op ed review 8/29

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 of the important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/trust_on_issues

Top Democrats are growing markedly more pessimistic about holding the House, privately conceding that the summertime economic and political recovery they were banking on will not likely materialize by Election Day. In two close races, endangered Democrats are even running ads touting how they oppose their leadership.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41469.html#ixzz0xitBlSmI

Republican Congressman Roy Blunt for the first time holds a double-digit lead over Democrat Robin Carnahan in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race.

http://tinyurl.com/2dqh7qt

And a Washington State poll, conducted Aug. 18-19 shows Dino Rossi ahead of Patty Murray 52 percent to 45 percent. Notably, Rossi leads among independents 59 to 35 percent.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/115355-trailing-in-polls-sen-murray-targets-rossi-in-new-ad-

“It's hit that point in the election cycle where the competitive nature of Congressional races are shifting rapidly. Unfortunately for Democrats, the overwhelming majority of those shifts are in favor of Republicans. The latest Senate race rating changes by CQ Politics includes five changes -- in California, Washington, Wisconsin, Georgia and Iowa -- that benefit Republican candidates.”

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000003725329&topic=Feature

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) admitted in a town hall meeting in Colorado that though trillions of dollars of Federal debt has been incurred through spending since he was appointed, “we have nothing to show for it”:

http://www.nationalreview.com/battle10/244695/bennet-bombshell-trillions-debt-nothing-show-it-michael-sandoval

He’s right. “The actual performance of the economy with respect to jobs is almost exactly what they said would it would be if we had done nothing, instead of passing the $800 billion stimulus package. This strongly suggests that the stimulus package enacted by the Democrats was a bust.”

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/08/027050.php

Panic on the Left: A gunshot shattered a glass door Wednesday at an office of the Maryland Republican Party,

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/24764054/detail.html

And former GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey's FreedomWorks organization has been receiving death threats and profanity-laced phone calls as it gets involved in the fall elections.

http://politics.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2010/8/25/tea-party-group-hit-with-death-threats.html

Tuesday night in the 2010 primaries produced mostly establishment victories for the Democrats and tea party victories for the Republicans.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Election-2010/2010/0811/Primary-results-Dems-go-establishment-GOP-goes-tea-party

Joe Miller is poised to knock off RINO Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) in a primary contest. Miller, an Iraq war veteran who received the backing of former Gov. Sarah Palin, emerged from the election Tuesday night with a narrow lead over Murkowski. But officials are still counting absentee ballots in the close race and a lawyer for the GOP Senate campaign committee is heading to Alaska.?????? (To pull an “Al Franken” for the RINO?)

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/116025-miller-concerned-murkowski-will-pull-an-al-franken

The son of former Vice President Dan Quayle has won the GOP nomination in an Arizona congressional race. Ben Quayle managed to pull off a victory after fending off attacks and drawing attention to his race with an ad in which he said, "Barack Obama is the worst president in history."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5joVLlFs5Hr6I6NkfHK0udsQWhKtA

Democrats are facing all sorts of bad news lately but will no doubt take solace in learning that the nation’s two largest and most-powerful unions are teaming up to defend their interests in the 2010 elections……leaders of the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union believe they’re up to the job: The two labor organizations say they have a combined $88 million or more to deploy.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/afl-cio-and-seiu-unions-team-up-on-campaign-spending-101454529.html

Get out your checkbook. The Republican National Committee's $5.3 million war chest for the final stretch of the midterm election campaign is half the amount of its Democratic counterpart.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703589804575446021701571124.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5

Glenn Beck's supporters started boarding buses days ago in cities as far from the nation's capital as Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Houston. Heading east for a grass-roots show of force on Saturday, they will join the conservative icon for a rally that he says is aimed at "restoring honor" to a troubled nation… The rally is expected to draw 100,00 people.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-08-26-glenn-beck-rally_N.htm

Tea Party groups from across the country are mobilizing efforts to support the rally, even though organizers are shying away from putting the Tea Party label on it,

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/glenn-becks-rally-feature-sarah-palin-coincides-civil/story?id=11491130

Beck will speak on the anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech, from the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered it. Some "tea party" activists say the event, at which former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is also scheduled to speak, will have a greater impact than last September's "9/12" march along Pennsylvania Avenue.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/25/AR2010082507063_pf.html

Dr. Martin Luther King’s niece will also address the rally: “My Uncle Martin’s dream was not that we should be judged by our support for bigger or smaller government, but rather by the content of our character.”

http://www.priestsforlife.org/pressreleases/document.aspx?id=3274

In a recent speech, Sarah Palin referred to union leaders as “union thugs”. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the dictionary definition of a union thug, took offense.

http://biggovernment.com/jdunetz/2010/08/27/afl-cio-pres-bashes-palin-but-hes-the-one-with-a-record-of-violence/

“In newspaper terms, the reason this story is getting so much attention is that it’s a man bites dog story. It’s just not often that someone with a union card takes on the head of Big Labor, challenging head-on the idea that liberal economic policies are good for the working man.”

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/woman-of-the-year/87058/

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan killed 14 and wounded 30 in his jihad at Fort Hood after shouting “Allah Akbar”, but according to the DOD final review of the case, the incident wasn't a terrorist attack but merely a case of workplace violence.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/26/islamic-extremists-in-the-workplace/

“Texas fights global-warming power grab. Lone Star state won't participate in Obama's lawless policy” President Obama's EPA is already well down the path to regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, something the act was not designed to do. It has a problem, however, because shoehorning greenhouse gases into that 40-year-old law would force churches, schools, warehouses, commercial kitchens and other sources to obtain costly and time-consuming permits.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/25/texas-fights-global-warming-power-grab/?page=1

Gun owners dodge a bullet. The EPA turned down a petition Friday to ban all traditional gun ammunition under the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976, a law in which Congress expressly exempted ammunition.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/27/gun-owners-dodge-the-bullet-ban/

The 14 crosses erected along Utah roads to commemorate fallen state Highway Patrol troopers will have to be removed because they “convey a state preference for Christianity”, a federal appeals court said Wednesday. First erected in 1998, monuments were paid for with private funds and erected only with the permission of the troopers' families.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-utah-highway-crosses,0,4829425.story

Senator Baucus, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee who helped author the federal health care bill- still hasn't even read the entire thing. "I don't think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the health care bill. You know why? It's statutory language. We hire experts."

http://www.northernbroadcasting.com/Talk/FlintReportHeadlines/tabid/519/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/958/Baucus-on-Reading-Bill-We-Hire-Experts-for-That.aspx

A new public school in Los Angeles cost $578 million, the nation's most expensive public school ever. The K-12 complex will house 4,200 students and works out to about $250,000 per pupil.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100822/ap_on_re_us/us_taj_mahal_schools

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

John Griffing 8/25

Since the seventies, the American left has warned of coming famine, overpopulation, total deforestation, urban sprawl, and overcrowding. The only problem is that none of this has ever happened. The left lied, and freedom died.

