Medal of Honor recipient Bud Day Talks of Torture…. July 28, 2009
Obama’s definition of transparency … July 23, 2009
Obama’s refusal to release his birth certificate mean that Obama remains one of America’s most mysterious and opaque presidents ever.
Obama, for example, has not released many other documents regarding his public and private life.
Many of these documents were sought by reporters, who easily acquiesced when Obama said he would not release them – though most presidential candidates release them as a perfunctory matter.
Among the key documents that Obama continues to shield from the public:
Jim Meyers (Newsmax.com)
Sonia Sotomayor and the Future of Anti-Islamist Speech July 20, 2009
by David J. Rusin • Jul 20, 2009 at 11:30 am
http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2009/07/sonia-sotomayor-and-the-future-of-anti-islamist
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The United States holds a unique advantage in the fight against radical Islam: buttressed by the First Amendment, Americans’ freedom to speak and write about the Islamist threat is unmatched anywhere in the Western world. However, such protections can suffer at the hands of judges who seek to mold the Constitution according to their own personal preferences. With Sonia Sotomayor nearing confirmation to the Supreme Court, there is no better time to explore which judicial approaches are most likely to weaken First Amendment rights.
Three qualities in particular should set off alarm bells for those concerned about free speech:
- Advocacy of the “living Constitution” model. When judges are “amending the Constitution and other laws as the judges see fit,” a straightforward statement such as “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press” can become disturbingly pliable. If legal reasoningcould be found to restrict political speech (e.g., McCain-Feingold), could not the same fate befall other types of speech?
- Citation of foreign law. This increasingly popular trend on the Supreme Court should put fear in the heart of anyone intent on protecting anti-Islamist speech, as practically every Western country hashate speech laws on the books, many of which have been employed against critics of Islamism. Just ask Ezra Levant, Mark Steyn, Oriana Fallaci, Geert Wilders, and a host of others.
- Fixation on group identity. Those who see the group, not the individual, as the central building block of society are more likely to curtail individual rights for the purpose of mollifying certain racial, ethnic, gender, or religious groups. Such thinking undergirds European-style hate speech laws.
Unfortunately, all three of the above qualities are reflected, to some extent, in Sotomayor’s past remarks. A sampling: “Our society would be strait-jacketed were not the courts … constantly overhauling the law,” shewrote in 1996, effectively offering a thumbs-up to legislating from the bench — where, as she once put it, “policy is made.” Furthermore, she asserted recently that “foreign law will be very important in the discussion of how to think about the unsettled issues in our own legal system”; she also has cited foreign cases in her decisions. Finally, her musings on the virtues of the “wise Latina woman” and the possibility that gender and ethnicity “will make a difference in our judging” do not bode well on the identity politics front.
Radical Islam will never be defeated without the freedom to discuss faith and culture frankly — even if it means offending some Muslims. With hate speech laws and grievance tribunals, much of the West is on the wrong path. America must not follow — not for a single step.
Readers are invited to express their views about free speech and Islamism to the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose members may be contacted through the homepages compiled here.
Related Topics: Free Speech, Legal | David J. Rusin
Ban the burqa! President Obama what are you thinking? July 19, 2009
President Obama said in his Cairo speech that he would promote the wearing of the burqa in the West. Do you want to see this on the America street or in a grocery store? Mr Obama what are you thinking? What could be under that burqa…a machine gun, a bomb or perhaps a stinger missile? We need to take a hard look at a society, a culture and a so-called religion, that imprison women in this way. And we need to be thinking of our national security when it comes to allowing this in our society’s public places.
by Jay Keating
A woman wearing the niqab, a veil worn by the most conservative Muslims that exposes only a woman’s eyes, walks in the Belsunce district of downtown Marseille, central France, Friday June 19, 2009. The French government’s spokesman says he favors the creation of a parliamentary commission to study the small but growing trend of burqa wear in France. Luc Chatel says the commission could possibly propose legislation aimed at banning the burqa and other fully covering garments worn by some Muslim women. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)
Democratic Leader Laughs at Idea That House Members Would Actually Read Health-Care Bill Before Voting On It July 9, 2009
Democratic Leader Laughs at Idea That House Members Would Actually Read Health-Care Bill Before Voting On It
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
By Monica Gabriel and Marie Magleby
Washington (CNSNews.com) – House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that the health-care reform bill now pending in Congress would garner very few votes if lawmakers actually had to read the entire bill before voting on it.
