Archive for the ‘bush’ Category
United States Senator Mel Martinez answers my question on drilling
Thank you for contacting me regarding the expansion of domestic drilling in our nation. I appreciate hearing from you and would like to respond to your concerns.
The United States faces a fundamental need for increased domestic energy supply in the face of increased global demand to reduce energy prices. I share your concerns with the high price of fuel and its effects, particularly the unprecedented wealth reallocation resulting from our nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
I helped design the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (S. 3711), which was passed into law in 2006. This bill opened 8 million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf in the western Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration while securing environmental protection for Florida’s beaches. Although this opened OCS area contains trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and millions of barrels of oil, no new production has begun. Production in this area is the most immediate option we have for a large-scale increase in domestic energy supply. We must take advantage of this available asset before considering expanding coastal drilling that may jeopardize our beaches.
In order to increase domestic energy supply, I have consistently supported an environmentally responsible approach for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). I have also promoted coal-to-liquids technology, the development of cellulosic ethanol and other non-food-based renewable fuels, tax incentives for renewable energies, and the extraction of vast oil shale deposits in America’s West. To reduce demand, I have consistently supported increases in fuel efficiency standards and investment in mass transit. I am committed to both increasing domestic supply and decreasing domestic demand of energy in order to alleviate these factors that contribute to high fuel prices.
I am working closely with the Administration and my colleagues in the Senate to ensure that Florida’s voice is heard as we address the need for increased domestic energy supply. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any additional comments or questions. For more information about issues and activities important to Florida, please sign up for my weekly newsletter at http://martinez.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
Mel Martinez
United States Senator
Caller to the Rush Limbaugh Show, recounts meeting McCain-Palin
September 9, 2008
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Kurt in Pittsburgh, hello, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network, and how about the Steelers defense?
CALLER: How about those Steelers, huh?
RUSH: How about that?
CALLER: Hey, listen, Rush, longtime listener, first-time caller, one of those Bible, family, gun clingers from western Pennsylvania.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: And I wanted to share a story with you. A week ago last Saturday we went to the Palin-McCain rally in Washington, Pennsylvania, and we have a five-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, and we made a sign that said: ‘We Love Kids with Down Syndrome.’ So when they pulled in in their bus the sign did catch their, McCain and Palin and the rest of their family, it caught their eye, we could tell, they gave us a thumbs-up from the bus, so we were all excited just by that –
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Who gave you the thumbs up, McCain and Palin?
CALLER: McCain, Palin, Cindy McCain, we could see them from the bus. We were in a position where we had eye contact with them –
RUSH: Oh, cool!
CALLER: My wife was holding our daughter.
RUSH: Very, very, very cool.
CALLER: It was really cool, Rush. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s awesome,’ because I love Governor Palin and so I thought that’s really neat. So then we moved around as the bus was getting ready to pull out, we kind of positioned ourselves so we could just wave them on and a Secret Service agent came up to us and said, ‘Hey, can you come with us?’ I was like, ‘Do we have a choice?’
RUSH: (laughing) You shouldn’t have worried. It’s not the Clinton administration.
CALLER: Right. So we accompanied them up the hill, we went right to the bus, where it was, and Governor Palin, Senator McCain, Cindy, Todd Palin, they’re all standing there. We’re in this inner circle with just us and them, and the Secret Service agent, and they came right up to us and thanked us for coming out, said they loved our sign, and Governor Palin immediately said, ‘May I hold your daughter?’ and our daughter Chloe, who’s five, went right to her, and I have some pictures I’d love to send you maybe when I’m done here, but Governor Palin was hugging Chloe, and then her little daughter brought their baby Trig who has Down syndrome from the bus, he was napping, and Chloe went right over and kissed him on the cheek, and my son Nolan who’s nine, he thanked her.
RUSH: This is amazing.
CALLER: I will send you all the stuff, Senator McCain was talking to my son, and we thanked him for his service, and he asked my son if he wanted to see the bus, and we were hanging out and it was very surreal. I felt like we could have had a pizza and a beer with them, they were so warm.
RUSH: You know what? I want to put you on hold. I want Snerdley to give you our super-secret, known-only-to-three-people here, e-mail address.
CALLER: I will send you everything, Rush.
RUSH: And then could you send us these pictures? Would you mind if we put them on the website?
CALLER: I would be honored, and my main thing is they are warm, kind, genuine people, and they represent the best of this country.