As a consequence of population hysteria, Western countries have overcorrected, aborting pregnancies and exchanging the cradle for a career. The result? The population of the developed world is now shrinking. The European Union (EU) relies on a steady influx of Muslim immigrants to keep pensions afloat. Forest coverage has actually increased in the United States despite sensationalist warnings.

Suburban sprawl never became a substantial problem. In fact, the 2000 Census records show that 94 percent of the United States is still rural, and only 5 percent of U.S. land mass is urban. A study by the Center for Immigration Studies demonstrates that what sprawl does occur is isolated and directly linked to uncontrolled immigration, a problem easily corrected -- without central planning -- if immigration laws are simply enforced.

And food? It just so happens that due to scientific innovation, farmers are growing more food per hectare on less land. But despite the factual evidence, leftists are now implementing environmental policies based on incorrect and historically inaccurate assumptions.

Paying homage to a long legacy of radical environmentalism, President Obama's faithful followers have advanced the Livable Communities Act to attack nonexistent problems like sprawl and overpopulation, as well as sub-issues like pollution. Humans will be punished for seeking to improve their quality of life, with new limits on mobility and Orwellian guidelines dictating where citizens will be allowed to live and work, with the justification of ushering in "sustainable growth." The facts do not matter to Obama and the left. The fact that urban sprawl is a nonexistent problem, that "smart growth" fails where tried, and that the Constitution does not permit government to dictate where and how citizens will live is irrelevant……

Most Americans are unaware that an organized assault on private property rights is tied to a series of dangerous foreign agreements that would transform America into Soviet-style "common" space by way of numerous "biosphere reserves." Never ratified by Congress, these agreements have been incorporated into U.S. regulatory law by way of a Memorandum of Understanding. Interestingly, the "biosphere reserves" program aligns closely with the current Livable Communities Act, conjointly proposing more concentrated human habitats and "buffer zones" to limit human environmental impact. Family trips to Yosemite? Not for long……

It should be noted that in some countries, constitutional restrictions can make regulatory approaches to biodiversity conservation difficult. One frequently occurring constitutional provision that may cause difficulty is a guarantee against deprivation, or acquisition, or taking of property without compensation [iv].

The U.N. and its team of environmental activists view U.S. property rights as a "difficulty." The right to live and work in a place of one's own choosing is the definition of freedom. Karl Marx realized the connection between property and freedom. It was Marx who once said, "In a word, you reproach us with intending to do away with your property. Precisely so; that is just what we intend." Conversely, the revered Justice Joseph Story once remarked, "That government can scarcely be deemed to be free when the rights of property are left solely dependent upon the will of a legislative body…"

We know how well the Soviet Union protected the environment. Is this really the model we want to pursue under the guise of "livable communities"?

If we follow the suggestions of the radical environmentalists, human beings will be sacrificed on the altar of "sustainability." And sometimes, quite literally. This is not stewardship, but perversion.

Clearly, the environmental agenda is not about protecting the environment, but about controlling human beings. The only thing "sustainable" about the radical environmental agenda is the predictable misery and poverty it will yield.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/sustainable_poverty_the_real_f.html

Another good read:

“After reflecting on the results of Republican primary elections for the U.S. Senate and related political happenings over recent months, the message is now clear: Barack Obama was right: It really is about hope and change. Not the naïve "Obama Zombie" hope for a government that would keep us from having to pay for our own mortgages or for filling our own gas tanks. But rather a change toward a government that moves us toward living by our republic's founding principles. The first step on that path, according to the newly awakened and re-energized Republican electorate, was to tell the Beltway kingmakers what they can do with their preferred candidates.”

http://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/27/primary-lessons

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"The first open attack on the Constitution by a President of the United States was made by our only president with a Ph.D., Woodrow Wilson. Virtually all the arguments as to why judges should not take the Constitution as meaning what its words plainly say, but 'interpret' it to mean whatever it ought to mean, in order to meet 'the needs of the times,' were made by Woodrow Wilson. It is no coincidence that those who imagine themselves so much wiser and nobler than the rest of us should be in the forefront of those who seek to erode Constitutional restrictions on the arbitrary powers of government. How can our betters impose their superior wisdom and virtue on us, when the Constitution gets in the way at every turn, with all its provisions to safeguard a system based on a self-governing people? To get their way, the elites must erode or dismantle the Constitution, bit by bit, in one way or another. What that means is that they must dismantle America."

-Thomas Sowell

"President Obama couldn't bring himself to observe the National Day of Prayer or spend time with the Boy Scouts of America, but God forbid, he couldn't miss the Muslim Iftar Ramadan dinner, or pass up a chance to praise an Islamic center a stone's throw away from Ground Zero. ... One has to wonder exactly who is this Barack Obama? Is he the Muslim-educated student who has repeatedly proclaimed his Christian beliefs while finding himself unable to put a foot in a Christian church in Washington he can call his own, or is he an adult still motivated by the Muslim faith he learned and practiced as a young man? This is a serious question, especially since Obama has gone out of his way to befriend a community, many of whom bear a deep hatred for the United States and a fanatical belief in the inevitability of supremacy of Islam over the United States. ... Unfortunately, it appears that Islam is also imposing its will and casting a shadow over the Obama White House."

-Michael Reagan

"Muslims should NOT be considered merely a religion and treated as if that's what Islam is. Islam is a political system wrapped in the trappings of a religion. Islam is every bit as much a political threat as was communism - and every bit as much a religion. To the degree that a religion desires to take over the government, it fails the religion test. Islam is a political party whose goal is the destruction of civilization."

