Monthly Archives: September 2011

A Story With A Happy Ending

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Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA in November ...

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Yesterday Yahoo Sports reported on an incident at Qualcomm Stadium during a preseason game between the San Deigo Chargers and the San Francisco 49ers that gives me hope in human nature.

The article reports:

During the game at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, a Club Level server by the name of Heather Allison tripped on a stair, and all the money she’d taken in for the day — about $1,000 — flew out her hands and landed all over the area — on fans in attendance, under seats, and one level down in the lower field section.

As the money flew, the fans yelled that it was the server’s money. The story continues:

In the end, Allison got back every bit of the money she inadvertently lost, and pocketed $170 in tips for the evening after giving the concession company its cut. “It was all there,” she said. “Chargers fans are amazing. We’re like a family.”

San Deigo fans should be congratulated for their honesty and sense of fairness. Thank you fans for boosting my faith in my fellow man.

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Should Snooki Get A Tax Break ?

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Jersey Shore (TV series)

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The Blaze is reporting today that New Jersey must reimburse the producers of that classic television show “Jersey Shore” $420,000 thanks to a now-suspended tax credit program. Governor Christie suspended the Economic Development Authority in 2010, but all deals made before that have to be honored.

I attempted to watch “Jersey Shore” once. I lasted about five minutes. Admittedly, I am long past my teenage and young-adult angst, but the show just struck me as being about some very shallow, self-centered people who were not very entertaining. Among the cast, there seemed to be barely enough intelligence and common sense to fill a teacup. I spent my teenage years in New Jersey, and I can honestly say that the show does not depict the Jersey Shore I remember.

The article reports:

Less than a decade ago, only five states offered financial incentives to movie makers, but by 2010, almost every state in the union had a film commission and a package to offer producers. These generous tax breaks for movies and TV seemed to have gone under the radar until recently. A combination of budget problems and abuses discovered within some of the systems slowed the amount of money being offered by states to filmmakers. However, the Screen Actors Guild website lists all of the state film commission offices which contains offers of rebates/tax credits from 10% to 40%. (Puerto Rico has the most generous package.)

Tax breaks for movies probably do generate short-term revenue, but it’s a shame that the states cannot demand a higher quality product!

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A Rocket Launcher A Grenade Launcher And Explosives Were Found By Border Patrol Agents Near The Rio Grande

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A Texas newspaper called The Monitor is reporting that a rocket launcher, a grenade launcher, and what appeared to be C-4 explosives were found near the Rio Grande River on Tuesday.

Katie Pavlich at Townhall.com points out:

There are four main ways Mexican cartels can get their hands on rocket and grenade launchers:

-If the U.S. State Department were to sell those weapons to the Mexican government, then dissenters of the Mexican military (who make up the majority of cartel members) take the weapons with them when they leave

-Mexican cartels buy them on the black market

-Mexican cartels get them from a guy, who after admitting he was providing grenades to cartels, was released back to Mexico by ATF a la Grenadegate

-Mexican cartels work with groups like Hezbollah to obtain those weapons, cartels in Mexico grant easy access into the United States to Hezbollah in return, Hezbollah supplies them with weapons.

On September 3rd, I reported that Hezbollah has set up a center of operations in Cuba (rightwinggranny.com). We may be seeing the results of that action.

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If You Really Want Companies To Hire New Employees Don’t Put Obstacles In Their Way !

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Yesterday Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posted an article noting that the jobs bill proposed by President Obama has a provision that would make it illegal for businesses to discriminate against the already-unemployed while making hiring decisions. No wonder lawyers love this President!

The article reports:

The proposed language is found in a section of the bill titled “Prohibition of Discrimination in Employment on the Basis of an Individual’s Status as Unemployed.” That section would also make it illegal for employers to request that employment agencies take into account a person’s unemployed status.

It would also allow aggrieved job-seekers to seek damages if they have been discriminated against. This provision in particular prompted Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) to argue that Obama’s proposal is aimed at creating a new, special class of people who can sue companies.

“So if you’re unemployed, and you go to apply for a job and you’re not hired for that job, see a lawyer,” Gohmert said on the House floor. “You might be able to file a claim because you got discriminated against because you’re unemployed.”

If you can’t make a living by becoming employed, you may be able to make a living by suing anyone who doesn’t hire you when you apply for a job.

