ACORN: murder and ties w/Barbara Boxer, Silencing House speech, Venezuela goes nuclear w/help from Russia

1) Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Obamacare on Key Points …Asked if they agree or disagree that the federal government should require all Americans to purchase health insurance or face a fine — a provision favored by Democrats — 70.2 percent said they disagree, and only 18.5 percent agree. The rest are not sure.  A resounding 75 percent of respondents said that taxes should not be raised to fund a government-run health insurance program for Americans who do not have health insurance.  The pollsters stated: "President Obama is promoting a new government agency called the 'Independent Medicare Advisory Council,' and some people believe this agency should use its powers to deny payment for procedures it deems unnecessary or futile."  Critics say such power would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship, the pollsters noted, and many consider it a form of healthcare rationing. Nearly 59 percent said they oppose the creation of the council, and just 30.6 percent support it.  Some Republicans have called for provisions allowing Americans to purchase health insurance from providers outside their state as an alternative to Obama's proposed government-supported "public option" insurance plan. Respondents said they favor such provisions by an overwhelming margin, 82.8 percent to 6.9 percent.  Also, 78.5 percent of those polled believe tort reform is needed to lower the cost of medical malpractice insurance, an issue that Obama has not seriously addressed. And 77.3 percent oppose plans to tax employer-provided healthcare benefits. See: http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_healthcare_zog/2009/09/14/259999.html 2) GOP senator wants investigation of ACORN WASHINGTON – A Republican lawmaker on Tuesday urged the Justice Department to investigate ACORN, a community organization under fire for several voter-registration fraud cases. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., wrote Attorney General Eric Holder requesting the investigation. He cited reports that ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, may "have been engaged in illegal activity" by aiding and abetting tax evasion, prostitution, human trafficking, fraud and conspiracy. The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN following a measure introduced by Johanns. The Nebraska lawmaker said the organization has received more than $50 million in taxpayer funds since 1994. Hidden-camera videos released by conservative activists posing as a prostitute and a pimp have shown ACORN employees giving advice on home buying and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090916/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_acorn 2a) Exposing ACORN (from a Sean Hannity e-mail post): Hannah Giles, who posed as a prostitute in the undercover ACORN videos, and Andrew Breitbart both joined Sean on the NewsMaker hotline. Breitbart and Giles have released the hidden camera videos from three separate locations, Baltimore, Washington D. C. and Brooklyn, exposing ACORN dishing out the same advice. Breitbart plans to release two additional videos tonight! When asked about ACORN’s threats to sue over the release of the videos, Breitbart replied firmly, “bring it on (emphasis mine).” If ACORN does file suit, Breitbart and his attorneys will be entitled to “discovery,” granting them inside access to ACORN – a catastrophe for an organization so allegedly corrupt. Make sure to tune in tonight to Hannity on FoxNews to watch the latest video from Breitbart exposing ACORN for what it really is. 2b) ACORN mulls suit against Fox News Facing intensifying scrutiny after the release of several disturbing hidden camera videos, the community organizing group, ACORN, is threatening to sue Fox News, the website Breitbart.com and the two conservative activists who produced the exposes.  ACORN is alleging that the filmmakers committed a felony by shooting the footage of ACORN employees in the act of providing advice on how to falsify tax forms and set-up a child prostitution business—to a man and a woman posing as a pimp and a prostitute.  A lawyer for ACORN said Monday that statutes in Maryland and the District of Columbia made the undercover filming illegal and that the same laws should prohibit the rebroadcast of the tapes by the Web site BigGovernment.com, where they were first posted last week, and on Fox News, which aired clips of the videos. Unbelievable… …If it is determined that the audio portion now being heard on YouTube was illegally obtained, it is also illegal under Maryland Law to willfully use or willfully disclose the content of said audio. The penalty for the unlawful interception, disclosure or use of it is a felony punishable up to 5 years. See: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27139.html And: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/30570/ 2c) Worst Acorn video yet If you didn't think ACORN could get any worse after several of their employees (in multiple locations) tried to help a prostitute buy a house, lie to the IRS and run a brothel with underage hookers from El Salvador...you were wrong. It gets much worse. In today's tapes, this ACORN employee gives away the farm -- she names names of politicians she talks to each day, plus what bills they are lobbying heavily for (with taxpayer money). Oh, this Acorn employee is also a former hooker herself, who (in this audio tape) admits to killing her abusive husband. Your tax dollars hard at work! See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/30591/ …"I shot him. I shot him," she states. "I just picked up the gun and said f--- you and I shot him and he died right there." She confirms it was in self-defense.  "Before that I had done … some groundwork, went into the domestic violence shelter, pleaded my case with them, so everybody in town would know this was happening," she continued.  She also boasts of her influence with area politicians, including Sen. Barbara Boxer, and tells the undercover operatives they can run their business the way they want.  "It's about how you want it to be run. You can mold it into the level of decency or indecency (you want)," she said.  There's also nothing wrong with using the ill-gotten gains to run a political campaign, as the operatives have portrayed, she said.  "Do you think that even Obama, our new president, or any of them actually put down every single resource where they got their money?" she said. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=109954 3) Lawmaker's 'You lie' outburst draws House rebuke WASHINGTON – Bitterly divided along party lines, the House formally rebuked Republican Rep. Joe Wilson Tuesday for shouting "You lie" at President Barack Obama during last week's nationally televised speech to Congress. The rare resolution of disapproval was pushed through by Democrats insisting that Wilson, a South Carolina lawmaker, had violated basic rules of decorum and civility in his outburst. Republicans dismissed the vote as a political "witch hunt" and a waste of precious time and taxpayers' money. Wilson had called the White House to apologize shortly after the incident, and he said at the time that the president "graciously accepted my apology and the issue is over." Republicans agreed, but several Democrats pressed the issue. …The Office of the House Historian said the resolution marked the first time in the 220-year history of the House that a member had been admonished for speaking out while the president was giving an address. A resolution of disapproval is less severe than other disciplinary action available to the House, including censure or expulsion. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_heckling 3a) Source: Wilson breaks $1 million A source on Rep. Joe Wilson's campaign says his fundraising has broken $1 million -- and surpassed that of his Democratic rival, Rob Miller -- since his outburst of "You lie!" during President Obama's address to Congress Wednesday. The source said Wilson's current tally is $1,005,021 from 18,859 donations amid a high-profile campaign on the Drudge Report and elsewhere telling conservatives that Wilson is "under attack" for his willingness to take on Obama. See: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0909/Wilson_campaign_Fundraising_breaks_1_million_passes_Miller.html 3b) House guidelines for Presidential put-downs House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has released a helpful, updated primer for members regarding their conduct on the floor and in committees. Especially useful: The section on how to properly insult the executive branch in the in the chamber. "Disgrace" and "nitwits" -- okay. "Liar" or "sexual misconduct" -- ixnay. Under section 370 of the House Rules and Manual it has been held that a Member could: • refer to the government as “something hated, something oppressive.” • refer to the President as “using legislative or judicial pork.” • refer to a Presidential message as a “disgrace to the country.” • refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.” Likewise, it has been held that a member could not: • call the President a “liar.” • call the President a “hypocrite.” • describe the President’s veto of a bill as “cowardly.” • charge that the President has been “intellectually dishonest.” • refer to the President as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.” • refer to alleged “sexual misconduct on the President’s part.” Brilliant and shining proof that the Constitution is indeed a rag and that 1st Amendment free speech rights no longer exist. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.  See: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0909/House_guidelines_for_Presidential_putdowns.html 4) Press Accuracy Rating Hits Two Decade Low Public Evaluations of the News Media: 1985-2009 The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys, and Americans’ views of media bias and independence now match previous lows.  Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate. In the initial survey in this series about the news media’s performance in 1985, 55% said news stories were accurate while 34% said they were inaccurate. That percentage had fallen sharply by the late 1990s and has remained low over the last decade. No kidding… See: http://people-press.org/report/543/ 5) Obama supports extending Patriot Act provisions WASHINGTON – The Obama administration supports extending three key provisions of the Patriot Act that are due to expire at the end of the year, the Justice Department told Congress in a letter made public Tuesday. Lawmakers and civil rights groups had been pressing the Democratic administration to say whether it wants to preserve the post-Sept. 11 law's authority to access business records, as well as monitor so-called "lone wolf" terrorists and conduct roving wiretaps. The provision on business records was long criticized by rights groups as giving the government access to citizens' library records, and a coalition of liberal and conservative groups complained that the Patriot Act gives the government too much authority to snoop into Americans' private lives. …The lone wolf provision was created to conduct surveillance on suspects with no known link to foreign governments or terrorist groups. It has never been used, but the administration says it should still be available for future investigations. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090915/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_patriot_act 6) Venezuela to Develop Nuclear Energy With Russian Help (Update1) Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said the South American country plans to develop a nuclear energy program with Russia and doesn’t want to build an atomic bomb.  Chavez said that the country’s oil and gas reserves won’t last forever and the government will seek alternative energy sources. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin agreed to help Venezuela’s nuclear energy program during a meeting in Moscow last week, Chavez said.  “We’re not going to make an atomic bomb, so don’t bother us like with Iran,” he said on state television. “We’re going to develop nuclear energy with peaceful purposes.” Sure, Chavez, sure, sure.   See: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aElQ3UEU9eYM 7) Obama school 'safety' chief: How to jam homosexuality President Obama's choice to monitor school safety once boasted that he introduced homosexual advocacy into the school system in Massachusetts by manipulating the message presented to lawmakers. The revelations about Kevin Jennings, who was named assistant deputy secretary for the office of Safe & Drug Free Schools in the U.S. Department of Education, come just as several of Obama's "czars" have come under scrutiny for their actions, opinions and affiliations. …Technically, Jennings is not one of Obama's "czars," who are special advisers to the president accountable to no one but the president. Jennings was named to a post in the Department of Education. However, his hiring did not require legislative oversight, such as the Senate vetting process required for other appointees.  Jennings is the founder and former executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, which "works to make schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity," according to the government announcement of his appointment. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=109556 8) Evangelical journalist boycotted by U.N. Refused permission to cover coming meetings A journalist who has written 38 books, including five New York Times best-sellers, hundreds of articles for the Jerusalem Post and Washington Times and has appeared on Fox, NBC, CNN and MSNBC, has had his request for permission to cover the coming U.N. meetings in New York rejected because the U.N. said it couldn't establish his bona fides.  Michael Evans contends it is a simple matter of picking him out for refusal because of his conservative beliefs and opposition to the scheduled appearance by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the meetings in New York.  "I am certain this is why the U.N. has rejected my application for accreditation," Evans, who for two decades has been a specialist on the Middle East, told WND. "There is no good and valid reason for them to say that I'm not a legitimate journalist." See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=109852