op ed review 9/27

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

Glenn Beck and the Evergreen Freedom Foundation at Safeco Field, Sat. Sept 24th

http://glennbeckseattle.com/

Time Magazine asks “Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?”

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1924348,00.html

Apparently, this is somewhat of a retread for Time, for back in 1995, the magazine asked more positively on its January 23 cover, "Is Rush Limbaugh Good for America?" The sub-headline read, "Talk radio is only the beginning. Electronic populism threatens to short-circuit representative democracy."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/09/19/time-mag-flashback-1995-rush-limbaugh-good-america

The talk-radio host and Fox News personality is under attack this week, with the liberal establishment's favorite weapon, a Time magazine cover: "Mad Man: Glenn Beck and the angry style of American politics." This continues a long tradition of weekly newsmagazine covers demonizing conservative figures like Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich.

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/09/23/secret-protocols-of-becks-legi

Reps Barney Frank and John Conyers have called for an investigation, not of ACORN, but of the ACORN sting operation. “…they ask the CRS to look into…the federal and state laws that could apply to such videotaping and distribution of conversations without the consent of all parties."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204488304574429383616613404.html

Sure enough, on Wednesday ACORN sued the young conservative activists who shot hidden-camera videos of ACORN employees advising them how to cheat on taxes and loan applications.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/24/acorn-sues-bretibart-pimp-hooker-duo/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_more_news_carousel

Likely voters are giving former TV anchor Susan Hutchison the edge over King County Council chair Dow Constantine, 47 percent to 44 percent. But with a margin of error just over four percent, and with ten percent of voters undecided, any outcome is possible. Hutchison has expanded her lead on Constantine among Republicans, 77 percent to 12 percent, and conservatives, 80 percent to 11 percent. She also leads among independents and moderates.

http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/washington/stories/NW_092209POB-king-county-executive-poll-TP.1a63a42b8.html

The Tea Party Express, whose cross-country caravan of anti-big government rallies culminated in a demonstration at the Capitol earlier this month, will hit the road again in October to keep its political movement energized and at the center of upcoming legislative battles. The Sacramento, Calif.-based organization said Tuesday that its second coast-to-coast road trip will run Oct. 25 through Nov. 11.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/23/tea-party-movement-to-roll-in-october/

The former eBay executive Meg Whitman formally declared her candidacy for governor of California on Tuesday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/us/23whitman.html

The $787 billion economic recovery package also is stimulating growth in the federal government which increased by more than 25,000 employees, or 1.3%, since December 2008. During that time, the ranks of the nation's unemployed increased by nearly 4 million.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-23-stimfed_N.htm

Despite being in the minority in Congress, Republican campaign committees outraised Democrats by $1.7 million in August as they have aggressively collected political cash amid the rancorous debate over health care.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-24-party-money_N.htm

Sarah Palin has more than 850,000 “friends” following her every statement closely on Facebook, Palin trails only President Obama as the most popular politician on the site.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27344.html

Former Gov. Palin, in what was billed as her first public-speaking engagement outside North America, described her political philosophy as a "common-sense conservatism," and said the free-market policies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher should be guides for how to get out of the current economic situation.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125368057547633229.html

A Huntsville, Alabama woman who owns her own defense contracting business won an EBay auction to have dinner with former Gov. Palin. Cathy Maples, president of R&D Electronics, bid $63,000 to be donated to Ride 2 Recovery, a program that supports wounded veterans. "I thought it was an extremely good cause, and also I'm a big advocate for Sarah Palin.”

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2009/09/huntsville_woman_wins_online_a.html

Although terrorist emeritus Bill Ayers claims not to have met Barack Obama until the mid-1990s, there is reason to believe that he not only knew Obama much earlier, but that he helped get him into Harvard Law School.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/09/did_ayers_help_obama_get_into.html

And more evidence Bill Ayers actually wrote Obama’s book Dreams From My Father

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/andersen_book_blows_ayers_cove.html

More “dear leaderish” every day: A video posted on YouTube appears to show a New Jersey elementary school class being taught to sing praises of the "great accomplishments" of President Obama. The video shows nearly 20 young children taught a song overflowing with campaign slogans and praise for "Barack Hussein Obama," repeatedly chanting the president's name and celebrating his accomplishments, including his "great plans" to "make this country's economy No. 1 again.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/24/elementary-school-students-reportedly-taught-songs-praising-president-obama/

Since passing tort reform in 2004, Mississippi has seen the number of medical malpractice claims plummet by 91 percent from its peak. The state's largest medical liability insurer dropped its premiums by 42 percent, and has offered an additional 20 percent rebate each year since tort reform went into effect.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Heres-your-demonstration-project-Mr-President----its-called-Mississippi-59990137.html

The Islamic community hopes to have 50,000 Muslims surrounding the U.S. Capitol for Jummah prayer this Friday, September 25. The main organizer of the event, Hassen Ibn Abdellah, was, according to the New York Times, the "most aggressively combative of the lawyers" representing the terrorists who staged the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/fischer/090924

Federal authorities have tied as many as a dozen people to a suspected Al Qaeda-linked bomb plot on U.S. soil.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-terror-arrests22-2009sep22,0,5320039.story

Al-Qaida on Tuesday released a new 106-minute long video predicting President Barack Obama's downfall at the hands of the Muslim world.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1107ap_ml_al_qaida_video.html

New congressional poll: Democrat lead over GOP is smallest in five years; doubts about Obama continue to grow

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/New-poll-Democrat-lead-over-GOP-is-smallest-in-five-years-doubts-about-Obama-continue-to-grow-60630522.html

While they still believe Congress will not succeed in passing a healthcare reform package shaped the way the president and Democrats want, opponents of government-run healthcare are laying the groundwork for lawsuits to stall and eventually kill any Democratic legislative victory—just in case. A broad group of conservatives has begun to explore how to file such lawsuits, who would file them, etc.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2009/09/22/conservatives-say-they-will-sue-to-stop-healthcare-reform.html

Where nanny government leads: Report: The Scottish government has taken away a couple's children, saying the kids are too fat.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,554061,00.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Stephen Moore 9/23

If you want to know why Americans are so fearful of a government takeover of the health-care system, take a look at the results of a new Gallup poll on government waste released Sept. 15. One question posed was: "Of every tax dollar that goes to Washington, D.C., how many cents of each dollar would you say is wasted?" Gallup found that the mean response was 50 cents. With Uncle Sam spending just shy of $4 trillion this year, that means the public believes that $2 trillion is wasted.

In a separate poll released on Monday, Gallup found that nearly twice as many Americans believe that there is "too much government regulation of business and industry" as believe there is "too little" (45% to 24%).

Perhaps most significantly, in both of these polls Gallup found that skepticism about government's effectiveness is the highest it's been in decades. "Perceptions of federal waste were significantly lower 30 years ago than today," say the Gallup researchers. Even when Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980 with the help of the antigovernment revolt of that era, Americans believed only 40 cents of every dollar was wasted, according to Gallup.

These results are in some ways surprising because voters just elected a president who promised expensive government expansion almost across the board—from health care to foreign aid to housing to energy policy. Mr. Obama was the first president elected since Lyndon Johnson who didn't even pretend to want to cut the size of government.

