal ocean and Great Lakes regions.” 

But our intrepid anonymous whistleblower wasn’t done yet. He pointed out that Egg Harbor, Wisconsin, really got cooking this July 4th around 9:59AM, according to NOAA and Coast Watch. It was there, at the bottom left row of the temperature data points, that the records reveal on that day a phenomenally furnace-like 600 degrees Fahrenheit. 

See: http://www.climatechangefraud.com/climate-reports/7479-us-government-in- 

11) WH official: 'Potential' for climate change in lame-duck 

Carol Browner, the White House's top energy and environmental adviser, refused on Sunday to shut the door on passing climate change legislation this year — even though Senate Democratic leaders have conceded they lack the votes and have punted on the volatile issue. 

Browner said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that President Barack Obama is still committed to pushing the bill through the Senate, and that there was "potential" for the bill to come up in a post-election, lame-duck session of Congress. 

Browner's remarks will almost certainly give ammunition to Republicans who say Democrats are plotting to do mischief in a lame-duck session — even though top congressional Democrats have thrown cold water on an overly ambitious lame-duck agenda. 

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) later said on the same program that it's "outrageous" for Democrats to consider passing the bill after the elections. 

See: http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0810/WH_official_Potential_for_climate_change_in_lameduck.html 

12) “Shut up! You Can’t Sing the National Anthem Here!” 

Take heed, America. The next time you visit Washington, D.C., feel free to stand in awe of the monuments to our greatest leaders, but do not — DO NOT — sing the National Anthem at the Lincoln Memorial. It turns out that doing so is a violation of federal law. 

A group of high school students from around the country learned that lesson the hard way on June 25 when they sang the “Star Spangled Banner” at the Lincoln Memorial. A United States Park Police officer told them to pipe down because their singing was considered an illegal demonstration, as Fox News reports. The students, who are members of the Young America’s Foundation, were visiting the city for a conservative leadership conference. 

What law, exactly, was being violated? According to Fox News: 

U.S. Park Police confirmed that the students were in violation of federal law and their impromptu performance constituted a demonstration in an area that must remain ‘completely content neutral.’” 

Evan Gassman, who was one of the attendees, says of the episode: 

This is a perfect example of political correctness run amuck. I would hope that displays of patriotism would be encouraged, not censored. 

Park police say the students would have been in the clear if they sang 25 steps from where they were standing. Keep that in mind the next time you want to celebrate what America means to you in our nation’s capital. 

UNBELIEVABLE! 

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/10/shut-up-you-cant-sing-the-national-anthem-here 

13) Harry Reid: "I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican." 

While campaigning in Nevada Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told an audience of mostly Hispanic voters: "I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, okay. Do I need to say more?" 

Reid's racially-charged comments come as the Nevada Democrat is trying to boost Hispanic turnout in his bid for reelection this November. Polls show, however, that Reid's positions on immigration are very unpopular with Nevada voters in general. Reid supports the Obama administration's lawsuit against Arizona over its immigration law, but 63 percent of Nevada voters oppose the lawsuit, according to a Rasmussen poll. 

Reid voted against a measure to complete a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border in May, but 68 percent of voters nationally support building a border fence, according to Rasmussen. 

And libs say Sharron Angle (go to http://www.sharronangle.com to support her)  is the one who’s wacko.  Huh. 

See: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/harry-reid-i-dont-know-how-anyone-hispanic-heritage-could-be-republican

14) White House warns Democrat incumbents to avoid talking about the Party’s “accomplishments” as they campaign for office this year; Dem candidate bashes Obama/Pelosi in campaign ad 

In an effort coordinated with the White House, congressional leaders are urging Democrats to focus less on bragging about what they have done — a landmark healthcare law, a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street regulation and other far-reaching policy changes — and more on efforts to fix the economy and on the perils of Republican control of Congress. 

It’s probably a very good idea for Democrats to avoid talking about their failed economic “accomplishments,” their unpopular Obamacare policy “accomplishments,” and their confusing and growth-stifling banking regulation “accomplishments,” not to mention their “accomplishment” of keeping us at an unemployment rate hovering around 10%. 

But I don’t think the White House actually wanted Democrats to campaign against President Obama and Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Someone might have wanted to mention that to Indiana’s 2nd District incumbent Democrat Congressman Joe Donnelly.

Donnelly felt the need to tell his constituents that he works for them and not those darned ol’ Washington insiders. And as he sternly told his voters this fact, his ad displays a photo including Speaker Pelosi and President Obama! 

See: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/26449 

15) Can You Call it ‘Social Security’ if it’s Built on Nothing but Monopoly Money? 

