I wrote all nine articles on my hand.
1) Morning Bell: Is USA Today Serving the Goals of Al-Qaeda? Yesterday, USA Today ran an editorial on the Obama administration’s handling of terrorism, writing: “Officials’ handling of Christmas Day attack looks like amateur hour.” Graciously given the space to respond to this charge, Obama administration Deputy National Security Adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan replied: “Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda.” Got that? The Obama administration considers any criticism of its national security policies, even from as benign a source as USA Today, as serving “the goals of al-Qaeda (emphasis mine).” And the problems with Brennan’s letter don’t end there: …Coordination Contradictions: Brennan asserts “Senior counterterrorism officials from the White House, the intelligence community and the military were all actively discussing this case before he was Mirandized and supported the decision to charge him in criminal court.” But this has been directly contradicted by the sworn testimony of National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair and FBI Director Robert Mueller. Someone is not telling the truth about a vital national security matter. Congress must investigate. …Military vs. Civilian Custody: Brennan writes: “There is little difference between military and civilian custody, other than an interrogator with a uniform. The suspect gets access to a lawyer, and interrogation rules are nearly identical.” That is perhaps the most fatuous sentence in Brennan’s op-ed. The roles of lawyers in the civilian and military system are completely different. In military custody, detainees are not read their Miranda rights and their lawyer’s purpose is to challenge his detention as an enemy combatant. Under civilian custody, the suspect is read his Miranda rights and his lawyer is there to make sure he does not say anything that will incriminate himself. The situations are completely different, not “nearly identical.” See: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/02/10/morning-bell-is-usa-today-serving-the-goals-of-al-qaeda/ 2) EDITORIAL: Rotten to the AmeriCorps Among the most wasteful of the spending in- creases hidden in President Obama's 2011 budget proposal is his plan to create an army of government-funded community organizers at the shocking price of $1.4 billion. While the economy reels and many taxpayers are looking for ways to trim their personal spending, the president is demanding a whopping 59 percent boost for the Corporation for National and Community Service and its best-known program, AmeriCorps. It's time to pull the plug on both. …Rep. Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Republican, attempted last year to prohibit groups "engaged in political or legislative advocacy" from receiving taxpayer dollars through AmeriCorps. The left saw this as a direct attack on what has become a prime source of income and blocked the effort. As a result, the state of Oregon hosts on its official Web site a job listing for an AmeriCorps "volunteer" to accept an $11,100 living allowance and a $4,725 education award to work full time for a local Planned Parenthood office. The position requires a "commitment to the mission of Planned Parenthood," which - among other things - is to maximize the number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood. Support in the past also has gone to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and various homosexual advocacy groups. This is the fundamental problem when government gets in the business of deciding which charitable efforts are worth supporting. The inevitable result is that politically correct causes will dominate, to the detriment of true community service that can only exist in the private sphere. Thousands of worthy charities, churches and other true volunteer groups are looking for eager young workers, but they can hardly compete with lavish federal subsidies that boost government's liberal pet causes. So instead of learning the ropes under the instruction of real charities, a legion of 250,000 "volunteers" can learn to become dependent upon the federal government. See: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/10/rotten-to-the-americorps/ 3) 63% Say Better for Country If Most of Congress Not Reelected Most voters think the country would be better off if the majority of the current Congress wasn’t reelected this November, and their confidence in their own congressman continues to fall. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of likely voters believe, generally speaking, that it would be better for the country if most incumbents in Congress were defeated this November. Just 19% disagree and say it would be better if most congressional incumbents were reelected. Another 18% aren’t sure. The Political Class strongly rejects these views, however. While 78% of Mainstream voters say it would be better for the country if most of the current Congress was turned out of office, 89% of the Political Class think it would be better if most were reelected. The number of voters nationwide (61%) who give Congress a poor job performance rating is now at its highest level in more than three years. More voters also think most members of Congress are corrupt. See: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/february_2010/63_say_better_for_country_if_most_of_congress_not_reelected 4) America: A fearsome foursome At a crucial stage in the Democratic primaries in late 2007, Barack Obama rejuvenated his campaign with a barnstorming speech, in which he ended on a promise of what his victory would produce: “A nation healed. A world repaired. An America that believes again.” Just over a year into his tenure, America’s 44th president governs a bitterly divided nation, a world increasingly hard to manage and an America that seems more disillusioned than ever with Washington’s ways. What went wrong? …In dozens of interviews with his closest allies and friends in Washington – most of them given unattributably in order to protect their access to the Oval Office – each observes that the president draws on the advice of a very tight circle. The inner core consists of just four people – Rahm Emanuel, the pugnacious chief of staff; David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, his senior advisers; and Robert Gibbs, his communications chief. …With the exception of Mr Emanuel, who was a senior Democrat in the House of Representatives, all were an integral part of Mr Obama’s brilliantly managed campaign. Apart from Mr Gibbs, who is from Alabama, all are Chicagoans (translation, thugs) – like the president. And barring Richard Nixon’s White House, few can think of an administration that has been so dominated by such a small inner circle. …John Podesta, a former chief of staff to Bill Clinton and founder of the Center for American Progress, the most influential think-tank in Mr Obama’s Washington, says that while he believes Mr Obama does hear a range of views, including dissenting advice, problems can arise from the narrow composition of the group itself. …This White House-centric structure has generated one overriding – and unexpected – failure. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Mr Emanuel managed the legislative aspect of the healthcare bill quite skilfully, say observers. The weak link was the failure to carry public opinion – not Capitol Hill. But for the setback in Massachusetts, which deprived the Democrats of their 60-seat supermajority in the Senate, Mr Obama would by now almost certainly have signed healthcare into law (those pesky, pesky citizens…emphasis and comment mine) – and with it would have become a historic president. …But the normally liberal voters of Massachusetts wished otherwise. The Democrats lost the seat to a candidate, Scott Brown, who promised voters he would be the “41st [Republican] vote” in the Senate – the one that would tip the balance against healthcare. Subsequent polling bears out the view that a decisive number of Democrats switched their votes with precisely that motivation in mind (emphasis mine). See: http://www.marklevinshow.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b6b4700a-10fb-11df-9a9e-00144feab49a.html 5) Anti-Tea Party website linked to union funds The fact that TheTeaPartyIsOver.com website was funded by organized labor is not surprise. Bloggers had ferreted out the information that the site was backed by the SEIU within hours of its first appearance last month. But Joseph Abrams of Fox News has dug a little deeper and uncovered a massive astroturf effort by several large labor unions to attack the tea party movement, and fund ads for Democrats in competitive states and districts: …Here's how it works: What appears like a local groundswell is in fact the creation of two men -- Craig Varoga and George Rakis, Democratic Party strategists who have set up a number of so-called 527 groups, the non-profit election organizations that hammer on contentious issues (think Swift Boats, for example). Varoga and Rakis keep a central mailing address in Washington, pulling in soft money contributions from unions and other well-padded sources to engage in what amounts to a legal laundering system. The money -- tens of millions of dollars -- gets circulated around to different states by the 527s, which pay for TV ads, Internet campaigns and lobbyist salaries, all while keeping the hands of the unions clean -- for the most part. The system helps hide the true sources of funding, giving the appearance of locally bred opposition in states from Oklahoma to New Jersey, or in the case of the Tea Party Web site, in Illinois. And this whitewash is entirely legal, say election law experts, who told FoxNews.com that this arrangement more or less the norm in Washington. It's pure sleight of hand with dummy offices set up for bogus "grass roots" organizations that turn out to be interconnected 527 groups who raise millions from SEIU, the Teamsters, the Communications Workers of America, and the biggest contributor of all - AFSCME. Taxpayer monies paid to AFSCME employees go to dues which are then used to fund partisan political activities. There ought to be a law but there isn't. The list of 527's are innocuous sounding enough - "Bluegrass Majority" and "Pioneer Freedom Fund" - except they are cut outs for big labor to influence elections and public opinion. Monies are transferred freely between the fake organizations to further muddy the waters and cover the trail. And it's all run by two guys and their lawyer - a long time general counsel of the Democratic National Committee. See: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/02/antitea_party_website_linked_t.html 6) China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S. BEIJING (Reuters) - Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan. The calls for broad retaliation over the planned U.S. weapons sales to the disputed island came from officers at China's National Defence University and Academy of Military Sciences, interviewed by Outlook Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency. The interviews with Major Generals Zhu Chenghu and Luo Yuan and Senior Colonel Ke Chunqiao appeared in the issue published on Monday. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) plays no role in setting policy for China's foreign exchange holdings. Officials in charge of that area have given no sign of any moves to sell U.S. Treasury bonds over the weapons sales, a move that could alarm markets and damage the value of China's own holdings. See: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6183KG20100209 7) Another Showdown at the Mullahs’ Corral (Keep Your Eyes on Iran Tomorrow) I believe that the Iranian regime has assembled the largest armed force in history to protect it from the Iranian people’s righteous indignation on Thursday the 11th. There will be hundreds of thousands of police, revolutionary guards, Basij, and people bused in from the countryside to Tehran. Additionally, the regime is shutting down communications, especially in Tehran. Iranian Tweeters say internet is largely gone, and cell phones are not working. None of this is new, and in the past the dissidents have managed to beat the censors; it will be interesting to see if the mullahs’ trusted advisers (mostly Chinese) are more effective this time. See: http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/2010/02/10/another-showdown-at-the-mullahs-corral/ 8) Gov. who linked Christians, violence latest Obama pick Missouri report tied 'domestic terrorists' with opposition to abortion, immigration President Obama has picked to advise him on military actions inside the U.S. the Missouri governor whose state "Information Analysis Center" last year linked conservative organizations to domestic terrorism and said law enforcement officers should watch for suspicious individuals who may have bumper stickers from Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin. Missouri Gov. Jeremiah Nixon, a Democrat, is being joined on the Obama's special advisory panel by the governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuno, and Arizona Gov. Janice Brewer, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's replacement when she moved to Washington. They are among Obama's nominations for the 10 positions on Obama's new "Council of Governors" that he will use for advice on "military activities in the United States." WND reported earlier when Obama announced the council to advise on military actions in the U.S. and "to protect our nation against all types of hazards." A subsequent WND report confirmed when a rebellion developed to the order, and a new push was launched for states to adopt laws limiting the use of their National Guard units unless there is an invasion, insurrection or other limited circumstance. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=124238 9) Planned Parenthood Pushes Intensive Sex Education for Kids as Young as 10 A new report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation is advocating that children as young as 10 be given extensive sex education, including an awareness of sex's pleasures. The report, "Stand and Deliver," charges that religious groups, specifically Catholics and Muslims, deny their young access to comprehensive sexual programs and education. "Young people's sexuality is still contentious for many religious institutions. Fundamentalist and other religious groups — the Catholic Church and madrasas (Islamic Schools) for example — have imposed tremendous barriers that prevent young people, particularly, from obtaining information and services related to sex and reproduction. Currently, many religious teachings deny the pleasurable and positive aspects of sex." the report states. The report demands that children 10 and older be given a "comprehensive sexuality education" by governments, aid organizations and other groups, and that young people should be seen as "sexual beings." …The report argues that sex education should be "recast" to show sexuality as a "positive force for change and development, as a source of pleasure, an embodiment of human rights and an expression of self." See: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585108,00.html
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