Monthly Archives: May 2012

The Fight For Religious Freedom

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The fight for religious freedom is not something that is only happening in the Middle East–it is alive and well in America. The current attack in America seems to be on the Catholic Church and its charities and educational facilities, but the attack is actually on any Bible-believing Christian.

Two stories recently in CNS News illustrate the point. The first, posted yesterday, is entitled, “Archbishop Questions Pelosi’s Logic in Opposing Provision to Protect Military Chaplains from Being Ordered to Act Against Faith.” The second, also posted yesterday, is entitled, “BREAKING: Cardinal Dolan of NY, Cardinal Wuerl of D.C., Notre Dame–And 40 Other Catholic Dioceses and Organizations–Sue Obama Administration.”

Both stories involve the Catholic Church, but their implications reach far beyond that. The article on the military chaplains is summed up as follows:

The House Democratic Leader further said the idea that military chaplains would be forced to perform same-sex marriages against their will is “a manufactured crisis.”

“Nobody is ordering them to do that,” Pelosi said. “I’ve never seen any suggestion that we’re ordering chaplains to perform same-sex—where is that? I haven’t seen it and I’ve been around this issue for a long time.”

But Broglio, the head of the Archdiocese of the Military Services, respectfully but firmly took issue with Pelosi.

“I would suggest that perhaps she’s not very familiar with how the military works,” Broglio said. “While no one might be constrained to act against his or her conscience, you can also have a situation where someone in command makes it very, very difficult for that person, if the command wants him or her to act in a certain way. And I think that the law, the provision in the draft, the provision in the bill, would protect the chaplain from that kind of situation.

Broglio agreed that Catholic chaplains have not yet been asked to perform same-sex marriages.

I am not sure how much contact Ms. Pelosi has actually had with military command structure, but I think she is wrong to assume that the problem of forcing Catholic chaplains to perform gay marriages would not come up.

The second article deals with the freedom of a church charitable or educational facility to practice their beliefs.

The article explains:

The Archdiocese of New York, headed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., headed by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the University of Notre Dame, and 40 other Catholic dioceses and organizations around the country announced on Monday that they are suing the Obama administration for violating their freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The article also reports that the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. has established a special website–preservereligiousfreedom.org–to explain its lawsuit and present news and developments concerning it. Since the media will not honestly cover the church’s side of the story, the church will use the Internet to get out their story. That is a very smart move.

The article reports:

“This morning, the Archdiocese of Washington filed a lawsuit to challenge the mandate, recently issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, that fundamentally redefines the nation’s long-standing definition of religious ministry and requires our religious organizations to provide their employees with coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, and sterilization, even if doing so violates their religious beliefs,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington said in an open letter posted online this morning. “Just as our faith compels us to uphold the liberty and dignity of others, so too, we must defend our own.”

“The lawsuit in no way challenges either women’s established legal right to obtain and use contraception or the right of employers to provide coverage for it if they so choose,” said Cardinal Wuerl. “This lawsuit is about religious freedom.”

“The First Amendment enshrines in our nation’s Constitution the principle that religious organizations must be able to practice their faith free from government interference,” Cardinal Wuerl said.

All of us, regardless of religious affiliation, need to stand with the Catholic Church in both these matters. This is an attack on anyone who believes that the First Amendment allows the free exercise of religion.

 
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Last Night In Stoughton Massachusetts

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Last night Ari Abramowitz, founder of www.LandofIsrael.org, spoke at the Ahavath Torah Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel, soldier and commander in the IDF reserves, are the founders of TheLandofIsrael.com and the creators and hosts of “Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem”.

Mr. Abramowitz has a number of videos up on YouTube. This is one video that has recently gone viral:

There were a number of things Mr. Abramowitz said last night that impressed me.  He reminded us that although the Holocaust is very important to Israel‘s history, it is not Israel’s justification for being in the land of Israel. He pointed out that although Yad Vashem (the Jewish people’s living memorial to the Holocaust) is the first place visiting dignitaries are taken in Israel, it should not be the center of Israel’s claim to the land. The deed to Israel was given to the Jews by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Israel is the only country in the world that can make that claim.

Mr. Abramowitz also reminded us of the words of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 2:3), “For the Torah shall go forth from Zion and the word of God from Jerusalem.” Mr. Abramowitz stated that Israel needed to repent and go back to its spiritual roots. Then the Israelis will again begin to see the miracles of God that have brought their country back to life and kept it safe. He pointed out that the battle against Israel is a spiritual one and that America needs to support Israel in order to get back to her spiritual roots. (America needs repentance too, but that’s another article!)

It was an amazing, thought-provoking evening.

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Why Do We Continue This Dance ?

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Front Page Magazine posted an article today about the latest round of talks on the Iranian nuclear program.

The article quotes a recent New York Times article:

 [a] successful meeting could prolong the diplomatic dance with Tehran, delaying any possible military confrontation…until after the presidential election. It could also keep a lid on oil prices…. Lower gasoline prices would aid the economic recovery in the United States, and Mr. Obama’s electoral prospects.

Wow. Has it occurred to anyone that we have done this dance before? All Iran needs is time to complete its research and obtain nuclear weapons–we are giving them the time.

