We need immigration reform–we don’t need amnesty.
Monthly Archives: June 2013
The Problem With Speaking The Truth
Below is a video of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff speaking with Michael Coren on his SUN TV program. Mrs. Sabaditsch-Wolff is currently in America speaking out about the dangers of losing our right to free speech. I attended one of her presentations last week (rightwinggranny.com). The original article is at GatesofVienna.net. The video is also posted on YouTube.
Here is the video:
America Is On The Wrong Side Of This
Yesterday the Washington Times reported that American soldiers will be taking part in a Multinational Force and Observers peacekeeping force in Egypt. Ultimately about 400 American troops will take part in the 9-month mission aimed at curbing riots. The troops will be stationed at checkpoints along the Sinai Peninsula. They’re also tasked with reporting violations to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. My first question here is “Who will be commanding these American troops?”
The United Nations is probably one of the most anti-Israel organizations in the world. Last year the United Nations Human Rights Council called for a boycott on all companies doing business in Israel (rightwinggranny.com). How can anyone expect the United Nations to report honestly on peace treaty violations? The United Nations observers in Lebanon has been silent as Hezbollah has built up its weapons (Reuters). Why would their actions in the Sinai be any different?
In April the Reuters article linked above reported:
“Under pressure, a multi-national force is like an umbrella that gets folded up on a rainy day,” Yaakov Amidror, Netanyahu’s national security adviser, said in a Tel Aviv University speech.
Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, Amidror said, has been building its arsenal despite the 35-year presence of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in its heartland.
“Has Hezbollah avoided bringing any kind of rocket, missile or other arms into southern Lebanon because UNIFIL is there?” he said. Israel believes Hezbollah has amassed 60,000 rockets, including 5,000 with heavy warheads capable of hitting Tel Aviv.
“Under their (UNIFIL) mandate, they cannot stop Hezbollah and confiscate its arms, but they can write a report. There has been no UNIFIL report about any weapon of any Hezbollah person since UNIFIL has existed,” Amidror said.
As part of the U.N. ceasefire that ended Israel’s inconclusive 2006 war with Hezbollah, UNIFIL’s mandate was enhanced to include “assisting” the Lebanese army with keeping guerrilla “personnel, assets and weapons” out of south Lebanon.
Israel is America’s only true ally in the Middle East. We need to protect them–not aid and abet their enemies. The countries surrounding Israel train their children to hate Israel and to grow up to be soldiers or suicide bombers to destroy Israel. This is a picture of a kindergarten graduation in Gaza that I posted last June (rightwinggranny.com)::
Israel lives with this threat every day. We need to be sure that we are helping combat the threat–not becoming part of it. Our future as America depends on it.
Rick Perry Comes To New York
Texas Governor Rick Perry has been making the rounds lately–visiting states with high taxes that might cause businesses to take a look at Texas. Fred Barnes posted an article at the Weekly Standard about Governor Perry’s recent visit to Manhattan.
The article reports:
After his freshman year at Texas A&M in 1969, Perry sold Bible-related books one summer in rural Missouri. “It took weeks before I sold my first books,” he says, but he learned salesmanship. “I look at myself just like a businessman trying to sell a product,” he says. Perry told Trump he’s selling the “opportunity” for business owners to flee the “high tax, high regulation, high litigation” environment of states like New York and thrive in a free market state that lets them keep more of the money they earn. Texas has no state income tax.
Perry is never bashful. When touting Texas as a safe haven for American business, he’s doing what no governor has done before. And he’s doing it with as much fanfare and buzz as possible. Some governors send letters, urging companies to pick up stakes and move. When Perry spent a day in Connecticut last week, he bumped into Dennis Daugaard, the Republican governor of South Dakota. Both were on economic missions. The Connecticut media latched on to Perry and ignored Daugaard.
This is an example of how the United States is supposed to work. The states were set up to be independent laboratories for policies–then Congress would enact the programs that worked in the successful states and not enact the programs in the states with economic or social problems that were not being solved. Unfortunately, Congress has often chosen to do the opposite.
