Obama omits "Creator" AGAIN; Harry Reid saved the world; FIRE NPR

“You know why there’s a Second Amendment? In case the government fails to follow the first one.”  - Rush Limbaugh 

“Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.” - Margaret Thatcher 

(both quotes shamelessly stolen from “Uncommon Show“, the internet radio show that showcases a “Christian worldview with a double shot of espresso” - http://www.uncommonshow.com) 

1) Fire NPR 

National Public Radio’s dismissal of Juan Williams is a powerful indictment of NPR’s practices and corporate culture. Small wonder voices are once again calling for the federal government to defund NPR—which gets 16% of its budget from tax payers. The Heritage Foundation has long called for such defunding. 

A veteran journalist, Williams is a liberal with whom I disagree more often than not. His integrity, his bravery, his refusal to be intimidated by peer pressure cannot be doubted, however. He has written thoughtful books on the civil rights movement and also dared speak to the African-American community about how dysfunctional family structures and devaluation of education and morality can produce and perpetuate crime and poverty. His commitment to improving opportunities for minorities even led him to agree to narrate a Heritage Foundation documentary on the demise of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. 

He was fired last night because of comments he made on the Bill O’Reilly show on Fox News. He told O’Reilly on Monday’s show how he feels when he’s on a plane: 

“I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.” 

But Williams was obviously saying one must get beyond one’s very reasonable fears, as he also said: 

If you said Timothy McVeigh, the Atlanta bomber, these people who are protesting against homosexuality at military funerals, very obnoxious, you don’t say first and foremost, we got a problem with Christians. That’s crazy. 

And this: 

“But I’m saying, we don’t want in America, people to have their rights violated to be attacked on the street because they heard a rhetoric from Bill O’Reilly and they act crazy.” 

So how could NPR consider Williams’ comments a firable offense? 

Well, NPR has come under withering criticism from leftist flanks, such as Media Matters, for allowing a Fox News Commentator to stay on air. And in fact, it never sat well with NPR’s own staff that Williams appeared regularly on Fox, as we can see from this Ombudsman report from Feb. 11, 2009. 

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/21/fire-npr/ 

1a) Rich Galen

On Juan Williams 

Juan Williams was fired from National Public Radio for a comment he made on Fox (with whom he has also had a long-term contract) in which he said on the Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor: 

"I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous." 

NPR, which admitted its executives were "uncomfortable" with Williams' appearances on Fox, issued this statement: 

"His remarks on The O'Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR." 

NPR's own reporting of the controversy had this: 

"Williams' presence on the largely conservative and often contentious prime-time talk shows of Fox News has long been a sore point with NPR News executives." 

See: http://townhall.com/columnists/RichGalen/2010/10/22/on_juan_williams 

2) Glenn Beck: Who Is Organizing Against Free Speech? 

GLENN BECK, HOST: Welcome to "The Glenn Beck Program." 

When you think of freedom of speech, what does it mean to you? Is it all speech? Is it everything but hate speech? How about everything but irrational speech? 

Here is Arianna Huffington. She said this and I thought this was amazing. She said this about me. By the way, her investigative arm over at The Huffington Post is funded by George Soros and the Tides Foundation (emphasis mine). 

Here she is about me. Here she — now, here she is about me: 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, HUFFINGTON POST: There is something that we need to really pay attention to with Glenn Beck. We cannot just dismiss him, because the truth of the matter is that there is a good reason why we have an exemption to free speech protected by the First Amendment. 

BECK: There is an exception for me. Apparently, I didn't know that. Huh! 

Now, here she is just a couple days ago responding to comments of Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She made a comment and she used the word "tyrant" in describing Obama and the Democrats. 

Here again is Arianna Huffington on apparently another thing in the First Amendment:

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) 

HUFFINGTON: It's really strange. It's beyond strange that you have the wife of a Supreme Court justice, not being against Obama, I can understand that, that's her legitimate right, but saying utterly irrational things about Obama. I mean, calling the president a "tyrant" is truly beyond the realm of what is real. And that's really what we need to be addressing. Not disagreement, not opposition, but just irrationality. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But she has the right to do it? 

HUFFINGTON: Well, nobody should put her in jail if that's what your question is. 

(LAUGHTER) 

(END AUDIO CLIP) 

BECK: No one is talking about jail. That would be crazy! Right, Arianna? 

All the progressives — they're trying to step in and regulate and protect us little people from hearing something that might be irrational, or uncomfortable. Oh, oh, oh. Juan Williams isn't going to say anything, is he? 

Thanks, but no thanks. I'll choose more speech over less speech. I'll choose freedom of speech. 

See: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,601982,00.html 

3) Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walk off The View because Bill O’Reilly says Muslims killed Americans 

"Today on The View, the ladies addressed the shootout I had with them last Thursday when I said that building a mosque near Ground Zero is inappropriate because Muslims killed us there. That caused Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to walk off the set. Of course, what I said is absolutely true, but is insensitive to some. In a perfect world, you always say 'Muslim terrorists' killed us, but I thought that was common knowledge. Barbara Walters today said the nation is very angry, and therefore commentators must watch the rhetoric. Okay, but my question to Ms. Walters is this: Why is America so angry? One answer is that Americans are fed up with politically correct nonsense. There is a Muslim problem in the world, and if The View ladies won't acknowledge that, that's their problem. Russia, China, the Philippines, and many nations in Africa are fighting Muslim insurrections. The Muslim threat to the world involves nations and millions of people, yet the left in America will not face that fact. Here in the USA we're lucky - the vast majority of American Muslims are good citizens who deplore the extreme actions in the Muslim world. But the cold truth is that jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet. I have had enough of the politically correct nonsense, and I condemn the far-left fanatics who label people with whom they disagree 'bigots.' Finally, wherever I went this weekend people were high-fiving me. Americans are simply fed up with politicians and media people denying the obvious - there is a dangerous problem in the Muslim world, and once again I call for all peace-loving Muslims to join the United States and other conscientious nations to fight the jihadists and defeat radical Islam." 

See: http://www.billoreilly.com/show?action=viewTVShow&showID=2715#1 

And, one of these liberals (apparently) keyed my car last weekend in the parking lot of Trader Joe’s, while I was buying my groceries, right down the middle of my hatchback on my PT Cruiser, between my “Don’t Tread on Me” and “Randy Hultgren for Congress” bumper stickers.  Yes, free speech for them, but not for me. 

4) Obama Continues to Omit ‘Creator’ From Declaration of Independence 

During a speech Monday, President Barack Obama once again omitted the Declaration of Independence‘s mention of man’s “Creator” as the source of his “unalienable rights.” While delivering remarks at a dinner fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) in Rockville, Md., President Obama spoke about what he called the “essence” of the upcoming midterm election: 

As wonderful as the land is here in the United States, as much as we have been blessed by the bounty of this magnificent continent that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, what makes this place special is not something physical. It has to do with this idea that was started by 13 colonies that decided to throw off the yoke of an empire, and said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that each of us are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” 

The sole mention of man‘s Creator in Obama’s remarks came at the end when he thanked the audience and said, “God bless you.” 

This isn’t the first time the president has selectively edited the Declaration in not acknowledging the role of God in bestowing these rights upon man. During a Sept. 15 speech before the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s Annual Awards Gala, the president omitted the religious reference, but the White House dismissed criticism, saying that Obama “went off script and adlibbed when he made that mistake.” But just a week later, the President made the exact same “mistake” speaking during another fundraiser, this time in New York City. 

When asked why the president did not use the words “endowed by their Creator” in his Monday speech, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday, “I can assure you the president believes in the Declaration of Independence.” 

No, he doesn’t. 

See: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/obama-continues-to-omit-creator-from-declaration-of-independence/ 

5) Obama: ‘Scared’ Americans Aren’t Thinking ‘Clearly’ 

In his remarks at a Democratic fundraiser in Massachusetts Saturday evening, President Barack Obama said that Americans’ fear and frustration” are to blame for an intensely competitive midterm election season favoring Republican candidates. 

“Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we‘re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared,” Obama said Saturday evening in remarks at a small Democratic fundraiser Saturday evening. “And the country’s scared.” 

