Diane Sawyer: Major Nidal Hasan "just another worker with a gun and a grudge."

Opening Tuesday's World News with the workplace shooting in Manchester, Connecticut, anchor Diane Sawyer saw it as one in a long line of incidents involving a “worker with a gun and grudge” as she described the nine killed as “the worst rampage since 13 were killed last November at Fort Hood, Texas.”

Army Major Nidal Hasan's business cards identified him as a “Soldier of Allah” and his actions at Fort Hood, clearly motivated by Islamic jihadism, hardly fits in the same category as an aggrieved worker with a gun who has gone on a rampage. Nonetheless, Sawyer's led the August 3 newscast:

Good evening. Another American tragedy tonight, another worker with a gun and a grudge. This time, nine people are dead, the worst rampage since 13 were killed last November at Fort Hood, Texas. In the normally quiet down of Manchester, Connecticut, this morning one shift was letting off, another was starting the day at a beer distribution center.

Back in November of 2009 I posted an article "Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil" where in I wrote that...It boggles the mind to consider the extent to which some of our liberal progressive fellow citizens will travel to keep from accepting the reality that our nation has been at war with facist Islam terrorists to ensure their idea of “cultural diversity”, “political correctness" and "religious sensitivity."

Apparently, at least as far as ABC and Diane Sawyer are concerned, nothing much has changed!

Con Ed "Juices" Us Again!

If you haven't gotten over the shock of your water rates going up 12.9% next month, maybe you shouldn't read any further.

Never one to let a fiscal year pass without a rate hike, the Public Service Commission has authorized Con Edison to institute a 12% rate hike to be spread out over three years starting next month.

This hike should also not surprise anyone out there as Con Edison customers in New York City and Westchester already pay more for their power than anyone living on the mainland of the United States.

Only people living in Alaska, Hawaii and the islands off New England pay more.

Peter J. Mahon

Your Water Bill is Going Up...Again!

Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after..

Up got Jack and home did trot

As fast as he could caper

He went to bed and bound his head

With vinegar and brown paper.

Jack is going to need a lot more than “vinegar and brown paper" to treat his headache by the time the New York City Water Board gets through with him!

New Yorkers will pay nearly 13 percent more for each drop of water they use starting July 1 if (make that "when") an increase proposed Friday by the Department of Environmental Protection is approved.

Surprised?  You shouldn't be. The NYC Water Board is again raising its rates this July by another 12.9 percent. This new increase represents the fourth double-digit boost in the last four years.

2007 - 11.0%

2008 - 14.5%

2009 - 14.0%

2010 - 12.9%

A friend of mine told me that these increases are a good thing, citing the need to conserve this natural resource, and recommended that I "...was just going to have to conserve my use of water to keep my bill down."

Reality Check: Keep in mind that the city's use of water has dropped dramatically over the past three years because of "conservation" and since we have been using less water, the Water Board has said they they must now hike rates to offset lost revenues.

Not unlike our fairy tale charcacters, Jack & Jill, the Water Board operates in a fantasy realm where they can continually raise water rates in the best of both worlds...

"New Yorkers using too much water? We must increase our rates to encourage conservation...",

or,

"New Yorkers conserving too much water?  We're losing revenue and we have to raise rates."

Maybe there is something to all the fuss about "Water - Boarding"!

Peter J. Mahon

This is a United States Congressman!

Hank Johnson is a liberal democrat Congressman representing Georgia’s 4th Congressional District since 2007. The 55 year old Johnson is an attorney and was a former county judge.

Last Friday during a House Armed Services Committee hearing, Congressman Johnson was questioning Admiral Robert Willard, head of the U.S. Pacific fleet, about the stationing of 5,000 additional U.S. Marines and their families on the western Pacific island of Guam, a 212-square-mile American territory that is 30 miles long and from four to 12 miles wide.

I’m not going to say anymore about about Congressman Johnson’s questioning of Admiral Willard as I think it best that you decide for yourself. Just keep in mind that since Johnson is one of 535 members of the United States Congress, everything he says is important. But pay particular attention to the congressman's comments starting at the 1:16 mark and the pregnant pause after his stated concern and hand gestures.

Apparently Congressman Johnson is an advocate of both the global warming movement as well as the "Island tip-over and capsizing" movement.

Keep in mind also that you are paying Congressman Johnson's salary this year -- $174,000.

A "tip of my hat" to Admiral Willard for his professional response to Congresman Johnson's absurd question!

Remember to 2010 general elections are just a few months away!

Peter J. Mahon

Senator Max Baucuas (D-Mont)- Health Care will address the "mal-distribution of income in America."

Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont)

After the Senate passed a "fix-it" bill via their partian "reconciliation" process to make changes to the new health care law, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the influential Finance Committee, must have suffered a temporary attack of "speak honestly" when he admitted to reporters that the health care overhaul was an "income shift" to help the poor.


"Too often, much of late, the last couple three years, the mal-distribution of income in American is gone up way too much, the wealthy are getting way, way too wealthy and the middle income class is left behind," he said. "Wages have not kept up with increased income of the highest income in America. This legislation will have the effect of addressing that mal-distribution of income in America."

"Mal-distribution of income?" 

We know that the Obama White House has stopped using the term "re-distribution of wealth" as it was not sitting well with most working Americans so I guess Senator Baucus decided that the prefix "mal" (bad) would be appropriate under these circumstances.

Of course, it helps to remember that the good sentaor exempted himself and the rest of his colleagues in Congress from this health care reform bill so I can only guess that the distriution of his inome is just right!

When politicians start using their right hand to complain about individuals in a capitalist democratic republic making too much money you know their left hand will not be far behind to relieve you of your "mal-distributed" income!

Remember the 2010 general elections! 

Peter J. Mahon

Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill) - "I don't worry about the Constitution..."

Congressman Phil Hare was asked about the constitutionality of the democrats health care reform bill regarding its mandate that all citzens are now mandated to purchase health care insurance. The congressman’s response was not at all surprising…

“I don’t worry about the Constitution on this to be honest with you. I care more about the people who are dying because they do not have health care.”

When asked about his oath of office to swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, Congressman Hare then responded…

"I believe that it says that we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!”

Someone in the room then had to point out to the Congressman that those words are written in our nation’s Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.

The Congressman replied…”It doesn’t matter to me!”

Finally, after some prodding the question was put to Congressman- “Where in the Constitution does it give you the authority to mandate health care coverage for all Americans?”

Congressman Hare replied – “I don’t know.”

It should not come as a shock to anyone that Congressman Hre is a Democrat Representative from the great State of Illinois, home of “Chicago” style politics where corruption and the attitude of the “Constitution be damned” is the order of the day for politicians.

When he told his audience that he had read the entire health care reform bill, consisting of thousands of pages, ”three times”, Congressman Hare dug his hole deeper when violated one of the cardinal rules of debate procedures (Never ask a question that you don’t want an answer to!). When an audience member expressed his doubt about the congressman’s claim, Hare asked if he was being called a “liar.” The expected answer, “yes”, came back at which time Hare left the meeting.

The most telling part of the video is when Congressman Hare is leaving the meeting and driving away in a car, someone calls out to him stating - “Better start looking for a job!”

Remember, the 2010 general elections are just a few short months away. It really is time for “Change!”