RUSH: That’s right. And when you send these pictures, make sure you identify them. I mean, we’ll know Palin and McCain, of course. Identify yourselves.
CALLER: I will, I will identify everybody in the picture, Rush, and God bless you for being a beacon of hope and truth in this country.
RUSH: Oh, no, no. It’s nothing, it’s nothing. You’re doing the Lord’s work.
CALLER: Well, we’re very blessed and I want people to know what a blessing it is to have a child with Down syndrome. These kids, they’re angels.
RUSH: That’s the thing. There’s always good to be found in everything that happens. It may be a while before it reveals itself.
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: Right, and when she hugged my daughter I said, here’s the difference, this candidate embraces life and all its limitless possibilities.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: That’s what she is.
RUSH: Terrific, okay, I gotta run here, but I’m going to put you on hold.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you, Kurt. I really appreciate it.
END TRANSCRIPT
Solidarity on Standing Up To Iran? Not in the Obama Camp
The facts surrounding the New York City rally organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, to protest the visit of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and demonstrate opposition to the Iranian government’s effort to acquire nuclear weapons, are slowly trickling out.
Governor Sarah Palin, on behalf of the Republican presidential ticket, was invited and accepted.
Senator Hillary Clinton was invited presumably to represent the Obama team but then withdrew in a [1] fit of pique, we are told, upon learning that Palin would be there.
An effort was extended to [2] Senator Joe Biden but he was otherwise occupied.
A group of [3] liberal Jewish groups then prevailed on the rally organizers to disinvite Palin. What was to be a bipartisan show of support had collapsed. The McCain camp fired off a statement on Thursday:
Throughout my political career, I have sought to rise above partisanship on critical national issues. Nowhere is this truer than on important matters of national security. Earlier this year, Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and I issued a joint statement on the genocide in Darfur and pledged to support efforts to bring it to an end. Earlier this month, Senator Obama and I put the campaign aside to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our country and talk about the importance of national service.
“Next Monday, the day before Iranian President Ahmadinejad is to speak before the United Nations General Assembly, several organizations will sponsor an event to draw attention to the importance of halting Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Governor Palin and I share a strong belief that a nuclear armed Iran poses a grave threat to the security of Americans and to our allies. Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. The risk that Iran would provide terrorists with a nuclear weapon is too great for the world to ignore. Iranian President Ahmadinejad has denied the Holocaust occurred and called Israel a ’stinking corpse.’ A nuclear-armed Iran would destabilize the entire region.
Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons should be a shared goal of every American, not another occasion for partisan posturing.
“Governor Palin was pleased to accept an invitation to address this rally and show her resolve on this grave national security issue, regrettably that invitation has since been withdrawn under pressure from Democratic partisans. We stand shoulder to shoulder with Republicans, Democrats and independents alike to oppose Ahmadinejad’s goal of a nuclear armed Iran. Senator Obama’s campaign had the opportunity to join us. Senator Obama chose politics rather than the national interest.
Thursday evening I spoke with Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, about the cancellation of the event next week. He said: “This is one of the saddest days for the Jewish community — to let a vocal minority of partisan folks hijack a bipartisan event.” “We should send a message to Iran and the rest of the world that Iran’s effort to acquire nuclear weapons is unacceptable,” he added. Brooks holds activist groups such as “J Street” (a group of Left wing activists attempting to style themselves as an alternative to AIPAC) responsible for “stirring the pot” and pressuring the event’s sponsors to withdraw the invitation to allow Palin to speak. He said, “At the end of the day all we can ask of community leaders is to invite both sides to attend.”
Many observers, regardless of political preference, would agree that this was a shameful episode.
Apparently, the Obama camp and its allies on the left have higher priorities than a showing of bipartisan solidarity on an issue they claim to care about. Whatever drama surrounds the Clintons had ripped through the Jewish community, dashed a showing of bipartisan support, and given Ahmadinejad a moral victory.
But Barack Obama may have been the biggest loser on a number of fronts.
Obama is after all struggling to [4] overcome skepticism in the Jewish community. His past [5] affiliation with Palestinian groups, his flip-flop on an “Undivided Jerusalem,” his coterie of [6] advisors who have made troubling comments regarding Israel or America Jews have given pause to some Jews, the vast majority of whom have voted Democratic in presidential elections. The fact that partisan politics by Obama’s allies — and perhaps his own campaign — submarined an event in defense of both U.S. and Israeli interests will not go unnoticed. Many will ask: “Is bumping Palin off the stage more important than standing up to Ahmadinejad?” It seems so.
