Are you a seditionist?; Worldwide new taxes on banks; At least Congress, Janet Porter support Isreal

1) Democrats set showdown vote on Wall Street bill WASHINGTON – Declaring themselves short of patience, Democrats set an initial showdown vote for next Monday on legislation to clamp new regulations on the financial industry while Republicans insisted on more bargaining. President Barack Obama admonished Wall Street leaders "to join us instead of fighting us" to prevent a future national financial collapse. The test vote loomed in an election-year climate, with lawmakers ready to campaign this summer on the results of this legislation — written in reaction to the economic crisis that threw the nation into recession — as well as the hard-fought health care overhaul. "The time for stalling is over," declared Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. That drew a quick response from the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky: "I don't think bipartisanship is a waste of time." “Out of patience”. I think I’ve heard this once before. Second verse, same as the first. A little bit louder and a little bit worse. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100423/ap_on_bi_ge/us_financial_overhaul 1a) Is the Goldman-Sachs scandal manufactured? (updated) Reports coming in point to a scheme by President Obama to create a national scandal by having the SEC charge Goldman Sachs with fraud in order to bolster support for the sweeping financial regulatory reform bill. An article from the Washington Examiner supports the premise that the president has always been in bed with Wall Street, even though he publicly chastises the ‘fat cats' to win approval from the American people and to ram through his overreaching financial reform. From Tim Carney: Obama's fundraiser and economic adviser Warren Buffett is very long on Goldman, having bet on them in 2008 in the expectation of a bailout. Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, was a Goldman Sachs lobbyist until months before joining Team Obama. What does that add up to? Getting a hand in making the regulations… …Let's hope and pray that the forty-one Republican senators hold onto their convictions this week, and stop this egregious abuse from going further. No doubt, Obama and company will be making phone calls, office visits, and threats to every single one of them (emphasis mine). See: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/04/is_the_goldmansachs_scandal_ma.html 1b) Reid dodges questions on Goldman $$$ After criticizing Republican leaders yesterday for having a secret, closed-door meeting with Wall Street executives, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today faced his own questions about a fundraiser he attended this year hosted by the president of Goldman Sachs. Asked by reporters to confirm his attendance and how it played into the debate over financial regulatory reform, Reid didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he read from what appeared to be prepared remarks, touting his reform efforts. Remember that Sharron Angle is running against this thug. Go to http://www.sharronangle.com and help her beat him. See: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/04/20/2275442.aspx 1c) Obama Wins Through Thuggery RUSH: You know the old stand by: "It's not the nature of the evidence that matters; it's the seriousness of the charge." That's what's at play here with the Goldman Sachs business because it's apparent to a lot of people who now looked into this (from the Washington Post, the New York Times, CNBC) that they don't see any evidence here. They could not find anybody who thinks they have a case here. They couldn't find anybody who thinks they got a case (emphasis mine). But that doesn't matter because, you see: It's the seriousness of the charge, not the nature of the evidence. I find this laughable that there are people who have doubts that Obama and the White House were not involved. After all that's happened in a year (14 or 15 months, whatever it is) how can anybody have any doubts? See: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_042110/content/01125109.guest.html 1d) New global 'FAT' tax to rein in banks: Gordon Brown claims credit for International Monetary Fund plan to impose tough levy on biggest banks' profits and pay Tough proposals to cut the world's biggest banks down to size by taxing their profits and pay were outlined by the International Monetary Fund tonight in an attempt to spare taxpayers another massive public bailout of the financial sector. In measures more stringent than Wall Street and the City had expected, the fund called for the introduction of a twin-track approach to the three-year banking crisis that would both force firms to pay for any future support packages and raise new taxes on their profits and remuneration. The report, prepared by the Washington-based institution for the G20 group of developed and developing nations, was seized upon by Gordon Brown as evidence that his push for an international crackdown on the banking sector was gaining support. Leaked in advance of the fund's meeting this weekend, the blueprint emerged as the investment bank Goldman Sachs released better than expected first quarter revenues and admitted its bonus and pay pool had reached $5.5bn (£3.3bn) in the first three months of 2010. The anticipated study called for a financial stability contribution (FSC), which should be paid by all financial institutions, not just banks, and used to bail out weak and failing firms. It would initially be paid at a flat rate but eventually be tailored to suit institutions' size and riskiness. While banks had been braced for the FSC plan, they were caught unawares by the proposal for a financial activities tax (FAT), which would be based on the profits and the pay structure of the firms. Yeah! How dare those banks make a profit! Watch as the socialist cancer grows world-wide. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2010/apr/20/imf-tax-global-banks 2) Report: Health overhaul will increase nation's tab WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law will increase the nation's health care tab instead of bringing costs down, government economic forecasters concluded Thursday in a sobering assessment of the sweeping legislation. You’re kidding! Really? …But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president's twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, however, since the report also warned that Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, forcing lawmakers to roll them back. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100423/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_law_costs 3) Time’s Klein: Beck, Palin Potentially Committing Sedition against U.S. Government; Heilemann Adds Limbaugh Liberals are all too often eager to charge conservative personalities of using hyperbole to gain a political advantage, especially when it contradicts their world view - whether it's suggesting the Obama administration is taking the country down the path of socialism, fascism or any other -ism. However, it could be argued there's a different set of standards for those same people when they want to make strong charges. On NBC's April 18 "The Chris Matthews Show," Time columnist Joe Klein all but accused former GOP vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, along with Fox News host Glenn Beck of sedition. "I did a little bit of research just before this show - it's on this little napkin here. I looked up the definition of sedition which is conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of the state. And a lot of these statements, especially the ones coming from people like Glenn Beck and to a certain extent Sarah Palin, rub right up close to being seditious." As Klein pointed out, the legal definition of sedition is "a revolt or an incitement to revolt against established authority." And, sedition has been declared a felony in Supreme Court opinions, thus making Klein's national television accusation a fairly serious one, one of which New York magazine's John Heilemann agreed with. However, Heilemann added conservative talker Rush Limbaugh to that list. See: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2010/04/18/time-s-klein-beck-palin-potentially-committing-sedition-against-u-s-gover 4) Enough with the VAT talk Some liberals in Congress want to pay for their massive new spending with a value-added tax, a sort of national sales tax on the price of goods at each stage of production. While popular in Europe, such a tax is a bad idea for the United States. And a significant number of lawmakers and even White House officials seem to agree. Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) led a brigade of 85 Senators in a vote denouncing a VAT in America. McCain's resolution accurately stated that a VAT would "cripple families on fixed income and only further push back America's economic recovery." Better still, McCain's floor remarks cited Heritage Foundation tax expert J.D. Foster. Not long after the Senate vote, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs insisted that a national consumer tax "wasn't something that the president had under consideration." So far so good. But President Obama seems to be singing from a different song sheet. In an interview Wednesday, the President indicated that a value-added tax on Americans is still on the table for consideration. A VAT " is something that has worked for some countries," he said. "It's something that would be novel for the United States." President Obama has stated that his first priority is to figure out how to reduce wasteful spending and reduce the deficit, so he is willing to consider all options. But research by Heritage experts and countless economists reveals that a VAT would actually invite greater spending and economic turmoil, especially as it would be levied in addition to all other taxes (emphasis mine). See: http://www.myheritage.org/archive/email/enough-with-the-vat-talk.html 5) US Navy SEAL on Trial for Roughing Up Terrorist RUSH: This is maddening. "A US sailor testified Wednesday that he saw a SEAL punch an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding the killings in 2004 of four U.S. private security contractors, as the court-martial of another member of the elite unit accused of being involved in the incident opened at a military base outside Baghdad." A Navy SEAL capturing people who had killed Americans, happened to punch one of them in the face and is being court-martialed in Baghdad, in Iraq, the scene the crime. Meanwhile, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed gets a trial in