Peter J. Mahon

Robert McChesney and the Obama Administration

Professor Robert McChesney

Like many other conservatives, I routinely read the New York Times, the Washington Post and watch many of the far left pundits on cable television. Doing so provides you with an idea of what the left in this country is up to and I was interested in seeing what the progressive left would gear up for next after their recent health care reform victory.

Lst week I was watching MSNBC host Ed Schultz having a “meltdown” complaining about the fact that our nation’s talk radio is “unfairly” dominated by conservative hosts. Schultz stated that “…the fact is it does not make for a level playing field…ownership has its privileges…Maybe we have reached the point where the Congress needs to equal it out…equal out the audience…Just keep in mind there are no poor people with microphones…Hell, if we’re going to be socialists, let’s be socialists across the board.”

Basically Mr. Schultz is calling for our liberal democrat controlled congress to legislate what the progressive left refers to as the “Fairness Doctrine” which would have the federal government assume control of radio stations and mandate the extent and content of talk radio.

Now if it were just Ed Schultz ranting about ths topic I would afford it much less concern, although I still find it very scary, but what you probably are not aware of is that the chief proponent of this thinking – which amounts to an unprecedented government intrusion into our own country’s media -- is Professor Robert McChesney, founder of the Orwellian-named Free Press, one of the most influential organizations in the growing “media reform” movement on the far-left.

Free Press’ curious stance on media reform can best be summed up by McChesney who suggests that, “Any serious effort to reform the media system would have to necessarily be part of a revolutionary program to overthrow the capitalist system itself."

McChesney has employed his stance repeatedly to argue that his version of media reform is the first step in the struggle to remake American society in a socialistic fashion. In his attack on the existing media “power structure” in the U.S., he calls for a “class struggle from below…In the end there is no real answer but to remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles.”

As hard as it may be to believe, McChesney and his indefatigable band of media revolutionaries are being taken seriously by some policymakers in Washington. They are granted regular audiences with those overseeing our nation’s media policy at the FCC and FTC, and meeting regularly with members of Congress.
One of his bigest supporters is President Obama's "Diversity Czar" at the FCC, Mark Llloyd.

Their latest plan to defacto nationalize the media calls for the federal government to bail out newspapers with $60 billion in new government subsidies. As anyone familiar with Washington knows, money does not come free. Such subsidies will virtually invite the government into the fourth estate as overseers.

All of this begs the question: If the federal government starts subsidizing our own free press, how long until the feds start revoking broadcast licenses of government opponents and bringing pesky reporters up on charges of say, “corruption” or “subversion”? According to McChesney and the Free Press folks, it apparently can’t happen soon enough.

Remember November 2010 and the general elections are just a few months away. If we don't all pull together to stop this nonsense now, we will ultimately wake up in an America we no longer recognize.

Peter J. Mahon

Those "Pesky" Obama Conections!

Rainbow/Push Coalition 33rd Annual Conference, Chicago, 2004

Last month Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, a long time supporter of Barack Obama, spoke to a crowd of 20,000 of followers of his black nationalist movement at the United Center in Chicago Farrakhan said that "The white right is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated."

The crowd cheered Farrakhan on with shouts of "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great."

Farrakhan continued his praise of Obama Sunday, and said the nation's first black president had been manipulated into disavowing Farrakhan. He would not say if he and Obama had ever met. "They all want to know did I ever meet with him and what did I say or what he say," Farrakhan said in the speech. "I ain't going there."

Well someone should "go there."

It should be noted that back in 2004 when Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition held its 33rd annual conference in Chicago a key highlight was the annual Business Luncheon which honored Valerie Jarrett, chair of the Chicago Stock Exchange. Valerie Jarret is now Obama’s senior advisor in the White House.  You remember Valerie Jarret don't you. She was responsible for Obama's appointment of Van Jones as the administration's "green jobs cazar", that is until it became public that Van Jones is a communist and a "9/11 Truther!"

A picture of he luncheon, published in JET Magazine at the time shows Michelle Obama, wife of (then) U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama of Illinois and executive director of community affairs, University of Chicago Hospital and Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, wife of Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan.

So the First Lady and Obama’s senior White House advisor had lunch with Louis Farrakhan’s wife back in 2004, no big deal right?  It's just another of those meaningless pesky Obama connections that contually surface.

Well there is another connection out there. In early March of this year, Reverend Farrakhan received a “LivingLegend” award at a $100 dollar a head charity event sponsored by none other than President Obama’s former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

In deference to Obama, he threw both of these screwballs under the bus during his presidential campaign, Farrakhan for being anti-semetic and Wright for being completely out of his mind.

Nevertheless, it does give one cause for concern how Obama’s old Chicago affiliations have a habit of continually rearing their heads. Not that you would know about if by reading the New York Times.

Gee, I wonder how the mainstream media would have reacted if they found a picture of First Lady Laura Bush attendng a luncheon with David Duke's wife?

Peter J. Mahon

Robert Creamer and Obama Care

Robert Creamer

Not that you will be reading abut this in the mainstream media but Robert Creamer (pictured above) attended President Obama’s Health Care Reform Bill signing ceremony at the White House last week.

If you are really happy with Obama's health care legislation, you should think about sending Robert Creamer a "thank you" note.  Despite the fact that Creamer is an ex-convict, having served time in a federal lock up for bank fraud and tax evasion, I guess Obama felt it was only right for Creamer to be present at the bill signing since Creamer is the author of the progressive liberal blueprint that led Obama and company to their health care victory. You see, he wrote it while he was in prison.

Creamer, the husband of Illinois Democrat Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, used to be the leader of the Chicago based community group, Citizen Action/Illinois. He also founded its predecessor, Illinois Public Action, in which Ms. Schakowsky served as Program Director. He runs a political consulting firm, the Strategic Consulting Group, which lists ACORN and the SEIU among its clients and which made $541,000 working for disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.

Creamer resigned from Citizen Action/Illinois after the FBI began investigating him for bank fraud and tax evasion at Illinois Public Action. He was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to five months in federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, plus eleven months of house arrest.  While in prison—or “forced sabbatical,” he called it—Creamer wrote a lengthy political manual, Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight! How Progressives Can Win.

The book was endorsed by leading Democrats and their allies, including SEIU boss Andy Stern—the most frequent visitor thus far to the Obama White House—and chief Obama strategist David Axelrod, who noted that Creamer’s tome “provides a blueprint for future victories.”

In the book, Creamer draws lessons from decades of experience on the radical left, including the teachings of arch-radical Saul Alinsky, and several episodes from Rep. Schakowsky’s political career.

He also lays out a “Progressive Agenda for Structural Change,” which includes a ten-point plan for foisting universal health care on the American people.

"We must create a national consensus that health care is a right, not a commodity; and that government must guarantee that right.”

“We must create a national consensus that the health care system is in crisis.”

“Our messaging program over the next two years should focus heavily on reducing the credibility of the health insurance industry and focusing on the failure of private health insurance.”

“We need to systematically forge relationships with large sectors of the business/employer community.”

“We need to convince political leaders that they owe their elections, at least in part, to the groundswell of support of universal health care, and that they face political peril if they fail to deliver on universal health care.”

“We need not agree in advance on the components of a plan, but we must foster a process that can ultimately yield consensus.”

“Over the next two years, we must design and organize a massive national field program.”

“We must focus especially on the mobilization of the labor movement and the faith community.”

“We must systematically leverage the connections and resources of a massive array of institutions and organizations of all types.”

“To be successful, we must put in place commitments for hundreds of millions of dollars to be used to finance paid communications and mobilization once the battle is joined.”

