The first paragraph of the United States Constitution states:

“We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

One of the purposes of the Union was common defence.  I fear that we have forgotten our roots.

On Thursday, Andrew McCarthy reported at The Corner at National Review Online that the Obama Administration is opening formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr. McCarthy reports:

“The Brotherhood is the world’s most important Islamist organization. It is openly, unabashedly committed to the destruction of the United States and the West. In typical Obama fashion, this disastrous decision to engage America’s avowed enemies has been couched as the mere continuation of prior policy: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is reported to have confirmed that the U.S. would “resume” contacts which had “occurred in recent years.” But make no mistake about it, this is a new policy.” 

This is not a good idea.  Frank Gaffney at the Center for Security Policy reminds us of the Muslim Brotherhoods goals (as stated in documents submitted to the court in the Holy Land Foundation Case):

First, here’s the MB’s creed:  “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”  (Source: Husain Haqqani and Hillel Fradkin, “Islamist Parties: Going Back to the Origins.”)

Second, here’s the Ikwhan’s mission in America: 

“A kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within, sabotaging its miserable house with their [i.e., Americans’] hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” (Source: Muslim Brotherhood’s “Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goals of the Group,” entered into evidence by the Department of Justice in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terrorism-finance trial. Archived at the NEFA Foundation.)   

I guess the obviousl question here is what is the world do we hope to achieve by entering into a dialogue with people who want to destroy us?      

Scott Johnson at Power Line also comments on the idea of opening up a discourse with the Muslim Brotherhood:

“The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest and most important Islamist organization in the Arab world. It shouldn’t be too difficult to get a handle on what it is up to. It conceives of its mission as a grand jihad of global Islamization. Patrick Poole makes the salient point that the Brotherhood has spawned virtually every Islamic terrorist organization in the world. Hamas, for example, is a formal branch of the Brotherhood. Discover the Networks usefully summarizes its history.”

This is not only negotiating with terrorists, it is inviting them into your living room.  The first responsibility of the government is to protect its people.  Negotiating with terrorists never ends well, and it does not protect Americans.

The Washington Examiner reported yesterday that there has been another unexpected consequence of the collective bargaining bill passed in Wisconsin. 

The article reports on events in Racine County:

“Last June, the county took Racine inmates out of their jail cells and put them behind lawn movers. They were cutting the grass in areas that the county executive says were neglected, due to budget cuts. Local unions filed a grievance saying work like that should be done by union members.

 

“A judge agreed, but now with the new collective bargaining rules in effect, that’s the kind of thing the unions can no longer negotiate. That means the county is putting the inmates back to work and adding to their to-do list.

“Racine County Executive James Ladwig said,”We’re gonna have them do landscaping at county buildings, have them pick up trash on the roads.  So we can use some of the county personnel to do difficult tasks, such as putting in a parking lot at the park.””

The inmates are also learning job skills they may be able to use when they are released.  Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Today’s Wall Street Journal posted an article about what is going on behind the scenes in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  In recent months, Iran has been shipping large quantities of weapons to be used against Americans into both of those countries. 

The Wall Street Journal reports:

“Such arms shipments would escalate the shadow competition for influence playing out between Tehran and Washington across the Middle East and North Africa, fueled by U.S. preparations to draw down forces from two wars and the political rebellions that are sweeping the region.

“The U.S. is wrestling with the aftermath of uprisings against longtime Arab allies from Tunisia to Bahrain, and trying to leave behind stable, friendly governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Iran appears to be trying to gain political ground amid the turmoil and to make the U.S. withdrawals as quick and painful as possible.”

The thing that we need to remember is that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes that it is his responsibility to usher in what some Shiite Muslims believe is the Muslim ‘last days.’  It is his belief that creating chaos will hasten the coming of the Twelfth Imam, which will in turn usher in the world-wide caliphate in which Iran will have a major role.  In this religious philosophy, there is no value to current life–Muslims killed creating the chaos or as innocent bystanders will immediately go to paradise, so their lives are not as important as the end goal. 

Meanwhile, since 1979, Iran has slowly been advancing on its goal of being the single important power in the Middle East.  Our departure from Iraq and Afghanistan will leave a vacuum that Iran will be happy to fill.  Once Iran activates its nuclear arsenal, neither Israel nor the United States will have any friends in the Middle East.  Iran will control the flow of the world’s oil supply through the Straits of Hormuz and aim its missles at Europe (and eventually the United States).  Unless we are energy independent as a nation and have perfected our nuclear shield by then, we have a problem.

This is the link to the video and transcript of President Obama’s Weekly Address.  This is the link to the transcript of the Republican response given by Senator Dan Coats of Indiana.

President Obama states:

“I ran for President because I believed in an America where ordinary folks could get ahead; where if you worked hard, you could have a better life. That’s been my focus since I came into office, and that has to be our focus now. It’s one of the reasons why we’re working to reduce our nation’s deficit. Government has to start living within its means, just like families do. We have to cut the spending we can’t afford so we can put the economy on sounder footing, and give our businesses the confidence they need to grow and create jobs.”