Now there's a powerful voter backlash against the Bush-Obama agenda of bailouts, stimulus plans and trillion dollar-plus deficits. The rage began with the bank bailouts last fall. It grew with the $787 billion stimulus bill, which was little more than a refill of the budgets of every left-wing program Democrats have wanted to throw money at for 40 years. The nearly $100 billion bailout of General Motors and Chrysler—some $300,000 for every auto job saved—was a bridge too far for debt-weary voters. When Mr. Obama then released his 10-year budget plan—which even he admitted would double the national debt with $9 trillion of new borrowing over the next decade—he was lighting a match in a munitions factory.

There are several political lessons we can learn from the Gallup results. One is that Republicans' strategy of creating a unified bloc of "no" votes to Obama spending initiatives like government-run health care and the cap-and trade-energy bill is in line with where voters are. The Washington establishment is dead wrong: Americans don't want bipartisan cooperation in supersizing the government right now. Pollster Frank Luntz tells me that Republicans can kill ObamaCare by relentlessly hammering home one message: This is a government takeover of health care. "Americans hate that idea," he says.

But the polling suggests something even bigger: Americans are in the mood for a radical shrinking of government in order to reduce debt and waste. Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats should be talking nonstop about how to achieve this goal.

First, they should push for a 15% cut in every federal agency budget before the debt cap is raised later this year. Given that most agencies saw their budgets expand by more than 50% in the past year, according to the House Budget Committee, this is hardly going to throw programs into the poor house.

They should also propose an immediate freeze on federal pay and benefits until the budget is balanced—even furloughs of federal workers to save money. A new report from the Cato Institute shows that federal pay packages are nearly twice as generous as those in the private sector for jobs that require similar skill levels. They should call for the elimination of hundreds of useless and obsolete agencies like the Legal Services Corporation. Finally, they should demand that every penny of TARP money repaid by banks should go into a fund to reduce the debt—rather than allow the Obama administration to create a new slush fund for pet projects.

Over the last decade, the federal government has become bloated and inefficient. Voters are on to the scam. Mr. Obama keeps calling federal spending an "investment," but Americans apparently feel this is the worst investment they've ever made. They've come to regard Washington as a $2 trillion Bridge to Nowhere. They are right.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204488304574424750482799212.html

Another good read: Victor Davis Hansen

“If you are confused by the first nine months of the Obama administration, take solace that there is at least a pattern. The president, you see, thinks America is a university and that he is our campus president. Keep that in mind, and almost everything else makes sense…Obama went to Occidental, Columbia, and Harvard without much of a break, taught at the University of Chicago, and then surrounded himself with academics, first in his stint at community organizing and then when he went into politics. It shows. In his limited experience, those who went to Yale or Harvard are special people, and the Ivy League environment has been replicated in the culture of the White House…….For many in the academic community who have not worked with their hands, run businesses, or ventured far off campus, Middle America is an exotic place inhabited by aborigines who bowl, don’t eat arugula, and need to be reminded to inflate their tires. They are an emotional lot, of some value on campus for their ability to “fix” broken things like pipes and windows, but otherwise wisely ignored. Professor Chu, Obama’s energy secretary, summed up the sense of academic disdain that permeates this administration with his recent sniffing about the childish polloi: “The American people . . . just like your teenage kids, aren’t acting in a way that they should act.” Earlier, remember, Dr. Chu had scoffed from his perch that California farms were environmentally unsound and would soon disappear altogether, “We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California.”….It is the role of the university, from a proper distance, to help them, by making sophisticated, selfless decisions on health care and the environment that the unwashed cannot grasp are really in their own interest — deluded as they are by Wal-Mart consumerism, Elmer Gantry evangelicalism, and Sarah Palin momism. The tragic burden of an academic is to help the oppressed, but blind, majority…….”

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NTA4OWRmZTM3MmQwNzJlZWMyMDc4MTY1ZGE5NWMzODM=

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"In a sense, the health care debate and the foreign policy debacle are two sides of the same coin: For Britain and other great powers, the decision to build a hugely expensive welfare state at home entailed inevitably a long retreat from responsibilities abroad, with a thousand small betrayals of peripheral allies along the way. A few years ago, the great scholar Bernard Lewis warned, during the debate on withdrawal from Iraq, that America risked being seen as 'harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend.' In Moscow and Tehran, on the one hand, and Warsaw and Prague, on the other, they're drawing their own conclusions."

-Mark Steyn

"President Obama scrapped the missile defense system designed to protect Poland from Russian attack Thursday on the seventieth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Poland. This explains why Obama removed the bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office and sent it back to the British Embassy. He wanted one of Neville Chamberlain."

-Argus Hamilton

"The fall season is a little different this year -- even squirrels are distancing themselves from ACORN. Because of all these scandals, the executive director of ACORN said she will fire any employee who's 'too stupid to understand they're not reaching professional standards.' Why can't we get this rule for Congress?"

-Jay Leno

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GET INVOLVED

On Saturday September 26, Take the Field with Glenn Beck at Safeco Field in Seattle. Organized by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. Lunch will be followed by a book signing for Glenn's soon-to-be-released book, "An Inconvenient Book: Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems."

tickets are available at www.GlennBeckSeattle.com.

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=137&sid=205806

Right now our American liberties are under attack from the Left like never before – both in Washington DC and in Olympia – out of control spending – higher taxes – ballooning regulations – weakened family values – less respect for human life – anti-gun proposals – and government control of our very healthcare – by increasingly unrepresentative politicians. As conservatives, we must stand and defend our heritage of liberty or it will be lost. On October 10^th, concerned conservatives from across Washington State will gather at the Bellevue Westin for a full day of learning the latest on the key issues we face, planning the best solutions and setting a strategy on how to best win back our state in 2010 and protect our freedoms for us and future Washingtonians. We ask you to join us at the Evergreen Leadership Conference “Advocating Liberty and Limited Government” and help win back Washington.

http://evergreenconference.org/

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BOOKS

Hoover Institution research fellow Peter Schweizer has a potential blockbuster of a new book hitting the shelves Oct. 6 entitled "Architects of Ruin: How Big Government liberals wrecked the global economy and how they will do it again if no one stops them."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Architects-of-Ruin-gives-hint-of-why-Obama-disses-medical-malpractice-caps---60787722.html

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GLOBALONEY

Czech President Vaclav Klaus sharply criticized a U.N. meeting on climate change on Tuesday at which U.S. President Barack Obama was among the top speakers, describing it as propagandistic and undignified. "It was sad and it was frustrating," said Klaus, one of the world's most vocal skeptics on the topic of global warming. Klaus said there were increasing doubts in the scientific community about whether humans are causing changes in the climate or whether the changes are simply naturally occurring phenomena. But politicians, he said, seem to be moving closer to a consensus on climate change. "The train can't be stopped and I consider that a huge mistake.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE58L6ID20090922

Environmental groups say extra soft toilet paper is destroying the planet. “It's a menace…and a dark-comedy example of American excess

