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

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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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