Obama Administration Tramples On First Amendment: Issues Gag Order To Insurance Companies

I got laid off from my job last Wednesday and have been busy doing things like getting doctor appointments for my family before my medical benefits run out at the end of the month as well as trying to find a new job with benefits so that I don't have to come up with a way of paying off a $1200/month COBRA payment on limited income.

Anyway, I know I've missed a few pretty big news stories since then, but I will try to get them in here as soon as possible.

Right now, I'd like to look at the latest action by the Obama administration. As I recall, Obama said he wanted a good debate about health care reform. If so, then why is he trying to silence those who want to get good infomation out to the people that will be most affected by it?

From the Washington Post:

The federal government has ordered health insurers to stop telling Medicare beneficiaries that proposed health reform legislation could hurt seniors and jeopardize their benefits. The government might take enforcement action against insurers that have tried to mobilize opposition to the legislation by sending their enrollees "misleading and confusing" messages, a senior official of the Department of Health and Human Services said in a memo Monday.

The "messages" in question very correctly note that under HR3200, Medicare benefits to seniors will be reduced. Obama and the Democrats have already publically admitted this in their attempt to show that socialized medicine will not add to the defecit.

So, why the gag order? Why worry about the insuarance companies repeating exactly what Obama and the Democrats have already said?

Proposed health reform legislation would sharply reduce funding for Medicare Advantage plans, and the insurance industry has been battling to prevent that from happening. The bill unveiled last week by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, would directly cut payments to Medicare Advantage plans by an estimated $123 billion over 10 years, and it would indirectly reduce funding for those plans by another $15.6 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

And Obama does not want people to know about this? This leads to an even bigger question. Why stifle the debate? Why suppress the very same information that Obama and the Dems have publically acknowledged?

Unless the ultimate goal is to control the debate by controlling the information, nothing else makes sense.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Insurers Criticize Administration 'Gag Order'
David S. Hilzenrath
Washington Post
September 22, 2009

VIDEO: ACORN Offices In San Bernadino, California

At this point, there is no way ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) can claim that promoting tax-fraud, human trafficking and child prostitution is simply the work of a few rogue staffers. It has been uncovered in so many different places that it is clearly an established pattern of criminality.

Now we have video from the West Coast:



There should be absolutely no doubt left in anyone's mind that we must have a full investigation into the activities of ACORN, the ACORN accounting books and any group or entity that had dealings with ACORN.

Letter From John Boehner To Barack Obama Asking To Break All Federal Ties To ACORN

The complete letter follows. I doubt Barack Obama will even acknowledge it. To acknowledge this letter is to admit to the scandal. He will simply stay in lock-step with ACORN even if it leads him off of a political cliff.

Yes, I think Obama is that narrow-minded.

The letter:

Dear Mr. President: We write to you today in the wake of new reports of potentially criminal activity involving associates of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to respectfully request that you use your authority to publicly disclose and terminate all federal funding to ACORN and its affiliates. It is evident that ACORN is incapable of using federal funds in a manner that is consistent with the law. Immediate action is necessary to ensure that no additional tax dollars are directed to ACORN. Simply put, ACORN should not receive another penny of American taxpayers’ money. Congressional pressure, coupled with the impact of recent media reports, prompted the U.S. Census Bureau on September 11 to end its partnership with ACORN. We support this decision by the Census Bureau, and believe it is vital that all other federal agencies with ties to ACORN follow the Census Bureau’s example by severing all ties to ACORN and its affiliates, whether those ties consist of partnerships or the awarding of federal funds, including federal funds distributed through state and local governments from federal block grants. This is a matter of common sense and respect for taxpayer dollars. Last year, millions of Americans were outraged to learn their tax dollars were being used to subsidize an organization linked to multiple instances of voter registration fraud and other illicit activity. An analysis of federal data by the Office of the Republican Leader determined that ACORN has received more than $53 million in direct funding from the federal government since 1994, and has likely received substantially more indirectly through states and localities that receive federal block grants. The Census Bureau has made the commendable decision to sever ties with ACORN, and it is now critical that all remaining federal entities with ties to ACORN do the same. We ask that you use your authority to ensure that all federal funding of ACORN is publicly disclosed and terminated immediately. To facilitate this effort, the Republican staff of the Oversight Committee has compiled a complete list of the corporations that form the ACORN Council, and we would be pleased to share it with you and members of your administration. We thank you for your attention to this request.

