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Harry Reid Says He Doesn’t Remember Calling Obamacare Victims Liars

March 30, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

harry-reid-romney-taxesOne month ago, Reid took to the Senate floor and said that all the horror stories being told by Republicans about Obamacare’s impact on the lives of Americans are ‘simply not true’. Reid caught a lot of backlash for making that statement with the news organization Washington Free Beacon producing a video in response. The video was entitled “50 States of Obamacare Victims” and highlighted the plight of the negative impact of Obamacare across the country.

During a discussion on Harry Reid stating this week that he cannot, to the best of his recollection, remember stepping onto the Senate floor and saying anything about Republican stories of Obamacare, Hughes wondered if Reid had a previous career as a boxer that would negatively affect his memory. She also said that Senator Reid must think Americans are dumb.

To that, Payne said called Reid out even further on the insulting statement that he made and the even more pathetic denial of ever making it. He said, “Scottie, you know, I’ve got to tell you something. I think at some point, this goes beyond politics, and I have to really wonder if this man has a real serious personal problem.”

Hughes responded by bringing to question Reid’s allegiance to beltway circles over doing right by his constituents. To these constituents, she also had a message.

Well, I think because he’s been up in Washington, DC, inside the beltway for so long, he has forgotten what the American people, that we actually have brains and we pay attention, and we allowed him to get away with it for so many years, re-electing him, the people in his own state, that he thinks he can say these things and get away with it.

The real issue is it’s not a lie that almost 7 million people have gotten kicked off their insurance because of Obamacare, that’s almost double than the residents that he represents in his own state.

So, if he’s sitting there, he’s going to call the rest of America dumb and liars, that’s his own call. It’s the people in his state that need to hold him accountable and get him out of office.

Payne then brought to question what could motivate the people of Nevada to continuously send Reid back to DC. He asked, “ What about the people that keep sending him back to Washington? And what does it say about us as a nation when, the Senate Majority Leader has to defend a policy so inept, that he’s willing to take these chances, to say things that hurt people’s feelings, call people liars, call people dummies, and then try to retract, take those statements back?”

Hughes shared that Democrats have been allowed to get away with lies in the past, but that is no longer true due to technology that is clear cut evidence as to what was said. She continued pointing out that Democrats are overall running away from the fiasco of Obamacare with Reid and fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi being the only ones left in Obama’s cheering section.

She reiterated the importance of the people of Nevada getting out the vote to get people like Harry Reid out of office. Payne was in agreement stating that, “Everyone should be held accountable.”

By Jennifer Burke

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Corruption Probes Hitting Dems Across the Country

March 28, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

democtrat_corruptionA wave of corruption arrests and investigations is roiling Democratic politicians, posing a potential image problem in an election year.

The latest were a pair of arrests earlier this week, snagging Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon, who later resigned, and California state Sen. Leland Yee. The latter involved a tangled web of allegations including claims that the gun control-pushing lawmaker tried to connect an undercover agent with an international arms dealer.

So far, these cases are confined to the state and local levels, so it remains to be seen whether Democrats running in the congressional midterms will be tarnished.

In fact, the only major arrest of a U.S. congressman since the beginning of 2013 was that of a Republican, Florida Rep. Trey Radel, who was convicted for cocaine possession and resigned early this year. Each party typically is careful to throw stones when the other side finds itself on the wrong side of the law, because corruption and other misbehavior is a bipartisan problem.

For every Anthony Weiner, there’s a Mark Foley.

But since Radel’s October arrest, the bulk of the corruption cases have involved Democrats.

In California alone, Yee’s case marked the third arrest or conviction in as many months of a state Democratic official.

State Republicans, who have been struggling to regain their political footing, have sought to capitalize on the wave of criminal charges as a way to undo Democrats’ dominance in the Legislature. Republicans have repeatedly tried to expel Sen. Rod Wright after he was convicted of perjury and voter fraud in January for lying about his legal residence in Los Angeles County. Democratic leaders have blocked those efforts. The state Senate, though, voted Friday to suspend all three of the lawmakers in trouble.

The other, Sen. Ron Calderon, was indicted on federal corruption charges in February. Prosecutors say Calderon accepted about $100,000 for himself and family members in exchange for promoting legislation to expand Hollywood tax credits and protect the interest of a hospital that benefited from a provision of the workers’ compensation law.

Then came Yee, whose alleged activities were more befitting Hollywood than his San Francisco district.

The criminal complaint contained dramatic details about Yee’s alleged efforts to connect an undercover agent with a firearms dealer.

“Do I think we can make some money? I think we can make some money,” the senator allegedly said in one of the meetings.

The cases, while involving local politicians, have put powerful Democrats in an awkward position.

U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California joined a growing list of officials on Thursday in distancing themselves by demanding Yee’s resignation. The Democratic leader of the state Senate, President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, warned Yee to resign or face suspension by his colleagues, saying “he cannot come back.”

Cannon, meanwhile, was ensnared in an FBI sting and faces federal corruption charges alleging he accepted more than $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and a luxury apartment from undercover agents posing as real estate developers and investors. Cannon, while not a household Democratic name, led the city that hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2012.

corruptionOn top of that case, Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox said Saturday he was resigning from leadership and would not run for re-election, a day after federal and state authorities raided his Statehouse office and home as part of a criminal investigation that they would not detail.

The Friday raids were carried out by the U.S. attorney’s office, FBI, IRS and state police. Boxes of evidence were carried off after agents spent hours at both his home and office. Officials will not say whom or what they are investigating.

The 52-year-old Providence Democrat, who became the nation’s first openly gay House speaker in 2010, said he planned to serve out the remainder of his term through the end of the year, but that “my personal focus going forward will be on my family and dealing with the investigation.”

Meanwhile, in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, the mayor of the District of Columbia, a Democrat, is facing his own problems. A U.S. attorney claimed earlier this month that Mayor Vincent Gray knew about an illegal, $668,000 “shadow campaign” that helped propel him into office four years ago. Despite denials from the mayor, who has not been accused of a crime, the revelation further damaged him ahead of next week’s primary.

“I think the question politically is whether it becomes emblematic of the national party,” said Mary Katharine Ham, a Fox News contributor. “And that, to some extent, depends on media coverage. In, for instance, 2006, there was the drumbeat against Republicans was this culture of corruption; and that, to a large extent, was effective because it was so consistently covered in the media.”

Published March 28, 2014 / FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender

Gun Control Dem Senator Arrest for Gun Trafficking

March 27, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Leland.Yee_.000One of the leading anti-Second Amendment rights crusaders in California, powerful State Senator Leland Yee, has ironically been arrested for (drum roll…) allegations of gun running, along with a host of other corruption charges, including campaign fraud (see video).

Federal agents raided Yee’s home Wednesday while at the same time Yee’s offices were also raided, reports CBS San Francisco. The report states that Lee’s littany of corruption charges involve his current campaign to be California’s next Secretary of State, and that Lee was charged, among other crimes, with a scheme to move guns into U.S. from Russia:

The federal complaint was filed March 24 and unsealed Wednesday alleges Sen. Yee was engaged in soliciting illegal campaign donations in exchange for political favors and was involved in a conspiracy to traffic firearms from Russia.

The complaint also alleges Chow was engaged in money-laundering, conspiracy to transport stolen property and conspiracy to traffic contraband cigarettes.

Leland Yee is the third Democrat from the Democrat-controlled California State Senate to be arrested for criminal charges in the past year, and ironically and hypocritically, was a leading gun control advocate.

Yee attempted to achieve some degree of national notoriety by issuing racism accusations and urging a boycott against popular conservative radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, for a comedy parody Limbaugh did on his show poking fun at the Communist Chinese President in 2011.

Yee, handcuffed and shackled, was released on a $500,000 unsecured bond last night and is scheduled to return to court on Monday.

