Free Republic
Browse · Search		 News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

America Held Hostage- the Obama Files...
various links ^ | 11-8-08 | The Heavy Equipment Guy

Posted on 11/08/2008 3:06:12 AM PST by backhoe

click here to read article

Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 1,961-1,980, 1,981-2,000, 2,001-2,020 ... 3,001-3,016 next last
To: All
LINE OF THE WEEK, in response to the White House’s criticism of Edmunds.com on Cash For Clunkers: “If Obama’s skin was any thinner, he’d have a reservoir tip on the top of his head.”

Or, a bit less pithily, here: “Yeah, it’s one thing for the administration to take office with very little administrative experience. It’s something else that the administration apparently hasn’t aquired any yet, one year later, and are still throwing prissy little snits over events and reporting that are about five levels below anything the administration should be concerning itself with right now.”

WILLIAM VOEGELI: California’s Model Doesn’t Work. “Our high-benefit/high-tax model no longer works, especially compared with low-tax states like Texas.”

Plus this: “Twenty years ago, you could go to Texas, where they had very low taxes, and you would see the difference between there and California. Today, you go to Texas, the roads are no worse, the public schools are not great but are better than or equal to ours, and their universities are good. The bargain between California’s government and the middle class is constantly being renegotiated to the disadvantage of the middle class.” There might be a lesson there, on the national level . . .

 Mood Sours Toward Both Parties. “A sour mood exists among people, with close-to-10-percent unemployment, decreasing health-care benefits and rising taxes – and a view that the well-heeled get bailed-out but John and Joan Q. Citizen do not. . . . Has the anti-establishment ‘tea party’ movement had an impact on these races? Absolutely.”

JONAH GOLDBERG: “The Frank Rich hissy fit is a perfect example of the real story of the election. The story is not that the GOP is self-destructing, it is that the conventional wisdom is being shown to be ludicrous.”

Those Moderate Muslims!

Funeral for Detroit mosque leader draws hundreds...

The FBI says Abdullah, 53, was fatally shot inside a suburban warehouse Wednesday after firing at agents and resisting arrest. Agents wanted him on charges of weapons violations and conspiracy to sell stolen goods, one of 11 people named in a criminal complaint.

They've arrested two of the alleged co-conspirators in Windsor.

Posted by Kate at 1:39 PM| Comments (54)
 
BlogWarZ!
Shame... what it was
what it has turned in to...

Tonight’s Nancy

by m ( 202 Comments › )
Filed under Guest Post, LGF at November 1st, 2009 - 10:06 pm

As most of you know, we’re trying to contain “the Johnson” to a dedicated thread here and there. For tonight’s edition, a look at now – and then. Looking back, only to move forward!

Today from Stop The ACLU:
Excitable Chucky Now Has A Problem With “America Is Good”

We’ve seen this time and time again applied to other conservatives. But, no one does Glenn Beck Derangement Syndrome quite like Charles Johnson, who names Doug Hoffman the “Glenn Beck candidate”

What exactly does Doug Hoffman stand for? And who is he standing with? Would you believe … Glenn Beck?

At the endorsements page of Doug Hoffman For Congress, we find a link to the “Gold List” at 912candidates.org, consisting of politicians who have “pledged their sacred honor” to uphold the Glenn Beck 9/12 Project’s “9 Principles and 12 Values.”

Charles has a problem with the “9 Principles and 12 Values“? Just the “G-d” one or all of them? Enquiring minds and all.

How about a look down memory lane…

Blogmocracy in Action!
Guest post by: Speranza

Like just about all of us, I am pretty much shell shocked whenever I take a peek at a blog that still goes under the name of “Little Green Footballs”. This is because I recall a place that was not so long ago welcoming, informative, and intellectually stimulating before it became an Orwellian parody of a totalitarian blog dictatorship or William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”. We can speculate all we want over what got a hold of the proprietor there but I want to remember the good times that we had there and will select a few occasions that LGF filled a void in right minded peoples’ lives.

The spring of 2002. Let us recall what the Jews of Israel were going through. Day after day of suicide bombings by fanatical members of the religion of peace. The culmination was the March 27, 2002 suicide bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya that ultimately killed 30 people, many of them elderly Holocaust survivors. Let’s see how LGF covered that event…

And again
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/2637_and_again/
comments/#ctop

(copy and past the link location, to get around the redirect)

Note that there was no moral equivalency, no trying to put things into perspective; it was a call for justice and for the decent people of the world to stand up to monsters. No worrying about Jerry Falwell, Fox News, creationists, etc. Charles Johnson knew which way was up and what the real threat was.

Let us jump ahead 24 months later to March 2004 and American citizens are murdered in Fallujah with their bodies mutilated. Of course Markos Moulitisas (of the Daily Kos) says “Screw them!” What was Charles Johnson’s response?

Is this going to stand?
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/
10427_Is_This_Going_To_Stand/
comments/#ctop

(copy and paste the links)

Again, note the moral clarity, the no nonsense approach. No political correctness or worried about being called out as a “hater”. Charles Johnson was a man I respected and admired. I did not worship him as he was just a man but I felt that it was rare to see someone with so much moral clarity and conviction.

Now, let us go back a couple of weeks in March 2004 to this wonderful event

Charles actually prays to the Lord!

Breaking News: Sheik Yassin Finally Dead!
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/
10267_Breaking_News-_Sheik_Yassin_Finally_Dead!/
comments/#ctop

cj_pray

Of course who can forget the great community we had on election night 2004:

So Long! We’ll Miss You! (Not)
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/
13391_So_Long!_Well_Miss_You!_(Not)/
comments/#ctop

Palestinian Car Swarm Watch Redux
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/
17655_Palestinian_Car_Swarm_Watch_Redux/
comments/#ctop

And finally, the 2008 election debates. A good time was had by all. Even Sharmuta sounded like a conservative (and zombie was there!)

Final Presidential Debate 2008, Thread 6
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/
31586_Final_Presidential_Debate_2008_Thread_6/
comments/#ctop

I hope this trip down memory lane reminds us that although we feel betrayed by the 180 degree turn that LGF has taken, not very long ago it was a great place and had so many wonderful, intelligent, and witty people associated with it. Charles Johnson did provide the format but it was the posters who made the blog.

What are the threads/memories that stand out to you as a testament to the good times? I would have to say any thread with Aisha! ~m

( 202 Comments › )

10 | November 1, 2009 10:22 pm

Glenn Beck is killing them by simply doing his homework, digging deeper, reporting what he finds AND using their own words and deeds caught on tape.

If that upsets Charles – and it obviously does – I’m not sure what there is left to say.

PPP: Hoffman Leads Dem Owens By 15 in NY-23
Sunday, November 1, 2009, 10:58 PM
Jim Hoft

The Public Policy Polling reported tonight that conservative Doug Hoffman is leading Democrat Bill Owens by 15 points in a head-to-head contest.

Here are some interesting facts from our unweighted numbers so far:

-In a three way contest Doug Hoffman leads Bill Owens by 19 points. In a two way contest Hoffman leads Owens by 15 points. So the Dede Scozzafava withdrawal and endorsement will probably tighten the race some but not nearly enough.

-58% of Republicans think that Scozzafava’s a liberal and that was obviously before her endorsement today.

-The Rush Limbaugh effect- Hoffman has a 79 point lead with Rush listeners while Owens has a 6 point lead with people who don’t listen to the show.

More… The PPP also has Christie leading Corzine by 6, 47-41 in New Jersey.

UPDATE: Country star John Rich will headline the Watertown “get-out-the-vote” rally Monday night for Hoffman.


1,981 posted on 11/02/2009 3:34:05 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

MARCH ON WASHINGTON AT NOON THIS THURSDAY: Stop the government health care takeover

WSJ Sums It Up: It's the Worst Bill Ever

UN To Push For A Gun Control Treaty- Obama Agrees

WH Political Director, Patrick Gaspard - ACORN - Behind Scozzafava’s Owens Endorsement

Rush Says Scozzafava Guilty Of Bestiality For Screwing Every RINO In The Country!

Mass. homosexual lobby sending wave of activists to Maine this Tuesday for "get out the vote."


1,982 posted on 11/02/2009 11:33:35 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All
 Absentee voter fraud may play a significant role in New Jersey’s gubernatorial election. If that happens, I’m sure the Justice Department will be right on it.
 
“Pink Slip” Tea Party Puts Elected Officials On Notice.
 

“He’s Immature, He’s Inexperienced — In Over His Head.” Really, a mistake to pick this fight. More here. “Let’s face it: what’s most threatening to the Obamists isn’t merely what Rush says, it’s his lack of fear in doing so.”

But as Frank Luntz noted, people aren’t afraid of Obama anymore. Which will force him to fall back on . . . substance.

UPDATE: A reader suggests I was too pithy. I meant it was a mistake for the Obama people to pick a fight with Rush Limbaugh — especially in making it personal with the NFL thing. He’s going after them hammer-and-tongs, and this phrase was carefully chosen to be repeated a lot, and to stick.

 
 Wilbur Ross Sees ‘Huge’ Commercial Real Estate Crash
 
Well, having dubbed this debacle "the recoveryless recovery," I'd mention that malls and stores aren't much use without jobs... you know, that mystical concept that seems to evade most central-planner, big government types, like those plaguing DC and the state capitols.

Besides the county's first billion-dollar Fortress O' Yuppies falling in to default, and the condo tower down the street being chained and abandoned for months, I note increasingly vacant storefronts.

From where I observe things, the bottom looks like this:

Of course, it will all be better after we get our Skittle-shatting Unicorn:

...and our first trillion Mo'BamaBucks:

Not to mention my free tank of gas...

Peggy the Moocher


But all will be well...

YES, IT WOULD BE BAD TO BLOW YOUR CREDIBILITY WITH HYPE: Fresh Warnings On Climate Overstatement.

DEVAL PATRICK LOVES HIM SOME RED-LIGHT CAMERAS: And the campaign donations from red-light camera companies. (Via Michael Silence, who comments: “It’s nice to see some pols finally coming out and acknowledging the devices are cash cams.” In more ways than one!)

WSJ: Stimulus And The Jobless Recovery. “The unemployment rate, now at 9.8%, has continued to rise, and job losses have remained at high levels throughout the stimulus period. Few will be comforted by the good-news-only claim that the stimulus ‘created or saved’ over one million jobs.”

Well, it may or may not be a recovery, but it’s certainly jobless so far . . .TAXPROF: A 95.2% Tax Rate?

This Is Not Your Grandma's Humane Society

Inside the Humane Society of the United States;

Last night in Los Angeles, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) president Wayne Pacelle showed why he’s been able to turn a group that sounds as if it’s all about protecting puppies and kittens into an animal-rights lobbying force with talons. He’s looking to sink those talons into people who have the audacity to eat or sell meat, wear leather, go to circuses, or enjoy hunting and fishing – in other words, 99 percent of America.

In front of a hand-picked crowd of HSUS supporters who attended last night’s “town hall meeting” at the Ebell of Los Angeles, Pacelle rallied the troops with a fight song:

"We have to create a clamor for change ... You can get further with a kind word and a gun than a kind word alone."

He attributed the latter quote to notorious gangster Al Capone, who seems like an odd inspiration for a supposedly peaceful movement. But animal-rights extremists are far from peaceful. One of Pacelle’s own staffers, Josh Balk, told the HSUS-sponsored “Taking Action For Animals” that “there are very few instances that companies just refuse to move with a friendly conversation … The animals can’t wait for people to come to a revelation themselves. Sometimes it does take force.”

HSUS sounds more and more like PETA and the terrorist Animal Liberation Front every day.

It’s been well documented that HSUS spends only a tiny fraction – less than four percent – of its budget directly funding animal shelters. If you’re wondering how it spends the other roughly $100 million in its budget every year, you might consider the cost of renting out the posh Wilshire Ebell Theatre, providing the supporters-only crowd with a catered coffee service, and hiring four burly security guards to keep out the riff-raff.

Sorry, Wayne. We got in anyway.

Posted by Kate at 10:21 AM| Comments (26)
 
Obama Continues Slide – Down 33 Points Since January
Monday, November 2, 2009, 5:45 AM
Jim Hoft

The radical in the White House continued his slide in October.
obama slippage
(Rasmussen)
His approval has slid 33 points since January.
Rasmussen reported that his daily approval rating is at -13:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 27% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13.

…Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President’s performance. Fifty-two percent (52%) disapprove. It’s sometimes easy to get caught up in the day-to-day fluctuations of the tracking poll and miss the longer-term trend. Rasmussen Reports also compiles the data on a month-by-month basis which shows that the President’s ratings slipped a bit in October after stabilizing in September.

Related… Obamamania gives way to lukewarm support.


1,983 posted on 11/02/2009 3:23:18 PM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All
U.S. Tops in Energy Resources
 
Living high on the hog!!
 
 
Talk about change!  First Ladies do have assistants. 
 
Michelle Obama        =          twenty-two
 Laura Bush              =          one
 Hillary Clinton         =          three
 Jackie Kennedy        =          one

 
First Lady Requires More Than Twenty Attendants
The Canadian Free Press

July 7, 2009
 
Dr. Paul L. Williams

"In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much," she said. "See, that's why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, " Michelle Obama

 
No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn't perform any official duties. But this hasn't deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.
How things have changed! If you're one of the tens of millions of Americans  earning subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Ms Michelle are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by John Q. Public:

 
1. $172,200 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)
2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)
3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary)
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)
5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa E (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
6. $90,000 - Medina , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
7. $84,000 - Leyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)
8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)
9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)
10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
11. $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
12.. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)
13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)
14. $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)
15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary To The First Lady)
16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide To The First Lady)
17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)
18. $43,000 - Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)
19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)
21. $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)
22. $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady)
(total = $1,591,200 in annual salaries)

 
There has NEVER been anyone in the White House at any time who has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life. One wonders why she needs so much help, at taxpayer expense, when even Hillary, only had three; Jackie Kennedy one; Laura Bush one; and prior to Mamie Eisenhower social help came from the President's own pocket.