the US. Our own soldiers do not. What on earth are we trying to prove here, except that we're fools who will happily turn on even our bravest men when they're carrying out their most dangerous duties, all for what? To show that we're not the mean, rotten, SOB nation Obama thinks that we have been? You know, all told here one has to say that this prosecution best represents all that is wrong with the Obama administration's prosecution of the war on terror. After all the outrageous things they've done, this is really saying something, to put a US Navy SEAL on trial for roughing up a terrorist who killed Americans, and to do so in Baghdad. See: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gz7Vp4WQ6rlbznaqmlZHlbtxrs0gD9F7CMT80 And: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_042110/content/01125104.guest.html 6) What's behind the anti-Tea Party hate narrative? There's a new narrative taking hold in the wake of the recent Tea Party protests and the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing: The Tea Partiers' intense opposition to the Obama administration has led to overheated political rhetoric, which could in turn lead to violence, perhaps as devastating as Oklahoma City. Former President Clinton is the leading voice of this new narrative. In newspaper interviews, television appearances and a widely discussed speech Friday, Clinton said it's "legitimate" to draw "parallels to the time running up to Oklahoma City and a lot of the political discord that exists in our country today." "Watch your words," warned ABC News, reporting that Clinton "weighed in on the angry anti-government rhetoric, ringing out from talk radio to Tea Party rallies." …Hate groups do exist across the political spectrum, and have for a long time. But they have nothing to do with the expressions of frustration over deficits, taxes and Obamacare that we have heard at so many Tea Party gatherings. That frustration, felt by Republicans, independents and even some Democrats, is an entirely mainstream reaction to the sharply activist course the president and congressional leadership have taken. While the level of frustration is indeed a threat, it is a political threat. Ask Democrats running in this November's elections. It's important to distinguish between a political threat and a physical one. As Clinton might say, the hate accusers should watch their words. See: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/What_s-behind-the-anti-Tea-Party-hate-narrative_-91552689.html 6a) Related: Bertha Lewis accuses the right of wanting to put people into internment camps. Uh…Bertha? I think you have things a bit backwards… LEWIS: You know, that's no large thing to do, to actually said I'm a socialist. As you guys know, right now we are living in a time which is going to dwarf the McCarthy era. GLENN: Stop, stop. "As you guys know," she says, "It's no small thing to say that I'm a socialist." Why? News week said we're all socialists now. Boy, does it all come together? Do you see why they're exciting, why they have fought and tried to discredit? Because they know that Americans, at this point at least, do not look fondly on socialists. That's why you've got to fight what socialism is and Marxism. You've got to fight that battle because they are know they are about to be exposed. It's only a matter of time. So she says, I know it's not easy to say those things because especially at this time, we are at a time that will dwarf the McCarthy era. We're at a time, according to Bertha Lewis, that will dwarf the McCarthy era. All right? LEWIS: It is going to dwarf the internment during World War II. GLENN: Stop. It will dwarf the internment of World War II. Let's just get our arms around that. PAT: Who is she afraid of? Who are these who is this entity that's going to come and take these people away? Nobody's in power. Nobody has the power to do that except the government. And the government are the ones who were doing all the socialist policies. See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/39497/ 7) Arizona Sheriff Says Cops Are Being Killed by Illegal Aliens; Joins Call for U.S. Troops at Border (CNSNews.com) – Law enforcement officials from the Arizona counties hardest hit by illegal immigration say they want U.S. troops to help secure the border, to prevent the deaths of more officers at the hands of criminals who enter the country illegally. “We’ve had numerous officers that have been killed by illegal immigrants in Arizona,” Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Monday at a Capitol Hill news conference. “And that shouldn’t happen one time.” Babeu said the violence in Arizona has reached “epidemic proportions” and must be stopped. “In just one patrol area, we’ve had 64 pursuits -- failure to yield for an officer -- in one month,” Babeu said. “That’s out of control.” See: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/64385 8) Political Correctness instead of truth triumphs again: Army disinvites Graham to Pentagon Prayer Day WASHINGTON – Evangelist Franklin Graham's invitation to speak at a Pentagon prayer service has been rescinded because his comments about Islam were inappropriate, the Army said Thursday. Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, in 2001 described Islam as evil. More recently, he has said he finds Islam offensive and wants Muslims to know that Jesus Christ died for their sins. …The Military Religious Freedom Foundation had raised the objection to Graham's appearance, citing his past remarks about Islam. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100423/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_day_of_prayer_military More on this… …After the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Graham said Islam "is a very evil and wicked religion." In a later op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, Graham wrote that he did not believe Muslims were evil because of their faith, but "as a minister ... I believe it is my responsibility to speak out against the terrible deeds that are committed as a result of Islamic teaching (emphasis mine)." See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100421/ap_on_re_us/us_day_of_prayer_military 9) Obama changes "Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Film, Don't Report" policy (headline from “ExJon” comment below story) Police chased reporters away from the White House and closed Lafayette Park today in response to a gay rights protest in which several service members in full uniform handcuffed themselves to the White House gate to protest "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." People who have covered the White House for years tell me that's an extremely unusual thing to do in an area that regularly features protests. A reporter can be seen in the YouTube video above calling the move "outrageous" and "ridiculous." See: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0410/Most_transparent_White_House_ever.html?showall 10) Ariz House: Check Obama's Citizenship PHOENIX -- The Arizona House on Monday voted for a provision that would require President Barack Obama to show his birth certificate if he hopes to be on the state's ballot when he runs for reelection. The House voted 31-22 to add the provision to a separate bill. The measure still faces a formal vote. It would require U.S. presidential candidates who want to appear on the ballot in Arizona to submit documents proving they meet the constitutional requirements to be president. See: http://www.kpho.com/news/23202195/detail.html 11) Obama lacks domestic, international support for key nuclear ambitions In signing a new arms treaty with Russia and hosting a major nuclear terrorism summit, President Obama has shown leadership on his pledge to move toward a world without nuclear weapons. But is anyone following? At home, Obama faces a polarized Congress and a public focused on other issues, such as the economy. Although many experts think the Senate will approve the new strategic-arms treaty with Russia, prospects are dim for ratifying another Obama priority: a global pact banning nuclear tests. Internationally, there is also a mixed picture. Obama has won kudos, and a Nobel Peace Prize, for a policy that many perceive as less belligerent than that of President George W. Bush. But George Perkovich, a prominent nuclear expert, noted in a recent report that nuclear powers such as Russia, China and France had not rallied behind the idea of moving toward global disarmament. Russia and China not rallying behind global disarmament? How shocking! Hopefully the Senate has some guts and refuses to sign the treaty. See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/18/AR2010041803110.html 12) 20,000 roses from Americans given for Remembrance Day Some 20,000 flowers donated by American Christians and Jews who were upset by the reportedly poor treatment that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received in the White House last month will be distributed on Remembrance Day. Jerusalem florist Richard Kovler allocated the flowers on Sunday to army units, Border Police and organizations helping victims of terror, for memorial ceremonies that will be held Monday across the country. “It’s a nice gesture of friendship at a time of bereavement to let Israelis know that Americans care about them,” Kovler said. More than 2,100 dozen roses, totaling more than 25,000 flowers, were donated in a campaign led by US radio host Janet Porter’s Faith2action organization. About 6,000 flowers were distributed to Jerusalem hospitals on April 11, and one bouquet of 100 flowers was symbolically given to Netanyahu. See: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=173477 12a) Nearly 300 Congress members declare commitment to 'unbreakable' U.S.-Israel bond Nearly 300 members of Congress have signed on to a declaration reaffirming their commitment to "the unbreakable bond that exists between [U.S.] and the State of Israel", in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The letter was sent in the wake of the severe recent tensions between Israel and the U.S. over the prior's decision to construct more than 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, a project it announced during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the region. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took advantage of his trip to the United States this week to try to mend the rift with the Obama administration, but he was greeted with cold welcome by the White House. Netanyahu also met during his visit with members of Congress, who welcomed him with significantly more warmth. See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1159159.html