Sunday, November 21, 2010

Don't touch my junk; Soros distances Obama; Senator wants FCC to end Fox News/MSNBC

1) Campaign for Liberty Says Enough to TSA Violating Personal Liberty Once Again

"Since 9/11, the federal government has willingly traded more of our liberties for so-called 'security' through freedom-stealing legislation and wasteful bureaucratic nightmares like the TSA. Americans are now being humiliated into accepting the TSA's naked body scanners by the introduction of 'enhanced pat-downs.' This basically gives fliers, including women and children, a choice between experiencing a virtual strip search or a sexual assault. And we are expected to accept this as a condition of flying."

"Campaign for Liberty has long warned against the gross violations of personal privacy by the federal government's TSA, as one of our own staff experienced its outrageous treatment of passengers first hand. As the incidents continue to pile up, we are glad to see other Americans express their concern and demand change."

"Just like other massive federal government overreaches, the TSA thinks telling us this is necessary for 'our safety' allows it to do whatever it wants to us, including shredding our Fourth Amendment rights (emphasis mine)."

"In the interest of our families, our Republic, and our national security, Campaign for Liberty believes it is time to save the taxpayers almost ten billion dollars a year by abolishing the TSA."

See: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=39459

1a) George Soros also profiting off controversial new TSA scanners

Be sure and read Tim Carney’s Examiner column today on the politically-connected lobby for the controversial new TSA scanners that are upsetting airline employees and travelers everywhere. Carney notes that a company called Rapiscan got a $165 million contract for the new body image scanners four days after the underwear-bomber incident this past Christmas. Not surprisingly, Rapiscan is politically connected, observes Carney:

Rapiscan got the other naked-scanner contract from the TSA, worth $173 million. Rapiscan’s lobbyists include Susan Carr, a former senior legislative aide to Rep. David Price, D-N.C., chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee. When Defense Daily reported on Price’s appropriations bill last winter, the publication noted “Price likes the budget for its emphasis on filling gaps in aviation security, in particular the whole body imaging systems.”

Then this morning Carney also noted that former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff was flacking for Rapiscan.

As for the company’s other political connections, it also appears that none other than George Soros, the billionaire funder of the country’s liberal political infrastructure, owns 11,300 shares of OSI Systems Inc., the company that owns Rapiscan. Not surprisingly, OSI’s stock has appreciated considerably over the course of the year. Soros certainly is a savvy investor.

See: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2010/11/george-soros-also-profiting-controversial-new-tsa-scanners

1b) “If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested”

A video posted online over the past weekend by John Tyner, a 31-year-old California software programmer, recorded an encounter at the San Diego airport. The video, in which Mr. Tyner tells a TSA screener "If you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested," has gone viral, being viewed thousands of times.

…A San Diego TSA official told reporters Monday that Mr. Tyner had violated federal law and federal regulations and could face civil penalties, including a fine up to $11,000.

See: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/16/tsa-body-scans-pat-downs-needed/?page=2

1c) Grabbing Junk Is 'Necessary,' Says Biden

Vice President Joe Biden is defending the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) controversial new pat-down technique, calling it a "necessary policy."

Biden acknowledged people have concerns that the TSA's use of full-body scanners and pat-downs are frustrating and intrusive but argued they are crucial to prevent another incident like the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing.

"Well look, Larry, maybe because I spend so much time every morning dealing with the threat assessment that's out there and the fact that it's real — I understand peoples' frustration, but I — unless there's a new technology that comes along pretty quickly, I think it's — I think it's a necessary policy," he said on CNN's "Larry King Live" program. "I think it will have the effect of saving lives, intercepting explosives."

Even though the TSA's new policy has riled lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Biden's comments indicate the agency will continue to scan or pat down passengers at the nation's airports.

Ah, yes, Mr. Vice President. And when was the last time YOU flew on a commercial aircraft? Hmm? …crickets…...crickets.... 

See: http://nation.foxnews.com/joe-biden/2010/11/19/grabbing-junk-necessary-says-biden#ixzz15lTxHdQL

1d) Napolitano to exempt some muslims from body scans; defends their use for everyone else

Facing mounting criticism and pushback from fliers over increasingly invasive procedures to ostensibly protect U.S. travelers, Janet Napolitano is defending the use of body scans or body pat downs for all travelers - except for some Muslims. The use of body scans or body pat downs applies to passengers and pilots alike, but not for Muslim women, who would be exempted from the full procedure and require only a limited pat down in the head and neck area, or optionally a self pat-down in the head and neck area.

If non-Muslim women want to avoid the intrusive scanning and pat-down procedures, could they simply declare themselves Muslim?

Here's an idea that the TSA might like: increase the scanning intensity or add cavity searches for non-Muslim-women; maybe that would help make up for the plastic explosives or other dangerous items hiding beneath Muslim women's burqas. However by no means should TSA use intelligence, as Israel does, to keep travelers safe. That might offend someone.

I hear that this might not be true; i.e., that Muslim women are NOT exempt. However, I can find no confirmation of this. If one of my readers would set me straight, I’'d be appreciative. 

See: http://texasgopvote.com/restore-families/security/napolitano-exempt-some-muslims-body-scans-defends-their-use-everyone-else-002132

And: http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2010/nov/napolitano-may-exempt-muslims-airport-pat-downs

1e) CAIR: TSA Can't Pat Down Muslim Women

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a travel notice to Muslim airline passengers, warning them that new regulations from the Transportation Security Administration violate certain religious rules.

According to CAIR, the TSA's new "enhanced pat down" policy should be limited to searching only around Muslim women's head and neck if they are wearing a hijab and that Muslims objecting to the enhanced full-body scans have the right to request the pat-down procedure be done in a private place.

See: http://nation.foxnews.com/tsa/2010/11/14/cair-tsa-cant-pat-down-muslim-women

1f) TSA: Pilots to be exempt from some airport checks

WASHINGTON – The Transportation Security Administration has agreed to let airline pilots skip the security scanning and pat-downs that passengers face at the nation's airports, pilot groups said Friday.

Beginning Friday, pilots traveling in uniform or on airline business will be allowed to pass security by presenting two photo IDs, one from their company and one from the government, to be checked against a secure flight crew database, the TSA said.

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101119/ap_on_bi_ge/us_airport_security_pilots

1g) How Israelis secure airports

…Terrorists have yet to use the same weapon twice, and the TSA isn't even looking for whatever they'll try to use next. I can think of all sorts of things a person could use to wreak havoc on a plane that aren't banned. Security officials should pay less attention to objects, and more attention to people.

The Israelis do. They are, out of dreadful necessity, the world's foremost experts in counterterrorism. And they couldn't care less about what your grandmother brings on a plane. Instead, officials at Ben Gurion International Airport interview everyone in line before they're even allowed to check in.

And Israeli officials profile. They don't profile racially, but they profile. Israeli Arabs breeze through rather quickly, but thanks to the dozens of dubious-looking stamps in my passport -- almost half are from Lebanon and Iraq -- I get pulled off to the side for more questioning every time. And I'm a white, nominally Christian American.

See: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/forget_the_porn_machines_NQAJ5DOzf187gdRQnLURlO?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4ce95652dab07c99%2C0

2) GOP Earmark Ban Shifts Clout

…Congressional Republicans decided this week to swear off such "earmark" spending for their districts and states—effectively eliminating it altogether given the GOP's expanded numbers in both chambers. That means the Obama administration will have sole discretion over which ports to deepen, waterways to dredge and dams to build, among other things.

"We're going to be in a position where we can implement decisions really based on highest priorities," said Rob Nabors, acting deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Lawmakers may still say how money is budgeted generally for activities such as dredging, but by banning earmarks—specific projects funded as a result of lawmakers' requests—they won't be able to direct cash to individual districts or states. And the president will have more power (emphasis mine. Uh oh.) to eliminate or trim programs that have resisted cuts for years, White House and congressional officials say.

By some estimates, eliminating earmarks could save $15 billion a year, but that assumes recipient programs would be eliminated completely, something no one in government believes. Earmark decisions are more about control than money.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.), who has crusaded for an earmarks ban for years, favors the new rules despite the power shift. He calls earmarks "the currency of corruption" on Capitol Hill because some lawmakers have traded them for campaign contributions from lobbyists.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said the ban would lead to more horse-trading, with the president holding a powerful hand. (emphasis mine. Is Linsey Graham actually correct about something?). "You want money for that port—vote for START," he said, referring to a nuclear-arms treaty President Barack Obama wants the Senate to ratify. "Every administration is going to use this power, and they'd be crazy not to."

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703531504575625063777984150.html

3) Democrats to hold votes on middle class tax cuts

WASHINGTON – After meeting with President Barack Obama Thursday, Democratic leaders in Congress said they plan to hold a series of politically charged votes to extend middle-class tax cuts while letting tax cuts for the wealthy expire.

Republicans are expected to block the plan, leaving both sides back at square one as they try to negotiate a deal to spare families at every income level from a big tax increase in January.

Democratic officials said Obama did not embrace a particular approach to the tax cuts in his Oval Office meeting with Democratic leaders. He indicated he wanted to wait for a meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders on Nov. 30 before staking out a position.

"I think there's a reality here which is that while it might be best to continue the middle-class tax cuts and raise taxes on higher income people, the votes are not there to do that," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who caucuses with the Democrats. "I think everybody's got to deal with a stark reality which is, are we going to leave here knowing that we haven't come to an agreement and that everybody's taxes are going to go up Jan. 1?"

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would like to schedule competing votes on the Senate floor. One would be on Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's bill to make all the tax cuts permanent; the other would be on a Democratic plan to extend only the middle class tax cuts. Neither is expected to pass.

If all the "tax “cuts"” (which are not “"cuts"” at all; they are the absence of RAISING taxes) do not go through, the economy will be further crippled.

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101119/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tax_cuts_democrats

4) Acquittal on Most Charges Stirs Debate About Terror Trials in Civilian Courts

NEW YORK—A jury convicted a former Guantanamo detainee of one count of conspiracy in the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, but acquitted him of more than 280 other counts in a case widely seen as a test of the Obama administration's effort to try terror suspects in civilian courts.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, 36, of Tanzania, was the first former detainee of the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be tried in a U.S civilian court. He faces 20 years to life in prison.

Mr. Ghailani's acquittal of the vast majority of charges could boost the arguments of those who maintain that military tribunals, and not civilian courts, are the proper venues for major terrorist trials. It also bolsters the view from others who say the security fears that surrounded the decision to try Mr. Ghailani in lower Manhattan were overblown.