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092304711_pf.html

To hear world leaders and others addressing the United Nations Summit on Climate Change, the threat could not be more real and the need more urgent to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. But in stark contrast to the earnest statements is the carbon footprint associated with their gathering. It happens every autumn: midtown Manhattan becomes the motorcade capital of the world. Each foreign leader in town has a convoy of vehicles. Some of them, like President Obama's motorcade, are 20-to-30 vehicles in length. It's so long - it seems that when the front of it reaches the U.N., the back end is still back at his hotel.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/22/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5329380.shtml

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LEFTIST WATCH

President Obama's diversity czar at the Federal Communications Commission: 'White People' need to be forced to 'Step Down' 'So Someone Else Can Have Power'

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/seton-motley/2009/09/23/fccs-diversity-czar-white-people-need-be-forced-step-down-so-someone-0

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ARTICLES

“It was the worst thing that the American government could do. This decision was announced on 17th September, when Poland was commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion Day, when the Soviet Union allied with Nazis and stabbed our country in the back. On the same day, 70 years later, Obama bowed to the Kremlin.”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/09/did_america_betray_us_or_it_wa.html

“There’s starting to be some speculation that Republicans might recapture a majority in the House in 2010. That would require them to gain 40 seats—the exact number they needed to gain in 1994, the last time they recaptured a majority from the Democrats.”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Can-the-Republicans-win-the-House-in-2010-60766582.html

Across the country, amid the heat swell of the ongoing health care debate, many of the nation's gray panthers have a new fire growing in their bellies, attending town halls, writing letters, and shifting the balance of political power as polls show them moving to the GOP. They are not just making themselves heard on their key issues of Medicare and insurance, but giving their legislators a piece of their mind that a way of life is slipping away. "I'm doing this for my kids," says one.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/21/health-care-debate-energizes-seniors/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_photo_feature

“When enemy action kills our troops, it's unfortunate. When our own moral fecklessness murders those in uniform, it's unforgivable. In Afghanistan, our leaders are complicit in the death of each soldier, Marine or Navy corpsman who falls because politically correct rules of engagement shield our enemies. Mission-focused, but morally oblivious, Gen. Stan McChrystal conformed to the Obama Way of War by imposing rules of engagement that could have been concocted by Code Pink: Unless our troops in combat are absolutely certain that no civilians are present, they're denied artillery or air support. If any civilians appear where we meet the Taliban, our troops are to "break contact" -- to retreat.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_rules_murdering_our_troops_u935ECKNWXpLK8C5D96pdN

One of the subplots to the health care debate I've been following is the cozy relationship between AARP and the Obama administration, as the group has thrown its full-throated support behind the Democrats' health care push even though their membership comes from the age group most opposed to Democratic health care proposals. Today, House Republicans have issued a report providing evidence that AARP is in a position to receive tens of millions. “AARP is ACORN for seniors. Quit now and save Andrew Breitbart's faux hooker/pimp team a trip.”

http://spectator.org/blog/2009/09/22/gop-report-charges-aarp-gettin

Rich Lowry: “President Obama yesterday did his best impression of a high-school sophomore participating in his first Model UN meeting, retailing pious clichés he learned from his pony-tailed social studies teacher… Has an American president ever expressed such implicit hostility toward his own nation's pre-eminence in world affairs? Or so relished in recalling its failings….”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/prez_comes_across_as_gullible_sap_iThpnFL1g7RTYvQyCZjvQP

He is hybrid journalist, content wrangler, glib analyst. But most of all, Andrew Breitbart relishes running against the grain. For starters, he is an unabashed political conservative in a Hollywood dominated by liberals. The man has moxie. When he became convinced that the traditional news media didn't have the courage to investigate how the controversial liberal advocacy group ACORN spent its federal dollars, there was little doubt in his mind what to do….

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/20/breitbart-a-conservative-rebel-with-a-cause/

Well before the videos became a national sensation and conservative rallying cry - the fresh-faced O'Keefe and Giles connected with a pair of Washington conservative institutions that boast programs training ideological journalists.

Now, due to coordinated promotion of the undercover sting footage by influential players in the conservative media, Giles and O'Keefe have gone from part of the pack to movement superstars. Giles, a 20-year-old sophomore at Florida International University, spent the summer on a $1,200-a-month internship with the National Journalism Center, a training organization whose alumni include conservative commentator Ann Coulter. Immediately after graduating Rutgers University in 2006, O'Keefe, 25, was paid to set up magazines and newspapers on university campuses for the Leadership Institute, which recruits potential conservative public policy and media stars. O'Keefe and Giles insist that no one helped them conceive, execute or finance their video project, which with remarkable speed has devastated the activist community service group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, commonly known as ACORN. They have said a shoestring $1,300 budget was all it took to shoot video in at least five ACORN offices.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090924/D9ATEBE00.html

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

MUST SEE: Rev Wayne Perryman sets the record straight: “Tea party racism?…enough is enough”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThzM22US-Jo

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WISE WORDS

"The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it."

-James Wilson, 1790

"If you ever injected truth into politics, you would have no politics."

-Will Rogers

op ed review 9/20

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

The US Census Bureau has broken links with ACORN, once a close ally of President Barack Obama, after it supported a purported brothel owner with a stable of underage prostitutes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6184808/Group-once-linked-to-Barack-Obama-taped-giving-advice-to-brothel-owners.html

And the House voted 345-75 vote to defund ACORN. Democrats voted 172-75, Republicans voted 173-0 to do so. This would not have occurred but for the website http://biggovernment.com/

http://tinyurl.com/nrypq9

President Barack Obama, seeking to make a case for health-insurance regulation, told a poignant story to a joint session of Congress last week. An Illinois man getting chemotherapy was dropped from his insurance plan when his insurer discovered an unreported gallstone the patient hadn't known about. "They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it," the president said in the nationally televised address. Turns out the story is not true. (Obama lied?)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125314896131518267.html

Senate Democrats rushed to insert language into the healthcare bill to require verification of citizenship to receive government healthcare. It wasn't in there Wednesday night when President Obama claimed, erroneously, that his bill ensured illegal aliens would not receive the taxpayer-funded healthcare. Republicans in the House tried earlier to insert language for verification, but Democrats defeated those efforts. Obama knew this on Wednesday. (Obama lied?)

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/58513-liar-in-chief

President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, so that's why we need to legalize them.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/18/obama-ties-immigration-to-health-care-battle/?feat=home_cube_position1

Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found. The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors' own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=337909690110379

One week after President Obama’s speech to Congress, opposition to his health care reform plan has reached a new high of 55%.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/september_2009/health_care_reform

“Democratic Senator Warns of 'Big, Big Tax' on Middle Class in the new health care bill.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/09/dem-senator-warns-of-big-big-tax-on-middle-class-in-baucus-bill.html

Iranian President Ahmadinejad: "This regime (Israel) will not last long. Do not tie your fate to it ... This regime has no future. Its life has come to an end,"

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-42553620090918

Experts at the world's top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Iran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9AP714G0&show_article=1

“The Kremlin will allow itself a wry smile today. Reports that Barack Obama has scrapped plans for a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe are music to its ears.” The announcement was made on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/6201654/Analysis-Barack-Obamas-missile-shield-decision-will-be-cheered-in-Russia.html

“…..a shameful abandonment of America’s friends in eastern and central Europe, and a slap in the face for those who actually believed a key agreement with Washington was worth the paper it was written on.”