-Manfred

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LEFTIST WATCH

The leader of the "progressive Christian" Sojourners movement has accepted funding from leftist atheist billionaire George Soros. "This was significant in that Jim Wallis in recent years has adamantly insisted he did not belong to either side of the political spectrum, but essentially was a centrist who was transcending left and right and was simply a purely Christian activist…”

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1136894

Liberals plot to ‘Turn off Fox News’ in public places. “Some businesses play Fox without having thought about it at all, and may not know how divisive and dangerous Fox is.”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/do-you-hate-fox-news-join-the-campaign-to-turn-off-fox-in-public-places-101566093.html#ixzz0xjlexvdh

In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the country of what he called the “military-industrial complex,” a reference to the growing relationship between the military industry in the private sector and the federal government. Today, there is another industrial complex taking shape. Only this time, the president is not warning anyone about it – he’s actually directly involved in its growth. One may call it the “green industrial complex.”

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/26/obamas-green-initiatives-lobbied-for-by-the-same-people-who-profit-from-them/

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ISLAM

A document translated from Arabic to English titled “An Explanatory Memorandum, On the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America” details the objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. Clearly, according to this document, the objective of the Muslim Brotherhood is to convert the U.S. into an Islamic nation through sabotage and subterfuge. It is a handbook to achieve that end. The author painstakingly describes the process of “settlement,” among others, and further described its meaning and the methods to be employed: The process of settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with all the word means. “The Ikhwan* must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/26849

While President Barack Obama was “forcefully” endorsing the Ground Zero Mosque, Michelle Obama was paying homage with her presence to the Great Mosque at Granada, which overlooks what was once Islam’s most important outpost in Europe, the Alhambra palace in Granada.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/26884

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ARTICLES

US News & World Report: “….both (Obama and Congress) have now participated in the most fiscally irresponsible government in American history.”

http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2010/08/26/the-most-fiscally-irresponsible-government-in-us-history.html?PageNr=3

The battle between taxpayers and government unions will define the fiscal future of the 50 states, and the newest battlefield is Washington State. That's where a few rich taxpayers led by Bill Gates Sr. and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are bankrolling a November ballot measure to create the state's first income tax. And not just a toe-in-the-water tax. They're diving into the deep end.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704901104575423712885940580.html

The Left has George Soros, we have the Koch Brothers.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2010/08/23/new-yorker-publishes-hit-piece-demonizing-koch-brothers-thought-crime-

Thomas Sowell: Medical Care Facts and Fables

http://www.creators.com/conservative/thomas-sowell/medical-care-facts-and-fables.html

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann: Advice to GOP Candidates: Avoid Adjectives, Nouns Are Good Enough

http://townhall.com/columnists/DickMorrisandEileenMcGann/2010/08/25/advice_to_gop_candidates_avoid_adjectives,_nouns_are_good_enough

Bob Dole, once the standard-bearer of the Republican Party, parlayed his political clout into personal wealth, and now he’s putting that wealth to work against a conservative Republican Senate candidate in a general election. Dole, now a lobbyist at Alston Bird, contributed $1,000 on Aug. 11 to the independent Senate campaign of Charlie Crist, who left the GOP in April. The current GOP fault line is not exactly conservatives vs. moderates or new guard vs. old guard. For 2010, the rivalry is the Tea Party wing against the K Street wing.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/The-Republican-divide-K-Street-vs-Tea-Partiers-101286384.html

“A friend poses the following thought experiment: Imagine that there really were these fundamentalist Christian terror cells all over the United States, as the Department of Homeland Security imagines. Let’s say a group of five of these terrorists hijacked a plane, flew it to Mecca, and plowed it into the Kaaba. Now let’s say a group of well-meaning, well-funded Christians — Christians whose full-time job was missionary work — decided that the best way to promote healing would be to pressure the Saudi government to drop its prohibition against permitting non-Muslims into Mecca so that these well-meaning, well-funded Christian missionaries could build a $100 million dollar church and community center a stone’s throw from where the Kaaba used to be — you know, as a bridge-building gesture of interfaith understanding.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/244406/ground-zero-thought-experiment-andy-mccarthy

The success of insurgent candidates in the Florida GOP gubernatorial primary and the Alaska GOP senatorial primary indicates that Republican voters in wildly different locales are not simply in an anti-Obama, anti-Democrat mood. They are genuinely eager to up-end the political system. And this is something very new. Usually, politicians who use the language of insurgency are just that. For them, channeling the anger of voters is a marketing device. They are always using the language of insurgency — “I’ll go to Washington and shake things up; the system is broken and I’m going to fix it”

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/jpodhoretz/347256

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

America’s new health care system revealed: updated chart shows Obamacare’s bewildering complexity. Download this and print it out. Show it to your friends.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/tx08_brady/pr_100728_hc_chart.html

Sharia for Dummies:

http://bigpeace.com/ndarwish/2010/08/26/sharia-for-dummies/

Must see: panoramic view of Mt St Helens from the rim of the crater. Go ahead, use your mouse to scan the view. (Editor’s note: I tried to climb up to this spot once, but the altitude left me gasping for breath about 1000 feet below this point.)

http://www.fullscreen360.com/st-helens.htm

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HUMOR

"Every so often, one of my readers who has apparently dipped once too often into the cooking sherry wonders why I don't run for Congress. The short answer is that I don't want to ever again wear a necktie. I also don't wish to spend my life going hat-in-hand begging for campaign contributions. Worse yet, what if I actually won the election and then had to listen to Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank mouth off endlessly? Between her nursery school delivery and his lisping, I'm sure I'd soon be popping Excedrin like peanuts. Instead, I prefer staying home and telling everybody in Washington how to do their jobs better."

-Burt Prelutsky

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LATE NITE

Letterman: ….President Obama is on vacation. This is his sixth vacation. He’ll have plenty of time for vacation when his one term is up.

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WISE WORDS

"It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them."