The verdict, delivered Wednesday by an anonymous jury of six women and six men, is "a blow to both sides of the debate; neither side comes away with a clean argument for its case," said Robert Chesney, a University of Texas law professor and who served on a Obama Justice Department detainee task force. On one hand, he said, the government can claim some victory with one guilty count, but opponents of civilian trials can't ignore that Mr. Ghailani will likely get a tough sentence.

Mr. Ghailani, who was imprisoned Guantanamo from 2006 to 2009, was charged in connection with two deadly truck bombings outside U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed 224 people and injured thousands more.

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704648604575621144046448352.html

5) George Soros Tells Progressive Donors Obama Might Not Be The Best Investment

WASHINGTON -- At a private meeting on Tuesday afternoon, George Soros, a longtime supporter of progressive causes, voiced blunt criticism of the Obama administration, going so far as to suggest that Democratic donors direct their support somewhere other than the president.

The Hungarian-American financier was speaking to a small side gathering of donors who had convened in Washington D.C. for the annual gathering of the Democracy Alliance -- a formal community of well-funded, progressive-minded individuals and activists.

According to multiple sources with knowledge of his remarks, Soros told those in attendance that he is "used to fighting losing battles but doesn't like to lose without fighting."

"We have just lost this election, we need to draw a line," he said, according to several Democratic sources. "And if this president can't do what we need, it is time to start looking somewhere else."

See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/george-soros-obama_n_785022.html

6) The 19 Senators Who Voted To Censor The Internet

from the free-speech-isn't-free dept

This is hardly a surprise but, this morning (as previously announced), the lame duck Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to move forward with censoring the internet via the COICA bill -- despite a bunch of law professors explaining to them how this law is a clear violation of the First Amendment. What's really amazing is that many of the same Senators have been speaking out against internet censorship in other countries, yet they happily vote to approve it here because it's seen as a way to make many of their largest campaign contributors happy. There's very little chance that the bill will actually get passed by the end of the term but, in the meantime, we figured it might be useful to highlight the 19 Senators who voted to censor the internet this morning:

Patrick J. Leahy -- Vermont

Herb Kohl -- Wisconsin

Jeff Sessions -- Alabama

Dianne Feinstein -- California

Orrin G. Hatch -- Utah

Russ Feingold -- Wisconsin

Chuck Grassley -- Iowa

Arlen Specter -- Pennsylvania

Jon Kyl -- Arizona

Chuck Schumer -- New York

Lindsey Graham -- South Carolina

Dick Durbin -- Illinois

John Cornyn -- Texas

Benjamin L. Cardin -- Maryland

Tom Coburn -- Oklahoma

Sheldon Whitehouse -- Rhode Island

Amy Klobuchar -- Minnesota

Al Franken -- Minnesota

Chris Coons -- Delaware

See: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101118/10291211924/the-19-senators-who-voted-to-censor-the-internet.shtml

7) China grabs a chunk of GM (at US taxpayer expense)

Should you be worried?

BOSTON — Tucked away in the euphoria over General Motors’ stock offering is the news that the Chinese government is now one of the company’s largest shareholders, with a stake valued at about $500 million.

Ironically — some would say tragically — as Beijing snaps up GM shares, U.S. taxpayers will lose some $4.5 billion on the stock offering, about 25 cents for every dollar of stock sold. This effectively means that American taxpayers are subsidizing China’s purchase to the tune of some $125 million.

In the United States, the taxpayer loss and subsidy to China have barely raised heckles.

The American people generally believe that a company like GM shouldn’t be held by the government, and the administration of President Barack Obama decided that $4.5 billion was an acceptable loss to bear to return it to private business.

Of course, the Chinese adhere to no such ideological constraints. On the contrary, China’s Communist Party runs many of the country’s businesses. Not only that, they pick winners in the marketplace and take the long view, focusing for many years on turning them into national champs. 

So should Americans be concerned about Chinese ownership of an American company like GM? For now, given that the stake is relatively small, it’s difficult to foresee any significant risk.

See: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china/101118/china-GM-magnets

8) Chinese Firm 'Hijacked' Data

A state-owned Chinese telecom firm "hijacked" massive volumes of Internet traffic earlier this year by redirecting it unnecessarily through servers in China, a congressionally appointed panel said Wednesday.

During an 18-minute stretch on April 8, China Telecom rerouted traffic sent to about 15% of the Internet's destinations, including branches of the U.S. armed services, the U.S. Senate and companies like Microsoft Corp., the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its annual report.

The commission, set up by Congress a decade ago to examine the security implications of growing economic ties with China, said it couldn't determine whether the misdirection was malicious or how the messages might have been used. But it said the incident appeared to be part of a broader pattern of computer and Internet exploitation, possibly sponsored by the Chinese government.

"Persistent reports of that nation's use of malicious computer activities raise questions about whether China might seek intentionally...to assert some level of control over the Internet, even for a brief period," the report said.

…In the incident on April 8, China Telecom sent erroneous messages that led servers around the world to route traffic through the country, the commission said. The tactic could be used to spy on specific users, disrupt communications or conceal a separate attack, the commission said.

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704648604575621071689674364.html

9) Senator’s Shock Fantasy: FCC Tells Fox News & MSNBC ‘Out …Off… End …Goodbye.’

Sen. Rockefeller’s shared some thoughts that were not in his prepared remarks today. The West Virginia Democrat gave a mini-lecture on communications and journalism during a Senate hearing on retransmission consent:

Mr. Rockefeller spoke broadly about the ways he believes television is ailing, and in doing so he singled out the “endless barking” of cable news.

He said: “There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the F.C.C. to say to Fox and to MSNBC, ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse; to our ability to do our work here in Congress; and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and, more importantly, in their future.”

There is little the Federal Communications Commission can say about Fox News or MSNBC since the channels are on cable, not delivered over the broadcast airwaves.

Apparently Senator Rockefeller didn’'t know that….

See: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/senators-shock-fantasy-fcc-tells-fox-news-msnbc-‘out-off-end-goodbye-’/

9a) More on this…Sen. Rockefeller: FCC should shut down Fox News and MSNBC

You see, Rockefeller says he hungers for quality news and believes that the FCC should play a part in facilitating that end. He believes that without the extremes of Fox News and MSNBC, the American people would have more faith in their government, would have better political discourse, and that it would help legislators do their work. Yeah right, Fox News is the reason why the American people don’t have faith in their government (emphasis mine).

What Rockefeller really wants is news that doesn’t hold him and his legislative buddies accountable. He doesn’t want news that would appropriately vet, say, President Obama, and uncover what he really believes and how it’s the complete opposite of what the majority of Americans believe. What he wants is a propaganda machine, which is why for the life of me I can’t figure out why he wants MSNBC taken off the air. Anyway, what this is really about is not what the American people want, but rather what he wants – freedom of speech and the Constitution be damned.

The bigger point here is the size of government. This is a prime example of why we must limit the size of government so as to maximize the freedom of the individual. Milton Friedman points out that every person works for their own self interest and the bigger the government, the better chance that a legislator’s self interest will conflict with yours. And when they conflict, we all know who wins that battle (i.e. Obamacare).

See: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/11/18/sen-rockefeller-fcc-should-shut-down-fox-news-and-msnbc/

10) Voting Irregularities in Alaska?

Don’t expect Joe Miller to concede anytime soon. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has declared victory, but the Miller campaign, citing the election’s close margin (among uncontested ballots, Murkowski leads by about 2,200 votes; if you add the contested ballots in, Murkowski has a lead of about 10,000 votes in an election where 255,000 votes were cast), is considering asking for a recount and examining precinct logs today and possibly tomorrow as well to see if any voting irregularities occurred.

The Miller campaign has posted on their site three affidavits from voters concerned that irregular activity occurred at their polling places. One says that, although he was the tenth voter at his location, he saw a ballot box stuffed with “hundreds” of ballots. Another claims that the 15 write-in ballots she reviewed had Sen. Lisa Murkowski written in in what looked like similar enough handwriting that it could be from the same person.

“Our campaign has sworn affidavits identifying unsecured ballot boxes, other precincts where numerous ballots appear to be in the same handwriting, others where there is 100 percent voter turnout and still other precincts where the ballots were sent to the Division of Elections presorted by U.S. Senate candidate,” said Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto in a statement. “These and other irregularities give our campaign pause. Alaskans must be able to trust the results of its elections.”

See: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/253582/voting-irregularities-alaska-katrina-trinko#

11) Rangel found guilty on 11 ethics charges; expulsion unlikely

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), who was until his recent troubles one of the House's most powerful members, was found guilty Tuesday of breaking 11 separate congressional rules related to his personal finances and his fundraising efforts for a New York college.

The eight-lawmaker subcommittee that handled the trial - and reached a unanimous verdict on 10 of the counts - will now send the case to the full ethics committee for the equivalent of sentencing. Potential punishments include a formal reprimand or censure, with either of those needing to be ratified by a vote on the House floor. Expulsion is another possible penalty but is considered highly unlikely.

…Those charges pointed to a collection of infractions related to four central elements of the case: that Rangel improperly used his congressional staff and official letterhead to raise seven-figure donations from corporate charities and chief executives for a college wing named in his honor; violated New York City rules by housing his political committees in his rent-controlled apartments in Harlem; did not pay taxes on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic; and did not properly disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal financial assets.

This occurred while he served as the ranking Democrat or chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which has oversight of tax issues. He resigned as committee chairman in the spring when he was found guilty of a more minor infraction related to accepting corporate-financed travel.

See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111606155.html

12) Senate targets fresh veggies

Will farmers still be permitted to sell food directly to public?

WASHINGTON – A controversial bill that would expand the power of the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the American food supply is scheduled for a procedural vote in the lame-duck Senate tomorrow.

Natural-food growers fear the bill will threaten "the public's right to grow, trade and transport any foods," according to naturalnews.com. "It would grant [Big Brother] the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer's markets."

S. 510, the "FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010," is currently being "held" by U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, R.-Okla. A "hold," or threat to filibuster, prevents consideration of a bill by the full Senate. If 60 senators vote for cloture, they would break the hold and allow the Senate to begin debate on the merits of the bill itself.

See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=229229

13) Gap, Wal-Mart Clothing Costs Rise on ‘Terrifying’ Cotton Prices

Gap Inc., J.C. Penney Co. and other U.S. retailers may have to pay Chinese suppliers as much as 30 percent more for clothes as surging cotton prices boost costs.