No, Mr. President, Americans are thinking more clearly than they have in a long time. And they’re scared OF YOU. 

See: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/obama-americans-aren%25E2%2580%2599t-thinking-clearly/ 

6) It’s Official: Obama Has Now Borrowed $3 Trillion 

(CNSNews.com) - It's official: The Obama administration has now borrowed $3 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. 

It took from 1776, when the United States became an independent country, until 1990, the year after the Berlin Wall fell signaling victory in the Cold War, for the federal government to accumulate a total of $3 trillion in debt, according to the Treasury Department. It only took from Jan. 20, 2009, the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated, until Oct. 15, 2010, for the Obama administration to add $3 trillion to the federal debt.

The overall debt of the federal government, according to the Treasury Department, is now $13.666 trillion. 

See: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/it-s-official-obama-has-now-borrowed-3-t 

7) New Lame Duck Threat to Bailout Union Pensions (this is a few weeks old, but worth being alarmed about…) 

Democrats in the Senate on Thursday held a recess hearing covering a taxpayer bailout of union pensions and a plan to seize private 401(k) plans to more "fairly" distribute taxpayer-funded pensions to everyone. 

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee heard from hand-picked witnesses advocating the infamous "Guaranteed Retirement Account" (GRA) authored by Theresa Guilarducci. 

(You can find the blistering interview with Guilarducci by radio talk show host Mark Levin in 2007 at the link). 

In a nutshell, under the GRA system government would seize private 401(k) accounts, setting up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax to dole out a "fair" pension to everyone using that confiscated money coupled with the mandated contributions.  This would, of course, be a sister government ponzi scheme working in tandem with Social Security, the primary purpose being to give big government politicians additional taxpayer funds to raid to pay for their out-of-control spending. 

See: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39336 

8) Pentagon trying to change culture to allow gays 

SAN DIEGO – Beyond the courtroom arguments about "disrupting the troops" and "unit cohesion" are the nitty gritty details behind the Pentagon's fight to go slow on allowing openly gay troops. 

Will straight and gay troops have to shower next to one another? Will the military have to provide benefits to gay partners, and can it afford to? And the biggest question of all: Will gays be harassed or intimidated? 

No, silly lame stream media, that is NOT the biggest question. The biggest question is whether or not our military will retain the ability to be effective in battle in light of this asinine new policy. 

Seeking to suspend or overturn U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips' ruling leaves the administration arguing against its own policy goals and against the majority opinion among the Democratic base most likely to turn out for midterm elections next month. 

Allowing the courts to steer the lifting of the ban leaves military leaders feeling rushed and misled. Top military officials thought they had bought time to prepare the uniformed forces, spouses, families and veterans for openly gay service. 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101020/ap_on_re_us/us_gays_in_military 

9) About face: VFW fires PAC board over Democratic endorsements 

The Veterans of Foreign Wars PAC, which endorsed an unbelievable slate of left-wing candidates this month (including Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barbara Boxer), has been shut down by the VFW leadership, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

This doesn’t appear to be anything meaningless or mealy-mouthed either.  On Friday, the VFW Commander-in-Chief removed all 11 members of the VFW-PAC board after they refused to rescind their endorsements.  He also issued a memo stating that he will move to dissolve the PAC at the annual VFW convention in August. 

See: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/10/18/now-thats-what-im-talking-about-vfw-about-face/ 

10) The Heartbreak of Palin Derangement Syndrome. 

It’s sad that this needs to be brought up, but it must: it would appear that the Netroots - as per their continuing habit of acting as if the American political system was identical to a pre-Giuliani Times Square peep show emporium - has gotten themselves in a bit of a scrape, again.  Specifically, they spent several cheerful hours hooting and hollering over the way that THAT WOMAN suggested that the Tea Party not “party like it was 1773″ before they noticed that… well, that the Boston Tea Party was in, well, 1773. 

See: http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2010/10/19/the-heartbreak-of-palin-derangement-syndrome/ 

10a) Politico Silent on Palin, Hannity, Levin and Beck Retractions 

Over at Politico, reporter Jonathan Martin came up with a liberal media twist on Sarah Palin and talk radio and Fox stars. The piece, entitled Hurricane Sarah, describes her as "high maintenance" and so on and so on. It is the classic political hit piece. 

 As might be expected, the story is sourced to "e-mails and bar-stool chats among the tightknit world of Republican political professionals." 

Ahhh yes. 

This always interesting little world of self-believed "insiders" has confidently proclaimed that Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck have all had it with Palin. The former Alaska governor is supposed to have "backed out of planned interviews" with Hannity and Levin "the morning she was scheduled to talk to them." Beck was said to be "so annoyed" he "finally decided not to have her on his radio or TV show to promote the book."

Uh-oh. One problem with this for the so-called "insiders." 

All three stars say this is nonsense. Levin calls the story a "flat lie." They want a retraction. 

 I have inquired of Mr. Martin twice as to whether he or Politico will have a retraction forthcoming for Hannity, Levin and Beck. 

And the response? 

Silence. And…silence. 

See: http://spectator.org/blog/2010/10/22/politico-silent-on-palin-hanni 

11) State lawmakers preparing citizenship legislation 

PHOENIX – The state senator in Arizona who wrote the nation's toughest law against illegal immigrants said Tuesday he's collecting support across the country from legislators to challenge automatic U.S. citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. 

Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce's target is the 14th Amendment, but it is unclear how the state lawmaker can or will influence a federal statue. 

"This is a battle of epic proportions," Pearce said Tuesday during a news conference at the Arizona Capitol. "We've allowed the hijacking of the 14th Amendment." 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101020/ap_on_re_us/us_illegal_immigration_citizenship 

12) Harry Reid: “but for me, we’d be in a worldwide depression” (I wouldn’t believe it unless I’d heard it with my own ears!)

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SOoBOsZBU8 

12a) Harry Reid: Ritz-Carlton not home 

Facing a barrage of attacks over his living arrangements, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid insisted Thursday that his condo at Washington’s Ritz-Carlton was nothing more than a one-bedroom apartment and that his real home is in a dusty mining town south of Las Vegas. 

“I live in Searchlight, Nev.,” Reid said on MSNBC Thursday. “I have a home in Searchlight, Nev. I stay in Washington, D.C., in a one-bedroom apartment — and my penthouse is on the second floor. How do you like that? Penthouse on the second floor.” 

In the interview, Reid stepped up his attacks on his opponent, Sharron Angle, accusing her of lying about his personal life and record and calling her “embarrassing” to Nevada. Reid defended his record bringing jobs to the state and said it doesn’t give voters “comfort or solace” to tell them “but for me, we’d be in a worldwide depression (emphasis mine).” 

…Reid purchased his condo at the Ritz-Carlton, which is now valued at $1 million, and paid $750,000 in cash for the property in 2001, according to property assessment records. As Senate majority leader, Reid’s annual income is $193,400. 

See: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43989.html 

12b) Sharron Angle hits Barack Obama in new ad 

As President Barack Obama travels to Nevada to rally voters for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, his Republican opponent, Sharron Angle, aims to use the president's own words against him in a new video. 

Angle's campaign said the video, touted as the "First Ad of 2012," would be cut down to air as a 60-second television ad in Nevada on Friday, when Obama is scheduled to host a rally for Reid at a Las Vegas middle school. 

The video sets Obama's promises and rhetoric on the campaign trail against Nevada's dire economic situation. It begins with then-candidate Obama, in a September 2008 appearance, saying, "A troubled economy isn't news." He goes on to detail lost jobs, falling home values, rising prices and increasing health-care costs as chants of "O-BA-MA" ring in the background. 

"The truth is that while you've been living up to your responsibilities, Washington has not," Obama says. 

"In 2008, we were promised change we could believe in," the ad says onscreen. Then Obama is shown at the Democratic National Convention, declaiming, "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow" -- and a picture of an oily-winged pelican is shown. 

"Then Harry Reid and the president got to work," the onscreen text says. Statistics such as the state's worst-in-the-nation 14 percent unemployment rate flash against a backdrop of photos of Obama and Reid ecstatically embracing. 