The advertising campaign in New York was noteworthy:
The killer line: “If you’re tired of the same old recipe of over-taxation, over-regulation, and frivolous litigation, get out before you go broke.” Perry delivered the closer. “Texas is calling,” he said. “Your opportunity awaits.” The ads made a splash.
Governor Perry’s trips and advertising campaign are paid for by a group called Texas One, a foundation that touts the state’s economy.
The article reports the goals of Governor Perry’s trip to New York:
Perry had three goals for his trip. He succeeded, partially anyway, on two. In time, he may on the third. The first was to attract businesses to Texas. Perry insists it takes nine months from his pitch to a company’s decision to move. So we’ll have to wait on that. But Perry says he expects to hear this summer that an untold number of California companies are Texas-bound.
The second goal was to stir a national debate on “blue state versus red states policies.” Perry thinks he’s set this in motion and he may have. It should shine a favorable light on the Texas model of low taxes, light regulation, and less litigation—small government that works.
Perry didn’t acknowledge the third goal. It was a test of his skill as a potential presidential candidate after his disastrous performance in last year’s race for the Republican nomination. He says he “parachuted” into that campaign both too late and unprepared. He knows better now.
I guess the primary season for the 2016 Presidential election has begun.
Following The Money In ObamaCare
Who makes money in ObamaCare? Not doctors, hospitals, consumers, or health insurance companies, so who is making money and what is it all about?
On Wednesday, John Hinderaker at Power Line posted an article explaining where some of the money the government will take from taxpayers to fund ObamaCare will go.
ObamaCare is not about health care–it’s about politics. The Power Line article used an editorial posted at Investor’s Business Daily on Tuesday as its main source of what is happening to taxpayer money.
Investor’s Business Daily reports:
The Obama administration granted a whopping $910 million to California to set up its insurance exchange. That money is not for bandages, surgery, nurses and doctors to care for the sick. Nor is it for insurance plans, though $910 million could buy generous coverage for at least 113,000 people!
Shockingly, the $910 million is slated for bureaucracy, including rich compensation packages for exchange employees ($360,000 a year for the executive director) and contracts for computer equipment, public relations and “outreach.”
Outreach is the largest expenditure and where the real monkey business occurs.
What in the world is ObamaCare outreach? It seems as if California lawmakers don’t want the taxpayers to be able to answer that question:
Amazingly, California legislators passed a law that the exchange could keep secret for a year who received the contracts and indefinitely how much they were paid. California’s open-records laws would otherwise prohibit such secrecy.
Most of the groups that got the money are not health care related. The include: the California NAACP ($600,000), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) ($2 million), Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO ($1 million),
The article reports:
These organizations, closely allied with the Democratic Party, are being funded by your tax dollars to conduct “outreach,” meaning the kind of phone banking and door-to-door canvassing that activists do to turn out the vote. They will turn out the uninsured to enroll on the exchanges and in the Democratic Party.
The $37 million awarded last month is only the first installment of California’s $190.4 million to be spent on contracts for “outreach” through December 2014.
ObamaCare will create generations of Democrat voters and horrendous health care for everyone. It needs to go away very fast.
The First Amendment Under Attack
As you read this story, remember that the Islamic definition of slander has nothing to do with whether or not the facts stated are true or false–it has to do with whether or not what is said reflects positively on Islam. Reliance of the Traveller, described as the classic manual of Islamic law, defines slander in three ways, first, to mention of your brother that which he would dislike, second, revealing anything whose disclosure is resented, and third, anything that makes Muslims look bad. That leaves a lot of room for a statement to be called slander.
On Wednesday, ClickOrlando reported that Dr. Jonathan Matusitz, a communications instructor at the University of Central Florida, has been charged by the Coalition for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) with being anti-Islamic. Dr. Matusitz mentioned in a lecture that the reason that the White House’s foreign policy was so ineffective in combating Islamic terrorism is that the White House is in bed with the Muslim Brotherhood. That is an easily proven fact (use the search engine at the top of this page to find past articles on the Muslim Brotherhood). CAIR has charged Dr. Matusitz with “teaching hate.”