Creamer adds: “To win we must not just generate understanding, but emotion—fear, revulsion, anger, disgust.”

Democrats have followed Creamer’s plan to the letter. They have claimed our health care system is in crisis despite polls showing the overwhelming majority of Americans are happy with the care they receive. They have—with the help of President Obama—circulated false horror stories about Americans dying for lack of health care and health insurance.
They have targeted the health insurance industry, with Rep. Schakowsky herself promising to “put the private insurance industry out of business,” though it is a top employer in Illinois.

Democrats cut deals with the pharmaceutical industry and the American Medical Association, among others. They have brought in the President himself to tell wavering “Blue Dog” Democrats that their re-election chances depend on passing health care reform. They have bused in SEIU members to town hall meetings, and used rabbis and pastors to back health care reform from the pulpit. They have bribed and paid off their own fellow democrat members of congress.

They have used a complex, interconnected web of organizations—including Organizing For America, the former Obama campaign arm—to whip up support and silence opposition. And they have benefited from hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising to convince the public to support bills that their representatives have never read themselves.

Creamer wrote his plan in 2006, explicitly proposing that it be carried out once a “progressive Democrat is elected President” and once Democrats could count on 60 votes in the Senate. It is curious that Creamer, sitting in prison, could have predicted the details and the timing of President Obama’s legislative agenda so precisely.  The likeliest explanation is that Creamer helped design the Democrats’ health care strategy. That would explain why President Obama made health care an obsession in 2009, when it was only one among many issues he raised on the campaign trail in 2008. It would explain the role of several overlapping left-wing groups, including Creamer’s own Citizen Action/Illinois.

It would also explain Creamer's high profile after being released from prison when he immediately went to work for the Obama campaign, training volunteers at “Camp Obama.”

He has continued his work at the Strategic Consulting Group, leading “many of the country’s most significant issue campaigns,” he claims.

This isn't the first time Creamer has been to the White Huse. He was also at a White House state dinner this past November—together with Stern, Axelrod, and other cronies—despite the fact that ex-convicts are usually barred from such events.

Creamer’s broader aim, as laid out in his book, is the “democratization of wealth” in America and “progressive control of governments around the world.” He recently wrote, “If we succeed in winning health insurance reform we will have breached the gates of the status quo. We will demonstrate that fundamental change is possible. Into that breach will flow a wave of progressive change.”

It is a radical agenda, making use of Rep. Schakowsky’s public profile as a liberal democrat representative from (where else?) Chicago, a network of far-left organizations, and Creamer’s old friends in the White House.

It can be said that Obama's health care reform was conceived in federal prison, nurtured amidst the corrupt political system of Chicago and ultimately born in the Congress of the United States assisted by midwives Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid over the protests of thousands of ordinary Americans across the nation. It will not end with health care. It will continue until Mr. Creamer’s Alinskyite dream of radical change is realized—or until voters stand up and put a stop to it in 2010.

Peter J. Mahon

Riddle me this...

Riddle me this ladies and gentlemen...

If the liberal democrats are so confident that their new “health care reform bill” is so great, then why are President Obama, Vice President Biden, cabinet secretaries and special congressional staff members excluded from participation in the new government-run health care exchanges?

Isn’t it only fair and logical that top administration officials, who fought so hard for passage of this overhaul of America’s health care system, experience it themselves?

Apparently not.

Although Obama and company have deemed their reform suitable for “Joe the Plumber” and all the rest of us  common-folk,  they made damned sure that they kept their individual (and exclusive) Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP).

The bill was amended behind closed doors by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) back in December to exclude all congressional committee and leadership staff from the horrors of the, now mandated, health care “exchange.” The President, Vice-President, cabinet members, thousands of Obama administration staff and an unknown number of czars will all remain in the FEHBP.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-Okla.) attempted to offer a floor amendment in December that would have nullified Reid’s “behind closed doors” exclusion, but Reid blocked a vote on the amendment.Senator Grassley again offered an amendment to the reconciliation bill during the reconciliation hearings in the Senate to apply the reform legislation to the President, Vice-President, cabinet members, top White House staff and all congressional staffers to no avail as the Democrats blocked it yet again.

But I guess we really shouldn’t worry too much about this government seizure of health care, which constitutes one sixth of the American economy. After all, just yesterday. Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro declared passage of American health care reform "a miracle" and a major victory for Obama's presidency, but couldn't help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what his communist nation achieved decades ago.

Apparently Castro agrees with Vice President Biden who was caught on an open mike at the bill signing ceremony last Tuesday at the White House telling Obama that this “is a big fu%#ing” deal!”

Government has grown tremendously over the last eighty years as politicians have embraced the idea that Washington should be a proxy for family…that we should look to government to provide more and more of what people need or desire rather than depend on our personal and family support systems and our own labor and intelligence.

America has been slowly lumbering towards socialism for years now with the federal government's inability to manage Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, all of which, despite being well meaning, have proved to be disasters and are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

The federal government has even proved incapable of a modicum of prudent fiscal stewardship for a service that is actually mandated by our constitution - the United States Postal Service.

Despite that, President Obama has put that journey into overdrive.
In the short space of fourteen months, he has directed the federal government to assimilate the auto industry, the banking and mortgage industries and the insurance industry.

Next on his all encompassing social agenda is energy industry reform, education reform and immigration reform.

Thus, more and more of what we need or, perhaps, desire are not viewed as goals or objectives to be attained, but more as rights that are conferred upon us by the moral obligation one citizen owes to his or her neighbor …which morphs eventually, but assuredly, into a governmental obligation and ultimately federal entitlements.

Our nation is drowning in debt.
Our defict is skyrocketing.

Seventy million baby boomers are ready for retirement.

The percentage of younger American citizens who actually pay taxes is shrinking.

We are truly facing a "perfect storm" of epic fiscal and economic proportions unless we act to put the brakes on this joyride of unbridled spending and deficit driving entitlements now, and by "now" I mean the 2010 general elections!

Peter J. Mahon 

Jody Evans and "Code Pink"

Jody Evans, Co-Founder of "Code Pink" and President Barrack Obama

What do Barrack Obama, Ayers, Bernadette Dorhn and Jane Fonda have in common?  They are all very good friends of Ms. Jody Evans, co-founder of the liberal left "Code Pink" Woemns Peace movement.

Karl Rove, who served as Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush and who recently authored the book Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight, was at a book signing event in California this past Monday evening.

The book signing was disrupted by several protestors, one of whom actually walked up to Rove holding a pair of metal handcuffs in an attempt to make a citizen’s arrest of Rove shouting “Look at what did, you ousted a CIA Officer, you lied to take us to war, you ruined the country, totally ruined the country!”

Although Rove, who was not accompanied by any of his own security staff, attempted to engage in the protestors in discourse, the situation became unmanageable and Rove was forced to leave the event early.
As it turns out the protest was organized by the progressive left organization “Code Pink”, and the woman who attempted to arrest Karl Rove with the metal handcuffs was none other than Jodie Evans, co-founder of the “Code Pink” organization.

Back in 2007, a "Code Pink" operative disrupted a Congressional Hearing where Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was speaking when she assaulted the Secretary of State with hands that were stained red with paint.

In 2008, Jody Evans attempted to disrupt Sarah Plain’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention.

Evans and Code Pink issued a statement justifying the terrorist attack at Fort Hood as opposition to the war from officers and put out a Veterans Day appeal seeking to raise money off the Fort Hood terrorist attack.