“It’s a little terrifying to deal with cotton suppliers now,” said Vicky Wu, a sales manager at Suzhou Unitedtex Enterprise Ltd., a closely held, Jiangsu province-based clothes maker that counts Gap and J.C. Penney among its clients.

Cotton futures in China have surged more than 70 percent this year and were at a record earlier as the global economy emerged from recession, allowing people to spend more on clothes. Production of the fiber in China, the world’s biggest user and importer, is forecast to lag behind demand for a 12th year, cutting its stockpile to the smallest since 1995, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

See: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-16/gap-wal-mart-clothing-suppliers-raise-prices-on-terrifying-cotton-costs.html

14) Sen. Barbara Boxer Likens U.S. to Iran, North Korea and Pakistan Because U.S. Bans Homosexuals From Military

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) today likened the United States of America to Iran, North Korea and Pakistan because those nations also do not allow homosexuals in their militaries.

Boxer likened the U.S.A. to the Communist regime in North Korea, the Islamic regime in Iran and the Pakistani government at a press conference in which she called for repealing the ban on homosexuals in the military during the lameduck session of Congress, which is taking place now before the new members elected on Nov. 2 can arrive in Washington, D.C. and replace the members who are retiring or who were defeated.

“We now stand with this rule with countries like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan in banning gays and lesbians from military service,” said Boxer. “Our brave young men and women fight alongside allies like Australia, the United Kingdom and others who allow gays and lesbians to serve openly. Let’s not stand with Pakistan and with North Korea and Iran.”

Isaiah 5:20: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

See: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/sen-boxer-compares-us-iran-north-korea-a

15) Wow! HUNDREDS OF RIDERS WITH US FLAGS Escort Cody Alicea to School Today (Video)

Hundreds of American Legion Riders and fellow patriots escorted Cody Alicea to Denair Middle School this morning. They all had American Flags on their bikes.

Remember, this was the boy who was told by his school to remove his American flag from his bicycle because he was causing “racial tension”.

See: http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2010/11/wow-hundreds-of-riders-with-us-flags-escort-cody-alicea-to-school-today-video/ 

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The most anti-Israel president; Lib cartoonist advocates violent revolution; Spending up 84% under Obama

1) Barack Obama: The Most Anti-Israel President 

With his remarks in Jakarta, Indonesia, President Obama made history once again. Sadly, it’s a most unenviable title. I believe he is the most anti-Israel President in U.S. history. 

In going to Jakarta, Indonesia, to launch his latest attack, he literally went to the ends of the earth to give voice to his displeasure. He emphasized his opposition to the policies of the elected government of Israel. 

He used his Jakarta platform to complain about Israel building apartments for her growing population. Where? In Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. 

To make matters even worse, Jakarta is a city no Israeli is allowed to enter! The symbolism of saying what he said in the country and city where he said it is simply atrocious. 

See: http://townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2010/11/12/barack_obama_the_most_anti-israel_president 

1a) We are not for sale 

Over the past week, it has been widely reported that the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government are conducting secret negotiations regarding future Israeli land surrenders to the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem. According to the reports, the Obama administration has presented Netanyahu with a plan whereby Israel will cede its rights to eastern Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley to the Palestinians and then lease the areas from the Palestinians for a limited period. 

The reports on the length of the lease vary. Some claim that the White House is offering a seven year rental (emphasis mine). Others claim the Americans are offering Israel to lease Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley for several decades before relinquishing them completely. 

Netanyahu has reportedly accepted Obama's proposal in principle. The only remaining dispute is the length of the lease. Netanyahu is demanding that Israel be permitted to lease Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley from the Palestinians for somewhere between forty and ninety-nine years. The Americans foresee a shorter timeframe. 

The fact that these discussions are taking place is deeply disturbing both for what they tell us about the Obama administration's view of Israel and for what they tell us about Netanyahu's wisdom and character. 

By calling for Israel to cede the Jordan Valley to the Palestinians, US President Barack Obama is ignoring the most fundamental reality of the Middle East: Israel is besieged by its neighbors who seek its destruction (emphasis mine). Without the Jordan Valley Israel would become the modern day equivalent of Czechoslovakia stripped of the Sudetenland in 1938. It would be utterly indefensible. None of Israel's neighbors have accepted Israel's right to exist. The absolute majority of the Arabs in all of the states neighboring Israel wish to see Israel destroyed. By relinquishing the Jordan Valley Israel would effectively be committing national suicide by inviting an invasion it would be incapable of staving off. 

See: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1110/glick110510.php3 

1b) Netanyahu to Obama: Jerusalem is not a settlement 

The peace process threatened to spiral out of control Tuesday over Israeli plans to advance 1,345 housing units in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had flown to the US Saturday night hoping to break the impasse in the stalled peace talks. Instead, US President Barack Obama publicly reprimanded him as the Palestinians reissued their threats to seek unilateral statehood. 

“The international community must respond to Israel’s unilateral measures by instantly recognizing a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders,” said chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat. 

Speaking about the Jerusalem homes at a press conference in Indonesia, Obama said, “This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations.” He added that such “incremental steps can end up breaking down trust between the parties.” 

Netanyahu, in turn, sharply defended Israel’s right to build in Jerusalem, which it claims as its eternal united capital, even as the Palestinians claim the eastern party of the city as the capital of their future state. 

“Jerusalem is not a settlement. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the government had never agreed to place any restrictions on construction in Jerusalem, which has 800,000 residents. 

See: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194673 

1c) Jerusalem is Israel's Capital, It Is Not A Jewish Settlement

On November 9, 2010, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) released a communication entitled “Construction in Jerusalem,” by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Media Adviser. Stating, “Jerusalem is not a settlement; Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel. Israel has never accepted upon itself restrictions of any kind on construction in Jerusalem…Israel sees no connection between the diplomatic process and planning and building policy in Jerusalem, which has not changed in 40 years…Construction in Jerusalem has never hindered the peace process.” 

This was in response to Obama claiming, in a news conference on November 9th, that Israel hindered efforts for a two-state solution by building ‘Jewish settlements’ in territory that Palestinians have claimed. As was reported on November 10, 2010, on the Daily News and Analysis website (DNA - DNAIndia.com), in the article, “Obama speaking to Muslims, shortens Indonesia trip.” 

The Myth of Illegal Jewish Occupation 

Many Palestinians and Palestinian supporters refer to the land that Israel acquired in the Six-day War, in June of 1967, as ‘illegal Jewish occupation’. The territory Obama was referring to as being claimed by the Palestinians, includes east Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria (a.k.a. as the West Bank), and Gaza. 

Since Israel’s conception in 1948, six Arab armies attacked Israel in an attempt to wipe the state off the map. In 1967, Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian armies again threatened the existence of Israel. The West and the Soviets had supplied advanced conventional weapons to Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Israel was completely surrounded by her enemies, had fewer weapons, and was strategically at a disadvantage. 

In response to the Six-Day war, the United Nations Security Council, on Nov. 22, 1967, carefully prepared and invoked the UN Resolution 242. Which has been the cornerstone for such negotiations as the Oslo Accords and the Road Map peace plans. 

One of the architects of the UN Resolution 242, Leonard J. Davis, was quoted in the Daily Star (Beirut) in 1974, stating, “It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of 4 June 1967, because those positions were undesirable and artificial. After all, they were just the places the soldiers of each side happened to be the day the fighting stopped in 1948. They were just armistice lines. That's why we didn't demand that the Israelis return to them and I think we were right not to…” 

Israel did not start the Six-Day War, but they had the courage to stand against all the odds, and were victorious. Now, Palestinians accuse Israel of illegally occupying the land. In an effort to make peace Israel forced Israelis to leave their homes in the Gaza in August of 2005, where many had lived for over 20 years. The Palestinians responded by firing thousands of missiles and mortar shells at Israeli citizens from within the Gaza (emphasis mine).

See: http://www.suite101.com/content/jerusalem-is-israels-capital--it-is-not-a-jewish-settlement-a307341 

1d) Canadian PM: I Will Defend Israel 'whatever the cost'

Perhaps I need to move to Canada…

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUfFdhIOoQM&feature=share 

1e) Giving money and aid to our enemies: U.S. gives $150 mln to Palestinian Authority 

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The United States will give an additional $150 million to the Palestinian Authority as Washington seeks to boost the fledgling government amid an impasse in peace talks with Israel, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday. 

Clinton made the announcement in a joint video conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who has been scrambling to fill a huge projected budget hole as his government expands services in expectation of full eventual statehood. 

See: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/WBT014236.htm 

2) Obama's Asian trip shows limits on global stage 

…But the narrative soured once Obama arrived in Seoul, South Korea, for a meeting of the Group of 20 developed and emerging economies. Obama failed to achieve a free-trade deal with Korea that was to have been the biggest trophy of his trip, and instead of banding with America against China's currency manipulation, several countries aligned themselves against the U.S (emphasis mine. No doubt they didn‘t like the fact that we are printing $600 billion to buy our own debt, either). 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101115/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_asia 

2a) CEO in India refers to Obama as “fellow Kenyan” 

There was an odd little moment with Spice Jet founder Bhupendra Kansagra when President Obama spoke to CEOs Saturday in Mumbai. 

MR. KANSAGRA:  Thank you.  Welcome, Mr. President, to India.  As a fellow Kenyan, I’m very proud to see that you have made -- 

THE PRESIDENT:  Made something of myself.  (Laughter.) 

MR. KANSAGRA: -- India as the focus of your drive for exports out of the U.S. 

See: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/11/odd-little-moment-at-the-ceo-meeting.html 

2b) Obama tells Medvedev START vote is 'top priority'

YOKOHAMA, Japan – President Barack Obama, capping a far-flung Asian trip of mixed results, assured Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday that getting the Senate to ratify the START nuclear weapons treaty is a "top priority" of his administration. 

"I reiterated my commitment to getting the START treaty done during the lame-duck session," Obama said, noting that Congress returns next week for its postelection session. 

In talks with Medvedev on the sidelines of the summit of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Obama also reiterated his support for bringing Russia into the World Trade Organization, calling Russia "an excellent partner." 

…The START treaty, which has been pending in the Senate for months,would reduce the limit on strategic warheads to 1,550 for each country from the current ceiling of 2,200. It also would set up new procedures to allow both countries to inspect each other's arsenals to verify compliance. 