March 27, 2014 By Matthew Burke

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

SCOTUS OKs ‘Political Abortions’

March 27, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

pelosi_supreme_courtWASHINGTON, D.C.-In a move that was the natural next step in an evolving line of cases that began with Roe v. Wade, the US high court today ruled that “aborting annoying and inconvenient politicians falls within the purview of the Roe line of cases,” finding that “full-term abortions are an acceptable expression of personal sovereignty” under the US Constitution.

In a 5-4 decision penned by Chief Justice Roberts, the court articulated an evolving doctrine of ‘privacy,’ which it ruled, “extends to matters and persons beyond the traditional scope of personal convenience.”

The matter came to controversy when police discovered the bodies of several ‘progressive’ state legislators stacked in the state Capitol building basement in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. During the investigation it was determined that a maintenance worker had been using the bodies of progressive legislators as fuel in the building’s furnace.

Maintenance worker Bernhard Plockhorst was taken into custody and thereafter claimed that his defense in the case was his right to abort anyone who directly inconvenienced him. In fact, Plockhorst’s attorneys produced written and recorded statements from each of the legislative victims wherein they personally supported the practice of aborting the lives of those who were deemed by another to be inconvenient, no matter how far along they were in the developmental process.

Plockhorst claimed that the inconvenience caused him by the state legislators, even though far beyond their second trimester of development, outweighed any right to life or liberty under the Constitution that they might claim, and the high court has agreed.

maherThe State Senate Majority Leader expressed shock and dismay at the court’s ruling today, and said that Plockhorst should at least be prosecuted for burning his victims’ corpses in the capitol furnace. However, a perusal of Pennsylvania law shows no such prohibition.

When asked what he plans to do now that he has been exonerated by the US Supreme Court, Mr. Plockhorst says he isn’t sure, but while held in the county jail he was greatly annoyed by television personality Bill Maher, who appears to be in complete agreement with Plockhorst’s full term abortion philosophy.

PUBLIUS ;-}

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Dems Want to Rehab ObamaCare Before Midterms

March 27, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

dems_fix_obamacareSeveral Democratic senators moved Thursday to “improve” parts of ObamaCare, proposing numerous changes to the law amid concerns that it could cost Democrats House seats and possibly the Senate in November.

The proposals came from a half-dozen senators, some of whom are facing reelection in the fall and most of whom represent moderate-to-conservative states. Since Democrats currently control the Senate, the proposals will put Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in an uncomfortable position — forcing him to decide whether to put the bills to a vote or sideline them, despite the political risks for his party’s incumbents.

“There is more to be done,” the senators wrote in an op-ed in Politico, outlining the proposed changes.

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Mark Begich, D-Alaska; Mary Landrieu, D-La.; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and Sen. Angus King, I., Maine, are behind the proposals.

Among other ideas, they called for allowing “copper” plans on the government-run health exchanges. The new insurance plans would offer lower premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs than the “bronze,” “silver” and “gold” options currently offered.

“I’ve always been a believer that the law was not perfect, but you should continue to work to improve it,” Begich told The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the proposals. “People are seeing that as it’s implemented, there are tweaks you need to do and there’s just nothing wrong with that.”

24healthspanThe senators, while defending the law itself, proposed numerous other fixes, including restoring startup funds for “consumer-driven health insurance cooperatives” and directing state regulators to look at allowing insurance to be sold across state lines. Plus, they called for sparing employers with fewer than 100 workers from being required to offer health insurance to their staff.

Warner, who faces a formidable midterm challenge from former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, said on Fox News earlier this week that he supports allowing Americans to purchase health insurance across state lines.

Earlier this month, Republican David Jolly defeated Democrat Alex Sink in a Florida special election largely seen as a referendum on ObamaCare. Democrats, however, downplayed the loss in the Republican-leaning congressional district.

Republicans must pick up six seats to win control of the Senate. Conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity are reportedly pouring million into races in which Democratic incumbents have supported ObamaCare.

House Democrats must gain 17 seats to win a majority next fall. It looms as a very steep challenge in view of the traditional midterm headwinds facing a party in control of the White House and a generally sour public mood, now compounded by controversy surrounding the health care law.

It is unclear if Reid, D., Nev., would bring any of the bills aimed at fixing ObamaCare to the floor. Democratic aides told The Journal that the effort has sparked debate about whether making the changes would return public attention to the health law’s flaws.

Democratic strategist Steve Murphy said the fixes could help vulnerable lawmakers more than changes from the Obama administration that are immediately criticized by Republicans.

“Democrats should fight back hard on what eliminating ObamaCare would mean, and they also should demonstrate a willingness to make ObamaCare better,” Murphy told The Journal.

The Health and Human Services Department announced this week that those who’ve started an enrollment application, but weren’t able to finish before the March 31 open enrollment deadline, would get a limited amount of time to sign up for coverage that would take effect May 1.

Additionally, people with 10 general categories of “special” circumstances would also get extra time to apply — up to 60 days. Categories include natural disasters, system errors related to immigration status, computer error messages due to technical difficulties, family situations involving domestic abuse, and other sorts of problems.

The latest administrative tweaks to health overhaul rules drew immediate scorn from Republicans committed to repealing the law.

“The administration has now handed out so many waivers, special favors and exemptions to help Democrats out politically … it’s basically become the legal equivalent of Swiss cheese,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Some Republicans have expressed reservations about helping Democrats improve a law believed to be central to the GOP’s midterm strategy, The Journal reported.

“These folks have voted for that bad piece of legislation [are] now having remorse,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R., Ga., adding that Democrats “want to try to do something political to a very unpopular piece of legislation.”

Published March 27, 2014 / FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Orwellian State Takes Daughter from Family

March 27, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

keith-ablowMassachusetts Juvenile Court Judge Joseph Johnston injured every parent’s rights Tuesday when he awarded permanent custody of teenager Justina Pelletier to the state.

Now, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) will decide when and whether she is returned home.

In Massachusetts, if Boston Children’s Hospital wants to say that your child’s mysterious physical symptoms are ones you are causing by coaxing your child to act sick, then you, too, could lose custody of your child to the state.

Justina has been held captive by Boston’s Children’s Hospital and DCF because they believe that her parents have kindled in her a psychiatric disorder that makes her believe she has physical symptoms, including difficulty walking. They insist no physical condition can explain her symptoms.

However, doctors at New England Medical Center in Boston disagree. They evaluated Justina and concluded she suffers with a rare illness called mitochondrial disease.

Full disclosure:  I am an assistant professor at Tufts Medical School, which is affiliated with New England Medical Center.  But you can be assured I have no bias, because I have gone to the mat debating other issues with New England Medical Center in the past.

There is no way to immediately prove who is right and who is wrong about the diagnosis. But that’s part of the problem with being called mentally ill.  Once someone in authority asserts that you are, and insists on framing your behavior according to that theory, it can be tough to prove you are not.

Russia has been expert at doing that with dissidents, who were left to languish in locked psychiatric facilities for their “delusional” ideas.

So, in Massachusetts, if Boston Children’s Hospital wants to say that your child’s mysterious physical symptoms are ones you are causing by coaxing your child to act sick, then you, too, could lose custody of your child to the state.  And it won’t matter if academic doctors at another hospital disagree and believe that your child is suffering from a genuine bodily illness.

What’s really interesting here is that Children’s Hospital and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are doing precisely to Justina, for sure, what they theorize her parents were doing: They have deprived Justina of her rights. They have made of her a permanent patient.  They have decided that her theoretical psychiatric disorder should change the course of her entire life.  And they have done it, despite other experts telling them they are just plain wrong.

By the way, Children’s Hospital is also home to Norman Spack, the endocrinologist who began his career using hormones to change the gender of tadpoles and went on to use massive doses of hormones to manipulate the gender characteristics of children—sometimes coaxing parents to go forward with the treatment, when they had serious misgivings.