The article concludes:

All this provision does is give those who don’t get the position a big invitation to file a lawsuit, especially against the deep-pocketed companies we’re hoping to convince to hire people now.  That will certainly benefit the lawyers who take these cases in order to get a piece of the shakedown money they can get out of these companies, but all that does is heighten the risk of hiring for businesses enormously.  If a company has a position that attracts 20 applicants, they have to consider the possibility that the new hire will cost them compensation for one employee and settlements for 19 non-employees, unless the business goes out of their way to hire the person who has been unemployed the very longest and therefore doesn’t have the same market value for their labor or for the company.

If you want to see the economy grow, we need to cut regulations, not add more. This is another headache for any company that is considering hiring a new employee. This regulation hinders job creation–it does not encourage it. The biggest thing we can do to grow the economy is cut

 


Coming On October 3rd

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Image of Mark Durie
ATC Speakers Forum Presents:
“Islam and Dhimmitude: From Ancient Rituals to Present Realities”
With
Dr. Mark Durie
WHEN:            October 3, 2011 at 7:30 PM
WHERE:         Ahavath Torah Congregation – 1179 Central Street, Stoughton, MA
PRICE:            $5
Dr. Mark Durie is a theologian, human rights activist and pastor of an Anglican church. He has published many articles and books on the language and culture of the Acehnese, Christian-Muslim relations and religious freedom. A graduate of the Australian National University and the Australian College of Theology, he has held visiting appointments at the University of Leiden, MIT, UCLA and Stanford, and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1992.
This lecture by an Australian scholar of Islam discusses the position of non-Muslims – Jews, Christians and others – under sharia law.
There are two stories about non-Muslims living under Islam, who Muslims call dhimmis. One is that dhimmis were the fortunate recipients of Islamic benevolence. The other is that non-Muslims had to buy their heads back each year in a legal system designed to degrade and belittle them, and to ensure their decline. The story of the dhimmis, and their centuries of subjugation under Islamic law, raises troubling questions about the spiritual trajectory of western societies, and their seemingly inexorable drift towards the psychology of surrender.
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The Death Toll Related To Operation Fast And Furious Grows

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CBS News reported yesterday that three more murders have been linked to guns bought as part of Operation Fast and Furious. The article posts portions of a letter from the Justice Department listing weapons that have been found at various crime scenes in Mexico. It is an unfortunate chapter in the history of America that we were involved in gunrunning operations to Mexico.

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The Fight To Open The Boeing Plant In South Carolina

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My photos that I took at today's First Flight ...

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The Hill reported today that the House of Representatives has passed a bill to limit the power of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to dictate to a American company where it can expand its manufacturing.

The article reports:

The House approved H.R. 2587 in a 238-186 vote in which eight Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill and seven Republicans voted against it.

The bill is a response to the NLRB’s decision to sue Boeing after it opened a manufacturing plant for its new 787 Dreamliner jet in South Carolina. The NLRB is charging that the plane manufacturer picked South Carolina for new production in order to retaliate against strikes by its unionized workers in Washington state. South Carolina is a right-to-work state that generally bans union membership.

It is ironic that it would have been less complicated for Boeing to move its plant out of the country. That kind of government interference costs American jobs.

It is understood that the bill has little chance of passing in the Senate, but Republicans want a public vote in the Senate on the issue.

The article further reports:

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the bill would put real limits on the right of workers to bargain collectively. He said the bill would allow companies to say to workers, “Yeah, you have the right to bargain collectively, but if we don’t like what you’re doing, we’re taking a hike.”

Trade associations have lent their significant lobbying weight in support of the bill. Both the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told lawmakers that they would score votes on the bill.

Conservative activist groups, such as Americans for Prosperity and the Club for Growth, also have pushed for passage of the bill. 

Unions are in opposition, saying the legislation will gut worker protections and undermine the NLRB’s legal authority. 

I don’t know when the NLRB was given the power to tell companies where in the United States they could do business, but I do believe that it is time to take that power away. If corporations cannot meet union demands and still make a profit, they should be free to relocate where unions are not an issue. That used to happen in this country–one of the reasons the textile industry moved out of New England to the southeastern states in the 1950’s was that the southern textile plants were cheaper to operate because they were not unionized. When did companies lose that freedom?

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About That Settled Science On Man-Made Global Warming

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Mount Kilimanjaro, reached by German missionar...