The article at Front Page Magazine quoted Amos Yadlin, formerly Israel’s chief of Military Intelligence. Speaking earlier this month at a conference of the Washington Institute in Virginia, he stated:

 nuclear Iran is more dangerous than attacking Iran.

If they can’t be contained when they don’t have nuclear weapon[s], how can they be contained when they do?…

I am sure they won’t launch a nuclear bomb the moment they get it, but the possibility [that] as a result of miscalculations and lack of stability, they will launch [a] nuclear missile—it’s not a possibility you can ignore. The flying time of a missile from Tehran to Tel Aviv is seven minutes and the temptation for a first strike is huge.

If you really want all options on the table, you need to be very credible with the military option.

Israel needs to be able to defend herself regardless of the price of oil or the coming elections. To block Israel from defending herself is extremely short-sighted. Has anyone considered what the world would look like after Iran went nuclear?

Israeli leaders understand the price of attacking Iran. On March 15, I had the privilege of hearing Marc Kahlberg speak at the Ahavath Torah Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Please see rightwinggranny.com for details.

Mr. Kahlberg spoke of the consequences of an Israeli attack on Iran and reminded his audience of Iran’s past behavior:

What are the dangers of Israel attacking Iran in order to end its nuclear program? In a war with Iran, Israel will probably have 20,000 fatalities, 100,000 injured, and one and a half to two million people suffering from trauma. If Iran has nukes, it will probably totally destroy Israel. Great choice. The other thing that was pointed out was that in dealing with the leaders of Iran, we are not dealing with people we can depend on to act rationally. There is a martyrdom aspect of the Iranian regime that does not make them rational when it comes to dealing with nuclear weapons. A regime that sends twelve-year old boys with keys around their necks to march into minefields to clear the mines (keys that were supposed to assure them the instant entrance to paradise when they were killed by the mines) should not be considered rational.

Sometimes negotiations are not the answer. An attack on Iran would create a lot of turmoil. It would make much more sense to undermine the current government to the point where it collapsed. The problem is not Iran going nuclear as much as it is the current government of Iran going nuclear. A few dozen targeted assassinations would probably also solve the problem.

UPDATE:

Since posting this, I have stumbled upon some interesting historic information. Israel has just formed a new coalition government–designed to bring more people together. Those were the actions Israel took just before the 1967 war,

The timeline for 1967 goes as follows:

In May 1967, Egypt evicted the UN observers from the Sinai Peninsula and began amassing forces there. On May 22, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. On May 30, Jordan and Egypt signed a mutual defense pact as Iran began moving troops to the Israeli border. On June 1, Israel formed a national unity government. enlarging the cabinet and forming a united front. On June 5, Israel attacked the amassing Arab forces.

Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

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Something That Needs To Be Fixed Before November

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I think I am right in saying that most Americans want an honest election in November–regardless of who wins. Florida has taken steps to make sure that at least they get it right.

On Wednesday, PJ Media reported that Florida had discovered up to 53,000 dead voters who are listed on the state’s voter rolls. Obviously they have purged the voters from the list.

In this day when supermarkets track your every purchase and your cell phone reports your location, how is it that states can’t keep track of who is no longer eligible to vote? It’s simple–Florida (and most other states) were using a database that was not adequate to purge dead voters from voter rolls. Florida is now using the Social Security database, which should be more accurate.

The article concludes:

Consider the case of Lafayette Keaton.  Keaton not only voted for a dead person in Oregon, he voted for his dead son.  Making Keaton’s fraud easier was Oregon’s vote by mail scheme, which has opened up gaping holes in the integrity of elections.  The incident in Oregon just scratches the surface of the problem.  Massachusetts and Mississippi are but two other examples of the dead rising on election day.

Florida should be applauded for taking the problem seriously, even if Eric Holder’s Justice Department and many state election officials don’t.

If we are to remain a representative republic, we need honest elections.

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How I Spent My Weekend

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My husband and and I went house-hunting this weekend–in Delaware. Sometime in the next two years, he will retire. Massachusetts is not a good place to retire (for us, anyway)–it is too expensive and too cold. So we looked at Delaware.

This is a picture of what the southern end of the New Jersey Turnpike looked like at 11:45 this morning–note that there are people walking on the roadway–the traffic is at a dead standstill.

This is another picture–we stayed at the rest stop for about an hour and a half while the traffic cleared.

There were also some interesting signs along the way–these are taken from two restaurants–one in Delaware and one in Rhode Island.

The first picture seems a little bit confusing–if there is a $6 menu, why is it $8 every day? I loved the second picture because the British are so polite in reminding us to mind our manners.

More to follow at a later date…

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Feeding The Hate

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On Friday the Washington Free Beacon posted a story about the $192 million in financial aid released to the Palestinian Authority (PA) by the Obama Administration last month. The money was quietly released to the PA after Congress froze the money because of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s attempt to declare statehood before the United Nations, by-passing the so-called peace process.

The article also reports:

The administration also secretly attempted to restore funding to a U.N. cultural agency that unilaterally—and illegally—recognized the “State of Palestine.”

In explaining the administration’s rationale for reinstating the funds, White House spokesperson Tommy Vietor claimed, “The P.A. has recognized Israel’s right to exist, renounced violence, and accepted previous agreements, including the Roadmap,” in reference to the peace plan advanced by the Middle East Quartet, according to AFP.