Bottom line:  Unless your child has a simple infection, and there’s absolutely no way anyone could ever argue that you injected your kid with dirt to cause it, keep your parental rights intact and keep driving right past Boston’s Children’s Hospital. Until the hospital examines its desire to make the most dramatic decisions possible for parents, rather than with parents, there are other very good options for your child’s medical care.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist. Dr. Ablow can be reached at info@keithablow.com.

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Teachers Wanted: Christians Need Not Apply

March 24, 2014 By Editor 1 Comment

muslim_teacherA provision in a Michigan teachers’ union contract calling for “special consideration” to be given to “minority” job applicants including “those of the non-Christian faith” was removed by the Ferndale School District this week after the language was identified as a violation of the Federal Civil Rights Act.

Michigan Capitol Confidential reported on the union contract which, for teachers applying for promotions to vacant positions, read: “Special consideration shall be given to women and/or minorit[ies] defined as: Native American, Asian American, Latino, African American and those of the non-Christian faith.”

Florida News - March 21, 2014On both the state and federal level, the Civil Rights Act prohibits religious discrimination in employment. Consequently, it is illegal to ask job applicants about their religious affiliation—a law violated by the “non-Christian” language in the teachers’ union contract.

According to The Detroit News, the decades-old contract was revised after the discriminatory language was brought to the district’s attention. Ferndale Schools spokeswoman Shelley Rose acknowledged, “nobody was really aware of” the language, which “was there much to our embarrassment.”

“Please note that the district does not discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion or other related issues,” Rose affirmed.

By Alissa Tabirian

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion

Romney: Obama’s Putin Policy ‘Naive’ in Ukraine Crisis

March 23, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Romney_LibertyFormer GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Sunday accused President Obama of being “naïve” about Russian President Vladimir Putin agenda and lacking the foresight to have prevented Putin from taking over a Ukraine peninsula.

“There’s no question but that the president’s naiveté with regards to Russia,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And his faulty judgment about Russia’s intentions and objectives has led to a number of foreign policy challenges that we face.”

During Romney’s 2012 presidential race against Obama, the president criticized him for saying Russia — not Al QED — was America’s “number one geopolitical foe.”

“This is not fantasy land,” Romney, also a former Massachusetts governor, said Sunday. “They are not our enemy but an adversary on the world stage.”

He also said the United States should have worked sooner with allies to make clear the penalties that Russia could have faced if it moved into Ukraine.

The political uprising in Ukraine started about three months ago and included citizens last month ousting their Moscow-backed president.

Russian troops began moving into the neighboring Crimea region of Ukraine about two weeks ago and on Thursday officially annexed Crimea.

romney_putin_obama“This shouldn’t have been a surprise,” Romney said, referring in part to unmarked Russian troops and military vehicles entering the region days before the takeover. “This had been prepared for some time.”

Romney acknowledged that more pre-emptive action had only the potential to prevent the invasion.

But he also blamed of Secretary of State John Kerry and former secretary Hillary Clinton, suggesting that the Obama administration’s so-called “reset” diplomacy was mistake.

“They thought resetting relations with Russia, handing out gifts to Russia, would somehow make Russia change its objectives.  Well, that certainly wasn’t the case,” Romney said. “Russia is not our friend.”

He also called for tougher sanctions against Russia, no cuts to the U.S. military budget and re-installing missile-defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. He called their removal in 2009 a “gift to Russia.”

FoxNews.com  / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

‘I Want You’ to Spread the Propganda

March 23, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

uncle-sam-obamaIf you’re a mom of grown children, this is for you.

Did you know that the Obama administration and the state of Rhode Island are counting on you to nag your kids into signing up for Obamacare?

Good old-fashioned guilt and annoyance—that’s the ticket, apparently. But just giving your kids a call or sending them an email isn’t enough.

Rhode Island’s newest strategy is urging mothers to sign up for social networking and even online dating sites to send messages to their children.

The state’s Obamacare exchange has put together the “Nag Toolkit.” The website isn’t subtle. It says, “learn how to be where your kids are. And how to nag them mercilessly.”

If your child is on social networks and apps like Twitter, Snapchat, or Vine, the Nag Toolkit encourages you to get on there, too, and “Tweet ‘get health insurance’ @yourkids.” It sure is a lot of trouble to go to just to say that.

Barack-Obama-Uncle-SamBut the site goes even further by recommending that you, their mom—regardless of your own relationship status—create a profile on a dating site like OKCupid or Tinder. And then find your child’s dating profile and send him or her a message about health insurance.

Maybe what Rhode Island really wants is young people’s email addresses, though. Because after the tutorials, this message comes up: “If this all seems too confusing, give us your kid’s email address and we’ll do the nagging.”

If you’re not in Rhode Island, the Obama administration will bring in celebrities’ moms and the First Mom to nag your kids.

“Taking care of yourself so your mothers can sleep and have a nice life after all they’ve done for you is not too much to ask in my opinion,” says one of the moms in the Obamacare video above. It includes the mothers of actor Jonah Hill, singer Alicia Keys, actress/singer Jennifer Lopez, and musician Adam Levine.

Michelle Obama makes an appearance, piling on: “We nag you because we love you.”

Young people are saying this is all kind of creepy. Moms, how do you feel about it? (Dads, are you feeling left out?)

By Amy Payne

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Obamacare: Pay Up Comrade

March 23, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

In a few days, Obamacare’s centerpiece—the individual mandate to purchase government-approved health insurance—kicks in.

ObamacareFailureAre you “covered,” as the White House keeps asking in its endless advertising? Because if you don’t have health insurance by March 31, you will have to pay a penalty on your income tax form next year.

For 2014, the penalty for not purchasing insurance will be either $95 or 1 percent of your annual income (whichever is greater). But as Heritage expert Alyene Senger explains, “Very few, if any, people will end up paying just $95, because individuals with an annual income of only $9,500 or less would likely qualify for Medicaid or a hardship exemption from the mandate.”

If you don’t make enough income to file a federal tax return, you’re already exempt. Do you think you qualify for a hardship exemption? Check out the application (subject to approval by Health and Human Services) here. For example, did you:

  • Receive “a shut-off notice from a utility company”?
  • Recently experience the death of a close family member?
  • Receive a notice that your health plan was being canceled, and “you consider the other plans available unaffordable”?

At the end of the list, the application form has the catch-all reason “You experienced another hardship in obtaining health insurance.” To prove it? “Please submit documentation if possible.”

pelossi_obamacareDespite all these possible exemptions, The Fiscal Times reports, “A new study by Bankrate.com shows that about one-third of uninsured Americans are going to remain without coverage and opt to pay the penalty.” In fact, more than half of the uninsured are “unaware of the March 31 deadline.”

If you think the penalty is no big deal right now, Heritage’s Senger warns that “The mandate increases drastically in coming years, rising to $325 or 2 percent of income in 2015, and $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016—whichever is greater.”

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that from 2015 to 2024, the mandate penalty—which the Supreme Court ruled is essentially a tax—is expected to cost Americans $51 billion.

And that was after President Obama promised not to raise taxes on the middle class.

It’s worth mentioning the official name of this tax—because it just doesn’t get any more Orwellian. Really, it’s the left’s ideal name for all taxes: the “shared responsibility payment.”

Get ready to pay up, comrades.

By Amy Payne

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Notorious EPA Fraudster Behind Costly EPA Regulations

March 19, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

epa_liarJohn Beale, the former EPA official who fooled his bosses into believing he worked for the CIA, was deeply involved in crafting costly environmental standards which still are having an impact today — though he came into the job with little, if any, environmental experience.

The details were included in a 67-page report from Republicans on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, which claims the fraudster’s role should now throw those rules into question.