Rock on, Sharron! What an awesome ad! 

See: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43996.html 

12c) Angle camp accuses Reid of trying to buy seniors' votes 

Sharron Angle's GOP campaign is accusing U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of trying to "buy the votes of seniors"  (and that’s just what’s he doing, comment mine) by offering one-time $250 checks to Social Security recipients. 

Reid said he and other Democrats would offer the legislation to authorize the checks during the post-election lame duck session in Congress. 

See: http://www.lvrj.com/blogs/politics/Angle_camp_accuses_Reid_of_trying_to_buy_seniors_votes.html?ref=908 

13) Ann Coulter

Chris Coons Lied, Granny Died (long, but worth it; Ann Coulter is a fantastic writer.) 

In all of life's tribulations, there is nothing so aggravating as being condescended to by an idiot. In last week's CNN debate in the Delaware Senate race between the astonishingly well-spoken Christine O'Donnell and the unfortunate-looking Chris Coons, O'Donnell had to put up with it from Coons for 90 minutes. 

O'Donnell wiped the floor with Coons, moderators Wolf Blitzer and Nancy Karibjanian, and the idiotic University of Delaware students asking questions -- all of whom were against her. 

(With the nation on the verge of another great depression -- the brunt of which, to my delight, will fall most heavily on college students -- guess what the dunderheads asked? GUESS! That's right: They asked about abortion "in the case of rape or incest," "don't ask, don't tell," doing something about "our carbon footprint," and the kook-minister who was going to burn Korans, because ISLAM IS A RELIGION OF PEACE, I TELL YOU!) 

…After O'Donnell described the China problem with absolute precision -- the Chinese hold so much of our debt, we can't hold them accountable in their dealings with Iran or North Korea -- Coons smirkingly replied: "It's hard for me to respond effectively, Wolf, to all the different issues that my opponent has raised in previous statements, and I'll just let that stand." 

Then he launched his Chinese-Australian conspiracy theory! 

Coons said: "The Australian navy engaged in joint exercises with the Chinese and specifically excluded us recently. A dramatic shift in the Australian policy." 

Somehow, The New York Times had missed the national security implications of Australia's engaging in naval exercises with China! Either that or Coons is Dennis Kucinich, I've-got-eight-test-tube-babies-and-I'm-broke crazy. 

…She concluded by asking Coons: "Speaking of cap and trade, your family business stands to financially benefit from some environmental legislation under Bush -- " 

Then she was cut off by the moderator. 

Coons sneered: "A fascinating question that really makes no sense, yet, so if you'd like to -- better ask the whole question, I'd be -- what's she talking about?" 

O'Donnell said sweetly, "I'd like to know if your family business stands to have a financial gain if cap and trade is passed and, if so, would you recuse yourself in the lame duck sessions from voting with Harry Reid?" 

Coons again scoffed at O'Donnell: "Fascinating question. No." 

Thinking he had caught O'Donnell in a gaffe, Blitzer asked for her evidence. Oops! 

O'Donnell cited W.L. Gore -- the company owned by Coon's stepfather, which also provided Coons with the only for-profit job he ever held -- and said that the company makes fuel cells and other things that companies will be forced to buy under cap and trade. (Making W.L. Gore at least the second entity named "Gore" to cash in on the global warming hoax, by the way.) 

Blitzer asked Coons, "Is that true?" Oops, again! 

Amid a litany of irrelevancies and insults -- That's quite a stretch, Gore makes a lot of products, we also sell dental floss! -- Coons finally coughed up the truth: Yes, Gore will benefit if cap and trade becomes law. 

He explained his earlier, by-now-obvious lie by saying that "it took a couple of minutes to even understand what she was talking about." 

See: http://townhall.com/columnists/AnnCoulter/2010/10/20/chris_coons_lied,_granny_died 

14) Report: Steny Hoyer Knuckle-Punched GOP Opponent in the Back (Video) 

…“I could of swore, towards that end, just about shortly after he made that remark to you, that there was like a knuckle punch to your back. Were my eyes, am I that blind, did I make that up or was he, was he giving you kind of a goad there?” stated the questioner. 

“You are not making that up,” responded Lollar. “It was done not just once, but twice.”

See: http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/maryland-reporter-steny-hoyer-knuckle-punched-gop-opponent-in-the-back-video/ 

15) Merkel says German multi-cultural society has failed 

BERLIN (AFP) – Germany's attempt to create a multi-cultural society has failed completely, Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the weekend, calling on the country's immigrants to learn German and adopt Christian values. 

Merkel weighed in for the first time in a blistering debate sparked by a central bank board member saying the country was being made "more stupid" by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim migrants. 

"Multikulti", the concept that "we are now living side by side and are happy about it," does not work, Merkel told a meeting of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at Potsdam near Berlin. 

"This approach has failed, totally," she said, adding that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values. 

"We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don't accept them don't have a place here," said the chancellor. 

"Subsidising immigrants" isn't sufficient, Germany has the right to "make demands" on them, she added, such as mastering the language of Goethe and abandoning practices such as forced marriages. 

Finally someone with the guts to say that not all cultures are equally valid. 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101017/wl_afp/germanymuslimreligionimmigration 

16) Protests and Violence Escalate in France and Greece 

PARIS (The Blaze/AP) — Youths have overturned a car and hurled bottles at police in the French city of Lyon amid nationwide tensions over raising the retirement age. 

Police are chasing the protesters and trying to subdue the violence with tear gas. 

Months of peaceful protests over the retirement reform have degenerated into violence in scattered sites around France. Lyon saw clashes Wednesday between youths and police, and the violence is resuming Thursday. 

Also Thursday, protesters temporarily blockaded Marseille’s airport and have blocked high schools around the country. 

Around the country, French protesters blockaded Marseille’s airport, truckers tied up highways and Lady Gaga canceled concerts in Paris ahead of a tense Senate vote Thursday on raising the retirement age.A quarter of the nation‘s gas stations were out of fuel despite President Nicolas Sarkozy’s orders to force open depots barricaded by striking workers. 

Gasoline shortages and violence on the margins of student protests have heightened the standoff between the government and labor unions who see retirement at 60 as a hard-earned right. 

“A hard-earned right?” Unbelievable. 

See: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/protests-and-violence-escalate-in-france-and-greece/

17) Iran, Venezuela leaders seek 'new world order' 

TEHRAN, Iran – The leaders of Iran and Venezuela hailed what they called their strong strategic relationship on Wednesday, saying they are united in efforts to establish a "new world order" that will eliminate Western dominance over global affairs. 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and visiting Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, watched as officials from both countries signed 11 agreements promoting cooperation in areas including oil, natural gas, textiles, trade and public housing. 

Among the agreements, Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA said the South American country was forming a joint shipping venture with Iran to aid in delivering Venezuelan crude oil to Europe and Asia. It said in a statement that the agreement for a joint venture also would help supply Iran "due to its limited refining capacity." 

Both presidents denounced U.S. "imperialism" and said their opponents will not be able to impede cooperation between Iran and Venezuela. 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101021/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_iran_venezuela 

18) Michigan Woman Faces Civil Rights Complaint for Seeking a Christian Roommate 

A civil rights complaint has been filed against a woman in Grand Rapids, Mich., who posted an advertisement at her church last July seeking a Christian roommate. 

The ad "expresses an illegal preference for a Christian roommate, thus excluding people of other faiths,” according to the complaint filed by the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan. 

"It's a violation to make, print or publish a discriminatory statement," Executive Director Nancy Haynes told Fox News. "There are no exemptions to that." 

Haynes said the unnamed 31-year-old woman’s case was turned over to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. Depending on the outcome of the case, she said, the woman could face several hundreds of dollars in fines and “fair housing training so it doesn’t happen again.” 

WOW. Grand Rapids has been captured and is now under the control of a communist dictator, apparently - complete with “re-training camps".

See: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/22/civil-rights-complaint-filed-christian-roommate-advertisement/#comment-89208334

 

1st lady violates electioneering law; Angle trounces Reid; NY and IL military may lose vote

These articles and commentary are also posted at: http://www.theconsequencesofideas.blogspot.com/. 