If you have not yet looked at the documents from the Holy Land Foundation Trial, please take the time to do so. Not only do these documents outline the plan to take away democracy in America and replace it with Sharia Law (democracy and Sharia Law are incompatible), but CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial.
Thank goodness the University of Central Florida is protecting Dr. Matusitz’s First Amendment rights. I hope they will continue to do so.
An Amazing Story
A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook. It shows how something that seems absolutely horrible can actually be used for good. The video is also on YouTube.
You Can’t Fix A Bad Bill By Making It Worse
Breitbart.com reported today that the Corker Amendment, added to the immigration bill to make it more palatable to those people worried about border security, actually makes the bill worse for those Americans worried about a drastic influx of instant citizens.
The article reports:
Current law states that those applying for green cards are ineligible if they are either “illegally present” at any point or overstay the terms of their work visa. Such an immigrant, in current law, would have to return to their home country and restart the immigration process. The Corker Amendment wipes away that enforcement mechanism.
In the current draft of the Corker Amendment, any worker in the country on a legal work visa for 10 years can get a green card, even if they overstay their visa. The Corker Amendment allows immigrants to break the law in the future and still be eligible for citizenship. It absolves prospective behavior, not simply past mistakes.
The Amendment is 1,000+ pages long. Frankly, I think any law or amendment more than 50 pages should be voted down until it is put in short, easy to understand language. One aspect of the transparency we are currently lacking in our government is foot-high laws that no one reads before voting on them.
The article concludes:
Prior to the Corker Amendment, the 4.5 million immigrants outside the country on a visa waiting-list were subject to laws restricting their presence in the US. The Gang Senate bill would offer them immediate green cards, as long as they hadn’t violated current US Law.
The language in the new Corker Amendment referenced above, however, would remove this restriction. They would become immediately eligible for a green card, even if they lived illegally in this country. The Corker Amendment wipes away any immigration enforcement. It is designed to maximize the number of individuals who qualify for citizenship.
The Corker Amendment is an obvious attempt by the DC GOP establishment to find a path to vote for the Senate bill. It throws a lot more money at the border, but it also weakens internal enforcement and controls. The Corker Amendment actually stipulates that, in perpetuity, you can break the law, overstay your visa, and still be eligible for citizenship.
Our immigration system is broken, Congress is attempting to break it further. We need to oppose any immigration bill that does not secure the border, keep track of the people who are here, and do what we can do to help the people who are here illegally become citizens without slighting the people who have been waiting in line legally for years. We need a simple, well-written bill that considers both the interests of the people who want to come here and the interests of the Americans already here.
Hmmm
Below is the trailer from a documentary about Flight 800 that will be released next month. I am posting the video along with a few personal stories regarding Flight 800. I am not drawing a conclusion –I am just telling a few anecdotal stories that I am personally familiar with.
The following stories have been told to me directly by people I trust. All three stories deal with odd events surrounding the loss of Flight 800.
1, The night the plane went down was a beautiful night. A south shore Long Island resident was outside filming with his video camera when he noticed a streak of light climbing upward in the sky. He turned his camera on that streak and recorded a large flash of light. He later called the FBI, telling them he had the videotape and offering his services as a witness. The FBI paid him a visit, took his videotape, and never called him as a witness. The video tape was never returned.
2. The night the airplane went down, fire stations on the south shore of Long Island were turned away when they arrived to help with the search and rescue effort.
3. Someone I know was working on a project in the old Grumman aircraft building. The building was the place where the wreckage of Flight 800 was reassembled to determine the cause of the explosion of the plane. The security was such that this person was accompanied by security during routine trips to the restroom. On one of these trips, a college classmate was encountered. Evidently the classmate was there also working on a project. After the encounter, the person I know was questioned extensively on the details of the friendship and what was discussed.
None of these stories actually prove anything. All may be easily explained–in the first story the FBI may have believed that they already had all the witnesses they needed to determine the cause of the crash and simply forgot to return the video, in the second story, the people who were first on the scene may have realized that there would be no survivors and felt there was no need for additional search and rescue workers, and in the third story, the government was simply making sure no one was tampering with the evidence in any way that would have hindered the investigation into the loss of the plane.