The report is the product of months of research into the case of Beale, a top official in the Office of Air and Radiation, who was sentenced to prison in December for defrauding the agency with his CIA lie. It details Beale’s role in crafting an aggressive regulatory approach which the report dubs the “EPA Playbook.”

“Ultimately, the guiding [principle] behind the Playbook is the Machiavellian [principle] that the ends will justify the means,” the report says.

The EPA already has come under scrutiny for failing to act earlier on warning signs about Beale’s behavior and fraudulent activity. But the report also calls into question the regulatory work Beale had done over an EPA career that began in the late ’80s — and its lingering impact on businesses today.

“The product of his labors have remained intact and have been shielded from any meaningful scrutiny, much the same way Beale was protected by an inner circle of career staff who unwittingly aided in his fraud,” the report says. “Accordingly, it appears that the Agency is content to let the American people pay the price for Beale and EPA’s scientific insularity, a price EPA is still trying to hide almost twenty years later.”

Beale was first brought on as a career employee by his friend Robert Brenner in 1989, after a stint working as a consultant for the agency. According to the Senate GOP report, he had no environmental experience, and his federal legislative experience was limited to an unpaid internship for a senator. Yet he was brought on at the maximum pay level for an employee of his kind — at a level typically reserved for people with 20 years’ experience, according to the report.

In 1995, Beale and Brenner apparently began working on what are known as National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Ozone and Particulate Matter (PM). This was a far-reaching process to regulate pollutants in the air — the push to regulate Particulate Matter covered small particles ranging from smoke to soot to fumes to dust. According to the report, Beale and the rest of the agency ran with the project.

“Under Beale’s leadership EPA took the unprecedented action of proposing standards for the two pollutants in tandem and aggressively tightened the standards to controversial levels,” the report said.

The report goes on to argue that the 1997 standards that resulted “set in motion” the way the EPA issues regulations under the Clean Air Act. The report alleges that this included “inflating benefits while underestimating costs.”

The study details specific regulations that relied on these standards, including the EPA’s controversial regulations on coal-fired power plants. Amid these and other rules, dozens of power plants have been slated for retirement in recent years.

The report says the air quality standards have also been used to defend 32 major rules since 1997, which together account for billions of dollars in costs to U.S. businesses.

The so-called “playbook” for implementing EPA rules began during the 1997 process, and allegedly included inflating benefits of proposed rules, as well as using a controversial tactic known as “sue-and-settle” — where a “friendly” group sues the agency and settles on “mutually agreeable terms.” The report says Brenner and Beale were behind that “playbook.”

Republicans argue in the study that Beale reached the “pinnacle of his career” during that 1997 process, and used that status to defraud the agency for years.

The inspector general’s investigation, which later uncovered the fraud, found Beale received improper bonuses until 2013 — the improper bonuses ended up totaling about $500,000.  This, while he was taking off time supposedly to work for the CIA.

Since the fraud was made public, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has been credited by some with initially flagging Beale’s activities and expenses. EPA bosses say they were duped by his CIA story, despite the warning signs.

An EPA spokeswoman said earlier that Beale “went to great lengths to deceive and defraud the U.S. government over the span of more than a decade” and the agency has “put in place additional safeguards to help protect against fraud and abuse related to employee time and attendance.”

Brenner retired from the agency in 2011.

By Judson Berger

Published March 19, 2014 / FoxNews.com

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Sci-Tech

Air Force: Religious Freedom Not Protected for Christians

March 19, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Cadet-with-BibleTPNN reported the story of an Air Force cadet whose religious freedom was threatened at the Air Force Academy. On the whiteboard outside his door, he wrote the bible verse from Galatians 2:20. The whiteboard message was reportedly erased just under 2 hours after complaints were lodged against the cadet with claims that his message was creating a hostile environment at the academy.

According to Breitbart News, an attorney and directory of military affairs with the Liberty Institute, Mike Berry visited the academy and spoke with cadets and the commanding officer.

We met with Col. Paul Barzler, the Air Force Academy Staff Judge Advocate, to find out what really happened and to ask about the Academy’s policy on religious exercise. It turns out that, contrary to Mikey Weinstein’s claims, the cadet may have voluntarily removed the Bible verse from his white board. But I was stunned to find out that, had the cadet not removed the verse, Academy officials would have ordered him to do so. I asked why, and Col. Barzler explained that, because the cadet held a leadership position, it could create the perception that he was forcing his religious beliefs on subordinates. I pointed out that under the Constitution, federal law, and military regulations, cadets have the right to religious exercise. I was shocked when he responded that Air Force policy, from the Pentagon, is that the term “religious exercise” does not include written or verbal speech. [emphasis added]

Berry then reminded the colonel regarding the specific legal protections service members have, from the Constitution itself, to Acts of Congress, to military regulations. He says of the colonel’s response:

He went on to state that the Air Force interprets [Department of Defense] Instruction 1300.07 to only apply to religious grooming and apparel matters, but not writing a [Bible] verse on a white board or even verbally sharing a verse. This means that, under Air Force policy, cadets and airmen are not free to express their religious beliefs through words or writing. This policy appears to come from a March 2013 Air Force JAG memo that interpreted federal law in that way.

Read more, including the statement from the Air Force Academy regarding this incident, at Breitbart News.

By Jennifer Burke

Filed Under: All Stories, Elections, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion

Issa: Cummings is an ‘Obstacle to Congressional Oversight’ in Obama IRS Probe

March 19, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Cummings-IssaDemocrat Rep. Elijah Cummings is the second highest-ranking member on the House Oversight Committee. The mission statement of the committee reads as follows:

We exist to secure two fundamental principles. First, Americans have a right to know that the money Washington takes from them is well spent. And second, Americans deserve an efficient, effective government that works for them. Our duty on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee is to protect these rights.

Our solemn responsibility is to hold government accountable to taxpayers, because taxpayers have a right to know what they get from their government. We will work tirelessly, in partnership with citizen-watchdogs, to deliver the facts to the American people and bring genuine reform to the federal bureaucracy.

Given the very specific mission of holding government accountable to the taxpayers and ‘working in partnership’ with citizen-watchdogs to deliver the facts to the American people, one is lead to wonder if Cummings is using his leadership role in the committee to obstruct justice. Rather than seek truth and answers, it seems as though Cummings has attempted at every turn to protect the Democrat party and President Barack Obama from any downfall related to facts discovered in the case of the IRS targeting of conservative and Tea Party groups.

In February 2014 , TPNN.com reported that “Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General who authored the scathing report that outlined the campaign of harassment” was under intense attack by Cummings. George was one of the few officials who were forthright in his answers during questioning before the committee. For his cooperation in seeking answers and holding government accountable, he was accused by Cummings of misconduct for agreeing to meet with the GOP without a Democrat in attendance.

The Hill reported at that time on a formal complaint lodged against George.

Two Democratic members of that panel — Reps. Matt Cartwright (Pa.) and Connolly — lodged a complaint on Wednesday about George’s original report on the IRS targeting last year, questioning his “independence, ethics, competence, and quality control” with an oversight board for inspectors general.

“If you want to connect the dots, a reasonable observer could be expected to conclude that he colluded with Issa’s staff to limit his report and the path of his investigation,” Connolly told The Hill concerning George. 

On March 5, 2014, TPNN.com reported on the hissy fit thrown by Cummings for apparent political theater as well as the history that Rep. Cummings has had with obstruction of justice.

Obama’s time in the White House has been plagued with numerous scandals. From Fast and Furious to the use of the IRS as a weapon to target those seen as enemies to Obama’s agenda to ‘fundamentally transform America’, Cummings has been there to defend and protect Obama, not search for answers. In fact, his protectionist actions are so blatant, that even Democrats have named him as ‘Obama’s biggest defender’. In August 2013, Yahoo News reported on an Op-Ed written by Democrat strategist Robert Weiner, former White House spokesperson and senior staff for three House committees, and Nakia Gladden, a policy and research analyst, in which they discussed Cummings’ emergence as Obama’s biggest defender against Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s search for truth regarding Obama’s overreach and scandals, which Cummings believes to be phony. 

