Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Republican Party: Not a dime's worth of difference.

   

Politics in America seems to be repeating a 50-year cycle. Back in the 1960's the Republican Party was dominated by the Eastern Liberal establishment which was controlled by then Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller and U.S. Senator Jacob Javits. It was their total lock on the Republican Party that gave birth to the New York State Conservative Party as disenfranchised conservative Republicans abandoned their party to make their voices heard. At that time third parties had a numerical disadvantage to getting their own candidates elected to office so the Conservative Party made good use of their flexibility to cross-endorse conservative oriented candidates of their own choosing. 

Third party political campaigns often have a deciding effect on major parties. In 1992 Ross Perot making his first attempt for president won 18.9% of the vote causing Republican moderate George Bush to lose to liberal Democrat Bill Clinton.

In 1968 a well known conservative Democrat Governor named George Wallace became a figurehead of the American Independence Party and made two runs for president gaining about 20% of the vote in his first attempt. Governor Wallace coined a phrase that aptly described the political choices when he said, “There isn’t a dime's worth of difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.” 

That was then and this is now.

Today, Rush Limbaugh says the Republican Party has a death wish – and is as dangerous to the United States as the Democrat Party and its czars.

On his radio show Limbaugh commented on the race for Congress in upstate New York's 23rd district, where the Republican Party bosses picked a liberal nominee to oppose a liberal Democrat, passing over a conservative candidate who wanted to represent the GOP, a candidate now pursuing the seat as a third-party candidate.

"They have a death wish. The Republican Party has a death wish. Gallup: 40 percent of Americans now say they are conservative, 20 percent say they're liberal, 36 percent say they're moderates. And of those three groups, which one is being ignored – not just ignored – which one is being attacked by the Republican Party? The conservatives! " Limbaugh said today.

"It's worse than I thought. I thought this was just based on elitism and northeast moderate liberalism, and embarrassment of the people that the social issues attract to the party. But now it's just plain stupidity," he continued

"The Republican Party, as constituted is as dangerous to this country as the Democrat Party is. As if speaking to himself Limbaugh said, 'But Rush, party loyalty is party loyalty, and the local Republican committee up there has endorsed Scozzafava.' So? I'm saying the two parties are the same. I guess I need to amend it a little bit, but, man, when I saw that they were running ads, as I say, ruined two hours of my day," he said.

Conservative Doug Hoffman has received the endorsement of  Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Fred Thompson and others.

But Hoffman was passed over by local Republican leaders in favor of Dede Scozzafava, who has staked out a series of liberal positions often linked to the Democrat Party, endorsing abortion and pro-homosexual perspectives.

"Running in a conservative district where the incumbent went off to be secretary of the Army, all three candidates have the distinction … of seeing their race attract national attention. … Hoffman had previously earned the backing of prominent conservative organizations such as the fiscally conservative Club for Growth and the socially conservative Concerned Women for America PAC," Limbaugh said.

An endorsement of Scozzafava by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was not what should have happened, Limbaugh said, since others supporting Scozzafava include Planned Parenthood, NARAL and others. .

"This is not how Reagan won," Limbaugh said. "Reagan was not out there talking about a big tent. If I recall correctly Reagan publicly invited liberal Republicans to go their own way. His tent was a little narrow but it was crowded. His tent was just mainstream conservatism, the kind of conservatism that founded the country."

Limbaugh described Scozzafava as "an extreme liberal Republican who may as well be a Democrat.". Something that is often referred to as being a RINO, a Republican In Name Only.

"Now, Hoffman wanted to run as a Republican. He is a Republican. He was passed over by the GOP, who picked Scozzafava instead. So he's running on the Conservative Party ticket because the GOP passed him over, but this is a wakeup call for both parties," he said.

"I know the temptation for a third party is tempting, but right now conservatism is on the ascendancy, it's actually good to be a conservative, and this is the time to reassert control over the Republican Party. It's not going to be easy but the Democrats, the far left didn't go out and form a third party. They took over the Democrat Party," he said.

New York State has one of the largest fields of political parties on the ballot with everything from the Conservative Party to the Republican Party, Democratic Party, Independence Party, Liberal Party, Working Families Party, Socialist Party, Green Party, Communist Party, Libertarian Party, Marijuana Reform Party, Natural Law Party, Right To Life Party, Constitution Party, Reform Party founded by Ross Perot and Barack Obama’s favorite, the old Chicago group that gave him his start in politics, the New Party.

In God We Trust

The following essay is often falsely attributed to radio commentator Paul Harvey. Snopes and Truth or Fiction both proved that Mr. Harvey never wrote it or said it. But I agree with the words so much that I want to repeat it here. God Bless America.


I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory of evolution.


Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game.


So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game "But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue.