Obama and the Democrats ignore this at their own politcal peril. ACORN is now a huge rock that hangs around their collective neck.

You can access the orginal letter on-line here:

House GOP Urges President Obama To Defund And Break Federal Ties To ACORN
GOP Leader Press Office
September 15, 2009

Congress Voting To Defund ACORN

Man! When Glenn Beck and a team of two undercover journalists prove to be more effective than all of the big Media outlets combined, you know that the story had to be a big one!

Here are two more stories concerning ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) that isn't getting much notice from NBC, ABC, CBS or CNN.

Senate Votes To Deny Funds To ACORN
Andrew Taylor
Associated Press via Breitbart
September 14, 2009

That motion, the Johanns Amendment to HR2355, passed 83-7 with the 7 "nay" votes all coming from Dems.

House GOP To Call For Total Cutoff Of Federal Funds To ACORN
Byron York
Washington Examiner
September 15, 2009

Two things to note here. One: Congress thinks that this is a big enough story to vote on removing funding to ACORN. Two: It is the GOP calling for a House vote to defund ACORN, not the Dems.

(BTW, I'll bet that the incompetent Charlie Gibson didn't know about these stories either!)

Whatever happened to Nancy Pelosi's promise to get rid of the Culture of Corruption in Washington? From what I saw in those videos, ACORN is certainly a good place to begin the cleaning process!

But defunding a vile and corrupt organization isn't enough. There needs to be a thorough investigation of ACORN and any other organization that worked with ACORN so that we can see exactly how far the corruption extends.

ABC's Charlie Gibson 'Didn't Know' About The ACORN Videos?

Hat tip to Michelle Malkin on this one.

ACORN Watch: Charlie Gibson And The Ostrich Media
Michelle Malkin
September 15, 2009

From which we glean the following:

Charlie Gibson told WLS-AM Chicago talk show hosts Don Wade and Roma this morning that the reason he hasn’t covered the ACORN scandal is that he didn’t know about it. Reader Patrick M. e-mails: While listening to Don Wade and Roma this morning on WLS AM Chicago, they had Charlie Gibson on as their usual Tuesday morning guest. Don asked Charlie, why, after the senate last night voted to halt funding to ACORN and after three of those video tapes of ACORN employees helping the pimp and prostitute set up shop, there was no mention of it anywhere on the network news. Charlie gave out a most uncomfortable laugh and said that that was the first he heard of it! Don and Roma pointed out that ABC’s Jake Tapper reported on the Census Bureau’s decision to drop ACORN from its data collection partnerships on Friday as a result of BigGovernment.com’s video stings.

Now, how is it possible that a Joe Average American like me, with nothing more than my computer terminal hooked up to the Internet, was able to gather all of the following information over the past week:

VIDEO: ACORN Aids And Abets Child Sex Trade

A Second set Of Videos Exposing ACORN

New Videos Showing 3rd ACORN Office Offering Advice On Prostitution Ring

Glenn Beck: 2, Obama Administration: 0

And yet, Charlie Gibson, with the vast resources of ABC at his disposal was somehow so insulated that he "didn't know?"

This is why Gibson can only be accurately described as a DNC newsreader rather than any kind of real journalist. In the immortal words of the Nickelodeon Television series iCarly, Gibson is a "nub."

If anyone from ABC wishes to take issue with my analysis, please feel free to respond.

Racially Motivated Blacks Assault White Student

So, who here still thinks that blacks cannot be racist?

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A Belleville (Illinois) West High School student was beaten aboard a bus on the way to school Monday, and a police spokesman said the beating could be racially motivated. The 17-year-old victim was white and the teen assailants were black. Police released a video of the beating, which shows the victim being punched repeatedly while other students on the bus gather to watch, some cheering. It doesn't appear that the victim did anything to provoke an attack and tried only to defend himself. Police said it all unfolded in a five-minute span. The victim was trying to find a seat and was told by two students he could not sit next to them, police said. When he did sit down, one teen tried to push him out of his seat then began grabbing the victim's neck and punching him in the face. The victim eventually returned to his seat, but another student began taunting him a few minutes later. The victim was then struck in the face. ... "In my estimation, it's racially motivated," said Capt. Don Sax of the Belleville Police Department. He said one reason he had formed this opinion was that many of the students, most of whom were black, yelled their support for the beating. "There was absolutely no justification for the beating either time," Sax said.

Of course, Big Media will not report this because it was a white victim with black attackers rather than a black victim with white attackers. But this is one of the reasons why we have an Internet and a blogosphere.

