The Iranians and the Syrians are on heightened military alert as the Russians fuel the Iranian nuclear reactor at Brushehr today and everyone has an opinion about when and who will attack it. If the world wanted to stop the plant from functioning, it could and would have done so long ago.

The military alert is understandable. Israel destroyed an Iraqi reactor that Saddam Hussein was building and a clandestine one being built by Syria

As anyone who has a World Almanac with its map of the world from the United Kingdom to a tip of Australia can determine, it is a very long way from tiny Israel to Iran. Distance increases the risk along with what is surely a ring of missile defense around the reactor.

While the Israelis have conducted some exercises to demonstrate their bombers could make the trip, they have been rather quiet about the Iranian reactor. A very real part of that involves Hezbollah in Lebanon which is armed to the teeth and Hamas in the Gaza strip, both of which are Iranian proxies in any conflict.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took the occasion on Friday to announce that the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority (PA) had agreed to once again sit down and discuss peace. This is kabuki theatre, a charade, a farce. It’s the old land-for-peace swap that has not resulted in a day of peace for Israel since it was founded in 1948.

Mamoud Abbas, the head of the PA, was the right-hand man to Yassir Arafat, famed Nobel Peace Prize winner (thus rendering that award one of the great farces on the international scene) and he has no more power than that which the Israelis grant him. As for the rest of the Arab community, the Palestinians have been completely abandoned.

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By Peter J. Smith

BOISE, Idaho, March 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Virginia and Idaho have now taken the lead among U.S. states in the fight against national health care, with the two states having successfully enacted laws empowering their attorneys general to sue the federal government for trying to force their respective residents to buy health insurance.

On Wednesday, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter signed the Idaho Health Freedom Act into law, during the first public ceremony for this year's legislature.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Re: The Slaughter Solution   [Anthony Dick]

I'm surprised there hasn't been more constitutional outcry over the so-called "Slaughter Solution." As the Washington Examiner describes the proposal: 

Each bill that comes before the House for a vote on final passage must be given a rule that determines things like whether the minority would be able to offer amendments to it from the floor.  In the Slaughter Solution, the rule would declare that the House "deems" the Senate version of Obamacare to have been passed by the House. House members would still have to vote on whether to accept the rule, but they would then be able to say they only voted for a rule, not for the bill itself.

It seems that voting on a rule that deems a bill to be passed differs importantly from actually passing a bill. The difference is not just formalistic but deeply functional. A core purpose of the constitutional legislative process is to ensure that lawmakers are held accountable to the public. Their legislative voting record has to be clear, so that the electorate can make an informed decision on whether to reelect them. The Slaughter Solution is a piece of subterfuge designed specifically to short-circuit this purpose of electoral accountability, so that congressmen can "say they only voted for a rule, not for the bill itself." The very attractiveness of the maneuver shows that it plays some role in insulating lawmakers from popular disapproval of their vote, and for that reason it is constitutionally noxious.

Midterm election forecasts by political scientists and economists are starting to roll out, and the picture is not pretty for the Democrats. This one by Emory University political scientist Alan I. Abramowitz writing for Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball predicts a net loss of 37 Democratic House seats in November.

Abramowitz’s projections are based on four factors, including two that will likely continue to change between now and the election: the generic ballot (currently tied in Abramowitz’s model) and presidential approval (Obama +5 in Abramowitz’s model). The two other variables are already fixed (current number of GOP held seats and whether the president’s party is the same or different than the congressional majority).

Sabato’s own estimate is a little lower at a 27 net seat loss for the Democrats.

January 12, 2010

Attorney General Eric Holder is to justice what Nancy Pelosi is to fiscal responsibility: Less is good; none at all is “progressive” paradise!

Holder’s latest outrage involves ACORN, the street bullies and tramps that used “Chicago tactics” to elect Barack Obama, including voter fraud, illegal campaign practices, prostitution, and probably much worse.