On a broader level, Obama’s claim to fame is his ability — how can we forget — to organize his community. His dismal failure here, indeed his role in wrecking a community protest, doesn’t speak well of his ability to bring people together for a common purpose.
And finally, to the extent this implicates Joe Biden, it adds fuel to the fire of burning discontent as to his selection as VP. This is not his only [7] faux pas with Jewish organizations, it should be noted. Just last month he got into a row with AIPAC which had to be quickly patched up.
Bluntly put, this is a mess. The group’s organizers, the liberal Jewish groups who thought it more important to “dis” Palin than Ahmadinejad, and the Obama camp, all look amateurish and misguided. The others have a lifetime to live this down — Obama has less than fifty days before Election Day.
So the question remains: How’s he going to fix it?
McCain a Bush clone? These numbers dispute that
John R. Lott Jr. is a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland
Does John McCain represent a third Bush term? The Obama campaign claims the two are almost indistinguishable. It was the mantra during the Democratic convention, and it is the theme of new ads Barack Obama is running. The ads claim that McCain is “no maverick when he votes with Bush 90 percent of the time.”
This week Obama has begun a constant refrain that there is “not a dime worth of difference” between Bush’s and McCain’s views. It is a consistent theme of Democratic pundits on talk shows.
Is this the same McCain who drove Republicans nuts on campaign finance, the environment, taxes, torture, immigration and more? Where has McCain not crossed swords with his own party?
As it’s being used, the 90 percent figure, from Congressional Quarterly, is nonsensical. As Washington Post congressional reporter Jonathan Weisman explained, “The vast majority of those votes are procedural, and virtually every member of Congress votes with his or her leadership on procedural motions.”
Obama might want to be a little careful with these attacks, as the same measure has him voting with Democrats 97 percent of the time.
Fortunately, a number of organizations on the left and right provide useful evaluations on how congressmen and senators vote each year. These conservative and liberal groups pick the votes they care about most and figure out how often lawmakers match up with their positions.
Well-known organizations that rank congressional voting include the American Conservative Union on the right, Americans for Democratic Action on the left, and the nonpartisan National Journal in the middle. The League of Conservation Voters also ranks politicians from an environmentalist position.
These groups’ rankings from 2001 to 2007 paint fairly similar pictures, putting McCain to the left of most Republican senators and to the right of most Democratic senators – though usually much closer to the average Republican.
The American Conservative Union finds that the average Republican senator voted conservatively 85 percent of the time, and that the average Democrat voted conservatively 13 percent of the time. McCain voted conservatively 74 percent of the time.
Although it’s at the opposite end of the political spectrum, Americans for Democratic Action essentially agreed. It found that the average Republican senator voted liberally just over 12 percent of the time, and the average Democrat voted liberally 89 percent of the time. McCain voted liberally 24 percent of the time – twice as frequently as the average Republican.
McCain missed too many votes campaigning in 2007 to be included in the National Journal ranking for that year, but it found that he voted conservatively 59.4 percent of the time from 2001 to 2006.
According to the League of Conservation Voters, John McCain is the ultimate centrist. While the average Republican supported liberal environmentalist positions 13 percent of the time, and the average Democrat supported them 76 percent of the time, McCain’s 44 percent put him in the middle.
Another way to look at these numbers is to see how many of the 99 other senators voted more conservatively than McCain. In 2006, these four groups ranked McCain as the 47th, 46th, 44th and 51st most conservative member of the Senate, respectively. Surely, McCain is not nearly as liberal as the typical Democratic senator, but rankings from the left, middle and right find he is more liberal than the vast majority of Republicans in the Senate.
What issues put McCain well to the left of the average Senate Republican? The American Conservative Union lists a number of specific votes on which he differed from most other Republicans, including:
Taxes. He opposed reducing capital-gains tax rates, eliminating the inheritance tax and lowering income-tax rates.
Environment. He opposed drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supported compliance with the Kyoto global-warming treaty, supported requiring businesses to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, favored stricter mercury-emission rules for power plants, and supported stricter fuel-efficiency standards.
Other regulations. McCain consistently supported stricter campaign-finance regulations and voted to mandate that handguns be sold only with locks.
A number of these votes were closely contested. Some of McCain’s votes led to a 50-50 deadlock in the Senate, requiring Vice President Cheney to break the tie.