Oh, what a fantastic idea! NOT! Reminds me of Isaiah 39... 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101114/ap_on_re_us/obama_asia 

3) Chinese Credit Rater Downgrades U.S.

Dagong Global Credit Rating Co., the Chinese rating company that was recently rejected in its bid to be an officially recognized bond rater in the U.S., just downgraded the entire U.S. The always objective Xinhua has the “scoop.” 

The United States has lost its double-A credit rating with Dagong Global Credit Rating Co., Ltd., the first domestic rating agency in China, due to its new round of quantitative easing policy. 

Dagong Global on Tuesday downgraded the local and foreign currency long-term sovereign credit rating of the U.S. by one level to A+ from previous AA with “negative” outlook. 

The Chinese rating agency said the downgrade reflected the U.S.’s deteriorating debt repayment capability and drastic decline of the U.S. government’s intention of debt repayment. 

“The serious defects in the U.S. economy will lead to long-term recession and fundamentally lower the national solvency,” Dagong said in a report. 

See: http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2010/11/09/chinese-credit-rater-downgrades-us/ 

4) Ryan: Spending up 84 percent under Obama 

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), who is set to take over the House Budget Committee next year, said federal spending has increased a whopping 84 percent under President Obama. 

The budget for the Environmental Protection Agency has increased by 124 percent under Obama, according to Ryan, who counted stimulus spending in his analysis. 

Ryan and other Republicans are calling for a $100 billion cut in non-defense discretionary spending to bring it back to 2008 levels. 

“There have been so many massive spending increases, 24 percent in the base budget, 84 percent when you add the stimulus,” Ryan said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. 

See: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/128047-ryan-spending-up-84-percent-under-obama 

5) Soros group wants Obama to rule by executive order

Organization cites mid-terms, claims progressives registered victory 

NEW YORK – It was progressives who won the mid-term elections, particularly incumbents in a socialist-founded congressional caucus that emerged from last week's ballots virtually unscathed, boasted an article published by the George Soros-funded Institute for Policy Studies, a Marxist-oriented think-tank in Washington, D.C. 

The article recommends that President Obama govern from executive order to push through a progressive agenda. 

…"The veil of a happy Democratic governing majority is finally lifted. We didn't have it then; We don't have it now. But what we do have now is a more solidly progressive bunch of Dems in Congress and a president presumably less encumbered by the false illusion that playing nice will get him a date with the other team." 

She went on to recommend that progressives "throw our support unabashedly behind the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and let's push Obama to finally do the right thing through as many Executive Orders as we can present to him." 

See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=225829 

6) Obama Remembers Mumbai Massacre; Forgets Ft. Hood First Anniversary 

he first week of November proved historic with the Democrat mauling in the mid-term elections and the 10th anniversary of the crews aboard the international space station, but there was one notable event that went unnoticed by the White House. The first anniversary of the Fort Hood massacre. 

President Obama’s remarks a year ago were odd enough leading with an unpresidential and out of touch “shout out,” but for the White House to completely ignore the Ft. Hood anniversary is disturbing. 

Obama, though he likes to remind himself that he is the commander-in-chief, has always demonstrated his disdain for our troops and seemingly cannot help it. Ignoring Ft. Hood is just another example. 

America lost 14, yes 14, lives that day. 

…There were no statements or Tweets from the White House or Robert Gibbs regarding Ft. Hood. However, Obama did mention, in his statements upon arrival in India, the Mumbai massacre: 

President Obama opened his 10-day Asia trip on a somber note Saturday, memorializing the victims of the devastating terror attacks that tore through Mumbai two years ago. “We’ll never forget,” he said. 

It is eerie that the President has such a repeated disconnect to Americans, the military, and is continually seen as unsympathetic, cold, uncaring, and tone deaf when it comes to his own country, but when overseas his heart pours out. 

See: http://bigpeace.com/sahiller/2010/11/08/obama-remembers-mumbai-massacre-forgets-ft-hood-first-anniversary/ 

7) Health Care Reform Group Gets Waiver from… Health Care Reform? 

The Hot Air Boss Emeritus has published an updated list of the exploding number of groups and businesses being granted waivers from having to participate in Obamacare. This is one of the more under-reported stories of the entire HCR saga in the mainstream media, in my opinion. 

In early October, the Obama administration announced it had granted waivers not only to McDonald’s, but also to several other firms and labor unions. 

Now comes word that Torquemada HHS Secretay Kathleen Sebelius has approved a whopping 111 waivers for businesses of all sizes, along with more unions and other providers of health insurance. The escapees include employers of many low-wage and part-time workers whose health insurance plans would otherwise be dropped, including Darden Restaurants — the parent company of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster and other chains, which employ some 34,000 people. 

Via Michelle you can read the full list of those not having to participate here. But for me, it’s not just the swelling, raw number of groups being granted waivers, but the size and types of companies and organizations making the list. There are large numbers of small to medium businesses on there, many with less than 25 employees. Weren’t these precisely the types of businesses that Obamacare was supposed to rescue from the evil health insurance system? 

See: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/11/14/health-care-reform-group-gets-waiver-from-health-care-reform/ 

8) Democrats pressing Pelosi to step aside 

WASHINGTON – In a fresh sign of turmoil among defeated Democrats, a growing number of the rank and file say they won't support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a politically symbolic roll call when the new Congress meets in January. 

"The reality is that she is politically toxic," said Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, one of several Democrats who are trying to pressure Pelosi to step aside as her party's leader in the wake of historic election losses to Republicans last week.

Pelosi startled many Democrats with a quick postelection announcement that she would run for minority leader. She has yet to draw an opponent for the post. 

Party elections are scheduled for next week, although a postponement is possible. 

In the interim, Pelosi's critics have become more vocal in their efforts to retire her from the party leadership. 

There's "starting to be a sense that this may not be as much of a done deal as people might have thought," Rep. Jason Altmire said of Pelosi's quest to remain the top Democrat. 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101111/ap_on_go_co/us_democratic_turmoil 

9) New GOP senator could vote with Democrats on campaign finance bill 

Sen.-elect Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) could buck his Republican leadership in his first two weeks on the job and vote in favor of a campaign-finance transparency bill that the GOP’s top brass ardently oppose. 

Watchdogs are pushing for a vote on a stripped-down version of a campaign finance bill during the upcoming lame-duck session. That version of the legislation would force groups bankrolled by anonymous donors to disclose the sources of their funding, as well as their political spending. 

…“I broke with my party early. I think we should continue with further reforms,” Kirk said. “Federal candidates should disclose all of their campaign contributions within 24 hours on the Internet. I hope we can get that done in the next Senate and Congress. Also, for all of these outside groups we don’t want to silence any political voice ... we should have them disclose all of their donors, both from the left and the right.” 

Kirk is a longtime supporter of more limits on campaign finance. But, as a member of the House, he voted against the Disclose Act when it came up for a vote in late June. His resolve will be tested in the Senate, where Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) has spent years trying to fight greater restrictions. In his comments, Kirk said he hoped Congress could pass tougher disclosure laws in the next Senate and Congress, but with fewer Democrats in the Senate and Republicans in charge of the House, passing the Disclose Act will be virtually impossible. 

See: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/128185-sen-elect-kirk-could-give-dems-a-vote-on-disclose-act 

9a) A reminder of what the DISCLOSE act really is: 

For those of us who welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, which restored First Amendment rights confiscated by federal campaign-finance laws, watching the progress of the DISCLOSE Act in Congress is depressing. 

The “Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act” (H.R. 5175) was approved in the House Administration Committee on May 20 on a party-line vote. In addition to the fact that it is filled with onerous, burdensome, and unnecessary provisions, it is extremely tilted against corporations in favor of unions (i.e., DEMOCRATS, comment mine). 

See: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/199905/one-sided-disclose-act/hans-von-spakovsky 

10) Soros’s Role in Kenya Chaos 

In a series of investigative reports this week, Glenn Beck has been analyzing the five-point strategy by which George Soros and his Open Society Institute have destabilized and overturned governments in several countries, including Yugoslovia in 2000, Georgia in 2003 and Ukraine, in the so-called “Orange Revolution” of 2004.  Compelling evidence indicates that Soros may have employed a similar strategy in Kenya, but with far more gruesome results. 

Following Kenya’s disputed elections of December 2007, activists funded by Soros’ Open Society Institute demanded that the election be overturned.  The country erupted into violence, leaving more than 1,100 people dead and some 350,000 homeless.  Thousands were injured, tortured, mutilated and raped. 

In his five-point regime-change strategy Soros, 1) infiltrates countries with his operatives, under the cover of humanitarian aid; 2) takes control of the air waves by creating “independent media” under his own control; 3) destabilizes the targeted country with financial manipulations and political agitation, 4) waits for an election, then disrupts it with charges of voter fraud, then; 5) takes the streets with armies of activist youth whom Soros has recruited, trained and funded, all demanding that the incumbent step down.  The formula often works.  In theory, it is supposed to produce a “bloodless” coup, in which few people are killed or harmed.  Things went tragically wrong in Kenya, however. 

Last month, Soros donated $1 million to a leftwing activist group called Media Matters for America.  The money is to be used to muzzle Fox News, and, in particular, to silence talk show host Glenn Beck (emphasis mine).  Soros says that he donated the money because “the incendiary rhetoric of Fox News may incite violence.”  Given what happened in Kenya, it is difficult to take Soros’ moralizing at face value. 

See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/47966/ 

11) Liberal cartoonist and author Ted Rall advocates burning DC to the ground 

Liberal media outlets continue to find Ted Rall’s advocacy of violence a hoot. Here’s Rall yesterday from the David Pakman show. In this clip, he explains that he’s against the violence of “the system” and then goes on to envision riots that burn Washington DC to the ground. 

…What’s astounding to me is the double standard. A few years ago there was tremendous outrage when Ann Coulter said “My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building.” More recently, Paul Krugman was in a tizzy over a map that appeared on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page. Any language that even hinted at violence was beyond the pale, he tut-tutted (ignoring that the DCCC had done the same thing). And of course gallons of ink have been spilled trying to connect Glenn Beck to a two-time felon who wanted to shoot some people at the Tides foundation. Message: The right is violent and dangerous. 

But when President Obama told a radio audience to “punish your enemies” a few days before the election Krugman was conspicuously quiet about it. And now we have a well-known, award winning cartoonist/journalist traveling the country telling anyone who will listen that it’s time to burn some shit down and pick up guns. And what is the response from the left? Bemusement that the right is so bothered by it. 