Yes, and this is the United States of America, a country founded on Christian principles. According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1. So what would you expect--somebody chanting Hare Krishna?


If I went to a football game in Jerusalem, I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.


If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad, I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer.


If I went to a ping pong match in China, I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha.


And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit. When in Rome you do as the Romans don't you?


"But what about the atheists?" is another argument.


What about them?


Nobody is asking them to be baptized. We're not going to pass the collection plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds. If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand. Call your lawyer!


Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do.


I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's foundations.


Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights. Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating; to pray before we go to sleep.


Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying.


God, help us.


And if that last sentence offends you, well ... just sue me.


The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we let that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard .... that the vast majority don't care what they want. It is time the majority rules! It's time we tell them, you don't have to pray; you don't have to say the pledge of allegiance; you don't have to believe in God or attend services that honor Him. That is your right, and we will honor your right. But, by golly, you are no longer going to take our rights away. We are fighting back ... and we WILL WIN!


God bless us one and all ... especially those who denounce Him. God bless America, despite all her faults. She is still the greatest nation of all.


God bless our service men who are fighting to protect our right to pray and worship God.


May 2006 be the year the silent majority is heard and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions.


Keep looking up.




"I'm Tired" by Robert A. Hall"

I'll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce,` and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.

I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth around" to people` who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.

I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.

I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros, and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela . Won't multiculturalism be beautiful?

I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.

I believe "a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin." I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of US Senators from Illinois.

I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.

I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.

I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America , while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue, or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.

I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global` warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough.

I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.

I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need.

I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the` uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.

I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the " Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet as well.

I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers, and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.

I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination, or big-whatever for their problems.

Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.


Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

An open letter to Geoff Davis, (R, 4th CD KY)

Dear Congressman Davis, Like the Titanic, America has struck an iceberg and contrary to mythical beliefs, our ship is not unsinkable, we are in mortal danger. If you don’t know this you need to learn quickly. If you don’t get out the word we will all perish. So stop being part of the deck band, please put down your musical instrument and help spread the alarm.

People perceive government threats to freedom and liberty as the sum total of all of their government's actions, not just what the impression is at any moment. How can we ignore the fact that the Dept. of Homeland Security has issued a formal report to every police agency in the country that classifies supporters of conservative movements such as Pro-Life and the 2nd Amendment as domestic terrorists.

(U//FOUO) Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment
In spite of the warnings contained in this report, this document has been de-classified and is available online at: http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf

Mr. Davis, can you deny the purpose of this report when it clearly states: “(U//LES) The DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) has no specific information that domestic rightwing* terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues. The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.” Notice the asterisk following the word "rightwing"?  Here is how DHS explains it.

“Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.  It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.” Can anything be more clear?

Did you remind your constituents that before the election last year Obama lied to the people when he stated he supported the 2nd Amendment Right To Bear Arms and then refused to withdraw the DHS report that says: “(U//FOUO) Proposed imposition of firearms restrictions and weapons bans likely would attract new members into the ranks of rightwing extremist groups, as well as potentially spur some of them to begin planning and training for violence against the government. The high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by rightwing extremists in anticipation of restrictions and bans in some parts of the country continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement.”

It was because of my awareness of the DHS report that I became extremely alarmed when your staff assistant for National Security sent my email to you  along with my name to the Deputy Director of the Secret Service which is part of Homeland Security. This email addressed my comments to you, no one else, and my opinions along with my apparent Arab name could easily be misinterpreted. Is this the type of action all of your constituents should think about before they engage you on an issue of importance? I recall you did not apologize for the distress this caused me. Instead you praised that staffer as a dedicated soldier. 

Your telephone call to me tried to assure me that I would not fit the profile of a domestic terrorist but according to Homeland Security, you are wrong.

Our conversation revealed that you were unaware of many of the issues that show the Obama administration is threatening our freedom and liberty that are openly discussed in hundreds of conservative blogs like this one. Thanks to the power of the Internet it is no longer necessary to suggest that a politician said something, it can be proven with recorded speeches that he has made.  In 2001 during an interview with Chicago public radio station WBEZ.FM then Illinois Sen. Obama openly declared his dislike for the United States Constitution. He said the Constitution, “ 'reflected fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day'. Listen here to his 2001 Chicago Public Radio Interview on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iivL4c_3pck&feature=player_embedded

One of the more significant issues you were unaware of was a campaign speech Obama gave on July 2, 2008 in Colorado Springs. Sen. Obama said: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." The comment comes at about the 16-minute mark of his 26.44 minute video of his speech that is available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df2p6867_pw
Not only were you unaware of this speech you doubted any connection between the call for a civilian national security force and the provisions of H.R. 1388 officially called: “"The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, an Act to reauthorize and reform the national service laws.” Thankfully you voted against this bill but it was passed and signed into law on April 21, 2009. The GIVE Act, lays the foundation for what President Obama called his "National Civilian Security Force" as far back as July 2008. All it needs is for its purpose to be subverted by some hidden agenda.