You can see a video of the attack on-line here:

Video Of Blacks Beating A White Student

And you can access the complete story on-line here:

Tape Shows Beating On Bus Of Belleville West Student
Leah Thorsen
St. Louis Post-Dispatch via St. Louis Today
September 15, 2009

Americans' Trust Of Media At 20 Year Low

Does that really come as any surprise? Here is what Pew Research found in their latest poll about Media outlets:

The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys, and Americans’ views of media bias and independence now match previous lows. Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate. In the initial survey in this series about the news media’s performance in 1985, 55% said news stories were accurate while 34% said they were inaccurate. That percentage had fallen sharply by the late 1990s and has remained low over the last decade. Similarly, only about a quarter (26%) now say that news organizations are careful that their reporting is not politically biased, compared with 60% who say news organizations are politically biased. And the percentages saying that news organizations are independent of powerful people and organizations (20%) or are willing to admit their mistakes (21%) now also match all-time lows.

A good part of that is because now that we have an Internet and thus access to almost real-time information, people can see exactly how manipulative Big Media outlets really are when they report the news.

You can access the complete story on-line here:

Press Accuracy Rating Hits Two Decade Low
Pew Research Center
September 13, 2009

Crowd Size From The 9/12 March On Washington DC

Check this picture out:



It was taken by a Trafficland camera this past Saturday during the 9/12 protest. Yes, that is the U.S. Capitol several blocks into the background.

Now, given the size of the crowd in that picture, look at how the Washington D.C. Park Service estimates the size of a crowd:



I'll leave it to you to estimate the crowd size. I already have a good idea of what it is.

But while you are thinking about it, here are some more pictures from the 9/12 Tea Party protest:















Politicians ignore us at their own peril.

New Videos Show A 3rd ACORN Office Offering Advice On Prostitution Ring

Is this the "Hope and Change" the Democrats were voting for? I hope not. For all our children's sakes, I really hope not.

Consider this:

This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen. -Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer, ACORN

But, what really happened in New York? The videos below answer that question.

Given that Obama was all gushy about heaping praise on and offering seats at the table for ACORN, we should absolutely judge him by the company he keeps:





Check out the 1st and 2nd videos here:

VIDEO: ACORN Aids And Abets Child Sex Trade
84rules
September 10, 2009

A Second Set Of Videos Exposing ACORN
84rules
September 11, 2009

ACORN needs to be investigated from the top down even if it implicates people in the Obama administration.

WHERE THE HELL IS NBC, ABC, CBS AND CNN ON THIS? WHY DON'T THEY REPORT ON THIS HUGE NATIONAL SCANDAL?

Glenn Beck: 2, Obama Administration: 0

First, the big news: the United States Census Bureau has severed all ties with the voter-fraud group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) in the wake of revelations that ACORN was actively trying to help a "pimp" and "prostitute" import underage girls in order to start a brothel in Baltimore. The "pimp" and "prostitute" were actually undercover journalists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles who secretly videotaped the encounters at ACORN offices in Baltimore and Washington D.C.

Apparently, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. ACORN has long been known to be engaged in many suspicious and shady deals and activities. Voter fraud has resulted in many arrests and convictions of ACORN personnel. An embezzlement scheme was uncovered right here in D.C. and now that ACORN has shown its willingness to engage in underage prostitution, the Census Bureau has cried, "Enough!" This is significant since as late as last year the Census Bureau had been defending ACORN.

From the Associated Press:

The Census Bureau on Friday severed its ties with ACORN, a community organization that has been hit with Republican accusations of voter-registration fraud. "We do not come to this decision lightly," Census director Robert Groves wrote in a letter to ACORN, which was obtained by The Associated Press. In splitting with ACORN, Groves sought to tamp down GOP concerns and negative publicity that the partnership will taint the 2010 head count. "It is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts," Groves wrote. ... Up to now, the Census Bureau had defended ACORN's involvement, explaining it was one of 80,000 unpaid volunteer groups that the bureau hoped would be able to raise local awareness. But in his letter, Groves said it no longer had confidence that ACORN was effectively managing its partnership.

So, how does this relate to Glenn Beck? Easy. Glenn was the only television jounalist to cover the Van Jones scandal and to give coverage to the ACORN underage prostitution scandal. Jones eventually resigned his post as the "green jobs" czar and now the Census Bureau has been forced to cut ties with ACORN.