“If every member pledged to not vote for it if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes,” Hoyer told CNSNews.com at his regular weekly news conference.
Hoyer was responding to a question from CNSNews.com on whether he supported a pledge that asks members of the Congress to read the entire bill before voting on it and also make the full text of the bill available to the public for 72 hours before a vote.
In fact, Hoyer found the idea of the pledge humorous, laughing as he responded to the question. “I’m laughing because a) I don’t know how long this bill is going to be, but it’s going to be a very long bill,” he said.
“Members clearly–and staff and review boards, they read them in their entirety. They go over it with members, and members read substantial portions of the bill themselves, but the issue is–I don’t know who signed this (pledge), but frankly the opposition has been very vociferous, not of the verbiage and bill, but on the concept that it incorporates,” Hoyer said.
Let Freedom Ring, a Delaware-based conservative organization, is circulating a pledge that asks members of Congress to promise to read the entirety of the final text of a health-care reform bill before they vote on it. They also are asking that the full bill be made available for review by the public for 72 hours before Congress votes on it.
Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring, said Hoyer’s comment is evidence that lawmakers in Congress are “off-track.”
“It tells the American people how off-track our legislative process has become,” Hanna said. “I think if the framers of our Constitution ever saw an entire legislative body vote on a 1,500-page bill that no one had read, they would shudder–if not go into fits of apoplexy.”
Hanna said the pledge to read the full health-care bill–and all future bills–is one way for lawmakers to show that they are not casual in their commitment to constituents.
“We think the American public expects their legislators to know what’s in a bill before they support it, and we’re urging legislators to sign a pledge to that effect,” Hanna told CNSNews.com.
By signing the “Responsible Health-care Reform Pledge,” lawmakers commit to reading the entire bill and making it available to the public for three days before they cast their votes.
The pledge says, “I, (Name inserted here), pledge to my constituents and to the American people that I will not vote to enact any health-care reform package that: 1) I have not read, personally, in its entirety; and, 2) Has not been available, in its entirety, to the American people on the Internet for at least 72 hours, so that they can read it too.”
Earlier CNSNews.com stories revealed that few – if any –congressmen read the 1,550-page American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 or the 1,071-page American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 before voting on the bills.
Former Gitmo inmate now Taliban leader July 8, 2009
This is what happens when you send gitmo inmates to other countries to be held. They almost always get out and return to the battlefield to kill Americans.
Foxnews – A former Guantanamo Bay inmate is leading the fight against U.S. Marines in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed to FOX News on Tuesday.
Mullah Zakir, also known as Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, surrendered in Mazar-e-Sharif in Northern Afghanistan in 2001, and was transferred to Gitmo in 2006. He was released in late 2007 to Afghan custody.
Now as the United States is pushing ahead with the massive Operation Khanjar in the southern province of Afghanistan, Zakir is coordinating the Taliban fighters. Some 4,000 U.S. Marines and hundreds of Afghan forces have faced some resistance as they sweep across the province, reclaiming control of districts where Zakir and his comrades were running a shadow government.
Zakir was released from Afghan custody around 2008, according to the New York Post. He re-established connections with high-level Taliban leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan after his second release.
Taliban chief Mullah Omar appointed Zakir in mid-2008 as senior military commander, according to the newspaper.
Zakir quickly became a charismatic leader, helping establish an “accountability commission” to track spending and monitor activities of Taliban leaders in the districts where they held power and were running a shadow government, according to the Post.
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Michelle Obama Takes Girls to London for Fish and Chips July 8, 2009
Michelle Obama Takes Girls to London for Fish and Chips ,
“We are the change we have been waiting for.”
Imagine this — and when do we get totally fed up?
Michelle One On Sunday, President Obama flew back to the United States on Air Force One. His wife, two daughters and her mother did a bit of shopping in Paris before taking their own Boeing 757 (C-32) over to London to do some sightseeing.
We all remember Obama’s admonishment to corporate CEO’s inFebruary:
“You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers dime.”
Apparently that doesn’t apply to his wife.
The London Times opened it’s description of Michelle’s visit this way:
Motorcycle outriders, armored Chevrolets and bullet-headed men in raincoats crises-crossed London yesterday as Michelle Obama and her daughters spent a second day on an unofficial visit to the capital..