Barack Hussein Obama began to subvert the power of the presidency soon after he was inaugurated.  Now he is threatening to by-pass Congress and create laws by Executive Order if they don’t do what he wants. Why haven’t you used your position of authority and the power of your credibility to tell this to the people of your district? Are you following the orders of the RNC?

Mr. Davis, I have been an avid follower of all things related to politics for over 40 years. I read hundreds of sources of news reports and I read all of your newsletters. You are not one of the “bad guys” but you are following the wrong advise. The National Republican Party has become an organization of wimps who have forgotten how to stand up on their feet and fight for their country. I have never read any statements from you that bring out pertinent facts to refute the proclamations made by those who blindly follow this Democrat Socialist administration. Has the RNC dictated the rules of conduct you must follow? This president is no longer your commander-in-chief as you previously called George W. Bush. In fact, since you left the U.S. Army, no president should be called that by you, whether as an act of respect or otherwise. You were not elected by the people of Northern Kentucky to represent the Federal Government, you were elected to represent us.

The entire tone of your newsletters seems to be like the purpose of the deck band on the Titanic. Please stay calm. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

One final word of advise, A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman thinks of the next generation.. Which one are you?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Stupid is as Stupid Does

This is a follow-up to my post: Stupidity is killing the Republican Party.

When you write a letter to your Congressman and ask for his opinion do you expect it to be turned over to Homeland Security? Especially when your Congressman is a self-proclaimed conservative Republican. That’s what happened to me when I wrote to Rep. Geoff Davis after I read that a woman in Bristol, Virginia said Secret Service agents aimed automatic weapons at her and others standing on the side of the road when Obama’s motorcade drove by. Did the Secret Service think that those people who were holding signs protesting Obama’s health care were threatening anyone? See:  Tea Party: Bristol Style!  Friday, July 31, 2009, 9:17 PM http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2009/07/   

That isn’t the point of this commentary, the way the letter was handled is.

Seems that Rep. Davis has a staff that handles his mail and on this staff he has someone named Dan Adelstein who identifies himself as Rep. Geoff Davis’ National Security Assistant but according to Congressional staff payroll records, from 04/01/09 to 6/30/09 his title was Military Legislative Assistant.

I am amazed to hear that our Congressman actually has his own adviser on National Security and this guy draws a 56K annual paycheck for doing this job. So Mr. Adelstein gets my email asking Geoff Davis if he thinks our new administration has started acting like some third-world dictatorship and after seeing my name he must have thought the warning bells went off. He sends my email over to the Deputy Director of the Secret Service which is part of the Dept. of Homeland Security. I’m guessing that Mr. Adelstein became alarmed that someone with an Arab name would write an email criticizing the government. Of course what he didn’t know and probably never bothered to check was that this email was written by a life-long Republican who has contributed to three of Geoff Davis' campaigns who just happened to be a Catholic.

Now it begins to get interesting. Mr. Adelstein writes a reply to my email on a blank piece of paper and sends me the FAX reply he received from the Deputy Assistant Director of the United States Secret Service on letterhead stationery. Being an experienced National Security Assistant, Mr. Adelstein fails to block off the clearly legible FAX phone number printed at the top of the Secret Service letter. A quick check in Google for this FAX number uncovers a subversive source of Classified government information. Back in the old days before Al Gore invented the Internet anyone who wanted to make public Classified government documents like Daniel Ellsberg did in 1971, would give them to the New York Times. Now, according to Google, we have Wikileaks, http://www.wikileaks.org/  an offshoot of Wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia, “Wikileaks is a website that publishes anonymous submissions and leaks of sensitive governmental, corporate, or religious documents, while attempting to preserve the anonymity and untraceability of its contributors. Within one year of its December 2006 launch, its database had grown to more than 1.2 million documents.”

Search on Wikileaks brings up several interesting stories:
http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2008/07/wikileaks
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/02/wikileaks-force/


This later link mentions that: “Earlier this month (Feb. 2009), Wikileaks scored another leaking coup, publishing hundreds of thousands of pages of copyright-free but rarely seen Congressional Research Service reports. Congress members and their staff rely on those reports to craft laws and policy, but the reports are rarely made public.”

Among these papers was the Google-revealed source for the FAX number Daniel Adelstein inadvertently sent me. A search of the FAX number 202-406-5740 gets just one hit: A 43 page list of names, email addresses phone and FAX numbers for Congressional Liaison Offices of Selected Federal Agencies located at
http://stuff.mit.edu:8001/afs/sipb/contrib/wikileaks-crs/wikileaks-crs-reports/98-446.pdf
which is clearly marked: Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress.