 By Sher Zieve  Sunday, November 22, 2009

In case you hadn’t heard, the US Marxist Party’s Senate vote to ostensibly “continue debate” on its draconian version of “we will now control everything you say and do” ObamaCare proposed bill passed by 60-39—along straight party lines.  The last minute purchase of corrupt Marxist-Democrat Senator votes (with OUR tax money) at over $100Millions a pop clenched the deal.  The ObamaGov is placing the final nails in the coffin of our Republic and is replacing it with its onerous and totalitarian Marxist presence. 

President Obama may have to raise taxes to pay for public health care and the growing deficit, an eventuality that administration officials touched lightly on Sunday as they promoted an economy emerging from recession.

With an expected deficit next year of $1.8 trillion, and spending still being planned for a $1 trillion, 10-year health care reform, officials say something will have to be done to prevent further erosion of the economy.

"We will not get this economy back on track, recovery will be not strong and sustained, unless we ... can convince the American people that we're going to have the will to bring these deficits down once recovery is firmly established," Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said on ABC's "This Week." 

Asked point blank whether it was right to suggest it is a matter of when, not if, taxes will be raised, Geithner responded, "It is absolutely right."

But the president's team circling the Sunday morning news shows was quick to note that there are signs the recession is easing despite a persistent decline in job losses in the past six months.

The Senate has voted to cut off ACORN's Housing funds after several controversial videos have been released. The amendment passed 83-7 and prohibits ACORN from receiving money from the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill.

Here is the gang of seven that voted against the amendment:

- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Roland Burris (D-IL)
- Robert Casey (D-PA)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
- Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
- Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

The Senate voted to cut off ACORN Housing funds following the release of three videotapes that show employees of the activist group advising a "pimp" and "prostitute" on how to break the law.

The amendment, offered by Nebraska Republican Sen. Mike Johanns, passed in a vote of 83 to 7 and prohibits the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now from receiving funds from the current Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. It marks the third time this year Republicans tried to block the organization from federal funding.

The latest vote comes on the heels of the release of hidden-camera videos showing workers in three separate ACORN housing offices apparently helping a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute evade the IRS and apply for an illegal housing loan for a brothel.

ACORN Housing Corporation received $1.6 million to provide housing services to low-income communities in this fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, according to USASpending.gov, a federal government Web site for tracking government grants.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development Grants has given $8.2 million to ACORN in the years between 2003 and 2006, as well as $1.6 million to ACORN affiliates.

From this link : http://www.americasheadlines.com/breaking-news-senate-votes-83-7-to-cut-off-acorn-housing-funding/

Continue Reading Here…

By Lonely Conservative

The Village Idiot, the Tax Cheat, and The Big Spending Exploiter are coming to Syracuse to talk about how to reduce the cost of education. Something tells me it may be a waste of time and money. Unless you’re Dan Maffei, one of Nancy Pelosi’s lap dogs.

The Post Standard Reports:

Vice President Joseph Biden will chair a meeting of the White House Task Force on Middle Class Families during his trip Wednesday to Syracuse, Biden’s office announced Monday. Biden will be in town for a fundraiser for Rep. Dan Maffei.

The vice president will lead a panel discussion on college access and affordability. Panelists will include Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and other education experts, and they will talk about helping families save and pay for college, Biden’s staff said.

Thank you very much fellas, but this middle class family isn’t looking for your help. You’re going to help us right into the poor house.

If Obama’s New Czar Has His Way, This Could Be My Last Post…

In a move destined to garner less attention than cap-and-trade or health care, Barack Obama’s choice for the position of Information Czar could have drastic implications for the conservative blogosphere.

by Michael Naragon

Cass Sunstein, a Harvard law professor and friend to the national Messiah, has been tapped to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.  The Wall Street Journal has reported that Sunstein was one of the major influences on a young Obama’s attitudes on government regulation and economics, a scary proposition considering the degree to which the Obama administration is attempting to pull us toward Soviet-style communism.