See: http://www.verumserum.com/?p=18940 

11a) Ted Rall Book Excerpt: Let’s Kill Some Christians and Tea Partiers 

Ted Rall has a new book out titled The Anti-American Manifesto. In it he makes an explicit call for a violent socialist revolution from within. In case you think this is all a big joke, here’s an excerpt from the book: 

…A war is coming. At stake: our lives, the planet, freedom, living. The government, the corporations, and the extreme right are prepared to coalesce into an Axis of Evil. Are you going to fight back? Will you do whatever it takes, including taking up arms?… 

The millions of partisans who follow Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and right-wing televangelists happen to be the best-armed people around, and they despise just about everyone who doesn’t think and pray like them. They will see collapse as affirmation of their beliefs that secular liberalism is destructive. They will also see it as an opportunity to create a new, ordered world atop the ashes. They will act to stop teenage sluts from getting abortions, teach niggers a lesson, and slaughter those spics, dots, and everyone else who doesn’t fit into their vision of what and who is right… 

I want to kick people in the ass. To get them thinking. To get you thinking. I want you to understand the situation—your situation. I want you to see that revolt is a good idea, and that it has never been more necessary. I also want you to size up the opposition (both the government and 28 The Anti-American Manifesto the extreme right): They will never get weaker.We have as good a chance at taking them on as ever. 

That’s a small sample of chapter one. He’s not kidding. He wants a war. He even uses al Qaeda sleeper cells as an example. And of course where would one go to promote a book about the violent tearing down of America? Here’s Rall on MSNBC: 

See: http://www.verumserum.com/?p=18820 

11b) MSNBC’s Ratigan Goes Way Off the Deep End

Discussing violent revolution as if it’s just another policy option 

MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan not only decided it was a good idea to have on far-left cartoonist Ted Rall to discuss his new book The Anti-American Manifesto, which calls for the left to consider violent revolution if its aims aren’t met, but Ratigan overtly endorsed revolution and implicitly endorsed considering violence. 

If this were on Fox News, the media would be blowing a fuse. It better get working on this one. If it’s suspension-worthy for an obiously left-wing host to give campaign donations to politicians, what is it when one quasi-endorses considering overthrowing the government via the gun? 

Here’s Ratigan introducing his segment (via NewsBusters’ transcript):

RATIGAN: Welcome back. We are here with a very disconcerting question. Are things in our country so bad that it might be time for a revolution? The answer obviously is yes, the only question is how to do it. From the wrongful wars to the corrupt economy to the special interests and the six industries that control every politician in this country, the political system itself, gerrymandering, 75% of all districts weren’t even up for grabs last week. You call that a competitive market? 

To clear our dire problems may require even more drastic solutions. And our next guest, cartoonist and author Ted Rall, targets the day-to-day absurdities in Washington through political cartoons printed in newspapers across the country, but now he’s tackling something bigger. The need for real change and real action, perhaps even through violence, or at least the threat thereof. It’s the subject of his new book, the “Anti American Manifesto”. Ted, nice to see you. What do you mean with that title? 

See: http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/msnbcs_ratigan_goes_way_off_th.php 

12) Oh, the irony! Look who's calling you terrorist!

Former Weather Underground leader worries about 'armed' tea parties 

A former leader of a '70s protest group responsible for bombing the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, police stations and other targets is worried that "racist, armed, hostile, crazy-making" tea parties pose an "unspeakable" threat to America. 

Bernardine Dohrn, who with her husband William Ayers were leaders of the communist revolutionary Weather Underground, had been tied to so many acts of protest violence in the '70s that she was placed on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted List and was described by J. Edgar Hoover as the "most dangerous woman in America." 

Her association with Barack Obama notably led to Sarah Palin's famous comment during the 2008 presidential campaign that Obama had been "palling around with terrorists." 

Dohrn, however, told an Indian news and views website that she's concerned about a new breed of protesters, the tea partiers, whom she describes as "a hard right emerging, an armed, new hard right with massive control of media." 

"It's racist, it's armed, it's hostile, it's unspeakable," she said. "White people armed, demanding an end to this president – it's very crazy-producing." 

See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=224817 

13) MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell admitted on national television Friday that he's a socialist. 

In the middle of a heated debate with Salon's Glenn Greenwald on "Morning Joe," O'Donnell said, "I am a socialist. I live to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals" (video follows with partial transcript and commentary): 

LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Glenn, unlike you, I am not a progressive. I am not a liberal who is so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to progressive. Liberals amuse me. I am a socialist. I live to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals, okay? However, I know this about my country. Liberals are 20 percent of the electorate. Conservatives are 41 percent of the electorate, okay? So I don't pretend that my views, which would ban all guns in America, make Medicare available to all in America, have any chance of happening in the federal government, okay? You can sit there and pretend that liberals should run more liberal in conservative districts. You love the loss of the Blue Dogs. The only way, the only way you have a chairman Barney Frank, there's only one way, that's by electing Blue Dogs. It's the only way. That's the only way you have a Speaker Pelosi. 

So there you have it: a host on MSNBC admitted that he is on the extreme far left of the political spectrum. 

NBC must be so pleased with its decision to give this man his own show. 

See: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/11/05/lawrence-odonnell-i-am-socialist-i-live-extreme-left-mere-liberals 

14) Calif. School Orders Boy to Remove American Flag From Bike 

…Cody Alicea, 13, likes to fly a small American flag on his bike in honor of veterans such as his grandfather, Robert. He’s been doing it for two months. But now, the school he attends has ordered him to remove the flag citing “racial tensions.” 

…“Our Hispanic, you know, kids will, you know, bring their Mexican flags and they’ll display it, and then of course the kids would do the American flag situation, and it does cause kind of a racial tension which we don’t really want,” Parraz said. “We want them to appreciate the cultures.” 

UNBELIEVABLE. 

See: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/calif-school-orders-boy-to-remove-american-flag-from-bike/ 

15) Mystery 'missile'

California vapor streak confounds sky watchers 

A possible missile launch that left a spectacular red vapor trail off the California coast triggered a frenzied search yesterday for explanations. 

The Pentagon insisted there was no threat to national security, but no agency -- including the Navy, Air Force, FAA and North American Aerospace Defense Command -- could say what it was or who was behind it. 

"Nobody within the Department of Defense that we've reached out to has been able to explain what this contrail is, where it came from," Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan said, referring to the condensation trail. 

"So far, we've come up empty with any explanation." Both the US Strategic Command and the Northern Command have been asked to "count noses" to make sure they're not missing any missiles, Fox News reported. 

…One blogger, naval analyst Raymond Pritchett, expressed alarm at the inability of US air-defense officials, nearly a day after the sighting, "to have any answers at all" about the apparent launching of "a ballistic missile 35 miles from the nation's second-largest city." 

Ordinarily, a sea launch would require several layers of notification to airmen and mariners and closure of airspace in the area.

The FAA said it didn't approve any commercial-space launches. Vandenberg Air Force Base said it did launch a satellite -- but that was on Friday. 

Former Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Ellsworth told CBS that it might have been an intercontinental ballistic missile being secretly launched for the first time in the Pacific Ocean by a US submarine. 

See: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/california_vapor_streak_confounds_4xEOTdPZ66LdCKuxFup8iL 

16) San Fran bans toys in some fast-food kids meals 

Ninny Nanny’s rule the world…

SAN FRANCISCO – It's a happy moment for people who see the Happy Meal as anything but. 

San Francisco has become the first major American city to prohibit fast-food restaurants from including toys with children's meals that do not meet nutritional guidelines. 

The city's Board of Supervisors gave the measure final approval Tuesday on an 8-3 vote. That's enough votes to survive a planned veto by Mayor Gavin Newsom. 

The ordinance, which would go into effect in December of next year, prohibits toy giveaways in fast-food children's meals that have more than 640 milligrams of sodium, 600 calories or 35 percent of their calories from fat. The law also would limit saturated fats and trans fats and require fruits or vegetables to be served with each meal with a toy. 

"Our effort is really to work with the restaurants and the fast-food industry to create healthier choices," said Supervisor Eric Mar, the measure's chief sponsor. "What our kids are eating is making them sick, and a lot of it is fast food." 

Right. “Work with the restaurants.” Legislating what they can market is NOT “working with” them. And, what is “making kids sick” is bad parenting, not McDonald’s. 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101110/ap_on_bi_ge/us_kids_meal_crackdown

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Harry Reid steals election; Buying our own debt - $600 billion; Obama's 3000-person entourage

Quotes of the week: 

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." -- Wendell Phillips

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." --Thomas Paine

1) An Alternative Road to a "Two-State" Solution 

Last week, not for the first time, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he was considering declaring a Palestinian state and asking the United Nations to recognize it. In the past, it went without saying that the United States, which holds a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, would veto any such proposal that did not come about as the result of a negotiated agreement between Palestinians and Israelis. But there is now speculation that President Barack Obama might break with that precedent (emphasis mine). 

He might do this because he believes in a “two-state solution” and would like to achieve while he’s in the White House and sooner rather than later. This is not unlike Obama’s approach to health care reform. He was willing to use whatever means were necessary to get a law passed. The outcome has not been as he anticipated -- the mid-term elections are testimony to that. Should Obama support a Palestinian state birthed through the “unilateral option,” that, too, would bring unintended consequences. 

Unlike many Americans and Europeans, Abbas knows that any deal he could conceivably strike with the Israelis would be unacceptable to most members of the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference -- not exactly a half-a-loaf kind of crowd. To them, peace may be preferable to defeat but it's no substitute for victory. Many define victory as Israel’s destruction. 

See: http://townhall.com/columnists/CliffMay/2010/11/04/an_alternative_road_to_a_two-state_solution 

2) Backlash against Fed's $600 billion QE2 builds 

GLENN: But because of quantitative easing, and let me give you the warning yesterday, from the Chinese, the unbridled printing of dollars is the biggest risk to the global economy. This is according to an advisor of the Chinese Central Bank. He said: Quote as long as the world issues no restraint in global currencies such as the dollar and this is not easy, then the occurrence of the crisis is inevitable as quite a few westerners lament." So what does that mean? Most people don't understand when you read these headlines on the drudge report today. Oil above 87 -- I'm sorry, oil at $87. Backlash builds against Feds pumping. Dollar at risk of crashing, triggering inflation. Brazil ready to retaliate for U.S. move in currency war. Chinese warns Fed move is a huge risk. Germany concerned. Most people don't understand what any of that means. I'm going to be cryptic here, because I cannot tell you the names of the people involved, because I don't have the permission of all of the people involved to tell you this story. But you know me. You know me well enough to know that I'm not talking to -- I'm not talking to fringe players. I am talking to people -- when I have told you things about TARP, when I've told you things, it is because I have enough contacts with people who are not peripheral players but players that have been in these rooms as things have happened. Yesterday I had a conversation with somebody. And I had a conversation with somebody who two weeks ago wouldn't have believed me. And this is a -- help me out here, guys -- this is an individual who. 