Note that in this web address it shows that this Wikileaks file is hosted on a server at M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

According to WHOIS http://www.domaintools.com/, a check on stuff.mit.edu reveals:
Registrant:
   Massachusetts Institute of Technology
   Cambridge, MA 02139
   UNITED STATES

Administrative Contact:
   Jeffrey I. Schiller
   Massachusetts Institute of Technology
   MIT Room W92-190, 77 Massachusetts Avenue
   Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
   UNITED STATES
   (617) 253-0161

AND:

According to WHOIS http://www.domaintools.com/, a check on wikileaks.org reveals:
Domain ID:D130035267-LROR
Domain Name:WIKILEAKS.ORG
Created On:04-Oct-2006 05:54:19 UTC
Last Updated On:04-Oct-2008 18:37:51 UTC
Expiration Date:04-Oct-2018 05:54:19 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Dynadot, LLC (R1266-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:CP-13000
Registrant Name:John Shipton c/o Dynadot Privacy
Registrant Street1:PO Box 701
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:San Mateo
Registrant State/Province:CA
Registrant Postal Code:94401
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.6505851961
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email: privacy@dynadot.com

Congressional salary records indicate Daniel J. Adelstein first worked for South Dakota Rep. William Janklow from 3-14-03 to 1-03-04 then worked for Minnesota Rep. John Klein’s from 2-02-04 to 4-01-04 and then became part of Rep. Geoff Davis’ staff on 1-03-05 as a Military Legislative Assistant where he currently earns about $56,000 per year.

I hope Rep. Davis is happy with the professional performance of Mr. Adelstein. Maybe someone can show him how to use a marking pen to block out critical information before he releases it to the general public.


You may ask why am I publicizing this information. Well, if you think that those who enjoy passing around Classified information don't know where to find it on the Internet you are wrong. So that leaves everyone else, you and me, who don't have a clue what's going on around them. One would reasonably think that members of our government, especially those who represent us, would be aware of places like Wikileaks and would make an effort to stop them from doing what they do.  If you find this information disturbing, write your Congressman, and hope his office doesn't report you to Homeland Security.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Stupidity is killing the Republican Party

ABC News released a poll tonight that said only 20% of Americans considered themselves to be Republicans. Before I opened my mail today I would have argued that result but now I think it may be true. Here are some personal facts that made me change my mind.

Like many concerned Americans I read all the news I can find and since most of it isn't published by the mainstream media I find a lot of it on the Internet. Also, like many concerned Americans when I read something about government that concerns me, I write a letter to my Congressman. Maybe someone may find the following as shocking as I did.

On July 31st the Gateway Pundit ran a blog story about an invitation only townhall meeting Obama attended in Bristol, Virginia and eyewitness accounts of the Secret Service. Here is the link to that story: Tea Party: Bristol Style!  Friday, July 31, 2009, 9:17 PM http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2009/07/

The story described some first hand accounts who witnessed several carloads of Secret Service people in the presidential motorcade pointing automatic weapons at citizens holding signs protesting Obamacare who were standing along the street while the motorcade drove by.

Like any concerned citizen I wrote to my Congressman in the 4th CD in Kentucky, Geoff Davis, who happens to be a conservative Republican, and asked him for his opinion since I was just as alarmed as the eyewitnesses.

Today I received a written reply from Congressman Davis' National Security Advisor Dan Adelstein, typed on a blank piece of paper with no letterhead. That response has shocked me for the careless way it was handled. Dan Adelstein had taken my email to Mr. Davis and sent it to the Dept. of Homeland Security - Secret Service along with my name and told them I was concerned about the way they did their job in Bristol, Virginia. 

Now, l am well aware that I have an Arab name since I got it from my father 70 years ago when I was born in New York. My father was a Caucasian of Austrian decent who happened to be a Muslim born in Morocco over 100 years ago and came to America when he was a young boy. The point of contention is I am neither an Arab nor a Muslim (read my profile) and am well aware that Homeland Security spends a lot of time investigating these people of interest. I would have thought that when a Congressman's constituent, especially one who has contributed to his campaigns, writes a letter of concern that it would be kept anonymous when his staff made any inquiries about it. I was so alarmed about the way this was mishandled that I sent another email today to Congressman Geoff Davis today which I reprint below.

I am not sure how the National Republican Congressional Committee sets the office procedures for Congressman but the way this was handled is the height of stupidity. If the National Republican Party is unaware of the public concern over how Homeland Security is doing its job then they need to get a better grip on reality.