1) Dems‘ Accusations of GOP ’Secret Foreign Money’ Go Unsubstantiated 

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration and its allies are going all out against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and GOP-leaning groups, accusing them of using foreign money to help finance political ads. Trouble is, they’re providing no evidence. 

The mere idea, lack of proof aside, is part of a Democratic message that tries to tie Republicans to foreign interests and to jobs shifted overseas. On Monday, the liberal group MoveOn.org began airing an ad in Illinois against Senate candidate Mark Kirk using his support from the chamber to link him to foreign corporations that, in the ad’s words, “threaten American jobs.” 

…Using foreign money to pay for political activity is illegal, and the Chamber of Commerce says the minimal amount of money it receives from overseas is carefully segregated from political spending. The chamber says its 115 foreign business councils, known as “AmChams,” pay a total of about $100,000. 

“There is no evidence at all that the chamber has done anything illegally,” said Richard L. Hasen, an expert on election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. But he also noted that the potential for impropriety exists with any organization that accepts funds that would be illegal if spent on politics. 

To be sure, money that is segregated for other purposes can free legal funds for political uses.

But the chamber is hardly alone. A number of labor unions and advocacy groups that participate in politics have foreign affiliates and overseas donors. By law, these groups must make sure no foreign funds are used to advocate for or against political candidates. What’s more, foreign companies with United States divisions can create political action committees that accept donations from their U.S. employees. 

Those foreign-connected PACs have contributed more than $12 million to political candidates this election cycle, with more than half going to Democrats (emphasis mine), according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks political money. PACs must itemize and identify the source of all contributions more than $200. 

…“The problem is not that the allegation is not a big deal,” said Hasen, of Loyola Law School. “The problem is that the allegation is not backed by any facts.” 

James Bopp, an election lawyer who has argued for fewer restrictions in campaign finance laws, said the administration’s attacks show “the irony of a president who promised to bring us to higher standard who now has gone to the lowest possible standard.” 

See: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/dems-accusations-of-gop-secret-foreign-money-go-unsubstantiated/ 

1a) Public Enemy No. 1: GOP Donors 

The White House attack on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce isn't about "disclosure." It's about disarmament. While posing as campaign finance champions, the ultimate goal of the Democratic offensive is to intimidate conservative donors, chill political free speech and drain Republican coffers. 

Chamber of Commerce official Bruce Josten tried to educate the public. "(W)e know what the purpose here is," he told ABC News. "It's to harass and intimidate." Josten cited protests and threats against chamber members as retribution for ads the organization ran opposing the federal health care takeover. 

But this isn't the first time liberal bullyboys have targeted right-leaning contributors. Far from it. 

…In California, gay rights mau-mau-ers compiled black lists and harassment lists of citizens who contributed to the Proposition 8 initiative in defense of traditional marriage. A Los Angeles restaurant whose manager made a small donation to the Prop. 8 campaign was besieged nightly by hordes of protesters who disrupted the business, intimidated patrons and brought employees to tears. Terrified workers at El Coyote Mexican Cafe pooled together $500 to pay off the protesters. A theater director who donated $1,000 to Prop. 8 was forced to resign over the donation. 

Anonymous mischief-makers created "Eight Maps," a detailed directory of Prop. 8 donors using Google Maps to pinpoint their residences and businesses. Death threats, enveloped with powdery substances, and boycotts ensued. "When I see those maps," admitted California Voter Foundation President Kim Alexander, "it does leave me with a bit of a sick feeling in my stomach." 

It's the same feeling every American should be left with after witnessing the liberal thug-tested, White House-approved donor suppression campaign against fiscal and social conservatives. In the hands of leftist vigilantes, "disclosure" is a deadly bludgeon; political free speech is the casualty. 

See: http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2010/10/15/public_enemy_no_1_gop_donors/ 

1b) Obama On GOP: "The Empire Is Striking Back" 

President Obama, with a coarse voice, warned a crowd in Ohio: "They're fighting back. The empire is striking back. To win this election, they are plowing ten's of millions of dollars into front groups. They are running misleading negative ads all across the country." 

See: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/10/17/obama_on_gop_the_empire_is_striking_back.html 

2) First New York, Now Illinois Fails US Military on Mailing Absentee Ballots 

Is anyone noticing a pattern with liberal states failing to send absentee ballots to the brave men and women serving our country overseas? First New York, now Illinois. 

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the state of Illinois missed the deadline for mailing absentee ballots to members of the military and other overseas American voters as part of a new federal overseas voting law. 

Cris Cray, Director of Legislation at the Illinois State Board of Elections, says not all of Illinois’ 110 jurisdictions were compliant with the 2009 Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE). 

The law requires every state to mail their absentee ballots 45 days prior to Election Day to overseas troops, government employees and other Americans who want to vote from abroad. 

Cray says she is currently compiling data from each of Illinois’ jurisdictions to determine which were compliant and which were delinquent. Cray said it’s possible the ballots may not be counted because the state was tardy in sending them out. 

Illinois was required to have all of its absentee ballots mailed by Sept. 18, the national deadline. Election officials have until Nov. 15 to count the absentee ballots, which must be postmarked by midnight Nov. 1 to be eligible. 

There are two explanations. Either the liberal state governments are incompetent, or they’re corrupt. Either way, why would anyone out there vote for more of the same? 

See: http://lonelyconservative.com/2010/10/first-new-york-now-illinois-fails-us-military-on-mailing-absentee-ballots/ 

2a) EXCLUSIVE: Illinois Elections Officials Caught Lying About Military Ballots 

This is a national disgrace.  The Illinois State Board of Elections has been lying about the status of military absentee ballots and a lazy Department of Justice has allowed itself to be duped. 

In an e-mail exchange between the Illinois State Board of Elections and the Department of Justice’s Voting Section shows the State has been misleading DOJ for almost a month. 

…Yesterday, Cray finally admitted that not all counties were in compliance and this may lead to the disenfranchisement of thousands of military personnel. 

Cray said it’s possible the ballots may not be counted because the state was tardy in sending them out. 

But, the cover up continues.  To start with, the Board is inconsistent in the number of counties that are involved. In yesterday’s Chicago Tribune Dan White is quoted as saying “fewer than 10 counties were involved.”  But Pantagraph reports at least 35 counties missed the deadline. 

St. Clair County Clerk Robert Delaney, who has a history of voter suppression, held 1,300 ballots for two weeks.  Delaney  says he informed the State Board of his decision prior to the September 18th deadline, which would be prior to Crays e-mail to Weinstein-Tull: 

Delaney said he informed the Illinois State Board of Elections of his decision to delay the ballots’ mailing after receiving an e-mail message several days before the Sept. 18 deadline . 

“I told the state what I was doing, the state board knew it.” 

Who knew what and when? How many members of the military are going to lose their right to vote? Why is DOJ sitting on the sidelines? 

See: http://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/10/15/exclusive-illinois-elections-officials-caught-lying-about-military-ballots/

3) Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern Says, ‘I Think the Constitution Is Wrong’ 

BOSTON — Tonight in a debate at Shrewsbury High School, Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern shocked the audience when he declared, “I think the Constitution is wrong” (0:32): 

Discussing campaign-finance regulation, and apparently referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s January Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission ruling, McGovern said: 

“We have a lousy Supreme Court decision that has opened the floodgates, and so we have to deal within the realm of constitutionality. And a lot of the campaign finance bills that we have passed have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. I think the Constitution is  wrong. I don’t think that money is the same thing as human beings. I don’t think money equals free speech. I don’t think corporations should have the same equality as a regular voter in this district.” 

See: http://theothermccain.com/2010/10/13/massachusetts-democrat-jim-mcgovern-says-i-think-the-constitution-is-wrong/ 

4) George Soros: I’m not getting in the way of this Republican avalanche 

The first rule of investing: Don’t put money into a company that’s about to crash. 

“I made an exception getting involved in 2004,” Mr. Soros, 80, said in a brief interview Friday at a forum sponsored by the Bretton Woods Committee, which promotes understanding of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 

“And since I didn’t succeed in 2004, I remained engaged in 2006 and 2008. But I’m basically not a party man. I’d just been forced into that situation by what I considered the excesses of the Bush administration.” 