-Thomas Jefferson

op ed review 8/22

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

Independents who embraced President Barack Obama's call for change in 2008 are ready for a shift again. Only 32 percent of those citing no allegiance to either major party say they want Democrats to keep control of Congress in this November's elections.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jRwrWSTLhypT4emby1sxKD4QdA9wD9HJTUFO0

Obama approval sinks to 42 percent in Gallup’s daily tracking poll. Obama only has the support of 31 percent of Americans when it comes to his handling of the budget deficit and just 29 percent when it comes to immigration.

http://tinyurl.com/39aswnh

Your share of the US Government debt: $44,000 per citizen.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Figures-on-government-apf-4133802810.html?x=0&.v=2

Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit and instead stressing a promise to "improve it." “…Democrats are acknowledging the failure of their predictions that the health care legislation would grow more popular after its passage….”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/video-sen-kay-hagan-dressed-down-voter-concerned-about-rationing

Sci Fi Giant Ray Bradbury Slams Obama’s Era of Big Government “I think our country is in need of a revolution. There is too much government today.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/08/ray-bradbury-is-sick-of-big-government-our-country-is-in-need-of-a-revolution-.html

The GOP blueprint for winning control of the House is rapidly coming into focus, with the National Republican Congressional Committee readying a $22 million TV ad blitz aimed at a handful of powerful, long-serving incumbents and several dozen of the most junior members of the Democratic majority. The Republican campaign arm will invest in 40 districts around the nation in its first wave of television commercial reservations.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41143.html

The first KING 5 Senate poll for the 2010 general election shows Republican Dino Rossi is actually ahead of Patty Murray (D-WA), 52% to 45%.

http://www.king5.com/news/politiking/First-general-election-poll-puts-Rossi-ahead-confirms-competitive-race-101199184.html

A new poll shows Marco Rubio slipping ahead of Gov. Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate race for the first time.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/aug/14/141822/crist-losing-ground-in-senate-race-poll-shows/news-politics/

California goes to pot? Voters will decide whether to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes for adults over 21. The California Chamber of Commerce released a legal analysis that shows Proposition 19 would lead to more workplace accidents by forcing employers to let workers smoke pot on the job.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/Group-Prop-19-Would-Mean-Pot-Smoking-at-Work-100625869.html

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) said the Democratic Party's strong ground game could stave off midterm losses and warned Republicans not to underestimate Democrats this fall.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/114827-delay-gop-shouldnt-count-on-big-wins-this-year-due-to-dems-organization

The Ground Zero mosque controversy has reawakened concerns about some Islamic Centers in the United States and their funding sources…..we really don’t know where Feisal Abdul Rauf found $100 million to fund his mega-project in lower Manhattan.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/who-funding-alexi-giannoulias

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to investigate those who are PROTESTING the building of the Mosque.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/nancy_pelosi_calls_for_investi.html

Meanwhile, a leader of the Hamas terror group endorsed the plan, insisting Muslims "have to build" it there.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/hamas_nod_for_gz_mosque_cSohH9eha8sNZMTDz0VVPI

“Liberals who two years ago abandoned their humdrum lives to become career alarmists about Sarah Palin’s Pentecostalism now wish to be taken seriously as misty-eyed champions of America’s tolerance of diverse faiths.”

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/greenwald/344651

What’s wrong with unions? The fight to keep GM's huge Indianapolis stamping plant open reached a dead end Sunday after defiant autoworkers meeting in a union hall shouted "no" to discussion of pay cuts. With workers dug in, General Motors looks likely to go ahead with closing plans and post a timeline as early as Tuesday for taking out the dies and machinery.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100816/LOCAL1804/8160324/Autoworkers-shout-down-wage-cut-plan

Religious leaders warn that if an Aug. 6 ruling by a federal judge on same-sex marriage is upheld, it could wind up putting a gag on Christians speaking out about homosexuality – a gag that a top Southern Baptist leader says his denomination will not accept. In U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision, he found that “Religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful or inferior to heterosexual relationships harm gays and lesbians.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/71107

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco wisely put a hold on application of Judge Walker's ruling against California's Proposition 8.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/California_s-bumbler-in-a-black-robe-512779-100929474.html

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deported 298,410 illegal aliens in fiscal 2009, only 2.98 percent of the 10 million people it estimated were in the United States illegally. The number of deportations in fiscal 2009 was far less than the 400,000--or 4 percent--that the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said his agency was capable of deporting each year.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/71179

“Afghanistan was dubbed ‘Obama’s War’ last night after it was revealed that as many American soldiers have died in the conflict during his presidency as during George Bush’s entire time in office.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1303963/Obamas-War-Same-number-US-troops-die-Afghanistan-Bush-years.html

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee leads the field of potential GOP presidential candidates in Iowa, the state that will provide the first real test of the 2012 campaign. Mr. Huckabee received 22 percent of the vote and was followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who received 18 percent.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/16/poll-huckabee-romney-very-early-leaders-iowa/

Social activists and civil rights leaders are planning marches and demonstrations on Aug. 28 to coincide with a rally organized by Fox News personality Glenn Beck. Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally, with former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin among the scheduled speakers, will take place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, 47 years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech there.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081605042.html?hpid=topnews

The city of Cleveland OH plans to make sure residents are recycling -- and fine them $100 if they don't. New “eco-snitch” trash and recycling carts will be embedded with radio frequency identification chips and bar codes. The chips will allow city workers to monitor how often residents roll carts to the curb for collection.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/city_of_cleveland_to_use_high-.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Pat Buchanan 8/13

If you would know where the heart of the Obama party is today, consider. In the dog days of August, with temperatures in D.C. rising above 100, Nancy Pelosi called the House back to Washington to enact legislation that could not wait until September. Purpose: Vote $26 billion to prevent layoffs of state, municipal and county employees whose own governments had decided they had to be let go if they were to meet their constitutional duty to balance their books.

Workers their own governments thought expendable, Congress decided were so essential, it borrowed another 26 thousand million dollars from China to keep them on state and local payrolls. A nation whose national debt is approaching the size of its gross national product, that goes abroad to borrow money to keep non-essential workers on government payroll is a nation on the way down and out.

And anyone who thinks this Obama party is ever going to cull the armies of tens of millions of government workers or scores of millions of government beneficiaries to put America's house in order is deluding himself.

As long as this Congress and White House remain in power, a U.S. default on its national debt is inevitable. The only question is when.

Nor is this the first time the Obama administration has rushed to save workers whom their own state, city and county governments were prepared to let go. Among the reasons the $800 billion stimulus failed is that so little of it was directed to firing up the locomotive of the economy, the private sector, and so much of it was spent to ensure that government workers did not have to share in the national sacrifice. Why Pelosi & Co felt compelled to return to D.C., to ensure that state and local government payrolls were not pared, is not hard to understand.

Which party does the American Federation of Teachers; the National Education Association; and the American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees usually contribute to, work for, vote for? At which of the two party conventions are teachers and government employees hugely over-represented? Consider, too, the states deepest in debt and facing the largest cuts in employee ranks, pay and benefits: California, Illinois, New York. In these states, public employees earn at least $10,000 per year more in pay and benefits than the average America worker, who is bailing them out.