Again, I have ventured into an area that I know little about. I am simply sharing three stories told to me by people I know. These stories cause me to wonder what really happened the night Flight 800 went down. I have no answers, just more questions.
In Case You Missed It
Elbert Guillory has released a video explaining why he has left the Democrat Party and become a Republican. I have posted the video below. You can also find it on YouTube. It is well worth watching.
How To Lie With Statistics
This article has three sources–a Power Line article by John Hinderaker posted yesterday, a Hot Air post from yesterday, and a CNS News article from today. The subject of this article is the Congressional Budget Office report being hailed by supporters of the immigration bill as another reason to pass the bill. Not so fast.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is non-partisan. It is also required to base its report of the numbers given to it. This makes it fairly easy for Congress to scam the system. Since the CBO only scores a ten-year window, all Congress has to do is put the major expenses of the legislation being scored outside of that window. Thus the current immigration bill says that the newly legalized immigrants will not be eligible for any federal programs for ten years. Amazing coincidence that the period of ineligibility ends after ten years. Does anyone want to predict what will happen on the first day after the ten years is up and our government is flooded with applications for government aid?
The article at Power Line points out:
Behind these rather antiseptic observations lies a human tragedy: falling wages and rising unemployment for the very segment of American society that has struggled the most in recent years. On top of that, the nation’s welfare system will be severely strained. While newly-legalized immigrants will not immediately be eligible for federal welfare benefits, that does not apply at the state and local levels. Those welfare systems will be overwhelmed with millions of new claimants–the cost to be borne, of course, by the taxpayers.
CNS News reports:
However, the cost estimate of the legislation that was released on Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office says that the legislation would actually allow the flow of new illegal aliens into the United States to continue at a rate equal to 75 percent of the current rate of illegal immigration. This will be the case, in part, argues CBO, because of people who overstay temporary work visas that will be authorized by the bill.
This revelation that 75 percent of illegal immigration would continue if the Senate immigration reform proposal were enacted is included in a section of the report headlined, “Future Unauthorized Residents.” The section is on page 23 of the 63-page report.
So let’s get this straight. The current immigration bill would negatively impact wages of Americans, strain state welfare programs, hurt taxpayers, and only stop 25 percent of illegal immigration. So why in the world would we want to pass it?
Searching For The Truth
Yesterday CNS News posted a story questioning the accuracy of some of the Congressional testimony regarding the attack at Benghazi.
The article reports:
An attorney whose firm represents two Benghazi whistleblowers said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lied to the Senate when he said there was never a “stand down” order during the Benghazi attack on Sept. 11, 2012.
This contradicts the testimony of Gregory Hicks, former number two State Department diplomat in Libya. According to the article:
Hicks told Congress that after the first attack, a security team left Tripoli for Benghazi with two military personnel and that four members of a special forces team in Tripoli wanted to go in a second wave but were told to stand down.
I have previously reported on this aspect of the story (rightwinggranny.com). Despite the fact that the attack was more than nine months ago, these questions about what happened that night remain unanswered. I believe that all Americans are entitled to answers–especially the family members of those who lost their lives their night.
Who Is Actually In Charge Of The Internal Revenue Service?
My Way News is reporting today that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses. In April, a directive written by Dannie Weffel, a former budget official who has since been appointed acting IRS commissioner, cancelled discretionary bonuses because of spending cuts.
The article reports:
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says his office has learned that the IRS is executing an agreement with the employees’ union on Wednesday to pay the bonuses. Grassley says the bonuses should be canceled under an April directive from the White House budget office.
So does the government control the IRS or does the employees’ union control the IRS?
So let me get this straight–because of sequestration, school children cannot tour the White House, but IRS employees get $70 million in employee bonuses, and the President and his family tour the world for $100 million.
Is it time for new elected officials yet????
From Facebook
The Search Continues
CBS Detroit is reporting that Federal agents believe that they are about to uncover the remains of former Teamsters Union Boss Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa disappeared in July 1975.
The article reports:
CBS News has confirmed a suspicious concrete slab was retrieved by investigators from the Oakland Township field where they have been digging for any sign of Hoffa. It’s too soon, however, to know whether the slab is anything more than part of an old foundation for a barn.