 Note: This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to Europe .
 
Copyright 2009 Canada Free Press.Com http://canadafreepress.com/index. php/article/ 12652
 
Yes, I know, The Canadian Free Press has to publish this because the USA media is too scared they might be considered racist.
 
After reading the above, about the "movin' on up!" of The First Clydesdale ( HT: anti-idiotarian rottweiler ) read this, by a real woman:
 
Life is Better than Death…
Monday, November 2, 2009, 6:55 PM
The_Anchoress

Start with this story highlighted over at Hot Air:

After eight years working at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas, including two years as its director, Abby Johnson suddenly decided that she could no longer participate in abortions. What pushed Johnson out was both an ultrasound of an abortion and a renewed emphasis on the cash-generating business in the failing economy. After being told to deemphasize prevention and market for abortions, Johnson finally had enough…

Then check out this terrific video from our friends at NET-TV

Life brings love. New life, new love, fading life renewed love. And By the world’s measure, the power of a woman lies in what she “does.” By Christ’s measure – by God’s – woman is intrinsically powerful, simply in her being. She is afforded the power, freedom and respect to “make” or “break” mankind’s connection to the Creator.

Life is better than death. Life makes the connection.

 
 A Generation of Sociopaths
 
Better read this- twice...

House Medical Plan

I had a bunch of stuff to post on, but I am not feeling well at all, probably due to taking off the flat, putting on doughnut, getting tire fixed, and putting on tire in the cold wet. Most of the time I do pretty well, but either the flu blew something loose internally or this is my old trouble back again, because this morning my muscles had stiffened so badly that I was nearly immobile.

So I decided that since I was in pain anyway, I'd do some research on that 1,990 page health care bill. I didn't get too far even with the summary before I cracked up laughing and did myself further damage. I think I tore something loose in my rib cartilage. So be warned - you might want to exit to safety before reading on.

Here is the summary and it is only 11 pages. This has many awesome features worthy of Dilbert, but the one that did me an injury is on top of page 2. The bill contains a mandate to provide coverage for businesses, and if they don't, they have to pay 8% of wages to the exchange. For a lot companies currently, that would be a good deal, so I have always seen this as a severe problem that will shift coverage to the subsidized exchanges.. But this - this takes it a step further:
Small business protections. Small businesses with annual payrolls below $500,000 are exempt from requirements to offer or contribute to coverage, including the 8 percent payroll contribution for failure to provide health benefits to their workers. As a result of this exemption, 86 percent of America’s businesses are exempt from any requirement to provide coverage to their employees. The 8 percent requirement is phased in for small businesses with an annual payroll between $500,000 and $750,000.
Well, there are many ways to structure businesses and employment, and I suspect that within three or four years after passage, it will be more than 86 percent. For example, there is employee leasing - the legal structure of which is that your employees work for another business. It would not be difficult for some large employee leasing firm to set up a franchise system in which most employees worked for small units that basically were shell firms below the 500K which would then contract employees to much larger firms for a percentage cut of payroll - say 2%. How much do these DC bozos think the average employee earns? Since one person can own any number of these luscious little profit centers, I think I'll plan to own about 20. It takes paratisization to a new level, but hey, in the land of the crooked only the honest are slaves.

Needless to say, this is going to be like a dagger to the heart of large businesses in the US, because smaller low wage competitors just got handed an 8% of payroll price advantage. The natural result would be to force all businesses to the lowest level of wages, shift employment structures massively, and throw most employees on the exchange.

Roaring with laughter as the light dawned, I shot over to Coyote, who sees the writing on his wall in the form of "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin".
The implications for my business is staggering. I have already mentioned in the previous post that it imposes an 8% tax on wages on my business — a business where 50% of revenues go to wages and margins are in the 6-7% range. You do the math.

Worse for us is that nearly all our competitors are ma and pa companies with less than $500,000 in wages a year, meaning that our competitors will be exempt from these taxes, giving them an automatic 4% cost advantage over our company. Great.

Twelve seconds after this thing passes, I will be on my phone to my attorney to figure out if it is possible to break my company into multiple corporations that all fall under the 500,000 wage limit. The paperwork and administration for this would be a huge hassle, but it can’t be as high as 4% of sales.
Well, the other option is employee leasing, Coyote. I may have just found my next million-dollar idea. Because damn straight, it's going to be easier and cheaper for you to lease them from multiple businesses that provide a unified type of service than split up your whole company. Call me. We'll go into business together. We'll make millions the first year. That is, we will if I can keep my rib cartilage whole.

It just goes on and on like this; the incentives in this bill are for all large companies to fire most of their employees and shfit their workforce to part-timers and leased employees. Thus, and I was already in pain from convulsive laughing when I reached the top of page three where what to my wondering eyes appeared but:
Government responsibility. It is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that essential health coverage is affordable and available to all Americans by establishing consumer protections and insurance reforms, affordability credits and overseeing a fair marketplace for people to choose among options.
Which immediately translated in my mind to:
Government responsibility: It is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that essential health coverage is affordable and available only to all Americans as wards of the federal government by ensuring that their employment is part-time or temporary, and low-paid, and by destroying all unions. Say goodbye to your way of life! Get used to kissing the ass of your Congress Critter!
I think anyone who knows anything about business will find these 11 pages to be a true eye-opener. Small businesses will be eligible to buy coverage through the exchange after 2013, so that's when you can look to get hired again. You ain't gonna be making much, though, because there is a huge incentive for corporations to lower their costs by ensuring that the government pays a good portion of your benefits:
Affordability credits. Provides financial assistance for premiums and cost sharing for individuals and families with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). Affordability credits are offered on a sliding scale such that premiums range from 1.5 percent of income at the lowest tier to 12 percent at 400 percent FPL. Provides additional assistance for households with incomes up to 400 percent FPL by limiting cost-sharing to 3 percent of plan costs at the lowest tier rising to 30 percent of plan costs at 350-400 percent of FPL. Specific out-of-pocket maximums are added to protect individuals at each income tier.

You can access the FPLs for 2009 here; they are adjusted each year and published in the Federal Register. It is a beautiful thing.

Remember that exercise a few posts ago in which we determined that the US median household income for 2008 was $50,303? Take a married couple with one child earning $50,303. That's three persons. The FPL in the 48 states is $18,310, so their income is 2.74 of the FPL. The federal government is going to be subsidizing these folks. Their premium cap is going to be around 5K, and their out of pocket is going to be about 7-8K. If the family had high costs, it would pay them to get less salary; no doubt their employers would be happy to comply. Because if they get their wages down to 250% of FPL - 45,775, their out of pocket cap drops by 4K, which after taxes is going to be net gain in income for them, especially considering their premiums are going to drop more than $1,000 and their copay is going to drop 7%. Since only families and individuals with high medical costs are going to be buying insurance (see the end of this post), that's a massive incentive to fix it up with your employer.

Needless to say, you can count on federal wage tax receipts dropping as this thing goes into effect, which is why CBOs scoring is ludicrous.

Medicaid eligibility goes to 150% of FPL. That's another wage suppressor.

The revenue provisions are impressive:
Revenue. The bill would impose a surcharge on taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $1 million (married filing a joint return) and $500,000 (single) at a rate of 5.4 percent. The bill also: delays implementation of worldwide interest allocation until 2020; limits eligibility for reduced treaty withholding rates; codifies economic substance doctrine; information reporting for payments made to corporations; eliminates nontaxable reimbursements of over the counter medications from HSAs, HRAs, and health FSAs; limits contributions to health FSAs to $2,500; increases the penalty for non-health related distributions from HSAs (from 10 percent to 20 percent); eliminates the tax deduction for employers who receive a government subsidy for providing retiree prescription drug coverage; impose an excise tax of 2.5 percent on medical devices used in the United States; and ensures tax parity for employer-provided coverage for domestic partners and other non-dependents. The bill also clarifies that an employee’s share of premiums for employer-provided coverage offered through the Exchange may be paid on a pre-tax basis through a cafeteria plan, but Exchange coverage that is not employer-offered is not eligible to be offered through a cafeteria plan.
Of course stuff like taxing retiree prescription plan benefits pretty much ensures that employers will cut them, and since many people in their 50s and early 60s rely on this coverage, that's going to be a real privation for them. The HSA and FSA cuts eliminate one way of providing highly economically efficient insurance; I guess Congress doesn't like economic efficiency. Taxing medical devices will directly raise costs paid by insurers and thus insurance, but heck, most people will be receiving their coverage through the government exchange anyway with 8 years. No corporation can survive when it raises its costs above those of its competitors.

It also appears to take an axe to Medicare reimbursements through a bunch of nice-sounding garbage that really gives a bunch of excuses to cut payments and increase harassment of doctors and institutional providers.

You might wonder why, since this thing is supposed to be so wonderful, we would need an extensive program of grants for school-based clinics. I wonder why too, but I assume this is supposed to cover reproductive services.

If this were not in fact serious, it would be wonderfully funny parody. As it is, it qualifies as a Greek-style tragedy.

The taxes suggested are not going to be nearly enough to pay for this. There just aren't that many tax returns at that level; even if this tax were applied to all AGI for tax returns over $250,000 it wouldn't come near to paying for it.

Because premiums are going to go through the roof! The penalty for not buying coverage is 2.5% (That's $250 per $10,000 of AGI) of AGI above the filing threshold. The filing threshold for singles is above 9K for 2009. Nobody can be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions, so many moderate-income individuals will pay the penalty and just buy coverage through the exchange when they really need it.

Suppose you are a young person making $30,000. Your fee for not buying coverage is going to be under $550 annually - thousands less than buying coverage. If you are in good health, you'd be a fool to buy the coverage; it will be there when you need it and you are only disadvantaging yourself.

Altogether the most idiotic piece of legislation in a long time. It will add trillions to the deficit in short order and jack health insurance rates sky-high within a few years of going into full operation. Needless to say it is not sustainable - it is, in fact, designed not to be sustainable for the reason of not offending anyone by forcing them to pay for it, so of course it will be repealed later in sections. At that point it will actually be cheaper for many high-income persons to accept a 17-20% wage tax for universal health. So that's how we'll get there; employers will be forced to drop coverage and exchange premiums for those not subsidized on the exchange will be so massve (20-30K annually?) that the Ann Althouses of the world will sign on to universal as a way of keeping more of their money.

I have never laughed so hard over a piece of legislation, but in the end it will be an expensive bit of comedy. The Medicare provisions are lethal to health care for the elderly, I think.

Economically speaking, it would appear that the individuals who drafted this bill have not a clue about business in America. This does not surprise me, but is forcing destructuring on American business truly a good idea at an economic time of such diifficulty? One would suspect not.

But then, those who have brought us fake jobs for $160,000 a job probably think this is cost-effective. I don't know. Businesses have to be alert to this type of thing; I don't think the feedback will be good, and one wonders what type of cynical promises have been made in back rooms.

If you are interested in simulating what this will cost over time, most of the data you need can be found on page 7, Table 1 of the 2007 IRS tax return summary and in the ensuing pages. You won't get much more than 80 billion from the surcharge, if that.

// posted by MaxedOutMama @ 10/30/2009 05:42:00 PM  10 Use These Comments links to this post
 
"In the last year, the government has overtly shifted from a stance of more or less equitable taxation for the purpose of solving problems to one of taking what they can get in order to increase their own power and pay off cronies. The difference from the past is one of both scale an atmospherics--they're barely even trying to keep it hidden now. It's no accident that the proposed health care plans are very expensive and won't actually deliver any greater benefits to anyone."
 
Last-minute NY 23rd poll: Conservative Doug Hoffman surges, but … “The undecided voters there have doubled to nearly 1 in 5, making the final hours volatile.”
 

AP: Tuesday Elections Not About Obama

November 2nd, 2009

From the DNC’s Associated Press:

Handful of elections shed light on US politics

By Liz Sidoti, AP National Political Writer Mon Nov 2

WASHINGTON – Most Americans won’t vote Tuesday.

Still, a handful of elections in a few states will give hints about this country’s state of mind, provide lessons for both Republicans and Democrats, and shed light on answers to a few important questions a year before pivotal 2010 midterm contests.

Among them: Did President Barack Obama’s campaigning in Virginia and New Jersey persuade the diverse voting coalition that lifted him to victory in 2008 to turn out for Democratic candidates in 2009? Did fickle independents stick with the Democratic Party? Did the out-of-power GOP overcome fissures within its ranks to find a winning strategy?

On Tuesday, Virginia and New Jersey are choosing governors, voters in upstate New York and northern California are deciding who should fill two vacant congressional seats, and New York City and Atlanta are picking mayors. Maine will vote on whether to permit gay marriage while Ohio will choose whether to allow casinos.

These races are hardly bellwethers; people are voting on local issues and personalities. Still, national forces such as the recession are having an effect, and Obama has spent considerable time campaigning this fall, particularly for candidates in Virginia and New Jersey…

Despite Obama’s involvement in the races, even Republicans caution against reading too much into the election’s results.

"It’s a great overstatement to say this is a referendum on President Obama, but his policies have had a lot of effect on people’s thinking," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, told CNN on Sunday. "People are worried about jobs. … Most Americans can’t understand why the government keeps spending so much money. They don’t see much effect from it." …

Both Corzine and Democratic candidate R. Creigh Deeds in Virginia desperately need party loyalists and Obama 2008 voters to swamp the polls…

Look to Virginia to see how Republicans may try to rebound next fall.