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The website WattsUpWithThat is doing an hour-by-hour summary (and cartoon) on the Al Gore Gore-a-thon on man-made global warming. I happened to come across the hour that mentioned that so far Mr. Gore has not included the meltdown of Mount Kilimanjaro in his program. There is one small problem with the meltdown–the latest scientific numbers show that it isn’t happening. The website reports:

Standing as the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro is slowly regaining its snow after several years of drought in East Africa and the effects of climate change in African continent.

The snow is slowly mounting on the top point of the mountain, giving new hopes to Mount Kilimanjaro environmental watchdogs and tourists that the mountain may not lose its beautiful ice cap as scientists predicted.

…“Global warming” has nothing to do with this, it’s all about rainfall, deforestation, and evapotranspiration. I’m not ashamed to say: “We told you so”, several times…

The article then goes on to list the previous articles the site has posted about Mount Kilimanjaro.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch… Fox News reported yesterday that:

Dr. Ivar Giaever, a former professor with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the 1973 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, abruptly announced his resignation Tuesday, Sept. 13, from the premier physics society {American Physical Society (APS)} in disgust over its officially stated policy that “global warming is occurring.”

The article further reports:

Public perception of climate change has steadily fallen since late 2009. A Rasmussen Reports public opinion poll from August noted that 57 percent of adults believe there is significant disagreement within the scientific community on global warming, up five points from late 2009.

The same study showed that 69 percent of those polled believe it’s at least somewhat likely that some scientists have falsified research data in order to support their own theories and beliefs. Just just 6 percent felt confident enough to report that such falsification was “not at all likely.”

The bottom line here is that we don’t know as much as we think we do. The questions is, “Is it worth crippling the American economy based on scientific conclusions that may not be valid?” To me, the answer is no, but that is a question each voter has to answer in their own mind.

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Quote Of The Day

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Rahm Emanuel (right) and Senator Dick Durbin (...

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Jan Schakowsky is a Democrat Congresswoman who has represented the ninth district of Illinois since 1999. WLS in Chicago posted the following quote from her today:

Schakowsky said that Americans don’t deserve to keep all of their money because we need taxes to support our society.

The exact quote was:

“I’ll put it this way. You don’t deserve to keep all of it and it’s not a question of deserving because what government is, is those things that we decide to do together. And there are many things that we decide to do together like have our national security. Like have police and fire. What about the people that work at the National Institute of Health who are looking for a cure for cancer.”

I don’t want to keep all of my money–I just want to keep more of it than the government takes and gives to other people.

If you agree with Congresswoman Schakowsky, you probably vote for Democrat candidates. If you disagree, you probably vote for Republicans. That is the debate in America right now. The 2012 elections will tell us who is winning the debate.

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The State Is Going To Track My Child’s Weight ????!!!

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The website of WLS in Chicago is reporting that the state would being tracking children’s body mass index through the Michigan Care Improvement Registry. This is an attempt by the state to combat the growing problem of childhood obesity.

The article reports:

The tracking system would encourage pediatricians to calculate patients’ BMI using height and weight measurements, and report these numbers to the state through the existing immunization tracking system, the Michigan Care Improvement Registry. The numbers would be reported anonymously, meaning that the child’s identity would not be connected to his or her BMI in state records.

The hope is that having doctors track height and weight in this way would encourage more discussion among parents, kids and doctors about the dangers of being overweight, says Geralyn Lasher, director of communications at the Executive Office of the Governor.

Even though the results are not supposed to be connected to a specific child, does anyone doubt that some time in the future the results will be connected to the specific child and that the state will get involved in some way. On July 14, I posted an article that included a story of a child who had been taken from her family in California because she was obese. She was returned to her family after two months in foster care when her weight did not change. It was later discovered that there was a genetic element to her problem.

If you are serious about fighting childhood obesity, how about putting recess back in the schools and allowing children to play tag and dodgeball? That might be a good beginning.

 

 

 

We Lost The War On Poverty, What Do We Do For An Encore ?

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Plasma display

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Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that household incomes have fallen to 1996 levels. On September 13th, The Foundry at Heritage.org reported on some of the details on poverty in America.