Evan’s and her Code Pink organization also ran banner advertisements on the English language version of the official Web site of a terrorist sympathizing group, the Muslim Brotherhood, one of which invites the Muslim Brotherhood to “join us in cleansing our country.” The ad, titled “Arrest the War Criminals” with a subhead that contains the invitation to “join us in cleansing our country” links back to a Code Pink site that calls for the kidnapping of former President George W. Bush, his wife Laura and other former members of his administration through ‘citizens arrests’ for defending America against terrorists in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al Qaeda.

Muhammad Mahdi Othman Akef, a prominent leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, has expressed his support for suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq “in order to expel the Zionists and the Americans.” He has also denounced the United States as a “Satan,” saying: “I have complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America, because Islam has logic and a mission.” Many other leaders of the Brotherhood have likewise justified terrorism against Israel and the United States, with many defending the September 11 terrorist attacks against America. Jews are another common object of the Brotherhood’s hatred. Of the Jewish people, Sheik Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, the spiritual leader of the Brotherhood, has written: “There is no dialogue between them and us other than in one language — the language of the sword and force.” It should also not go without notice that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the architect of 9/11, was a member of Muslim Brotherhood. More prominently still, Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood preacher, was a mentor to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Last year, Evans and her Code Pink colleagues held an anti-Israel, pro Hams terrorist group march in Gaza. Security for Evans’ group was provided by Hamas which promised that the terrorist group would keep the marchers safe while they were in Gaza. The Code Pink march was supported by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.

Prior to going to Gaza, Evans and company first went to Cairo, Egypt where she joined with none other than William Ayers and his wife, Bernadette Dorhn, both former terrorists with the Weather Underground.. The purpose of the visit to Cairo was to arrange passage for the Code Pink Freedom Marchers to cross the Egyptian Border into Gaza for the march. “We hope the Egyptians get so annoyed they just want to get rid of us.” said Evans at the time.

Jody Evans was listed in the White House “visitor log” as having been at the Obama White House, meeting with administration officials, twice after her trip to Gaza.

Evans and Code Pink also went to Kabul, Afghanistan where she met with top Taliban officials. Although Evans kept her Afghanistan meeting with the Talian secret, her friend, Jane Fonda let it slip during an interview she gave regarding a dinner meeting she had attended with Evans and her husband. While in Afganistan, Evans,who has pulicly stated that she does “a lot to not support the troops", was cleared by the administration to visit a Indiana National Guard unit at a base in Afghanistan.

A few weeks later, Evans was videotaped directly handing to President Barack Obama a package of information about her trip to Afghanistan at a high dollar fundraiser in San Francisco. Jodie Evans also spoke about being called on by Obama’s Deputy Chief of Staff for a morning-after briefing following her hand delivery of the propaganda package to Obama about Afghanistan.

Obama has been consulting with Jodie Evans for nearly three years since first inviting her to co-host the breakthrough Hollywood fundraiser in February 2007 that made his presidential candidacy a serious contender. He appointed her a bundler for his campaign and took tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from her for his Obama for America and Obama Victory Fund campaign vehicles.

All of this is going on right under the noses of the American people and the mainstream media simply won’t report any of it.

Peter J. Mahon

Democrats Threaten Use of "Nuclear Option" to Pass Obama's Health Care

The President will meet with Democrat and Republicans members of Congress tomorrow, ostensibly in an attempt to come to agreement on Obama’s health care bill.

The summit will likely lay the groundwork for pushing the final bill through Congress using a privileged budget process called “reconciliation” that will allow Democrats to more easily overcome Republican efforts to block the bill in the Senate.

Obama's plan would make it easier to bypass Republicans if necessary and ram through legislation by a process requiring a simple majority in the 100-member Senate rather than the 60 votes needed to clear procedural hurdles.

If you follow Congressional politics, you may have heard the beginnings of a debate among the parties about the potential use of the "reconciliation process", also referred to as the "nuclear option", which only requires 51 votes as a way for Democrats to avoid a Republican filibuster of a health care bill in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters yesterday that Republicans "should stop crying" about the possible use of the parliamentary procedure known as budget reconciliation to pass a health care reform bill.

“They should stop crying about reconciliation as if it's never been done before.”

Actually Reid is right, the reconciliation sentae procedural process has been used several times in the past; however, this process has only been used to deal with budgetary actions and amendments. It has never been used by any party as a means of “steamrolling” a huge, deficit ridden, entitlement program into law. The reconciliation process was created in 1974 to facilitate adjustments of existing spending programs, not to implement new ones.

Of course, back in 2005 when (then) President Bush and his Republican Congress threatened, but did not use, the use “reconciliation” as a means of forcing the Congress to act on his Supreme Court nominations, the Democrats all had a completely different view of this process, they saw the use of “reconciliation” as nothing more than “…the end of democracy!”

I would think that perhaps Harry Reid should try and remember what he and his colleagues, including (then) Senator Obama, whined about to stop Presidient Bush from using the "reconciliation" or "nuclear option" back in 2005 before they start complaining about the exact type of response they are now receiving from the Republicans.

"There is not a Muslim Poblem"

Imam Zaid Salim Shakir

Speaking at a college in California last December about terrorism, Imam Shakir told his student audience that “There is not a Muslim problem.” And that the terrorist massacre at Fort Hood, Texas was the result of eay access to guns and the National Rifle Association (NRA).

For those wondering who Imam. Zaid Shakir is, he’s the go-to expert on Islamic issues for the mainstream media. The New York Times describes him as a “leading intellectual light,” while rap scholar, Cornel West says “he is one of the towering principle [sic] voices not only in contemporary Islam, but in American society.” A 200 page report entitled, “The 500 Most Influential Muslims” edited by professors John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin was published this month by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (Jordan) and the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (Georgetown University) describes Imam Zaid Shakir as “one of America’s most influential scholars.”

Born in Berkeley, California, as Ricky Mitchell, he accepted Islam in 1977 while serving in the United States Air Force, and shortly after changed his name to Zaid Salim Shakir. A summa cum laude graduate, he obtained a BA in International Relations at American University in Washington, D.C. and later earned his MA in Political Science at Rutgers University. While at Rutgers, he led a successful campaign for disinvestment from South Africa, and co-founded a local Islamic center, Masjid al-Huda. After a year of studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt, he settled in New Haven, Connecticut and continued his community activism, co-founding Masjid al-Islam, the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative, and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee. As Imam of Masjid al-Islam from 1988 to 1994 he spear-headed a community renewal and grassroots anti-drug effort, also accepted the position as Professor and taught political science and Arabic at Southern Connecticut State University. He served as an interfaith council Chaplain at Yale University and developed the Chaplaincy Sensitivity Training for physicians at Yale New Haven Hospital. Zaid shakir now particapates as a speaker in reviving the islamic spirit.

Shakir then left for Syria to pursue his studies in the traditional Islamic Sciences. For seven years in Syria, and briefly in Morocco, he immersed himself in an intense study of Arabic, Islamic law, Quranic studies, and spirituality with some of the top Muslim scholars of our age. In 2001, he was the first American graduate from Syria's prestigious Abu Nour University and returned to Connecticut, serving again as the Imam of Masjid al-Islam, and writing and speaking frequently on a host of issues.