If McDonnell wins, it will be partly because he focused on pocketbook issues rather than emphasizing social issues even though he’s a conservative and Deeds attacked him as outside of the mainstream.

This may be the take away: The economy trumps all. Social conservatives get on board.

Conversely, a special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District already has provided a troubling lesson for the GOP. The race underscored a deep schism between the Republican Party and its conservative base.

The party divided between GOP candidate Dierdre Scozzafava, who supports abortion rights and gay marriage, and Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate. That split threatened to give Democrat Bill Owens the win. Then, trailing badly in polls, Scozzafava bowed out Saturday, and the GOP establishment swung behind Hoffman as it looked to ensure a Republican victory in the longtime GOP district.

One day later, Scozzafava underscored the Republican Party split by endorsing Owens.

In that case, this is the take away: The GOP still isn’t unified — no matter the scorecard on Tuesday.

It sure sounds like the Associated Press is afraid that the Republicans are going to do well on Tuesday.

Of course it will only be a handful of voters. And how they vote won’t mean anything. Least of all, will it say anything about Mr. Obama.

Even the Republican’s agree, at least according to the AP:

Despite Obama’s involvement in the races, even Republicans caution against reading too much into the election’s results.

"It’s a great overstatement to say this is a referendum on President Obama, but his policies have had a lot of effect on people’s thinking," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, told CNN on Sunday. "People are worried about jobs. … Most Americans can’t understand why the government keeps spending so much money. They don’t see much effect from it." …

Funny, but it sounds to us like Mr. Barbour was saying just the opposite, and that these elections will be influenced by Mr. Obama’s disastrous policies.

But never mind all that.

If McDonnell wins [in Virginia], it will be partly because he focused on pocketbook issues rather than emphasizing social issues even though he’s a conservative and Deeds attacked him as outside of the mainstream.

This may be the take away: The economy trumps all. Social conservatives get on board.

You see, this has nothing to do with conservatism. It’s just the economy, stupid. (And everyone knows that liberals are just as fiscally responsible as conservatives – if not more so.)

And in case we still haven’t gotten it, the AP helpfully spells out another propaganda point from its DNC masters:

Conversely, a special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District already has provided a troubling lesson for the GOP. The race underscored a deep schism between the Republican Party and its conservative base.

[T]his is the take away: The GOP still isn’t unified — no matter the scorecard on Tuesday.

The “take away” here is that our one party media is certainly “unified.”

They won’t let this or any election be seen as a repudiation of their idol, Mr. Obama, no matter what happens.

8 Comments »

Lead Story

Election Day primer — and pushback against preemptive Democrat-media spin

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 2, 2009 09:55 PM

Joshua Culling at the National Taxpayers Union has a handy primer on the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, plus overviews of state ballot initiatives across the country.

Read and bookmark here.

For NY-23, check 73wire, The Other McCain, Riehl World View, and TCOT Report.

Mark Blumenthal at Pollster.com has analysis on NY-23 polls and concludes:

…my experience conducting surveys for political campaigns, especially in Congressional districts in non-presidential year races, taught me the value of the vote history available on registered voter lists. More often than not, surveys I helped conduct based on such lists came closer representing the true likely electorate than media RDD samples which, like the Siena survey, disclose little to nothing about their likely voter screen or demographic composition.

Add to that the potential advantages of a self-administered automated survey in getting voters to provide more honest answers about whether they plan to vote and who they plan to vote for, and I find it difficult to ignore the PPP results. Hoffman looks like he’s headed to a comfortable victory.

Democrats and their media water-carriers got a head-start with this preemptive AP piece downplaying anticipated GOP wins.

So:

Tea Party movement? Doesn’t mean anything.

Nationwide government health care takeover revolt? Doesn’t mean anything.

Gallup poll showing “Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group?” Doesn’t mean anything.

Tomorrow doesn’t mean anything.

Tomorrow doesn’t mean anything.

Tomorrow doesn’t mean anything.

Tomorrow doesn’t mean anything.

If they plug their ears, stamp their feet, and say it often enough, maybe they can wish tomorrow and the conservative surge all away.

***

Notice I said conservative surge. Not Republican. Read and send Doctor Zero’s excellent essay on the Stupid Party to every clueless GOP leader you know. Excerpt:

The radical nature of the current Administration makes the idea of “moderate” compromise laughable. What’s the moderate position on freedom-crushing trillion-dollar health care and environmentalist legislation? They’re okay, as long as the Democrats pinky-swear to keep the cost under $800 billion? That’s the kind of promise no politician could keep, even if it was made in earnest. A moderate Republican is someone who lives in a state of perpetual surprise as he ponders the monthly bills for nanny-state government. What’s the point of electing people who are guaranteed to spend the rest of their political careers complaining about how they’ve been played for fools?

Too much of the Republicans’ “Stupid Party” strategy is based on the mechanics of getting people with little elephants on their campaign signs elected. They view the election as the conclusion of a contest, when in fact it’s only the beginning. A successful Republican Party doesn’t have to be ideologically rigid, but it should insist on candidates who possess an intellectual foundation of conservative theory, and the ability to explain it at least as well as the thousands of people posting comments on conservative blogs.

***

Brace for Democrat dirty deeds, led by — who else? — ACORN.

Posted in: ACORN Watch, Media Bias, NY-23, Politics
 
comments (31)
 
"...it’s the Democrats who’re worked up to near-panic and psychosis over the races Michelle has mentioned. That tells you something... the Dems are in overdrive, desperately yelling “Please don’t look! Nothing to see here!!”"
 
"The real battle won’t be a between Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats don’t have a prayer for holding the House as Democrats. The real battle will be between true Conservatives and Scozzafava-type RINOs who will try to win as “Republicans” but act like Democrats."
 
"The WH has sent Biden in, the Administration is taking this one personal – the Administration’s perceived power and prestige is on the line. Hence the panic among Dem politicos."

1,984 posted on 11/03/2009 2:03:07 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

In Vote, Watch the Intensity Factor

As Michelle Malkin likes to say,

"Can you hear us Now?"

WE SURROUND YOU DRIEHAUS ,Cincinnati Tea Party Rally event.

Is Doug Hoffman The Future Of American Politics? (Hopes Rising for Novice Pols)

Last-minute NY 23rd poll: Conservative Doug Hoffman surges, but ... (make sure you vote)

Report: W.H. Engineered NY-23 Endorsement

THE GIANT NO ONE SEES: RED REVOLUTION COMES TO "GREEN GIANT" BRAZIL

Protests Brew in UK Over Radical Islam


1,985 posted on 11/03/2009 3:31:11 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

Big 3 race live thread - (Vir-Gov, NJ-Gov, NY-23)

NJ Democrat Party Hires Gangbangers For Voter Influence Campaign - With Video

Houston Tea Party rally draws more than 10,000

Obama 2007 Accused George W. Bush Of A Photo-Op With The Troops

Report Details Harassment and Anti-religious Bigotry Since Prop. 8

Democracy vs. Terrorism - Congress, UN Vote On Goldstone Israel Gaza Report

 
32 From a piece at American Thinker

You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down -- [up] man's old -- old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.
Reagan

Gore’s Dual Role: Advocate and Investor (Al set to become 1st "Carbon Billionaire")


1,986 posted on 11/03/2009 11:52:51 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All
HOUSTON TEA PARTY RALLY draws more than 10,000.

I heard Tim Cox, author of Get Out Of Our House! a book about a campaign for replacing the entire Congress, on local talk-radio today and there were a lot of enthusiastic calls. Everybody’s focusing on today’s special elections, but there’s a lot of other stuff bubbling under the surface all over.

this latest Rasmussen-heavy health care chart will terrify wavering Democrats.”

 

JERRY POURNELLE:

One estimate is that 500 nuclear power plants would make America energy independent. I think that is optimistic in that an abundance of electricity doesn’t mean we won’t need to import oil for transportation needs, but it would certainly take us a long way toward independence. The cost would be in the order of 2 billion per plant (I would think less; that is the first one might be 4 billion, but the 400th would be considerably less than a billion; but call it 2 billion). That is one trillion dollars, comparable to the TARP or stimulus — and for once a deficit would be financing something real.

It is less than the cost of the war, and less than the war is going to cost if we continue. Cheap reliable energy would be one major step toward economic recovery. Low cost energy plus freedom will bring prosperity. If we have the energy we can work on the freedom. The whole thing could be accomplished in four years. Of course the ravening wolves in the Congress won’t do it — but then it’s not likely that this is the kind of hope and change we can believe in from the current White House.

But it would work. France knows the value of nuclear power. Why can’t we learn it?

You’d think that “be more like France” would sell these days, but nooo. . .

Gangbangers Going Door to Door to ‘Get Out the Vote’ for New Jersey Dems (Video)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 6:09 AM
Jim Hoft

The poor SEIU and ACORN thugs must be heart-broken.
Democrats are now using gangbangers and criminals for their ‘Get Out the Vote’ efforts in New Jersey.

The Election Journal released this video today:
From the website:

The officer, who’s name we are with holding, specifically heard the men discussing that he was a police officer and that they now know where he lives. The officer confronted the men and they took off. He contacted the local police who responded and caught up with them and about a dozen other men a few blocks away. According to the police report, the men were known criminals and when asked why they were in the neighborhood they stated they were “campaigning for the Democratic Party.”

In 2004 the liberal organization ACT hired dozens of felons some convicted of sex offenses, assault and burglary – to conduct door-to-door voter registration drives in Missouri and at least two other swing states.


1,987 posted on 11/03/2009 1:33:50 PM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

Election Night Roundup

Foxnews: Absentee Ballot Surge Raises Fears Of Voter Fraud In New Jersey (Video)

Eric Sprott: "Dead Government Walking"

In the Shadow of Leviathan: America’s Arising Fear-Based Society

Little fanfare for anniversary of Obama's election


1,988 posted on 11/03/2009 4:16:32 PM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

Obama Election Defeat Termed 'Astonishing'

Photobucket 
 
MY ELECTION TAKE IN THE NEW YORK POST: The Obama Magic Has Faded.  OUCH: “Obama goes to Europe and comes back with no Olympics. Goes to NJ and his candidate loses. Same in Va. Maybe he should stay at home since he comes back empty handed each time.”
 
If you have the time & patience for it, scrolling thru this thread will prove entertaining:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2377346/posts
Big 3 race live thread - (Vir-Gov, NJ-Gov, NY-23)
Me | 11/3/09 | GeorgiaDawg32

If not, poke "skip to comments," then "last," and scroll back to get the gist of it.

Looks like a pretty resounding repudiation of Kommander ZerØ to me...
 

TALKING ABOUT THE NATIONAL MEANING OF TODAY’S ELECTIONS, over at The Hill.

UPDATE: Liveblogging the results. So far it’s a GOP sweep in Virginia, but I’d be surprised if New Jersey finishes at Christie 55, Corzine 38.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Associated Press, NBC and Fox are calling New Jersey for Christie.

[Yeah, it said Corzine there for a minute -- sorry, crossed neurons or something as I meant Christie. Drove to Asheville and back today (the long way around because I-40 is blocked by a landslide) and just wrote a quick oped on the elections, so I'm a bit fried . . . .]

MORE: PoliPundit: GOP Margins in NJ & VA bigger than 1993.

Lead Story

The GOP elite’s $1 million object lesson — and the message of NY-23

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 4, 2009 02:14 AM

Conservatives owe NY-23 candidate Doug Hoffman immeasurable gratitude. He overcame impossible odds (single digits just a month ago) to come within two points of defeating Democrat Bill Owens. Hoffman had zero name recognition. National Republican Party officials dumped nearly $1 million into the race on behalf of radical leftist GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava, who then turned around, endorsed Owens and siphoned off 5 percent of the vote with her name still on the ballot after she dropped out.

Conservatives’ money went to pay for specious attack ads against Hoffman run by the NRCC like this.

Conservatives’ money went to support a GOP candidate who shares the same socialist alliances with fellow SEIU/ACORN/New Party/Working Families Party activist Patrick Gaspard, the Obama White House political director who intervened in the race to secure Scozzafava’s endorsement of Owens.

Hoffman’s candidacy illuminated the stark difference between GOP political opportunists willing to pimp out their endorsements to any old ACORN-embracing, Working Families Party-consorting, Big Labor crony who puts an “R” by her name — and movement conservatives who refuse to “mooooderate” for the politically expedient sake of mooooderation as dictated by out-of-touch Beltway party leaders. The NRCC/RNC’s $1 million debacle will cost much more than that.

As I’ve repeated many times over the last several weeks:

One thing is guaranteed at the conclusion of the NY-23 special congressional election: The Beltway Republicans who endorsed radical leftist Dede Scozzafava are going to have indelible egg stains on their faces. And GOP establishment fund-raising organizations will be the poorer for it.

To illustrate the point: This blog now has a regular feature spotlighting readers’ RNC rejected solicitation forms of the day.

Today’s rejected RNC donor form comes from reader Bud:

Which brings me to my syndicated column today.

Hoffman may have lost narrowly, but NY-23 is a much broader victory for conservatives who believe the Republican Party should stand for core limited government principles. Scozzafava, who was endorsed by far Left blogger Markos Moulitsas Zuniga and backed by Planned Parenthood, the National Education Association, and card-check-promoting trade unions, was denied the congressional seat because movement conservatives refused to support Arlen Specter in a skirt. This is a victory of principle.

Better a donkey in office that acts like a donkey than a donkey in elephant’s clothing making a complete ass of the GOP.

