Monday, April 26, 2010
National Security Adviser James Jones shares laughter and ANTISEMITISM - Two Days Later He Makes An Apology
http://ow.ly/1Dm0J
A joke told by National Security Adviser James Jones to an elite Washington gathering is provoking controversy and suggestions by some that it veered dangerously close to anti-Semitism.
His apology was issued two days later http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/26/national-security-adviser-raises-eyebrows-joke-jewish-merchant/
CHICAGO VIOLENCE MAY REQUIRE THE NATIONAL GUARD
http://chicagoist.com/2010/04/26/state_reps_call_for_national_guard.php
In order to curb Chicago’s rampant and increasing outbreak of violence, State Representatives John Fritchey (D-11th District) and LaShawn Ford (D-8th District) want to call in the National Guard. Yesterday, the legislators urged city and state officials to use the Guard to bolster a thinly stretched Chicago Police. “As we speak, National Guard members are working side-by-side with our troops to fight a war halfway around the world,” said Representative Fritchey via press release, “…we have another war that is just as deadly taking place right in our backyard.”
While rampant violence is always cause for alarm, not everyone in Chicago is exactly on board with the idea. Police Superintendent Jody Weis said “As much as I'd like to have as much help as possible, I'm not sure that mixing the National Guard with local law enforcement is the solution.” Professor Dennis Rosenbaum, a criminologist at the University of Illinois Chicago backed Weis’s position, pointing out in an interview with ABC that military training does not extend to concepts like search and seizure or evidence protection. Mayor Daley responded by saying “I don’t think it’s a long term solution, but I understand what the community is thinking.”
Of course, this isn't the first time the suggestion has been made.
Reactionary methods to combat crime in this manner have popped up before. In 2008, then Governor Blagojevich floated the idea, but ultimately backed away. Former Governor Jim Thompson faced the same issue two decades ago and also declined. While deploying troops in our streets might seem like a good idea in the face of the abhorrent violence the city has seen, a military presence does not address the root causes of crime and violence.
In fact, thus far, 2010's numbers seem on par with, if not a bit below, previous years' totals. Chicago had 134 murders from January to April in 2008, 109 for the same period in 2009 and 106 so far this year. There's been more media scrutiny due to more high profile acts of violence, like the visceral video of Darrion Albert's beating death last fall and last week's shooting death of a toddler caught in gang-related cross-fire. That's not to say something doesn't need to be done; it does. Whether it's more funding for police, better training, perhaps another shuffle at the top of the CPD, there are steps that can be taken. But calling in the National Guard doesn't seem to be the correct course, a quick fix instead of digging deeper into a local solution of how to fix the city's cycle of violence.
In addition, the consequences for civil liberties could be disastrous. While Fritchey and Ford have attempted to disconnect a National Guard presence from martial law, it’s hard to look at a uniformed military presence any other way. When there's already a distrust in the community of the police, how will they feel about armed, uniformed guards in their neighborhoods? They may not be “talking about rolling tanks down the street,” but dealing with drugs and gangs isn’t the same as dealing with insurgents or disaster relief efforts.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
President Obama’s Agenda By ANY Means
Phil Kerpen is vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity and author of ObamaChart.com, a visual depiction of how President Obama bypasses the democratic process.
By Phil Kerpen
After the bitter, partisan, bare-knuckled way President Obama and Democratic leadership forced through their health care legislation, it is likely that the atmosphere on Capitol Hill is so poisoned that no other significant laws will make it through Congress this year.
That sounds like good news to taxpayers reeling from the bailouts, the stimulus, and the health care law. Unfortunately, President Obama appears committed to achieving his agenda by other means, and he may do so in several major policy areas if Congress fails to stop him.
The latest evidence is President Obama’s decision Saturday night to circumvent the democratic process with the recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. Becker is the former associate general counsel of the Service Employees International Union and has written that “employers should be stripped of any legally cognizable interest in their employees’ election of representatives.”
This personnel move could be a precursor to backdoor implementation of parts of the astonishingly ill-named Employee Free Choice Act. Under EFCA, workers would lose the protection of secret ballots for union organizing elections. EFCA also takes the “bargaining” out of collective bargaining by empowering a federal bureaucrat to set contract terms for wages, benefits, and working conditions without so much as a vote of the workers.
EFCA has only 40 co-sponsors in the Senate, and any hope of getting all 60 Democrats to push it through this year ended with Scott Brown’s election. Knowing the stakes, the Senate rejected Becker’s nomination on Feb. 9, with Democrats Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln joining Republicans and voting no. The recess appointment is therefore a double bypass of Congress and an affront to the American people, the democratic process, and, most of all, the workers who may now be forced into unions against their will.