Mr. Soros, a champion of liberal causes, has been directing his money to groups that work on health care and the environment, rather than electoral politics. Asked if the prospect of Republican control of one or both houses of Congress concerned him, he said: “It does, because I think they are pushing the wrong policies, but I’m not in a position to stop it. I don’t believe in standing in the way of an avalanche.” 

What does an avalanche look like? Well, per Gallup’s latest, it looks like a steady double-digit lead on the generic ballot that hasn’t budged despite a week of dopey “Democratic comeback” stories in the media. And, as Moe Lane pointed out a few minutes ago on Twitter, it looks like fully 93 Democratic House seats now in play according to the Cook Political Report — including the one held by Barney Frank. I wonder if, in 30 years of being in the House, Frank’s seat has ever showed up on Cook’s hit list before. Strange days, my friends. Magical days. 

See: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/10/11/george-soros-im-not-getting-in-the-way-of-this-republican-avalanche/ 

5) Did Michelle Obama Break Electioneering Law? 

Above the Law. 

While in Chicago soliciting campaign donations for mob moneyman Alexi Giannoulias, Michelle Obama decided to stop into her local polling station for “early voting“. 

While there, it appears the First Lady broke state law. 

First lady Michelle Obama appears to have violated Illinois law -- when she engaged in political discussion at a polling place! 

The drama began after Mrs. Obama stopped off at the Martin Luther King Center on the south side of Chicago to cast an early vote. 

After finishing at the machine, Obama went back to the desk and handed in her voting key. 

She let voters including electrician Dennis Campbell, 56, take some photos. 

"She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband's agenda going," Campbell said. 

According to a pool reporter from the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES at the scene, the conversation took place INSIDE the voting center, not far from the booths. 

According to Illinois State Law; 

Illinois state law -- Sec. 17-29 (a) -- states: "No judge of election, pollwatcher, or other person shall, at any primary or election, do any electioneering or soliciting of votes or engage in any political discussion within any polling place [or] within 100 feet of any polling place." 

When Questioned about the incident, 

An Illinois State Board of Elections official gave the First Lady a pass. 

"You kind of have to drop the standard for the first lady, right?" the official explained late Thursday. "I mean, she's pretty well liked and probably doesn't know what she's doing." 

That particular official seems to have forgotten that Mrs. Obama is a lawyer. 

And White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs agreed with the official; 

"I don't think it would be much to imagine, the First Lady might support her husband's agenda." 

Both Gibbs and the elections official are basically saying the same thing, 

She broke the law, but its okay, she’s the First Lady. 

The incident goes to the core of this White House as well as the rest of our government’s “Ruling Class.” 

Rules, laws, ethics, they all apply,

Just not to them. 

See: http://reddogreport.com/2010/10/did-michelle-obama-break-electioneering-law/

And: http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/uh-oh-michelle-o-campaigns-in-polling-place/ 

6) Ground Zero 'mosque' or 'rabat'? 

The name Cordoba House is the first indication that the "mosque" planned for Ground Zero is actually a rabat and not really a mosque. In Islam, every building associated with the faith and its rituals has a specific, prescribed character. I have been in mosques in various places around the world, including the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. A mosque is a one-story building with a mihrab, or atrium. That one story can be 10 feet high or hundreds of feet high, but it must have only one floor. 

The owner of the property, Sharif el-Gamal, has referred to Cordoba House, or Park 51, as an outreach center for Islam, or a Dar al-Tabligh, which is a place to proselytize for Islam. However, the prescribed structure is not consistent with the construction plans as described by el-Gamal and Imam Feisel Rauf. The plans for Cordoba House do, however, describe a building known well to Islamic purposes and that is a "rabat."

A New York Post article by Amir Taheri Sept. 10 clearly laid out the differences between a mosque and a rabat. Beginning during the time of Muhammad's military conquests, rabats were built after an invasion of a new territory. The purpose of the rabat was to act as a place for raiders to return to from "ghazvas" against the infidels who had not yet been conquered. Ghazvas, also known as razzias, were acts of terror against infidels designed to convince them to surrender their land and themselves to the submission of Islam.

See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=212721 

7) UN warns prolonged global jobs crisis could spawn global unrest 

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned of growing social unrest because it fears global employment will not recover until 2015. This is two years later than its earlier estimate that the labour market would rebound to pre-crisis levels by 2013. About 22 million new jobs are needed – 14 million in rich countries and 8 million in developing nations. 

The UN work agency warned of a long "labour market recession" and noted that social unrest related to the crisis had already been reported in at least 25 countries, including some recovering emerging economies. 

Crisis-hit Spain faced its first general strike in eight years last week as unions protested against the government's austerity measures and labour reforms. The strike last Wednesday coincided with protests in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia and Lithuania, as well as demonstrations in Brussels by tens of thousands of workers from across Europe as part of a continental day of action against public spending cuts. 

John Monks, general secretary of the European Trades Union Confederation, called for workers across the continent to take part in the protests. "Fight for growth, fight for jobs, fight to protect social Europe. Don't go down the austerity route," he said. 

Yeah - protesting against spending cuts - that will create jobs. 

See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/05/economy-europe 

8) David Brooks: Obama told me “shovel-ready” was a crock…a year ago 

How much of a tool is New York Times columnist David Brooks? 

This much: On the PBS NewsHour last night, Brooks admitted that President Obama told him a year ago that he knew that the “shovel-ready project” propaganda he employed to pass the massive porkulus bill was a steaming load of bullcrap. 

Brooks’ New York Times colleague Peter Baker reported the newsworthy admission in an upcoming Sunday magazine piece. It’s an admission that received much deserved attention here in the blogosphere this week and that invited much deserved derision from Republican critics of the stimulus boondoggle. 

See: http://michellemalkin.com/2010/10/16/david-brooks-obama-told-me-shovel-ready-was-a-crock-a-year-ago/ 

8a) Tax, Spend and Shovel 

Back in early 2009, President-elect Barack Obama was asked on "Meet the Press" how quickly he could create jobs. Oh, very fast, he said. He'd already consulted with a gaggle of governors, and "all of them have projects that are shovel-ready." When Obama revealed the members of his energy team, he explained that they were part of his effort to get started on "shovel-ready projects all across the country." When he unveiled his education secretary, he assured everyone that he was going to get started "helping states and local governments with shovel-ready projects." 

In interviews, job summits and press conferences, it was shovel-ready this, shovel-ready that. Search the White House website for the term "shovel-ready" and you'll drown in press releases about all the shovels ready to shove shovel-ready projects into the 21st century, where no shovel is left behind. 

Only now it turns out that the president was shoveling something all right when he was talking about shovel-ready jobs -- a whole pile of steaming something. 

In the current issue of the New York Times magazine, Obama admits that there's "no such thing as shovel-ready" when it comes to public works. 

See: http://townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2010/10/15/tax,_spend_and_shovel 

9) “Man up!:” Doddering Reid wilts in debate with Angle 

In style and substance, Lady in Red Sharron Angle trounced the four-term Democrat Senate incumbent and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at tonight’s Las Vegas debate. 

He preposterously called George W. Bush “his friend” (after infamously branding him a “loser“), claimed credit for the surge in Iraq (after questioning General Petraeus’s competence and character), and became a new convert to the English First movement (after having voted against such a proclamation in 2006. In an instant-made-for-political-ad-classic, Angle challenged the entrenched incumbent’s wealth. 

A miffed Reid referred to himself as a “fixed income” peon…who happens to live in the Ritz-Carlton. 

And in the quotable quote of the night, Angle pricked Reid’s delusions about the teetering Social Security system with two terse words: 

“Man up.” 

Hapless Harry relied on tired senatorial cliches and weasel words (“extreme,” “extreme,” ” my friend,” “extreme”); he resorted to condescension in response to Angle’s aggressive challenges on the shortcircuiting of the deliberative process in Washington overseen by Reid (she just “didn’t understand what goes on,” he sniffed cluelessly); and in the closing statement of his political life, he awkwardly shuffled his yellow notebook pages around before meekly arguing that Angle was offensive. 