Moreover, NY-23 is a victory for conservatives who refuse to be marginalized in the public square by either the unhinged left or the establishment right. A humble accountant from upstate New York exposed the hypocrisy of GOP leaders trying to solicit funds from conservatives by lambasting Pelosi and the Dems’ support for high taxes, Big Labor, and bigger government — while using conservatives’ money to subsidize a high-taxing, Big Labor-pandering, bigger government radical. The repercussions will be felt well beyond NY-23’s borders. Conservatives’ disgust with the status quo has been heard and felt. They have been silent too long. They will be silent no more.

The GOP leadership knows it cannot afford to rest on its laurels, continue business as usual, and bask in yesterday’s electoral victories without confronting its abysmal abdication of principled conservative leadership in NY-23.

As Hoffman said in his concession speech, “This is only one fight in the battle.”

Onward. Upward. Rightward.

***

Who are you calling “extremist?”
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009

Here is one of the loudest messages of the 2009 off-off-year elections: Conservatives in America will no longer let their opponents define them out of the mainstream. They will not submit to Democrats. Or to the media. Or to Beltway Republican capitulationists. They will not “rebrand.” They will not sit down. They will not shut up.

Just this past weekend, Democrat Rep. Jim Moran attacked the Republican candidates for governor and attorney general in his state of Virginia as the “Taliban ticket.”

New York Times columnist Frank Rich decried the Right’s “Jacobins” and “Stalinists” who he said joined a “putsch” by supporting Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over ACORN-embracing, Big Labor-promoting, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, tax-and-spend Republican Dede Scozzafava in New York’s 23rd congressional special election.

And senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett told ABC’s “This Week” that the grass-roots conservative-vs.-GOP leadership battle over NY-23 showed that the Republican Party leadership was “becoming more and more extreme, and more and more marginalized.”

Let’s talk “extreme.” Valerie Jarrett is the White House official who bragged openly about recruiting disgraced Marxist rabble-rouser Van Jones for the green jobs czar post. She lavished praise on his public career and said she had followed him “for as long as he’s been active out in Oakland.” In Oakland, Jones was working to dismantle California’s juvenile justice system, pitting minorities against police officers, and crusading to free Death Row cop-killer Mumia abu Jamal.

Who are you calling “extreme?”

Jarrett’s White House colleague Patrick Gaspard, Obama’s political director who intervened in the race to convince Scozzafava to endorse the Democrat candidate Bill Owens after she dropped out, was a top organizer at the militant Local 1199 chapter of the Service Employees International Union and an activist/organizer for the New Party and the Working Families Party – both ACORN/Democratic Socialist Association front groups.

Who are you calling “extreme?”

“It’s rather telling,” Jarrett sniffed, “when the Republican Party forces out a moderate Republican and it says, I think, a great deal about where the Republican Party leadership is right now.” It’s rather telling that the White House persists with this pointless marginalization strategy as Gallup polls show conservatives continuing to outnumber moderates and liberals across America.

As I pointed out in my Oct. 16 column, there was never anything moderate about Scozzafava. There was no fiscal conservatism to balance her social radicalism. It wasn’t merely that she was “pro-choice.” But that she was a proud recipient of a pro-abortion award named after eugenics proponent Margaret Sanger.

It wasn’t merely that she favored higher government spending. But that she supported the stimulus that every single House Republican in office opposed, on top of her support for the union-expanding card-check bill, on top of her ambiguous statements on the energy tax-imposing cap-and-trade bill.

Newt Gingrich, who foolishly stood with Scozzafava until she threw herself under the bus over the weekend, piously invoked Reagan and condemned the extreme “purism” of unruly conservatives who wouldn’t keep quiet about Scozzafava’s radical Left agenda.

But conservatives are not demanding “purity.” They are simply abiding by Reagan’s own wise counsel in 1975: “A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.”

The Republican National Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee threw an estimated $900,000 down the toilet for a candidate whose core views and political alliances undermined conservatism’s fundamental beliefs in limited government from day one. It was a reckless expenditure of the GOP base’s hard-earned money and a bitter tuition bill for a teachable moment on the perils of political expediency.

The days when immoderate political operatives and feckless Beltway opportunists could define “moderation” by their own warped yardsticks without pushback are over.

Posted in: GOP, NY-23, Newt Gingrich
 
comments (6)
 
"Could this teachable moment have been any more exemplary? What a perfect illustration of everything that’s wrong with the Beltway Blue Blood Country Club Rockefeller Rock ‘n Rollin Republicans."
 

Civil War: Blue Dogs Warn Liberals, We're Going to Have the Whip-Hand if the GOP Wins Tonight

—Ace

As John Edwards said, There are two Americas.

There are also two "civil wars," one the concern-troll media is forever nattering on about, and the other they paper over and attempt to obscure to avoid problems for their precious Darling Leader.

Via Hot Air.

Posted by Ace at 09:35 PM New Comments Thingy
 
19
That's the sound of David Frum's tits hitting the floor.
 
These Ivy League guys are sharp...BEWARE THE AXIS OF INSTAPUNDIT. “Heaven help us if Harvard ever discovers Twitter.”
 


evil don surber

Oh no!

A blogger at Harvard has discovered that blogs link to one another:

WHY YOU CAN’T GET SWINE FLU VACCINE: “The shortage of swine-flu vaccine results not from drug- company greed or outsize demand but almost entirely from the government’s decision to pander to unfounded and unscientific fear.”

Binding treaty no longer a realistic goal for climate summit, UN chief concedes  Good- faster, please...


1,989 posted on 11/04/2009 12:48:58 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

The Obama magic has faded

The 2009 Republican Victory & What It Means ( Republicans win NJ and VA Governor races)

Flopping Aces ^ |
 
 

In NY-23, Conservatives Win (Erick Erickson of Red State)

"GOP TAKES 2 STATE GOVERNORSHIPS/OBAMA IN PAINFUL SITUATION" (Translation from Top Japan Press)

In Japan, when it comes to OBAMA going into 2010, it really is becoming more and more "Where's the Beef?" Is THIS all this guy was stacked up to be?" Seriously you can really hear it and sense it in Tokyo. People are kind of surprised the American People are turning against him in larger numbers, but they are also amazed he could get a Nobel prize for doing nothing, and they themselves excoriated him over it in some of their major dailies and news weeklies (Newsweek Japan included).

I would say the honeymoom between much of Japan and Obama, is more or less OVER. It was an intense one while it lasted, I will say that.

The Japanese sense strength in man. The Japanese also sense weakness in a man. They know the man now after nearly one year, and that he does not amount to much more than an empty suit who talks a slick game. This election results adds to that impression even more here overseas.

6 posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009 1:00:23 AM by AmericanInTokyo

It's Barack Obama's First Anniversary - But There's Precious Little To Celebrate

Telegraph(UK) ^
Notice how you have to read foreign sources for the simple truth?
 
Photobucket 

Gay-marriage foes claim victory in Maine (Repealed!)

Maine Gay Marriage Results..update-Gay Marriage Loses in Maine

Would you call this a trend?...

Gay marriage has now lost in every state _31 in all_ in which it has been put to a popular vote.

 
The Tenth Amendment Party [Darleen Click]

With today’s elections in New Jersey, Virginia and NY-23, the discussion concerning the GOP and whether or not it will become a true alternative to a statist Democrat Party or remain just an echo will rachet up even more a few degrees.

Smitty at The Other McCain does an excellent job of fisking a whiney Rick Moran who is still pushing the “echo” paradigm. M. Simon presents a balanced view of a national strategy

National Party will likely be around 50% libertarian even if their percent of the party is only 30 to 40%.

I’m against big spending RINOs. I favor libertarian Republicans (fiscally conservative, socially liberal, strong on national defence) where only they can win. You know - California, Illinois, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, New York, New Jersey, etc. Of course it will vary for Congressmen according to the district they represent. For Statewide offices (Senators, Governors, etc.) it is more important than for some Congressional Districts.

The party national platform should reflect that even if social conservatives are the majority of the party.

I agree to the sentiment even if I disagree with the percentages.

The Republican party can be the conservative alternative to the illiberal Democrats and gather libertarians, social liberals and social conservatives under one “tent” ONLY by not allowing the Left to define conservative principles as a call for conservative law. This is where the Echo Party lost its clout and what the Tea Parties underlined — the alternative to Big Centralized Government is not Big Centralized Government but with a “Conservative” Flavor. The alternative is returning power to localities and the people and allowing them to make their own decisions.

Ric Locke

If both parties have the same policies and ideological orientation, there’s no need for two parties. People who want to vote for Big Government, for “compassion” (meaning redistribution, envy, and jealousy of the more fortunate), for a society of dependents who can’t wipe their butts without aid from the Department of Personal Hygiene, are going to vote for Democrats. No amount of “me too!” is going to attract them to Republicans, because Democrats have made those things their emblem and standard. A Republican campaigning on “compassionate conservatism” is behind the curve right from engine start, because the Democrat will always be ahead on that issue.

A GOP platform can still reflect conservative principles while specifically designating social suasion for some and policies on others.

ObamaCare, cap-n-trade, CPSIA and other illiberal Democrat policies spell the final gutting of the Tenth Amendment. In a culture where people can, at a moment’s notice and at their fingertips, choose among a variety of choices in their daily lives (food, music, entertainment, etc) further Democrat rule is one-size-fits-all from everything from what you drive to how you light your home to what toys you’ll be allowed to give your children to what doctor you use (and how that doctor will be allowed to treat you). That is the tent under which the GOP can gather a successful national party.


1,990 posted on 11/04/2009 2:05:28 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

Can You Hear Us NOW?

Lessons from the 2009 election results

(Atlanta Mayor) Norwood and Reed in runoff Dec. 1

You can bet it will be all about race and  Fulton County...
  

Some notable races and measures on state ballots

Gallup: GOP would win the House of Representatives

A deathblow to ObamaCare

Limbaugh on Election Results; Says Obama Candidate Losing NJ Like "Stalin Losing in Moscow" - Video

Who Are You Calling "Extremist"?

The Health Care Disaster in Canada

Major Media Outlets Ignore Report on Energy

Members of the mainstream media — people who call themselves “journalists” — seem to have paid absolutely no attention to a Congressional Research Service report on energy released Oct. 27 — this, despite the fact that two energy-related measures (i.e., the Kerry-Boxer and Waxman-Markey) are at the center of heated debate now taking place on Capitol Hill.
 

UNESCO Unhinged

“The guidelines have children ages five to eight learning about masturbation in school, with a more detailed discussion for children ages nine to 15.”

The Pain In Maine II (Homosexual Militant Admits Target is Children)

Blow to Obama as Republican governors win in two states that backed him last year


1,991 posted on 11/04/2009 11:56:57 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All
 If you can get to Washington on Thursday, you should go.
 
Can You Hear Us, Now?

Lessons From Election Night. “Obama will still be president for another three years, but the mystique is gone. New Jersey just taught Democrats in Congress a big lesson — Obama can’t get them re-elected.”

Yeah, that’s my take, too.

UPDATE: More from Michael Barone.

 

BYRON YORK: In Virginia and New Jersey, Health Care Was A Losing Issue.

Dick Morris: A Deathblow To ObamaCare.

Mmm, mmm, mmm

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 4, 2009 09:00 AM

Glenn Reynolds says the “Obama magic has faded.”

The glow is gone.

The swagga has sagged.

Indeed:

In fact, the elections underscored Obama’s political weakness just one year after his triumphant victory over Republican moderate John McCain.

The Obama invincibility that was so much in evidence then seems to have lost its power. People can argue the reasons why these elections, all in places Obama carried handily, were so close. But if he were the political marvel he was thought to be, these races wouldn’t have been contests, but walkovers. So one consequence of this Election Day is the end of his special political magic.

That’s no surprise — as that magic was a largely substanceless froth whipped up by campaign consultants and compliant big-media cheerleaders.

Yes, reality is finally settling in.

Whether it ever reaches the cult of Obama in the classroom is another story…

69 Comments
 
"...dear “leader” is at it again. He has shut down Yucca Valley. A place we have worked on for 30 years, and poured billions into, in order to be able to store Nuclear waste. Which means possible shut down of the few Nuclear plants we have, and of a certainty, no new ones..."
 

– did y’all see this story at BreitBart’s Big Hollywood?

11 Uncovered Videos Show School Children Performing Praises to Obama

Secret copyright treaty leaks. It’s bad. Very bad.

The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama’s administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It’s bad.

Doesn’t seem to be a lot of concern for...  freedom emanating from this Administration.

End Of Youtube

And an internet censor's wet dream;

The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to "national security" concerns, has leaked. It's bad.

Posted by Kate at 11:44 AM| Comments (16)

Even TorStar Says "Doomed"

Both sides of the gun-control debate believe the Conservatives now have enough Commons votes to give parliamentary approval in principle to a private member's bill to kill the registry for rifles and shotguns.

The vote late Wednesday is on the second reading of the bill, which would send it to a committee for more study and possible amendment before it comes back to the Commons, and later the Senate, for a final decision.

Related

Posted by Kate at 12:24 PM| Comments (36)
 
security camera systems, all you ever wanted to know
 
Obama Not Watching the Results Tonight …Update: Watched HBO Special About Himself Instead
Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 11:53 AM
Jim Hoft

Robert Gibbs told reporters that President Obama is not watching the results tonight.
Politico reported:

Hours after urging reporters not to draw sweeping conclusions from Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told POLITICO President Barack Obama wasn’t even keeping an eye on the results.

“He’s not watching returns,” Gibbs said.

The Obama administration and other top Democrats have consistently tried to play down the import of this week’s contests, which Republicans have sought to portray as a referendum on the Democratic-led government in Washington.

In Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Gibbs dismissed suggestions that the two governor’s races and a special election in upstate New York could be a preview of the 2010 congressional midterms.

“I don’t think, looking at the two gubernatorial races, you can draw with any great insight what’s going to happen a year from now,” he said.

UPDATE: Barack Obama watched an HBO special about himself instead.
What a shock.


1,992 posted on 11/04/2009 3:37:26 PM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All
New "copyright" law?
Better read this:
NY-23, Free Speech & the Fog -UPDATED
Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 11:24 AM
The_Anchoress

Read this.

The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama’s administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It’s bad.
…ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet — and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living — if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.

Read all of it.

This is the biggest fish that needs frying. If you don’t have free speech, you don’t have free anything else.

“Remaking America” should be called “The Fog of Obama.” Except, it’s not just Obama, or his assorted rights-eroding, speech-silencing, sovereignty-surrendering, cognitive-dissonance-embracing, and utterly hypocritical elitist pals.

We are living in an era of sublime phoniness – phoniness such as Holden Caulfield never imagined or articulated – and the one tool that can penetrate through that increasingly dense and lingering fog of fakery, the internet, is being seriously imperiled.

We need to call out, “unmask, unmask, unmask,” and solidly reject the hypocrisy we have too long acquiesced to in our government and our leadership, within both parties.

Don’t be fooled into thinking anyone is inherently evil because they have a D after their name, or that anyone is pristine because of the R or the C after their name. The fog wants you to believe that a person’s depths can be so easily ascertained, but that is a lie.

Things can look very different, in a fog, and much can be hidden, which is why aggressors love them so.

All of our “public servants” are imperfect; all fall short, of course, but in each party the majority seem to serve nothing but their own ambitions, their own interests and their own pocketbook. They serve nothing but illusion, and right now our political class seems like a multi-floor convention of magicians; a million masters of misdirection, all deceiving their respective, and receptive crowds.

Much is being written about last night’s elections; the White House and the press are spinning two large GOP wins in New Jersey and Virginia as inconsequential. A small special-election for a congressional seat in upstate New York, in which a Democrat won, is being touted as the harbinger of “the end” of the civil-war-torn Republican party, and a solid statement of support for Democrat policies.

In that congressional race, the GOP put up a candidate who danced so far to the left that she won the endorsement of the internet’s most virulent “progressive” sites. Her Democrat opponent was a perfectly decent-seeming fellow, a veteran of our Armed Forces and -importantly- a man who lived, worked with and identified strongly as belonging to his area.

Conservatives within the GOP, unhappy with the left-leaning candidate they’d been given and uninterested in a man with a D after his name and “imperfect” social credentials, put their power behind the Conservative candidate, a rather goofy fellow who seemed a bit like Barney Fife in a decent suit. The conservatives lost and the Democrat won, and today we are being told what all of that means, by experts and gasbags who hardly ever get anything right.

The outcome of the NY-23 election does not mean anything that anyone is saying it means. NY-23 was not about candidates, which is why I haven’t even bothered naming any of them. NY-23 wasn’t even about ideologies, per se. It was about the noise and fog of war and the manner in which that fog obliterates the clarity needed to focus on the proper target, effecting the change necessary to, in the end, beat back the larger and encroaching evil.

The larger, encroaching evil is contained in the first link of this post. It is huge; it is not remotely connected, in theory, to NY-23, because it is a worldwide, global evil.

But in NY-23, after a great deal of political grasping and some mild hysterics, the best candidate actually won. He won after politicians of national prominence came in to work against him. He won, even though there was a momentum-gaining force at the back of his opponent.

He won because, despite all of that fog, voters -who now understand that they were nothing but grifter’s marks in 2008, victims of a shameful bait-and-switch that has left them distrustful of all political machination and all mainstream media- looked at who they trusted to represent their most pressing immediate interests. And while those interests may include social issues, right now the social issues take a backseat to a more immediate concern: how can I live my life as I choose, working as I wish, taking care of my family as we pursue our modest dreams? How do I do that with dignity, and with a sense of steadiness and personal autonomy?

NY-23 voters asked themselves those most fundamental of questions and then looked at their choices. They voted for the candidate who might be imperfect (as all candidates are, unless you’re deeply into the fog and willfully looking for the illusion) but who seemed to have the least connection to the machines, to the manic, to the momentums, to the media and to the entrenched and established whirlwinds.

So, for that matter, in different ways, did the voters in the Gubernatorial races of New Jersey and Virginia.

The small, unimportant elections of 2009 are evidence of something resilient in America, something that is going to have to be nurtured and grown and strengthened, if America is going to survive the relentless attacks against individualism and fundamental liberties to which she is currently being subjected by interests both foreign and domestic, and within every party.

NY-23, and the New Jersey and Virginia elections were won by Independent voters, by those who trust their own instincts and interests and put them before any party, in particular.

Just like our founders.

On twitter, last night, the world “revolution” was being thrown around a great deal. Last night was not a revolution. But it could be the beginnings of one, if people are willing to step out of the clinging fogs of their own allegiances to corrupt parties and the “movement” personalities who feed on them.

If we are going to defeat what is encroaching, we will have to free ourselves from the illusions and the illusion-masters. We will have to dissolve the parties and the political class -and all the heavy mists they lay upon us to distract, confuse and disorient- so that we may reclaim our exceptional nation and the exceptional nature of our ordinary lives.

In order to do that, we will have to first strengthen and support the most fundamental of freedoms: the right to say, to write, to sing, to shout whatever message we wish to. Our established parties, which want us back in the fog, where we can be corralled and controlled, will not help us with that.

Go back to that first link and re-read it. There is the battlefield on which we live or die, and it is a fight that should not involve party lines, at all. If we lose sight of it in the fog, we lose everything.

“The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disentrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. ”
— President Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress, 1862

Perhaps we may only preserve our union is by ridding ourselves of our enthrallments, as Lincoln observed, including our enthrallments with political parties.

Welcome Instapundit readers, and thank you, Glenn, for the link. It was the indespensible Insty’s link to boingboing that helped me gather my thoughts

UPDATE: Election Reactions:
Nate Silver: What Happened and Why (must-read via JOM
Gateway Pundit: Who are you going to believe?. Believe what you know.
Bookworm Insight: If it’s not about Obama…
Ed Morrissey: Palin Empowered, Bloomberg, too, but maybe not the Prez
Peter Wehner: Comprehensive Analysis
Reynolds in NY Post: Obama Magic Fades
Conservative Energy: Michelle Malkin
Mark Steyn: Quietly musing
Drew @Ace:Elections a little something for everyone
Rick Moran: Die GOP, that ye may rise!
Sundries Shack: V-and Voting
Jennifer Rubin: Can Dems get serious?
Crittenden: He had a bad day…
Just One Minute: End of Health Care Reform?
Fausta: NJ Up close and personal
Protein Wisdom: Snort
Watcher of Weasels: If Dems are happy with Obama’s election night choice, so am I


1,993 posted on 11/04/2009 4:21:28 PM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

Killing Obama/Pelosi Healthcontrol Depends on Blue Dogs & Pro-Lifers (Contact list)

President Barack Fonzarelli-One Year Later

A Remarkable Anniversary (video featuring dear leader from OforA)

Rep. Michele Bachmann to protesters: 'Scare' Congress

Can we all say a big "Amen!" for "keepin' th' Skeer on 'em?"

Every damn one of them- in DC, in the state capitols, in local government-- needs to have a few basic concepts hammered in to their thick skulls, until even dullards like themselves comprehend it:

They work for us.

We pay them.

We "hire" them with our votes.

We can fire them at will.

"Can you hear us, Now?"

 
Team Obama Opens New Organizing for America St. Louis Office… Tea Party Breaks Out. That keeps happening.
 
TALKING ABOUT THE ELECTIONS over at The Hill.
 

Making sure the message sticks: More rejected RNC forms

November 4, 2009 12:00 PM by Michelle Malkin

Conservatives are making sure the RNC and NRCC hear their voices. As I mentioned this morning, readers continue to e-mail me copies of the rejected RNC solicitation forms they’ve sent back to Washington.

GOP offices better prepare for a new onslaught. As I said earlier this morning, the repercussions of NY-23 will be felt well beyond New York’s borders.

From reader Denise:

From reader Keith:

From reader Catherine:

From reader Rakkasan:

And reader Jeff:

***

GOP leader John Boehner today via J.P. Freire:

When asked about rumors that the New York Republican Party picked Scozzafava because of the advice of Washington insiders who felt she would be a more electable candidate, Boehner rolled his eyes. “We told them to hold off on a decision, to work with us, but they went ahead and did it.”

So if she was a rotten egg, why spend money? “All the money spent on that race was anti-Owens money, not pro-Scozzafava money.”

The second claim is demonstrably false, casting fatal doubt on the first claim, too.

J.P. also has this reminder of NRCC trashing of Hoffman:

“[Conservative] Party bosses in New York have been sold a bill of goods in the form of Doug Hoffman’s deceptive smoke-and-mirrors campaign, but fortunately they aren’t the ones deciding this election,” said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the NRCC, which has produced Web ads attacking Hoffman’s conservative bona fides. “We will continue to remind New Yorkers that a vote for Hoffman or Bill Owens is a vote for Nancy Pelosi and her far-left, radical agenda.”

Gag.

***

Related: Michael Patrick Leahy spotlights how Scozzafava’s endorsement of Democrat Owens put him over the top.60 Comments

 
"Every form sent back must also include the demand that Primaries be CLOSED! We don’t need DemocRats and Independents picking our candidates for us!"
 
"How liberal is Owens from NY23? I looked at a couple of articles about him, and this guy could have easily been a Republican candidate. He is a social conservative who opposes gay marriage and he is pro-life. He gives lectures on business law and was selected by the prior republican governor, Pataki."
 
"As long as Republican so-called “leadership” (read: capitulating door-mat morons) insist on throwing party money behind any old schmuck willing to put an (R) behing their name for 15 minutes, they’ll never see a nickel of mine."
 

Legal Conference on Freedom of Speech and Religion: Part 2

by Baron Bodissey

Creeping Sharia Within the Western Democracies

Burka JusticeA prominent thread was woven throughout last week’s legal conference: the increasing pressure exerted on Western nations by Islamic law, or sharia. Wherever free speech is under threat, much of the impetus for censorship and repression comes from Muslims who wish to restrict the words and actions of others based on the tenets of Islamic law.

It’s true that even if there had been no mass immigration of Muslims into Europe, Canada, and the United States, our governments would still exhibit a tendency to silence dissent. Any truly open discussion about the European Union threatens its very existence, so a push to restrict speech in Europe is inevitable. Similarly, the growing preference among the American intelligentsia for “international law” and other Progressive fads can find little traction as long as public discussion remains frank and open. Pressure will always be brought to bear to mute such discussion, if possible.

However, radical Islam supplies most of the financial backing, street protests, violent intimidation, political initiatives, and legal action aimed at limiting free speech. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has mounted a major effort against free speech, either directly or through its compliant surrogates in the UN and the EU. Whether the issue is defamation of Islam, blasphemy towards the Koran, insulting the prophet Mohammed, or other offenses against Muslim customs and doctrine, the attempted piecemeal implementation of sharia lies at the root of the problem.

One reason I decided to report on the conference by topic rather than panel by panel is that various themes reappeared repeatedly on different panels and in different speeches. The most prominent theme of all was sharia.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

“Creeping” is the appropriate term for the encroachment of sharia. Citizens in the Western democracies, even in their current apathetic and demoralized condition, would balk at devouring the entire Islamic leviathan. But when the beast is cut up into small chunks and served over an extended period of time, it goes down quite easily.

So let’s take a look at some of the bite-sized pieces of sharia that we are being forced to gag down daily:

1. The “freedom of religion” dodge

The freedom-of-religion tactic is widely used by the OIC in its efforts to ban “defamation” (i.e. criticism) of Islam. According to this reasoning, criticism of a religion interferes with the practice of it, and thus violates the freedom of religion as guaranteed by the UDHR and various national constitutions.

In the United States, this means in effect that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment trumps the Free Speech Clause, the Freedom of Assembly Clause, and other parts of the Constitution. Robert Muise reminded us of an incident in Dearborn, Michigan, in which Christians were prohibited from proselytizing at an Arab street festival, and confined in an area which would keep them from making contact with any Muslims. They were assembling peacefully on a public street, yet their First Amendment rights were denied.

In Europe, where constitutional protections for free speech are less stringent, the suppression of free speech is more explicit. Criticizing Islam is described as “provoking religious hatred”, which interferes with freedom of religion or negatively impacts “community cohesion”, and is therefore banned under EU law and various national statutes.

The entire process is an example of a more generic doctrine of politically correct Multiculturalism: if one’s behavior offends or upsets a member of a protected minority, then the feelings of the offended party are prima facie evidence that the protected person has been discriminated against and had his rights violated.

In this Multiculturalism converges with sharia, effectively forbidding any criticism of Islam or Mohammed, exactly as mandated by the Koran, the hadith, and the Sunna.

2. The “defamation” tactic
- - - - - - - - -
Common sense would tell us that only individuals can be defamed, and not groups, and especially not entire religions. But the ideology of PC/MC recognizes the defamation of groups — e.g. “racism” — and the OIC coined the term “Islamophobia” so that criticism of Islam could slip right into the established defamation groove.

On several panels David Yerushalmi explained the ins and outs of defamation as defined under American law. Defaming a group is not actionable in the U.S., but the rules are being bent to try to demonstrate that individuals are defamed when Islam is criticized. The fact that such frivolous lawsuits are unlikely to be successful does not mitigate the “chilling effect” on free speech created by the expensive necessity to mount a defense.