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100010237/barack-obama-surrenders-to-russia-on-missile-defence/

Poles and Czechs voiced deep concern: "Betrayal! The U.S. sold us to Russia and stabbed us in the back," one Polish newspaper declared on its front page. An editorial in a respected pro-business Czech newspaper, said: "an ally we rely on has betrayed us, and exchanged us for its own, better relations with Russia, of which we are rightly afraid."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090918/ap_on_re_eu/eu_eastern_europe_missile_defense_22

“President Obama promised he would win America friends where, under George W. Bush, it had antagonists. The reality is that the U.S. is working hard to create antagonists where it previously had friends.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574418563346840666.html

As many as one million people flooded into Washington DC last Saturday for a massive rally organized by conservatives who say that President Obama is driving America towards socialism. “The size of the crowd - by far the biggest protest since the president took office in January - shocked the White House.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1213056/Up-million-march-US-Capitol-protest-Obamas-spending-tea-party-demonstration.html

"…the 9/12 March on Washington was far and away the largest gathering of limited-government conservative activists in history," said Dick Armey.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/17/debate-rages-over-tea-party-crowd-size/?feat=home_cube_position3

How do you marginalize a significant protest against a politician or policy you support? Lowball the numbers, then dismiss participants as deranged and possibly dangerous kooks. In the case of Saturday's massive 9/12 protest in Washington, done and done.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/dissent_you_can_believe_in_N8FRKMSFpMl3k4VjppEbaJ

ABC and NBC joined the effort to undermine the tea party rally by smearing the participants as racists as ABC framed a story around the proposition “some prominent Obama supporters are now saying” the opposition to Obama is “driven, in part, by a refusal to accept a black President,” while NBC anchor Brian Williams touted how “former President Carter spoke up and spoke out about” the supposed racism.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2009/09/15/abc-obama-critics-driven-refusal-accept-black-president-nbc-trumpets-ca

Two Florida school officials facing possible jail terms for praying in the presence of students have the support of more than 60 members of Congress.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/17/lawmakers-back-school-prayer-leaders-on-trial/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_headlines

The cost of protecting a few thousand union jobs: A report by the US Chamber of commerce shows how the Obama administration's trade decisions, all of which were sought by Big Labor, have so far cost 585,000 American jobs.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=338078386864116

A group of House Democrats introduced legislation Tuesday that would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). They’ve cleverly named the repeal the “Respect for Marriage Act”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/15/democrats-push-repeal-federal-marriage-law/

The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/15/taking_liberties/entry5314040.shtml

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

How rogue conservative filmmakers took down ACORN

Washington Times 9/18

For the longest time, conservatives were content to sit around and kvetch about the state of the culture, complaining about the ascendancy of Michael Moore and the double standards of the mainstream media when it came to documenting the foibles of the political parties. With this week's bombshell release of a series of videos implicating employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - ACORN, for short - in a willingness to engage in criminal activities, it has become apparent that those on the right are learning to play the game just as fiercely - and effectively - as their counterparts on the left.

James O'Keefe is the brains behind VeritasVisuals.com, described as a "collection of satirical short films on newsworthy topics." He and his partner in crime, Hannah Giles, came up with a plan that transcended satire and exposed the seamy underbelly of the community-organizing racket: What would happen if the two of them - Mr. O'Keefe pretending to be a pimp, Miss Giles pretending to be a prostitute - went to various ACORN offices with obviously illegal and morally repugnant requests? Would they find willing accomplices there to help them circumvent the law? You bet they would.

In video after shocking video, Mr. O'Keefe and Miss Giles hopscotched across America, persuading ACORN employees to aid them in their scheme to import underage girls into the country with the intent of turning them into prostitutes and funneling the profits into a political campaign. They found employees in Baltimore, Washington, New York and San Bernardino, Calif., who jumped at the chance to help make their dream reality.

Outrage was immediate and almost unanimous. ACORN higher-ups fired several of the workers on the assumption that the first video was a one-off occurrence; once they realized the full extent of their problem, they went into damage-control mode, claiming the tapes had been made illegally.

The Census Bureau severed all ties with the outfit; the Senate voted 83-7 to cut off federal funding for the group; the House of Representatives moved toward taking the same step. As outrage grew and pressure on the group mounted, ACORN caved: On Wednesday, it announced it was suspending operations and implementing new training procedures for its employees.

The videos were stunning pieces of citizen journalism: effective, simple and elegant….and almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media. With the exception of Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and this newspaper, the media elites almost entirely ignored the story. The New York Times didn't publish its first staff-written story until Wednesday, almost a week after the initial video was posted on the Internet. The Washington Post was just as negligent.

The silence was somewhat shocking: ACORN, after all, had been tied to President Obama, and it was starting to gain real influence in the federal government. There already had been calls for a federal investigation into allegations of voter fraud by the group during the last election. Certainly this was a story worth reporting, right? Nothing.

No matter. Mr. O'Keefe and Miss Giles are just the latest in a line of self-starting filmmakers who have taken advice offered by none other than Mr. Moore. When a young, libertarian filmmaker named Evan Coyne Maloney stopped the director of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and the upcoming "Capitalism: A Love Story" on the street and asked him how to break into movies, Mr. Moore responded: "Make your movies, and the people will respond or not respond to them." Mr. Maloney went into action, making the movie "Indoctrinate U," a blistering look at the problems he perceived on America's college campuses.

Or consider Jake Rademacher. Aggravated by the media coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts and curious to learn more about his brothers' motivation for joining the military, Mr. Rademacher made "Brothers at War," the single best documentary about the fighting men and women who constitute the post-Sept. 11 military.

Then there's Stuart Browning, who realized that the next great public battle was going to be over public health care; he put together a series of videos called "Free Market Cure" and put them on YouTube and at his own site in order to counter the distortions he saw emanating unchallenged from his opponents. His "Uninsured in America" does more to refute the mythical "45 million people in America are uninsured" claim than any magazine article possibly could.

The democratization of film production - the relative affordability of new equipment and editing software - enabled these filmmakers to burst onto the scene without the backing of major studios or journalistic outlets. Sure, these artists all had help in their struggle: Mr. Maloney and Mr. Browning both received technical support through the Moving Picture Institute, while Mr. Rademacher found allies in Jon Voight and Gary Sinise, both staunch allies of the U.S. military. And Mr. O'Keefe has certainly received a publicity boost through his appearances on the Glenn Beck show and on Andrew Breitbart's new blog, Big Government.

But their ideas and their drive to see their vision realized are what motivated them and inspired them to impact the debate. These men are the vanguard of a new front in the battle of ideas: They have realized that the time for whining is over; the time for doing has arrived.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/18/caught-on-tape/?feat=home_headlines

"I don't even know about it. So you've got me at a loss, I don't know. ... I know we've done some stories about ACORN before, but this one I don't know about. ... [M]aybe this is just one you leave to the cables."

-ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson

James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles…have accomplished what neither the Republican party’s sense of outrage nor the Democratic party’s sense of decency could: They have inspired the federal government to begin cutting its ties with ACORN, the shady “community activist” organization that helped bring Barack Obama to power. The set-up was both risible and shocking. Mr. O’Keefe and Miss Giles, who look for all the world like young Republican country-clubbers dressed for a tasteless costume party, walked into a number of ACORN offices and managed to pass themselves off as a pimp and a prostitute. They informed ACORN staffers that they were looking to set up a brothel and to traffic some children into the country for the purposes of prostitution….the staffers responded with advice on getting on welfare, claiming their underage victims as dependents, evading law enforcement, cheating on their taxes, defrauding federal housing authorities, et cetera ad nauseam….ACORN, which ran a number of voter-registration drives rife with fraud (Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck being two notable registrees, along with one Mr. Jive Turkey of Ohio) is at its core a political operation, one that was an important presence in Obama’s community-organizing days, as well as in his campaign. This is the sort of sting video that used to be the bread-and-butter of 60 Minutes and other investigative television journalism. Now they look on the story with contempt; Charlie Gibson sneered that it was the sort of thing better left to “the cables.” This is serious business — advising people how to defraud the government in furtherance of child prostitution and human trafficking — but it took two twentysomething documentarians to get it on our national radar. We’d argue that Congress should investigate, but who would be put in charge? Barney Frank? Nancy Pelosi? A blue-ribbon committee selected by President Obama?..

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzA2ZWE3ZjhiNTM0MDNmYTlmNTVlMjBlZDM1ZTlkZWU=

Here’s another recent conservative guerrilla action that didn’t get noticed in the mainstream media: a sting on Planned Parenthood: they had an actor call clinics across the country and pose as a donor. The actor communicated to them a very racist agenda – he asked to donate money specifically for the abortions of African-American babies in order to "lower the number of blacks in America." Despite his bigoted requests, no Planned Parenthood employee declined the tainted money.

http://www.liveaction.org/index.php/projects/racism

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"Can someone explain to me how President Barack Obama's grandiose scheme destined to reduce the quality of the best health care system in the history of the world, force millions of people who choose not to purchase health insurance to purchase it, greatly increase medical costs, our deficits and national debt, ultimately reduce patient choice, and place health care decisions in the hands of heartless bureaucrats is somehow a demonstration of compassion?"

-David Limbaugh

"…Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of one of the committees writing reform legislation…proposes penalties ranging to $3,800 on families without mandatory health care insurance. If the Baucus scheme works, it could be applied to other public policy dilemmas. We could cure homelessness, for example, by imposing stiff fines on the homeless who refuse to buy houses. (That would spur the housing market, too.)"

-Wesley Pruden

"The Obama team is saddled with a foundering health-care strategy. But it has a fallback plan -- relying on the sheer dimwitted gullibility of the American public. How stupid do they think we are? ... Stupid enough not to be offended at how contemptibly stupid they think we are."

-Rich Lowry

"President Obama warned Congress Wednesday that people will die if we do nothing about health care. Of course, people will also die if we do something. If history proves anything it is that nothing is more recession-proof than the funeral business."

-Argus Hamilton

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MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Right now our American liberties are under attack from the Left like never before – both in Washington DC and in Olympia – out of control spending – higher taxes – ballooning regulations – weakened family values – less respect for human life – anti-gun proposals – and government control of our very healthcare – by increasingly unrepresentative politicians. As conservatives, we must stand and defend our heritage of liberty or it will be lost. On October 10^th, concerned conservatives from across Washington State will gather at the Bellevue Westin for a full day of learning the latest on the key issues we face, planning the best solutions and setting a strategy on how to best win back our state in 2010 and protect our freedoms for us and future Washingtonians. We ask you to join us at the Evergreen Leadership Conference “Advocating Liberty and Limited Government” and help win back Washington. You’ll meet and hear conservative leaders and issue experts including Seattle’s Steve Beren, Talk Radio host John Carlson, Initiative expert Tim Eyman, King County Councilman Reagan Dunn, Pierce County Councilman Dick Muri, Tea Party activist Liberty Belle, Hans Zeiger and many more. Dinner Speaker: Pat Toomey GOP Candidate against turncoat Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) Former President, Club for Growth; Former U.S. Congressman; Lunch Speaker: Steve Beren Conservative speaker, writer, blogger, and Tea Party activist 2008 candidate for Congress in 7^th District.

http://evergreenconference.org/

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BOOKS

Coming in February: "The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star”

http://www.amazon.com/Persecution-Sarah-Palin-Elite-Rising/dp/1595230610/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253299162&sr=8-1

Without ever having been reviewed by either the New York Times or the Washington Post, Mark Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto” has now sold one million copies. A Conservative Manifesto lays out a vision for America that is rooted in the Constitution and in the Founding Fathers’ vision of strictly limited government and individual self-reliance. As such, its message stands in stark contrast to the agenda being advanced by President Barack Obama, which includes a government takeover of General Motors and a government makeover of the entire U.S. health care system.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/54079

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GLOBALONEY

“Audits Show Green Buildings Don't Save Energy”

http://washingtonpolicyblog.typepad.com/washington_policy_center_/2009/09/audits-show-green-buildings-dont-save-energy.html

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently announced plans to cover 1,000 square miles of land in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah with solar collectors to generate electricity. He's also talking about generating 20% of our electricity from wind. This would require building about 186,000 50-story wind turbines that would cover an area the size of West Virginia..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574404762971139026.html

Break your stick in ice hockey and drop it immediately or a penalty is assessed because continued use can cause serious damage (Rule 10.3). Apparently this rule doesn’t apply in climate science where a few scientists continue to use a broken “hockey stick” and cause serious damage.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/14664

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LEFTIST WATCH

ACORN controls or significantly dominates several Big Labor unions and organizations. ACORN created and controls SEIU 100 (Gulf Region) and SEIU 880 (a recently expanded SEIU mega-local that covers Chicago, Illinois, Indiana, and Kansas).

http://biggovernment.com/2009/09/16/seiu-is-one-of-the-pillars-of-the-acorn-family/

The Apollo Alliance, which helped craft portions of the $787 billion “stimulus” legislation that the President signed into law in early 2009, exerts a powerful influence on the environmental views and policies of the Obama administration. http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=36279

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NEWS FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD

Adulterers will be stoned to death under draconian new laws passed in an Indonesian province. Hard-line Muslim politicians in the semi-autonomous region unanimously passed the Sharia edict, under which single people will also be given 100 lashes for pre-marital sex.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6834658.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=crickler

IRAQI militants hollowed out an ornate Shiite Muslim holy book, stuffed it with TNT and planted it inside a Baghdad shrine, but the bomb was defused before it exploded

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26068396-12335,00.html

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ACTIVISM

Tell the Obama administration to allow offshore drilling here in America! (Instead of paying Brazil to do it)

http://americansforprosperity.org/090109-tell-obama-administration-allow-offshore-drilling-here-america

Tell Congress not to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act:

http://www.capwiz.com/afanet/issues/alert/?alertid=14029026

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ARTICLES

One of the most startling aspects of our society at present is the way things that were once considered to be virtues have now become the object of intense disapproval, and vice versa. A recent survey of (UK) teachers by London University's Institute of Education found that some three-quarters of them believed it was their duty to warn their pupils about the dangers of patriotism.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1213246/MELANIE-PHILLIPS-If-children-taught-patriotism-wrong-Britains-identity-stake.html

Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit has the proof in pictures; conservatives clean up after themselves while liberals let the government take care of their trash. Hoft has a photo essay that shows the aftermath of the Mall following the 9/12 protests compared to the condition of the same venue following President Obama's inauguration. The difference is striking.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/clean_conservatives_vs_dirty_l.html

Feldman’s Law: “as the Democrat's position grows increasingly weak, the probability of a charge of racism increases, and when the position is on its last mortal legs, that old self righteous misanthrope, Jimmy Carter, will be hauled out of his lonely cellar to pronounce it so.”