There was absolutely no coverage of these events on ABC, NBC, or CBS. CNN gave the ACORN scandal token coverage but tried to spin it as right-wing whackos attempting a hit job.

What this means is that Glenn Beck by himself has proven to be a more effective voice than all of the other news networks combined.

If I were one of the big three networks or CNN, I'd be embarassed.

You can access the complete story on-line here:

Census Bureau Severs Ties With ACORN In 2010 Count
Hope Yen
Associated Press via Breitbart
September 11, 2009

A Second Set Of Videos Exposing ACORN!

Well, well, well. James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles are nothing short of brilliant! First, they release the videos of the ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) office in Baltimore conspiring to aid and abet a child prostitution ring. Second, they let ACORN release a statement that it was an "isolated" incident and only happened at one office.

Then, unbeknownst to ACORN, when James and Hannah left Baltimore, they drove down to the Washington D.C. ACORN offices and got the following videos:





It turns out that ACORN lied. It isn't just one isolated office, it is a pattern.

ACORN needs to be investigated from top to bottom and should be immediately cut off from any more Federal funds, direct or indirect.

Lila Rose must be smiling at this.

10th Amendment Issue: Texas Sends Rangers To Border Because Federal Government Failed To Address Problems

Count on this happening more and more often in the coming months and years. As the Federal Government over-reaches its powers in some areas (i.e. health care, financial institutions, auto industry, etc.) and fails in its responsibilities in other areas (i.e. border control, anti-terrorism policies, etc.) the several states will begin invoking the 9th and 10th Amendments of the Constitution of the United States and begin taking action of their own.

This story, from MSNBC of all places, is one example of it:

Special teams of Texas Rangers will be deployed to the Texas-Mexico border to deal with increasing violence because the federal government has failed to address growing problems there, Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday. "It is an expansive effort with the Rangers playing a more high-profile role than they've ever played before," Perry said of the Department of Public Safety's elite investigative unit. The forces, dubbed "Ranger recon" teams, are the latest effort "to fill the gap that's been left by the federal government's ongoing failure to adequately secure our international border with Mexico," he said.

This action brings with it several implications, not the least of which is that if Washington D.C. does anything to try and stop the State of Texas from continuing this action, it will highlight the fact that Federal Government did fail in one of its greatest responsibilities and ignoring it will produce the same exact result.

More:

"They'll be deployed to high-traffic, high-crime areas along the border," he said. "They'll give us boots on the ground, put people in these hot spots no matter what or where they may exist." Perry said the effort also would focus on remote areas where farmers and ranchers have complained of being overrun by smugglers and gangs from Mexico in numbers that also overwhelm local law enforcement and border patrol officers. "Washington is shortchanging them, not giving them the support they need," Perry said. "As a result, we're having to dedicate our resources to deal with the challenges we have along the Texas-Mexico border and ensuing issues that porous border has created all across state of Texas."

If the Obama administration wishes to bring any type of legal action against the State of Texas for this, I say bring it on. We need debates like this to help educate the American people as to exactly what kind of person Obama really is.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Texas Governor Sends Rangers To Mexico Border
Associated Press via MSNBC
September 11, 2009

VIDEO: ACORN Aids And Abets Child Sex Trade

Barack Obama once touted ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) as the organization that he was going to "tap" after his inauguration to help him shape his administration's policy. After watching the following videos showing ACORN employees advising a "pimp" and a "prostitute" on how to bring underage girls in from Central America so they can work in the sex trade, he might want to think twice about it.






They knew the ages of the girls but said to stop talking about it? List them as dependents? Hide the fact that they will be in the United States illegally?

We've known since the 2004 election that ACRON is rife with fraud and that the Democrats are in bed with them (no pun intended). They engage in voter fraud and Obama invites them to shape national policy. They engage in embezzlement schemes and Obama invites them to help with the national census next year. Now that ACORN is shown to be engaged in child prostitution rings, what will Obama offer them next? Control of America's public schools?

There is absolutely no way anyone can defend the actions of ACORN here. ACORN's national headquarters is claiming a smear campaign, but this was the work of two very brave, very resourceful undercover journalists. The ACORN employees believed that they were talking to a pimp and prostitute who were looking to set up a brothel in Baltimore. There was no smear campaign and the funding for this little sting was provided entirely by the two journalists who went undercover to expose the truth.

But here is what is really shameful. As of this writing, a Google.com search of news items for this story only yields four results: Fox News, the Examiner, Rush Limbaugh and WBAL radio.