The article at The Foundry reports:

  • 80 percent of poor households have air conditioning
  • Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks
  • Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite television
  • Two-thirds have at least one DVD player and 70 percent have a VCR
  • Half have a personal computer, and one in seven have two or more computers
  • More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation
  • 43 percent have Internet access
  • One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD television
  • One-fourth have a digital video recorder system, such as a TiVo

I realize that many of the people considered below the poverty level struggle with day to day expenses and paying the bills, but there is something wrong with this picture. Are we giving people the idea that they can live above the standard that their salaries allow and have the government subsidize the extras? I realize that sounds calloused, but if I struggle to pay my bills because of the amount of money taken out of my paycheck and given to another family, why does that family buy a plasma TV before I can afford one? I earned mine, who paid for theirs?

The article at The Foundry concludes:

Poverty is a serious problem that requires serious solutions. But policymakers and the public need accurate information about what poverty in the United States really means. Only then can they implement the right policies to help those Americans who are truly in need.

Meanwhile, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal stated today (I am not linking to the article as it is subscribers only):

…politicians who support policies that make economic growth their top priority raise everybody’s incomes even if some incomes rise more rapidly than others. Politicians who put income redistribution above overall economic growth do worse by everybody, especially the poor.

The bottom line here is that class warfare may win votes in certain segments of the population, but in the long run it helps no one escape poverty or gain wealth. The smart thing to do to help the poor is to grow the economy for everyone and stop worrying which group of people has more and needs to be punished by higher taxes. Greed and envy are not productive and do not have a positive impact on the economy or the people practicing them.

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What Happened In New York’s Ninth District

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Michael Barone at CPAC in February 2010.

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Michael Barone reported today at the Washington Examiner on the stunning upset in the special election held yesterday in New York’s ninth Congressional district. At approximately quarter after one this morning, Michael Barone reported:

With 82% of precincts reporting, the latest returns show Turner with 53% of the vote and Democrat David Weprin with 46%. Weprin leads narrowly, 51%-48%, in Queens, where 90% of the precincts have reported; Turner leads 69%-31% in Brooklyn, where 66% of the precincts have reported. Thus if the remaining precincts in each borough match existing percentages there, Turner will win by a slightly larger margin than in current returns. This is a big reversal from the 2008 general election, when the 9th district voted 55%-44% for Barack Obama over John McCain.

The ninth district has a growing number of Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods particularly in Brooklyn. Democrat David Weprin is an Orthodox Jew, but the Jewish vote went for Republican Bob Turner. This is seen as a reaction to President Obama’s policies toward and treatment of Israel. Remember the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to the White House in March 2010. The U. K. Times reported:

After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisers and “let me know if there is anything new”, a US congressman, who spoke to the Prime Minister, said.

“It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House telephone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received “the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea”. 

President Obama refused to take a picture with Prime Minister Netanyahu, there was no press conference, there was no state dinner, and there were no warm handshakes. This is no way to treat a friend. President Obama also criticized Israel for building housing in Jerusalem. When did America get the right to tell another country where they can building housing?

Anyway, there are some good reasons an Orthodox Jew might want to rethink his support of the Obama Administration.

 

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A Really Awful Website Put Up By The Obama For President Campaign

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We all know that the news is not always correct and that campaign ads sometimes say things that are exaggerated or leave out facts. That is part of a system that requires Americans to do their own research and draw their own conclusions. That is why I am very upset about a new website paid for by Obama for America. The website asks people to report ‘attacks’ on President Obama so that they can counter those attacks with facts. I hate to admit that I am something of a cynic, but somehow I am not sure the attacks will be met with facts. What the website is asking is for Americans to ‘tell’ on other Americans who are saying negative things about President Obama. This smacks of asking children to report their parents as enemies of the state.

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Hostage Taking For Fun And Profit

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CNN is announcing that Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, two hikers who have been jailed in Iran since July 31, 2009, when they mistakenly crossed into the country from Iraq when they were hiking, will be released from prison after a $500,000 bail is paid for each of them.

The article reports:

Last month, Fattal and Bauer were convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison — five years for espionage and three years for illegal entry, according to Iranian media. Their attorney appealed the sentence. That appeal is still pending.

The article quotes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad:

“They illegally crossed our borders and they were arrested by the border guards,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told NBC in an interview that aired Tuesday. “We tried last year to free one of the three persons and we are also trying to make arrangements for the freedom of the other two. I think these two persons will be freed in a couple of days.”