In 2003, as a scholar-in-residence at Zaytuna Institute located in California, Shakir began to teach Arabic, Law, and Islamic Spirituality. And, in 2008, he co-founded the Berkeley, California - based Zaytuna College dedicated to the revival of Islamic Sciences and the preservation of traditional teaching methods.

Back in December, Imam. Shakir spoke at Claremont McKenna College in California about last year’s ort Hood, Texas massacre of innocent service men and women by Major Nidal Malik Hasan.

“There is not a Muslim problem. Especially based on the number of Muslims who have done this particular act. It’s not a Korean problem because the kid in Virginia tech was a Korean American. It’s not a white American problem because the kids in Columbine or several other places were white Americans. That’s not the common denominator, race is not the common denominator, religion is not the common denominator, gender–maybe, I would say they should just chill out. What is the common denominator. The common denominator is easy access to guns. The common denominator is that there are more guns in America than there are human beings. There are more guns in America than human beings, and they are easily had. And if someone tries to limit their accessibility, they’re going to be challenged by the NRA, the National Rifle Association–one of the most powerful lobbies in this country. That’s the common denominator. So if we are serious as a society about stopping this violence, it doesn’t behoove us to demonize Muslims. We’re here to talk about Muslims, I’m not trying to dodge that, but if behooves us to make it far, far, far more difficult for people to get their hands on a gun. And it we’re not willing to do that, it’s easy to go blame the Muslims. That’s easy and that’s why so many people do–it’s a national sport. Vilify the Muslims, they’re weak, they can’t fight back.”

It’s “easy to go blame the Muslims”?

A quick review of the internet revealed some 33 terrorsit incidents, dating back to 1979, and guess what? They were all committed by “Muslim” terrorists!

U.S. Embassy Hostage Taking – Tehran, Iran – November 4, 1979

Truck Bombing of U.S. Embassy, Beirut – April 18, 1983

Truck Bombing of U.S. Marine Barracks, Beirut – October 23, 1983

Truck Bombing of U.S. Embassy Annex, Kuwait – December 23, 1983

Hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 221 – December 3, 1984

CIA Station Chief William Buckley kidnapped and murdered, Lebanon – March 1984

U.S. Embassy Compound Attacked, Beirut – September 20, 1984

Restaurant bombing, Madrid, Spain – April 12, 1985

TWA Flight 847 hijacked to Beirut, June 13, 1985 – June 13, 1985

Rhein-Main Airbase Bombing, Frankfurt, Germany – August 8, 1985

Cruise Ship Achille Lauro Hijacked, Port Said, Egypt – October 7, 1985

Egyptair Flight 646 Hijacked – November 23, 1985

Airport attack, Rome, Italy – December 27, 1985

Airport attack, Vienna, Austria – December 27, 1985

Bombing of TWA Flight 840, Athens, Greece – April 2, 1986

La Belle Disco Bombing, Berlin, Germany – April 5, 1986

Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, Lockerbie, Scotland – December 21, 1988

Shooting of CIA Employees, Langley, Virginia – January 25, 1993

Bombing of World Trade Center, New York City – February 26, 1993

U.S. Military Complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is Bombed – November 13, 1995

Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia are Bombed – June 25, 1996

U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dares Salaam, Tanzania are Bombed – August 7, 1998

USS Cole Bombed, Aden, Yemen – October 12, 2000

Attempted Al-Qaeda Federal Prison escape, New York City – November 11, 2000

September 11, 2001 attacks, New York, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania

Bombing of Restaurant, Zamboanga, Phillipines – October 2, 2002

Bombing of U.S. Consulate, Manado, Indonesia – October 12, 2002

Bali Night Club Bombing, Indonesia - October 12, 2002

Madrid Train Bombings, Spain – March 11, 2004

Bombings of London’s Public Transport System – July 7, 2005

Attack on International Airport, Glasgow, Scotland – June 2007

Attack on Little Rock Recruiting Center, Arkansas – June 1, 2009

Fort Hood Massacre, Texas – November 6, 2009

Attempted Bombing NWA Flight 253, Detroit – December 25, 2009

It is exactly this sort of liberal progressive politically correct fictional history that our colleges and universities are spoon feeding students that results in our children graduating and entering main stream America with an intentionally “taught” guilt ridden mentality whereby they lay the blame for these acts on the United States instead of exactly where it should be laid, on extremist Islamic Fundamentalism.

Sarah Plain 2.0

Sarah Palin has resurrected herself after a disastrous vice presidential campaign and resignation as governor of Alaska last July. Her muddled explanations for quitting the governorship made her a pariah in media and political circles, and she was exiled to the silent wilds of Alaska.

Given up for politically dead, her swift and amazing comeback as author of a No. 1 best-selling memoir, "Going Rogue," and hero of the mushrooming Tea Party movement has been a shock to the system, on both sides of the aisle.

"She's a force to be reckoned with,'' said Diane Sawyer on "ABC World News" on Monday.

But Palin's critics are legion, loud, and come in all political shades. Even a fellow conservative Republican like Joe Scarborough, the host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," frowns at the thought of a Palin presidential candidacy. On MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" on Monday, he said, in part, that Palin is "not the voice of somebody who's going to take on Obama in 2012."

Other critics are not quite as sensible and even-keeled. Going for the jugular has become fair game when it comes to Palin. The New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica slashed her bloody in a Monday column in which he said that she seems to believe that "somehow she can go from being this kind of pinup girl for her Tea Party friends to the White House." He also called her a bubble-head. "You listen to her long enough and actually feel yourself getting dimmer by the minute."

Meaner and tougher Chris Mathews, the host of "Hardball," whose legs got all “tingly” with Obama’s election as President, makes no secret of his contempt for Sarah Palin and her followers. Agitated by the idea that Palin might dare to run for president, he dribbled a string of jabs on his shows on Monday and Tuesday, saying, among other things, "Is she a balloon-head?" and "She's got nothing going on mentally."

Lastly, on HLN's Feb. 8 "The Joy Behar Show," Eve Ensler, the writer of the infamous "The Vagina Monologues" which is a play made up of a varying number of monologues where every monologue somehow relates to the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, etc., appeared on the broadcast and she was asked by the show's host, Joy Behar, what she thought about Sarah Palin.

”Well, I just think the idea that she doesn't believe in global warming is bizarre. And I think we just kind of have to walk around the world at this point and look at what is happening to nature and earthquakes and tsunamis…I think that idea that she doesn't believe in global warming and she could actually run for office, and we have a country where that is possible, it seems insane.”

Gee, isn’t that great? The author of the “Vagina Monologues” chastises Sarah Palin for her skepticism regarding the religion of global warming and suggests she only has to look at the facts, in this case the recent number of earthquakes and tsunamis, for proof of climate change!

To the liberal left, facts are no longer pieces of information presented as having objective realities and instead are simply unsupported fictional sound bites spewed out to fit a particular political agenda or cause.

In this case, I believe Ms. Ensler must have been listening to Danny Glover’s rant about Global Warming having caused the earthquake in Haiti!

And now, for the benefit of Ms. Behar and Ms. Ensler, some facts…

Eathquakes are sudden rolling or shaking events caused by movement under the Earth's surface resulting from slippage or pressure release along a fault line or volcanic activity.

Tsunamis are, for the most part, caused by underwater landslides or the sudden release of pressure along a fault line or subduction zone resulting in a massive uplift of the ocean floor.