Hence, we have a situation where private sector workers in Middle America are being taxed, their children being driven ever deeper into debt to China, so government employees who have greater job security than they do, and earn more in pay and benefits than they will ever earn, can stay in Fat City. And folks wonder why so many Americans detest government.

In the same week Congress came back to prevent AFSCME from taking a haircut, the Wall Street Journal reported that, in 2009, only three of 52 metro areas with over 1 million in population saw "net earnings and the broader measure of personal income both rise." Are you surprised to learn Washington, D.C., was among the three? That same day, USA Today had a startling report on how, during the last decade, U.S. Government workers, like Wall Street bankers, left their fellow Americans in the dust.

"Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade. "Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation. ... The Federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year."

Remarkable. U.S. government workers, who enjoy the greatest job security of any Americans, now earn twice as much in pay and benefits as the average American. This is not the D.C. some of us grew up in. Nor is this all Obama's doing. For most of the fat years of the federal work force came while Washington was being run by a Congress of Big-Government Conservatives and a White House of Bush-Cheney Republicans. No wonder the tea party is targeting both parties.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to believe that the Obamaites, who intervened twice and massively with bailouts to prevent minor layoffs of local and state government employees, have the stomach to do the major surgery needed to cut the federal monolith down to size. For the vast majority of the tens of millions of government workers vote Democratic, as do the vast majority of the scores of millions of beneficiaries of federal, state and local programs.

What Pelosi & Co. were saying with that $26 billion bailout this week is, "We are going to protect our own." Which is why either Obama, Pelosi, Reid & Co. go, or we are gone.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38536

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"Why is it a good idea to build a fancy new mosque just two blocks from the site of an act of mass murder that was committed in the name of Islam? Ask this question, and the response is almost certain to be some combination of verbal abuse ('Bigot! Un-American!') and airy abstractions about freedom of religion. No one seems to have a real answer to the question."

-James Taranto

“(President Obama) and Congress remain wedded to an outdated economic model that replaces the private sector's animal spirit and dynamism with the dead hand of government bureaucrats and their unions as the main economic forces in our country. That's what last week's $26.1 billion state 'bailout' was all about. We were told it was to keep teachers from being laid off and 'for the children.' In reality, it was a cynical taxpayer-funded payback to teachers' unions, which gave Obama and his party enthusiastic support and millions in donations in the last election. This is Obama's New America -- a government-run economy, with special benefits for unions and plenty of government jobs, but few private ones."

-Investor's Business Daily

"Which is to be master, indeed? That is the question facing the people of the United States of America today. Will they be ruled by a constitution whose words have objective, propositional meaning or will they be ruled by judicial despots who strip the words of their meaning and twist them to accomplish a social agenda never envisioned by the Founding Fathers and not sanctioned by the American people?"

-Ken Connor

"Obama's slogan, were he to have been honest during the 2008 presidential campaign: 'I've got what it takes to take what you've got.'"

-Rush Limbaugh

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LEFTIST WATCH

President Obama bragged to a Hollywood fundraiser that he and congressional Democrats have “passed the most progressive legislation in decades.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/114569-obama-boasts-of-most-progressive-accomplishments-in-decades

The root causes for the 2008 financial panic were sown some 40 years ago when the Institute for Policy Studies, the notorious "Think Tank of the Left," held socialist seminars geared toward undermining the American capitalist system.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/15/the-cloward-piven-strategy/

A new TV ad from MoveOn.org goes after Target Corp. for making a political campaign donation to a Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota. “The company has apologized for the donation and promised to review future political giving.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/17/ap/business/main6780625.shtml

The leftie group EMILY’s List is targeting Sarah Palin and the 49 candidates she has endorsed so far in the 2010 midterms with the launch of a new campaign, www.SarahDoesntSpeakForMe.com..

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/08/17/emilys-list-targets-sarah-palins-mama-grizzlies/

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BOOKS

“The Left’s Lust for Black Gangstas:” Fox correspondent Erik Rush has just published a book, “Negrophilia: From Slave Block to Pedestal - America's Racial Obsession” A biracial conservative, Rush decries the Left’s slobbering love affair with blacks. Like necrophilia, liberals’ obsession with black people is a sick and creepy fetish.”

http://frontpagemag.com/2010/08/15/the-lefts-lust-for-black-gangstas/

http://www.amazon.com/Negrophilia-Pedestal-Americas-Racial-Obsession/dp/1935071823/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

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ARTICLES

“Today is national Cost of Government Day—the day, as calculated by Americans for Tax Reform, the average American finally stops working to pay for all the expenses of government at all levels, including regulatory burdens.” Besting last year’s dubious honor, this year’s COGD falls later than any year since it was first tracked in 1977……it takes 231 days out of the year for the average worker to meet all the costs imposed by government. Given that “stimulus” funding is still ongoing and the passage of health care “reform” earlier this year, is it any wonder the cost of government consumes a staggering 63.41 percent of national income? This includes 104 days just to pay for federal spending, 52 days just to pay for state and local government expenditures, and 74 days to cover the costs of government regulations.

http://www.libertylive.org/blog_main/post.php?post_id=2258

“Just How Smart is Obama?”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/just_how_smart_is_obama_1.html

“The Cook Political Report Feels the Ground Shift Beneath Its Feet”

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/244016/cook-political-report-feels-ground-shift-beneath-its-feet

“The booming Mars Hill Church recently bought University Baptist's building for $2.5 million, underscoring a surprising trend away from liberal congregations in Seattle.”

http://crosscut.com/2010/08/17/religion/20069/A-tale-of-two-churches:-Mars-Hill-vs.-University-Baptist/

Eight percent of babies born in U.S. hospitals in 2008 had mothers who were illegal aliens. Such newborns bring significant societal costs. Because their parents are poor, the families contribute little in taxes while at the same time relying heavily on government services. Second, our overly generous welfare state provides financial incentives for people to leave Mexico and come to the United States.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/13/anchor-babies-away/

The decision by congressional Democrats to not try to pass a major energy bill in this Congress, while receiving a modest amount of media attention, actually constitutes one of the sharpest rebukes to a sitting president in recent memory.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41254.html

“On behalf of all Hispanics, let me just say this: Muchas gracias, Harry Reid. These days, many Americans are pressed for time. So I was glad to hear that the Senate majority leader is willing to relieve me and every other Hispanic in the United States of the crushing burden of having to think for ourselves and make our own political decisions. No more slogging through the mundane work of reading up on issues, attending candidates' debates and having to reach our own conclusions. Reid is kindly offering to do all the heavy lifting for America's largest minority and decide whether we should vote Republican or Democrat. And, to make things easier, as far as the Nevada Democrat is concerned, there is only one choice for Hispanics. Guess who? The Democratic leader of the Senate is trying to win re-election by courting Hispanics in his home state. But instead of flowers and chocolates, Reid showed up at their door offering only insults and condescension. Harry Reid can wonder all he wants about why any Hispanic could be a Republican. I've been wondering something myself: In light of such flagrant condescension and an obvious lack of regard, why would any self-respecting Hispanic - in Nevada or anywhere else - support Harry Reid?”

