Ding dong, the witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead!; Land of the mostly free?

Ding dong, the witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead! 1) What Has Brown Done for Us? I bet they can hear this cheering all the way in Washington, D.C. It's just the beginning...when there's trouble (for the Dem machine) in Massachusetts, there's trouble everywhere. Rest assured they know it. -from Scott Brown's opening statement last night What has Brown done for us? He just administered a stunning "Tea Party Republican" thrashing to the "Kennedy Liberal Democrats" in Massachusetts -- with Obamacare front and center as the core issue at hand. That's what. Forget any other spin you hear -- that is what just happened. That Brown did not stress the party or the term "tea party" does not matter. His issues were right off of the tea parties' posters and out of the official GOP platform manual. …It was palpable. And this wave continued to rise in November as Republicans -- yes, Republicans -- rolled to stunning wins in New Jersey and Virginia. This wave was obvious to anyone and everyone not occupying office in Washington and certain pundit chairs in the D.C.-Manhattan corridor. The message was consistent. Washington was trying to "fundamentally change" America, and beyond their notice, Americans were waking up to what that means and were shouting not "no" -- but "hell no." And no bigger "hell no" can be remembered in decades than the one given in the Bay State last night. This is Masschusetts! Even McGovern won Massachusetts! Obama won Massachusetts by 26 points in '08. Last night, Coakley -- and Obama -- lost that same population by roughly 6 points. In round numbers, that's a third of the state that has shifted. Simply seismic! …Either way, Scott Brown has done a lot for us. And by "us," I mean America. Stopping health care now and making even more nakedly (or nekkidly) obvious the raw socialist power-grab of the Democrats are both tremendous gifts. …The best line was that American tax dollars "should be used for weapons to fight terrorists, not lawyers to represent terrorists (emphasis mine)." The crowd's roar at that was tremendous. This was not exactly McCain shuffling about on waterboarding. ,,,“Across this country -- to all those folks who are listening, if you're covering me -- we are united by basic convictions that only need to be clearly stated to win a majority -- and if anyone doubts that in this next election season that's about to begin -- well, let them take a look at what happened here in Massachusetts. Because what happened here in Mass can happen all over America." Scott Brown, we were listening. We saw what happened in Massachusetts. And we definitely do hear you now! See: http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/what_has_brown_done_for_us.html 1a) MSNBC talk host: 'Cheat to keep these bastards out' On Senate race: 'If I lived in Mass., I'd vote 10 times' MSNBC television and syndicated radio host Ed Schultz declared that he would stuff the ballot box in Massachusetts if he could to prevent Republican Scott Brown from upsetting Democrat Martha Coakley in the race to fill the state's Senate seat formerly held by Edward M. Kennedy. Whatever it takes to keep "the bastards" out of power. "I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts I'd try to vote 10 times," said Schultz on his Friday radio show. "I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right. I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are." See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=122290 2) Land of the 'Mostly Free'? (text below from Heritage Foundation’s 1/20/10 e-mail newsletter; links below article further explain) The Heritage Foundation has released our 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, and the results are alarming if not terribly surprising: America is no longer ranked among the world’s free economies. Instead, for the first time, America ranks as only "mostly free" -- behind countries like Canada, Ireland and Switzerland. The Index, published for the past 16 years as a joint project with The Wall Street Journal, analyzes the economic freedom of 179 countries and bases their scores on three categories: government burdens upon businesses and entrepreneurs; intrusiveness of government; and fundamental societal characteristics that support today's most prosperous economies. Given the past year, it should come as no surprise that the United States' ranking has declined. After all, government spending has exploded and intrusion into the economy has increased, yet our government continues to raise its debt ceiling to allow for spending package after spending package. See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/20/the-u-s-isnt-as-free-as-it-used-to-be/ And: http://www.heritage.org/Index/ 3) TSA nominee Erroll Southers withdraws President Obama's nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration withdrew from consideration on Wednesday, saying his nomination was "obstructed by political ideology." …"The Senate could have had an open and transparent debate this week to approve Mr. Southers, but apparently, answering simple, direct questions about security and integrity were too much for this nominee," DeMint said in a statement. "I hope the president will quickly put forward a new nominee that is fully vetted and that will put the safety of the American people first." DeMint, who led GOP opposition to Southers, initially opposed him out of fear that TSA would eventually approve collective bargaining rights for airport security officers. TSA employees can join a union, but cannot collectively bargain. DeMint and other Republicans argued that union interference would jeopardize airport security. See: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/01/tsa_nominee_erroll_southers_wi.html 4) Michigan defense contractor has God in its sights WASHINGTON – Army officials said Tuesday they will investigate whether a Michigan defense contractor violated federal procurement rules by stamping references to Bible verses on combat rifle sights used by American forces to kill enemy fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan. Don’t we have better ways to spend Army officials’ time, like investigating incompetent radicalized Muslims like Nadal Hasan before they shoot another 13 people? The Marine Corps, another major customer of the telescoping