Weiner and Gladden praised Cummings efforts to block the quest for truth by stating, “Without the leadership role that Cummings as Ranking Member is exhibiting, there would be no counter to Issa’s public relations exploitation.  What Cummings has exposed is that the real scandal is Issa’s waste and abuse of his power.” Perhaps they need to review the role of the committee in seeking answers, not covering for corruption. 

Cummings doesn’t want answers. He wants to assist Obama in his fundamental transformation of America. With Fast and Furious, Cummings distorted the reality of the Obama/Holder gun running scandal by erroneously claiming that it actually began during the Bush administration and, even worse, rather than demanding answers, instead demanded gun control in response to Fast and Furious.

Cummings used his power and influence in following the lead of the IRS in bullying, harassing, and intimidating Tea Party groups by doing the same thing to one specific group. In October 2012, Breitbart reported that Texas based True the Vote, headed by Catherine Engelbrecht, was being targeted directly by Elijah Cummings.

Following the outburst and political theater display by Cummings in which he attempted to continue a hearing that had been adjourned, the Democrat party and the typical race-baiter Jesse Jackson accused Issa of racism.  That is the typical Democrat go-to line when they want to shut someone down and shut that person or group up.

On March 7th, TPNN.com reported on Issa’s response to said accusations on The Kelly File on FOX News.

Issa responded to charges of racism by Jesse Jackson and others as “sad,” and said that the reason Cummings received his committee appointment was because he promised to stifle Issa’s investigations into Obama’s numerous scandals.

Issa went on to say that he simply followed committee rules adding Cummings knew that the hearing was a continuation of a previous hearing. Therefore, Cummings would not be allowed to make a statement.

On Friday, FOX News reported on a letter it obtained from Issa in which he addressed the numerous the rationale laid out by Cummings and his legal experts as to why Lois Lerner, the now retired IRS official at the center of the investigation into the harassment and targeting of conservative and Tea Party groups, could not be held in contempt of court. Rep. Issa did not hold back.

In it, Issa countered, point by point, a series of claims that Cummings and two legal experts made earlier this week about whether former IRS official Lois Lerner could be held in contempt for refusing to testify. 

Issa went further, effectively accusing Cummings of running interference on behalf of his party and the administration. 

“… rather than pursuing the facts where they lead — which is the function of effective congressional oversight — you have made yourself an obstacle  to effective congressional oversight, in effect, a defense counsel for Lerner and others who acted to deprive Americans of their constitutionally-guaranteed rights,” the committee chairman wrote. 

In another verbal sting, he continued: “Even though the White House helped orchestrate your ascension to Ranking Member, I have encouraged, and continue to encourage, you to subordinate your political loyalties to the institutional interests of the Committee and the House, especially in cases like this where obstructing the Committee’s work risks permanently disadvantaging Congress in its interactions with the Executive Branch.” 

Read the full report on the latest exchange in this feud between Issa and Cummings on FOX News.

By Jennifer Burke

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

The Greatest Threat to American Security is Obama

March 19, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Putin-ObamaThe Ukraine came apart when a protest against its president forced him to flee to Russia. The issue was whether the Ukraine would be allied with Russia or with the European Union. Due to a combination of the obscene corruption of its former president, Viktor Yanukovych, and the mismanagement of the nation in general, the Ukrainian Parliament ousted him in February, a move supported by 328 members of the Parliament. He still claims to be president.

In contrast to the “melting pot” of America where people come from all over and develop strong feelings for our nation, the Ukrainians, divided primarily between the East and West, never quite gelled; the younger generation does not want to be back under the sway of Russia while many of the older ones, recalling the bad old days when it was, want closer ties with Europe. It remains divided and whether it will reunite is anyone’s guess.

If it does reunite, it will be missing the Crimean republic which has been seized by Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin. It had been part of Russia for hundreds of years and represents a critical warm water port. Krushchev relinquished it to Ukraine, but Putin will not. Sending troops into a foreign nation is an act of war, but I doubt that many Crimeans, see themselves as a foreign nation. They were Russian and they are Russian. Let’s move on.

Putin’s bold action brought a lot of other issues into play, not the least of which is Russia’s provision of natural gas to Ukraine and many European nations that depend on it, not the least of which is Germany.

One thing is for sure, NATO will not intervene to restore Crimea to the Ukraine and the European Union has so many financial ties to Russia that there is little reason to do anything than go through the charade of sanctions and criticism. I think the general consensus is that while Putin would like to expand the Russian Federation to the size of the former Russian empire, the cost of similar military actions would be too high.

The response of President Obama has been predictably weak. He is abandoning the Middle East to Islamic fascists. He has failed to provide an umbrella of military protection to Europe. He and Democrat members of Congress continue to tell us that the greatest threat here and worldwide is a global warming that isn’t happening.

The greatest threat to American security is President Obama for two reasons: (1) He has deliberately weakened the U.S. military and (2) his domestic energy policies have failed to take advantage of discoveries of massive amounts of natural gas and oil reserves. Drilling for them on federal lands and offshore has been largely thwarted. As a result the U.S. economy has limped along when it could be booming just from the energy sector alone.

Two reporters for The Wall Street Journal spelled out why the “U.S. Push for Natural-Gas Exports to Ukraine Faces Hurdles” in its March 12the edition.

“Neither the infrastructure nor international markets for natural gas have evolved to the point where the U.S. can step in and provide the kinds of energy supplies that would quickly reduce these nations’ dependency on Russian gas.”

“U.S. energy companies need several more years to build plants to export the gas—and Ukraine doesn’t have the facilities to receive it…The giant machines and cooling towers it takes to make liquefied natural gas, or LNG, take years to construct and cost billions of dollars.” There is at present a LNG terminal in Spain that could take gas shipments that could be added to the extensive European pipeline network, helping many nations there such as Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Suffice to say, U.S. policy and lawmakers have failed to take the actions necessary to respond to the recent surge in natural gas and oil supplies. Many Americans will be surprised to learn that in the 1970s Congress made it illegal to export domestically produced crude oil without a license. Those were the days of the Arab oil embargo.

At this point, the U.S. has more untapped oil than Saudi Arabia, as well as enough natural gas and coal to make us energy independent.

In addition, an odd and idiotic law requires the production of ethanol, a gasoline additive. In 2013, ethanol production was 316,964 thousand barrels. Ethanol not only decreases the mileage of the gasoline we purchase at the pump, it damages auto engines, two very good reasons to end this conversion of corn into energy that in turn drives up the cost of countless food products.

Even moving crude oil around the domestic U.S. poses a challenge despite a network of pipelines. Doing so by train has created many new problems. President Obama has delayed the Keystone XL pipeline that would increase crude oil supplies to our Gulf State’s refineries; thus denying us the jobs its construction would create and other benefits. The good news is that the U.S. has become one of the largest gross exporters of refined oil products such as gasoline and diesel.

If the U.S. government would get out of the way, new refineries and export facilities for natural gas could be built. The U.S. would prosper and energy costs would be reduced, along with our national debt. For now, however, the Ukraine, a longtime financial basket case, and Europe are not going to get a surge of natural gas or crude oil that would help reduce their dependence on Russia.

So long as President Obama remains in office, none of the steps that must be taken to restore the nation’s economy and tap the huge potential of our energy sector will occur.

By Alan Caruba

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Sci-Tech

Obamacare a 90% Failure Using Obama Regime’s Own Numbers

March 19, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

ObamacareFailureAccording to the Obama government’s own latest numbers, 4.2 million Americans have signed up for Obamacare. And while the Obama regime twists and spins the number as being a great accomplishment, and with the looming deadline to sign up less than two weeks away, just how successful is the number?