If Sonya Sotomayor is appointed to the US Supreme Court (and what is to stop it?) Obama will have deployed an Anti-Second Amendment Weapon of Mass Destruction… which, if given the chance, will end citizen gun ownership in America. She could not care less that “militia” means citizens, not the Army.

While I do NOT agree that Enemy War Combatants are to be given Citizens Rights, I do agree with this author’s issues with Judge Sotomayor’s mission to end citizen ownership of guns.

Lets take a look at this article….

She may be a lady and a senator, but don't expect an apology from Barbara Boxer for making the distinction to an Army brigadier general this week.

Aside from a briefly worded statement about a "friendly" conversation she had with Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh after dressing him down for calling her "ma'am," Boxer remained silent Friday in the face of growing calls for her to apologize.

"Senator Boxer spoke with General Walsh yesterday and he said he was fine with her comments at the hearing," Boxer spokesman Zachary Coile said in a statement sent Friday to FOXNews.com. 

"It was a very friendly conversation and they reiterated their respect for each other and how much they look forward to working together," he said.

Obama Knew What He Was Getting With Sotomayor

It amazes me that for all the attention Judge Sonia Sotomayor has attracted for a racially charged statement in a 2001 speech, few are tying her attitude to President Barack Obama's. Just as he knew precisely what his 20-year pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was about and approved, he knew, prior to nominating her, what Sonia Sotomayor is about and approved. In both cases, he just didn't want us to know.

May 26, 2009

Wendy E. Long, counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network, on nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court:

"Judge Sotomayor is a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written. She thinks that judges should dictate policy, and that one's sex, race, and ethnicity ought to affect the decisions one renders from the bench.

"She reads racial preferences and quotas into the Constitution, even to the point of dishonoring those who preserve our public safety. On September 11, America saw firsthand the vital role of America's firefighters in protecting our citizens. They put their lives on the line for her and the other citizens of New York and the nation. But Judge Sotomayor would sacrifice their claims to fair treatment in employment promotions to racial preferences and quotas. The Supreme Court is now reviewing that decision.

"She has an extremely high rate of her decisions being reversed, indicating that she is far more of a liberal activist than even the current liberal activist Supreme Court."

Rush Limbaugh Said: "GOP Must Go to Mat on Sotomayor to Tell Real Story of Barack Obama An anti-Constitutionalist, reverse racist pick reveals Obama's radicalism. This is a wedge pick aimed at keeping the Republican moderates hiding in the corner, but it's a great opportunity"

OBAMA PUSHES TO MAKE BIG CARS ILLEGAL
BY LISA RICHARDS

The anti-big/pro-carnival bumper car environmental Nazi’s may finally get their way. On May 21, 2009, Barry Obama announced new emissions laws to control the amount of fuel deplorably big and utterly fabulous American vehicles emit. Obama proclaimed he will unveil fuel efficient standards that will be enforced on all American vehicles in order to decrease greenhouse gases by 30 percent over the next decade.

Eliminating liberals would solve all problems on the planet.

Along with California, 13 states have demanded the federal government allow permission to enforce tougher standards on motor vehicles. This request is simply a line of attack toward eliminating American trucks, 4X4’s and large sedans. The District of Columbia has lock-stepped into the rank-and-file mêlée of dictating the style and brand of vehicles Americans will be allowed to drive.

Personal individual freedom of choice is no longer a constitutional right. GM announced it must close dealerships across the country, firing a million and a half Americans from jobs selling large cars and trucks liberals and Democrats hate and Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi drive when not flying around in private jets forbidden form the common man.

Two recent stories about two of Barack Obama's potential Supreme Court choices = Two stories pondering whether the nominees might be too moderate to satisfy the left wing of the Democratic party. To complete the parallels, both stories feature a quote from Michael Ratner of the far-left Center for Constitutional Rights saying that the potential nominee to replace retiring Justice David Souter is not liberal enough. But just how "bipartisan" are Elena Kagan and Janet Napolitano anyway?