I suspect that the claim that “The P.A. has recognized Israel’s right to exist, renounced violence, and accepted previous agreements, including the Roadmap,” is news to both Israel and the PA.

Please follow the link above to the Washington Free Beacon article. The article lists recent examples of the kind of inflammatory rhetoric the PA routinely broadcasts to children and adults in the Middle East. Until someone requires both the rhetoric and the attacks on Israel to stop, there will be no peace in the Middle East. Until then, we are simply funding the PA war on a country that we claim to be a friend of.

 

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The Danger Of Having More Government Than We Need

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On Friday, George Will posted an article in the Washington Post about some recent events in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. It is a story of excessive big government–not Massachusetts government, but the federal government.

Russ Caswell owns a budget motel his father built in 1955. He is 68, and the motel provides his retirement income. The motel has seen better days, but still hosts tourists, some workers on extended stays and some elderly people who call it home. The 56 rooms rent for $56 a night or $285 a week.

The article reports:

Since 1994, about 30 motel customers have been arrested on drug-dealing charges. Even if those police figures are accurate — the police have a substantial monetary incentive to exaggerate — these 30 episodes involved less than 5/100ths of 1 percent of the 125,000 rooms Caswell has rented over those more than 6,700 days. Yet this is the government’s excuse for impoverishing the Caswells by seizing this property, which is their only significant source of income and all of their retirement security.

The federal government is now planning to seize the property, sell it (expecting to receive about $1.5 million) and give 80 percent of that to the Tewksbury Police Department.

The article reports:

The Caswells have not been charged with, let alone convicted of, a crime. They are being persecuted by two governments eager to profit from what is antiseptically called the “equitable sharing” of the fruits of civil forfeiture, a process of government enrichment that often is indistinguishable from robbery.

The lawsuit is titled United States of America v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts. The Caswells are represented by the Institute for Justice (IJ), described in the article as a ‘libertarian public-interest law firm.’ The IJ describes the civil forfeiture proceeding as something that was used against pirates to seize their booty. In this case the federal government is the pirate!

 

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This May Be One Reason Why ‘We Can’t All Just Get Along’

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Yesterday Breitbart.com reported that the European Union (EU) has been asked to intervene to prevent the execution of a man who sold the Bait HaMachpela (House of the Patriarchs) to Jewish families in Hebron.

The Jewish community of Hebron has asked the EU to stop the execution. The story reports the response of EU Committee for Foreign Affairs Chairman, Dr. Fiorello Provera:

“Abu Shahala’s conviction has no justification, and therefore the European Union will intervene to save his life. It is inconceivable that a man who sells his house will be convicted of a crime and sentenced to death. The PA is the foremost beneficiary of a European assistance, so we must intervene interest and demand the PA immediately cancel Abu Shahala’s death sentence. And, to remove the death penalty for the sale of property and land [to Jews].  I call on the PA to immediately block the implementation of death sentence on Abu Shahala, as required by the UN General Assembly.”

The PA has been clear from its founding that it wants to drive the Jewish people from Israel. That in itself is the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East. I am not convinced you can negotiate with people who would kill a man for selling his house.

Finally Coming To America

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ABC News is reporting that Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident who recently escaped to the American embassy in China, is on a plane headed to the United States with his immediate family. There are concerns for those family members left behind in China, but his immediate family is with him.

The article reports on one of the events that took place during the three weeks it has taken for Chen to get permission to leave the country:

As they waited, Chen continued to speak to the press. He voiced his outrage that his nephew, Chen Kegui, had been arrested and charged with attempted homicide.

Chen says he was acting in self-defense after local authorities attacked his house following Chen’s escape. Chen said he had been in regular contact with US.. officials, and he praised their efforts to help him. But he also expressed frustration that the process was taking so long.

I am glad that Chen and his family are being brought to safety. I hope the relatives left behind will be safe.

 

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An Interesting Development In Egypt

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Andrew McCarthy posted a very interesting story at National Review today about some recent events in Egypt. He reminds us that the hope of Egypt (and the ‘Arab Spring’) was that democracy and religious tolerance would spread through the Arab countries of the Middle East. Unfortunately, that hope has not been realized. The radical Muslims are even fighting among themselves.

A few weeks ago a Shiite mosque opened in Cairo.

The article tells the story:

It’s a 90 percent Sunni country, with even Christians vastly outnumbering the Shia. So, in their euphoria over the mosque’s inauguration, Shiite clerics heralded this Husseiniya (as Shiite mosques are known) as a symbol of rapprochement. The mosque would bridge the sectarian divide: a Shia center in this bustling Sunni city, yet a house of worship, thus emphasizing what unites rather than divides Muslims in one of Islam’s most important nations.

The initial story sounds encouraging–maybe religious tolerance could come to Egypt. Unfortunately, the tolerance didn’t last long–the mosque was shut down last week.