Obama said in August of 2009 that there were 46 million uninsured, telling the nation, “I don’t have to explain to you that nearly 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance coverage today. In the wealthiest nation on Earth, 46 million of our fellow citizens have no coverage.”

According to Joseph Curl, writing in The Washington Times, Obama spouted the number as being factual over a dozen times, including in June of 2013, when he tried to guilt the nation into accepting Obamacare by goading, “We are not a nation that accepts nearly 46 million uninsured men, women and children.”

Given that the stated goal of Obamacare is to provide health insurance to the uninsured who were in a state of “crisis,” gauging the success of the operation demands that it be judged based upon that goal. Using Obama’s number of 46 million (he wouldn’t lie about that number, would he?), and using the regime’s latest enrollment number of 4.2 million, it means that less than 10% of the uninsured have actually signed up.

Generously disregarding the fact that the regime doesn’t actually know how many of those enrolled have actually paid for their insurance, or that a reported 5 million have had their policies cancelled because of Obamacare, that’s over a 90% failure. And a 90% failure is a failure by anyone’s yardstick.

By Matthew Burke

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Dem States Highest in Income Inequality

March 14, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

income_inequalityPresident Obama has said that reducing the growing gap between high and low income earners is one of his top domestic priorities. But a new study finds that residents of states that voted for Obama in 2012 “are experiencing more income inequality than people in other states.”“Income inequality is worse in blue states, and has also grown more quickly in those areas over the past 10 years,” according to the study, entitled “Blue states have the income-inequality blues,” by Richard Barrington, senior financial analyst at MoneyRates.com.CNSNews.com previously reported that a Brookings Institute study found that the highest levels of income inequality in the nation were in large cities that overwhelmingly voted for President Obama’s reelection in 2012.States that voted for Obama also tend to have higher levels of income inequality, according to Barrington, who looked at 10 years of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and compared wages between the top and bottom 25th percentiles in all 50 states and the District of Columbia

Using this metric, he found that Washington, D.C. has the highest gap between high and low earners, followed by California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland and Virginia.

In 2012, Obama won eight of the ten, with the exception of Texas and Louisiana. South Dakota, which Mitt Romney carried by an 18 percent margin, has the lowest level of income disparity in the nation, the study also found.

“The gap widened the most in Maryland, where it grew by 12.05 percent, compared to an average of 6.43 nationwide,” Barrington noted. The gap narrowed in only two states: Wyoming, where it closed by 3.11 percent, and Louisiana, where income inequality decreased 1.24 percent.

“In blue states, the average ratio between high and low incomes is 2.27, compared to 2.18 in red states. What is more striking is the difference in how rapidly the income gap has grown over the last 10 years. In blue states, the ratio between high and low incomes has grown by 7.74 percent, compared to 4.96 percent in red states,” Barrington noted.

He also pointed out that while the average worker actually tends to be better off financially in states with higher income gaps, “this advantage may be fading.”

“Median incomes have grown more slowly in states where the income gap has been increasing most quickly,” he added.

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Christians: Marked For Extinction?

March 12, 2014 By Editor 1 Comment

Decline_of_ChristianitySCOTTSDALE, AZ – The United States of America was founded by Christians, and its principles of society and governance were based on a bedrock of Christian ideology.

The nation’s Constitution was written, then interpreted by the US Supreme Court for nearly 200 years, in a manner that upheld a perceived Christian belief system, while maintaining a broad enough construction to encompass the mandates and standards of other religions—so long as they were not at odds with the Christian sense of right and wrong.

In recent decades Christianity has suffered a profound setback, in this country and abroad, and fewer people in the US consider themselves Christian while fewer policies and laws are based on Christian principles. In fact, we see God booed at the convention of a major political party, and most of its leadership is made up of people who consider themselves to be agnostic.

In 1990, 86% of Americans identified themselves as Christian, whereas in 2012 the number was down to 73%. Even that number may be overly optimistic.

Abroad, Christianity is all but dying out, being forced into obscurity by the spread of socialism and Islam. For those who roll their eyes at this statement, former bastions of Christianity like Spain and France now have more mosques than Christian churches, and most of the non-Muslims identify themselves as agnostic. The most popular name for male infants in leading European countries is Mohammad.

Christianity vs. Secularism

Most American universities are staffed by people who consider religion the ‘opiate of the masses,’ as expressed by their spiritual father, Karl Marx. Indeed, most university professors are openly hostile to Christianity, and boisterously embrace every movement that chips away at a family oriented, morality based society. These educators openly penalize any students who do not fall into line with their anti-Christian edicts, and reward those who do, causing a chilling effect on open Christian expression.

Most of the media, headed by graduated students of the anti-Christian university system, is likewise hostile toward traditional family and Christian values, flooding the airwaves with anti-family, anti-male, anti-morality, anti-Christian propaganda.

We who are Christian have been slow to recognize some of the main obstacles to the current generation embracing Christianity. To the extent that we have supported socialist political candidates, albeit in the name of compassion and diversity, we have helped to empower the anti-Christian movement. To the extent that we have allowed US citizens to be divided by class and race by these same politicians, we have enabled them. To the extent that we have supported leftist institutions, universities and media outlets, we have embraced our own destruction.

Dogma is Partly to Blame

Ignorance has also condemned Christianity to decline. I’m referring to silly, outdated notions about science; for example, like those who insist that the earth was created in six actual 24-hour periods (‘days,’ before an earth day even existed), and it all happened 6,000 years ago. Without further information, the uninformed misinterpret ancient scripture.

Accepting this fact should not be impossible for modern Christians, whose scriptures merely state that God (Elohim) created (organized) the world in six creative periods, without mention of the length of these creative periods or the amount of passing time between those periods. Although most world religions believe that this creation took place in an instant, something from nothing (creatio ex nihilo), Biblical scholars are hard-pressed to find support for these notions in the original Hebrew text.  The TRUTH is, that the earth was ‘developed’ through a ‘process’ that required a great deal of time–named six creative periods by God. Christians have many dogmas that are difficult if not impossible for educated people to swallow, e.g., transubstantiation, infallibility of leadership, proving faith, indulgences, covering up sin, the trinity, etc. They would be well advised to return to a God-revealed belief base.

Christians aren’t the only ones whose believes are mired in dogma. Scientists who first considered the Big Bang theory of creation were quite reluctant to accept it as a theory because of its close kinship to creatio ex nihilo. According to the standard Big Bang theory, our universe sprang into existence as a ‘singularity’ around 13.7 billion years ago. This implies that a nonexistent universe suddenly and without provocation sprang into existence, growing instantly from a point only a small fraction of the size of an atom to the entire universe filled with all of its mass and matter in mere seconds. Honestly, the faith required to accept such an unsubstantiated, inconceivable theory as a workable model for the creation of the universe is beyond acceptability. The theory continues to experience tweaking and retooling due to incongruity with ‘the math.’ It doesn’t work. To make the math begin to conform to the theory, scientists have constructed a model that requires 95% of the universe to consist of “dark matter” and “dark energy.” In other words, scientists now mock Christians for failure to believe in unseen worlds and forms of existence. Furthermore, any scientist who refuses to subscribe to this dogma is blacklisted, and not allowed to publish or teach.

No matter how dogmatic most of the parties are, Christians must rethink their attitudes toward science and one another if they are to survive in a world hostile toward them. Truth—no matter its source—must be the prize. I advise Christians and their leaders to revisit their prejudices, and to consider anew the original Hebrew scriptures to determine their divine message, and to eliminate many of the dogmas and traditions that are extra-Christian.