The dig — the latest in what’s been nearly a 40-year search — is reportedly the result of extensive FBI interviews with former mobster Tony Zerilli.
As someone who was living in New Jersey during the1960’s, this story amazes me. The rumor in New Jersey was that Jimmy Hoffa was buried under the goalposts in Giants stadium. I guess we are all about to find out whether that rumor is simply not true.
The Real Cost Of Owing A Ton A Money To China
Out of every dollar the American government spends, roughly 40 cents is borrowed from China. What difference does it make? In some cases a lot of difference.
On Saturday the New York Post reported that Chen Guangcheng and his family must vacate New York University housing by July 15th. Chen Guangcheng and his immediate family arrived in this country in in May of last year (see rightwinggranny.com) after seeking refuge in the American Embassy in China.
The article reports:
The move-out mandate comes as Chen plans a trip to Taiwan later this month, and grapples with worries that members of his family in China are being beaten and denied urgent medical care by authorities.
NYU’s extension of its out-by-June-30 eviction notice comes on heels of an exclusive Post report that the university, which is building a new Shanghai campus, was ousting Chen under pressure from China.
There are two aspects of this story–NYU is under pressure by the Communist Party of China to evict Chen, but there is another part of the story. Does anyone honestly think that if America was not so deeply in debt to China, that China would be exerting this pressure? Our government has been severely weakened by the debt caused by runaway spending. We need to stop overspending and rebuild our image around the world.
Cutting Government Spending Seems To Be Something Of A Challenge
On Sunday Hot Air posted an article about the Farm Bill currently under consideration in Congress. The article included the following graph:
We need some people in Congress who can do math and are willing to cut spending–not just play games with the numbers.
Do Americans Really Have A Right To Privacy?
The argument in Roe v. Wade was about Americans‘ right to privacy. This isn’t an article about abortion, but I think it is interesting to remember that argument in light of everything that is happening in America today–the NSA is spying on Americans, the IRS is targeting Americans, political opposition is being targeted, etc. Don’t Americans have the right to express themselves privately? Are we losing that right if we don’t agree with the people in power?
On Monday, CBS in Philadelphia reported that Sharyl Attkisson’s computer had been hacked. Ms. Attkisson is a CBS reporter who was pursuing stories on both Fast and Furious and the attack at Benghazi. I posted an article about her in May concerning her problems with the Obama Administration because of her reporting.
The article reports Ms. Attkisson’s comments on the hacking::
“Whoever was in my work computer, the only thing I was working on were work-related things with CBS were big stories I guess during the time period in questions were I guess Benghazi and ‘Fast and Furious.’ The intruders did have access to personal information including passwords to my financial accounts and so on, but didn’t tamper with those, so they weren’t interested in stealing my identity or doing things to my finances. So people can decide on their own what they might have been trying to do in there.”
…“We’re continuing to move forward aggressively, CBS News takes this very seriously, as do I. I think whenever an unauthorized party comes into the home of an American, whether it’s any private citizen or journalist and gets in their house, searches their computers — these are computers my family uses — and they’re inserting or removing material for whatever their reasons are, I think that’s a really serious and disturbing matter and we’re gonna follow it up and keep pursuing it.”
It will be interesting to see how far CBS News takes this investigation. I have a feeling that they may not like what they find and may be reluctant to report it.
The First Amendment Matters
I love America. I was born here, and I have lived here all my life. I have lived in New England, the mid-Atlantic states, and a southern state. This is my country. Last night I learned that I need to be very worried about the future of my country.
About a year and a half ago, I wrote an article about Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff (rightwinggranny.com). The article details the battle Mrs. Sabaditsch-Wolff went through because she told the truth about Islam. Please follow the link above to read the story.
Last night, I had the privilege of meeting Mrs. Sabaditsch-Wolff and hearing her speak. I really didn’t like hearing what she had to say, but I appreciated her courage in saying it. Europe does not have First Amendment protections. There are a number of people who have been tried (some convicted) in European countries for telling the truth about Islam. Unfortunately, that mindset is coming to America. The full text of Mrs. Sabaditsch-Wolff’s remarks can be found at gatesofvienna.net.