Earthquakes and Tsunamis are not caused by changes in the earth's atmosphere which concerns the theory of anthropogenic global warming or climate change.

It does my heart good to know that we live in a country where this woman from Alaska comes out of nowhere and turns the entire political scene of the country “topsy turvy” and democrats and republicans alike are fearful of her growing momentum and status with the American people and where Joy Behar and Eve Ensler, armed with a less than educated knowledge of the earth sciences can attempt to use The Vagina Monologues as a means of portraying Sarah Palin’s skepticism regarding global warming as bizarre and indicative of an insanity within our nation.

Bottom line? Sarah Plain won't be going away anytime soon and in the words of Martha Stewart, “That’s a good thing!”  So there she is now, on center stage, Sarah Palin 2.0!

Srah Palin and the Tea Party

This past Saturday evening, Sarah Palin delivered, what I thought to be, a marvelous keynote speech at the Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tennesse.

As much as I like Palin, I have to confess that my greatest enjoyment comes from watching the heads of the liberal left in this country explode every time she speaks.  There is something about this woman that strikes fear into the hearts of the liberal left of this country!

As expected, a myriad of progessive craniums went "kaboom" within hours after the end of Palin's speech. 

The Associated Press (A): “ Sarah Palin, in a speech that was short on ideas but big on enthusiasm, took aim at President Barack Obama and the Democrats, telling a gathering of "tea party" activists that America is ripe for another revolution."

Bill Press (Radio Host on MSNBC): “…there was a string of platitudes, but there was a lot of cheap shots. But she didn't offer one idea, and the only ideas she talked about, as you mentioned, well she's talked about energy. Who has put out there new money for energy projects? Who's talked about nuclear power? Who's talked about offshore drilling? Barack Obama. She talked about tax cuts. Who's put tax cuts out for small business? Barack Obama. I don't think she even knows what's going on in Washington.”

Joel Klein (Time Magazine Columnist): “It matters what you say. And that's where I have a problem with Palin. What she said was drivel…Those who celebrate Sarah Palin's lack of knowledge as a form of "authenticity" superior to Barack Obama's gloriously American mongrel ethnicity and self-made intellectuality are representatives of a long-standing American theme--the celebration of sameness, and mediocrity, in a country that has succeeded brilliantly because of its diversity and restlessly eccentric genius.”

MikeHalperin (Time Magazine Political Aanalyst): Sarah Palin “longs for -- and talk incessantly about -- an America that no longer exists.”

Bob Shrum (Democrat Operative): “… what we heard tonight was more a masterful exercise – masterful – in paranoid politics. I mean, she came across to me as a merchant of hate with an oh gosh smile."

I am amazed that both the liberal left and their friends in the main stream media still haven't figured out this "Tea Party" business yet.  It is not a third political party nor is it a organizational structure run by one or a few specific individuals. And it is certainly not a group of uneducated, racist, un-american,  activists that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Pelosi would have you to believe.

The "Tea Party" is a loose knit coalition of concerned and involved American citizens who have lost faith in their government and elected representatives.  They recognize the current political system has grown corrupt, venal, and out-of-touch with the the very people that they’re supposed to represent.  Thus the people, once again, are reasserting themselves acorss the nation in various states in this loose confederaion known as the "Tea Party."

The liberal left and main stream media would have you think that Sarah Palin is the head of the Tea Party, a idea that could not be further from the truth. 

All one has to do is listen ckosely o Palin's speech when she speaks about the Tea Party.  She describes it as a "bottom up", grass roots organization comprised of "the people."  Palin even went so far as to recommend that the Tea Party not go out of its way to identify individual national leaders but rather to utilize the power of the American people to press for reform in the form of smaller government, less spending and tazes and a strong national defense.

For the conservative movement, Palin represents a potential solution to the right's unending problem of a news media that consistently sides with the political opposition. She is the first public figure to utilize (and, in some cases, dominate) multiple media, including traditional (television, books) and new (Facebook, Twitter) media platforms. The sum of her efforts should be the model for conservative politicians and public figures going forward.

Palin reaches more Americans with a Facebook message (just under 1.3 million) than Keith Olbermann reaches during his 8 p.m. broadcast slot on MSNBC (roughly 1 million). Fox News now has plans to build a television studio in her home in Wasilla. Her recent book Going Rogue has spent 11 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list, and has netted her somewhere in the 8-figure range.

Although it is not widely known or reported, Palin, for some time now, has been receiving daily briefings from several high level staff personages in the beltway on a myriad of issues ranging from domestic and foreign policy to terrorism and has boot strapped herself far and away from the myopia of Alaska politics.
She has gone from a political corpse to one of the most prolific and influential persons in the conservative movement in under a year. 

Sarah Palin's political metamorphisis and the accompanying birth of the American Tea Party can only bode well for the future of our nation as their words and ideas are not spoken as a democrats or  republicans,
but as  "We the People!" 

And that,  ladies and gentlemen, is how our founding fathers meant it to be!

Harry Reid to call his Proctologist!

From the Associated Press news service earlier today...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says "we should take our time" getting to a final health care bill.

He said Thursday he wants to go through the legislation in detail with Republicans to examine their ideas and Democratic ideas to see whether there are better ways to improve the nation's health care system than have already been proposed.

Obama said that letting some time pass before calling for a vote also will allow "everybody to get the real facts."

Could it be?  President Obama has cautioned his democrat colleagues to slow down and take their time rather than ramming a 2,000 page health care bill nobody has read through Congress and into law?

Suddenly sober and thoughtful review and discussion are the words of the day?

Perhaps the President is not aware of the fact that, according to his own Democrat Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, anyone who suggests that the Congress "slow down" and take their time with health care are no different than those who opposed the end to slavery, women's sufferage and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Back in December of last year, Harry Reid took the floor of the Senate and said just that.

Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans have come up with is this. – “slow down, stop everything, let’s start over.” If you think you have heard these same excuses, you’re right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery there were those who dug in their heels and said “slow down!” When women spoke up for the right to …to vote some insisted they “slow down.” When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal rights to everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear here today! 

I would thoroughly enjoy watching some reporter ask Harry Reid - 

"Senator Reid, in light of President Obama's statement yesterday asking everyone to "slow down" in their mad rush to pass a health care bill, do you now also equate the President as being no differenet than those who opposed slavery, women's right to vote and the Civil Right Act of 1964 as you stated for the record on the floor of the Senate?"

Although I'm sure that a veteran, grizzled, experienced politician like Harry would have no difficulty fielding that question but it would still be amusing knowing that he would have to call his proctologist to let him know he found his head!

What do I Know?

Imam Zulqarnain Abdu-Shahid

Zulqarnain Abdu-Shahid is a Muslim Imam employed by the New York City Department of Correction with a salary of $49,500 to cater to the spiritual needs of incarcerated Muslim inmates within the New York Correctional system. Prior to taking his Muslim name, the Iman was known simply as Paul Pitts.

Yesterday, as Imam Abdu-Shaid was entering the Manhattan Detention Complex formerly known as the Bernard Kerik Center and years previous to that as the “Tombs”, he was found to be carrying “three utility blades and a scissors”.

The Correction Department has a strict policy of accounting for all disposable razor utilized by inmates within the agency. If an inmate is able to obtain a razor blade that blade may be used to slash another inmate causing serious injury.