STU: Very well connected. 

GLENN: Very well connected. 

PAT: Knows people in financial circles at upper levels. 

GLENN: And has a history that you would know, that you would recognize. And is in the know. Is in the game with the highest levels. She came to me and she said to me yesterday that, after the TV show -- and I have been teasing this chart that is being built for tonight's television show, that shows in 15 days, not the next 15 days, in any given 15-day period. 

PAT: After some major event. 

GLENN: Major event, a 9/11 happens, a big event or China. And this is the event we use. China just says we're not going to buy any more of America's debt. Now, it could be -- the event could be the Congress and the republicans keep to their promise and do not raise the debt ceiling. That's a big enough event to trigger this. From the day that event happens, it will take about 13 days for the world to change as you know it. And when I say that, I mean everything changes. Global catastrophe. Global panic (emphasis mine). 

…GLENN: I'm not saying it's inevitable either. I'm just saying that these things are growing, growing concerns. What people said about they would never -- they testified a year ago that they would never buy their own debt and they testified under oath. They're doing it in historic records (emphasis mine). 

…GLENN: I know. A catastrophic event, and how it leads in 15 days to a new world order. This woman said -- she came up to me yesterday and said: A week ago, a week ago I wouldn't have believed you. But I sat in this meeting and these guys said that's what's coming. They think it's a possibility that's really coming. We all sat there with our mouths open. Now, no one will tell you these things because they believe that, oh, well, it's crazy and the people are too stupid, they'll panic. No you won't. You panic when you don't have information. You panic when you can't see what's around the corner. 

See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/47727/ 

2a) Fed Fires $600 Billion Stimulus Shot 

The Federal Reserve, in a dramatic effort to rev up a "disappointingly slow" economic recovery, said it will buy $600 billion of U.S. government bonds over the next eight months to drive down interest rates and encourage more borrowing and growth. 

Many outside the Fed, and some inside, see the move as a 'Hail Mary' pass by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. He embraced highly unconventional policies during the financial crisis to ward off a financial-system collapse. But a year and a half later, he confronts an economy hobbled by high unemployment, a gridlocked political system and the threat of a Japan-like period of deflation, or a debilitating fall in consumer prices. 

…In essence, the Fed now will print money to buy as much as $900 billion in U.S. government bonds through June—an amount roughly equal to the government's total projected borrowing needs over that period (emphasis mine). 

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703506904575592471354774194.html 

3) Barack Obama Trip To India $200 Million Dollars a Day 

What would you do if you were President Barack Obama and your Democrat Party got it’s clock cleaned on Election Day? Get the heck out of the country! Tomorrow, President Barack Obama leaves for India on a ten-day tour ending in South Korea, costing us taxpayers some $200 Million dollars a day! Obama is bringing an entourage of 3,000 people with him. Obama’s trip to India does include a meeting with Prime Minister Manohan Singh in New Delhi. A total of 40 jetliners will haul Obama, family, friends and staff. They’ve rented the entire Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel, all 570 rooms! He’s even bringing his teleprompters with him! 

The $200 million/day figure is in doubt, but what in the world is he doing in India with 3000 people? THAT is the question. 

See: http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=7610 

3a) Details on Obama trip remain unclear 

VOICE: "Obviously you and the Pentagon have spoken about the India stories that have been out there. Are you surprised that there are kind of these stories about lots of protection or more planes than usual? Is there something about this trip that's different than others?" 

GIBBS: "No. Whenever you move any president in a foreign country, you're not, surprisingly, taking certain precautions. This is -- the first stop on our trip is at a memorial for victims of a terrorist attack November 26, 2009 at the hotel we're staying at. So obviously the Secret Service takes the duty of protecting this and any president seriously. They do an amazing job, and they'll continue to do so." 

PAT: Usual nonanswer. Then he's pushed a little bit. 

VOICE: "Could you specify which trip President Bush ever took which cost $200 million a day?" 

GIBBS: "This trip doesn't cost $200 million a day." 

VOICE: "That's what was reported all over the world. 

GIBBS: "So let me get this straight, Lester." 

Question: "Another questioner asked." 

GIBBS: "So you subscribe to the veracity of everything you read in the press, right?" 

VOICE: "No, not everything, but several things. 

GIBBS: "But just the things that you previously agreed on that you agree with? We seem to be several slips, several steps down the slippery slope." 

VOICE: "Are you denying $200 million a day." 

GIBBS: "For about the third time, yes. 

VOICE: "How much is it?" 

GIBBS: "I'm not going to get into how much it costs to protect the president. But the same report, Lester, which you don't believe me I can understand you." 

VOICE: "I'd like to believe you. I enjoy you very much. 

VOICE: "Should we leave you guys alone?" 

GIBBS: "With a slurpy and a twisty straw. I think the same report said there were 34 warships. The Pentagon said that's not true." 

VOICE: "Oh." 

VOICE: "But nobody's denying the 200 million except you. 

…GLENN: Yeah. So he's going over there, and the other question that they won't answer is: Are there 3,000 people traveling with the president? Is he truly traveling with 3,000 people? The trip happens tomorrow. 

See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/47729/ 

4) New Governors to Target Health Law 

Newly elected Republican governors are planning to blunt key parts of the federal health overhaul and join lawsuits against it, suggesting states could trump Congress as the hottest front in the fight over the law. 

Republicans recaptured at least 11 governors' seats from Democrats in Tuesday's election, winning in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Tennessee, New Mexico, Iowa and Maine. Democrats reclaimed at least two seats from Republicans, in California and Hawaii. 

House Republicans have pledged to repeal the law, which is designed to expand insurance to 32 million additional Americans, or at least choke off funding to implement it. Democrats in the Senate can block any repeal, and the defunding strategy faces roadblocks. 

While governors can't avoid much of the law, they can throw sand in its gears and keep states out of involvement in a central part of it—new exchanges for selling insurance policies. 

…Mr. Walker, along with new GOP governors in Wyoming and Oklahoma, said they planned to join in the legal fights against the law's requirement that most Americans carry insurance or pay a fine. 

Plaintiffs in the largest suit, a 20-state effort led by Florida's Republican attorney general, plan to reach out to as many as six states with newly elected Republicans to join the effort, according to a person familiar with the case, though it may be too late to join. 

…Mary Fallin, a Republican elected Oklahoma governor, said she was emboldened by a largely symbolic 65%-35% vote in her state for a measure opposing the individual insurance requirement. 

"I think the people of Oklahoma have spoken that they're concerned and they do not support the program of taking over the health-care system," Ms. Fallin said. 

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704805204575594363109902620.html 

5) Oversight Chairman-elect Darrell Issa: Striking fear in the hearts of Democrats 

Here are the top three ways Washington will be different after this week’s midterm elections: 

First, President Obama will have to go through John Boehner and Co. to pass any bill. Second, Republicans will be held politically accountable for their actions in a way they haven’t been during their years in the minority. And third, Rep. Darrell Issa and his fellow GOP committee chairmen in the House will have subpoena power come January. 

What exactly does that mean? A congressional subpoena allows House committees to compel the administration and any federal agency to produce documents or testimony related to a broadly-defined “legislative purpose.” 

Courts have rarely interfered with this privilege and presidential administrations don’t often fight it. 

Subpoena power, in other words, means that Issa, who will soon be the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, can legally compel the Obama administration to hand over virtually any document it has. 

Let’s hope that he uses that power, although in light of the following comment, I wouldn’t hold my breath… 

Issa is downplaying his new role, telling reporters, “My job is to make the president a success” by helping him eliminate waste and abuse in the executive branch. 

See: http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/04/oversight-chairman-elect-darrell-issa-striking-fear-in-the-hearts-of-democrats/ 

6) Michelle Malkin

Take Your Olive Branch and Shove It, Democrats 

On the eve of a historic midterm election upheaval, President Barack Obama tried to walk back his gratuitous slap at Americans who oppose his radical progressive agenda. "I probably should have used the word 'opponents' instead of 'enemies' to describe political adversaries," Obama admitted Monday. "Probably"? 

Here is an ironclad certainty: It's too little too late for the antagonist-in-chief to paper over two years of relentless Democratic incivility and hate toward his domestic "enemies." Voters have spoken: They've had enough. Enough of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner's rhetorical abuse. Enough of his feints at bipartisanship. Whatever the final tally, this week's turnover in Congress is a GOP mandate for legislative pugilism, not peace. Voters have had enough of big government meddlers "getting things done." They are sending fresh blood to the nation's Capitol to get things undone (emphasis mine). 

…"We don't mind the Republicans joining us," Obama taunted a few weeks ago. "They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back." 

"They're counting on young people staying home and union members staying home and black folks staying home," the fear-mongering agent of hope and change jeered on the campaign trail last month. 

"You would think they'd be saying thank you," he sneered last April, when millions turned out for the nationwide Tax Day tea party protests. 

"I want them just to get out of the way" and "don't do a lot of talking," he scoffed in response to prescient critics of the federal trillion-dollar stimulus boondoggle. 

In addition to labeling GOP opponents of his open-borders policies "enemies" who needed to be "punished" by Latino voters, Obama accused them -- that is, us -- of lacking patriotism. "Those aren't the kinds of folks who represent our core American values," he told viewers of the Spanish-language network Univision. 

…No more compromising deals behind closed doors. No more compromising bailouts in times of manufactured crisis. No more compromising conservative principles for D.C. party elites. No more compromising the American economy for left-wing special interests. No more compromising transparency and ethics for bureaucratic self-preservation. 

Let us be clear, in case it hasn't fully sunk into the minds of Obama and the trash-talking Democrats yet: You can take your faux olive branch and shove it. Thank you. 

See: http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2010/11/03/take_your_olive_branch_and_shove_it,_democrats 

7) Welcome, Senate Conservatives

Remember what the voters back home want—less government and more freedom. 