sights that allow troops to pinpoint targets day or night, says service acquisition officials plan to meet with the contractor, Trijicon of Wixom, Mich., to discuss future purchases of the company's gear. The references have stoked concerns by a watch dog group about whether the inscriptions break a government rule that bars proselytizing by American troops. But military officials said the citations don't violate the ban and they won't stop using the tens of thousands of telescoping sights that have already been bought. Trijicon said it has been longstanding company practice to put the Scripture citations on the equipment. Tom Munson, Trijicon's director of sales and marketing, said the company has never received any complaints until now. "We don't publicize this," Munson said in a recent interview. "It's not something we make a big deal out of. But when asked, we say, 'Yes, it's there.'" The inscriptions are subtle and appear in raised lettering at the end of the stock number. Trijicon's rifle sights use tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, to create light and help shooters hit what they're aiming for. …Markings on the Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight, which is standard issue to U.S. special operations forces, include "JN8:12," a reference to John 8:12: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, 'I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,'" according to the King James version of the Bible. The Trijicon Reflex sight is stamped with 2COR4:6, a reference to part of the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," the King James version reads. …"I don't have to wonder for a nanosecond how the American public would react if citations from the Quran were being inscribed onto these U.S. armed forces gun sights instead of New Testament citations," Weinstein said. The foundation is a nonprofit organization opposed to religious favoritism within the military. Sorry, Mr. Weinstein! We were founded as a CHRISTIAN nation, NOT a Muslim one. And the American public is largely proud of it. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100120/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_military_weapons_bible_passages 5) Canada Government policy now targeting 'homophobia' Goal is to squash belief homosexuality is immoral Opponents of "hate crimes" legislation, who have frequently pointed to Canada as an example of how such laws are used to increasingly suppress moral objections to homosexuality, now have more fuel for their fire in the form of the "Quebec Policy Against Homophobia." The policy, released last month by Quebec's Minister of Justice and Attorney General Kathleen Weil, assigns the government the task of eliminating all forms of "homophobia" and "heterosexism" – including the belief that homosexuality is immoral – from society as a whole. The text and specifics of the policy are steeped in vague bureaucratic language about "coordination" and "synergy," but the goal is spelled out clearly: to enlist the government to normalize homosexuality in society and to quell common criticisms levied against "sexual minorities," a term the policy uses to inclusively describe "lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals and transgenders." …And while the word "church" is never explicitly mentioned in the policy, it does declare it important to publicize the most "insidious" forms of homophobia with a plan to "target the various locations in which homophobic attitudes and behavior patterns, as well as heterosexist stereotypes, are found." The policy also warns, "It will be necessary to deal with the heterosexist values on which some institutional practices are founded (emphasis mine)." See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=122113 6) Revolutionary Holocaust: Genocide by Famine …The Holocaust is not just history, it is a tragedy that forever should remain a part of our consciousness - it is part of me since I witnessed it. Equally tragic was the genocide perpetrated against the Ukrainian people by means of the artificially created famine of 1932-1933 in which anywhere from 7 million to 10 million people perished. ..Between January and March 1930 some 61,887 farms were taken over by the communists. Those who protested were executed on the spot, some were sent to concentration camps, and many families were sent to Siberia, where they were dumped often without food or shelter. Many did not survive. Some were just ordered to leave their districts. Of the more than 1 million Ukrainian farmers expropriated in the early 1930s, about 850,000 were deported in freight trains to the Russian far north. …These terrible conditions created artificially in Ukrainian agriculture, complicated by a drought, did not, however, cause the Famine in Ukraine. After all, even Stalin stated that "the total yield of grain in 1932 was larger than in 1931." The Famine was caused by Stalinist draconian requisition quotas imposed on Ukraine, forcing the devastated villages of the country to deliver millions of tons of grain to the state. Since the farmers could not meet the quotas, Moscow ordered that some 12,000 special brigades be sent to the villages in order to collect the "hidden" food reserves. …And they were starving - dying by the millions, while the Soviet government in 1932 and 1933 was selling 1.73 and 1.63 million metric tons of grain on the Western markets, and the Western liberals, such as Bernard Shaw and The New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty, were praising Stalin for the great progress that the Soviet Union was making (emphasis mine). In his report of March 31, 1933, Duranty went so far as to say that "there is no actual starvation, but there is widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition." And yet, he knew the truth.  …That the real objective of Stalin's policy was political was clearly stated in 1933 by one of his lieutenants, Mendel Khataevich, one of the individuals in charge of the grain-procurement program, who proudly declared: "A ruthless struggle is going on between the peasantry and our regime. It's a struggle to the death. This year was a test of our strength and their endurance. It took a famine to show them who is the master here. It has cost millions of lives, but the collective farm system is here to stay. We have won the war." See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/35215/