The administration is also bypassing Congress on global warming. Although the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill passed the House on a narrow 219-212 margin, the Senate has not taken it up. Despite efforts of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham to revive it, there are likely more than enough skittish Democratic senators to counterbalance Graham and a handful of other Republicans and sustain a filibuster.
Yet the administration, under the direction of White House Climate Czar Carol Browner (who was not subject to Senate confirmation), is now working on implementing its global warming agenda at the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA’s proposed regulations are sweeping in scope. They would regulate just about everything with a motor, in many cases requiring complete redesigns and operational changes. They would regulate large commercial buildings and many smaller facilities that produce carbon dioxide. The agency even recently suggested it could implement cap-and-trade itself without a vote of Congress.
Another Obama bypass is regulating the Internet under the slogan of “net neutrality.” The president notably said, “I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality.” That apparently includes not taking a back seat to Congress, the American people, or the democratic process, because his effort is proceeding apace despite near-zero support in Congress. The Markey-Eshoo net neutrality bill has only 21 co-sponsors. It has not even been introduced in the Senate, where last Congress it attracted only 11 co-sponsors, including then-Senator Obama.
Facing failure in Congress, Obama turned to the Federal Communication Commission and its chairman Julius Genachowski, a close friend of Obama’s who has visited the White House about 50 times. The FCC is attempting net neutrality rule making based on a shaky legal theory that may be struck down in a pending court decision. At that point, the Commission may, absurdly, declare the Internet a market failure and reclassify it under Title II of the Federal Communications Act, which would reduce Internet Service Providers to old-fashioned government-regulated utilities and give the government total regulatory control of the Internet.
Like health care, the communications system is about one-sixth of the U.S. economy. But unlike health care, this Washington takeover may require just three votes at the Federal Communications Commission, a much easier lift than 216 in the House and 60 in the Senate.
These are some of the highest-profile examples in a pattern of sidestepping Congress that will only get worse in the aftermath of health care. Fortunately, there are legislative vehicles in Congress to stop all of these power grabs, and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to stop the EPA’s global warming regulations may have a Senate vote as soon as May. That vote - and sponsorship of legislation to stop the FCC and NLRB - will show the public which members of Congress want to stand up for the democratic process, and which find it convenient to outsource their legislative heavy lifting to the administration. Voters must hold the latter responsible in November.
By Phil Kerpen
After the bitter, partisan, bare-knuckled way President Obama and Democratic leadership forced through their health care legislation, it is likely that the atmosphere on Capitol Hill is so poisoned that no other significant laws will make it through Congress this year.
That sounds like good news to taxpayers reeling from the bailouts, the stimulus, and the health care law. Unfortunately, President Obama appears committed to achieving his agenda by other means, and he may do so in several major policy areas if Congress fails to stop him.
The latest evidence is President Obama’s decision Saturday night to circumvent the democratic process with the recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. Becker is the former associate general counsel of the Service Employees International Union and has written that “employers should be stripped of any legally cognizable interest in their employees’ election of representatives.”
This personnel move could be a precursor to backdoor implementation of parts of the astonishingly ill-named Employee Free Choice Act. Under EFCA, workers would lose the protection of secret ballots for union organizing elections. EFCA also takes the “bargaining” out of collective bargaining by empowering a federal bureaucrat to set contract terms for wages, benefits, and working conditions without so much as a vote of the workers.
EFCA has only 40 co-sponsors in the Senate, and any hope of getting all 60 Democrats to push it through this year ended with Scott Brown’s election. Knowing the stakes, the Senate rejected Becker’s nomination on Feb. 9, with Democrats Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln joining Republicans and voting no. The recess appointment is therefore a double bypass of Congress and an affront to the American people, the democratic process, and, most of all, the workers who may now be forced into unions against their will.
The administration is also bypassing Congress on global warming. Although the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill passed the House on a narrow 219-212 margin, the Senate has not taken it up. Despite efforts of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham to revive it, there are likely more than enough skittish Democratic senators to counterbalance Graham and a handful of other Republicans and sustain a filibuster.
Yet the administration, under the direction of White House Climate Czar Carol Browner (who was not subject to Senate confirmation), is now working on implementing its global warming agenda at the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA’s proposed regulations are sweeping in scope. They would regulate just about everything with a motor, in many cases requiring complete redesigns and operational changes. They would regulate large commercial buildings and many smaller facilities that produce carbon dioxide. The agency even recently suggested it could implement cap-and-trade itself without a vote of Congress.