If an inmate wants to shave, he must first surrender his inmate identification to his area officer who will then provide him with the razor. When the inmate is finished, he returns the razor to the Officer and, in turn, receives his identification card back. All razors are maintained in the Officer’s station under continual supervision. If a razor is found to be missing, the area is locked down and an immediate thorough search of the area and all inmates is conducted.

Additionally, all staff working within a city correctional facility are made succinctly aware of the agency’s policy regarding the prohibition against carrying any type of contraband into a facility.

As far as a pair of scissors is concerned, the scissor blades could be separated resulting in two sharpened knives or “shanks” being made available to the inmates.

Now it goes without saying that attempting to introduce any type of Not surprisingly, weapons contraband within a correctional facility is a big “no – no” and is viewed by that agency as a very serious offense. As such, Imam Abdi-Shahid was arrested and charged with four felony counts of promoting prison contraband in the first degree. He is currently still incarcerated in lieu of a $50,000 bail.

Not surprisingly, Imam Abdu-Shahid stated that he “didn’t know (the contraband) was in his bag.” At his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court the Iman’s lawyer, James McQueeny said that the utlility blades were, in fact, “injector blades from an injector razor.”  On the other hand, jail sources have stated that the blades were one and a half inches long and three quarters of an inch wide.

I almost forgot to mention, Imam Abdu-Shahid, then known as Paul Pitts, and three other men were convicted in 1979 of murder and robbery for the December 1976 holdup of a Harlem supermarket that left 30-year-old customer Philip Crawford dead from a bullet wound. Their trial was the longest in state Supreme Court history -- one year, three months and three days. Abdu-Shahid served 14 years of a 15-year-to-life prison term before being paroled in August 1993. A prior sex assault charge against him was dismissed before the murder case.

Imam Abdu-Shahid’s lawyer, James McQueeny, acknowledging his client’s previous legal troubles, stated in court that his client is now “completely reformed.”

It is also interesting to note that Iman Abdu-Shahid’s boss, Head Chaplain, Muslim Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil was employed by City Corrections and allowed access to the city correction facilities even though he also,served fourteen years in prison for flony drug charges. 

Last year, Imam Abdul-Jalil was stripped of two weeks vacation as punishment for signing off on a plan by another Tombs chaplain, Rabbi Leib Glanz, to allow a jailhouse bar mitzvah for the son of an inmate at the same facility Abu-Shahid was working at.  The sanctioned bar mitzvah party included catered food, a live band, and scores of noninmate guests, among them Head Chaplain Imam Abdul-Jalil.

Lest I forget,  kudos to the Correction Officer working the Front Gate post at the Manhattan Detention Complex who took the time to do his or her job right and discovered and confiscated the weapon contraband before it disappeared within the jail.

Suffice it to say that regardless of the outcome of the criminal case against Iman Abu-Shahid, I would think a top to bottom intensive review of all City Correction non-uniform hires is called for in order to ascertain the extent of access of Ministerial and other civilian and volunteer staff within correctional facilities who may have serious felony criminal histories.

But then again, what do I know?

Obama Administration Tone Deaf to Terrorism?

Liberal columinist Richard Cohen writing in today’s Washington Post (Obama administration is tone-deaf to concerns about terrorism) stated…

There is almost nothing the Obama administration does regarding terrorism that makes me feel safer. Whether it is guaranteeing captured terrorists that they will not be waterboarded, reciting terrorists their rights, or the legally meandering and confusing rule that some terrorists will be tried in military tribunals and some in civilian courts, what is missing is a firm recognition that what comes first is not the message sent to America's critics but the message sent to Americans themselves. When, oh when, will this administration wake up?

As I stated at the outset, Mr. Cohen is a liberal and included in his piece is the perfunctory jab at  George W. Bush but Mr. Cohen ends this one paragraph with a sort of back-handed compliment to the Bush Administration. (see boldface/underlined)…

No doubt George Bush soiled America's image abroad with what looked liked vigilante justice and Dick Cheney's hearty endorsement of ugly interrogation measures. But more is at stake here than America's image abroad -- namely the security and peace of mind of Americans in America. Bush stands condemned by the facts for Sept. 11 -- his watch, his responsibility -- and in all likelihood he bent over backward to ensure that nothing like those attacks would happen again.

Having gotten his shot at the Bush administration out of the way, Mr. Cohen closes his column with the following statement regarding our President.

The Obama administration, on the other hand, seems to have bent over backward to prove to the world it is not the Bush administration and will, almost no matter what, ensure that everyone gets the benefit of American civil liberties. But the paramount civil liberty is a sense of security and this, sad to say, has eroded under Barack Obama. Repeatedly, the administration has shown poor judgment. Abdulmutallab's silence is a scream that something is wrong.

Here’s a hint for the President…as you have proven time and time again, we all know that you have a deaf ear for the majority of the common folk of this nation but when your good friends on the left join those common folk in slamming your policy on terrorism, maybe it’s time to wake up and start acting like a real Commander in Chief!

Eric Holder - Attoeny General

Attorney General Eric Holder

I can’t understand why everyone outside of the Obama administration is scratching their heads wondering why Attorney General Eric Holder decided to transfer the trial of terrorists from the military to civilian authorities and affording those terrorists all rights and privileges guaranteed under our constitution.


After all, Holder’s record includes obstructing an FBI investigation of the theft of nuclear secrets from Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory; rejecting multiple requests for an independent counsel to investigate alleged fundraising abuses by then-Vice President Al Gore in the Clinton White House; undermining the criminal investigation of President Clinton by Kenneth Starr in the midst of the Lewinsky investigation; and planning the violent raid to seize then-six-year-old Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint in order to return him to Castro's Cuba. His Justice Department has also dropped a serious voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party stemming from members' actions on Election Day 2008.

It's not like we didn't know what we were getting when Obama appointed Holder as the nation's Attorney General.

Reuters News Services Publishes then Pulls Story about Middle Class Tax Increases

Yesterday, the Reuters News Service ran a story about President Obama’s 2010 Budget creating a “slew of tax increases” for the American middle Class.

NEW YORK (Reuters.com) -- 2/1/09

The Obama administration's plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.

In the 2010 budget tabled by President Barack Obama on Monday, the White House wants to let billions of dollars in tax breaks expire by the end of the year -- effectively a tax hike by stealth.

While the administration is focusing its proposal on eliminating tax breaks for individuals who earn $250,000 a year or more, middle-class families will face a slew of these backdoor increases.

Interestingly enough, some four hours after the story was published, Reuters pulled the story explaining that the story will be run again later this week. 

It will be interesting to see what changes are made to the story.

Obama: Complacent, Weak and Ineffectual?

Christopher Edley

President Obama’s self-confidence borders on complacency. He is ill served by senior staff, especially his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. He does not appear to be learning on the job as he did when campaigning for the White House. His Administration is too deferential to Congress, too reliant on the President’s personal charm, and as a result is regarded by its enemies as weak and ineffectual.

Now, who in the world would have written those word’s about the “Chosen One”?

Glenn Beck? No.
Rush Limbaugh? No.
Sean Hannity? No.
Bill O’Reilly? No.

Well then, it had to be some far right, conservative wing nut, right?

Actually, this assessment of Obama’s first year in office came not from one of his established critics on the Right, but from one of his most respected mentors — his former professor at Harvard Law School, Chris Edley, and published in Britains Times Online.  Professor Edley also stated...

“What I fear is that having made history, having won a Nobel prize, having been celebrated around the world, a measure of complacency may have set in…I don’t mean that the effort is not there, but that the discipline of self-criticism has perhaps faded.”