Where the hell is the New York Times? Where the hell is the Washington Post? Where the hell is CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS? Is a story about ACORN aiding and abetting in child prositution just not worth their time? Or is it that Barack Obama has ties to ACORN and these so-called news outlets are trying to quell the story in order to protect him? Maybe the story about Joe Wilson seems more important than the fact that ACORN is trying to help import underage sex workers?

And why is the Federal Government giving these perverts our hard-earned tax dollars?

Google.com should have had thousands of search results with this story! There were more search results when an army of journalists descended on Wasilla, Alaska trying to dig up dirt on Sarah Palin!

This is why we have an Internet and a blogosphere, folks. So that when the idiot libs of Old Media try to quash a story like this, bloggers like me and others will work to get the information out to you.

CNN Poll After Obama Socialized Health Care Speech: Sample Heavily Weighted Towards Democrats

I'll bet there are many libs out there, mostly newsreaders from NBC, ABC, CBS, Washington Post and New York Times, who are going to be touting this CNN poll that says Obama's Health Care Reform popularity gained 14 points after last night's speech.

But at least CNN has the integrity to admit that it was weighted heavily towards Democrats:

The sample of speech-watchers in this poll was 45 percent Democratic and 18 percent Republican. Our best estimate of the number of Democrats in the voting age population as a whole indicates that the sample is about 8-10 points more Democratic than the population as a whole.

Clearly, this poll does not reflect America as a whole.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

CNN Poll: Double-Digit Post-Speech Jump For Obama Plan
CNN
September 10, 2009

Hypocrisy From The Dems Over Presidential Heckler. Surprised?

I recall during the 2005 State of the Union Address, President Bush was booed by the Democrats. I also recall during the Presidential Inauguration this past January how Democrats in the audience were chanting "Na-na-na-na. Na-na-na-na. Hey! Hey! Goodbye!" in a very derisive manner towards President Bush.

Flashback: Democrats Boo Bush At 2005 State Of The Union
Real Clear Politics
Spetember 10, 2009

So, why are these same people so indignant about what Rep. Joe Wilson said last night during Obama's pitch for socialized medicine?

President Barack Obama’s address to Congress this evening was moving along fairly smoothly until he pledged that there was nothing in the legislation that would provide health care to the millions of illegal immigrants residing in the nation. A cry of “You lie!” was audible from the Republican side of the aisle. That heckler was South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson. (Watch the video HERE.) “It’s not true,” the president responded to the outburst, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seated behind the president, offered her mother-of-five glare towards the Republican side of the chamber. First Lady Michelle Obama was seen shaking her head from side to side.

Then truth is that if you walk into any hospital emergency room here in the U.S. there is a big sign that says you cannot be turned away for any reason. Most illegal immigrants here in the U.S. are using our emergency rooms as their family doctors' offices. There is nothing in any of the socialized medicine bills floating around Congress that changes this.

I don't think Rep. Wilson should have made any kind of apology until the Democrats clean their own house and offer apologies for all the insults they have been sending towards President Bush and towards Americans in general (i.e. calling us "Nazis," "un-American," etc.).

You can access the complete article on-line here:

GOP Rep. Joe Wilson: Presidential Heckler
Wall Street Journal
September 9, 2009

Grading The Big Health Care Speech

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich asks a very profound question: Did Obama listen to the American people over the past month?

Probably not. Despite the fact that critics (like me) have been taking information directly from HR3200 as well as from speeches and papers written by his advisors, and then questioning the very language used in those documents, Obama and his surrogates still accuse us of spreading lies and misinformation. Yet, when making those claims the Dems and libs completely fail to back up their assertions by quoting any of the socialized health care bills currently floating around Congress.

Newt Gingrich brings up 10 points we should consider while listening to Obama's latest pitch:

In his proposals for reform, does the President include litigation reform, which 84% of Americans believe will help reduce costs and which is the number one goal of doctors in any health reform? Does he include a section onsaving money by stopping payments to crooks who are bilking the taxpayers for $70-120 billion each year in Medicare and Medicaid fraud? For 88 percent of Americans, this is the first place they would look to find savings in our health care system. Is President Obama willing to look there? Does his speech reject higher taxes, which the vast majority of Americans believe will make the current economy even worse and increase unemployment even more? Does it reject all government rationing of health services which the American people have vocally opposed at town hall meetings across the country? Does it reject any government run, bureaucratic health plan? Is President Obama open to four or five bipartisan bills which could pass with big bipartisan majorities? Or does he insist on a single omnibus bill of 1000-plus pages like the one that failed when Mrs. Clinton tried to pass it in 1993-1994? Is he for sustaining the Senate rule of 60 votes to ensure a bill that has wide, bipartisan support? Or is he prepared to destroy long-standing Senate tradition and ram through a radical bill with 51 votes? Does President Obama give any indication he is forincreasing the power, information and choice of the individual and their doctor or is he giving more power to the government? Does he focus on health, wellness, prevention, early detection and health management to avoid or control the severity of chronic diseases? Or does he spend his time talking only about acute care? Does his plan invest in science and technology in order to increase innovation and accelerate the discovery and adoption of new discoveries and breakthroughs in diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer and diabetes?

Keep the pressure up, folks. The longer this debate lasts, the better it will be for America.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Grading The Big Speech: A 10-Point Citizens’ Checklist On Health Reform
Newt Gingrich
Human Events Online
September 9, 2009

Keep Gaddafi Out Of NYC

You've got to love Ted Nugent and the way he calls things like he sees them.

From Human Events Online:

Gaddafi is coming to the United Nations to give a speech that will make about as much sense as out of tune goat music. Dogs in Central Park will bay in confusion and chase their tails. Sena. Chuck Schumer, of course, will probably agree with the speech and, like Gaddafi, blame America for all the world's problems. And, in protest, our secretary of state will buy another pantsuit. Gaddafi recently threw a "get out of jail" party for mass murderer Abdel Baset al-Megrahi after the United Kingdom cut an oil deal with Libya that included releasing the Lockerbie killer after serving just eight years for mass murdering hundreds of innocent people. 189 Americans were slaughtered over Lockerbie by this butcher. I'm praying he dies a slow, agonizing death and that the United Kingdom's government is infested with the fleas, gnats and blowflies that inhabit Gaddafi's oil rich tent.

But check this out:

Terrorist bankrollers such as Gaddafi don't respect Barry O and America. This was on full display when terrorist supporter Gaddafi literally wanted to pitch his tent in the community of Englewood, N.J. when he travels to New York to give his loony speech. Englewood lost 39 citizens in the Lockerbie mass killing, which Gaddafi financed. Gaddafi knew this but obviously wanted to pour salt into the wounds of the American families who lost loved ones over Lockerbie and was confident the American paper tiger would not interfere. Rep. John Alder and the Englewood mayor told Gaddafi in no uncertain terms to go pitch his tent somewhere else. There were no strong words from Barry O and crew to Gaddafi and his circus tent terrorist sideshow clowns.

You know, Obama once said that he had no patience or tolerance for terrorists. But, it looks like he has a great deal of patience and tolerance for the terrorist Gaddafi.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Keep Gaddafi Out Of NYC
Ted Nugent
Human Events
September 3, 2009

Obama's Leftist Propaganda Video: Inappropriate For Public Schools

At Eagle Bay Elementary School in Farmington, Utah, students were shown a short video called I Pledge. The video is essentially a conglomeration of Barack Obama making a plea to school children and then celebrities "pledging" certain things. The problem is that it is a leftist-leaning propaganda video and has no place in an elementary school or any public school at all.

From Lisa Schencker of the Salt Lake Tribune:

[P]ledges, such as "to never give anyone the finger when I'm driving again," "to sell my obnoxious car and buy a hybrid" and to advance stem cell research cross the line, some say.

But it gets even worse than that.

Chris Williams, Davis School District spokesman, said school principal Ofelia Wade and school PTA leaders decided to show the video as part of an assembly about the school's theme for the year, service. He said the PTA board chose the video and Wade did not see it before it was shown in the assembly. "It got to a point where she turned to her assistant and said, 'Oops, I wish I would have seen this before. I don't think I would have shown it,' " Williams said. He said Wade could see how some adults might find the video political.

Like maybe here:

Gayle Ruzicka, president of conservative Utah Eagle Forum, said the video was blatantly political. She said other offensive pledges included, "I pledge to be of service to Barack Obama," "I pledge allegiance to the funk, to the united funk of funkadelica," and pledges to not use plastic grocery bags and not flush the toilet after urinating.

"Pledge to be of service to Barack Obama?" The last time someone made a pledge to a national leader like that, the Nazis marched all over Europe. Yes, officers in the German military back then were required to make a pledge to Adolph Hitler.