Congratulations to all the tea party-backed candidates who overcame a determined, partisan opposition to win their elections. The next campaign begins today. Because you must now overcome determined party insiders if this nation is going to be spared from fiscal disaster. 

Many of the people who will be welcoming the new class of Senate conservatives to Washington never wanted you here in the first place. The establishment is much more likely to try to buy off your votes than to buy into your limited-government philosophy. Consider what former GOP senator-turned-lobbyist Trent Lott told the Washington Post earlier this year: "As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them." 

Don't let them. Co-option is coercion. Washington operates on a favor-based economy and for every earmark, committee assignment or fancy title that's given, payback is expected in return. The chits come due when the roll call votes begin. This is how big-spending bills that everyone always decries in public always manage to pass with just enough votes. 

But someone can't be bribed if they aren't for sale. Here is some humble advice on how to recognize and refuse such offers. 

First, don't request earmarks. 

…Second, hire conservative staff. 

…Third, beware of committees. Committee assignments can be used as bait to make senators compromise on other matters. 

…Fourth, don't seek titles. 

…Lastly, don't let your re-election become more important than your job. 

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704141104575588612828579920.html 

8) Pelosi: 'I Am Running for Democratic Leader' 

Bucking speculation that she would step down after her Democratic Party suffered a "shellacking" in Tuesday's election, outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that she will run for minority leader in the next Congress. 

See: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/05/pelosi-running-dem-leader/ 

9) Transparency? Treasury Secretary hires firm to help cover up records 

Following a political tsunami that gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives, an increase in members of the U.S. Senate, and an increased number of Republican governors nationwide, President Barack Obama will be leaving the U.S. behind to schmooze with officials in a country that actually likes him -- India. 

One result of this upcoming trip is a "battle of op-eds" regarding the cost of Obama's lavish trip to places such as Mumbai, India. One estimate being touted is $200,000,000 per day. While Obama's defenders say that figure is wrong, they claim for national security reasons the White House will not release the amount of money to be spent on the President's trip. 

Using that rationale, then disclosing the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the price tags of big-ticket weapons programs, and other costs associated with national security should not be disclosed. Apparently, running the most transparent administration in history was just a catchy campaign slogan for Barack Obama. 

…According to officials at Judicial Watch, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner enlisted a consulting firm to screen public records requested through the federal law known as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). 

Analysts who will handle Treasury FOIA requests will have experience in the use of “exemptions to withhold information from release to the public.” 

To keep crucial Treasury records secret, the Obama Administration picked a firm (Phacil) that has given tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates and not a dime to Republicans. Earlier this year Phacil won a small-business award that was celebrated in a  Rose Garden event with the president. 

…Last month Judicial Watch uncovered Treasury Department documents that revealed President Obama’s "Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation" received a $120,830 annual salary to establish executive pay at companies bailed out by the federal government, even though the administration had assured the pay czar wouldn’t be compensated for his work. It’s a perfect example supporting the need to obtain records rather than take the word of government bureaucrats, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch pointed out in a press statement. 

See: http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/transparency-treasury-secretary-hires-firm-to-help-coverup-records

10) Around the world, a race against time bombs in air 

The woman stepped off Hadda Street into a pair of courier offices in Yemen's capital. In FedEx and UPS storefronts tucked along shopping centers and travel agencies in San'a, she mailed two Hewlett-Packard printers to the United States. 

She used a fake name, address and phone number. She paid in cash. Then she disappeared. 

Hidden inside each printer was a bomb powerful enough to down an airplane. 

Authorities believe it was the most sophisticated effort yet by al-Qaida in Yemen to strike inside the U.S. Though details are still emerging, a senior U.S. official said evidence points to a plot to blow up cargo planes inside the U.S., either on runways or over American cities. 

Alerted to the plot by Saudi intelligence, security officials chased the two packages across five countries, trying frantically over the next two days to prevent an explosion that could have come at any moment. 

Several times, the explosive packages were in plain sight. Twice, a bomb was aboard a passenger plane. Once, authorities were just minutes too late to stop a cargo jet with a bomb from departing for its next destination. 

The pursuit — recounted to The Associated Press by officials in the U.S., Britain, Yemen, Germany and the United Arab Emirates — shows that even when the world's counterterrorism systems work, preventing an attack is often a terrifyingly close ordeal. 

See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101106/ap_on_re_us/mail_bombs_race_against_time 

11) U.N. Human Rights Council Takes Aim at New Target: United States 

The United Nations Human Rights Council, a conclave of 47 nations that includes such notorious human rights violators as China, Cuba, Libya and Saudi Arabia, met in Geneva on Friday, to question the United States about its human rights failings. 

It heard, among other things, that the U.S. discriminates against Muslims, that its police are barbaric and that it has been holding political prisoners behind bars for years. 

Russia urged the U.S. to abolish the death penalty. Cuba and Iran called on Washington to close Guantanamo prison and investigate alleged torture by its troops abroad. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, told the U.S. it must better promote religious tolerance. Mexico complained that racial profiling had become a common practice in some U.S. states. 

Some of these allegations, and many more, come from Americans themselves — especially from a stridently critical network of U.S. organizations whose input dominates the U.N. digest of submissions from “civil society” that are part of the council’s background reading. 

This is absolutely unbelievable. We are witnessing the destruction of United States sovereignty - brought about by members of our own country - before our very eyes. 

…But what really is under review is the gamble by the Obama administration to join the council in the first place, rather than shun it in disdain, as the Bush administration did, along with its predecessor, the U.N. Human Rights Commission, because of its roster of despotic members and unbridled antagonism toward Israel. 

…But it is also showing signs of becoming, in the U.S. case, a one-sided fiasco, along the lines of such previous toxic human rights extravaganzas as the U.N.’s 2001 “World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance,” and its 2006 follow-up, which turned into orgies of anti-Israeli posturing and helped to lead to the previous U.N. Human Rights Commission crackup. 

…Yet despite their apparent diversity, many of the submissions, as summarized briefly in the U.N. document, point to a number of common themes: 

…-- All these treaties and conventions should be “self-executing,” meaning that no subsequent U.S. government action should be required for them to go into effect—regardless of the U.S. constitutional separation of powers, and the separation of powers between federal and state governments; (do I need to remind you that this is profoundly unconstitutional? Treaties must be ratified by the Senate.  “Self-executing treaties“ are therefore unconstitutional.) 

…--U.S. social conditions are dismal. One submission claims, according to the U.N. summary, that 30% of the U.S. population “lacks an adequate income to meet basic needs,” while another notes that “there is an unequal access in the U.S. to basic amenities such as adequate food, shelter, work, healthcare and education. There is also a lack of affordable housing, job shortages and income insecurity, particularly among minorities and women.” 

WTH? “Dismal“?  “Dismal” according to Cuba’s definition? The US is the most prosperous and free nation that ever existed. Who defines “adequate income to meet basic needs?” 

See: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/04/united-nations-human-rights-council/ 

12) Harry Reid Steals Nevada, Wins Amid Widespread Electronic Voter Fraud 

Electronic voter fraud has been heavily documented by numerous investigations including a report in Truthout by Brad Friedman: 

Residents of Clark County Nevada have reported that upon attempting to vote for Angle they found that Reid’s name had already been checked. This is not surprising as widespread voting fraud has been reported since the inception of the fraudulent electronic voting machines. 

…Sharron Angle should start filing the lawsuits right now. Then again, so should Harry Reid. However, it might be a bit more difficult politically for the Senate majority leader, given the undeserved support Reid has shown in the past for Nevada’s 100 percent unverifiable, error-prone, hackable, illegally-certified, electronic voting systems the state forces all voters to use at the polling place (emphasis mine). 

“Undeserved support?” Not from his perspective…(comment mine) 

Given that the Angle/Reid contest in Nevada is likely to be among the closest – and most closely-watched – races for the US Senate this November 2, both parties would be wise to get to court and file for an order to ensure all of the hard drives, flash memory chips and memory cartridges to be used in their electronic voting machines during both early voting and on Election Day are securely retained for 22 months after the election. 

The federal law requiring as much, Retention of Voting Documentation (42 USC. 1974 through 1974e), has, however, never been followed in any state to my knowledge, at least in regard to the sensitive memory cards and hard drives from electronic voting systems. Those devices hold both ballot programming and the way the computers have recorded – accurately or not – the way voters have voted. They might also hold the only evidence of any system malfunction or malfeasance. Nonetheless, officials routinely scrub those materials not long after the polls have closed. Key evidence – perhaps the only actual evidence – of how voters had hoped to vote and of any obstruction to that intent, is thereby lost forever.

The voting machine still used across the Silver State – the horrible, hackable, failure-prone Sequoia AVC Edge touch-screen voting machines with VeriVote “paper trail” printer add-on – has a storied history. There is also a recent history of very close elections in Nevada. Consequently, both candidates would be wise to bring on experienced Election Integrity experts to advise them in what can and will go wrong with those voting systems this year. 

…Electronic Voting Machines are designed to be hacked into and alter key elections as the globalists continue to implode our country from within.  While Sharron Angle may not be perfect,  she was a huge step above Harry Reid and has possibly been cheated out of a crucial election. 

http://theintelhub.com/2010/11/03/harry-reid-steals-nevada-wins-amid-fraud/ 

12a) Hans A. von Spakovsky: E-mail shows illegal activity in Reid's campaign 

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., may have beaten back challenger Sharron Angle and retained his post as the majority leader, but his campaign and one of his biggest supporters may have violated federal law to do so. 

As National Review reported earlier this week, the Reid campaign sent a desperate e-mail to the senior vice president for government relations at Harrah's Casinos asking the company to pressure its employees to get out and vote for Reid. The campaign even offered to have Reid call Harrah's executives to help give "the backing" needed to get the company working on this. 

The Reid staffer involved told Harrah's it needed to "put a headlock" on its supervisors "to get them to follow through." 

This plea was distributed to senior executives throughout the company by a Harrah's vice president, Marybel Batjer. Batjer demanded that those executives "do whatever we need to do to get the supervisors to know that there is NOTHING more important than to get employees out to vote. Waking up to a defeat of Harry Reid Nov 3rd will be devastating for our industry's future." 

Harrah's did just that, getting headcounts and insisting that supervisors explain why their employees had not yet voted. They also coordinated with employee unions to get buses and shuttles to take the employees to the polls. 