The Times went on to describe that when Michelle and the girls arrived at Westminster Abbey, the building was closed to tourists with people being told to “wait against the wall.” An American visiting the Abbey said “Right then I knew it was probably someone from our ‘royal family’.”
Michelle’s motorcade shut down the London street above as the First Lady of the World and her children go for Fish and Chips at a pub in Mayfair .. The entourage inside the restaurant was 15 people while dozens more wait outside. Include the dozens of Air Force personnel to fly and service the plane, embassy personnel and other staff and we are talking about a serious expenditure of tax payer dollars.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans have lost their jobs and won’t be able to take their family on a summer holiday.
Despite their circumstances they’ll still be expected to fork over the tax dollars to pay for Michelle’s trip.
Can you imagine the GALL of this our First Family?
52% WANTED CHANGE. 100% GOT SCREWED!!
TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE WAY THE OBAMA’S ARE SPENDING OUR TAX MONEY!!!
Michael Phelps ads prove a new cultural tolerance of marijuana July 7, 2009
Super-swimmer Michael Phelps returned to big-time advertising Sunday with a TV spot for Subway titled “Be Yourself.” Oh, the irony.
Surely Phelps — 14-time Olympic gold medalist and endorsement juggernaut — was being only himself, only human, when he was photographed in November hitting a bong at a party at the University of South Carolina. That photograph, first published by the British tabloid News of the World in January, resulted in a three-month competition ban and cost Phelps a reported $500,000 deal with Kellogg. The swimmer promptly issued a sniveling apology, copping to “regrettable,” “inappropriate” and “youthful” behavior (doesn’t the latter want to excuse the former?). Phelps, 24, has more or less cheerfully dined on PR ashes ever since, in interviews with Matt Lauer, among others.
Interestingly, the apology from the world’s fittest stoner infuriated proponents of legal weed, who saw the episode as a missed opportunity to advance the cause. After all, if Aqua-Man smokes bud, how bad can it be?
This is the greatest Olympian of all time, a man chandeliered with gold medals on the cover of Sports Illustrated. His achievements mock the moral hysteria that traditionally rains down on marijuana.
The Subway ad itself is nothing special. It’s a compare-and-contrast between Phelps’ glamorous life as a sports superstar and that of Jared Fogle, Subway’s former-fatty mascot. Jared prefers the low-fat sweet-onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich, while metabolic dynamo Phelps dares to eat the foot-long Meatball Marinara with Jalapeño, containing 1,060 calories and more than 3,000 milligrams of sodium.
Eating these will not make you an Olympic swimmer. A floating island, maybe.
Culture deconstructionists will pick the spot apart for oblique references to the scandal. Phelps’ chin whiskers are kind of bro-ish, for instance. He does look a trifle baked (could be the chlorine). AdWeek’s Eleftheria Parpis wrote that “you can almost hear all the blunts lighting up in support as Sly & The Family Stone’s ‘Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’ kicks in.”
And it really is too bad that the sandwich franchise’s website is subwayfreshbuzz.com.
Even so, the Phelps-bong scandal seems to have been safely put to bed, and now that it has, it’s worth asking, what have we learned? The consequences to Phelps — actually, the lack of consequences — suggest that something bigger than mere endorsement dollars is in play. It seems Phelps has moved the weed needle.
Yes, USA Swimming, the sport’s national governing body, suspended Phelps for three months, time he used to whip himself into shape after his post-Olympic bacchanal. (The organization also withheld its monthly stipend, an amount that probably wouldn’t put gas in Phelps’ Bentley.)
Yes, Kellogg declined to re-up with Phelps, but tellingly, other endorsement deals remained intact: Speedo, Omega, Subway and Mazda China. Subway didn’t hesitate to stand by its man (though it did postpone the current ad campaign six months to let the agita die down). Mazda required Phelps to record a minute-long mea culpa directed at the people of China — mortifying but harmless. In June, Phelps inked a deal with H2O Audio, maker of high-end waterproof headphones.
In other words, there were no serious consequences. To the extent that endorsement opportunities are a rough metric of how well someone in public life is liked, admired, respected, the bong-heard-round-the-world scandal might as well never have happened. With the benefit of hindsight, Kellogg execs might well be kicking themselves.
You could ascribe the missing fallout to Phelps’ incredible personal magnetism or — far more likely — to the fact that advertisers saw little downside to being associated with bong-meister Phelps.