Since the attacks on America by 19 radical Muslim terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001 the government has created an air of paranoia across America. With the new administration in Washington that feeling of paranoia has grown to hysterical proportions.  Today anyone who has a bumper sticker on his car that says he is Pro-Life or for the 2nd Amendment is characterized by Homeland Security as a possible domestic terrorist. To think that a conservative Republican would not be aware of these things is almost incomprehensible.

For the record, here is a copy of the letter giving the Secret Service version of what took place in Bristol, Virginia. Note the second paragraph that says it is against policy to point weapons at any individual unless there is an imminent threat. Doesn't this sound like they considered carrying a protest sign to be threatening?


My response to Congressman Davis:

Dear Congressman Davis,
I recently sent your office an email after reading a first person account from a woman in Bristol, Virginia who was alarmed that during a presidential motorcade she noticed Secret Service agents pointing their automatic weapons at some people lining a street holding protest signs. I was also alarmed because I have never heard of such a thing before.


Today, I just got a letter from your National Security Assistant, Dan Adelstein, typed on a blank piece of paper with no letterhead informing me that "We have contacted the Secret Service on your behalf..." and he enclosed a fax from the Dept. of Homeland Security/ Secret Service in which it says "Thank you for the recent correspondence from your constituent, Mr. Nelson Abdullah...."


Just as a matter of formality, can you tell me why I was identified by name to Homeland Security when they have recently issued warnings to local police agencies about suspected domestic terrorists and have included almost every conservative group in America in their list? Since I am a lifelong Republican and a contributor to your first three congressional campaigns I would think someone in your office would be a little more discrete in bringing one of your supporters who happens to have an Arab name to the attention of the government agency who is investigating such people. Did Mr. Adelstein take it upon himself to consider me to be someone in particular whom he thought needed to be identified to Homeland Security? 


Mr. Davis, this is a serious breach of trust and bad judgment.


----------------------------------


Geoff Davis is a retired Army Ranger and for the first two terms in office he always referred to President Bush as his Commander-in-Chief as if he were still in the Army. I don't know if Mr. Davis considers himself to be a representative of the people who live in his district or a representative of the federal government but he ought to know that he no longer takes orders from the President of the United States. He is supposed to protect the interests of his constituents.


Thursday, October 15, 2009

Pray for Rifqa Bary


Two days ago a small story appeared in the newspaper about a Florida court ordering a 17-year old Columbus, Ohio girl to be returned to Ohio. Like most news coverage today this story was short on details. I have posted two previous blogs about Rifqa Bary’s case and now more details have surfaced that add new twists to this case.

Rifqa Bary is a Muslim girl who converted to Christianity without her parents knowing about it. Her parents are devout Muslims who practice their faith along with some 10,000 other Muslims at the Noor Mosque in Dublin, Ohio. Rifqa fled her home in Ohio and took refuge at a Christian church in Orlando because she feared for her life.

None of these facts tell the whole story. Now it is time for some details.

The Noor Mosque preached Islamic Sharia Law, a barbaric set of rules that calls for extreme bloody punishment for everyday offenses. In every Muslim community around the world Sharia Law is the driving force behind what is called Honor Killings but it is the women and children under Sharia Law, treated as nothing more than property, who bear the brunt of it.  Sharia Law says any member of a Muslim family may kill a member of the family for doing something that brings dishonor to the family. Remember Salman Rushdie? After he wrote The Satanic Verses, a controversial book on the Quran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, issued a fatwā calling on all Muslims to kill him any where in the world. Sharia Law says ANY Muslim anywhere may kill another Muslim if a fatwā has been issued and such a fatwā was issued at Al-Azhar University in Cairo calling for death to apostates.


blog post photo


Under Sharia Law, Honor Killings are justified for any serious offenses that brings dishonor to a Muslim family but the most serious crime in Sharia Law is for a Muslim to become an apostate, converting to another religion. Death "is a very normal part of Islamic law for apostasy and for every Muslim its an honor to CLEAN the umma if Rifqa is dead".

Rifqa Bary knew this. Rifqa Bary kept a journal and wrote about her conversion to Christianity and her love for Jesus. Her brother found it and turned it over to the leaders of the Noor Mosque. They informed Rifqa’s father to take care of the problem. Rifqa was repeatedly beaten at home and her school friends knew about it. When her father confronted her about her journal he threatened to kill her so she bought a bus ticket and fled to take refuge in a Christian Church in Florida.

After tracking down their daughter the Bary family filed a complaint with the Dept. of Family Services in Florida to have her returned to Ohio. They falsely claimed they were poor and were assigned a court-appointed lawyer. The court assigned the case to Judge Daniel P. Dawson who initially ruled Rifqa would remain in Florida in a foster home until the case was resolved. At the time no court in Ohio had claimed jurisdiction until CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, supplied Mohamed Bary with a lawyer.