The article reports:

Yesterday’s euphoria is melting into today’s harsh reality. In Cairo, home to the Muslim Brotherhood and the sharia jurists of ancient Al-Azhar University, “democracy” has meant the rise of Sunni supremacists. Turns out they don’t do bridge-building. Their tightening grip has translated into brutalizing dhimmitude for Christians and increasing intolerance of Shiism — which the Sunni leaders perceive less as Islam than as apostasy, an offense that sharia counts as more grievous than treason.

The Muslim Brotherhood was born is Egypt in 1928 as a reaction to the secularization of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The purpose of the Muslim Brotherhood was (and still is) to set up a world-wide caliphate governed by Sharia Law. That is also the goal of the Shiite regime in Iran, but obviously the Shiites assume they will be the ones running the caliphate. This is going to get interesting at some point because of that basic difference of philosophy, but the differences will probably not be an issue until after the world-wide caliphate is established (isn’t that encouraging?).

The article further reports:

In the Brotherhood’s way of thinking, as best articulated by Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “democracy is just the train we board to reach our destination.” It’s a process, a conveyance, not a culture. In the case of Turkey, it was popular elections that enabled Erdogan to seize power and gradually transition a society away from democracy. In the case of Egypt, it is popular elections that have installed the Brotherhood and other Sunni supremacists, enabling them to orchestrate the much less challenging transition from an Islamic culture to a sharia state.

Because members of the Muslim Brotherhood are actively participating in our government at many levels, we are continuing to fund the Islamization of the Middle East. We are supplying people who want to destroy our way of life with the weapons to use in doing it. Until the American government takes an honest look at our policies in the Middle East (including Irag and Afghanistan where we have allowed Sharia Law to be written into their constitutions), the Muslim Brotherhood will quietly continue to consolidate its gains. Democracy is possible in the Middle East, but as the article by Andrew McCarthy states, democracy has to be introduced into the culture first. 

 

 

 

 

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What Are The Odds That There Will Be A New Democrat Senate Candidate In Massachusetts Before November ?

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Breitbart.com posted an article today about some recipes submitted by Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren to the POW WOW CHOW cookbook. Howie Carr, a Boston talk-radio host, has uncovered some information that seems to show that the recipes were plagiarized. The information is posted on Howie Carr’s website. You can compare the recipes for yourself.

Ms. Warren has had a rough couple of weeks. There are a lot of unanswered questions about her supposed Indian heritage (which was very valuable in advancing her career) and now the POW WOW CHOW recipes look less than authentic. Ms. Warren has been raising money to run against Scott Brown for quite some time and has amassed a substantial war chest. Is that a guarantee that she will get the Democrat nomination? The Democrats pulled a switch in a New Jersey Senate election a few years ago (google “Jon Corzine”–it may take you a while to get the whole story!), but I don’t think they will do that is Massachusetts.

DaTechGuy, a Massachusetts blogger, recently had a few thoughts on the subject–he pointed out that Marsia DeFranco (the other Democrat running in the Primary) is not setting the world on fire:

Marsia DeFranco has been a candidate for the US Senate since last year and has been campaigning since then. Her fundraising has been so successful that her campaign couldn’t loan me the money to replace my furnace even if it wanted to.

But money isn’t everything what about press. Lets look at how much coverage she has generated:

I did an exact search for the Name “Marisa DeFranco” in Google news over the last year (5/16/11 – 5/16/12) sorted by date, I got 208 results shown via 6 pages.

This is going to be an interesting November.

 

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What Would You Do ?

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Yesterday ABC News reported the reaction from Senater Charles Schumer to Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin‘s statement that he is renouncing his American citizenship in order to avoid taxes on his Facebook profits. Mr. Saverin is a thirty-year old with an estimated net worth of about $2 billion and has lived in Singapore since 2009.

The article reports:

At a news conference this morning, Sens. Schumer and Bob Casey, D-Pa., will unveil the “Ex-PATRIOT” – “Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy” – Act to respond directly to Saverin’s move, which they dub a “scheme” that would “help him duck up to $67 million in taxes.”

The senators will call Saverin’s move an “outrage” and will outline their plan to re-impose taxes on expatriates like Saverin even after they flee the United States and take up residence in a foreign country. Their proposal would also impose a mandatory 30 percent tax on the capital gains of anybody who renounces their U.S. citizenship.

The plan would bar individuals like Saverin from ever reentering the United States again.

There are some basic problems with this proposal (other than the fact that it is strictly for show). The text of the Constitution, Article I, Section 9; Clause 3 is “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed”. Aside from the fact that this law is aimed at one specific person, Senator Schumer is making something illegal after it has been done and attempting to make a law retroactively apply to that action. There is no way that should happen under the Constitution.

Frankly, I don’t blame Mr. Saverin for renoucing his citizenship–he doesn’t live in America to begin with, and he wasn’t born here. Why should he let the U. S. Government take upwards of a third of the money he worked hard to earn? If Congress lowered taxes, more people would be willing to pay them instead of avoid them.

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It’s All A Matter Of Perspective

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Yesterday’s Washington Examiner posted a short article about the reaction of the military to the amount of information that has been released about the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

The article reports:

When they published their revealing book last August about the nation’s fight against terrorism, the authors, two New York Times national security reporters, immediately felt heat from the Pentagon for dishing too much operational info about the killing of Osama bin Laden.