He rightfully states that we have to cut spending and help businesses gain the confidence they need to grow jobs.  Then the President proceeds with the class warfare he has been known for:

“Now, it would be nice if we could keep every tax break, but we can’t afford them. Because if we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or for hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners, or for oil and gas companies pulling in huge profits without our help – then we’ll have to make even deeper cuts somewhere else. We’ve got to say to a student, ‘You don’t get a college scholarship.’ We have to say to a medical researcher, ‘You can’t do that cancer research.’ We might have to tell seniors, ‘You have to pay more for Medicare.'”

Tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires are not the problem.  Corporate jets are not the problem.  Trying to get more money out of people who have enough lawyers to move their money around in order to avoid taxes is never going to increase revenue.  It should also be mentioned at this point that President Obama considers individuals who make more than $200,000 per year deserving of a tax increase.  In some states, that is not excessive income.  Closing loopholes for millionaires and corporations might be a good idea in a healthy economy, but only with lower tax rates.  Any increases on corporations or business owners at this point is only going to be passed on the the consumer and further slow down the economy.  He is not comparing apples to apples.

The Republican response points out some of the history of the current debt crisis:

“”Unfortunately, the President’s economic plan of spending and borrowing has failed. Over the past two years, debt has skyrocketed 35 percent to our nation’s limit of $14.3 trillion. The annual deficit is now three times greater than the highest deficit of the previous administration. And today, nearly 14 million Americans are without work.

“”If these numbers aren’t alarming enough, then the President should consider the numerous warnings from the financial markets both here and abroad. The eyes of the world are fixed on the U.S. to see if we have the political courage and moral sense to solve our debt crisis.

“”The President and Democrats in Congress must recognize that their game plan is not working. It’s time to acknowledge that more government and higher taxes is not the answer to our problem. It’s time for bold action and a new plan to address our current crisis.”

Senator Coats further points out:

“”The Hoosier model is a necessary first step to repairing our country’s finances. And this week, every Senate Republican took that step by committing to a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Speaker of the House has committed to bringing the Balanced Budget Amendment to a vote later this month, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has committed to fighting for a vote in the Senate as well. Broke or balanced, that’s the choice before us.

“”Now some doubt our ability to overcome this fiscal crisis. But the problem we face is not insurmountable. We have overcome major challenges in the past. Times of trial have always produced moments of great leadership that rally the American people.”

To slightly alter the words of the Bill Clinton campaign, “It’s the spending, stupid!”

Hot Air posted the following quote from Harry Reid yesterday:

“[It’s] time we return to the type of fiscal discipline that democrats brought to Washington in the 90′s when democrats in the Congress and White House balanced the budget and used the surplus to do what Mr. President? To pay down the debt.”

You can even follow the link above to hear him say it in person.  Maybe some Americans will believe that what he is saying is true, but I hope the voting public has a better memory than that.

This graph below is from Heritage.org (the Heritage Foundation–a conservative website that does research on current issues).  There are a few things that need to be pointed out in reference to Senator Reid’s statement about the fiscal responsibility of the Democrats.  The first thing to remember is that any budget bills are supposed to originate in the House of Representatives.  The House of Representatives controls the spending. 

In October of 2010, the Washington Examiner observed:

“There is no doubt the 1994 revolution changed congress and passed important legislation such as welfare reform and the first balanced budget in over a generation…”

The article goes on to explain the mistakes the Republicans made in 1994, but again the Republican congress controlled the spending and cut the deficit.  In 2006, the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.  After the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the Democrats held a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.  (So why didn’t they pass a budget?????)

The graph shows the years spending went down and the years it went up.  Our spending has increased dramatically since the Democrats took over Congress in 2007.  There have been two very expensive stimulus programs that have substantially increased our debt.  If that is the definition of fiscal discipline, we will never balance the budget!  In the 1990’s the Democrats did not have the power to impact the budget.

Senator Reid either has a very bad memory or a very tenuous relationship with the truth.

If the states are the laboratories for the federal government, Washington should be paying close attention to California and Texas right now.  California is losing businesses and tax revenue (despite raising taxes) and Texas is gaining businesses and tax revenue without raising taxes.  Now California has tried a new approach.

Yesterday the Daily Caller reported that California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that requires online businesses to collect sales tax.  In response, Amazon.com and other online retailers have declared that they no longer see the business sense in remaining in the state of California.  Amazon.com and Overstock.com both announced that they will be closing out all of their affiliates in California (affiliates are small business that sell products through Amazon and other online sites and receive a small commission).  Congratulations, Governor Brown, you just created more unemployment.

The article quotes the statement of Amazon.com to their affiliates:

“”We oppose this bill because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive,” Amazon said in an email to its affiliates. “It is supported by big-box retailers, most of which are based outside California, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that we must take this action.””

Raising taxes (or instituting new taxes) does not raise revenue–it only causes people to change their behavior to avoid those taxes.  At a time when some Democrat Senators are accusing the Republicans of sabotaging the economy, those Senators need to look at the results of the actions of Governor Jerry Brown.  I don’t think the Democrats are purposely ruining the economy; I just think that their policies automatically do that.

The chart below is from Power Line Blog.  For a larger verson, follow the link to the article and click on the chart.  It is a very clear picture of who the ‘special interest’ groups are.  Frankly, I was floored by the chart–I had no idea the unions were spending the kind of money they are spending on elections.  Money buys advertisements.  All of us need to be very skeptical of any candidate or political advertising we hear over the next year and a half–there will be a lot of misinformation out there.  If we want to change the direction of America, we need to be paying attention.