He said Fattal and Bauer are enjoying “very good conditions here in prison … it’s like staying in a hotel.”

I don’t mean to by cynical here, but I doubt very much that being in an Iranian prison is like staying in a hotel. I wonder if we could find a hotel like that for President Ahmadinejad when he comes to visit America.

At any rate, hopefully the two men will be home shortly. We need to remember the type of government we are dealing with when we deal with Iran. This was a very easy way for them to raise money and take money out of the American economy. Because we did not react strongly, we can expect them to do more of the same.

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A Federal Program Gone Horribly Wrong

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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explo...

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Last Thursday the Los Angeles Times reported that a second violent crime has been linked to the Fast and Furious gun program.  Two Arizona undercover police officers attempted to stop two men in a stolen vehicle approximately five months after the Fast and Furious program began. The men in the stolen vehicle rammed their cars, threatened them with guns, and fled into the desert. The driver and passenger were caught. The driver was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, driving the stolen vehicle and illegal possession of the weapons. The passenger, a citizen of Mexico, was charged with possession of narcotics and the stolen vehicle.

A Beretta pistol and AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle were found in the stolen Ford truck, the police said.

The article reports:

The weapons found in the vehicle were the 9-millimeter Beretta, hidden under the front console, and the AK-47 in the back seat. Authorities in Arizona said they were told both weapons were illegally purchased under the Fast and Furious program that began in November 2009. Also in the truck were four boxes of ammunition for the AK-47, a box of 23 9-mm bullets for the Beretta, and four cases of Bud Light beer.

The article reports that about 2,000 weapons were allowed to be illegally purchased in the Phoenix area, and the vast majority were lost track of by ATF agents. The Fast and Furious program is a disgrace to this country, and those responsible for it need to be relieved of their authority.

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Some Random Thoughts On The Debate Tonight

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I’m good at random–it’s how my mind works!

Mitt Romney or Rick Perry will be the nominee. My husband tells me it will be Mitt Romney. I would be happy with either one (although I would be happier with Rick Perry).

Mitt Romney knows how to create jobs as a member of the private sector. Rick Perry knows how to create an environment that promotes jobs in the private sector.

I tend to think Mitt Romney will be more ‘politically correct’ than Rick Perry. That’s something I like about Rick Perry.

There is probably very little difference in the ideas and policies of Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Either man would be good for the country at this time.

I just wish we could see a Republican debate moderated by Republicans. I would like to see Bill Bennett, Hugh Hewitt, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly moderate a Republican debate.

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We Should Have Done This After The 1967 War If Not Sooner

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Today’s Jerusalem Post is reporting:

A bill circulating in the US House of Representatives that would strip the president of his power to waive a law requiring him to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem is gaining traction and bipartisan support amid a groundswell of Christian support for the measure.

The proposal, which comes as the Palestinians prepare to unilaterally seek recognition of an independent state at the United Nations next week, serves to highlight the fruition of faith-based diplomacy at a time of increasing Israeli isolation in the diplomatic arena.

Obviously, the President will veto this bill and the State Department will do anything it can to stop it, but stop and think about this a minute. How would America react if another country decided to put its embassy in New York rather than Washington because they didn’t believe that Washington was our legitimate capital. I think we would tell them to go pound sand. It is a tribute to the patience of the government of Israel that they haven’t told us to put our embassy in their capital or forget about it.

The article further reports:

“If any Congress can do it, this one can,” said Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado), a co-chairman of the Israel Allies Caucus in Congress and a cosponsor of the bill.

The congressman said that the Palestinian move at the UN, which is going ahead in the face of US opposition, was a good impetus for Congress to approve the legislation, since it would serve as a counterweight to their attempts to seek statehood based on the pre-1967 lines.

“This is a good time for the US, through Congress, to show the world American support for Israel and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” he said. “It will help counteract the Palestinian attempt to declare statehood and recognize Jerusalem as their capital.”

Congress not only needs to pass this bill, they need to overcome the Presidential veto that will follow.

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Tax Hikes Under Any Other Name

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Planet Washington, a McClatchy blog, posted a quick note today stating that the Obama administration is planning to pay for its proposed jobs bill entirely by tax increases. The thing to remember here is that companies (or corporations) do not pay taxes–consumers do. Any increase in corporate taxes will be passed on to the American consumer. This will raise prices and fuel inflation, decreasing the amount of money Americans have to spend and slowing down the economy rather than stimulating it. The plan suggested by President Obama will raise taxes on oil and gas companies by approximately $ 40 billion. Those tax increases will be passed on to the American consumer in the form of increased energy prices, which in turn will increase prices across the board. This is not a wise move at this time.