In Canada, defamation rules presume the defendant guilty, and the onus is upon the accused defamer to prove that he is no such thing.

Europe is much further down the illiberal garden path when it comes to defamation. Both Sweden and Finland have criminal laws against hets mot folkgrupp, the defamation of or incitement against an ethnic group. Several people in both countries have been tried and convicted for defaming Islam, which has been redefined as an ethnic group.

Which brings us to:

3. Religion = Race

Morten Messerschmidt pointed out that under EU law, race and religion are considered to be aspects of the same thing. Therefore, criticism of Islam is effectively equivalent to racism, and Islamophobia is enshrined alongside racism in the pantheon of multicultural jurisprudence.

Mr. Messerschmidt also noted that under current European practices, “racism” can even exist between two groups which are manifestly part of the same race. Thus, disparaging inhabitants of another country or even a neighboring province can be construed as “racism”. Insulting the fans of an opposing football team is potentially actionable using this bizarre logic.

Such intricacies of orthodox PC theology make it easier to invoke “racism” against critics of Muslims in, say, Bosnia, Kosovo, or Chechnya, who are not racially distinct from Christian (or post-Christian) Europeans.

In the USA the situation is not so far gone, although we are headed in that direction. Most Muslims in the United States are Arabs, South Asians, Somalis, or African American converts. Whoever voices the slightest criticism of Islam thus makes immediate contact with the third rail of American public discourse. Hence the heroic efforts by George W. Bush and the Pentagon to fight “terrorism” — publicly mentioning the I-word is all but certain to bring on Sudden Political Death Syndrome.

According to David Harris, the situation in Canada is almost as dire as in Europe. Canadian Muslims are massively protected from criticism by the operation of the Human Rights Commissions, which act as an extra-judicial Star Chamber and are charged with punishing any outbreaks of heresy against Multiculturalism. The rules are, of course, enforced selectively on different religions, with Christians enjoying almost no protection at all — this will be discussed in more detail below.

Needless to say, heresy against Multiculturalism dovetails nicely with blasphemy against Islam, and thus the HRCs are effectively enforcing sharia in Canada.

4. The “Islamic finance” scam

Sharia-compliant finance is probably the biggest camel-nose under the tent of Western democracy. Financial institutions stand to make a lot of money from it, and thus generally have no problem with it. Why should they care if Muslims want to encumber themselves with a lot of ridiculous rules when they borrow money? A Muslim dollar is the same as any other dollar, isn’t it?

In the long run, the answer to that question is “no”. Allowing sharia-compliant finance tends to legitimize sharia as an institution, and will make it that much harder down the road to resist other provisions of Islamic law. Dietary restrictions, gender inequality, veiling, and all the other odious aspects of sharia will tend to creep in where SCF has blazed the trail.

It’s possible, however, for sharia opponents in the USA to fight the inroads of Islamic finance the same way the ACLU fights crèches and school prayer: under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. David Yerushalmi pointed out that when the U.S. government took over AIG, it acquired one of the world’s largest sharia-compliant finance institutions. If AIG does not divest itself of all aspects of SCF, then both it and the government are in violation of the First Amendment.

5. Selective enforcement of “hate speech”

Strangely enough, in most Western countries the protections afforded religions are usually enforced solely for the benefit of Islam. Offended Christians are unlikely to mount successful lawsuits or see their defamers charged under the same hate speech laws that Muslims use so effectively.

A gay group in Canada recently attempted to bring a complaint before a Human Rights Commission concerning Muslim comments about homosexuals. It’s not surprising that the HRC refused to accept the complaint.

Andrea Williams reported from Britain on her group’s defense of Christians who were charged or sacked for wearing crosses while on the job. Muslim women in Britain are never enjoined from wearing the hijab — in fact, virtually no expression of the Islamic faith under any circumstances attracts official censure. Rules protecting the religious sensitivities of citizens are almost entirely employed to persecute Christians.

In the United States, of course, displays of the Ten Commandments or Christian symbols are relentlessly hounded out of public spaces by the ACLU and similar groups, while Muslims are granted prayer rooms, foot baths, and all the other accoutrements of their faith wherever they demand them.

6. The “heckler’s veto”

The Mohammed Cartoon Crisis was perhaps the largest example of the heckler’s veto since 9/11. Loud, obnoxious protests — especially when accompanied by the implicit threat of violence — is a very effective means of silencing Western critics of Islam and compelling the adherence by non-Muslims to the tenets of Islam.

Another prominent example of this tactic was Lord Ahmed’s threat to put 10,000 Muslim demonstrators on the street in front of Parliament if Geert Wilders showed Fitna at the House of Lords. Lord Pearson described the concern this provoked within the British government, which eventually led to the refusal to allow Mr. Wilders entry into the UK.

Less ostentatious examples of the heckler’s veto occur virtually every day in universities and other public venues across Europe and North America. The question-and-answer session after a recent Geert Wilders speech in Pennsylvania was cut short after unruly members of the audience made their displeasure obvious.

Once again, the heckler’s veto contributes to the “chilling effect” and leads to the widespread self-censorship without which sharia would be unable to gain any traction. Diana West described the blatant self-censorship exerted by Yale University when it pre-emptively pulled the Mohammed illustrations from Jytte Klausen’s book. No fatwa had been issued, no threatening mob had gathered outside the president’s office, and no Muslims had protested the book’s illustrations. All it took was a fear of Muslim reaction — plus the hope of attracting Saudi petrodollars — to send the university into full dhimmitude.

Thousands of trivial examples of the same trend have brought down a blanket of silence over academic discourse. Public discussion of Islam has become limited to the approved talking points laid down by CAIR and the OIC, and most of the enforcement is carried out by the infidels themselves, out of both fear and a desire to be politically correct.

Ms. West observed the importance of Kurt Westergaard and his Turban Bomb cartoon in revealing the alarming extent of self-censorship in our institutions. The Motoons shone a light on the sharia-compliant underside of Western culture, which might otherwise have remained hidden.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

In all the discussions about creeping sharia, speakers and panelists made the repeated point that the problem isn’t Islam itself, which is simply seizing the opportunities offered by Western weakness. The problem is the pandemic of politically correct Multiculturalism, which has infected most political and cultural institutions in our countries.

Turning the tide of sharia will mean reclaiming the right to speak freely and honestly about it, which in turn will require overturning the reigning progressive paradigm, without which sharia could never take hold.


Previous posts about the Legal Conference on Freedom of Speech and Religion:

2009   Nov   3   Introduction

Next: The erosion of free speech: intimidation, legal action, self-censorship, “the chilling effect”, political correctness, and the current assault on the First Amendment.

Read further...


Baron Bodissey | 11/04/2009 11:42:00 PM | 4 comments

 

Chicago Tribune: "V" Aims at Obamamania

—Ace

Notes the strong parallels to Obama's Cult of Personality, and the media's embrace of it, yet enjoys it anyway.

magine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.

The news media swoons in admiration -- one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: "Why don't you show some respect?!" The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader's origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: "Embracing change is never easy."

So, does that sound like anyone you know? Oh, wait -- did I mention the leader is secretly a totalitarian space lizard who's come here to eat us?

Welcome to ABC's "V," the most fascinating and bound to be the most controversial new show of the fall television season. Nominally a rousing sci-fi space opera about alien invaders bent on the conquest (and digestion) of all humanity, it's also a barbed commentary on Obamamania that will infuriate the president's supporters and delight his detractors.

"We're all so quick to jump on the bandwagon," observes one character. "A ride on the bandwagon, it sounds like fun. But before we get on, let us at least make sure it is sturdy."

I was blogging the election and only half watched (or one third watched, really). From what I saw, it looked good enough.

In case you didn't see: Not only have the aliens smuggled infiltrators to prepare the ground for their coming, but those aliens are... terrorists.

White, WASP-y looking terrorists, but still.

But... The producer has been replaced, and the pilot rumored cut in half, in order to reduce the more-blatant Obama parallels. That "rumor" part isn't from the link, but a rumor sent by OgreGunner, without attribution.

The New York Times predictably slammed the show.

It's always amusing to me that liberals instruct conservatives that we should appreciate art for its own sake, even if -- especially if -- it "challenges our beliefs."

Do liberals behave similarly? Um, no. Full-fledged freak out whenever the industry they own puts out a single movie or tv show which raps them.

Posted by Ace at 04:03 PM New Comments Thingy
 
“V” Television Series Mocks Obama Kool-Aid Drinkers and Dem’s Socialized Health Care Plan (Video)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 10:40 PM
Jim Hoft

Hope… Change… Hope… Change… Hope… Change…
“V” television series mocks the Kool-Aid drinkers.
obama_head_wringer
The zombie’s “Sign of Progress”- Double the unemployment rate and triple the deficit in one year.

It looks like we have our next member for the Obama Enemies List…
A new television series mocks the Obama Kool-Aid Drinkers. Hannity and O’Reilly aired segments from the new series tonight.
“They call it hope.”

space_hippies2


1,994 posted on 11/05/2009 2:32:39 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

Senate Democrats advance climate bill without GOP (We must "KILL BILL"!)

Glenn Beck Nearly Dies; Left Cheers (Sick left-wing hatred and bloodlust)

From Rush:

I love being a conservative. We conservatives are proud of our philosophy. Unlike our liberal friends, who are constantly looking for new words to conceal their true beliefs and are in a perpetual state of reinvention, we conservatives are unapologetic about our ideals. We are confident in our principles and energetic about openly advancing them. We believe in individual liberty, limited government, capitalism, the rule of law, faith, a color-blind society and national security. We support school choice, enterprise zones, tax cuts, welfare reform, faith-based initiatives, political speech, homeowner rights and the war on terrorism. And at our core we embrace and celebrate the most magnificent governing document ever ratified by any nation–the U.S. Constitution. Along with the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes our God-given natural right to be free, it is the foundation on which our government is built and has enabled us to flourish as a people.

 

 

Jack Welch blasts President Obama, Barney Frank ["insane"]

Exhibit traces the 20-year history of Hitler Youth [During Q&A - warning of Obama]

In the Battle for Stimulus Jobs, Shoe Store Owner Tells War Story

Red Ferret Journal Blames Republican Fascism For Obama's Internet Policies


1,995 posted on 11/05/2009 9:02:53 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

"STORM THE HILL" SWITCHBOARD CALL NOW (202) 224-3121 TO KILL THE BILL

It’s On and IT’S MASSIVE– “Kill the Bill Rally” In DC!

 
 

Under Govt. Run Health Plan YOU Will Pay for Abortions

Glenn Beck- Buckle Up, America- Something Is Coming Soon
 
NZ blogger connecting dots between HI and Chitown commies re Obama
 
Fort Hood Shooting database of links:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/forthood/index 

Huge Military Slaughter — But First A “Shout Out” to Obama’s Bud

Jihad at Fort Hood? Shooter: Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan

 
First time visitor? Learn more.

Breaking News: Shooting at Ft. Hood

by Rodan ( 30 Comments › )
Filed under Blogmocracy at November 5th, 2009 - 12:57 pm

Gunmen have opened fire at Ft. Hood Military Base in Texas.

DEVELOPING: A mass shooting at Ft. Hood military base in Texas has left at least 7 dead and 12 wounded and one suspected gunman is on the loose, officials told Fox News.

A massive manhunt was under way for the suspect at large, confirmed. One person was in custody. The New York Post said that there were two shooters at the Army base massacre.

Read the rest.

No further information on the Gunmen has been released.

Tags:
30 Comments »

Republicans, Protesters Rally to Oppose Democrats on Healthcare

by MightyConservative ( 211 Comments › )
Filed under Democratic Party, Healthcare, Politics, Republican Party at November 5th, 2009 - 10:53 am

FoxNews reports …

Apparently there are “thousands” of protesters that have showed up to rally with Republicans in opposition of the healthcare bill that the Democrats are attempting to foist upon the American people.

Republicans host a rally against Democrats’ health care reform, calling on those who attend to track down their elected representatives in Congress and put pressure on them to think twice about voting for the more than $1 trillion health care overhaul.

As a crowd of protesters shouted “kill the bill,” House Republicans on Thursday rallied opposition against the Democrats’ health care legislation, even as President Obama touted two major endorsements from doctors and seniors groups.

The president interrupted the daily press briefing Thursday to note that the American Medical Association and AARP had just endorsed House Democrats’ health care plan.

“This is no small endorsement,” Obama said of the AARP’s backing. “They know it’s a good deal for our seniors.”

At the same time, Republicans decried the bill on the steps of Congress in a last-ditch bid to derail or at least delay the legislation heading toward a possible vote Saturday.

Thousands of protesters arrived by bus for the rally, which the GOP is calling an emergency “House Call.” The event drew the conservative “tea party” activists but unlike past rallies was officially sanctioned by House Republicans.

Republicans want those who attend to track down their elected representatives in Congress and put pressure on them to think twice about voting for the more than $1 trillion health care overhaul pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“They’re going to listen,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., who originally called for the rally. “The biggest voice in the United States is your voice.”

Republicans were formally unveiling their version of a health care reform bill Thursday.

211 Comments »

What is the “Republican” version of health care reform? If it doesn’t involve tort reform and a free market solution, just WTF is in it?

Anybody got any links?

Ed Morrisey at HotAir lays it out:

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/05/gop-health-care-reform-cost-61-billion-cut-deficit-68-billion/

Also:

http://www.weaselzippers.net/blog/2009/11/cbo-scores-gop-health-plan-lowers-deficits-lowers-premiums-no-new-taxes.html

Here’s Mike Pence elaborating.