Obama's "disciline of self criticism" could not have faded as it was never there to begin with. 

The President's inexperieince and accompanying lack of any real leadership have served to make him overly dependent on his progressive liberal friends and allowed our curent Congress to run amuck. 

Professor Edley simply stated the same in a kinder way!

Premier Danny Williams shuns Canada's Nationalized Health Care and comes to United States for Heart Surgery!

Danny Williams, Premier, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, has chosen to abandon his country's nationalized health care system and instead, come to the United States for needed heart surgery.

Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale said Williams decided to go to the U.S. for surgery after weeks of consultation with his doctors, but added she wasn’t aware whether that type of surgery was offered elsewhere in Canada.


Needls to say, Premier Williams' decision to leave Canada nd come to the United States for the surgery has raised eyebrows over his apparent shunning of Canada's health-care system.

I would think that Mr. Williams' decision should also give pause to those here in the states who are still hell-bent in "transforming" our health care system here in the states into a government controlled system not unlike Canada's!

Obama Speaking Out of Both Sides of His Mouth!

His Presidential campaign hinged on his "geting rid" of the influence of the "K Street" special interest lobbyists.  In fact, as President, he would not hire any lobbyists to work in his administration!

Of course, immediately after being elected,  President Obama reached out to the following individuals to work in his adminisration.

Eric Holder, attorney general nominee, was registered to lobby until 2004 on behalf of clients including Global Crossing, a bankrupt telecommunications firm.

Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year on behalf of the National Education Association.

William Lynn, deputy defense secretary nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for defense contractor Raytheon, where he was a top executive.

William Corr, deputy health and human services secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until last year for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a non-profit that pushes to limit tobacco use.

David Hayes, deputy interior secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until 2006 for clients, including the regional utility San Diego Gas & Electric.

Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for financial giant Goldman Sachs.

Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, was registered to lobby until 2005 for clients, including the Coalition for Asbestos Resolution, U.S. Airways, Airborne Express and drug-maker ImClone.

Mona Sutphen, deputy White House chief of staff, was registered to lobby for clients, including Angliss International in 2003.

Melody Barnes, domestic policy council director, lobbied in 2003 and 2004 for liberal advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the American Constitution Society and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Cecilia Munoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, was a lobbyist as recently as last year for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.

Patrick Gaspard, White House political affairs director, was a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union.

Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff to the president’s assistant for intergovernmental relations, lobbied for the American Association of Justice from 2001 until 2005.

One year later, at his State of the Union address to Congress, President Obama  promised, yet again,  to “end the outsized influence of lobbyists” in Washington.

Apparently "forgetting" about all the lobbyists he had brought into his administration during the past year, he then praised himself for excluding lobbyists from jobs in his administration and he proposed even more limits on them.

President Obama must have a serious problem wih his short term memory because less than 24 hours after his State of the Union address, Obama invited many "K Street" lobbysists  to meet with his staff for private briefings on a range of topics he had addressed in his speech the previous evening!

Is it any wonder that the American people are exasperated with the President's continual public whining about the undue influence of special interest lobbyists, accompanied by meaningless promises that lobbyists have no place in his administation, while at the same time he either hires them or quietly solicits their opinions while Obama’s friends in Congress badger them for political donations.

You gotta hand it to the "Chosen One." He brings new meaning to the old saying, "Speaking out of both sides of your mouth!"

Obama: It's the banks fault!

During his State of the Union speech last night President Obama laid the blame of the nations housing crisis a the feet of the banks when he said...

People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway.

Perhaps the Chosen One has forgotten that fellow liberal democrat, Barney Frank, sits on the House Banking Committee which has jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the largest mortgage lenders in the country.

Back in 1991 Barney Frank worked to loosen regulations for two and three family homes even though those mortgages were defaulting at twice and five times the rates of single homes respectively.

At the same time, Mr. Herb Moses, a Fannie Mae executive was also championing the relaxation of these regulations.

In 1994, the Department of Housing and Urban Development recommended imposing tougher regulations on Fannie Mae to ensure that lender's liquidity but, once again, Fannie Mae (Herbert Moses) and Barney Frank made sure no such regulations were imposed.  (Whoops, I almost forgot to mention that Barney Frank and Herbert Moses had been lovers since 1987. Can anyone say conflict of interest?)

In 1999, Barney Frank's House Banking Committee allowed Fannie Mae to further reduce restrictions on loans in an effort to increase home ownership among minorities and low income customers. At that time even the New York Times reported that if Fannie Mae fails, "...the government will have to step up and bail them out..."

During a July 2008 interview, when the handwriting was on the wall, Barney Frank, as the head of the House Banking Committee, stated "I think this is a case where Fannie and Freddie are fundamentally sound, that they are not in danger of going under..."

Unfortunately, not only for Barney, but for the rest of us as well, less than two months later, Fannie Mae went belly-up!

After years of providing essentially no governmental oversight for Fannie Mae while maintaining a long term relationship with an executive of that company and continually blocking GOP lawmakers from imposing stricter regulations on this mortgage giant, Congressman Barney Frank had the audacity to blame the mortgage giant's failure on the Republicans.

It was the liberal democrats who forced the lending institutions into a position of making these "bad" loans and now we are supposed to simply sit back and let an even more liberal democrat administration and Congress fix the problem?

If you believe this line of tripe, I have a bridge in Broklyn that I would like to sell you!

Bloomberg Finally Wakes Up!

Responding to growing pressure from downtown residents and business leaders, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday said the trial for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his fellow terrorists should be moved out of the city.

"It would be great if the federal government could find a site that didn't cost $1 billion, which using downtown will, and it will also impact traffic and commerce and people's lifestyles and it would be great if we didn't do it.", Bloomberg said.

It's great that Bloomberg has finally got off the fence he was sitting on and has sent a message to President Obama and his Attorney General (Eric Holder) that perhaps they should rethink their dangerous idea of holding a criminal trial for these terrorists in the heart of Manhattan!

Now if only our two illustrious State Senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, would also start listening to their constituents instead of cow-towing to Obama and Holder, we could actually get something done about this ill-conceived and dangerous idea!

CATO Institute Analyzes Obama's State of Union Speech

The Cato Institute was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane. It is a non-profit public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institute is named for Cato's Letters, a series of libertarian pamphlets that helped lay the philosophical foundation for the American Revolution. The mission of the Cato Institute is to increase the understanding of public policies based on the principles of limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and peace. The Institute will use the most effective means to originate, advocate, promote, and disseminate applicable policy proposals that create free, open, and civil societies in the United States and throughout the world.

Bin Laden to Obama - "I did it!"

The Reuters News Agency has reported that Osama Bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day Bombing in Detroit…

Reuters: CAIRO — Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt in Detroit, in a audio message released Sunday, and vowed further attacks on the U.S.

The message suggests that bin Laden wants to show he remains in direct command of al-Qaida’s many branches around the world.

In the short recording carried by the Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel, bin Laden addressed President Barack Obama saying the attack was a message similar to that of Sept. 11 and more attacks against the U.S. would be forthcoming.

“The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes of the Sept. 11,” he said.

“America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine,” he added. “God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support for the Israelis continues.”

It will be interestng to see if Obama responds to Bin Laden's message with a promise of contnued support for our ally Israel or will he throw that nation under the bus in his continuing effort to "fundamentally transform" our nation.

Peter J. Mahon