Nor should they. Across the board, marijuana is being steadily decriminalized and de-stigmatized. In a Field Poll in May, 56% of Californians favored legalization, slightly ahead of the roughly half of Americans who favor such a move. Thirteen states have legalized medical marijuana, and three more are considering it. In a dozen states, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is not illegal. One hundred million Americans have smoked pot, and about 14 million use it regularly, according to federal government studies. U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder has said the federal government would no longer raid California medical marijuana dispensaries.
Ethan Nadelmann, of the legalization-advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance, told the Associated Press last month: “This is the first time I feel like the wind is at my back and not in my face.”
I’m sure, given the choice, Phelps would prefer not to be a milestone on the road to the marijuana’s mainstreaming. Still, what we’re witnessing is the death of a certain kind of shame.
Advertising — and that’s what celebrity-athlete endorsements are — is a highly sensitive antenna of culture. Because it strives to reach, hold and please the greatest number of people, it represents a special threshold of cultural acceptance, the floorboards of the norm. The return of brand Phelps says more about us than it does about him.
Pentagon Denies Flyover of Patriotic ‘God and Country Rally’ in Nampa Idaho Because of its Christian Content July 7, 2009
Contact: Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Christian Defense Coalition, 540-538-4741, 202-547-1735; Brandi Swindell, Director, Generation Life, 208-867-1307; Patti Syme, Director, The God and Country Rally, 208-573-9300
NAMPA, Idaho, July 3 /Christian Newswire/ — This marks the first time in the 42 year history of the event that a flyover request was denied by the Pentagon.
The event is held ever year to honor the spiritual foundations of our country with a special emphasis on the men and women who serve in the armed forces.
In past years, the “God and Country Rally” has focused on honoring and paying tribute to those veterans who have served our nation in the past and those who are currently on active duty.
At the rally this year, all five branches of the armed services were featured with over 60 new recruits sworn into the military at the event.
After a phone conversation and an e-mail response from the Pentagon, Rally Director Patti Syme says they were denied the request for a flyover this year because of the “Christian” nature of the event.
The e-mail from the Pentagon can be seen here.
The Christian Defense Coalition says this is a “slap in the face” to all those who have proudly served or are currently on active duty in the armed services.
The group is concerned that this new policy may indicate an open hostility toward public expressions of faith by the Obama Administration.
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states,
“For years, flyovers have been allowed by the Pentagon at the ‘God and Country Rally’ in Nampa Idaho. These flyovers were not to endorse or promote any one religious faith tradition. Rather, they were held to honor and pay tribute to our heroic men and women who have served or are currently serving in our armed forces.
“For the Obama Administration to deny a flyover for the first time, is a slap in the face to all those who proudly serve our country especially when we are at war. These flyovers have been a special part of the ‘God and Country Rally’ for many years.
“Will the new policy of President Obama be that a person has to surrender their faith tradition to honor and pay tribute to our courageous men and women who serve in the military?
“With respect to the economic concerns that the Pentagon mentioned, I would answer this way. If we can pay hundreds thousands of dollars for President Obama to go on a date with his wife to see a Broadway show and have an expensive dinner in New York City, we can certainly find a way to honor our brave men and women who serve in the armed services with a simple flyover.
“The Christian Defense Coalition will diligently work to reverse this unjust policy and determine why this flyover was denied in the first place.”
Brandi Swindell, national Christian activist and Director of Generation Life, based in Idaho, adds,
“For the Pentagon to deny this flyover for the first time in the history of our state is deeply troubling and disturbing.
“During a time of war and especially around the 4th of July we should be doing all within our power as a nation to honor and respect our military.
“It must be stressed that the flyover was not to honor Christianity but to honor our fallen heroes who have proudly given their lives to protect our country and advance the cause of liberty around the world.
“Does this mean in the future that all public rallies must be stripped of any expressions of faith to respect our military? This Administration should be protecting religious expression in the public square not crushing it.
“I hope that President Obama will reverse this unjust policy and next year we will be allowed to give the military the honor they deserve.”
For more information or interviews call:
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney 540.538.4741 202.547.1735
Brandi Swindell 208.867.1307
Patti Syme Director of “The God and Country Rally”
208.573.9300
Patti’s husband Scott is a Colonel in the United States Army currently serving in Iraq.
July 7, 2009
Exclusive trailer for “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted”!!!