Angle smiled, channeling Reagan’s warrior optimism, and asked for Nevadans’ votes to restore prosperity and freedom and American exceptionalism. Without notes. 

See: http://michellemalkin.com/2010/10/14/man-up-doddering-reid-wilts-in-debate-with-angle/

9a) Angle mops the floor with Reid 

While both candidates -- Sharron Angle and Harry Reid -- started out slow and tight in their debate this evening, by debate close it was clear: Angle mopped the floor with Reid. 

She hit hard on a variety of topics; showed she had the fire to be a U.S. Senator; demonstrated a command of the issues; and, of course, stayed gaffe free. 

Reid meanwhile looked tired. Sounded entitled. He mixed up the Department of Education with the Department of Energy. Couldn't find his notes for the close and generally fell back on talking points on far too many questions. 

See: http://www.lvrj.com/blogs/sherm/Angle_mops_the_floor_with_Reid_.html?ref=164 

9b) Angle Nearly Lands Knockout Blow Against Reid 

Throughout the Nevada Senate campaign, it was Republican Sharron Angle who looked unprepared for-prime-time. But after last night's debate, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid looked more like the gaffe-prone politician as he struggled to make headway in one of the closest and most consequential Senate contests. 

Angle took full advantage of Reid's position as a political insider, taunting him for his support of Democratic policies, from the stimulus to the health care bill. At one point, Angle told Reid to "man up" - and later questioned how he became so wealthy as a public servant.  

"I'm not a career politician," Angle said in her opening remarks. "I live in a middle class neighborhood in Reno; Senator Reid lives in the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, DC." 

Reid, recognizing the importance of the economy in this election, said his top priority as a senator is to create jobs. Angle retorted: "Harry Reid, it's not your job to create jobs. It's your job to create confidence to get the private sector to create jobs." 

Reid didn't help his own cause either, fumbling through his notes during his closing statement and misidentifying the "Department of Education" as the "Department of Energy" and failing to aggressively take advantage of Angle's very conservative positions on whole host of issues.  And he offered frequent praise for a host of Republicans, like Antonin Scalia and former President George W. Bush, hardly a way to energize the Democratic base that's so crucial to his success. 

See: http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/10/mud_slung_in_re.php 

Even Newsweek and The Las Vegas Sun’s Jon Ralston (no friend of Sharron Angle) agree: 

9c) The Passion of Harry Reid: Senator Flails Against Angle in Nevada Debate

(See: http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/10/15/the-passion-of-harry-reid-senator-flails-against-angle-in-nevada-debate.html) 

9d) Reid lost the debate to Angle

(See: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/oct/15/reid-lost-debate-angle/) 

9e) Meanwhile, Harry Reid lives in delusion:

Harry Reid unaware of any journalists or pundits who declared Sharron Angle the winner

See: http://moveonreid.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/harry-reid-unaware-of-any-journalists-or-pundits-who-declared-sharron-angle-the-winner/ 

Oh, and by the way, Sharron Angle also had a record quarter fundraising… 

10) Behind Angle’s $14 Mil Haul 

Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle’s stunning third-quarter fundraising results — her campaign today reported raising $14 million last cycle — is a historical record for a Nevada candidate, including the well-heeled Harry Reid. 

See: http://www.nationalreview.com/battle10/249565/behind-angles-14-mil-haul-elizabeth-crum 

11) Supremes get case against 'putative' President Obama

Petition: 'There exists possibility that he could be an illegal alien' 

A new court filing that returns the issue of Barack Obama's eligibility to the U.S. Supreme Court warns that unless the judiciary makes a definitive decision in the dispute, it will be the same as allowing the political interests in the United States to amend the U.S. Constitution at will. 

A petition for writ of certiorari has been filed with the high court in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to uphold the dismissal of a case brought by attorney Mario Apuzzo on behalf of Charles F. Kerchner Jr., Lowell T. Patterson, Darrell James Lenormand and Donald H. Nelsen Jr. 

…Now Apuzzo has escalated the issue to the highest court in the land, suggesting that "the constitutional issue … cannot be decided by the political parties and a voting majority. Our nation is ultimately guided by the Constitution and the rule of law, not by majority rule. Allowing the political parties and the voting majorities to decide constitutional issues would be tantamount to amending the Constitution without going through the amendment process prescribed by Article V of the Constitution and abandoning the basic principles of republican government." 

In an announcement about the filing, Apuzzo said Obama not only has not proven, as required under the Constitution, his status as a "natural born citizen," but "he has hidden all his early life records including his original long-form birth certificate, early school records, college records, travel and passport records needed to prove he is even a born citizen of the United States." 

His case argues, essentially, that even if Obama was born in Hawaii as he claims, he still fails to reach the Constitution's mandated eligibility requirement. 

And it could be even worse. 

"Putative President, Barack Hussein Obama … has not yet conclusively proven that he was born in the United States … His father was never a United States citizen nor was he even a permanent resident … They both became Kenyan citizens when Kenya got its independence in 1963 … Obama's relationship to his Indonesian stepfather and move to Indonesia when he was a child … and his travels to Pakistan in 1981, also raise doubts," the petition explains. 

"If Obama was not born in the United States, there exists a possibility that Obama could be an illegal alien," it states.

See: http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=210521 

12) Arabs May Ask UN to Recognize Palestinian State 

BRUSSELS -- Arab nations may seek U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state, if Israel continues to build settlements in the West Bank, Egypt's foreign minister said Friday. 

Ahmed Aboul Gheit said an Arab League request to the U.N. may come next month. 

"If Israel does not respect the settlements freeze," Gheit said, "the Arab League will study some other option aside from the peace process such as going to the United Nations and ask for the recognition of the Palestinian state."

See: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/10/15/arabs-ask-recognize-palestinian-state/?test=latestnews

Consumer Protection Czar threatens banks; "Hand to hand combat"; Angle pulls into lead

Quote of the week: “If "hand-to-hand combat" breaks out on Capitol Hill, in short, if the president refuses to moderate his agenda and the Republicans have to constantly fight the president to enact the will of the voters, Mr. Obama is quite mistaken if he thinks he will be at war with a Republican Congress. Oh, no, Mr. Obama will in fact be at war with the American people.” Shelagh Gray

 

1) Consumer Financial Protection Czar Threatens Banks: “Play nice, and we’ll get along just fine” (headline mine)

Last week President Barack Obama’s most recently minted czar, Special Advisor to the President for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Elizabeth Warren, spoke to 400 bankers at the swanky Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, DC. Her message, according to The Washington Post: “Behave, play nice, and we’ll get along just fine.” Specifically, Warren promised to take a more “principles-based approach” to regulation, rather than clearly articulating “thou shalt not” rules that banks could rely on. For this Progressive White House, an enlightened expert, like Warren, given broad new powers by an unaccountably vague statute is exactly what the federal government needs to enforce order on our complex modern world. For our Founding Fathers, however, everything about Warren, from the way she attained her new powers to the way she plans to use them, is antithetical to our nation’s First Principles and the United States Constitution.

Look again at Warren’s title. She is not the director of the CFPB nor does she even work for it. For her to actually head the agency, President Obama would have to submit her name to the Senate to meet the Constitution’s “advice and consent” requirement. But President Obama did not want that transparency. Instead he decided to subvert the Constitution by making her his “special advisor” that would lead a team of “about 30 or 40 people at the Department of Treasury” to set up the CFPB. Yale Constitutional law professor Bruce Ackerman described Obama’s Warren chicanery as “another milestone down the path toward an imperial presidency.”

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/04/morning-bell-the-obama-experts-vs-the-rule-of-law/ 

2) Obama promises 'hand to hand combat' if GOP wins

After hearing VP Biden discuss strangling Republicans, Barack Obama promises hand to hand combat if Republicans win big in November. From the Los Angeles Times:

A Republican majority in Congress would mean "hand-to-hand combat" on Capitol Hill for the next two years, threatening policies Democrats have enacted to stabilize the economy, President Obama warned Wednesday.

…Why does Barack Obama so often lapse into imagery of violence when describing opponents? During the campaign he boasted that if his opponents "bring a knife to a fight, we bring a gun." Later on, when he began to feel the heat, he talked about the need (for others, apparently) to practice civility in politics and suggested we all tone down the rhetoric.