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/08/15/harry_reid_misreads_hispanics_106753.html

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Feel good video: (Guess which president hasn't done this yet.)

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

Music video from the Iranian top 40.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSQQ5bS5-3A

EFF informed voter guide for Washington State:

http://www.effwa.org/files/pdf/informedvoterguide.pdf

A new Republican spoof video shows congressional Democrats running from President Obama by bailing out of Air Force One - using the emergency slide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCG1PD4cirE

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LATE NITE

Jay Leno: The economy is so bad, the Obamas are thinking about taking their next vacation in the United States……..The White House is defending President Obama's sports activities over the past week, saying that everyone needs leisure time. Thanks to these economic policies, 9.5 percent of Americans have all the leisure time they need."

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WISE WORDS

"The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience."

-Albert Camus

"[A] wise and frugal government ... shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."

-Thomas Jefferson

op ed review 8/15

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

The union that represents rank-and-file field agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has unanimously passed a "vote of no confidence" for the agency's leadership, saying ICE has "abandoned" its core mission of protecting the public to support a political agenda favoring amnesty.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/9/agents-union-disavows-leaders-of-ice/print/

The Seattle Times calls for Congress to pass regulations that require the mothers of babies born in the United States to be legal immigrants for one year for the baby to automatically become a United States citizen Babies born in the United States to illegal immigrants would not get citizenship.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/northwestvoices/2012599597_anchorbabiesandthe14thamendment.html

Under current law, in Texas where 1.5 million illegal immigrants are estimated to reside, at least 60,000 babies are born into citizenship annually.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/080810dnmetbabies.2be9a7e.html

Last year at Parkland Hospital in Texas, 11,071 babies were born to women who were noncitizens, about 74 percent of. total deliveries.

http://www.floppingaces.net/2010/08/09/60000-illegal-democrats-born-in-texas-each-year/

But former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee says he is against changing the 14th Amendment to remove birthright citizenship.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40990.html

With less than three months until the November midterm election, 72 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of Congress, with 45 percent having a “very unfavorable” view, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70780

Billions of dollars in U.S. rescue funds wound up in big banks in France, Germany and other nations. The U.S. program aimed to stabilize the financial system by injecting money into as many banks as possible, including those with substantial operations overseas. Most other countries, by contrast, focused their efforts more narrowly on their own banks.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100812/D9HHSM180.html

President Obama has abolished the position of White House “ethics czar” and transferred those duties into the portfolio of a partisan ex-lobbyist who previously served as the top lawyer for the Democratic National Committee,

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Obama-closes-curtain-on-transparency-468557-100595914.html#ixzz0wUsvh67P

According to a new survey out Wednesday, nearly 70 percent of all Americans oppose the controversial plan to build the mosque just blocks away from the solemn site in lower Manhattan while just 29 percent favor the construction. Broken down by party affiliation, 54 percent of Democrats oppose the plans while 82 percent of Republicans disapprove. Meanwhile, 70 percent of independents said they are against the proposal.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/11/overwhelming-majority-oppose-mosque-near-ground-zero/

And the motivations of the Ground Zero mosque builders are revealed: “New York Governor David Patterson, in a rare moment of clear-headed thinking, offered to provide state property to the Cordoba House builders if they were willing to move the site farther away…..Patterson was turned down.”

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0810/ahlert.php3

On Friday, at a White House gathering celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the Associated Press reported: “Obama Comes Out in Favor of Allowing Mosque Near Ground Zero”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/13/obama-backs-mosque-near-ground-zero/

On Saturday he quickly backpedaled, saying he was “not commenting on the wisdom” of that project”.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/us/politics/15mosque.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

“No, this is not a joke. In fact, it is instead one of the most brilliant pieces of provocations in recent years. Greg Gutfeld from Fox News’ Red Eye announced via his blog that he is actively speaking to investors and plans on opening a gay bar next to the controversial mosque being built near Ground Zero. “To make matters worse (better?) the bar will be specifically designed to cater to homosexuals of the Islamic faith.”

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/greg-gutfield-to-open-a-gay-bar-next-to-ground-zero-mosque-to-cater-to-islamic-gay-men/

When images of Jean Paul Gaultier-clad First Lady Michelle Obama on a $75,000-a-day Spanish holiday hit the wires, controversy was bound to erupt back home. Her carefully crafted image as "everywoman" was blown. In addition to the high cost, the evolving justifications for the trip offered by the White House's flack were just as dizzying.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/12/2010-08-12_royal_treatment_for_the_first_lady_obama_claims_working_class_roots_but_her_styl.html

The number of Americans who have a positive opinion of First Lady Michelle Obama has fallen to 50 percent.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Michelle-Obama-popularity-falls-100520134.html

At a time when workers' pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees' average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/income/2010-08-10-1Afedpay10_ST_N.htm

Advocacy groups are outraged that Democrats are raiding the food stamp program to fund a state-aid bailout that some call a gift to teachers and government union workers.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/10/democrats-advocacy-groups-blast-cuts-food-stamps-fund-m-jobs/

A Republican congressman says all bills introduced in Congress should include a statement setting forth the specific constitutional authority under which a law is being enacted. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) says his Enumerated Powers Act will force Congress to re-examine the role of the national government and curb its "ever-expanding reach." "For too long, the federal government has operated without Constitutional restraint, creating ineffective and costly programs and massive deficits year after year.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70900

A nationwide survey of 1,000 likely voters found that 59 percent of Democrats think that members of Congress should consider the opinions of homosexual advocacy groups over the opinions of top military commanders when considering a repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”. The survey also showed that half of Democrats support penalizing soldiers opposed to homosexuality, including those who oppose it for religious reasons.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70876