Lots of polls on healthcare via hotair

Unmentionable: Best-Selling Conservative Books and the Networks that Ignore Them

Hawaii Update: DoH Confirms They Maintain A Birth Record For Obama Dated From August 1961.

The Madness of Queen Nancy

UPDATE: Fort Hood Casualty Count Rises

McCarthy was right, and my life proves it.

Inside ACORN


1,996 posted on 11/05/2009 3:21:44 PM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All
Hey, Class?

Can you say

"Sudden Jihad Syndrome?"

MUSLIM TERROR ATTACK: 'NINE shot dead' 12 30 Wounded at Mass Shooting at Fort Hood, US Army Base, Primary Gunman, Malik Nadal Hasan is MUSLIM CONVERT

UPDATE: OMG, are you watching the news? Shep and the other flapping tongues  speculating, "Was it stress?""Did he not want to go to war?"" The men at Fort Hood are searching for a motive. "Did his deployment lead the officer to commit these acts"?

IT'S THE JIHAD STUPID

UPDATE: FOX's SHLEP SMITH WON'T SAY HIS NAME but will "connect the dots" Which dots? that the reason this terror cell committed this act of war was because "he didn't want to go to Iraq".

UPDATE Shepard Smith won't utter Malik Nadal's Hasan's name! He won't say his name. The primary gunman. But wait -- he is making excuses for him. He is saying he didn't want to go to war.

Al Qaeda directed Muslims to infiltrate the military for these very attacks.

UPDATE: Shepard Smith, that silly woman, keeps calling it a tragedy. It is an act of war.

MUSLIM KILLER: The suspected gunman was identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan.

UPDATE: The coverage is beyond stupid. Three men -- is a conspiracy. Three men is a terror cell. For the FBI to rule out terrorism in an obvious act of terrorism (by whom, we know not yet) indicates were are worse off tha the UK. Three men, synchronized shoting, M16s, maximum kill ............ you won't get the real story from the media.

Did anyone see Obama at the tribal conference? talk about making it up to the native Americans (????????) and then a lightweight, toss off ON THE MASS SLAUGHTER at fort Hood

UPDATE: FBI says its not terrorism, Has the FBI hit the ground yet? How can they say that so fast? And frankly this mass shooting is the very definition of terrorism, FBI asshattery. Obama is at a tribal conference (no joke). When the conference is over, he'll hold a press conference. Teleprompters and mirrors, man your stations.

How can the FBI say it's not terrorism. It's three shooters with M16. That's a conspiracy. Three shooters across seven buildings.

UPDATE:FBI is en route. Why the  FBI? This is military.  WTF? More Obama "law enforcement" asshattery?

UPDATE: Possibly 30 wounded at the largest military installation of its kind in the country.

One gunman was in custody and another was on the loose, local media reported. One station said there was a third shooter involved. It went down during graduation ceremony.

'Seven shot dead' at US army base

At least seven people have been killed and 12 others injured in a shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, according to US media reports.

One person has been arrested and at least one more is reportedly on the loose. The base has been locked down.

NBC News network said the two suspects were in military uniform and that the shooter-at-large was believed to have a high-powered sniper rifle.

Fort Hood, located near the town of Killeen, is a large US military base.

Home to about 40,000 US troops, it lies halfway between Austin and Waco, about 60 miles (97 km) from each city.

It is not yet clear whether those reported killed and injured are civilians or military personnel.

Local congressman John Carter, speaking to NBC News, confirmed that there had been a shooting at the base, saying the gunfire had erupted during a graduation ceremony.

The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says there are military police and Swat teams on the scene, and the FBI is on the way. Schools in the area have also been locked down.

Posted by Pamela Geller on Thursday, November 05, 2009 at 05:58 PM | | Comments (5)

Breaking: MASSACRE AT FT. HOOD; 12 dead, 31 injured (Video) … Update: Shooter- Malik Nadal Hasan …Update: Previously at Walter Reed
Thursday, November 5, 2009, 3:05 PM
John Infidelesto

At least 7 dead so far and 20 injured at the largest military installation in the world.  I will update this as more info comes available.
hood
At least 7 are dead and 30 were injured after 3 gunmen opened fire on a crowd at Fort Hood in Texas.
Reuters reported:

At least seven people were killed and 12 wounded in a shooting at the Fort Hood, Texas, U.S. Army base Thursday, local media reported.

One gunman was in custody and another was on the loose at the military base, one of the largest military installations in the world, local media reported. There could be a third shooter involved, MSNBC reported.

Via FOX News– The FBI says terrorism was not involved. The shootings began about 1:30 p.m. Thursday at a personnel and medical processing center at Ft. Hood. 6 of the 7 victims were military.

The base is still on lockdown.

MSNBC is already speculating that it’s a mentally ill US Soldier but there’s no evidence of that at this point.  Just the anti-military left’s early talking points

Kxxv - All available EMS units in and around Killeen are being dispatched to Fort Hood where a “mass casualty event” has taken place.

News Channel 25 has learned a shooting has left seven people dead and 12 injured.

The Nolanville Fire Department tells News Channel 25 that they’ve been asked to bring all available EMS and Rescue personnel.

*update* there are reports of 3 gunmen now.  Still holed up at the base.  Shootings still going on. 2 gunmen still on the loose.

*update* Here’s a video update from ABC News

*update* Tom Elia reporting that “shooting started at the House Theater and then moved to an athletic complex.”

*Update* CNN is now saying 12 dead

*Update* US Army Twitter account: @USArmy: Fort Hood officials confirm 12 dead, 31 wounded in Fort Hood shooting. Installation remains locked down.

*update* Breaking News on twitter confirms 2 suspects arrested 1 killed

*Update* CBS affiliate WGME is reporting that all 3 gunmen are US soldiers.

cross posted at InfidelsAreCool.com

Here’s the video from teh press conference:

UPDATE: US Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan Identified As Primary Shooter At Fort Hood.
ABC has more on Malik.
He is a convert to Islam.
FOX News: “This was a deliberate act of execution.”
Hasan was an MD psychiatrist.

UPDATE: Malik was previously stationed at Walter Reed.

UPDATE: This was jihad.

For Islam, a Religion of Peace®? The Most Damning links-- click the picture:

It’s On and IT’S MASSIVE– “Kill the Bill Rally” In DC! …Update: Mark Levin at Rally (Video)

Thursday, November 5, 2009, 11:55 AM
Jim Hoft

Ed Schultz sends these photos from the steps of the US Capital—–
ed 4
** CSPAN 3 has a live video stream from the rally.
Truth Czar Rep. Joe Wilson is currently speaking. There are a number of conservative Congressmen and women standing on the Capital steps speaking to the crowd.
…Where are the crowd shots?

ed1
FOX News has a report on the rally– So far no official number:

As a crowd of protesters shouted “kill the bill,” House Republicans on Thursday rallied opposition against the Democrats’ health care legislation, decrying the bill on the steps of Congress in a last-ditch bid to derail or at least delay the legislation heading toward a possible vote Saturday.

Thousands of protesters arrived by bus for the rally, which the GOP is calling an emergency “House Call.” The event drew the conservative “tea party” activists but unlike past rallies was officially sanctioned by House Republicans.

Republicans want those who attend to track down their elected representatives in Congress and put pressure on them to think twice about voting for the more than $1 trillion health care overhaul pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“They’re going to listen,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., who originally called for the rally. “The biggest voice in the United States is your voice.”

Republicans are formally unveiling their version of a health care reform bill Thursday.

ed 2

ed 3

UPDATE: Conservative leader Mark Levin speaks to the fired up crowd:
Wow!… The audience was wild for Mark.

More… American Power has Jon Voight’s speech to the patriots.

Dan Anderson sent more photos–
rally 1

rally 2

rally 4

 
Can you hear us NOW?

1,997 posted on 11/05/2009 4:02:20 PM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All
The Permanent Tea Party. “What was learned Tuesday is that the American voter is absolutely, totally, unremittingly disgusted with both political parties. More than anything, the American voter is desperate for political leadership.”
 

Hey, Nancy: Can you hear America now?

November 5, 2009 03:19 PM by Michelle Malkin

72 Comments
 
Elections have consequences, and the Marxist Party has a filibuster proof margin in the Senate, almost 50 seat majority in the House, and a President who has been groomed to be a communist agent since childhood.
The last check/balance is a Supreme Court that is currently aligned 4 Marxists and 4 Constitutionalists, with 1 wild card with no clear judicial philosophy.
 
So few know why we are American
 

A HUGE FORT HOOD ROUNDUP from Ed Driscoll.

Gateway Pundit has a roundup.

CAIR says don’t blame Muslims. Well, this report from the Daily Mail raises issues, but let’s stay tuned and see how things shake out once they’ve settled down.

UPDATE: This sounds troubling:

 
PATTERICO ON the emerging media narrative on Fort Hood.
The paper has now whisked the original version of the story down the memory hole, and replaced it with a new one at the same Web address. I knew they would do this, as they have a history of doing it. So I copied the whole text of the story as it appeared when I first did the post. Read that here. Then I copied a changed version at 6:46 p.m., after it was known that Hasan was alive. That version also suppressed any mention of the items mentioned in this post. Read that version here.
 
What's the U.S. military doing about radical Muslim soldiers? Not enough. March 27, 2003
http://www.slate.com/id/2080770
 
Tim Blair: Information Learned, Concealed.
 

Lead Story

The massacre at Fort Hood and Muslim soldiers with attitude

By Michelle Malkin  •  November 6, 2009 12:01 AM

I was traveling to Wichita for a speaking event/fundraiser (which I’ll tell you more about later) when news of the Fort Hood massacre broke. Please continue to pray for the 12 murder victims and their families, and the 30 wounded and their families.

Allahpundit at Hot Air has a massive, blow-by-blow post on all the latest developments. The Christian Science Monitor profiles Nidal Malik Hasan, the Muslim soldier identified by the military as the shooter:

Terry Lee, a retired Army colonel who knew Hasan, told Fox News about a story he heard secondhand. He said a fellow colleague had told him that Hasan had made “outlandish comments” about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and US involvement in them and that “Muslims had a right to rise up and attack Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“[He] made comments about how we shouldn’t be over there – you need to lock it up, Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor,” Lee added.

But the suspect’s cousin, Nader Hasan, gave Fox News a different picture. He said his cousin had never deployed but was affected by the war and had been concerned about his impending deployment.

“He would tell us how he would hear things, horrific things, things from war probably affecting him psychologically,” Nader Hasan said.

From AP:

His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.

There are many unknowns about Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base. Most of all, his motive. But details of his life and mindset, emerging from official sources and personal acquaintances, are troubling.

And familiar.

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.

Those of you with long memories will remember all those who came before Hasan. Here is my column from March 2003 on Muslim soldiers with attitude:

Sgt. Asan Akbar, a Muslim American soldier with the 326th Engineer Battalion, had an “attitude problem.”

According to his superiors and acquaintances, Akbar’s attitude was bitterly anti-American and staunchly pro-Muslim. So how did this devout follower of the so-called Religion of Peace work out his attitudinal problems last weekend?

By lobbing hand grenades and aiming his M-4 automatic rifle into three tents filled with sleeping commanding officers at the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade operations center in Kuwait.

Akbar is the lone suspect being detained in the despicable attack, which left more than a dozen wounded and one dead. Surviving soldiers say Akbar, found cowering in a bunker with shrapnel injuries, was overheard ranting after the assault: “You guys are coming into our countries, and you’re going to rape our women and kill our children.”

“Our”? At least there’s no doubt about where this Religion of Peace practitioner’s true loyalties lie.

Naturally, apologists for Islam-gone-awry are hard at work dismissing this traitorous act of murder as an “isolated, individual act and not an expression of faith.” But such sentiments are willfully blind and recklessly p.c.

Sgt. Akbar is not the only MSWA — Muslim soldier with attitude — suspected of infiltrating our military, endangering our troops and undermining national security:

– Ali A. Mohamed. Mohamed, a major in the Egyptian army, immigrated to the U.S. in 1986 and joined the U.S. Army while a resident alien. This despite being on a State Department terrorist watch list before securing his visa. An avowed Islamist, he taught classes on Muslim culture to U.S. Special Forces at Fort Bragg, N.C., and obtained classified military documents. He was granted U.S. citizenship over the objections of the CIA.

A former classmate, Jason T. Fogg, recalled that Mohamed was openly critical of the American military. “To be in the U.S. military and have so much hate toward the U.S. was odd. He never referred to America as his country.”

Soon after he was honorably discharged from the Army in 1989, Mohamed hooked up with Osama bin Laden as an escort, trainer, bagman and messenger. Mohamed used his U.S. passport to conduct surveillance at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi; he later pled guilty to conspiring with bin Laden to “attack any Western target in the Middle East” and admitted his role in the 1998 African embassy bombings that killed more than 200 people, including a dozen Americans.

Ain’t multiculturalism grand?

– Semi Osman. An ethnic Lebanese born in Sierra Leone and a Seattle-based Muslim cleric, Osman served in a naval reserve fueling unit based in Tacoma, Wash. He had access to fuel trucks similar to the type used by al Qaeda in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers, which killed 19 U.S. airmen and wounded nearly 400 other Americans.

Osman was arrested last May as part of a federal investigation into the establishment of a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon. Osman recently pleaded guilty to a weapons violation, and the feds dropped immigration charges against him in exchange for his testimony.

Ain’t open borders grand?

– John Muhammad. The accused Beltway sniper and Muslim convert was a member of the Army’s 84th Engineering Company. In an eerie parallel to the Akbar case, Muhammad is suspected of throwing a thermite grenade into a tent housing 16 of his fellow soldiers as they slept before the ground-attack phase of Gulf War I in 1991. Muhammad’s superior, Sgt. Kip Berentson, told both Newsweek and The Seattle Times that he immediately suspected Muhammad, who was “trouble from day one.”