If only he would apply the same type of emotions when dealing with our enemies. He saves his venom for political opponents of his; not for America's adversaries.

Furthermore, what happened to his 2004 call for an America that was not split into a white America or black America or Latino America. Now, he again makes a blatant appeal focused on identity politics.

Shelagh Gray adds:

Surely my jaw can't drop any further from things this president says and does. Yet somehow, he still manages to deliver what seems to be a daily dose of shock and awe. Should the GOP retake the House and Senate as a result of the November midterms, an article yesterday in the latimes.com quotes our president as saying "...we are going to have just hand-to-hand combat up here on Capitol Hill." What? The continuing undignified and un-presidential phraseology aside, the comment is a profound demonstration of Mr. Obama's unwillingness to accept the will of the people. Of course we should expect any president to continue to try to advance his agenda, and this president was elected by a large majority, but if Republicans do indeed retake Congress in the midterms, it will be because the voters ... Republicans, Independents, and probably a few newly-awakened Democrats have decreed it. Thus, the president would be wise to take heed. If "hand-to-hand combat" breaks out on Capitol Hill, in short, if the president refuses to moderate his agenda and the Republicans have to constantly fight the president to enact the will of the voters, Mr. Obama is quite mistaken if he thinks he will be at war with a Republican Congress. Oh, no, Mr. Obama will in fact be at war with the American people (emphasis mine).

See: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/10/obama_promises_hand_to_hand_co.html 

3) Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.1% in September

Underemployment, at 18.8%, is up from 18.6% at the end of August

PRINCETON, NJ -- Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, increased to 10.1% in September -- up sharply from 9.3% in August and 8.9% in July. Much of this increase came during the second half of the month -- the unemployment rate was 9.4% in mid-September -- and therefore is unlikely to be picked up in the government's unemployment report on Friday.

See: http://www.gallup.com/poll/143426/Gallup-Finds-Unemployment-September.aspx

4) Finance leaders fail to resolve currency dispute

WASHINGTON – Global finance leaders failed Saturday to resolve deep differences that threaten the outbreak of a full-blown currency war.

Various nations are seeking to devalue their currencies as a way to boost exports and jobs during hard economic times. The concern is that such efforts could trigger a repeat of the trade wars that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s as country after country raises projectionist barriers to imported goods.

The International Monetary Fund wrapped up two days of talks with a communique that pledged to "deepen" its work in the area of currency movements, including conducting studies on the issue.

…"A lack of growth accompanied by high unemployment is having consequences," Zoellick told reporters at a news conference concluding the IMF-World Bank meetings. "There is a danger that countries will turn inward and, as a result, international cooperation falters. This could be dangerous."

The communique essentially papered-over sharp differences on currency policies between China and the United States.

The Obama administration, facing November elections where high U.S. unemployment will be a top issue, has been ratcheting up pressure on China to move more quickly to allow its currency to rise in value against the dollar.

American manufacturers contend the Chinese yuan is undervalued by as much as 40 percent and this has cost millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs by making Chinese goods cheaper in the United States and U.S. products more expensive in China.

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101009/ap_on_bi_ge/us_global_finance

5) Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined, Says Gov’t Data

(CNSNews.com) - In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan.

The U.S. Treasury Department divides the federal debt into two categories. One is “debt held by the public,” which includes U.S. government securities owned by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, foreign governments and other entities outside the federal government itself. The other is “intragovernmental” debt, which includes I.O.U.s the federal government gives to itself when, for example, the Treasury borrows money out of the Social Security “trust fund” to pay for expenses other than Social Security.

At the end of fiscal year 1989, which ended eight months after President Reagan left office, the total federal debt held by the public was $2.1907 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That means all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan had accumulated only that much publicly held debt on behalf of American taxpayers. That is $335.3  billion less than the $2.5260 trillion that was added to the federal debt held by the public just between Jan. 20, 2009, when President Obama was inaugurated, and Aug. 20, 2010, the 19-month anniversary of Obama's inauguration.

…In just the last four months (May through August), according to the CBO, the Obama administration has run cumulative deficits of $464 billion, more than the $458 billion deficit the Bush administration ran through the entirety of fiscal 2008.

The CBO predicted this week that the annual budget deficit for fiscal 2010, which ends on the last day of this month, will exceed $1.3 trillion.

The first two fiscal years in which Obama has served will see the two biggest federal deficits as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product since the end of World War II.

See: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/72404

5a) You Can’t Tax the Rich Enough to Close the Deficit

President Obama has driven spending and deficits to historic levels in just two years since taking office. Not content to stop there, his budget for the next 10 years keeps spending at record levels and piles up unprecedented amounts of debt in the process. To partially offset his massive overspending, the President wants to raise taxes on “the rich.” His class warfare plan can take him only so far, however, since the rich don’t earn enough to make up the difference for all the spending he plans.

Obama’s current tax hike plan would raise the top two income tax rates from 33 and 35 percent to 36 and 39.6 percent, respectively. This tax hike will take effect on January 1, 2011, if he has his way and will slow the already badly struggling economy. This will keep unemployed Americans out of work longer and suppress the wages of those fortunate enough to retain their jobs. In fact, the higher tax rates Obama calls for will destroy an average of 800,000 jobs per year by the end of the decade and lower incomes by $720 billion over that same period.

…President Obama has repeatedly expressed a desire to sock it to the rich to cover for his profligacy, so it stands to reason he could stick them with additional tax increases to cover his gargantuan budget shortfalls. The President shows no signs he wants to reduce spending to lower the deficit, so tax hikes remain his most likely prescription. No matter how much he wants to “spread the wealth around,” if he goes the tax-the-rich route, he is in for a rude awakening.

Closing the more than $1 trillion deficit Obama’s spending would produce in 2020 by taxing only the rich would require a top income tax rate of 134 percent. Of course it is impossible to tax more than 100 percent of any taxpayer’s income. More importantly, any rate even approaching such a dangerous level would destroy the economy. Period. So even if it were mathematically possible to tax more income than the rich earn, there would be none of it left for the government to confiscate.

See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/10/07/you-can’t-tax-the-rich-enough-to-close-the-deficit/

6) Top Scientist Resigns from Post – Admits Global Warming Is a Scam

Top US scientist Hal Lewis resigned this week from his post at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

He admitted global warming climate change was nothing but a scam in his resignation letter.

The Telegraph reported:

The following is a letter to the American Physical Society released to the public by Professor Emiritus of physics Hal Lewis of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Sent: Friday, 08 October 2010 17:19 Hal Lewis

From: Hal Lewis, University of California, Santa Barbara

To: Curtis G. Callan, Jr., Princeton University, President of the American Physical Society

6 October 2010

Dear Curt:

When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago).

…For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society.

It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare (emphasis mine). (Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist.

See: http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/top-scientist-resigns-from-post-admits-global-warming-is-a-scam/

7) Obama loses the man McChrystal called a clown (the exodus continues…)

President Barack Obama performed one more awkward hello-goodbye ritual at the White House last night when he confirmed that General James Jones, who had been his National Security Advisor since the start of his tenure, was clearing his desk.

It comes a week after Mr Obama lost Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and gives new momentum to an exodus of aides that, while not unusual half-way through a president's term, is coinciding with a perilous time, three weeks from the mid-term congressional elections. Others who have left include the budget director, Peter Orszag, and the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisors, Christina Romber.

…The President, who called him a "steady voice", said that the general had always made clear he would serve in Washington for a two-year period only. Yet some had painted him as a weak Security Advisor. And Obama's War, the latest book by the investigative journalist Bob Woodward, included passages that were not kind either to Gen Jones or to his deputy, Tom Donilon, who now replaces him as chief foreign policy adviser to the President.

In Woodward's book Gen Jones is cited complaining about Mr Emanuel and other members of Mr Obama's inner circle, calling them the "water bugs", the "politburo" and the "Mafia". He allegedly threatened to walk out once when he felt he wasn't getting proper access to the Oval Office.