But even further:

Ruzicka said she contacted local media about the video after receiving complaints from several parents. Ruzicka said she worried the video's messages would confuse children whose parents might choose to use plastic bags when shopping or who want their children to flush the toilet after every use. Also she said she didn't like a pledge "to be of service to Barack Obama" as he is here to serve Americans, not the other way around.

That's right. When the Democrats try to hide behind the argument that they "won" the election, they don't understand that what they won was the right to represent the American people, not to rule them.

Anybody here still want Obama addressing school children on September 8, 2009?

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Parents Upset Over 'Leftist Propaganda' Video
Lisa Schencker
Salt Lake Tribune
September 2, 2009

Socialized Medicine: Handing Out Premature Death Sentences

No, this is not a scare-tactic. It is a bonafide news item from the Daily Telegraph over in the United Kingdom.

From Kate Devlin:

In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death. Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.

I've actually seen this done in the United States. My family requested that my father be kept sedated until he passed. But we already knew that there was no hope for his recovery and we wanted to make sure that he did not become conscious or feel any pain.

That isn't always the case over in Britain.

Read on:

But this approach can also mask the signs that their condition is improving, the experts warn.

There is a major difference in a family making a decision and a doctor following a government guideline that was hammered out by bureaucrats who had never been to medical school or even knew the first thing about any particular patient.

Here is the real kicker:

“Forecasting death is an inexact science,”they say. Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death “without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong. “As a result a national wave of discontent is building up, as family and friends witness the denial of fluids and food to patients."

When the government pays the bills, the government makes the decisions. That is what makes socialized medicine so unpalatable to Americans. We want as little government as possible in our lives. Dems and libs seem to have a great deal of difficulty understanding that.

But, even more importantly, it highlights the "end-of-life" concerns that people like Sarah Palin and others have expressed over the past few months:

The scheme, called the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), was designed to reduce patient suffering in their final hours. Developed by Marie Curie, the cancer charity, in a Liverpool hospice it was initially developed for cancer patients but now includes other life threatening conditions. It was recommended as a model by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the Government’s health scrutiny body, in 2004. It has been gradually adopted nationwide and more than 300 hospitals, 130 hospices and 560 care homes in England currently use the system.

But there are major pitfalls in determining whether a patient is actually entering their final hours. Medications can cause unresponsiveness or unconsciousness. Dehydration can lead to symptoms completely unrelated to the patient's primary ailment.

Further, poor care can lead to other conditions that can be mistaken for signs of impending death.

As a result, many people are put on the Pathway prematurely.

Just another wonderful contribution to medical care from the practitioners of socialized medicine.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Sentenced To Death On The NHS
Kate Devlin
Daily Telegraph
September 2, 2009

Left-Leaning Washington Post Goes After Bob McDonnell

In an article for Human Events, Christian Toto remembers something that I also remember from last year's election.

I remember a junior Senator from Illinois who admitted to smoking pot and snorting cocaine, broke bread with admitted domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, sat in a church pew for 20 years listening to the racial, bigoted, anti-semetic and anti-American hatred of Rev. Wright and admitted that his goal was to redistribute wealth, or as he put it, "spread the wealth." What I don't remember is the Washington Post or any other leftist news outlet ever bothering to cover these stories.

Washington Post Confesses To Biased Reporting During The 2008 Presidential Campaign
84rules
November 11, 2008

Ostensibly, the reason for the non-coverage is because the junior Senator is a Democrat and the the Post simply did not want to do anything that would hurt his chances to become president.

But, when the candidate is a Republican running for Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, then the Washington Post adopts a different, completely hypocritical set of standards.

From Toto's article:

Now, the newspaper has unearthed a decades old college thesis from gubernatorial GOP hopeful Robert F. McDonnell. And – given the multiple stories it’s already run – the paper thinks McDonnell’s thesis – written 25 years ago -- could affect the balance of the race. McDonnell currently leads Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds by at least seven points in a recent poll. Can the Post serve as a political kingmaker again for the Old Dominion State? Or will a feisty alternative media rise up to stop any attempts to turn a college assignment into a campaign killer? And if so, why didn’t the paper pull out all the stops regarding another candidate’s past?