Social Security faces the serious danger of failing to live up to its name due to its unfunded obligations. Last week, the Social Security and Medicare trustees issued their report on the fiscal outlook for the program. We reported that: 

Social Security has a $7.9 trillion shortfall (up $0.1 trillion from last year), which means the program would require $7.9 trillion in cash—today!—to afford its promises. Alternatively, closing that gap would require payroll taxes to rise immediately and permanently from 12.4 percent of earnings to 14.24 percent. For a worker earning $50,000, that’s a $920 tax increase. 

This year, Social Security ran its first deficits since 1983. Though the program will rebound back into the black for the next few years (assuming the Administration’s projections for economic recovery are correct), the program will dive into the red permanently in 2015. By 2037, the trust fund will run dry. That means that while there is enough money to pay current retirees full benefits, younger workers face an uncertain future.

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/11/can-you-call-it-social-security-if-its-built-on-nothing-but-monopoly-money/ 

…which means Sharron Angle is correct about Social Security (see: http://moveonreid.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/sharron-angle-re-social-security/). 

16) Low Approval of Congress Not Budging, Now 19% 

PRINCETON, NJ -- Congress' job rating from the American people in August remains near the historical lows seen in recent months. Nineteen percent of Americans now approve of the overall job Congress is doing, while 75% disapprove. 

See: http://www.gallup.com/poll/141827/Low-Approval-Congress-Not-Budging.aspx 

17) Obama overtures to business fall flat 

WASHINGTON – Labeled antibusiness by Republicans and some corporate chiefs, President Barack Obama mounted a campaign to show he wasn't. But his charm offensive has hit a rocky patch. 

Business leaders gripe about burdensome new financial and health care regulations, what they see as unfriendly tax policies and vast government spending. They were put off by Obama's harsh depiction of "fat cat bankers" and "reckless practices," a label he applied both to Wall Street and to oil-spill giant BP. 

Among the Obama policy detractors: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who supported Obama's presidential bid but actively opposed his financial regulation overhaul. Not surprisingly, Dimon was not on the 400-strong guest list for the bill-signing. 

Are you starting to wake up, Jamie Dimon? 

…Still, Obama has nurtured "an increasingly hostile environment for investment and job creation," says Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, chairman of the Business Roundtable. Thomas Donohue, who heads the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, sees a "cumulative job-killing impact of over-regulation" under Obama. 

"The truth is that not even the Franklin Roosevelt administration was as hostile to and ignorant about free enterprise as this administration is," declared magazine publisher and one-time GOP presidential contender Steve Forbes. 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100810/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_business_blues 

18) The Heritage Foundation's Robert Bluey reports that a D.C. reporter was suspended for accurately reporting that President Barack Obama has received more money from BP than any other politician in the history of recorded campaign donations (headline from Heritage Foundation e-mail): 

WJLA-TV, a Washington, D.C. ABC affiliate, suspended reporter Doug McKelway following his alleged “partisan” comments at a liberal rally on Capitol Hill marking the three-month anniversary of the Gulf oil spill. Video of the broadcast tells a different story… 

Apparently facts are now “partisan.” 

McKelway stuck to the truth about BP’s political contributions and pending cap-and-trade legislation, newsworthy subjects given that the event’s organizers were lobbying to “pass legislation to end America’s addiction to oil and urged lawmakers to donate campaign money raised from the oil industry to the clean-up efforts in the Gulf.” 

According to the Washington Post, it was McKelway’s supposedly controversial comments on July 20 that led to his suspension. Anonymous sources at the station are now accusing him of “insubordination” in an apparent attempt to fire him. 

See: http://bigjournalism.com/rbluey/2010/08/11/thoughtcrime-d-c-reporter-suspended-for-accurate-report-on-bps-donations-to-obama 

19) Rep Pete Stark of California: “Federal Government can do pretty much anything in this country”

See: http://www.mrcaction.org/568/petition.asp?Ref_ID=3784&CID=568&RID=18810121 

20) BOYCOTT!  The Home Depot promotes the homosexual agenda 

For several years, The Home Depot has given its financial and corporate support to open displays of homosexual activism on main streets in America's towns. 

Rather than remain neutral in the culture war, The Home Depot has chosen to sponsor and participate in numerous gay pride parades and festivals. Most grievous is The Home Depot's deliberately exposing small children to lascivious displays of sexual conduct by homosexuals and cross-dressers, which are a common occurrence at these events. 

…The flags in these Home Depot cups promote a gay website which proclaims itself as "the men's social group for men who have sex with men." 

The cups were given to children by The Home Depot gay parade marchers, while homosexual activists followed up by introducing them to gay sex websites. 

The Home Depot has no problem aligning itself with gay activist groups who target children with a pro-homosexual message. 

See: http://action.afa.net/item.aspx?id=2147496231