In contrast to the very liberal ratings given to Obama, the interest groups find that there are about as many senators to McCain’s right as there are to his left. This might not endear him to many conservatives or liberals. But it is a real distortion to claim he is a Bush clone.
E-mail John R. Lott Jr. at jlott@umd.edu.
America in a Romanian Newspaper
We rarely get a chance to see another country’s editorial about the USA .
Read this excerpt from a Romanian Newspaper. The article was written by Mr. Cornel Nistorescu and published under the title ‘C’ntarea Americii, meaning ‘Ode To America ‘) in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentulzilei ‘The Daily Event’ or ‘News of the Day’
~An Ode to America ~
Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs.
Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart.
Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the Army, or the Secret Service that they are only a bunch of losers.
Nobody rushe d to empty their bank accounts.
Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby to gape about
Instead the Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.
After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over the smoking ruins, p utting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in ev ery place and on every car a governmen t official or the president was passing. On every occasion, they started singing:’God Bless America !’
I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have kill ed other hundreds or thousands of people.
How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put into collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money can buy.
What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way?
Their land? Their history? Their economic Power? Money?
I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace, I thought things over, I reached but only one conclusion… Only freedom can work such miracles.
Cornel Nistorescu
Presidential Elections 2008
We The People — Send a letter to Congress
We The People — Send a letter to Congress
House Hikes Energy Taxes on Americans, Gives Tax Breaks to Venezuelan Dictator Hugo Chavez
Urge Your Senators to Vote “No” on H.R. 5351!
Obama: ‘Outrageously wrong’ to reprint Hamas manifesto
OBAMA
“On one end of the spectrum, weve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that its based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, weve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as Im sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.”
Now after everyone has either read or heard this speech, this writer has drawn a conclusion.
On March 18, 2008 Mr. Obama said the following to Major Garrett on FNC:
Garrett: I want to ask you a set of basic, sort of threshold questions about your faith experience at Trinity United Church of Christ because I think they will help Americans understand the story. So, the first question: How long have you been a member in good standing of that church?
Obama: You know, I’ve been a member since 1991 or ’92, and… but I’d known Trinity even before then when I was a community organizer on the south side helping steelworkers find jobs, and we were organizing with churches and trying to recruit folks to get involved in that process. Trinity was one of the churches that we tried to get involved in some of these community projects.
Garrett: As a member in good standing, were you a regular attendee of Sunday services?
Obama: I won’t say that I was a perfect attendee. I was regular in spurts because there were times where… For example, our child had just been born, our first child, and so we didn’t go as regularly then.
Garrett: When you attended, sir, when you attended did you donate frequently?
Obama: Yes.
Garrett: OK. Were you and Michelle married there and did Rev. Wright preside?
Obama: Yes.
Garrett: Were your two daughters baptized there and did Rev. Wright preside over the baptisms?
Obama: That is correct, Major.
Garrett establishes that Obama has a long, close connection with Wright and his church.
Wright and that church is an integral part of the lives of Obama and his family.
Obama gave money to support Wright and Trinity United Church of Christ.
Garrett: Very good. I wanted to talk to you about your statement released this afternoon because earlier today when I contacted your campaign and I asked them if there was any way the campaign felt the need to add further context, add further distance between yourself and the statements of Rev. Wright, the one word answer I received was ‘No.’
Then late this afternoon, you have a statement that says, ‘I vehemently disagree,’ ‘strongly condemn.’ I’m trying to understand the evolution between this morning and this afternoon. I’d like to know specifically, Senator, what you vehemently disagree with and what you strongly condemn.
Obama: Well, Major, I gotta confess that as you know I was voting in the Senate all day yesterday, so I wasn’t following this story as carefully as I could have been and then I flew back to Chicago. When I saw these statments, many of which I had heard for the first time, then I thought it was important to make a very clear and unequivocal statement.
None of these statements were ones that I had heard myself personally in the pews. One of them I had heard about after I had started running for president and I put out a statement at that time condemning them.
The other statements were ones that I just heard about while we were… when they started being run on FOX and some of the other stations. And so they weren’t things that I was familiar with. Once I saw them I had to be very clear about the fact that these are not statements that I am comfortable with. I reject them completely. They are not ones that reflect my values or my ideals, or Michelle’s; and that had I heard them, had I been sitting in the church at the time that they were spoken, I would have been absolutely clear to Rev. Wright that I didn’t find those acceptable.
The excuses are priceless.