Because just as it did last year, the Post has abandonded all pretenses of journalistic objectivity in the Virginia Governor's race. The paper might as well rename itself the Left-Leaning Washington Post.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

WaPo Opens Jihad Against McDonnell
Christian Toto
Human Events
September 2, 2009

AFL-CIO And Dems Push For A New Tax

Is anyone actually surprised by this? It seems that the only thing the Dems know is tax, tax and tax again. They have not had an original idea since Franklin Delano Roosevelt's disastrous New Deal policies that caused the Great Depression to last longer than it should have.

Raising taxes never helped an economy. No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity although many have taxed themselves into poverty.

Here is the new tax the Dems want to impose on America:

The AFL-CIO, one of the Democratic Party’s most powerful allies, would like to assess a small tax — about a tenth of a percent — on every stock transaction.

Nevermind that your money is already double and triple taxed. This simply adds another tax that reduces the amount of money you have to spend on your family. Somewhere along the line, the Democrats got the idea that the working American is a limitless ATM from which the government can withdraw money anytime it wants. But those of us living out here in reality know the truth. Every dollar the government takes is one less dollar the taxpayer has to buy food and clothing for their children or to put towards their own retirement.

What will the ultimate effect of this be?

The AFL-CIO and some allied Democrats would like to cut down on the overall level of trading, or at least give the U.S. government a piece of the action, which would likely tamp down trading.

That's it. Reduce the activity in the marketplace and then take money for people earned it and then give that money to someone who did not earn it.

Typical leftists.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

AFL-CIO, Dems Push New Wall Street Tax
Alexander Bolton
The Hill
August 30, 2009

Waterboarding Works! Detainee Cooperated After 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques' Were Used

You certainly won't hear Eric Holder or Barack Obama ever make this admission. In fact, I'm stunned that the leftist-leaning Washington Post even allowed this to go to print.

Khalid Shieik Mohammed, who refers to himself as the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, began to reveal a great deal of valuable information after CIA interrogators began using the technique known as "waterboarding" on him. Before that, he managed to resist interrogation quite effectively.

From Peter Finn, Joby Warrick and Julie Tate:

"KSM, an accomplished resistor, provided only a few intelligence reports prior to the use of the waterboard, and analysis of that information revealed that much of it was outdated, inaccurate or incomplete," according to newly unclassified portions of a 2004 report by the CIA's then-inspector general released Monday by the Justice Department. The debate over the effectiveness of subjecting detainees to psychological and physical pressure is in some ways irresolvable, because it is impossible to know whether less coercive methods would have achieved the same result. But for defenders of waterboarding, the evidence is clear: Mohammed cooperated, and to an extraordinary extent, only when his spirit was broken in the month after his capture March 1, 2003, as the inspector general's report and other documents released this week indicate. Over a few weeks, he was subjected to an escalating series of coercive methods, culminating in 7 1/2 days of sleep deprivation, while diapered and shackled, and 183 instances of waterboarding. After the month-long torment, he was never waterboarded again.

But here is what the interrogations yielded:

Mohammed provided $1,000 to Ramzi Yousef, a nephew, to help him carry out the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. In 1994, he worked in the Philippines with Yousef, now serving a life sentence at the federal "supermax" prison in Colorado, on a failed plot to down 12 U.S. commercial aircraft over the Pacific. Mohammed told interrogators it was in the Philippines that he first considered using planes as missiles to strike the United States. He took the idea to Osama bin Laden, who "at first demurred but changed his mind in late 1999," according to the summary. Mohammed described plans to strike targets in Saudi Arabia, East Asia and the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks, including using a network of Pakistanis "to target gas stations, railroad tracks, and the Brooklyn bridge in New York." Cross-referencing material from different detainees, and leveraging information from one to extract more detail from another, the CIA and FBI went on to round up operatives both in the United States and abroad. "Detainees in mid-2003 helped us build a list of 70 individuals -- many of who we had never heard of before -- that al-Qaeda deemed suitable for Western operations," according to the CIA summary. Mohammed told interrogators that after the Sept. 11 attacks, his "overriding priority" was to strike the United States, but that he "realized that a follow-on attack would be difficult because of security measures." Most of the plots, as a result, were "opportunistic and limited," according to the summary.

How many American lives were saved because of that information? How many attacks were thwarted because of the techniques used?

The average lib Democrat would rather see thousands of Americans killed than to see one terrorist suffer the least little bit. It would be nice if the Dems actually rooted for our side for once.

EITs work and we should continue using them. Holder and Obama should get out of the way and let the people charged with defending America do their jobs.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

How A Detainee Became An Asset
Peter Finn, Joby Warrick and Julie Tate
Washington Post
August 29, 2009