“I was stopped by a very senior officer in the special operations community who basically wanted to rip my lungs out,” said Thom Shanker, who co-authored “Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda,” with Eric Schmitt.

I totally understand the senior officer’s feelings. Details of a military operation or campaign should not come out until the campaign or operation is over. Last time I checked, we were still fighting the war on terror. Unfortunately, the information in the book was released by the White House–it wasn’t even leaked–it was simply released.

The article further states:

 

Shanker, an acclaimed Pentagon reporter and author, said he had a little advice for the unidentified officer: If you make general, “this is part of your new world.”

Somewhere along the line we have misplaced our priorities. I can’t imagine the above statement being made during World War II. Mr. Schmitt, co-author of the book, points out that the New York Times has a ‘pretty good’ record of holding stories when asked to. I’m sorry; I totally disagree with that statement. The New York Times broke the story on how we were tracking terrorist money and took that weapon away from those who are fighting the war on terror. They have broken other stories which had impeded our efforts to find and deal with terrorists. Sometimes, the press gets a little over-impressed with what itself and does not consider the consequences of its actions.

 

 


 

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I Don’t Know The Truth, But I Suspect That Someday We All Will

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The Internet is abuzz today with news of the pamphlet released to publicize President Obama’s first book. The pamphlet describes the President as having been born in Kenya and raised in Hawaii. The story is at Breitbart.com and also at the Washington Examiner.

The Washington Examiner reports:

Miriam Goderich, whose literary agency described eventual-President Obama in 1991 as having been born in Kenya, said today that the description reflected “a simple mistake and nothing more.”

“You’re undoubtedly aware of the brouhaha stirred up by Breitbart about the erroneous statement in a client list Acton & Dystel published in 1991 (for circulation within the publishing industry only) that Barack Obama was born in Kenya,” Goderich said in a statement to Roll Call.  “This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me — an agency assistant at the time.” Roll Call’s Taegan Goddard added, for disclosure, that he is “a client of the same literary agency.”

This seems like a pretty major mistake to make in someone’s biography. I can see getting someone’s birthplace wrong if they were born in Illinois and someone wrote Indiana or North Carolina instead of South Carolina, but I would think you would notice Kenya vs. Hawaii.

I have two major questions about this story–will the major media pick it up as anything other than a typo or proofreading error? Is there more coming from Breitbart?

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We’ll Remember You–We Just Won’t Do Anything About It

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Paul Mirengoff posted an article at PowerLIne about the International Olympic Committee‘s (IOC) decision not to allow a moment of silence to honor the victims on the 40th anniversary of the 1972 slaughter of 11 Israel athletes and coaches by Palestinian terrorists.

The article concludes:

In any event, a moment of silence does not seem like too much to ask. As Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said: “This rejection told us as Israelis that this tragedy is yours alone and not a tragedy within the family of nations.” Just so.

One wonders, though, the extent to which the moment of silence would have been observed by those in attendance.

I’m sorry that the IOC has chosen not to honor the victims with a moment of silence. The events of 1972 totally broke with the spirit of the Olympics. The IOC’s decision not to observe a moment of silence also breaks with the spirit of the Olympics.

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Using A Nuclear Bomb To Kill A Fly

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The problem with the government is that it has no sense of proportion. Small problems easily escalate because the ‘powers that be’ take drastic action rather than sitting down with the parties involved and solving the problem. One recent example of that occurred in Carlisle, Massachusetts.

Carlisle, Massachusetts, is a small town of about 5,000 people located northwest of Boston. It was first settled in 1650. It is also the home of Great Brook Farm State Park, described at the New England Grown website as “Great Brook Farm State Park: Nature AND Ice Cream.” So what am I ranting about?

Yesterday the Lowell Sun (Lowell, Massachusetts) reported on recent events at the Ice Cream stand in the park:

Mark Duffy, who has operated the dairy farm at the state-owned park for 26 years and has a lease with the state to run the stand, said armed Environmental Police officers showed up at stand on Friday evening and stood guard throughout the weekend, turning away customers craving delectable sundaes and frappes.

To make matters worse, said Duffy, the shutdown happened right before the sunny Mother’s Day weekend.

Edward Lambert, commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, said the stand was closed after it was discovered construction had been done without local or state permits. The work, which expanded the stand, included construction on a barn built in 1910 that is adjacent to the stand, he said.

So what did Mr. Duffy do? According to the article:

Duffy offers guided barn tours at the farm from May to October. The building improvements in question were made to create an area to show an instructional video produced by the Massachusetts dairy industry, said Duffy.

I also live in a small town in Massachusetts. I totally understand the need for building permits–we have pulled permits when we have done work on our house. I also understand that depending on the nature of the work, an accord could probably have been reached without putting a man’s business in jeopardy. How many people will lose their jobs because someone did not take the time to negotiate before acting. In my humble opinion this looks to me as if someone used a nuclear weapon to kill a fly. It was totally unnecessary overkill. 
 

 

 
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The Children Need To Grow Up And Stop Squabbling

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Yesterday the New York Daily News reported on recent Congressional testimony by FBI chief Robert Mueller. Mueller told a Senate panel that he still hasn’t bothered calling NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly about the latest terror threat.