Obama saying that he was voting all day on Thursday so he didn’t know about this is an absolute joke.
It’s impossible to believe that he didn’t know there was a controversy. It’s inconceivable.
It is conceivable that Obama is lying and doing a bad job of it.
I think it’s interesting that Obama says Wright’s statements don’t reflect his values and they don’t reflect Michelle’s values. Obama went out of his way to do damage control for Michelle. That was no accident.
Wright and Michelle sound like they’re on the exact same page, divisive and angry and down on America.
Garrett: Sir, would you have quit the church had you heard them personally?
Obama: You know, I guess, keep in mind that just to provide more context, this is somebody who I’d known for 20 years. Pastor Wright had been a pastor for 30 years. He’s an ex-Marine. He is somebody who is a Biblical scholar, has spoken at theological seminaries all across the country from the University of Chicago to Hampton. And so he is a well-regarded preacher, and somebody who is known for talking about the social gospel.
But most of the time when I’m in church, he’s talking about Jesus, God, faith, values, caring for the poor, family. Those were the messages that I was hearing. And so, you know, I think that the statements that have been strung together are compiled out of hundreds of sermons that he delivered over the course his lifetime. But, obviously, they are ones that are, from my perspective, completely unacceptable and inexcusable.
And if I had thought that was the tenor or tone on an ongoing basis of his sermons, then yes, I don’t think that it would’ve been reflective of my values or my faith experience.
Obama says, “Most of the time when I’m in church, he’s talking about Jesus, God, faith….”
“Most of the time”? What about the rest of the time? What has Obama heard Wright say?
Obama points out that Wright is an ex-Marine. How lame!
That doesn’t matter. Wright spews hate. He’s divisive and racist and says outrageous things about America.
Who cares that he’s an ex-Marine? That doesn’t give him a pass to preach such ugliness. Given Wright’s remarks, it’s hard to imagine that he was a Marine and served our country.
Obama notes that Wright is a Biblical scholar. Really? He must be a bad one. The things Wright says don’t sound very Christian. He sounds like he’s trying to incite a riot.
On what planet is the hateful Wright a “well-regarded preacher”?
He talks about Jesus and the poor. Fine. He also talks about God “damning” America.
Garrett: So quick yes or no, if you had heard them in person you would have quit.
Obama: If I had heard them repeated, I would’ve quit. I mean obviously, understand that, understand that, this is somebody who is like an uncle, if you have…, to me. He’s somebody who helped me find Christ. And somebody who always talked to me in very powerful ways about relationship to God and our obligations to the poor. If somebody makes a mistake, then obviously, you recognize I make mistakes. We all make mistakes. If I thought that that was the repeated tenor of the church then I wouldn’t feel comfortable there, but frankly that has not been my experience at Trinity United Church of Christ.
The old uncle stuff again — good grief.
We know the tenor of the Trinity United Church of Christ.
We also know that Obama has felt comfortable there for 20 years.
Garrett: In the time we have remaining, you said that in your statement today, ‘When I first heard these I was beginning my campaign,’ yet you did not begin your campaign on December 4, 2007, when in a press release your campaign announced that Rev. Wright was a part of a, quote unquote, African-American religious leadership committee. I’d like you to try to help me understand the inconsistency there, because obviously if you knew about them at the beginning of your campaign and you put him on this committee later you would have been aware.
Obama: No, no. Wait, wait, Major. I didn’t know about all these statements. I knew about one or two statements that had been made and as a consequence, as I said, if it was just a function of one or two statements, then that’s not something that would lead me to distance myself from either my church or my pastor. And if I was gonna have a committee talking about faith issues, which we’ve been very active in doing all across the country, reaching out to evangelicals and talking to the church communities all across the country, it would not make sense if my own pastor wasn’t on that committee.
——– Now I will keep to this statement:
“None of these statements were ones that I had heard myself personally in the pews. One of them I had heard about after I had started running for president and I put out a statement at that time condemning them.” Says Obama
This writer’s conclusion is that Obama is a liar throughout his statement.
And that we should only vote for him because he is black. Thereby stopping or putting to an end the racism he sees in America.
Barack Obama: On My Faith and My Church – Politics on The Huffington Post
David A. Paterson
Did you know:
Is legally blind,
The first non-white legislative leader in New York’s history,
New York’s first African-American lieutenant governor.
Paterson is a proponent of embryonic stem cell research.