First on Sunday came Eric Lichtblau's profile of Elena Kagan, former Harvard Law School dean: "Potential Justice's Appeal May Be Too Bipartisan." The text box emphasized: "Some admirers on the left worry about all those admirers on the right."

When Elena Kagan went before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February as President Obama’s nominee for solicitor general, Republicans were almost as effusive as the Democrats in their praise for her.

There was no daylight between Ms. Kagan, who was the dean of Harvard Law School, and Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, as he led her through a six-minute colloquy about the president’s broad authority to detain enemy combatants. “Do you believe we’re at war?” the senator asked. “I do, senator,” she answered crisply.

Obama cracks down on tax havens

WASHINGTON (AFP) — President Barack Obama, decrying "egregious" tax abuses, announced Monday savings of 210 billion dollars by squeezing offshore havens and US firms' ability to profit from outsourcing jobs.

Vowing that all US taxpayers would start "contributing their fair share," Obama said the shakeup was "a downpayment on the larger tax reform we need to make" as he battles the nation's worst recession since World War II.

But the reforms submitted to Congress came under fierce attack from big business and Republicans, who argued they would backfire by driving more rather than fewer US companies to cheaper locations abroad.

Court Bars Identity-Theft Law as Tool in Immigration Cases.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a favorite tool of prosecutors in immigration cases, ruling unanimously that a federal identity-theft law may not be used against many illegal workers who used false Social Security numbers to get jobs.

The question in the case was whether workers who use fake identification numbers to commit some other crimes must know they belong to a real person to be subject to a two-year sentence extension for “aggravated identity theft.”

The answer, the Supreme Court said, is yes.

Investigations of Corrupt Democrats

Speaker Pelosi is actively working to block federal investigations of corrupt democrats.
The Washington Times reported:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is working to buffer lawmakers from federal investigators. This is a bad idea. Special legal protections for politicians encourage unethical conduct.

Irvin B. Nathan, general counsel of the House of Representatives, sent a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Monday about establishing a protocol on how to handle "hopefully rare searches and electronic surveillance involving members of Congress." Mr. Nathan previously failed to negotiate such an agreement with the George W. Bush administration when Republicans controlled the House. His return to this effort isn't surprising given the number of congressional Democrats facing accusations of ethical misconduct.

By DICK MORRIS Published on TheHill.com on April 28, 2009 When the Obama administration crashes and burns, with approval ratings that fall through the floor, political scientists can trace its demise to its first hundred days. While Americans are careful not to consign a presidency they desperately need to succeed to the dustbin of history, the fact is that this president has moved -- on issue after issue -- in precisely the opposite direction of what the people want him to do. Right now, Obama's ratings must be pleasing to his eye.

Voters like him and his wife immensely and approve of his activism in the face of the economic crisis. While polls show big doubts about what he is doing, the overwhelming sense is to let him have his way and pray that it works. But beneath this superficial support, Obama's specific policies run afoul of the very deeply felt convictions of American voters. For example, the most recent Rasmussen Poll asked voters if they wanted an economic system of complete free enterprise or preferred more government involvement in managing the economy. By 77-19, they voted against a government role, up seven points from last month. And in the Fox News poll -- the very same survey that gave Obama a 62 percent approval rating and reported that 68 percent of voters are "satisfied" with his first hundred days -- voters, by 50-38, supported a smaller government that offered fewer services over a larger government that provided more.

By 42-8, the Fox News poll (conducted on April 22-23) found that voters felt Obama had expanded government rather than contracted it (42 percent said it was the same size) and, by 46-30, reported believing that big government was more of a danger to the nation than big business. (By 50-23, they said Obama felt big business was more dangerous.) By 62-20, they said government spending, under Obama, was "out of control." So if voters differ so fundamentally with the president on the very essence of his program, why do they accord him high ratings? They are like the recently married bride who took her vows 100 days ago. It would be a disaster for her life if she decides that she really doesn't like her husband.