The news today reveals that CAIR, an activist organization tied with raising money for terrorist organizations, has attempted to place Muslim interns to spy within the offices of congressional members of House committees on Homeland Security, Intelligence and Judiciary. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., along with Reps. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., John Shadegg R-Ariz., and Paul Broun R-Ga., held a press conference to announce their discovery.

It is necessary to step back a moment and talk about how, when and why the Bary family came to America. It is important because it reveals some of the torture Rifqa suffered at the hand of her brother back in Sri Lanka. Rifqa’s father Mohamed Bary alleges he came to the States to seek medical treatment for Rifqa's eye, lost at the hands of her brother. But the father never got Rifqa medical treatment. Her eye was never treated.

As Pamela Geller writes on her blog Atlas Shrugs, http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/  “And while The Florida Department of Law Enforcement claimed that they found no proof of the threat to Rifqa's life, they did not investigate the Islamic threat, how pious the family was and how extreme the mosque. They did not dare. They did not speak to apostates in America."

That Noor Mosque in Dublin, Ohio, by the way, has been the target of several FBI investigations for hosting and supporting terrorist activities. If there is any doubt about the radical Islamic activities at the Noor Mosque in Dublin, Ohio, please check out the Ohio Against Terrorism web site: http://ohioagainstterror.blogspot.com/search/label/Noor%20Center

Geller continues: “Despite the overwhelming evidence of the death penalty for apostates in Islam, the corrupt media, Islamic apologists, CAIR, and other nefarious players continue to insist that Rifqa be returned to her devout Muslim family. This is despite proof of the actual fatwā issued at Al-Azhar University in Cairo for death to apostates, the most important institution of Islamic law in the Sunni world, and where Obama made his speech to the Muslim world."



blog post photo  Copy of actual Fatwā issued in Cairo.



With assistance from CAIR, Mohamed Bary’s new lawyer, Shayan "Shaytan" Elahi waged a legal battle in both the Ohio and Florida courts. When the Family Court in Columbus, Ohio claimed jurisdiction, Judge Daniel P. Dawson in Florida agreed that Rifqa should be returned to Ohio and placed in a temporary foster home. Most importantly Judge Dawson laid down the law and said in no uncertain terms that Rifqa would not be returned to Ohio until the Bary family immigration documents were produced. Complicating this is the fact that copies of Dept. of Homeland Security documents that have been leaked show that Mohamed Bary entered the U.S. illegally through Mexico and his application for amnesty were denied and he lost all his appeals. When CAIR’s lawyer filed their claims for the Bary family in Florida the Bary family committed perjury by making false statements about his immigration status.

Pamela Geller quotes John Jay, a former prosecutor in Washington, “In an application for temporary entry into the United States that in the three years preceding his application for an entry visa, that he has maintained a period of continuous residence outside the United States for at least one continuous year.” This application was dismissed in 2006.

“In Ohio, Mohamed Bary swore under 8 U.S.C.  [United States code] sec. 1255a, in an amnesty application, that he had resided continuously inside the United States since on or before January 1, 1982 and that he operated and owned the "Bary" entity up to and including the time of his application for amnesty before the US citizenship and immigration service.  This too was dismissed in 2008.

"He could not have resided outside the United States for a one year period during the same period he had alleged to be residing continuously inside the United States, during the same period of time, e.g., since January 1, 1982 (the sec. 1255a petition) if in a period before 2006 he had resided continuously outside the United States.“

“It is a factual impossibility, but he maintained these facts as necessary elements to file his applications under the differing statutes, one governing the issuance of an entrance visa, the other governing the granting of amnesty for continuous illegal presence.”

“He committed perjury. He lied under oath, alleging factually contradictory situations. He cannot have been continuously outside the United States before 2006 because he had alleged he was continuously inside the U.S. from January 1, 1982 until dismissal of his amnesty application in 2008.”

So today the fate of Rifqa Bary still rests in the hands of a Florida judge. If the lawyer for Mohamed Bary ever complies with the order to produce his immigration documents the Barys may be charged with perjury and will be deported back to Sri Lanka. If Bary is charged with felony perjury it may affect their right to the return of their daughter to Ohio. Rifqa Bary will turn 18 in less than a year and will no longer be subject to a family court order but could still face deportation along with her parents unless she asks for asylum in the United States. Asylum for protection against religeous persecution is a valid appeal.

Pray for Rifqa Bary.



Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Protecting the status quo.

The American economy today is in a mess and almost every government around the world hates us so why do we still protect them and bolster their economies? Why do we even protect the dictatorial regimes of our enemies? Today, the United States has over 369,000 military personnel stationed in nearly 150 countries.  Two articles found in my research illustrate an alarming problem.