Reuters describes the plan as targeting tax breaks (an expression that probably did better in the focus groups than increasing taxes). The tax breaks being targeted are generally in line with the class warfare that this administration is known for. It is never mentioned that half of all Americans do not pay income tax. None of the tax breaks targeted are aimed at this group.

This is a chart from 2007 from the Journal of the American Enterprise Institute:

Who Pays How Much in Taxes

It seems to me that the problem of taxes is not that the rich are not taxed enough. First of all, the problem is the spending–not the income. Second of all, half the people in America have no interest in whether or not taxes are increased–they do not pay them. Therefore, they do not care if the spending is out of control.

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The American People Need To Educate Themselves And Take A Stand On This

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Flight 93 stone memorial of an American Flag w...

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I consider myself fairly well informed on the dangers of the Islamization of America, but I still have a lot to learn. I think most of us are just beginning to understand that there are people in the world who hate us just because we are Americans and we are free. The hard part of understanding that is beginning to understand that while we don’t seem overly concerned about the fact that they hate us, radical Islamists are making plans to change the things about us that they hate (our freedom, our way of life, our ability to worship the god of our choice). That is why what is going on with the memorial to Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, is so disturbing. It’s hard for most of us to understand what has happened.

John Hinderaker at Power Line reported yesterday on the plans for the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, memorial.

The article shows pictures of the design and states the following:

Announcement of the winning design by the National Park Service provoked a torrent of outrage. The result was that the Park Service had the design changed (I believe by the architect who created the original Crescent of Embrace, Paul Murdoch) so that it is now a circle–a “broken circle,” as it is described–rather than a crescent. The difference is at best a subtle one, and opposition to the project continued, led by Burnett and Alec Rawls. Rawls has a site called Crescent of Betrayal that contains a great deal of information about the Park Service’s design for the memorial. These images show how the revised design on the right is really the same as the original crescent, except that a grove of trees has been added to create the “broken circle” motif:

Unfortunately, the whole memorial is built around the central theme of Islam. This is an affront to the people on that plane who died that day. I strongly encourage you to follow the link to the article at Power Line and read the entire article. After that, please tell a friend, write a letter, or make some noise. This needs to be stopped before it is built.

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Overlooking The Obvious In Dealing With High Unemployment

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A coal mine in Wyoming, United States. The Uni...

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John HInderaker at Power Line posted an article yesterday about a simple solution to the high unemployment numbers we currently have in America. Developing America’s domestic energy sources would not only employ people, it would have many other positive side effects on the economy. This is one of the charts from the article:

The increased employment that would result from developing America’s domestic energy resources would result in more taxpayers paying taxes. Developing domestic energy sources would also result in lower energy costs to Americans, allowing Americans to spend more money on other things, thus stimulating economic growth. Developing domestic oil resources would also help America become energy independent, rather than sending billions of dollars to people who hate us. It’s a winning situation for the country for many reasons.

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Food For Thought

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I frankly have no idea what to think of the following story, but it is fascinating and needs to be considered. The questions I had after reading the story was, “Does government make us safer or more at risk?”

Today’s U.K. Daily Mail posted a story about Haig Melkessetian, a former US intelligence operative, who was an overlooked intelligence resource in the days and years before September 11, 2001.

The article reports:

A Christian Lebanese of Armenian descent who has been a naturalised US citizen since 1984, Melkessetian, 49, has revealed his story to the Mail on Sunday for the first time. But inside the secretive community of counterterrorism experts, he has long inspired awe.

‘We see movie characters like James Bond and Jason Bourne, and we assume they’re simply fiction,’ says a former US State Department official who knows Melkessetian well.

‘But then you meet Haig and realise he matches the fictional narrative with fact.’

Mr. Melkessetian was in a position on a number of occasions to gather intelligence that would have been helpful in preventing the hijackings that occurred on September 11. Unfortunately, due to bureaucratic red tape and internal turf wars, his information was never taken seriously or reached the right people. His story is one of a patriot who tried to protect his adopted country. Please follow the link above to read the entire story. It is encouraging to read the story of a man who adopted America as his country because he loved America. It is discouraging to realize that, if taken seriously, his information could have prevented what happened on September 11, 2001.