In February 2008, a U.S. District Judge denied a motion to dismiss a $1.5 million racial discrimination lawsuit naming Paterson. A former staff photographer claims that in 2005 Paterson’s office replaced him with an African American because he is white. According to the New York Post, Paterson’s chief of staff “denied the claim… Paterson, in his deposition, countered that the decision… was simple politics – [the photographer] was a holdover from former Minority Leader Marty Connor, who was ousted by Paterson in 2003
What a world!
‘Dream Ticket’ Is Anything But For Principals
Plainly irritated by the suggestion that he might need, or accept, a favor from his rival, Obama said Monday, “I don’t know how somebody who’s in second place (in delegates and popular votes) is offering the vice presidency to somebody who’s in first place.”
Send them both back to the Senate!
WZZM13 – President Bush vows to veto restrictions on Christian broadcasting
Soft Power
Election ’08: A radical foreign-policy adviser to Barack Obama — flushed from the shadows after calling Hillary a name — speaks volumes about her enigmatic boss and his worldview.
Samantha J. Power, a Harvard professor and author, was in line to be Obama’s national security adviser or secretary of state before calling Clinton a ruthless “monster.” The “gaffe” led to her resignation from his campaign. While she may be gone (for now), her ideas have left an indelible imprint on Obama.
Obama can pick them.
Power, like Obama, believes America will be more secure in the world and face fewer threats if it practices “human security.” Voters should be warned: That means turning the war on terror into global social work.
The Al-Qaida Caucus
Obama, whose foreign policy consists of talking to our enemies while bombing our allies, told the assembled veterans at the VFW Convention in Kansas City last year, “All our top military commanders recognize that there is no military solution in Iraq.”
Except, of course, for Gen. David Petraeus.
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=290041110746868
Steve King, Republican Congressman: Al-Qaida Will Be “Dancing In The Streets” If “Hussein” Obama Wins – Politics on The Huffington Post#postComment
Coincidence – House Democrats Get Letters With Picture Of Recruiting Station Before New York Bombing : Homeland Security National Terror Alert – Homeland Security News
Radio host Michael Savage’s suit against Islamic group in court
Breitbart.tv » ‘Why Are You So Angry?’: McCain Gets Testy Over NYT Reporter’s Inquiry
Breitbart.tv » ‘Why Are You So Angry?’: McCain Gets Testy Over NYT Reporter’s Inquiry
Not angry but right!
Local girl makes unexpected appearance in Hillary ad | Top Stories | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington
Hugo Chavez?
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Would you believe it if we told you that the U.S. House of Representatives voted to raise the price you pay for gasoline at the pump and — at the same time — give a huge tax break to that America-hating dictator Hugo Chavez?
In common parlance, we call that a “twofer” and as unbelievable as it may sound, Pelosi and company have yet again proved that they have never met a socialist tyrannical despot that they did not like! Here’s what happened.
Investor’s Business Daily put it this way in an editorial on Friday titled, “Tax Cut for Hugo:” “It goes to show that Congress is more willing to empower dictators than to get serious about America’s energy supply.” You remember Hugo Chavez. He’s the mouth-foaming dictator of Venezuela who came to New York City not too long ago and called the President of the United States “El Diablo” (Translation: “The Devil”). Here’s exactly what he said when speaking at the United Nations: “And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here. [performs the sign of the cross] And it smells of sulfur still today.” “Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the President of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world. “I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday’s statement made by the President of the United States. As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums, to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world .” [Emphasis Mine] And Pelosi and company have basically bestowed favor upon this anti-American dictator and they’re bestowing this favor on the backs of American businesses and average American taxpayers like you and me. We must act quickly… and act together… to stop this ridiculous legislation before Pelosi’s liberal colleagues try to sneak it through the Senate. Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized 50 Blast Fax messages to President George W. Bush and the 49 Republican Members of the United States Senate. Tell them in no uncertain terms that the American people do NOT want tax breaks to go into the greasy pockets of that tyrannical America-hating despot Hugo Chavez. Time is of the essence because Pelosi’s liberal allies and fellow travelers in the Senate may try to fast-track this bill to avoid a filibuster. http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/hugotaxbreakbe.html AOL Members Use This Hyperlink If the above hyperlink does not appear to function you can copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser.
There Is Not A Moment To Lose! Monisha Bansal of CNS News tells us: “Senate Democratic leaders have indicated they would fast-track the bill to try to avoid a Republican filibuster.” That’s why there’s not a moment to lose!