The following links are from my website and others detailing some of the ways that Americans are losing their First Amendment rights. Please read the articles.
rightwinggranny.com, rightwinggranny.com, abc27.com, examiner.com
There are just four examples of Americans’ First Amendment rights being taken away–in both political and religious speech. President Obama has stated, “The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.” Frankly, I have never heard an American President defend Christianity in that way. Why the double standard?
Mrs. Sabaditsch-Wolff spoke of the Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the American political system. Frank Gaffney put together a ten-part series detailing that infiltration at the Center For Security Policy. If you don’t have time to watch the entire 10 parts, I strongly suggest that you watch the summary.
Mrs. Sabaditsch-Wolff also pointed out that Islam has politically morphed from a religion to a race–therefore anyone who opposes the teachings of Islam is a racist.
The only hope for America is awareness and citizen involvement. If America is willing to pay the price to remain the last bastion of freedom, we may be able to turn the tide back here and in Europe. We need to remember that the goal of Islam (coincidentally also the goal of Iran, Egypt, and many other Muslim nations) is a world-wide caliphate. We have the choice right now whether or not we want to be part of that caliphate. We may not have that choice for long.
The Coming Ice Age
On Friday, Anthony Watts posted the graph below on his WattsUpWithThat website.
“Data adapted from ‘The Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum’ by A.S. Dyke et. al., which was way better than the sequels ‘The Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum: The Meltdown’ and ‘The Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum: Continental Drift’.”
The bottom line here is simple–we are more at risk from global cooling than from global warming. Before we panic, we might also consider that as of yet we haven’t come up with an accurate computer model that correctly predicts long term trends in weather. Weather is the result of all sorts of things–carbon levels, sun spots, ocean temperatures, etc. Even at that, we really don’t know which of these things exerts the greatest influence or how they interact. Generally speaking, we need to do everything we can to keep the planet clean, but we need to balance that effort against the needs of the people who live on earth.
Looking Past The Obvious
Recently Iran had an election. After the regime stole the 2009 election, the people of Iran again showed up to vote. They elected Hassan Rohani, a 64-year-old cleric, to be their next president. Mr. Rohani is being hailed as a moderate, reasonable person who will work to restore broken relationships with the west. Yeah. Right.
The Wall Street Journal (no link–subscribers only) published an editorial in today’s paper entitled, “An Iranian Unicorn,” detailing the reasons the election of Mr. Rohani does not represent a change in philosophy in Iran. A World Net Daily article posted yesterday by Reza Kahlili explains why this election will not really change things. I have written about Reza Kahlili before. Use the search engine on this website to find the articles if you have not previously read them. Mr. Kahlili is a very courageous man with an amazing history.
The article at World Net Daily reports:
The defected intelligence officer (Reza Kahlili), who had called the selection of Rouhani as the next president one week before the election, said the regime constantly creates a phony image of division within its political system between so-called conservatives and moderates. The aim of tapping the perceived moderate Rouhani as the winner is to deceive the West yet again by creating new hope that there could be meaningful negotiations over Iran’s illicit nuclear program, he said, while buying even more time to develop nuclear weapons and thereby becoming untouchable by the West.
The Wall Street Journal stated:
Ultimate power in Iran rests in any case with Mr. Khamenei and his fellow clerics, who are backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has expanded its control over business and other parts of society in recent decades. Iran today is best understood as a Shite fascist state with a democratic electoral veneer and ambitions to dominate the region.
Iran will not change as a result of the recent election. We are fools if we continue to negotiate while Iran continues to develop its nuclear weapons program.
Common Sense Has Left The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Yesterday the Wall Street Journal (no link–the article is subscribers only) published a story on its opinion page stating that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is filing lawsuits against employers for doing criminal background checks on potential employees. The EEOC is calling the background checks for criminal activity racist because blacks have higher conviction rates than whiles, and therefore criminal checks discriminate against blacks. Therefore, as an employer, you no longer have the right to screen for honest employees.