BARACK OBAMA’S STRESS TEST AFTER l00 DAYS IN OFFICE

How Should We Assess the Change Administration: What The World Thinks?

By Danny Schechter

Author of Plunder

How would you do on a “stress test? ” Even as the soundness of banks is supposedly measured—with many expected to show signs of insolvency---the whole stress idea demands a broader focus.

How many of the as many as 20 million Americans out of work could pass a stress test, in flying colors? How many among the millions of families facing foreclosure? Or students defaulting on student loans? What about the reported 31 million maxed out on their credit cards, or the many million more bombarded with “debt consolidation” commercials on their cable TV channels at 3 AM when so many anxious people watch because anxiety keeps them from sleeping?

And now,  what about the real threat of a deadly swine flu pandemic? That’s something new to get stressed about.

Ours has become a stressed nation as we assess the impact of the first 100 days of the Obama era. The President is coping with his own stress test. He is already at war, not only in Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan but also with the high expectations he himself raised. Another front in that war: an increasingly vicious and contentious right-wing media that is turning its viewers into troops for an uprising against his “tyranny.

I just returned from the Eurasian Media Forum in Kazakhstan where I challenged Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele on the bitter partisan rhetoric regurgitated daily on Fox News and that he has reinforced and not distanced his party from. Steele compared GOP attacks on Obama to what he considered far more extreme condemnations of President Bush “by the left.” He compared himself to Barack Obama as the second most important black male in the country and suggested that the elections in 2010 will go against the Democrats because he believes their policies will fail.

He is cocky and clever---but is he right?

It is certainly true that the bailout plans initiated by his predecessor—and which he supported as a Democratic candidate has continued but has yet to “fix” anything.  You can argue that the “glimmers” of prosperity he identified to stir confidence are an illusion and that the depression that many are already experiencing can and will get worse.

Obama is a pragmatist talking left one day and moving right the next. This is called “pragmatism.”  He has already compromised some of his reforms and every welcome initiative like the disclosure of those Bush torture memos. He   kowtowed to the CIA and has now killed the idea of a Truth Commission less anyone compare these United States to despotic days in Chile, Argentina or South Africa. Unfortunately this shuffle is hard for many of his most passionate backers to take and does not build trust and confidence.

Back at the international forum, Obama was still regarded with a sense of hope and relief by a word weary of the Bushevik order. Yet, on issue after issue, there was uncertainty on where he stands. Will he press Israel to push forward with some peace deal?. Will he free himself from the grip of the Lobby, and take new initiatives or will we see more of the same equivocating that has ignored Israeli settlements and occupation? It may be significant that Secretary of State Clinton is proposing to recognize the reality of Hamas’ popularity among Palestinians, I was struck to hear China’s brilliant Victor Gao insist that justice for Palestine including Gazans is more important for America’s prestige in the world than  what happens in Afghanistan.

Will he ever withdraw from Iraq? Former Bush Ambassador Zalmay Khalizad says he is still trying to be “helpful” in Iraq and Afghanistan where he served, and, where as he told me, was shot out frequently (“I lost several helicopters”) During his tenure, he was preoccupied with defending the Green Zone against frequent shelling by the Iraqi resistance.” An Iraqi Kurdish leader there told me Obama is moving slowly and “responsibly.” That “responsibly” is seen as an excuse by  anti-war activists who believe Obama is delaying to please the military. (It reminds me of cold warriors who justified warring on Vietnam for fear of being accused of losing Vietnam like their predecessors were lambasted for losing China.)

A recent report in the Financial Times that surveyed the global downturn had one upbeat piece---a report on how well arms contractors are doing.