According to Wikipedia, Deployments of the United States Military, in 2007:

"The military of the United States is deployed in more than 150 countries around the world, with more than 369,000 of its 1,379,551 active-duty troops serving outside the United States and its territories. Many of these troops are still located at installations activated during the Cold War, by which the US government sought to counter the Soviet Union in the aftermath of World War II."

According to a web site dedicated to Global Deployment of US Forces:
"The forces of the United States military are located in nearly 130 countries around the world performing a variety of duties from combat operations, to peacekeeping, to training with foreign militaries. Some of these deployments have existed for nearly 50 years, as in Japan, Germany, and South Korea, while other deployments have more recent origins such as the current occupation of Iraq."

"Soldiers have been receiving many incentives for reenlisting like job reclassification and new duty assignments to Europe on top of reenlistment bonus averaging $10,000 dollars. Soldiers have also been reenlisting for the one semester of college, which allows the soldier to further their career and increase opportunities for promotion and advancement."

"As of January 2005, there are some 250,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen deployed in support of combat, peacekeeping, and deterrence operations. This figure does not include those forces normally present in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom or Japan unless bases at those locations are actively supporting a combat operation. Furthermore, tours of duty in these locations are routine and not considered hardship tours. If one were to include these forces the number of deployed troops worldwide would be around 350,000."


The presence of our military bases in foreign countries is supposed to allow our rapid response to crisis situations but that isn't how it always works. When the U.S. planned on invading Iraq it was supposed to be a two pronged attack with our ground forces coming in from Basra in the south while air bombardment arriving from our base in Turkey in the north. But the Turkish government decreed that no U.S. military attack on a Muslim nation was permitted to depart from their country or was allowed to fly over through Turkish air space.


For many years we have maintained a large military base in Saudi Arabia, a very strict Muslim country which openly practices Islamic Sharia Law. American military personnel stationed in Saudi Arabia are required to observe Sharia Law when off base. That means that our female military personnel must act the same way as Muslim women in all manner of dress and conduct. The majority of the 19 radical Muslim terrorists who hijacked four U.S. airliners on September 11, 2001 were from Saudi Arabia. Can anyone imagine what benefit we have received for our years of protecting the dictators who control this country?


Ever since the Korean War ended in 1953 the U.S. has maintained a force of 50,000 troops on the Demilitarized Zone that separates N. Korea from S. Korea. This is the consequence of a failed strategy to negotiate armistice instead of destroying the enemy like we did in World War II. Had the Democrat administration of President Harry Truman listened to Gen. MacArthur instead of relieving him of his command, there would be no threat today by the communist N. Korean government.


There is no available accounting that can put an estimate on the cost of all of these military deployments around the world today. I think the public needs to know.

 

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Where goes our Fourth Estate?

Origins of the Fourth Estate.
 
Wikipedia defines the Fourth Estate
Fourth Estate is a term referring to the press. The term goes back at least to Thomas Carlyle in the first half of the 19th century. Thomas Macaulay used it in 1828.

Novelist Jeffrey Archer in his work The Fourth Estate made the observation: "In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the 'Estates General'. The First Estate consisted of three hundred clergy. The Second Estate, three hundred nobles. The Third Estate, six hundred commoners. Some years later, after the French Revolution, Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, said, 'Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all.'"

The problem with the news media today is that they are too willing to print what they are told to print; while at the same time too unwilling to ask questions, open doors or breath some fresh air into the smoke filled rooms.

The following quotes come from an article entitled “Is the Fourth Estate a Fifth Column?“ written by Bill Moyers, on In These Times, July 11, 2008. While much of the commentary in it were directed at the Bush administration, the observations are just as relevant today with the Obama administration. On Sunday, October 11, 2009 The New York Times quoted White House communications director Anita Dunn as saying of Fox News: “We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent.”  To put it another way, all those who are not with me are against me.


Wikipedia defines a Fifth Column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group, such as a nation, from within, to the aid of an external enemy.

Is the Fourth Estate a Fifth Column?
Corporate media colludes with democracy’s demise
By Bill Moyers

Across the media landscape, the health of our democracy is imperiled. Buffeted by gale force winds of technological, political and demographic forces, without a truly free and independent press, this 250-year-old experiment in self-government will not make it. As journalism goes, so goes democracy.

The dominant media remains in denial about their role in passing on the government’s unverified claims as facts. That’s the great danger. It’s not simply that they dominate the story we tell ourselves publicly every day. It’s that they don’t allow other alternative competing narratives to emerge, against which the people could measure the veracity of all the claims.

Sadly, in many respects, the Fourth Estate has become the fifth column of democracy, colluding with the powers that be in a culture of deception that subverts the thing most necessary to freedom, and that is the truth.

Bill Moyers is the president of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy and the host of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.