Criminal background checks are legal and have been a part of the hiring process for years–just as checking the references given by a job applicant is both legal and a good idea.
The article states:
The EEOC suit is part of the Administration’s larger effort to redefine racism in America by using statistics, rather than individual intent or evidence. The Justice and Housing Departments have rewritten their rules and punished banks and counties like Westchester, N.Y., based on disparate statistical measures of lending and zoning. The EEOC signaled its plans in April last year when ti rewrote its enforcement strategy, declaring that “an employer’s evidence of a racially balanced workforce will not be enough to disprove disparate impact.”
There is one thing we need to remember here. No amount of reverse racism can ever make up for the racism that has happened in the past. All this racism that is statistically established will only create more divides and separations between people. Martin Luther King, Jr., had it right when he called for a ‘color blind’ society. That is the only real answer to discrimination.
Happy Father’s Day !
The Consequences Of Lack Of Oversight
On Friday, National Review posted an article by Gerald Walpin, a former Inspector General (IG), who was fired by the Obama Administration. The article deals with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scandal and the fate of IG’s in the Obama Administration.
When IRS inspector general J. Russell George testified before Congress recently, he stated that he did not know who ordered the increased scrutiny of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
The article reports:
Details of that testimony are interesting. Representative Tom Graves (R., Ga.) asked, “Have you asked the individuals who ordered them to use this extra scrutiny to punish, or penalize, or postpone, or deny?” George turns around to confer with his assistant. Just the fact that the inspector general had to confer to know the answer to this crucial question is amazing. George’s assistant says something to him that is not recorded, but one can see the assistant shaking his head back and forth. Then George responds publicly to the question, saying, “During our audit, Congressman, we did pose that question and no one would acknowledge who, if anyone, provided that direction.”
Notice that the IG refers to an audit–not an investigation. Mr. Walpin reminds us that an IG has two procedures to obtain information–an audit to determine whether an investigation is necessary and an investigation to find out who is responsible for whatever went wrong.
The article points out:
Once there is reason — and there clearly was reason here, given the obviously illegal conduct — the IG opens an investigation, in which investigators, not auditors, pose the questions, the department employees are placed under oath, and, as a federal court has approved, informed that “failure to answer completely and truthfully may result in disciplinary action, including dismissal.” The question is why George’s office didn’t do this immediately.
The article then reminds of us the reason Mr. Walpin was fired as an IG–he supported the investigation into the mishandling of funds by one of President Obama’s supporters. The Wall Street Journal told the story in June 2009. The firing of Mr. Walpin sent a message to other IG’s to tread carefully in investigating things that might negatively impact President Obama or his friends.
The article concludes:
Similar questions have been raised about other IGs who somehow have been discarded. Amtrak IG Fred Weiderhold, Treasury special IG Neil Barofsky, and International Trade Commission IG Judith Gwynn all left their positions after disputes that weren’t appreciated by the administration, giving more reason for others to go easy with the administration. Further, the president has significantly failed to fill IG vacancies in important agencies (State, Interior, Labor, Homeland Security, and USAID) – well-documented by former IG Joseph Schmitz — demeaning the importance of the IG position.
This administration’s treatment of IGs is not conducive to active, independent, and objective inspectors general, and explains at least in part why key questions about the IRS still have not been asked or investigated.
It is becoming very obvious that we have a corruption problem in Washington. The question is whether or not the voters will do something about it.
Why We Should All Move To Texas
Rick Perry has done it again. Politico reported on Thursday that Rick Perry has signed a bill passed by the Texas legislature that makes it legal to say “Merry Christmas.”
The bill states:
“a school district may educate students about the history of traditional winter celebrations, and allow students and district staff to offer traditional greetings regarding the celebrations, including ‘Merry Christmas,’ ‘Happy Hanukkah,’ and ‘happy holidays…“a school district may display on school property scenes or symbols associated with traditional winter celebrations, including a menorah or a Christmas tree, if the display includes a scene or symbol of more than one religion or one religion and at least one secular scene or symbol.”
It is sad that we need a bill like this to protect the religious rights of all students, but we do. Thank you, Governor Perry, for signing this bill.