The article reports:

If Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly wanted to know more about the foiled Yemeni underwear bomb plot, he could have picked up the phone and called, Mueller sniffed.

“As I told Ray, he’s always welcome to call,” he said, repeatedly referring to the commissioner as “Ray.”

Mueller found himself being grilled by Sen. Chuck Schumer about his secret-hoarding after Kelly fumed Friday that the NYPD had been left in the dark on the details of the plot.

“That’s the type of information, quite frankly, that we need, deserve,” Kelly vented.

The FBI finally got around to briefing NYPD brass Monday — but Mueller made no effort to contact Kelly.

New York City has been targeted by terrorists a number of times. Thank goodness that most of the attempts have been stopped. If we intend to prevent future attacks, we need to keep lines of communication open and information flowing freely. Since President Obama took office and instituted the killing of terrorists with drones rather than taking them to Guantanamo for imprisonment and questioning, American intelligence about terrorist activities has decreased considerably. Because of this, communication between the people who are supposed to protect us from terrorists is critical. This is not the time to play silly games with the lives of Americans.

Representative Peter King summed things up:

Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.), who heads the House Homeland Security Committee, said “the bottom line” is that Kelly should have heard directly from Mueller.

“We have to assume that sooner or later, everything targets New York.”

 

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What Happens When America Does Not Support Its Allies

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Yesterday Front Page Magazine posted an article about some recent statements in an Iranian newspaper regarding America‘s relationship with Israel.

The article reports:

An Iranian newspaper tied to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently boasted that the U.S. has “rejected” Israel over the past three months. This belief could have disastrous consequences. The author writes that the only “obstacle” remaining is the Saudi Royal Family and once it falls, Israel can be destroyed.

“It can be said that within the last 60 years, this is the first time that the Zionist regime, since its illegal inception, has had to endure rejection by the West over its vision and interest in the region,” wrote Sadollah Zarei, according to a translation by Reza Kahlili.

Reza Kahlili is a former CIA agent who infiltrated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. (More information about him and his work can be found at his website.)

The article points out some of the recent events that have fueled the belief that America is no longer supporting Israel, such as the leak from the Obama Administration that Israel had made a secret agreement with Azerbaijan to use Azerbaijan’s airbases to strike Iran.

The article details some recent statements from the former governor of Kish Province and pro-Khamenei strategist, Alireza Forghani, outlining the strategy for killing the Jewish people.

The article concludes:

This genocidal madness was endorsed by Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi, an influential hardline cleric. Reza Kahlili reports that he recently ruled that all Israelis who did not oppose the country’s “vicious crimes” are legitimate targets. Mesbah-Yazdi has written in support of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and one of his disciples issued a fatwa in 2006 justifying their use.

Policymakers need to recognize that public tensions between the U.S. and Israel and displays of American weakness reinforce the regime’s beliefs. In The Coming Is Upon Us, the regime uses quotes from U.S. officials stating that there is no viable military option against Iran as proof that prophecy is being fulfilled.

No good comes from making Iran believe that the U.S. isn’t interested in defending Israel.

Israel is THE country in the Middle East that actually practices freedom of religion. It is a democracy and does not terrorize or enslave its people. It is one of the few countries in the region that shares basic American values. Israel represents freedom in the Middle East. America needs to make sure her support for Israel is unwavering and extremely obvious to Israel’s enemies.

 

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The Times They Are a’Changin’

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Things are happening in Massachusetts that I never thought I would see. When I moved into the Commonwealth in 1978, I wasn’t even convinced that there were two parties on the ballot (after all, I tended to lean Democrat in those days). Tonight I attended a Republican Town Committee meeting in Plainville that was informative, upbeat, and encouraging to those of us who would like to see Massachusetts become a two-party state.

One of the highlights of the meeting was an informal presentation by Elizabeth Childs, candidate for Congress in the 4th District of Massachusetts. She is running in the Republican primary for that seat, currently held by Barney Frank, who is not running for re-election.

Mrs. Childs biography can be found on her website:

Elizabeth Childs is a dedicated physician, distinguished public servant, small business owner, an outspoken advocate, wife, mother, and community leader.

 Elizabeth has been a resident of Brookline for more than 20 years. She and her husband, Ralph Grieco, a retired Navy and Navy Reserve veteran, have two young children who attend the Brookline Public Schools. She owns and operates a successful private medical practice in Brookline. The family has traveled extensively across North America, including driving with their Airstream trailer to the Arctic Circle and spending weeks camping in the Alaskan wilderness.

 Solid roots as a distinguished medical doctor

 Dr. Childs is Board Certified in Adult, as well as in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She has an extensive background in providing services to people with serious mental illness, which includes work in both the private and public sectors.

 After graduating from Mount Holyoke College and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Dr. Childs became Chief Resident in Adult Psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, where she also completed her fellowship in Child Psychiatry. She associated with Carney Hospital in Dorchester, and served as Chief and Director of Psychiatry from 1996-2003. She also served as President of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society and Chair of its Legislative Committee.