This article was adapted from Bill Moyers’ keynote address at the National Conference for Media Reform Conference in Minneapolis on June 7. You can read and respond to the full speech at www.pbs.org/moyers.



Read the complete article here:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3790/is_the_fourth_estate_a_fifth_column/

Bill Moyers really nailed the problem of the biased news media but he probably wasn't thinking how his eloquent commentary on our news media back in the days of the Bush administration would come back to haunt this same news media today. There has never been a better comparison than that of the Fifth Column.

Friday, October 9, 2009

World stunned by Obama Nobel Peace Prize

Irena Sendler saved 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust. In 2007 Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected. AL GORE WON, for a slide show on Global Warming.

Now, in 2009, the Nobel Peace Prize committee has added insult to injury by awarding the prize to a politician who has done nothing but make promises. I am not alone in questioning this insanity. Read what others have said.

The Associated Press reports: “Many observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline and has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking. “

Reuters reports: “The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo.”

FoxNews stated: “Nobel observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline.”

Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, issued a statement Friday saying, "The real question Americans are asking is, What has President Obama actually accomplished?"

United Press International commented: “In the surprise announcement Friday from Oslo, the committee said it selected Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

Keep in mind that for whatever reasons any of the Nobel committee had for voting for Obama, the reasons they stated did not take place before he was nominated.

I am still wondering where or when the Obamanation brought peace, especially before February 1st.
 

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Liberal Hypocrisy

The hypocrisy of Liberals has no boundaries.  When it comes to a devoted Christian Conservative Republican woman like Sarah Palin there appears to no limit to the slanderous jokes and biased commentaries unleashed by the liberal media in what seems a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation. But what about an inexperienced Chicago politician named Barack Hussein Obama II with his numerous ties to left-wing pro-communist organizations and crooked political appointees, who has enjoyed a free ride in the media courtesy of a cadre of myopic journalists who seem to be on some religious quest to anoint a new king in America?  Read how the following events are being written.

Ben Smith writes in Politico about Sarah Palin’s choice for a co-author for her new book:  “Lynn Vincent spent the summer working with Palin on a closely-guarded 400 page memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life." The book is due out from HarperCollins Nov. 17 - but it shot to the top of the Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble bestseller lists Wednesday as word of its publication spread.”

“There are at least three types of politicians' books. One is the overtly autobiographical, in which an aspiring candidate casts his or her life in heroic terms. Another is the careful, policy-heavy memoir. Some of those, like Obama's "The Audacity of Hope," feed public curiosity, but more often disappear without a ripple.”

“Palin's choice of Vincent suggests that hers will be, emphatically, a partisan tract.”


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27777.html#ixzz0SnOh1jS6

Compare this story by Ben Smith about Sarah Palen’s book to Barack Obama’s book “Dreams From My Father” reported by WorldNet Daily. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=111669

“Politico's Ben Smith found it newsworthy that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin chose a "partisan evangelical" Christian to co-author her upcoming instant best-seller, but somehow he and the mainstream media have decided that serious evidence suggesting an unrepentant Marxist terrorist had a primary role in President Obama's highly acclaimed literary memoir is of no interest.”

“Not a single mainstream reviewer or political editor has so much as mentioned the controversy over authorship of "Dreams from My Father" that was resurrected last week when a major new book reported Obama sought the literary assistance of William Ayers, founder of the radical Weather Underground group, points out WND columnist Jack Cashill.”

“Christopher Andersen, in "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of a Marriage," writes that Obama was faced with a deadline with the Time Books division of Random House to submit his manuscript after already having canceled a contract with Simon & Schuster. Confronted with the threat of a second failure, his wife, Michelle, suggested he seek the help of "his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers."


Then there is today’s story about Sarah Palin’s frequent television critic David Letterman.  I wonder who on television today will poke fun at David Letterman?

“NEW YORK (AP) — A CBS News employee is accused of trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman, forcing the late-night host to admit in an extraordinary monologue before millions of viewers that he had sexual relationships with female employees.”

"I was worried for myself, I was worried for my family," he said. "I felt menaced by this, and I had to tell them all of the creepy things that I had done."

“He said "the creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show. My response to that is yes, I have. Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Yes, it would, especially for the women."

“It's the second set of embarrassing headlines for Letterman in four months. In June, he apologized to Palin for making a crude joke about the former Republican vice presidential candidate's 14-year-old daughter. Although there was a small "fire Letterman" demonstration outside of his studio later, CBS stood by its late-night star.”


Yes, it seems to be true, those who own the paper and ink can print whatever they want, those who own the television stations can broadcast whatever they want, but those few radio talk shows who carry Bill Cunningham, Rush Limbaugh or Shaun Hannity must be subject to the Democrat’s proposed Fairness Bill.  That is the definition of hypocrisy and there ought to be a law against it.