Another Obama bypass is regulating the Internet under the slogan of “net neutrality.” The president notably said, “I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality.” That apparently includes not taking a back seat to Congress, the American people, or the democratic process, because his effort is proceeding apace despite near-zero support in Congress. The Markey-Eshoo net neutrality bill has only 21 co-sponsors. It has not even been introduced in the Senate, where last Congress it attracted only 11 co-sponsors, including then-Senator Obama.
Facing failure in Congress, Obama turned to the Federal Communication Commission and its chairman Julius Genachowski, a close friend of Obama’s who has visited the White House about 50 times. The FCC is attempting net neutrality rule making based on a shaky legal theory that may be struck down in a pending court decision. At that point, the Commission may, absurdly, declare the Internet a market failure and reclassify it under Title II of the Federal Communications Act, which would reduce Internet Service Providers to old-fashioned government-regulated utilities and give the government total regulatory control of the Internet.
Like health care, the communications system is about one-sixth of the U.S. economy. But unlike health care, this Washington takeover may require just three votes at the Federal Communications Commission, a much easier lift than 216 in the House and 60 in the Senate.
These are some of the highest-profile examples in a pattern of sidestepping Congress that will only get worse in the aftermath of health care. Fortunately, there are legislative vehicles in Congress to stop all of these power grabs, and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to stop the EPA’s global warming regulations may have a Senate vote as soon as May. That vote - and sponsorship of legislation to stop the FCC and NLRB - will show the public which members of Congress want to stand up for the democratic process, and which find it convenient to outsource their legislative heavy lifting to the administration. Voters must hold the latter responsible in November.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Twitter post from bconsdr8 on Twitter
- Examples of Democratic Brilliance(?) Hank Johnson http://ow.ly/1vGvN VP Joe Biden http://ow.ly/1vGvO Maxine Waters http://ow.ly/1vGvP #tcot
- Grand Canyon admission is free April 17 - 25Th http://ow.ly/1vGhI #nps #AZ #scenic please RT
- Blip's 'Heargasm'--> America's promise in song and video - enjoy and remember a better time in America ♫ http://blip.fm/~o9b3v
- RT @tinastullracing: Great video --> OVER 2 MIL views http://bit.ly/9FgHXk Obama exposed #lesgovt #tcot #hellno #teaparty #iamthemob
- TWO RHINO candidates to PASS over--> McCain Backs Fiorina in Calif. Senate Race http://ow.ly/1vFzg #teaparty #lesgovt #politics #gop...
- PLEASE-->Get involved with defeating the liberal candidate in your upcoming elections - Governors races are very important!
- RE-READ MAY 09-->Tax Increases Could Kill the Recovery - WSJ.com http://ow.ly/1vCkx AND SO IT HAS #econ #finance #capitalism #lesgovt #tcot
- Please get the word out so we're ready to FIGHT like hell! http://ow.ly/1vC2G #patriot #teapaprty #tcot #lesgovt #hellno #code41 #sgp PLZ RT
- VAT TAX WARNING--> fiscal responsibility DESPERATELY needed, generations are at RISK http://ow.ly/1vBQd #vat #tax #tcot #lesgovt #econ #sgp
- RT @GOPLeader: RT @Drudge_Report RAISING TAXES with Euro-Style VAT http://drudge.tw/bhptem Must see--> http://ow.ly/JFuI #teaparty #tcot
- VP Biden brings new meaning to the word ‘UNDER ACHIEVEMENT’: “I Never Thought It Would Work This Well” http://ow.ly/1vBDr #code41 #lesgovt
- RT @Heritage: Your tax dollars have been funding a failing education program for 45 yrs http://bit.ly/bBs0TV #tax #teaparty #code41 #edu
- TRILLIONS LATER: Recovery ?--> Construction jobs continue decline http://ow.ly/1vAVE 4closure http://ow.ly/1vB2j CLAIM--> http://ow.ly/1vB2k
- Refinancing, TARP and Biden says this http://ow.ly/1vAtC REALITY: 4closures at record highs in March for Phoenix AZ http://ow.ly/1vAbd #tcot
- #Obamacare Fueling Higher Insurance Costs http://ow.ly/1vAmA #hellno #tcot #ucot #gopcodered #lesgovt #code41 #tweetcongress #teaparty