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/feldmans_law.html

“Nancy Pelosi is bats” (nice picture - save for Halloween).

http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2009/09/17/nancy-pelosi-is-bats/

The Obama administration Tuesday issued final rules requiring U.S. automakers to increase their fleets’ average fuel economy by five percent a year to meet a federally mandated 35.5 mpg by 2016. (American pants makers will also be required to sell slacks with an average waste size of 32 by 2016 and home builders will be required to sell homes averaging 1,500 square feet. Just kidding. . . but what's the difference?)

http://planetgore.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjU3MjllM2ZiZDhmMGEwZjMyYWM1ZGYxZWNlOWUzMDU=

Ken Blackwell: “Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was ordered out of the room by leading conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, who is a medical doctor — a rarity in the world of pundits. Krauthammer said that Palin’s comments about “death panels” in Obamacare were not helpful in a serious debate on the government takeover of health care. But then Krauthammer wrote that the result would only be a “gentle nudge” toward that hooded figure in the corner of the room, that grim fellow with the scythe. Hmmm. Maybe we should invite Palin to come back in. If “controlling costs” is the reason for the whole drive to nationalize health care, pulling feeding tubes from medically fragile people is an obvious no-brainer. Under Obamacare, he or one of his minions will decide how much health care you get. When they decide you’ve had enough, you will be denied access to the courts. Obama’s will be the hand that feeds you.”

http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/columns/oped_contributors/Obama-will-be-the-hand-that-feeds-you-59195222.html

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Time lapse footage of the 9/12 tea party:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1cqF0YkuZc

And here are some of the highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMXz6xGeqc&NR=1

The bidding has ended for a private dinner with Sarah Palin at $63,500 on Friday. The dinner is part of a charity auction on eBay for Ride 2 Recovery, which supports wounded veterans through cycling programs.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260474255847

From the Goldwater Institute: “An Assessment of Each State’s Constitutional Commitment to Limited Government”

http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/file/3695/download/3695

An online store that sells “Obama Lies” merchandise. How about a t-shirt that says “Obama lies, grandma dies”?

http://www.cafepress.com/obamaliesstore

How about an “Obama’s Last Day: 1/20/13” bumper sticker.

http://www.zazzle.com/obamas_last_day_1_20_13_bumper_sticker-128614230059065183

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WISE WORDS

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."

-Plato

op ed review 9/13

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

A sea of protesters filled the west lawn of the Capitol and spilled onto the National Mall on Saturday in the largest rally against President Obama since he took office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/politics/13protestweb.html

How many were there? The UK Daily Mail reported: “Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as "Obamacare makes me sick" as they protested the president's health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending. The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol…the largest grouping of fiscal conservatives to (ever) march on Washington..”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1213056/Up-million-march-US-Capitol-protest-Obamas-spending-tea-party-demonstration.html

Here are more pictures and video from the march:

http://www.lucianne.com/article/?pageid=912a

Led by radio talk show host Mike Gallagher, Salem Radio Networks along with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) delivered an unprecedented 1.3 million petition signatures to Congress today opposing the government takeover of health care. At 61,000 pages long it is the largest petition ever delivered to Congress.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33484

A crowd of more than 75,000 gathered in Holden, West Virginia to celebrate Labor Day and show their support for American workers. The rally, hosted by Friends of America and sponsored by roughly 100 businesses and organizations, was emceed by Ted Nugent and featured live performances by country music stars Hank Williams Jr., John Rich and Fox News personality, Sean Hannity among others. The focus of the rally was the threat overreaching government, environmental extremists and corrupt corporate interest pose to American labor.

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS159855+07-Sep-2009+PRN20090907

“Obama green jobs commissar Van Jones resigned at midnight as a result of controversy over his past statements regarding 9/11 and a few other subjects. His departure is unfortunate. A self-avowed Communist and transparent hater of the United States before the Age of Obama, he was a perfect symbol of the animating spirit of the Obama administration.”

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/09/024450.php

Boston Teen Plants 3,000 Flags on her high school lawn In a 9/11 Tribute

http://wbztv.com/local/topsfield.school.flags.2.1175460.html

If you're an American voter, you are increasingly trusting the Republican Party on most important issues. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that while 44% trust Republicans more on [health care], the identical number (44%) have more faith in the Democrats. Republicans still lead Democrats on seven out of 10 key electoral issues, including the top issue of the economy.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/09/024470.php

Rep. Joe Wilson, a little-known Republican from South Carolina, stole the spotlight Wednesday evening by yelling out "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's address to Congress. Wilson, a former senior Justice Department lawyer under President Ronald Reagan, delivered his catcall when Obama said his health-care plan wouldn't extend benefits to illegal immigrants.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/935924.html?qwxq=7662578&pageNum=1&&&&mi_pluck_action=page_nav#Comments_Container

It appears as if ACORN is not just into soup kitchens, daycare, voter fraud and town hall intimidation. One day after two ACORN officials in Baltimore were fired for offering to help a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute to engage in child prostitution and a series of tax crimes, another secretly shot videotape has surfaced that shows the same couple getting similar advice from ACORN officers in Washington. “Community activism indeed!”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549241,00.html

NYT’s Thomas Friedman endorses one party rule. (as long as it’s the right party) “One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/opinion/09friedman.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

A 350-foot-tall radio tower crashed to the ground in Pennsylvania after its support cables were cut. Five hours later, two radio towers near Everett, Wash., were knocked to the ground by a bulldozer in what officials feared was an act of eco-terrorism. The FBI is looking into the possibility the two crimes are linked.

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/all-fbi-probes-whitehall-radio-tower-09052009-cn,0,5357824.story

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has unveiled plans by his country to import nuclear know-how from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=105732&sectionid=351020704

DEBKAfile's sources say that Chavez and Ahmadinejad are discussing the relocation or replication of key elements of the Iranian nuclear industry to Venezuela, both to keep them safe and to guarantee they would keep on ticking over if Iran was attacked by the US or Israel.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6254

Switzerland has surpassed the United States as the world's most competitive economy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090908/bs_nm/us_competitiveness_report_1

A judge refused to block a public vote on domestic partnership benefits for gay couples in Washington state. A gay-rights group claimed Secretary of State Sam Reed improperly accepted thousands of petition signatures that supported putting Referendum 71 on the ballot. The referendum would put the Legislature's latest expansion of domestic partnership rights for gay couples on the November ballot.

http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=210052

The 9^th Circus Court of Appeals has ruled that even an instrumental version of “Ave Maria” is too religious to be played at a school.

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=209883

"According to their expenditures report filed to the PDC, Citizens to Uphold the Constitution, paid $11,300.25 to Washington, D.C.-based vendor, "The Clinton Group," to perform robocalls attacking Susan Hutchinson. The sponsor of the group who purchased the vendor services is named as Jason Bennett, who, according to the Seattle Times article, is also Dow Constantine's treasurer. The situation appears to be a violation of RCW 42.17.020 and WAC 390-05-210..."

http://www.redcounty.com/dows-tangled-web-how-many-campaign-violations-can-you-find

“Three-quarters of teachers in Britain's schools believe they should warn pupils about the dangers of patriotism - which some regard as a form of 'brainwashing', researchers have found.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212921/Teachers-want-warn-pupils-patriotism-peril.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Remembering 9/11 by Sarah Palin

It has been eight years since the United States suffered the worst attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor. As we look back, we should take stock of what has transpired since then. We have sent our nation's soldiers into battlefields far from home to defend us. These brave men and women live in treacherous conditions, facing improvised roadside bombs, suicide bombers and other attacks. Yet they fight on in their mission to defend the United States and all of us without complaint.

Our all-volunteer service is made up of Americans of all races, creeds, and economic backgrounds. These soldiers are on the front lines of this battle, and there are others in the fight as well. We must continue to give our utmost support to the United States military and those that support their efforts. In light of this, I have added my name to a letter sent to President Obama urging him to remain committed to prosecuting the War on Terror in Afghanistan. Never have so few defended the liberty of so many. We must continue to support their mission because they will continue to fight for us.

President Reagan ended his first inaugural with this story:

“Under one such marker lies a young man-Martin Treptow-who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire. We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone." The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you.”

As we look back to that tragic day eight years ago we take pride in the fact that we came together as a nation in the days, months and years that followed. We rose to the challenge that fateful day and we still can. And why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.

I thank all our servicemen and women, in and out of uniform, for keeping us safe over the last eight years in the face of enormous odds.

Please thank a veteran today. They certainly do not look for those thanks, but they have more than earned it.

- Sarah Palin

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/note.php?note_id=131824083434&ref=nf

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"[When it comes to government giveaways,] the word 'free' should be banned and replaced with the following phrase: 'paid for with money stolen from your neighbors, who have worked to earn the money but are not permitted to keep what they've earned so that you can have a fill-in-the-blank.'"

-Dan Kennedy

"America will be spending more to service its debt than it will spend on education, the environment, infrastructure, scientific research, national defense and all the other things our Founding Fathers thought were important to the nation. Our debt is on an unsustainable path."

-former GOP Sen. Pete V. Domenici

"It will be the president's job to convince the public that the need to pass a national health care bill is so urgent that it ranks alongside war and other national emergencies. It can't be done. No matter what Obama says on Wednesday, the audience will see the speech for what it is: A president speaking not as the nation's leader in time of crisis but rather as a salesman pushing a troubled product."

-Byron York

"What happened to President Obama? His wax wings having melted, he is the man who fell to earth. What happened to bring his popularity down further than that of any new president in polling history save Gerald Ford (post-Nixon pardon)? The conventional wisdom is that Obama made a tactical mistake by farming out his agenda to Congress and allowing himself to be pulled left by the doctrinaire liberals of the Democratic congressional leadership. But the idea of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi pulling Obama left is quite ridiculous. Where do you think he came from...?"

-Charles Krauthammer

"On the issue of the 'public option' here's my suggestion: Every Republican Member of the House and Senate should commit to supporting an amendment to whatever bill comes to the floor stating, in essence, 'All civilian Federal employees shall be covered by the 'public option' because it is such a good idea.' See how Pelosi likes that."

-Rich Galen

"Labor Day picnics were held across the Midwest by labor unions Monday. The day is intended to give working people a chance to forget about the problems of the world and to enjoy an afternoon with nothing to do. It's like being vice president for a day."

-Argus Hamilton

__________________________________________________________________________________________

IMPORTANT - READ THIS

Right now our American liberties are under attack from the Left like never before – both in Washington DC and in Olympia – out of control spending – higher taxes – ballooning regulations – weakened family values – less respect for human life – anti-gun proposals – and government control of our very healthcare – by increasingly unrepresentative politicians. As conservatives, we must stand and defend our heritage of liberty or it will be lost. On October 10^th, concerned conservatives from across Washington State will gather at the Bellevue Westin for a full day of learning the latest on the key issues we face, planning the best solutions and setting a strategy on how to best win back our state in 2010 and protect our freedoms for us and future Washingtonians. We ask you to join us at the Evergreen Leadership Conference “Advocating Liberty and Limited Government” and help win back Washington. You’ll meet and hear conservative leaders and issue experts including Seattle’s Steve Beren, Talk Radio host John Carlson, Initiative expert Tim Eyman, King County Councilman Reagan Dunn, Pierce County Councilman Dick Muri, Tea Party activist Liberty Belle, Hans Zeiger and many more. Dinner Speaker: Pat Toomey GOP Candidate against turncoat Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) Former President, Club for Growth; Former U.S. Congressman; Lunch Speaker: Steve Beren Conservative speaker, writer, blogger, and Tea Party activist 2008 candidate for Congress in 7^th District.

http://evergreenconference.org/

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BOOKS

Norman Podhoretz's extraordinary new book --"Why Are Jews Liberals?" - is a reflection on the question he says he has been asked more often than any other: why do so many Jews cling to the Left and vote in such extraordinary percentages for the Democratic Party? The book offers an historical and cultural analysis, addressing in the first half how the Jews became liberals and in the second half why they still are.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/09/challenging_the_torah_of_liber.html

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GLOBALONEY

Climate Change: A team of international scientists has finally figured out why sunspots have a dramatic effect on the weather. It shows the folly of fearing the SUV while dismissing that thermonuclear furnace in the sky.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=337303887307172

The average June-August 2009 summer temperature for the contiguous United States was below average – the 34th coolest on record.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20090910_summerstats.html

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LEFTIST WATCH

Michael Moore says capitalism is evil and it’s time to put a “stake through the heart of the beast”.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/entertainment/2009/09/12/10861426.html

U.S. director Oliver Stone fears his documentary about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will struggle to find a distributor at home. "South of the Border" portrays Chavez as a champion of the poor, and includes interviews with the leaders of Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador and Cuba.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSL72457020090908

“I had a professor who encouraged me to apply to Harvard and Yale [for law school], which was almost unheard of for students coming from the kind of public schools that I was coming from in the rural South. I was accepted to both places, and decided to go to Yale because Yale didn't have any grades and was smaller than Harvard. I figured, once I enroll I'm guaranteed to graduate, so I can just go and be a radical hell raiser student, and they can't do anything about it. Which is pretty much what happened…”

-Van Jones, former Obama “Green Jobs” czar

In a recent Sunday television broadcast, President Hugo Chavez showcased one of the latest achievements of his decade-long government: a Venezuelan-made diaper that he hailed as "the first socialist diaper..”