Mrs. Childs briefly laid out her goals and ideas for representing the people of Massachusetts. She stated that she believed that we should not look to Washington for solutions to every problem–solutions come from individuals. She pointed out that we need to stop increasing the national debt–debt enslaves our children. The demographic in the 4th District in Massachusetts tends to be fiscally conservative and socially moderate. Mrs. Childs perfectly fits that demographic. She believes that she can win the independent vote. She also cited the example of Scott Brown as a Republican who is able to work with people of both political parties in order to get things done. She plans to follow that example if she is elected–pointing out that partisan bickering often prevents Congress from doing things that need to be done.

No matter which political party they support, most people understand the need for a two-party system. The parties will always have their differences, and sometimes that stands in the way of progress, but the parties also hold each other accountable and attempt to keep each other honest–that is something desperately needed.

The meeting was informative and encouraging. Democracy depends on the participation of citizens in government. It is always good to see people excited about their state government and willing to get involved.

 

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An Ego With No End

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Fox News is reporting today that the Obama Administration has made some small additions at WhiteHouse.gov to biographies of former Presidents–going all the way back to Calvin Coolidge. I am sorry that anyone has the power to tamper with biographical information on the official White House site, but I guess if you are the President, it comes with the territory. President Obama has added little fact boxes at the end of the biographies of former Presidents relating his accomplishments to theirs.

The article reports:

For instance, the following line was added to the official bio of the late President Ronald Reagan: “In a June 28, 1985, speech, Reagan called for a fairer tax code, one where a multimillionaire did not have a lower tax rate than his secretary. Today, President Obama is calling for the same with the Buffett Rule.” 

Well, that kind of egotistic ridiculousness deserves a response, and the people at the Daily Caller were more than happy to provide one. A few of their suggestions:

On his desk in the Oval Office, President Harry Truman had a sign that read, “The Buck Stops Here.” After three years in the White House, President Obama’s 2012 campaign has internalized a similar motto: “The Buck Stops with George W. Bush.”
 
Coca-Cola was first sold at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Ga., in 1886. One of the two main ingredients in the original recipe was cocaine. In 1929, Coca-Cola became completely cocaine-free. During the 1980s, it is unclear if Barack Obama was totally Coca-Cola-free, but unlike Coca-Cola, he definitely wasn’t cocaine-free.
 

 In 1905 Theodore Roosevelt became the first sitting president to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He earned the prestigious award for helping end the Russo-Japanese war. In 2009, President Obama became the third sitting president — and the fourth president overall — to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He won the award for not being George W. Bush.

Please follow the link to the Daily Caller to read the entire article. It is the correct response to the meddling with the presidential biographies at WhiteHouse.gov.
 
 
 
 
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The January 2013 Surprise

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Yesterday Investor’s Business Daily posted an article on the fiscal fiasco that is waiting for America on January 1, 2013.

The article reminds us what is coming:

‘The way to deal with sequestration is put revenues on the table.” That is third-ranking Senate Democrat Charles Schumer of New York’s coded way of telling congressional Republicans that if you want to prevent the budgetary devastation of the U.S. military, you’ll have to break your promises to voters and agree to major tax hikes.

After the presidential and congressional elections this November, a lame-duck Congress will address an impending fiscal calamity.

The first thing you have to remember here is that in the mind of the average Democrat, Washington will NEVER have enough money to spend!

So what happens between election day and January 2013? First of all, you have a lame duck Congress. If the Democrats lose the Senate, they will do everything they can to make sure everyone pays highers taxes.

Even if the Democrats don’t get away with raising taxes, this is what happens on January 1st:

Heritage Foundation senior fellow and former Treasury Department tax economist J.D. Foster recently warned that on New Year’s Day, “some $494 billion in tax hikes will crash down on America’s taxpayers and economy” — not just the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that gave us a boom and cut unemployment to under 5%, but “a jump in the payroll tax rate,” “the return of the death tax,” ” a bigger, badder” Alternative Minimum Tax, and the tax hikes for ObamaCare.

The ObamaCare 3.8% surcharge goes into effect in 2013, “not just on wage and salary income, but all income, thus breaking the historical link between Medicare and labor earnings,” Foster recently noted.

If we are to avoid fiscal catastrophe in the coming year, we need to make sure the Republicans control both the House and the Senate after the November election. That way as soon as Congress is sworn in in January, they can quickly deal with any mischief done in the lame-duck session.

Intentionally or otherwise, the Democrat party is in the process of taking a wrecking ball to the economic well-being of our country. They need to be stopped.

 

 

 

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Would You Let These People Manage Your 401K ?

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Logo of General Motors Corporation. Source: 20...

Logo of General Motors Corporation. Source: 2007_business_choice_bro_en.pdf (on GM website). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Lott posted an article at National Review today about what has happened to the money used to bail out General Motors.

The article reports:

Three years ago his administration invested more than $100 billion in taxpayer money to bail out General Motors. On Tuesday, the entire company, not just what the government owns, was worth less than $34 billion. By anyone’s definition, that investment is a glaring failure. Yet over the last few days the Obama campaign, in a $25 million marketing blitz, has flooded the airwaves with ads in battleground states, claiming the bailout should be counted a rousing success.

The contrast between the facts and the campaign ads is amazing.

Another thing conveniently not mentioned in the campaign ad is the number of automobile dealerships that were put out of business in the General Motors and Chrysler bailouts.