Here’s a short biography of Hugo Chavez:
Once in office, he began the systematic repression of any and all opposition.
Most recently Chavez launched a referendum that would have allowed him to remain Dictator for life. Chavez is also wildly anti-Semitic and frequently unleashes hysterical diatribes against Israel and the Jewish people. He even disturbs the New York Times, which once hailed Fidel Castro’s ascension as a triumph of democracy and agrarian reform.
And perhaps for something even much more chilling… Read on.
Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized 50 Blast Fax messages to President George W. Bush and the 49 Republican Members of the United States Senate. Tell them in no uncertain terms that the American people do NOT want tax breaks to go into the greasy pockets of that tyrannical America-hating despot Hugo Chavez. Time is of the essence because Pelosi’s liberal allies and fellow travelers in the Senate may try to fast-track this bill to avoid a filibuster. http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/hugotaxbreakbe.html AOL Members Use This Hyperlink
If the above hyperlink does not appear to function you can copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser. But That’s Not The Worst Part… If liberals in Congress were living under the idiotic delusion that Chavez was a benign figure when they passed this legislation, they could hardly maintain that delusion after Monday’s news.
For more than 40 years, Colombia’s legitimate government has been fighting a group calling itself the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) — the military arm of the Colombian Communist Party.
On Saturday, Colombian military forces pursued FARC’s second in command, Raul Reyes, into Ecuador and killed him and at least 16 of his men — the biggest defeat in FARC’s history.
He strutted and postured before the press, sounding just like what he is — a banana-Republic dictator — a character out of a Hollywood farce. On Sunday, during his weekly radio address he bellowed: “Mr. Defense Minister, move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me, immediately — tank battalions. Deploy the air force. We don’t want war, but we aren’t going to permit the U.S. empire, which is the master [of Colombia] … to come divide us.” [Emphasis Mine] Addressing the president of Columbia he said: “This could be the start of a war in South America. If it occurs to you to do this in Venezuela, President Uribe, I’ll send some Sukhois.” [warplanes the Russians recently sold to Chavez] Now you might be tempted to laugh at this posturing, but there’s more to this story.
By Monday evening, TV networks were carrying a more disturbing story: Columbian’s had captured documents revealing that Hugo Chavez had given FARC $300 million. Question: Where would the dictator of a starving country get that kind of money? Answer: Oil revenues. Now you see why Pelosi and company’s H.R. 5351 is a betrayal of our country and why it has to be stopped! You have the power to stop this bill in the Senate RIGHT NOW!
Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized 50 Blast Fax messages to President George W. Bush and the 49 Republican Members of the United States Senate. Tell them in no uncertain terms that the American people do NOT want tax breaks to go into the greasy pockets of that tyrannical America-hating despot Hugo Chavez. Time is of the essence because Pelosi’s liberal allies and fellow travelers in the Senate may try to fast-track this bill to avoid a filibuster. http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/hugotaxbreakbe.html AOL Members Use This Hyperlink If the above hyperlink does not appear to function you can copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser. Some Leaders Are Disgusted. At least some Republican leaders are disgusted by Pelosi and company’s willingness to pass a law guaranteed to feed both inflation at the pump and Hugo Chavez’s appetite for power. House Minority Leader John Boehner said: “Middle-class families and small businesses are feeling the squeeze from rising costs for gasoline, food, and other costs of living…” “[H.R. 5351] actually carves out tax breaks for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez — courtesy of American taxpayers. This is unacceptable, and the Democratic leadership is irresponsible for bringing the bill to the House floor. “I am disappointed that the Majority voted down a Republican proposal to eliminate the tax relief for Hugo Chavez and give it to those who need it most: middle-class American families.” This bill is a giant step in the wrong direction; and as an extra twist of the knife, Pelosi and Company are deliberately trying to give Chavez a big edge and are making hard-working U.S. taxpayers foot the bill. If we don’t kill this bill, it may cost us more than the tax revenues Pelosi and her colleagues will spend on boondoggles and pork before the lightning bugs show up this summer. The Senate may take up this bill at any time. You and I can beat this obscene legislation — if we act immediately. Use the hyperlink below to send your urgent and personalized 50 Blast Fax messages to President George W. Bush and the 49 Republican Members of the United States Senate. Tell them in no uncertain terms that the American people do NOT want tax breaks to go into the greasy pockets of that tyrannical America-hating despot Hugo Chavez. Time is of the essence because Pelosi’s liberal allies and fellow travelers in the Senate may try to fast-track this bill to avoid a filibuster. http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/hugotaxbreakbe.html AOL Members Use This Hyperlink If the above hyperlink does not appear to function you can copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser.