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090909-712962.html

A group of hard-Left filmmakers and writers from around the world have been using their celebrity to try to coerce the Toronto International Film Festival into banning Israeli films. Their petition, which is filled with misstatement of facts and rewriting of history, describes Israel as "an apartheid regime."

http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/dershowitz/entry/filmmakers_and_writers_seek_to

When the Obama administration launched its United We Serve volunteerism program earlier this summer, it was all about building playgrounds, caring for wounded veterans and reading to homeless children. Weeks later, the Obama White House, the National Endowment for the Arts and United We Serve have revealed the actual agenda -- backing the administration's political priorities with coordinated propaganda, perhaps boosted by millions in stimulus cash.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/06/the-neas-partisan-work-for-obama/

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ACTIVISM

Joe Wilson has been identified as the Republican who yelled out that Barack Obama was a liar. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) has raised almost $750,000 in less than 48 hours since his shout of "You lie!" to President Obama during the Wednesday address to Congress, almost matching the Internet-fueled haul of his likely Democratic opponent.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/09/scs_wilson_rakes_in_750000_in.html

Saturday update: A source on Rep. Joe Wilson's campaign says his fundraising has broken $1 million -- and surpassed that of his Democratic rival, Rob Miller.

CONTRIBUTE TO JOE WILSON HERE

https://www.completecampaigns.com/public.asp?name=Wilson&page=2

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ARTICLES

David Horowitz, “The Manchurian Candidate” Those who were surprised by the White House appointment of Van Jones – a self-styled “communist,” and a proponent of the idea that the Katrina catastrophe was caused by “white supremacy,” haven’t been paying attention to developments on the left since the fall of Communism, or to president Obama’s extensive roots in its political culture. Van Jones is the carefully groomed protégé of a network of radical organizations -- including Moveon.org -- and of Democratic sponsors like billionaire George Soros and John Podesta, former Clinton chief of staff and co-chair of the Obama transition team. At the time of his appointment as the President’s “Green Jobs” czar – and despite a very recent 10-year history of “revolutionary” activity – Jones was a member of two key organizations at the very heart of what might be called the executive branch of the Democratic Party. The first is the Center for American Progress which was funded by Soros and is headed by Podesta. The second is the Apollo Alliance, on whose board Jones sits with Podesta, Carol Browner and Al Gore. This is a coalition of radicals, leftwing union leaders and corporate recruits, which had a major role in designing Obama’s green economy plans, including the “cash for clunkers” program. The New York director of the Alliance, who will be writing its applications for tens of millions of dollars in “stimulus” funds, is Jeff Jones (no relation) who was a co-leader of the terrorist Weather Underground along with Obama’s close friend and political ally William Ayers.

http://frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=36267

Rasmussen reports that all political labels are trending negative except one. Being like Reagan is still the most positive thing you can say about a candidate. "Liberal" is still the worst and remains the only political description that is viewed more negatively than positively. It also seems that the left's re-labeling attempt is failing. Aware of their low ideological ratings, political liberals have shifted in recent times to calling themselves progressives,

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/win_one_by_being_like_the_gipp.html

Why did the press ignore the Van Jones scandal? The first words of the New York Times' story on Jones' resignation were, "In a victory for Republicans and the Obama administration's conservative critics. ..." One news anchor suggested Jones was "the Republican right's first scalp." Other coverage called the Jones affair a victory for Glenn Beck, Fox News, right-wing blogs, and even Sarah Palin, who played no role in the matter. If you throw in Rush Limbaugh, you have all the bogey-people of the conservative world. To some on the left, including some journalists, denying them a victory was a top priority, no matter what Van Jones had said and done.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Why-did-the-press-ignore-the-Van-Jones-scandal_-8210602-57658222.html

Robert Rector: “The average person identified as “poor” by the government has a living standard far higher than the public imagines. According to the government’s own surveys, the typical “poor” American has cable or satellite TV, two color TVs, and a DVD player or VCR. He has air conditioning, a car, a microwave, a refrig­erator, a stove, and a clothes washer and dryer. He is able to obtain medical care when needed. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family’s essential needs. While this individual’s life is not affluent, it is far from the images of dire poverty conveyed by liberal activists and politicians.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjJiMDE5Y2M1OWNmNDFhMDIwNWMxYTA1Mzk5ZDkxMTk=

When socialists toss around a number such as 18,000 people die because they lack health insurance, I remember that 14,802 people died in France in August 2003 because of the French health system. There was a heat wave, and instead of calling doctors back from their month-long vacations to tend those people, the French government decided to save money. Adjusted for population, that would be like 70,000 deaths in America, or roughly 35 Hurricane Katrinas. In England, the Taxpayers Alliance estimated that an extra 17,000 people die each year because of the quality of the National Health Service….

http://dailymail.com/Opinion/DonSurber/200909090307?page=2&build=cache

“What on earth is the Republican Party thinking? Or rather, what is it foolishly ignoring? The Obama administration has handed Republicans and conservatives a huge club with which to pound their Democrat opponents and to my knowledge, it has been ignored almost entirely…..The issue? After decades of the Democrats scaring senior citizens prior to every election with phony accusations that the Republicans would reduce or eliminate their Social Security benefits, guess who has actually done so? That's right, Bubba, a Democrat administration has put a freeze on Social Security cost of living increases, the first in 35 years, effectively reducing the income of all us SSA recipients.”

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/gop_missing_a_big_issue.html

Steyn: Whenever I write about Europe and demography, I get a lot of mail on the general line of, “Oh, yeah, Steyn? When will Muslims be 50.01 per cent of the population then? 2020? 2030? C’mon, you scaremonger…” And I usually reply that it’s not about hitting 50 per cent. It’s about the point at which mediating between the Muslim population and the broader population becomes a central and then the dominant feature of the culture. In Northern Ireland, the Loyalists outnumbered the Republicans by two to one more or less, but an arithmetical majority didn’t prevent 30 years of, to put it at its mildest, profound destabilization. And once you’re in that situation the question becomes: What are you prepared to trade away in an attempt to re-stabilize?

http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/2417/28/

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

List of President Obama’s Czars. This is a joke, right?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26779.html

Lloyd Marcus sings '2010' at the 9-12 Taxpayer March on Washington DC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkWQ4uolB8Q

A conservative blogger and publisher who took on Hollywood earlier this year is setting his sights on the nation's political establishment. BigGovernment.com will launch Thursday as a "one-stop shop" for commentary and other political information, according to Andrew Breitbart, the site’s founder

http://biggovernment.com/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/09/new-political-blog-biggovernmentcom-launch-thursday/

Quick info on representatives. You can set this up as an instant link.

http://know-thy-congressman.com/#

Amusing video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_JUQSje_xA

Images from the refurbished Hubble

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/multimedia/ero/index.html

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In 1916, a minister and outspoken advocate for liberty, William J. H. Boetcker, published a pamphlet entitled The Ten Cannots:

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

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WISE WORDS

"I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity.... [It] would be contrary to the letter and the spirit of the Constitution and subversive to the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded."

-President Franklin Pierce

"I feel obliged to withhold my approval of the plan to indulge in benevolent and charitable sentiment through the appropriation of public funds.... I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution."

-President Grover Cleveland

"Work as if you were to live 100 Years, Pray as if you were to die To-morrow."

-Benjamin Franklin

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