Here is the offical trailer for the highly anticipated documentary “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted.” For more information on the film as well as the exclusive Sar…
CEI Releases Global Warming Study Censored by EPA July 6, 2009
CEI Releases Global Warming Study Censored by EPA
by Richard Morrison
June 25, 2009
Washington, D.C., June 26, 2009—The Competitive Enterprise Institute is today making public an internal study on climate science which was suppressed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Internal EPA email messages,released by CEI earlier in the week, indicate that the report was kept under wraps and its author silenced because of pressure to support the Administration’s agenda of regulating carbon dioxide.
The report finds that EPA, by adopting the United Nations’ 2007 “Fourth Assessment” report, is relying on outdated research and is ignoring major new developments. Those developments include a continued decline in global temperatures, a new consensus that future hurricanes will not be more frequent or intense, and new findings that water vapor will moderate, rather than exacerbate, temperature.
New data also indicate that ocean cycles are probably the most important single factor in explaining temperature fluctuations, though solar cycles may play a role as well, and that reliable satellite data undercut the likelihood of endangerment from greenhouse gases. All of this demonstrates EPA should independently analyze the science, rather than just adopt the conclusions of outside organizations.
The released report is a draft version, prepared under EPA’s unusually short internal review schedule, and thus may contain inaccuracies which were corrected in the final report.
“While we hoped that EPA would release the final report, we’re tired of waiting for this agency to become transparent, even though its Administrator has been talking transparency since she took office. So we are releasing a draft version of the report ourselves, today,” said CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman.
CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.
Obama…He is an embarrassment to our Nation! July 6, 2009
For those who do not know Dave Borden, he is a former Black & Decker employee who lives in Hanover. His son Dave Jr was serving in Iraq and was badly injured from a bomb explosion. Dave Jr has had over 38 surgeries to date. The email below is from a recent visit from President Obama, the email speaks for its self.
Bryan McDaniel
Product Service Division
DEWALT, Porter-Cable, Delta
Since Dave Jr.has been injured he has met and been overwhelmed by many, many political and military”celebs”. The list includes Bob Gates, Sec. of Defense, who came into his room and told him 3 or 4 times that if Dave Jr.had any issues to call his cell phone number. It includes Gen. Petereus who sat and talked with Dave Jr.for almost 45 minutes.The General recalled vividly all of the circumstances around the events that led to fighting that Dave was involved in. It includes Sen.McCain who arrived late on a Saturday afternoon during a thunder storm, unannounced, and talked to Dave Jr.about how similar their experiences with fate. It includes George Bush when Dave Jr. was invited to attend the very last Christmas party at the White House for the White House Staff.. President Bush and his wife entered the ballroom and immediately went to Dave Jr.. President Bush knew Dave Jr.’s name as well as when and how he was injured. Dave Jr. had a picture taken with Laura and the President that he has framed and will cherish forever. The list goes on and on of people coming in to meet Dave Jr. and the other wounded warriors at Walter Reed and Bethesda.
Yesterday. Dave Jr. was ordered to be at the National Naval Hospital with another 12 soldiers and Marines to meet with Obama.. Obama was supposed to arrive at 11:30 AM.. He finally got there at 3:00 PM.. He entered the room with the wounded warriors and quickly shook each of their hands.. He never asked their names, where they were from, or how they were injured.. Then he left.?
Dave Jr. has met the people who really care about the military.. All he remembers from Obama is a weak handshake. The others in the room, younger and less exposed to the people that Dave Jr. has met, were so disappointed. Word about Obama’s “insensitive” visit has spread to the MATC ( the rehab facility)? at Walter Reed and throughout Bethesda.. The military sees through his phoniness.
All I can say is that it is such a disappointment that this man is Commander-In-Chief of our Armed Forces.. He is an embarrassment to our Nation.
Regards,
Dave
We The People Stimulus Package…YouTube Video July 5, 2009
We The People Stimulus Package
Bob Basso author of “Common Sense” plays the role of Thomas Paine to ignite the fire of change in America. Patriotism and Pride for America lead Thomas Paine to help take back America!
The White Rodney King…James D Manning, PhD July 3, 2009
The White Rodney King
Hon. James David Manning, PhD continues speaking about the Patrick Henry style revolution. He also speaks about white people rioting and Larry Sinclair. This message comes from The Manning Report o…
July 2, 2009
Reporters Grill Gibbs Over Prepackaged Questions for Obama
“The point is the control from here. We have never had that in the White House. And we have had some control but not this control. I mean I’m amazed, I’m amazed at you people who call for openness …