…Gen Jones came into the White House as a four-star Marine General with a stellar military record that included stints as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, and Commander of the US European Command. His contacts with foreign leaders and military chiefs helped seal important foreign policy goals, including calming relations with Russia and a new arms treaty.

But he failed to persuade members of Congress to speed up the closure of Guantanamo Bay and apparently lost the respect of General David McChrystal, who was alleged in a Rolling Stone interview (which cost him his job) to have called Gen Jones "a clown".

…The Obama musical chairs are not over yet. Larry Summers, his top economic advisor, will return to Harvard at the end of the year. David Axelrod is expected to leave early next year to work on Mr Obama's re-election campaign, and Robert Gibbs, the press spokesman, could soon be moving to a different job inside the White House.

See: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-loses-the-man-mcchrystal-called-a-clown-2101829.html

8) Nancy Pelosi says food stamps and unemployment insurance will grow US economy

Nancy Pelosi says that food stamps and unemployment insurance will grow the US economy and lift it from the recession that Barack Obama has helped to worsen. Pelosi, that genius and all-around brilliant analyst of the US economy and everything financial, spoke Wednesday in an overly defensive response to Newt Gingrich’s right-on-the-mark salvo against Pelosi and her Democrat Party. In recent comments, Gingrich correctly advised Republicans to make a contrast between Democrats who promote food stamps as their economic policy, and Republicans who actually promote the useful concept called paychecks to grow the prosperity of Americans. Confusingly, Pelosi reacted to Gingrich’s assertion by actually admitting that, yes, Democrats are indeed the party of food stamps (okay, and unemployment for everyone, too)!

See: http://www.examiner.com/american-politics-in-vancouver/nancy-pelosi-says-food-stamps-and-unemployment-insurance-will-grow-us-economy

9) Iran acknowledges espionage at nuclear facilities

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran acknowledged Saturday that some personnel at the country's nuclear facilities were lured by promises of money to pass secrets to the West but insisted increased security and worker privileges have put a stop to the spying.

The stunning admission by Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi provides the clearest government confirmation that Iran has been fighting espionage at its nuclear facilities.

In recent weeks, Iran has announced the arrest of several nuclear spies and battled a computer worm that it says is part of a covert Western plot to derail its nuclear program. And in July, a nuclear scientist who Iran says was kidnapped by U.S. agents returned home in mysterious circumstances, with the U.S. saying he was a willing defector who was offered $5 million by the CIA but then changed his mind.

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101009/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear

10) Sharron Angle surge unnerving Nevada Democrats

New polling out of Nevada is unnerving Democrats who fear Republican Sharron Angle’s campaign is surging despite enduring millions of dollars’ worth of TV ad attacks from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The three most recently released public polls show Angle with a nominal edge, though all have been within the margin of error.

While Reid’s campaign insists there is nothing to be nervous about, one Nevada Democratic strategist said that’s not the vibe behind the scenes.

“Reid’s people are really antsy,” said the strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Reid’s far-reaching political machine tends to come down hard on those who talk out of school. “That’s why their external message has been to try really, really hard to discredit these polls. Angle is building a lot of momentum, and they don’t know how to stop it. This is exactly what happened during the primary.”

See: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43325.html

10a) Election 2010: Nevada Senate

Nevada Senate: Angle (R) Edges Ahead of Reid (D)

Republican challenger Sharron Angle has now moved to a four-point lead over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada’s bare-knuckles U.S. Senate race.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Nevada Voters shows Angle hitting the 50% mark for the first time since mid-August, while Reid earns 46% of the vote. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and two percent (2%) more are undecided. (To see question wording, click here.)

This marks the widest gap between the two candidates since late June, but the race remains a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings.

Just over a week ago, the race was virtually tied, with Reid at 48% and Angle at 47%. The two have been separated by a gap of three points or less since Reid came charging back in June with a series of blistering attack ads on Angle.

See: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/nevada/election_2010_nevada_senate

10b) In Hidden Audio, Sharron Angle Reveals Herself to Be — Gulp — Exactly What She Appears To Be

An audiotape has just emerged on the website of the Las Vegas Sun, capturing Sharron Angle, the Tea Party/Republican candidate, in private conversation with a third-party spoiler candidate, Scott Ashjian:

You can listen to the audio here.

Some choice quotes:

The Republicans have lost their standards, they’ve lost their principles…..Really that’s why the machine in the Republican Party is fighting against me…..They have never really gone along with lower taxes and less government…

I believe you (Ashjian) can do some real harm, not to Harry Reid but to me…I’m not sure you can win and I’m not sure I can win if you’re hurting my chance and that’s the part that scares me…

(The Republicans in D.C.) don’t want me back there…because they know I’ll shake this mess up….…..I shook it up in Carson City, they hated me there…41-Angle was not a compliment……..When I go back, there may be five or six of us….maybe Joe Miller (Alaska), Ken Buck (Colorado), Christine O’Donnell (Delaware).

Duh — what’s not to like (emphasis mine)? If this is an attempt by the Sun to counteract its rival’s recent endorsement of Angle — and it is:

I can just hear it now [writes reporter Jon Rawlston]: The woman who calls the majority leader “Let’s Make a Deal Harry Reid” becomes “Let’s Make a Deal Sharron Angle.”

– then it’s likely to backfire, big-time.  For the tape shows that Angle is exactly what she says she is. As Ben Smith just noted on Politico:

The recording is worth listening to in full despite its poor quality. It suggests that — at least for the purposes of this conversation with a Tea Party figure — behind the facade of a real grassroots outsider who hates the organized Republican Party is … a real grassroots outsider who hates the organized Republican Party (emphasis mine).

“The Republicans have lost their standard, they’ve lost their principle,” she tells Ashjian. “Really that’s why the machine in the Republican Party is fighting against me…. They have never really gone along with lower taxes and less government regulation.”

In opposing her, local Republicans are “coming out and showing their colors” she said. “That’s kind of good.”

Angle’s words may not have an immediate political impact, but they show what a profound challenge she and a handful of other Senate candidates pose to the Republican leadership, should they win. Angle’s view of herself is clearly of an insurgent, a subversive force within the GOP.

That’s fine with us.

Meanwhile, let’s get this straight once and for all: an undercover audio is now a good thing as far as the MSM is concerned?

Thanks for clarifying the ground rules, fellas.

See: http://bigjournalism.com/fross/2010/10/04/sharron-angle/

10c) Harry Reid: It is ‘my constitutional duty’ to spend federal money

SPARKS — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has returned to the state for a final campaign push in which he will attempt to persuade Nevadans to return him to office by not only scaring voters away from his opponent but also giving them a list of reasons to support him.

In a subtle shift from his campaign’s recent strategy of almost exclusively negative campaigning against his Republican rival, Sharron Angle, Reid has returned to the argument that the state needs him because of the powerful position he has in Congress.

At a campaign event here Wednesday, Reid paraded local elected officials — Republicans and Democrats — before the assembled media to support his argument that essential federal funding for infrastructure and social programs has flowed to their communities because of his position.

In a jab at Angle, who thinks the federal government should be dramatically scaled back and fulfill only those duties expressly enumerated in the Constitution, Reid argued it is his “constitutional duty” to spend federal money.

Keep it up, Harry Reid. Have you even read the Constitution?

See: http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/07/harry-reid-it-is-my-constitutional-duty-to-spend-federal-money/

11) Classy: Bachmann opponent ad uses bleeped curse word

Tarryl Clark appears to have run out of ideas in her race against Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th CD — and also reached the end of her vocabulary.  In an effort to paint Bachmann as disconnected from her constituents, Clark runs through a variety of issues in which Bachmann’s vote actually seems closer to the consensus of the electorate, including on ObamaCare, to which Clark euphemistically refers as “reform.”  At the end, though, Clark just skips the euphemisms altogether to use a bleeped-out scatalogical curse word.

…I’m actually being slightly unfair to Al Franken in the subheader.  While Franken is known for his short temper and angry outbursts, he managed to control himself while on the campaign trail for the US Senate.  And this isn’t a heated, extemporaneous outburst, but a planned campaign strategy.

See: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/10/05/classy-bachmann-opponent-spot-uses-bleeped-curse-word/