Yours In Freedom,
Jeff Mazzella P.S. Please help us reach as many concerned Americans as possible by forwarding this e-mail to at least 10 of your friends and family members. The CFIF Action Alert is a service to the conservative community. If you would like to subscribe please go to www.cfif.org/signup. Center for Individual Freedom CFIF is a 501(c)(4) not-for-profit constitutional advocacy organization with Contributions to CFIF are Powered by GrassTopsUSA Please read: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h5351/show Revises tax rules relating to foreign oil and gas extraction income and foreign produced fuel used or sold outside the United States.
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Jackson: Trailblazer, not Obama’s mentor – Yahoo! News
Did you Know?
Obama And FARC
Terrorism: The March 1 death strike by the Colombian army against FARC warlord Raul Reyes broke open a trove of contacts in his computer. So why did the name of Barack Obama turn up there?
Admittedly, it pales compared with other material from the dead thug’s computer — such as FARC efforts to obtain uranium or Hugo Chavez’s $300 million support.
But the little Obama reference within the 15 FARC letters released by the Colombian government signals a disturbing pattern of contacts with rogue actors. It’s not the first time, and Obama has yet to distance himself.
In a Feb. 28 letter, FARC chieftain Raul Reyes cheerily reported to his inner circle that he met “two gringos” who assured him “the new president of their country will be Obama and that they are interested in your compatriots. Obama will not support ‘Plan Colombia’ nor will he sign the TLC (Free Trade Agreement).”
Aside from some interesting possibilities about who these “gringos” are — a congressional delegation did visit Ecuador and an international leftist “congress” was held in Quito around this time — the real question is why anyone secretly consorting with FARC would be able to speak for presidential candidate Obama.
Obama hasn’t said a whole lot about Colombia other than to criticize President Bush’s good relations with President Uribe. With this correspondence suggesting that FARC knows what he thinks, maybe the American voters have a right to know what he thinks, too. Five questions come to mind:
1. Is it true Obama would cut off Plan Colombia military aid to our ally, which would serve the terrorist group FARC’s interests?
2. Does Obama still oppose a free trade agreement for Colombia, even though that puts him on the same side as FARC in the debate?
3. Does Obama know or care that one of his staffers or supporters is claiming to disclose his positions in secret meetings with FARC terrorists outside government channels?
4. Can he tell us why his supporters would pass on such information to terrorists, and what he or she could gain from it?
5. Will Obama, as president, treat FARC as the serious terrorists they are, given that they still hold three Americans hostage?
These aren’t idle “gotcha” questions, by the way. Based on his campaign so far, Obama favors meeting and negotiating with rogue leaders without preconditions, passing secret messages to foreign countries at odds with his public positions and tolerating Che-flag wielding leftists among his supporters who advance a radical agenda in his name.
Now that FARC seems to have an inside line to Obama’s campaign, maybe he ought to come tell voters what he really stands for.
Now you don’t have to believe me–look it up yourself:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-&p=obama%20%2b%20farc&type=
Obama And Rezko
Election 2008: For an ambitious and savvy politician, Barack Obama has not picked his friends wisely. They include an assortment of influence-peddlers, terrorists and Iraqi billionaires. If you thought the Clinton White House was interesting, just wait.
My reasoning that Obama is doing so well is because of the social disease of political correctness & white guilt.
I agree that Obama will bring a change—a change we don’t want.
Did Clinton Darken Obama’s Skin?
Some Obama backers cry “racism.”
Obama supporters on the Internet are agitated over the apparent darkening of Obama’s image in a Clinton attack ad.
Our conclusions:
• The Obama frames from the ad do appear darker than other video of Obama from the same event.
• However, the YouTube copy of the ad, on which the bloggers base their conclusions, is darker overall than other copies of the ad. We obtained a digital recording of the ad as it actually appeared on a Texas TV station, and it is lighter.
• Furthermore, our analysis of the Obama frames, using Photoshop, shows a fairly uniform darkening of the entire image including the backdrop. It is not just Obama’s skin color that’s affected.
• Also, nearly all the images in the ad are dark, including those of Hillary Clinton. And dark images are a common technique used in attack ads.
Others will speculate about the Clinton campaign’s intentions and motives..