The American Bar Association adopted a resolution this week calling for same-sex marriage nationwide, and urging government at every level to “eliminate” any restrictions on homosexual unions.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/71018

U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who ruled last week that a voter-approved amendment to California’s constitution that limited marriage to the union of one man and one woman violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, based that ruling in part on his finding that “a child does not need and has no right to a mother. Nor, he found, does a child have a need or a right to a father.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70722

A group of high school students attending a conservative leadership conference in Washington, D.C. said they were ordered by a security guard to stop singing the national anthem during a June 25 visit to the Lincoln Memorial. “

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/10/students-told-to-stop-singing-national-anthem-at-lincoln-memorial/

Andy Griffith, the former TV Sheriff of Mayberry and guardian of small town America, is now the national spokesman for ObamaCare.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/the_deadly_pact_how_obamacare.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Investor’s Business Daily 8/10

After suing Arizona to assert federal supremacy over states on immigration, it turns out that ICE, Washington's immigration cop on the beat, isn't enforcing the law at all. This is amnesty by another name.

Oh, what a hullabaloo the Justice Department made last month over Arizona's SB 1070, arguing before a federal district judge that the law must be struck down because the federal government has "pre-eminent authority to regulate immigration matters." Arizona's effort was depicted as some sort of secessionist usurpation of federal prerogatives, despite the fact that SB 1070 mirrored federal law. Incredibly, Judge Susan Bolton, an appointee of President Clinton, agreed and issued an injunction on those grounds.

In practical terms, her decision means that Arizona's 15,000 lawmen could not help federal agents enforce the law on America's largest and most dangerous immigrant-smuggling corridor. Now it's obvious why: The Justice Department isn't interested in enforcing the law.

Last week, 259 representatives of the union that represents 7,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handed down a unanimous vote of "no confidence" in ICE leaders, whose policies keep them from doing their job. Based on those policies, agents can no longer arrest illegal immigrants even if they announce their status on a sandwich board.

According to a June 29 memo from ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton, ICE must now "prioritize the apprehension and removal of aliens who only pose a threat to national security and/or public safety, such as criminals and terrorists." Given that all police agencies look for such targets, such a premise is absurd. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, after all, was arrested by a traffic cop, not a fancy anti-terror strike force, in 1995.

And aside from wondering why terrorists are being released at all across a border they'll have no trouble recrossing, Morton's policy effectively means no one is looking for illegal immigrants once they make it past the Border Patrol. This is taking pick-and-choose law enforcement to an extreme and runs counter to best police practices, such as James Q. Wilson's "broken window" theory of criminology. This holds that enforcement against minor crimes in an area helps prevent an escalation into more serious crime.

ICE's Morton claims the agency has limited resources, so it can deport only 400,000 illegal immigrants a year. From a government agency with a $2.6 billion detention and removal budget, that comes to about $6,500 per deportee, a de facto statement of government inefficiency and waste. And it affects only 4% of all illegal border-crossers.

For ICE agents, such policies mean danger no lawman should have to put up with. With the only people being deported now criminals and terrorists coming out of jail (provided their jailers have placed an "immigration hold" on them), the next stop is spa-like immigration detention centers built with federal stimulus funds and run by ICE. There, hardened criminals are treated to bingo nights and dancing lessons — as immigration activist groups advise, according to Morton's memo. As the criminals enter these centers, their jailers aren't permitted to search them for weapons, drugs or other contraband, creating peril for the ICE agents. Such lunacy is further proof that our immigration system is broken, no matter what the White House says.

The White House is loudest in calling the system broken. Yet its policies make it so. What's going on right now is dereliction of duty under the pretense of policy priorities. Under any other name, that's amnesty.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/543312/201008101851/Amnesty-In-Disguise.aspx

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"While many of us are struggling, the First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her 'closest friends.' According to CNN, the group is expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, more than a third of the lodgings at the 160-room resort…..Estimated room rate per night? Up to a staggering $2,500. Method of transportation? Air Force Two…Transporting and housing the estimated 70 Secret Service agents who will flank the material girl will cost the taxpayers a pretty penny. Perhaps it could be that the Obamas, who seem to fancy themselves more along the lines of international celebrities than actual leaders, espouse a different view of sacrifice. ... In January, President Obama insisted that 'everybody in the country is going to have to sacrifice something, accept change for the greater good. Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game.' If sacrifice is the precursor to change, what will the family that ran on change offer up? Elitist doublespeak won't cut it."

-Andrea Tantaros

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LEFTIST WATCH

The Socialist Party of America says that 70 Congressional democrats currently belong to their caucus. This admission was recently posted on Scribd.com.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/socialist_party_of_america_rev.html

As far as some New Hampshire Democrats are concerned, there was only one thing wrong with the plane crash that killed former Senator Ted Stevens in Alaska: Sarah Palin wasn't on board:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/you_stay_classy_dems.html

The known members of JournoList, a conspiracy to manipulate media coverage to favor leftist positions, now number 151. Which means that about 2/3 of the list remain covert operatives, still functioning without public knowledge of their membership. A complete list is here:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/journolist_update.html

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GLOBALONEY

Fruits and vegetables are not ripening in California because of record cool weather.

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_15723011#ixzz0wDRj0zsz

The UN wants us to eat bugs to save the planet. Gives new meaning to the word “grub”.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1301970/GOOD-GRUB-GUIDE-The-UN-says-eating-creepy-crawlies-save-planet---Our-girl-finds-hard-swallow.html#ixzz0wOyu0tFs

Al Gore is a bitter man. In a conference call with his supporters, Gore all but conceded defeat over getting a climate bill out of Congress this year while unleashing a tirade against cap-and-trade’s opponents. In a somber and seething voice, Gore told callers that, “this battle has not been successful and is pretty much over for this year.” He bitterly denounced the Senate and federal government stating several times, “the U.S. Senate has failed us” and “the federal government has failed us.”