- -->MUSLIM idea of 'CHANGE' Ahmadinejad: ISLAMIC principles TO REPLACE CAPITALISTIC values http://ow.ly/1vAjH #tcot #capitalism #gop #lesgovt
- Obama's Judicial Nominee --> Unprecedented OMISSIONS attempt to "hide his most controversial work." http://ow.ly/1vAgW #gop #teaparty #sgp
- Federal court ruling a blow to open Internet http://ow.ly/1vA0T DO something about it! --> http://ow.ly/1vA9c #fcc #internet #lesgovt #tcot
- Coburn threatens to block all spending bills in Senate that aren't 'paid for' http://ow.ly/1vzo9 #lesgovt #tcot #sgp -->GIVE THE MAN A CIGAR
- @Lady_grrrr Good morning Lexie - Clink of the coffee cup to you and the family [in reply to Lady_grrrr]
- U.S. Warns Chavez About Weapons Proliferation http://ow.ly/1vz4s #security #hillary #tcot That ought to do it huh? @HASCRepublicans
- Power Of 1: Reckless Nuclear policy puts America at unnecessary risk http://ow.ly/1vyWZ #tcot #ucot #teaparty #lesgovt #vet @HASCRepublicans
- The EPA is circumventing & enacting CapNTrade policies DON'T ALLOW FCC to do the same on the Internet http://ow.ly/1vcHf #lesgovt #tcot #fcc
- @bconsdr8 -->Tom Jones encourages Conservatives to "burn down the house" ♫ http://blip.fm/~o8dci
- @PoliticalSeason Guessing that this is your Representative in congress http://ow.ly/1vpQY
- AMERICA http://ow.ly/1vpNv http://ow.ly/1vpNw http://ow.ly/1vpNx http://ow.ly/1vpNy http://ow.ly/1vpNz http://ow.ly/1vpNA http://ow.ly/1vpNB
- "you never have to remember the truth"
- -->The good news capitalism CAN save America-->The bad news this president doesn't believe in it http://ow.ly/1vpAU #lesgovt #tcot
- CNN Poll: Majority says GOVT is a THREAT to CITIZENS' RIGHTS http://ow.ly/1vpwA via #lesgovt #tcot #code41 #teaparty #patriot #sgp
- NEVER FORGET http://ow.ly/1vpso http://ow.ly/1vpsp http://ow.ly/1vpsq http://ow.ly/1vpsr http://ow.ly/1vpss http://ow.ly/1vpst http://ow.ly/1vpsu
- Liberals: Let it turn into a 'crisis' because it's a chance to throw money at a LIBERAL solution http://ow.ly/1uV2Hhttp://ow.ly/1vpqS #tcot
- Poor leadership LEADS AMERICA to 24% RISE in Oil prices since Feb http://ow.ly/1vppB #tweetcongress #lesgovt #tcot #tlot #teaparty
- --> $8 BILLION SPENT over 2 years WISE 'LEADERSHIP?' http://ow.ly/1uVBZ #tcot #lesgovt #ucot #tweetcongress #teaparty @GOPLeader
- -->IS THIS the CHANGE You want? http://twurl.nl/neynp2 http://ow.ly/1vpnz #tweetcongress #freedom #capitalism #tax #lesgovt #tcot PLEASE RT
- RT @CJKall: RT @FredThompson: Obama: US won't use nukes for retaliation. BUT letters of STRONG disapproval are still on the table #lesgovt
Reckless Nuclear policy puts America at unnecessary risk
Leading national security expert Frank Gaffney has a few choice words for President Barack Obama’s policies on the production and use of nuclear weapons — “reckless,” “dangerous,” “irresponsible,” “ill-advised,” “very risky” and “catastrophic.”
http://newsmax.com/Headline/obama-gaffney-nuclear-policy/2010/04/06/id/354946
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Margaret Becker reminds us on Easter God wants our 'Honesty'
A raw homemade reminder on Easter from God's messenger: Margaret Becker
(click the link below and prepare to have your heart touched)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tE90XebrPc
Tonight by the glow
Of the firelight
You found the courage
To speak your mind
And tear down the walls
You've been hiding behind
You spoke of your struggle
And you cried from the pain
You spoke of your failure
And then you turned in shame
You said you knew you'd never
Be alright
Chorus
God's not afraid of your honesty
He can heal your heart if you speak honestly
Humble sorrow and the honest cry
He will not pass by
So many of us
Spend so much time
Smoothing things over
Pretending we're fine
As if life could ever be
So cut and dried
But you my friend
You've got that passionate heart
It'll curse you sometimes
But it can take you far
When you let Him tame it
You will be just fine
Chorus
God's not afraid of your honesty
He can heal your heart if you speak honestly
Humble sorrow and the honest cry
He will not pass by
You may feel like you're crawling
Over broken glass
Crying a river
Into the pillows of your past
But you will be free
Chorus
God's not afraid of your honesty
He can heal your heart if you speak honestly
Humble sorrow and the honest cry
He will not pass by
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