None of this should be excused as just "politics as usual." Both the Reid campaign and Harrah's may have violated federal campaign finance law that prohibits in-kind corporate and union contributions to, and coordination with, political campaigns. Corporations and unions may spend money to run ads in support of or opposing a candidate, but they are not allowed to make direct or in-kind contributions to federal candidates. 

Federal criminal law also prohibits intimidation and coercion of a person exercising his or her right to vote (or not to vote). 

If a corporation or union spends money to support the election of a candidate in response to a request by that federal candidate (that is, if they make a coordinated expenditure), as clearly occurred in this case, then they are making an illegal contribution to the candidate. 

…So the question is this -- will the Holder Justice Department open up an investigation into what seems to have been blatant violations of federal law? Or will the administration make the same type of political decision that it has made in numerous other cases, including the New Black Panther Party? 

If it fails to investigate, it will be telling the country that as long as you are an important political ally of the president, you need have no worry about violating federal law. 

See: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/OpEd-Contributor/E-mail-shows-illegal-activity-in-Reid_s-campaign-1458042-106720628.html 

12b) Harrah’s Bosses Put Squeeze on Employees to Vote in Pro-Reid Effort 

Executives at the casino giant Harrah’s pushed company employees to vote early in an all-out effort to help the Harry Reid campaign, according to internal emails obtained by Battle ‘10. 

The stepped-up effort began Wednesday when a Reid staffer sent an email pleading for help to Harrah’s top lobbyist, Jan Jones. Soon after, Marybel Batjer, Harrah’s vice president of public policy and communications, distributed that plea via email to executives throughout the company. 

The Reid campaign staffer, whose name was removed in the email Batjer sent to Harrah’s executives, said “ANYTHING” would be done to help with the company’s get out the vote effort. The staffer cited the fact that 1,100 MGM employees had already voted and indicated dissatisfaction with the turnout from Harrah’s. 

The staffer told Jones, senior vice president of communications and government relations, that the Reid campaign had “connected with Culinary” and that the problem was with mid-level supervisors. “They simply are not cooperating with and listening to upper management,” wrote the staffer. 

The Reid staffer then indicated that the culinary union had money available for more busses to take Harrah’s employees to the polls. The Reid staffer suggests that Harrah’s execs “put a headlock on your supervisors to get them to follow through (emphasis mine).” 

The staffer also offered Senator Reid’s personal involvement, writing, “PLEASE… PLEASE tell me how I can help. Would it help to have the Senator call Gary and help give you the backing you need?” 

…The Harrah’s employee who forwarded the emails asked not to be identified due to fear of reprisal. The employee said the pressure from upper management was “disturbing.” 

“We were asked to talk to people individually to find out why they had not yet voted and to fill in these spreadsheets explaining why,” the employee said. “I did not feel comfortable doing that.” 

“It put me in a very awkward position,” the employee added, saying the level of coordination between Harrah’s upper management, the culinary union, and the Reid campaign was “disgusting (emphasis mine).” 

See: http://www.nationalreview.com/battle10/251906/harrahs-bosses-put-squeeze-employees-vote-pro-reid-effort-elizabeth-crum

And: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/11/02/did-harrahs-pressure-employees-into-voting-for-harry-reid/ 

12c) Hard Data Supporting Fraudulent Activity in Nevada Election 

I put some effort into compiling this data and hope it may help prove, with hard data, that the Nevada "election" was not a one-legal-citizen, one-vote affair. I believe the Angle campaign has a case based on a comparison of the accuracy of polling of other races with that of their own, where the result was well outside the MOE of an aggregate of polls. Off one pull fine. Off seven by a wide margin, not kosher. 

The first data points (EXHIBIT A) are from a sampling of races and the poll aggregates leading up to election day. 

The second set of data points (EXHIBIT B) represent the polling for the Nevada race and shows a great deviation not only outside of the consistently polled trends but well beyond the margin of error of multiple, agreeing polls. I think the Angle campaign may have a case, and it's critical, if nothing else, that they use this golden opportunity before them to begin cleaning up the corruption that hampers the democratic process and disenfranchises thousands of legal citizens. PLEASE... Move forward with this! 

See: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2620339/posts 

12d) Harry Reid’s non-English-speaking voting bloc 

Nothing smells right about Harry Reid. 

His re-election on Tuesday has deepened the stench. Theories are flying left and right to explain the failure of polls that had consistently showed Sharron Angle ahead. 

The New York Times points to Latinos as Reid’s hidden salvation. And not just any Latinos. It was apparently Latinos who prefer not to speak English who curiously turned out in droves for Reid. 

…So, the least assimilated, non-English-speaking voters turned out for an open-borders Democrat panderer whose top priorities this lame-duck session including passing the illegal alien DREAM Act student bailout. 

Hmmmmmmm. 

…Reid’s rescuers miraculously appeared after a concerted effort by the Left to stoke the ire of shamnesty supporters and employ illegal aliens as canvassers — not to mention the White House directive from President Obama to Latinos on Univision to “punish our enemies” for their opposition to lax immigration policies. 

Reid infamously race-baited in August, taunting Hispanic conservatives as aberrations. And Reid’s non-English-speaking voting bloc surfaced after a massive push by his Purple-Shirted allies at the SEIU and other radical prog groups to get them to the polls. 

Interesting also is one of the comments under the article: 

On November 4th, 2010 at 2:08 pm, ITookTheRedPill said: 

Also, I received this email from someone I know personally whose Nevada relative reported to them: 

…the news that voting problems are occurring in Nevada is true; [person X] ([person Y]‘s wife) actually had it happen to her that Harry Reid’s name was already checked on her computer ballot when she went to vote. She complained to the folks at the polling area, who switched her to a booth that worked. Now they had the FBI come to their house and interview her for a half hour about the incident. So we’ll see what happens in that race. 

I’m very curious what the FBI is going to do about it. 

See: http://michellemalkin.com/2010/11/04/harry-reids-non-english-speaking-voting-bloc/ 

13) Ruling by U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Opens Door to Voter Registration Fraud 

The Ninth Circuit Court Appeals has struck down a simple, common sense protection approved by Arizona voters requiring that all individuals provide evidence of U.S. citizenship prior to registering to vote. This decision is an outrage and a slap in the face to all Arizonans who care about the integrity of their elections. 

Arizona voters approved this critical election-security requirement in 2004.  We have been vigorously defending its constitutionality and the will of Arizona voters. This law has previously been upheld at every level and by every court, including the 9th Circuit, despite numerous lawsuits and challenges filed by activist groups. 

Today’s decision should not impact the election on Tuesday, but could impact our registration requirements and the integrity of local elections being conducted beginning as early as this spring, as well as statewide elections in 2012. 

That simply cannot be tolerated.  Arizona voters have made their will crystal clear – non-citizens do not have the right to vote. We will continue to pursue any and all legal remedies to prevent fraudulent voter registration in the State of Arizona, as well as the right of our state citizens to craft appropriate protections. 

See: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=455418243539&id=173347701125 

14) ACORN filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy 

Reporting from Washington — ACORN, a national organization whose mission included registering and turning out low-income and minority voters, announced on this election day that it was filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. 

Founded in 1970, the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now had in recent years become a target of conservatives who accused the group of engaging in widespread voter fraud. It was forced to scale back its efforts after a scandal erupted, centered around undercover video footage that purported to show ACORN staff helping young activists posing as a pimp and prostitute engage in illegal activity. 

Subsequent investigations found that the footage had been substantially edited, but the damage was done. Congress ultimately passed Republican-backed amendments to appropriations legislation that ended federal funding for the group. 

See: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-pn-acorn-bankruptcy-20101103,0,6346806.story 

15) BREAKING: MSNBC Suspends Keith Olbermann Indefinitely 

MSNBC suspended Keith Olbermann indefinitely today after news broke that he had given the maximum allowable contribution to three Democrats without disclosing it to his viewers. 

CBS News reported on the suspension about 20 minutes ago, with a more detailed statement from MSNBC brass: 

"I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night," Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC, said in a statement. "Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay." 

Olbermann, who does not hide his liberal views, has acknowledged donations of $2,400 each to Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords during this election cycle. 

NBC's ethics policy generally bars political activity, including contributions, without the approval of the president of NBC News, Steve Capus, according to a 2007 story on MSNBC.com. 

"Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest," it says. "Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the President of NBC News or his designee." 

Now, I’m not a fan of Keith Olbermann, but I have to side with him here. Your employer should not be able to prevent you from making contributions to whomever you choose, in whatever amount you choose. Was ANYONE under the impression that Keith Olbermann was an impartial journalist? PLEASE. 

See: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2010/11/05/breaking-msnbc-suspends-keith-olbermann-indefinitely 

16) Justice Elena Kagan's first vote is against an execution 

The newest member of the Supreme Court is in the minority in backing a stay of execution over questions about the safety of a drug to be used in a lethal injection. Shortly after the stay was overturned Tuesday, Arizona executed Jeffrey Landrigan. 

“The safety of a drug to be used in a lethal injection???” Huh? I thought the POINT of a LETHAL injection was that it was entirely UNSAFE, i.e., that it leads to death… 

See: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/sc-dc-1028-court-execution-20101027,0,6859358.story 

17) To Pay For Mortgage And Health Care, Woman Forced To Sell Letter From Obama Saying ‘Things Will Get Better’ 

Every single day, President Obama receives a special memorandum with “10 pieces of correspondence addressed to” him from Americans of all walks of life, a tradition he has kept up since he made the request to receive these letters on the second day of his presidency. 

In January of this year, Obama read a letter from Jennifer Cline, a 28 year-old woman living in Monroe, Michigan. Cline informed Obama that she and her husband had both lost their jobs in 2007 and fallen on hard times as a result. “I lost my job, my health benefits and my self-worth in a matter of five days,” she wrote. Following the loss of her job, Cline “was diagnosed with two types of skin cancer, and she had no health insurance. She signed up for Medicaid, and treatment was successful. She went back to college after her unemployment benefit was extended.” She hoped that in “just a couple of years we will be in a great spot.” 

After reading the letter, Obama chose to reply with a handwritten note on White House stationary. He wrote, “Thanks for the very kind and inspiring letter. I know times are tough, but knowing there are folks out there like you and your husband gives me confidence that things will keep getting better!” 

But things, unfortunately, did not get better. Crunched by the costs of a down payment on her home and cancer treatments, Cline has been forced to sell her letter from the president to earn some money. She is selling the letter to autograph dealer Gary Zimet for $7,000, who will then sell it on his website momentsintime.com, which markets autographs… 

See: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/01/woman-obama-better-letter/