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38512

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ACTIVISM

Home Depot fired employee Trevor Keezor for wearing a button reading "One Nation Under God" to support his country and his 27-year-old brother who is serving in the military in Iraq. The slogan is straight from the Pledge of Allegiance, but a Home Depot spokesman said the button “expressed his religious beliefs” which violates company policy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/trevor-keezor-florida-man_n_337875.html

Take action here:

http://action.afa.net/Detail.aspx?id=2147497324

Liberal protestors have been demonstrating outside Target Corp. or its stores almost daily since the retailer angered gay rights supporters and progressives by giving money to help a conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota. Liberal groups are pushing to make an example of the company, hoping its woes will deter other businesses from putting their corporate funds into elections.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Liberal-groups-push-to-apf-2321043209.html?x=0

On 6/20 I reported that reader Lois Gustafson had been coordinating an effort to support two army trauma nurses in Afghanistan. They rescued and adopted a local dog named SOPHIE and needed $4000 to get her home to El Paso, TX. The bad news: they only raised half that amount. The good news: the widow of the late Michael Landon heard about this effort and wrote a significant check covering the balance on Sophie, and three other dogs as well. Miracles do happen!! To those who contributed, THANK YOU!!

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ARTICLES

If the GOP gains control of one or both Houses of Congress in the November midterm elections, and then does not make good on its promises to reverse and counter the Democrats' socialist agenda, we could hear the death knell that signals the end of the Grand Old Party.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/how_a_gop_november_victory_cou.html

Some leading tea party activists are concerned that their efforts to reshape American politics, starting with the 2010 elections, are being undermined by a shortage of cash that’s partly the result of a deep ambivalence within the movement’s grass roots over the very idea of fundraising and partly attributable to an inability to win over the wealthy donors who fund the conservative establishment.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40800.html

What’s in Michele Bachmann’s future? The Republican congresswoman from Minnesota formed the Tea Party Caucus in the House last month, increasing her visibility as a leader among the Tea Party faithful. Then she filed papers last week to start her own political action committee, MichelePAC, something befitting a person with a national following. She’s now signaled to Tea Party leaders that she’ll sign the Contract from America, a list of legislative priorities from Tea Party activists that’ll endear her even more to the movement that sees her as a rock star.

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/10/tea-party-sees-national-role-for-minnesota-rep-michele-bachmann/

“For all the strange details to emerge in the Maxine Waters bank-bailout scandal, this one might be the most surprising: It turns out members of Congress are prohibited from doing “special favors” for anyone, even if they receive nothing of value in return. Who knew?”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-12/maxine-waters-whacked-barney-frank-untouched-jonathan-weil.html

“The economy is stalling, unemployment seems stuck at European levels of idleness, the federal deficit and the national debt are at historic highs, public confidence in Congress is at its lowest-ever level and big majorities of Mainstream Americans say Obama has the country on the wrong path. Obamanomics has failed miserably and it's time for everybody in this town to admit it so we can move on.”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Time-to-admit-Obamanomics-has-failed-1008050-100154469.html#ixzz0wJB1dSDr

“The panic that propelled Mr. Obama to the presidency has waned. There is deep concern, to be sure. But the Obama strategy has lost the consent of the governed……The magic of 2008 can't be recreated, and good riddance to it. Slowly, the nation has recovered its poise. There is a widespread sense of unstated embarrassment that a political majority, if only for a moment, fell for the promise of an untested redeemer—a belief alien to the temperament of this so practical and sober a nation.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421363005578460.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

“Have a read of this terrifying article by Professor Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University, which using recent IMF analysis pretty convincingly demonstrates that the US is as fiscally bankrupt as a busted flush. As Professor Kotlikoff notes, the entire Federal tax base amounts to 14.7 per cent of GDP, so to close the gap from a revenue perspective would require the authorities to double the rate of taxation in the US.”

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jeremywarner/100007268/why-the-us-is-as-busted-as-a-busted-flush/

“I am bullish on polygamy. It has a bright future. Now that The Very Reverend Vaughn Walker, High Priest of the Church of Political Correctness, has cleared the way for the creation of the oxymoronic idea of “homosexual marriage,” polygamy's life just got a whole lot easier….”

http://townhall.com/columnists/AllenHunt/2010/08/09/polygamy_the_new_growth_stock/page/full

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Must see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTb6qdPu8JE&feature=player_embedded

“When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to 'the reasonable' Muslim demands for their 'religious rights,' they also get the other components under the table. Here's how it works…”

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/04/islam-what-it-i.html

The anti-mosque ad is a powerful ad with images evoking 9/11 designed by a group which strongly opposes the construction of what's being called the "Ground Zero Mosque". The controversial ad was designed, paid for, and presented to the MTA a month ago, but the MTA refused to approve the campaign, so the ad's sponsors decided to bring the fight to court.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/

The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100050412/the-stunning-decline-of-barack-obama-10-key-reasons-why-the-obama-presidency-is-in-meltdown/

Leo Grin has a blog “for conservative movie lovers”

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/author/lgrin/

Rush and Kathryn Limbaugh release wedding photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30710&id=136264019722601&ref=mf

“Intense compilation of nuclear bomb explosions”

http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do;jsessionid=F062AE421D75EC35903310D9FB8B6138?displayContent=218301&ESRC=dod.nl

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LATE NITE

Jay Leno: The New Orleans Saints visited the White House. They presented President Obama with a Saints jersey with the number 44, in honor of his approval rating......President Obama announced this month that he created 70,000 new jobs. The bad news is, they are all vacation planners for him and his family….. Plans are being finalized for Mexico’s bicentennial. On Sept. 15, over 70 million Mexicans will celebrate, and that’s just in Los Angeles…....The U.S. Postal Service reported a $3.5 billion loss in the last quarter, which established it as the federal government’s most successful enterprise……Experts said that eventually, the post office could turn a profit if this e-mail thing turns out to be just a fad……A team of British engineers have developed a car that runs on human waste. I’ll bet that new car smell doesn’t last very long……

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WISE WORDS

“The evil in the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it.”

-Ayn Rand

"Throughout history, government has proved to be the chief instrument for thwarting man's liberty. Government represents power in the hands of some men to control and regulate the lives of other men. And power, as Lord Acton said, corrupts men. 'Absolute power,' he added, 'corrupts absolutely.' State power, considered in the abstract, need not restrict freedom: but absolute state power always does."

-Barry Goldwater

"We should always remember that our strength still lies in our faith in the good sense of the American people. And that the climate in Washington is still opposed to those enduring values, those 'permanent things' that we've always believed in. ... Washington is a place of fads and one-week stories. It's also a company town, and the company's name is government, big government. ... In the discussion of federal spending, the time has come to put to rest the sob sister attempts to portray our desire to get government spending under control as a hard-hearted attack on the poor people of America."

-Ronald Reagan