I further advise those ‘shepherds’ who are nothing more than hustlers to find new professions. You know who you are; molesters, thieves, indolent and impure in mind and deed. Get out, before God puts you out—forever.

As Christians, we must re-establish ourselves as the true shepherds over this people, and over this nation; not by constraint, but through dedicated service to all of God’s children under our influence and within the sound of our voice.

Let this edict be our standard: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13

James Thompson is a Christian writer, and holds a Juris Doctor degree. He is Editor-in-Chief of GhostWriter, a leading ghostwriting firm.  Volume One of his new novel series “The Coming Flood” has just been released, titled Enoch in the City of Adam. Visit James Thompson on Facebook

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Juan Williams: Why Do Liberals Hate Black Conservatives?

March 9, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Condi_riceHave you heard the news?

Condoleezza Rice lacks “moral authority.” She fails to meet the standards of “exemplary citizenship” and she does not have what it takes to “inspire” graduating college seniors.

That crazy thinking comes from the New Brunswick Faculty Council of Rutgers University. They voted last week to ask university leadership to cancel Rice’s invitation to be this year’s Commencement Speaker and receive an honorary degree.

How is the public served by muzzling one of the most thoughtful, accomplished and respected political voices of her time just because she happens to be a Republican?

Yes, apparently the first African-American woman to serve as National Security Adviser and the nation’s Secretary of State doesn’t have what it takes to be honored by Rutgers.

Rice holds a Ph.D. in political science. She has taught college for decades. She was Provost of Stanford University. She worked her way up from a working-class family in the segregated South to the highest echelon of world power and politics.

But according to the Rutgers faculty council, all of that is negated by her service in President George W. Bush’s administration.

They cited her roles in pushing the false claim of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. They also point to her support for using enhanced interrogation techniques to get information from terror suspects.

The facts are right. The conclusion is wrong.

I, too, disagreed with many of the policies Rice faithfully supported as a member of the Bush administration. But only partisan hatred can blind the faculty to her extraordinary level of accomplishment for herself and her country.

Rice is smart, disciplined, hard-working and the model of an inspiring modern American. She personifies the American Dream. She is living inspiration for a young person trying to accomplish great work no matter what the barriers. And in Rice’s generation there were some serious barriers starting with her race and gender.

That is why New Jersey Republican State Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini called the Rutgers faculty’s wrongheaded decision “appalling and an embarrassment to our state.”

“This is nothing more than a political firestorm fueled by their hatred of an opposing ideology, and President George W. Bush in particular. Dr. Rice and the people of New Jersey deserve better,” Angelini said.

There is an added element at play here. There is a disgraceful double standard amongst liberals, particularly those in academia, in the hatred they direct at black conservatives.

We saw this last April when the conservative neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson was forced to step down as a Commencement Speaker for Johns Hopkins University (where he ably served as the head of pediatric neurosurgery).

Liberals on the Hopkins campus mobilized against Carson because he criticized President Obama’s health care reform law and said that he opposed gay marriage.

I am not a conservative but I have spoken out for years against the staggering amount blind hatred directed at black conservatives by liberals.

Liberals are shockingly quick to demean and dismiss brilliant black people like Rice, Carson, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), Professor Walter E. Williams and economist Thomas Sowell because they don’t fit into the role they have carved out for a black person in America.

Black Americans must be obedient liberals on all things or risk being called a race traitor or an Uncle Tom.

I’ve experienced some of this vitriol firsthand when I have veered by liberal orthodoxy. I wrote about it in my book “Muzzled – the Assault on Honest Debate.”

This shunning of Rice is especially troubling coming from a great American university. This is the place where debate and dissenting views are to be valued as sacred.

Rutgers’s own university mission statement says that one of its goals is to produce students who perform “public service in support of the needs of the citizens of the state and its local, county, and state governments.”

How is the public served by muzzling one of the most thoughtful, accomplished and respected political voices of her time just because she happens to be a Republican?

Doe the Rutgers University faculty really have so little faith in the students they are about to graduate that they think are incapable of hearing opposing views and making up their own minds?

Before her commencement speech, I would like to see any of one of the members of faculty council debate Secretary Rice on foreign policy and then let their students see how well their professors’ critique holds up.

Hell, how about we invite the entire faculty council to take their best shot at Secretary Rice in a debate.

Rice is the most famous Republican woman politician in the country. She gave the best speech of the 2012 Republican National Convention and, despite her lack of interest in political office, still gets mentioned as a potential Republican presidential candidate for 2016.

If she is truly on the fence about a White House run, I would suggest she go for it if for no other reason than to rub it in the faces of these pompous jackass professors.

Of course that is not the only reason she should run, but it sure would be a delightful bonus.

By Juan Williams / Published March 09, 2014 / FoxNews.com

 

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion

Harry Reid: Worst Human On Earth

March 7, 2014 By Editor 6 Comments

harry_reidSen. Harry Reid is the worst living human being on this planet today. I think it’s time that someone finally acknowledges it.

Now, I realize that’s quite a statement to make, given the fact that Robert Mugabe continues to draw breath. Not to mention Kim Jung Un. And yes, you could also make a case that Vlad Putin isn’t one of Earth’s nicer creatures. Still, bear with me for a minute as I lay out some of the evidence.

Let me start with Harry’s most recent example of hideousness. It’s one thing to slander a politician, it’s quite another to defame an innocent private citizen as Reid has been doing lately.

Reid has asserted that the stories of Americans who lost coverage, or had to pay more, or had to find new doctors under the Affordable Care Act are all lies.  Even for Harry Reid, that’s absolutely preposterous. No one has lost coverage, had to pay more or find new doctors under Obamacare? Really?

Harry, it’s been amazingly well documented, even by your allies in the media.

The group Americans For Prosperity, an organization that receives some of their funding from the Charles and David Koch brothers, has been running ads with people adversely affected by Obamacare. By the way, according to Harry Reid, the Koch brothers are apparently evil incarnate for spending money on political ads, but George Soros is a hero. So is Warren Buffet. AFP is a horrific organization, but the Labor Unions, the Tides Foundation and the Center For American Progress are perfect. Just a quick reminder.

Anyway, from the Senate floor, Reid called all of the ads that are being run, lies. Every one of the ads that AFP had run, were lies? Obviously then, not just the Koch brothers you despise, but all of the people in those ads, were liars?

Later that day however, he returned to the floor, and said: “I can’t say that every one of the Koch brothers’ ads are a lie, but I’ll say this … the vast, vast majority of them are.”

OK, you can’t say every one of them, because you had no idea what you were talking about, but you can say, the “vast, vast majority?” Sure, that makes sense, if you’re the worst living human on the planet today.

After walking back his original, ridiculous, comments, Reid focused on one woman’s story in particular.

Julie Boonstra was diagnosed five years ago with leukemia, and was given a 20 percent chance at survival. She found a doctor and a health plan she liked, but was cancelled due to Obamacare. In the ad Julie says that now, the “out-of-pocket” costs are so high, “it’s unaffordable.” She adds that if she can’t get her medication she’ll die.

In attacking this as a lie, Reid is attacking Julie Boonstra. Julie says she believed the President when he said, “if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.” Not true. She was cancelled, in the midst of a serious health crisis. The last thing in the world she needs now is the U.S. Senate Majority Leader calling her a liar from the Senate floor.

At issue is that her old plan had a higher premium but no out of pocket costs. The Obamacare premiums are significantly lower, but there’s an 80/20 split on out-of-pocket expenses. She had the old premiums budgeted, but the uncertainty of the out-of-pocket costs under the new plan, which could possibly hit all at once, maybe up to $6,300, has her worried that she won’t be able to afford it

Where’s the lie in that story? Does Harry know Julie’s financial and health situation better than she does? Of course not, but he hates the Koch brothers so much, he doesn’t care about the lies he’s telling or the collateral damage being done.