The Russians at the Conference welcomed Obama’s rapprochement with their President and like his proposal for a phase out of nuclear weapons but so far see backtracking on backing human rights there and in China. There is still a lot of anger at America there, going back to “the fall of communism” which included the deliberate pillage of many of Russia’s resources by American companies on a destroy and conquer mission. (Today, one Russian analyst on the panel with me, Professor Igor Panarin predicts the US will break up in 6 parts.)

Obama, Congress Again Push Amnesty for Illegal Aliens

By Jim Kouri  Wednesday, April 8, 2009

In the midst of a recent diatribe, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a crowd of illegal aliens and their advocates that federal or local law enforcement of existing immigration laws is “un-American.”

Pelosi, an avowed liberal-left Democrat from San Francisco, condemned operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Then she called the illegal aliens in the audience she was addressing “very, very patriotic.”

“Who in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families?” Pelosi said to a mostly Hispanic gathering at St. Anthony’s Church in San Francisco.

Unbeknownst to Pelosi, her speech was being taperecorded and the audiotape was played by syndicated talk show host Mark Levin on Wednesday night and Fox News Channel on Thursday morning.

Speaker Pelosi is then heard saying, “It must be stopped....What value system is that? I think it’s un-American. I think it’s un-American.”

By: Gerald Warner

Obama calls for action on North Korea" reported today's headlines - which is much like a chief constable demanding something should be done about crime. If the President of the United States cannot bring the Pyongyang regime to heel, who does he expect to perform this task? It appears that, along with the bust of Churchill, Harry S Truman's maxim "The buck stops here" has also been banished from the Oval Office.

What was the point of America deploying two missile-killing destroyers, the USS McCain and the USS Chafee, in Japanese waters, only to spectate as Kim Jong-il's Taepodong-2 missile took off? US military sources have made much of the fact that the missile failed to launch a satellite into space or to achieve its stage three flight. That is like being complacent because Iran has not yet quite completed its nuclear armaments programme. It is the unimpeded process of pursuing nuclear weaponry that is threatening. No wonder West Coast Americans feel insecure.

America in Decline

By: Dustin Ensinger

The sun may have set on the age of American exceptionalism.  America’s place in the world is being questioned on many fronts - from every member of the G-20 as they cast blame onto the U.S. for the current economic crisis to China proposing a new global currency that would supplant the dollar. 

These instances are just the latest examples of America’s eroding power and only underscore the most recent report by the National Intelligence Council titled “Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World,” which found that over the next two decades America’s influence on global affairs will wane.   

“The international system will be almost unrecognizable by 2025, owing to the rise of emerging powers, a globalizing economy, a transfer of wealth from West to East, and the growing influence of non-state actors..... The United States’ relative strength – even in the military realm – will decline and US leverage will become more strained,” the report concluded.   

London is being destroyed by money hating ingrates wanting currency and wealth banned. The G20 Summit anti-capitalists believe everyone in the world should be financially equal, no one should own more than another. The globalists goons don’t accept competition to grow wealth, they detest the idea of third world countries being encouraged to prosper, people owning cars, flying in jets, using energy to keep cool and stay warm, yet those protesters spend money flying from country-to-country objecting that which they loathe: money and fuel.

Not to mention their Kinkos bills must be astronomical. Who pays for that?

Rioters hurled missiles through windows at the Royal Bank of Scotland, entered the building, causing further destruction to the bank housing money for business all over Great Britain; riot police were overwhelmed and pushed out by hoarding hippie hooligans protesting the United States and the UK’s audacity to ally with the inventor of capitalism.

Staffers inside the bank picked up ten pound notes, waving them at protesters in a kiss this attitude that should be applauded. After all, protesters can not dissent and oppose without money. Their pet projects don’t work without capitalism.

These demonstrators have no purpose in life. They are losers without real goals. They live to march against capitalism and economics. They assume people truly care about anarchistic beliefs. Five thousand people attacking various world cities are not six billion. The majority of humans understand money is a necessity and blessing one can not live without.

Insurrection against prosperity is not unity; it is ignorance by bored college educated brats with nothing to do but spend money starting riots.