The article reminds us:

The only real winners from the GM bailout were unions, which were protected from pay cuts, from losing their right to overtime pay after less than 40 hours a week, and from cuts to their extremely generous benefits. They faced only minor tweaks in their inefficient union work rules.

As for “hundreds of thousands of new workers,” the truth is closer to a tenth of that.

Having just $34 billion to show after a $100 billion-plus investment would get a chief executive of any private company fired. Unfortunately, Obama does not seem to understand how this money has been wasted.

Would you let these people administer your 401K account?

 

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A Ponzi Scheme Works As Long As There Are New People Getting In

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Today’s Wall Street Journal posted an article about the 1,400 union-run retirement plans that are poorly run and underfunded.

The article reports:

…Multi-employer plans in the U.S. are underfunded by some $369 billion. An estimated $43 billion of that off-balance-sheet liability belongs to the 44 S&P 500 companies that are exposed to multi-employer plans. The other 88% of the $369 billion is borne by small, mid-cap or private firms that may be even less prepared to cover the obligations. The report says Safeway’s $6.9 billion in liabilities amount to 76% of the company’s market cap, for example.

The article points out that CEO’s and union chiefs have ignored the problem, preferring to invest in current wages and benefits rather than funding pensions. If these unfunded pensions are dumped into the Pension Guaranty Fund, the people expecting the pensions will receive a maximum of $12,800 a year–the maximum payout of the fund.

In June 2010 I posted an article (rightwinggranny.com) about the coming crisis in union retirement plans. When you consider the amount of money the unions spend on political causes, you would think they might have some they could invest to make sure their workers actually receive the benefits promised them. Right now, union pensions are a ponzi scheme (just like Social Security). That will not change until union members realize what is going on and force a change.

Just for the record, the website Open Secrets is reporting that labor PACS have contributed $28,047,761 to political campaigns this year (figures as of April 30, 2012). Of those contributions, 88% went to Democrats and 12% to Republicans.

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Some Thoughts On Recent Financial News

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Peter Wallison writes on financial matters at the American Enterprise Institute. This morning he was interviewed on the Bill Bennett radio show about the recent trading losses suffered by JPMorgan Chase (as reported in USA Today). I don’t claim to understand this level of finance, but there were a few things I picked up along the way.

I am going to attempt to repeat what he said, because he clearly understood exactly what was going on and shed considerable light on the subject.

Mr. Wallison explained that the JPMorgan Chase trades had to do with something called “hedging,” a process that is legal. The bank was using “hedging” to protect itself from losses it felt would occur due to the unraveling of the financial situation in Europe. Mr. Wallison further explained that the loss represented a very small percentage of the total worth of the bank and was actually not as significant as it is being made out to be. Essentially, the news media is being part of the ‘silly season’ of an election year. The Volcker Rule (part of the Dodd-Frank bill that was supposed to reform Wall Street) would not have stopped this loss–“hedging” is legal under Dodd-Frank. What is not legal is the buying and selling securities by banks for their own accounts. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to tell the difference between “hedging” and trading for their own accounts. Because it is so difficult to differentiate between “hedging” and banks trading for their own accounts, Dodd-Frank is essentially an unworkable law that needs to be changed or overturned.

The link to the American Enterprise Instituteabove links to Peter Wallison’s article entitled, “Dissent from the Majority Report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.” I strongly suggest reading this in order to understand how politics has hindered, rather than helped, America in solving the financial crisis that we have been in for the past four years.

 

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What Would LOST Mean ?

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Frank Gaffney posted an article at Townhall.com about the Law Of The Sea Treaty (LOST) which may come up in the lame-duck session of the Senate at the end of the year. The treaty essentially will give the United Nations control over all waterways and set up a justice system at the United Nations that all nations would be under. In a few words, it is a direct threat to American sovereignty.

The article reports:

First, as Senator Lott once warned, ratification of LOST would commit the United States to submit to mandatory dispute resolution with respect to U.S. military and industrial operations. While LOST proponents argue that the United States will choose available arbitration mechanisms to avoid legal decisions from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), such arbitration panels are no-less perilous for U.S. interests as the decisive, “swing” arbiters would be appointed by generally unfriendly UN-affiliated bureaucrats. The arbitration panels can also be relied upon to look to rulings by the ICJ or ITLOS to inform their own decisions.

Furthermore, while there is a LOST provision exempting “military activity” from such dispute resolution mechanisms, the Treaty makes no attempt to define “military activity,” virtually guaranteeing that such matters will be litigated – in all likelihood to our detriment – before one or another of LOST’s arbitration mechanisms. And the rulings of such arbitrators cannot be appealed.

I don’t think this is what our founding fathers had in mind.

The article concludes:

Of particular concern is the fact that LOST creates an international taxation regime. It does so by empowering the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to tax Americans for the purposes of meeting its ownadministrative costs and of globally redistributing revenue derived from the exploitation of seabed resources.

It is a travesty to portray atreaty with such clearly sovereignty-sapping provisions as an enhancement to our national sovereignty. LOST should be rejected this time – as President Ronald Reagan did thirty years ago and as Senator Lott urged twenty-five years later.

The UN has shown a definite lack of wisdom in selecting members of its Human Rights Commission, do we really want them to exercise any control over America?

 

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