Then there was the Presidential campaign in 2012, and his proven lies and outrageous attacks on Mitt Romney. For the unaware, both Reid and Romney are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (as am I), whose members are commonly referred to as “Mormons” or “LDS.”

After Romney made his infamous 47 percent remark at a private fundraiser, Reid had the giblets to claim that Romney had “sullied” our faith with that remark.

Now, we can debate all over again what Romney meant by all of that, but there’s no point, it’s all been hashed and rehashed. The point is, who is Harry Reid to make such an allegation?

I don’t speak for the Church any more than Harry Reid does, but check the voting records in Utah, along with all the surveys showing just how conservative most Mormons are, and believe me, the vast majority in this faith wonder how Harry Reid can reconcile his ideology with his faith, not Mitt Romney.

Harry Reid is a man who claims to be pro-life, yet in 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012 he received 100 percent ratings from the radical abortion activist group, NARAL Pro-Choice America. Now, his rating with NARAL has  fluctuated over the years, but that’s at least six years of perfect scores with this fanatical abortion organization.

Now, if you really are pro-life, shouldn’t you always get a zero percent rating from an organization like NARAL? His NARAL rating last year was still a healthy 70 percent. For context, Sen. Dean Heller, also of Nevada and Republican, received a zero percent rating from NARAL.

Also Reid’s last three Planned Parenthood Action Center ratings have been 83, 89 and most recently, 88 percent. Really Harry? You’re pro-life? How is that possible? How can you be pro-life but vote with the interests of those groups so often? And that’s just one issue of concern, there are many.

As for his political attacks on Romney, because he’s the worst living human, he actually insinuated that Romney’s dead father, George, would be ashamed of him.

“His poor father must be so embarrassed about his son,” Reid said in reference to George Romney’s decision to turn over 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president in 1968. I’m sorry, is it fair game now to use the deceased relatives of a political opponent to disparage them? Despicable? You bet.

Harry-Reid1Mitt Romney had released a few years’ worth of tax returns. Democrats like Reid wanted to see 10 or 20 years’ worth of records so that they could use his wealth to attack him and create more class warfare. Romney knew that, and refused to participate. He had done what the law requires, and more, he wasn’t going to play that game.

But Reid didn’t stop there. Being the worst living person he is, he said that he’d received “a phone call in his office about a month ago, from a person who had invested with Bain Capital.” What did that “Bain Capital investor” have to say?

“Harry, he didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years.”

First of all Harry, did it occur to you that just some investor in Bain wouldn’t have any idea whether Romney had paid his taxes? Did you challenge him about how he knew such a thing? Was that investor also Romney’s tax preparer? Are we still in America, does Mitt Romney have a right to face his accuser? No, here’s how Harry summed up that “conversation.”

“He didn’t pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain,” Reid told Huffington Post. “But obviously he can’t release those tax returns. How would it look?”

How would it look? Well, it looks like you are throwing out specious, unsubstantiated charges for political reasons because you’re the worst living human being on this planet, that’s how it looks, Harry.

Politifact took on Reid’s claim and quickly dismissed it as a “pants on fire” lie. The phone call Harry received in his office was garbage. It wasn’t true. Romney paid his taxes. Whether or not someone actually called Harry Reid “in his office,” which I sincerely doubt, doesn’t matter, the story was a lie. But Harry didn’t let that bother him. He took to the Senate floor and doubled down on the lie.

“So, the word’s out that he hasn’t paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn’t,” Reid said. “We already know from one partial tax return that he gave us, he has money hidden in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and a Swiss banking account. Mitt Romney makes more money in a single day than the average middle-class family makes in two years or more.”

Wow. What happened Harry? Now, as the worst living human, he favors comprehensive immigration reform which “rewards” illegal aliens with a path to citizenship. He supports amnesty. He favors the “Dream Act,” allowing children of illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition at colleges and universities. He voted “no” on limiting welfare for illegal aliens.

Wait, I thought it was insane to reward that illegal behavior?

In 1995, concerning the Federal Reserve, Harry proclaimed: “I have sponsored legislation every year that would call for an audit of the Federal Reserve system. I offer that amendment every year, every year it gets nowhere.”

Recently, Reid wouldn’t even bring  the “Federal Reserve Transparency Act” up for a vote in the Senate after it sailed through the House. Why? What changed?  Other than the fact that the Federal debt was $4.9  trillion in 1995 and it’s $17.3 trillion today. It must have been more important to audit them when the debt was less that one-third of what it is now?

You might be thinking, “OK Pat, you’ve laid out a pretty compelling case for Harry Reid to be considered the worst living human on this planet, but frankly, aren’t you forgetting about Barack Obama?”

Thank you for asking, but no, no I’m not. Barack Obama grew up with a Communist father, a Communist mentor, Communist professors, a radical, leftist mother and grandparents; Barack Obama didn’t have a chance.

Harry Reid, should know better. Harry Reid, as shown above, has known better. But Harry Reid, through whatever process, has turned to the dark side. He is a man who is said to despise Mitt Romney because he believes Romney has no principles, that he doesn’t stand for anything. If that’s not the pot calling the kettle black, then nothing is.

“Well OK,” you may protest, “but what about some of the people mentioned at the beginning of this article; Robert Mugabe, Kim Jung Un or Vladimir Putin, they’ve actually had people killed, doesn’t that make them worse?”

That’s a good point.  And you’re right, as far as I know, Harry Reid hasn’t actually killed anyone…yet. I could say he has, and then it would be “out there,” for him to prove it didn’t happen. But I won’t do that, I’ll take the high road.

Instead, I’ll stick to the facts. While Harry Reid hasn’t apparently killed anyone, he is doing his best to kill and destroy our country. With his background and knowledge, that’s inexcusable. The heinous crimes of Mugabe, Kim Jung Un and Vladimir Putin notwithstanding, they are not Americans, working against America and her Constitution from the inside.

Through the actions he has taken, through his willful and wonton lies, deceit and apparent corruption, he is driving a stake through the heart of our nation.

By his own admission, one of his actions alone, would be enough, in his own opinion, to “ruin our country.” And I’ve outlined many of his ruinous actions.

If he and his progressive minions succeed in destroying this nation, how many people would then die? Who would the stand in the way of the brutal dictators, who would feed and finance the planet, who would create and innovate? The death of this nation would be the most catastrophic occurrence in the history of mankind, and Harry Reid has been instrumental in bringing us to the brink of a Constitutional crisis.

Thus, Harry Reid is, the worst living human being on this planet, today. Let him prove that he isn’t.

By Pat Gray

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Obama Mocked Romney On Russia Comment During Debate

March 3, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

romney_obamaIn the heat of the 2012 campaign, during an October presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, Obama ridiculed Romney over his concern about Russia as a “geo-political” threat.

Obama attempted to paint Romney as somehow out-of-touch with 21st century geo-politics, suggesting (ironically, as we now know) that al-Qaeda was a bigger threat than Russia. “You said Russia. Not al-Qaeda. You said Russia,” Obama said regarding biggest threats. Then came this snarky blast:

“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because…the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.” – Barack Husein Obama

Setting aside the fact that while Obama suggested that al-Qaeda was the number-one geo-political threat in the world, later claimed that the terrorist group had been “decimated” and was “on the run” only to learn that it is now stronger and controls more territory that at any time in its history, could this snide comment to Romney look any more foolish that it now does?

This is the second time in a week that former Republican candidates — ridiculed at the time for their foreign policy observations — have been proved right about Russia; Sarah Palin predicted in 2008 that under a weak Obama, Russia would be tempted to invade Ukraine.

Incidentally, Palin has been consistently ridiculed for saying “I can see Russia from my house,” which she never said. What a tragedy that, as both Palin and Romney correctly feared, Ukrainians can now see Russians from their homes.

By Mike Miller

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

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