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We Remember September 11, 2001

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September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City: V...

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We were young and naïve. We were like children who trust and believe that the world is a safe place. We hadn’t yet grasped the fact that there were people in the world who meant to harm us. But among us were those who were not naïve.  Men who understood the threat and tried to warn us and prepare us for what they suspected was coming.  One of those men was Rick Rescorla. Rick Rescorla died on September 11, 2001, when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.

Scott Johnson at Power Line posted an article today reminding us of the accomplishments of Rick Rescorla.

Scott Johnson reports:

I first wrote about Rick Rescorla in 2003 after finishing James Stewart’s Heart of a Soldier, the book based on Stewart’s New Yorker article “The real heroes are dead.” (“The real heroes are dead” is what Rescorla would say in response to recognition of his heroism on the battlefield in Vietnam.) The book is good, not great, but it touches on profound themes in a thought-provoking way: life and death, love and friendship, heroism and sacrifice, destiny and fate, man’s search for meaning, all fall within the book’s compass.

On September 11, 2001, Rick Rescorla was working for Morgan Stanley in the south tower of the World Trade Center. He was head of security for the company and had routinely conducted evacuation drills. On September 11, he led the employees down the tower’s one usable fire escape to safety. He was killed when he went back into the tower looking for stragglers.

We need to learn the lesson of September 11. Even when things are peaceful, we need to be aware of the events and people around us. We need to understand that the world is not always welcoming to the principles of freedom and democracy. We need to remember the heroes of that day—there were many—some we know about and some we don’t know about. We honor those heroes by moving forward with the lessons we learned on September 11, 2001.

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Is The Government’s Treatment Of Gibson Guitars Encouraging Employment ?

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Gibson guitar SG Standard 1969

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday the Washington Examiner reported that Representative Fred Upton, R-Mich., Representative Mary Bono Mack, R-Fla., and Representative Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. have sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Director Daniel Ashe questioning the two raids on the Gibson Guitar factory by federal agents. The spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment to the Washington Examiner on the raids.

The letter pointed out that although the American government was investigating whether Gibson Guitar imported ‘sawn wood’ from India, the Indian government was satisfied that the requirements to export the wood to America had been met.

The Washington Examiner posted part of the letter:

We are deeply troubled by the suggestion that if Gibson had the skilled work done in India, using the same wood, instead of here in America, then the importation would have been legal and the Department of Justice would not have carried out this heavy-handed enforcement action.  If this is true, it is hard to conclude anything other than the fact that your agencies and this Administration are actively pursuing regulatory and legal policies that discourage job growth in the United States and encourage shipping those very same jobs overseas, through the selective enforcement of laws enacted over one hundred years ago.  This is unwise in the extreme.

The idea that the Obama administration suggested that Gibson should send work overseas at a time when the Obama administration is condemning corporations for sending work overseas is amazing. If the goal of the Obama administration actually is to create jobs, this is not the way to do it.

 

 

 

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An Angry Mob Is Not A Basic Part Of Freedom

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Today’s New York Times reported that an angry mob has attacked the Israeli Embassy in Cairo and that Israel sent military jets to evacuate the Embassy staff.

The Times reports:

In Washington, the White House said in a statement that Mr. Obama had “expressed his great concern” about the embassy situation in his conversation with Mr. Netanyahu. The statement said Mr. Obama called on the government of Egypt “to honor its international obligations to safeguard the security of the Israeli Embassy.”

Israeli officials said the six trapped embassy staff members were rescued by Egyptian commandos early Saturday morning, after hours when Egyptian military and security forces had appeared to stand idle on the sidelines for fear of confronting the mob.

“This went on for 13 hours and there was real concern for the safety and lives of our people,” an Israeli official said. “The mob penetrated the embassy and at the end there was only one wall separating it from six of our people.”  

This is not a comforting move by the newly free people of Egypt. The Times further reports:

For Egypt’s interim military rulers, allowing the invasion of a foreign embassy is an extraordinary breach of Egypt’s international commitments that is raising security concerns at other embassies as well. 

Does anyone remember that in the Iranian revolution in 1979, the American Embassy was attacked and hostages taken? This does not sound like the actions of a democracy in the making.

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