Curiously, Muhammad was admitted to the Army despite being earlier court-martialed for willfully disobeying orders, striking another noncommissioned officer, wrongfully taking property, and being absent without leave while serving in the Louisiana National Guard.

Although Muhammad was led away in handcuffs and transferred to another company pending charges for the grenade attack, an indictment never materialized. Muhammad was honorably discharged from the Army in 1994. Eight years later, he was arrested in the 21-day Beltway shooting spree that left 10 dead and three wounded.

Ain’t tolerance grand?

– Jeffrey Leon Battle. A former Army reservist, Battle was indicted in October 2002 for conspiring to levy war against the United States and “enlisting in the Reserves to receive military training to use against America.” According to the Justice Department, he planned to wage war against American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Ain’t diversity grand?

“It’s bad enough we have to worry about enemy forces, but now we have to worry about our own guys,” Spc. Autumn Simmer told the Los Angeles Times this week after the assault on the 101st Airborne. The Islamist infiltration of our troops is scandalous. Not one more American, soldier or civilian, must be sacrificed at the altar of multiculturalism, diversity, open borders, and tolerance of the murderous “attitude” of Jihad.

FYI: Convicted Beltway sniper John Muhammad is scheduled to be executed next week. No doubt the families of the Muslim sniper victims are re-living the horror tonight.

FYI: Muslim US soldier Hasan Abujihaad was convicted last year on espionage and material terrorism support charges
after serving on serving aboard the USS Benfold and sharing classified info with al Qaeda financiers including movements of US ships just six months after al Qaeda operatives had killed 17 Americans aboard the USS Cole in the port of Yemen.

On Twitter, follow #fthood for news updates.

***

Clarice Feldman notes President Obama’s “odd” — to say the least — reaction to the attack on Fort Hood soldiers:

On Thursday, 11 soldiers and civilian police at Fort Hood were slaughtered execution-style at close range and over 30 others wounded, allegedly by a U.S. Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan. The President immediately addressed the nation concerning this horrific event.

However, his expression of grief was very odd. He spent the first two minutes of the four-and-a-half minute address in a light-hearted discussion of his earlier “Tribal Nations Conference” on Native American rights, including a “shout out” recognition of a conference attendee.

When he finally got around to the purpose for his public appearance, he gave an uninspired and rambling dissertation on the tragedy. Even then, he could not keep the topic focused on sympathy for the pain of others:

I want all of you to know that as Commander in Chief, that there’s no greater honor, but no greater responsibility for me (emphasis his) than to make sure that the extraordinary men and women in uniform are properly cared for…

Poor soul, it’s so saddening to know how this tragedy affects him. Listening to this address provides some insight into Obama’s character and how he ranks his priorities.

Posted in: Islam, War
 
comments (41) 
 

Breaking: Fort Hood Shooter Alive. Also, Narrative Takes A Hit, Hasan Seems To Be A Pretty Big Fan Of Suicide Bombers

—DrewM.

 


Army press conference right now.

Now they are saying it's a single shooter, Hasan, and he is in the hospital.

The officer who shot him was thought to be dead but she's alive and out of surgery.

Damn. Just remember Hasan Akbar is still alive. I have no idea why. Well, I guess I do.

I was going to do this as a separate post but I figured I'd add it on here....

In a comment on one of the threads I half joked that tomorrow's spin on Hasan would be he was so sad from hearing other soldiers stories that he had PTSD by osmosis or something.

Alas it's been the spin tonight.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Hasan had put up some web positing expressing admiration for suicide bombers.

The postings appeared to have been made by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was killed during the shootings at the Army post incident that left least 11 others dead and 31 wounded. The officials say they are still trying to confirm that he was the author. They say an official investigation was not opened.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

One of the Web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.

"To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause," said the Internet posting. "Scholars have paralled (sic) this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers."

This will be poured down the memory hole as soon as possible.

Fox spoke with someone identified as Col. Terry Lee (ret) who worked with Hasan at Ft. Hood. Lee says Hasan was critical of US policy and was pretty psyched about Muslims killing Americans.

There's a lot of talk among the idiots in the media that Hasan didn't want to go to war. If even half of this accurate, Hasan had no problem going to war, he did so today. Just on the other side.

Oh and for those who say he has some sort of PTSD, a reminder: This Aint Hell says Hasan has never deployed to a war zone.

Posted by DrewM. at 09:16 PM New Comments Thingy
 

Army Major Played Role in Presidential Transition

Peaceful preaching inside, violent message outside a New York mosque

Protected by the Constitution of the country they detest, radical Muslim converts like Yousef al-Khattab and Younes Abdullah Mohammed preach that the killing of U.S. troops overseas is justified.


 
FROM “SMART DIPLOMACY” TO AMATEUR HOUR.
 

Election 2009: Change We Can Believe In (Vanity)

Some of you guys don’t even know who I am. In 2004, I was working for the Jack Ryan for Senate campaign. If we had won that one, Obama would still be an obscure state senator in Springfield, Illinois.

Last year, I was working as a freelance writer for Newsmax. Around St. Patrick’s Day, an old article that I had written came to the attention of ABC News. I had reported about Obama attending the hate-filled, race-baiting church of Jeremiah Wright. Before ABC News brought my article to the attention of the whole nation, Obama had won several primaries in a row and seemed unstoppable. But after ABC News started talking about it, it went viral and Obama lost six of the next eight primaries, some by huge margins.

If my article had come to the attention of the nation just two weeks earlier, we wouldn’t even be talking about a President Obama. We’d be talking about a President Someone Else. For a very long time, I’ve been ahead of the curve on where the Republican Party is going, and where it needs to go.

Please join me and the rest of the Tea Party movement. We need all the help we can get.

10 posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 10:44:45 AM by Philo1962
 
Serving up hot links…
Thursday, November 5, 2009, 1:44 PM
The_Anchoress

There is so much out there, let’s take a quick look around, shall we?

Students in Iran, just wanna know: “Obama, are you with us, or with the regime”. Oh, don’t ask Obama; he really doesn’t know. All he knows is, if Bush was for you (and he was), Obama must be against you. He’d really like to help you, but it’s the rules. Sorry.

Keith Hennessy: Enough already, with the ‘inherited debt’ lies. Ed Morrissey agrees and writes:

…bear in mind something Hennessey doesn’t state: these deficits come from Democrats. Democrats have controlled Congress and therefore the purse since January 2007. The last budget that the Bush administration signed went into effect in October of that year. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid played keep-away with the FY2009 budget, passing continuing resolutions until Bush left office and then an omnibus spending bill when Obama became President. The $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009 is owed entirely to the Beltway triumvirate of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, and has nothing at all to do with George Bush.

CBO hearts GOP Healthcare Reform: Costs much less, saves lots more. Mrs. Pelosi wants to spend 1.2 Trillion, and since Obama is just the campaign guy, he doesn’t really care what she does as long as she passes something with a D behind it, that he can claim…if he decides it’s safe to. So, expect Obama to come out again sometime today to re-stuff the straw man that the GOP has no plans of their own

Speaking of Healthcare Reform: Obamacare covers prayer? Wow. I hope not; wouldn’t that infringe on the venerated “separation of church and state”? By my lights, you do not want the government to be partners with spiritual interests. Period. For that matter, separate marriage from civil unions, while we’re at it, and leave the sacraments to the churches and the civics to the civics.

Phil Fox Rose: Asks from a Christian perspective:

“…if we can agree that universal coverage is for the common good, or even, as President Obama called it the other day, “a core ethical and moral obligation,” then we can move forward and discuss how to implement it in ways that will not increase the debt or limit our freedom.”

Hmm. Okay, but that’s difficult, though, when neither Obama or Mrs. Pelosi are working in good faith with the opposition party to draft health care legislation (or other legislation) that “will not increase the debt or limit our freedom.” Aside from the fact that this White House seems not to like freedom all that much, and that Mrs. Pelosi’s plan includes a “monthly abortion premium”, the truth is, all the Democrat leadership keeps saying to the GOP is, basically, “shut up, just shut up;” you don’t have a plan, you don’t want to do to anything.” So, it seems we have a ways to go to that moving forward, part.

Stimulus: Saving 9 out of every 5 jobs! Got the hours right, anyway.

NY Cabbie: Throws gays out of his cab. But of course, it’s really the Catholics who are the “haters.” That’s the approved narrative, yes? That, and oh, yeah, Mother Teresa bashing. And oh yeah, God is an imaginary friend.

Overreach and hubris; nobody wants that!

A new blog: I kind of like

Malware and bank fraud. Important information.

Since Nancy Pelosi, who deserves this drubbing by John Fund, does not seem to know what “winning” means, I am not surprised that she got hung up on that ‘draining the swamp’ thing.

I like this post of Annie’s, not because she kindly links to me, but for this, which expands brilliantly on my post from yesterday:

Louder and lower exerts a stronger force on attention, which, like water, flows downhill. People will go again and again to have their fears, rages, and preconceptions reliably stimulated and serviced. It’s our human equivalent of a rat pressing a lever. It’s a way of getting off, as predictable and sterile as porn. In fact I’m going to coin a word for the pull of political invective: zornography (from the German Zorn, rage or fury).

It’s something to think about, as we flip to our favorite blogs, turn on our favorite tv or radio gasbags: are we feeding our own rages with reliable, filling, but ultimately soul-killing rhetorical anti-nutrients? Certainly we need and want the information we can find or hear at these venues; information is good and necessary. But can we get it, anymore, in America, without the rage piled on like too many homefries with your scrambled eggs? And yet, I do understand, I mean, look at the first part of this post. It’s so hard to separate the information from the feelings it all engenders…sigh. I mean, all these kids singing presidential hosannas, they just make you shudder and go “ugh.”

But we must try to separate and detach; I know we must.

I see rude people: this book looks like fun

25 Ridiculously Healthy Foods; most of ‘em I like, and one of them is chocolate! My son is on an avocado kick.

I like this little blurb on Twitter, which one can come back to over and over throughout the day, to think on:

The Hebrew word for God combines the past, present and future tenses of the verb “To Be.” It is unpronounceable, but sounds like breathing.

5 Hard Truths that will Set You Free: Or, as Rose Castorini famously said in Moonstruck, “Cosmo, I just want you to know, no matter what you do, you’re gonna die, just like everybody else.”

Perennial with the earth: Walt Whitman on Wax

St. Al Gore Icon: I just threw up a little in my mouth. It’s no good religion that hates dogs.


1,998 posted on 11/06/2009 2:15:32 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: All

Conservative Reboot: Ctrl + Alt + Democrat

European liberals are in shock over Barack Obama's failures (FAIL!)

Cash Crunch,Press Silence: As ObamaCare Advances In Congress, Uncle Sam’s Collections Continue Drop

The Soros Plan To Kill Capitalism

 

Pelosi Breaks Pledge to Put Final Health Care Bill Online for 72 Hours Before Vote

Sen. Boxer breaks Senate rule: Passes Cap&Tax Out of Committee w/o single GOP member in attendance

Obama’s Pet-Goat Moment

Troubling portrait emerges of Fort Hood suspect

Father Of Ft. Hood Soldier: Daughter Heard Shooter Exclaim "Allah Akbar!" As He Opened Fire (Video)

Fort Hood soldier describes horrific scene to family in Utah (Shooter shouted Allah Akbar)

Indians (INDIA) Sound Off About Muslim Shooter in Texas (Comments Online)

I Told You So: The Muslim Doctor Terrorists Are No Surprise; Revealing Muslim Doctors’ Oath

IslamicFinder (Find a Mosque Near You)

The coming crises: Nightmares on the horizon

How Do You Put the Dump Into Dump Truck? Push It Off the Fourth Floor- Detroit

Detroit has 80,000 abandoned lots and buildings, according to the city's planning department...

Already, he boasts, he and some friends had pushed two boats and the remains of a yellow Volkswagen Beetle out of upper floors at the Packard plant. The truck would be his biggest feat yet, the perfect finale to years of tomfoolery.

What's more, the tires still had air in them. "We were like, 'Wow, this is doable,'" John recalls. They left with a batch of digital photographs and a plan.

Karen Nagher seethes when she hears about such capers. Executive director of Preservation Wayne, a nonprofit organization that holds out hope for even the most forlorn buildings, Ms. Nagher says it infuriates her that people come from "all over the world" to poke around Detroit. "Piece by piece, they're disassembling those buildings, making it harder and harder to restore them," she says...

Barbarians... already inside our gates, folks...

No Respect, No Morals, No Trust - Welcome To Modern Britain [U.S. Going The Same Way?]

Abortion Practitioner Admits "Yes I Am" Killing Unborn Children During Abortions

Reminds me of Hillary Clinton’s OB-GYN who says “he cancels human souls”.

UN endorses Goldstone report (Did You Expect Otherwise?)

When The Green Hits The Fan

Lord Monckton, Ambassador Bolton, and the Copenhagen Treaty: Reflections on a Conversation

Even in draft form, the Copenhagen treaty provides solid evidence that the U.N. has a very different idea about what lies in the best interests of the United States than most Americans would.

1,999 posted on 11/06/2009 4:10:12 AM PST by backhoe (All Across America, the Lights are being relit again...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]
To: backhoe
thanks for all of your good work

.

2,000 posted on 11/06/2009 4:18:28 AM PST by Elle Bee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1999 | View Replies]

Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 1,961-1,980, 1,981-2,000, 2,001-2,020 ... 3,001-3,016 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search		 News/Activism
Topics · Post Article
FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson