op ed review 1/9
Signs asking freshman members of Congress to keep their promises to cut spending were among the first things newly elected reps saw at Reagan National Airport as they make their way to Washington to start the 112th Congress.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/01/03/airport-ad-campaign-targets-freshman-members-of-congress/
Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) was elected 53rd Speaker of the House in a party-line vote, winning unanimous support from the new Republican majority.
They want to repeal the healthcare overhaul, pare back financial regulations, slash federal spending and curtail the reach of the Environmental Protection Agency. In essence, they want to challenge the agenda of the Obama administration at every turn. The new GOP chairmen of key House committees such as Appropriations, Budget, Energy and Commerce, and Oversight and Government Reform believe they have a mandate to check the size and scope of government.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-new-chairmen-20110101,0,6059378,full.story
A top House Republican says GOP lawmakers will go after President Barack Obama's health care law piece by piece to see if they can make it crumble.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/40877964
Democratic party ID drops to lowest in 22 years.
“Large-scale exodus from Democratic Party of whites…”
http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/in-2012-obama-may-need-a-new-coalition-20110105?page=1
In 2009, 41 percent of pregnancies in New York City resulted in abortion..
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/01/07/41-percent-of-nyc-pregnancies-result-in-abortion/
The next big battle on the illegal immigration front is beginning to take shape. A group of state law-makers plans to challenge the idea that babies born in the United States to immigrant parents should automatically be granted citizenship
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/01/07/the-next-immigration-battle-birthright-citizenship/
The cost of illuminating your home is about to go up significantly. Most Americans take for granted that when they flip a switch, darkness immediately gives way to a warm, natural light. That's no longer possible in California, where a regulation that took effect Jan. 1 only allows the sale of harsh, cold compact fluorescents above a certain wattage. Unless the new Congress takes action, the same rules will apply to the rest of the country, beginning next year.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/5/light-bulb-banning-begins/
“The New York Times Finally Covers Union Snow-Shoveling Slowdown, Buries It on page A-20”
Blue Shield of California is seeking hikes of as much as 59% for tens of thousands of customers March 1, the result of fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from Obamacare.
http://www.latimes.com/health/healthcare/la-fi-insure-rates-20110106,0,6975599.story
Construction had to stop at 45 hospitals nationwide because Section 6001 of Obamacare effectively bans new physician-owned hospitals (POHs) from starting up, and it keeps existing ones from expanding.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/01/obamacare_stops_construction_a.html
Democrats who are nervous about reelection are increasingly ready to consider scrapping the new healthcare law’s provision that forces people to buy health insurance or pay a fine..
What a concept!: The Greek government has unveiled plans to construct a wall along its 128-mile land border with Turkey in order to tackle the influx of illegal immigrants.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343885/Greece-follows-U-S-example-building-giant-border-wall-illegal-immigrants.html#ixzz1ACW8fzKX
Any semblance of objectivity grew fairy wings and flew out the window on the January 3 broadcast of NBC’S “Today Show.” Host Meredith Vieira promoted a book by Cheryl Kilodavis, titled “My Princess Boy,” an illustrated children’s book that promotes the tolerance of cross-dressing boys. NBC’s “Today’s Family” segment featured Kilodavis and her son Dysonin an eight-minute story and interview. Dyson likes to wear girls’ clothes and do girl things. Mom likes to make money off her son’s proclivities. And “Today” wants to educate viewers about “tolerating” little boys who wear dresses.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/erin-r-brown/2011/01/04/nbc-promotes-princess-boy-propaganda
It took just 7 months for the National Debt to increase from $13 trillion on June 1, 2010 to $14 trillion on Dec. 31. It also means the debt is fast approaching the statutory ceiling $14.294 trillion set by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last February.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20027090-503544.html
President Obama's first two years in office were for the ages: Rarely has so much been spent so wantonly with so little discernible public benefit.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/01/04/can_the_spending_be_stopped_108426.html
“European nations begin seizing private pensions…..Hungary, Poland, and three other nations take over citizens' pension money to make up government budget shortfalls.”
In a stunning ten-page declaration recently submitted to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, veteran attorney Donald H. Steier stated that his investigations into claims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have uncovered vast fraud and that his probes have revealed that many accusations are completely false. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/dave-pierre/2011/01/02/wheres-media-la-atty-declares-many-abuse-accusations-against-catholic-p#ixzz19wqibdEQ
When the new Congress is seated, it will boast the largest number of Iraq War veterans ever, but will have a lower overall number of veterans. The influx of younger veterans includes eight House members and two Senators, all Republicans, who have served in Iraq
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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
T.J. O’Hara 1/5
The Majority Leadership of the 112th Congress is “going where no Congress has gone before” by reading the actual Constitution and all of its Amendments into the Congressional Record. It obviously has taken a page from my book, The National Platform of Common Sense (page 61 to be exact). You see, if you serve in Congress, you have taken the following oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”…..
Common sense tells us that if our Congressmen are going to swear (or affirm) to uphold the Constitution, they should at least be familiar with it. In The National Platform of Common Sense, I call for them to be tested on it. Can you imagine what a political catastrophe that would be?
Yet, many political pundits are assailing the reading of the Constitution as political grandstanding. Ezra Klein, a staff writer for The Washington Post and an MSNBC Contributor, recently portrayed the reading as “a gimmick” and stated, “The issue with the Constitution is that the text is confusing because it was written more than 100 years ago and what people believe it says differs from person to person and differs depending upon what they want to get done.” ……..The Constitution is actually over 223 years old, so the issue of archaic language may present even a greater obstacle than Mr. Klein suggests. Let’s see: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Hmmmm … other than the spelling of “defence,” the language appears to be reasonably clear.
Maybe it’s the language in Article I to which he was referring. “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” No, that seems clear as well.
How about Article II? “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows …” Actually, that seems to be unambiguous as well. It must be Article III that’s confusing!
Article III begins: “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.”
Now, I’m confused. I seem to be able to understand Article III as well, and as I look through the rest of the Constitution, I don’t see any particular problems. If it’s not the age of the Constitution and our perceived inability to understand it that emasculates its power, what can it be?
I think Mr. Klein put his finger on the real culprit when he said, “what people believe it says … differs depending upon what they want to get done.” He’s absolutely right … or should I say “left” (I don’t want to offend anyone). The problem with the Constitution isn’t what it says; the problem is how people interpret it “depending upon what they want to get done.” I rather doubt that this is what the Framers had in mind.
This is where human frailty and the “Seven Deadly Sins” - Pride; Greed; Envy; Anger; Lust; Gluttony; and Sloth - enter into the equation. If you choose to filter the Constitution through the prism of these “sins” to support your own selfish interests, it’s easy to see how the Constitution might lose its relevancy. It would appear that many of our career politicians have elevated this to an art form.
However, Speaker-designate Boehner is proposing a new rule that will require Congressional Members to submit a statement that defines the constitutional basis for any bill they wish to introduce. The political heretic even wants bills that come from the Senate to be reviewed in this same regard by the Chairman of the House Committee of Jurisdiction. What’s he trying to do … get everyone to honor their oath? Let’s call for his impeachment or, at least, his censure! So what if he hasn’t even cheated on his taxes. If he had, he’d probably be a member of the Cabinet. The man is a menace to the political process as we know it!
To resolve this issue once and for all, I obviously must step into the fray. With the power vested in me as The Common Sense Czar, I do hereby ordain that from this day forward the Constitution shall be read into the record on the first day of each new Congress and that it shall remain the law of the land. And when The National Platform of Common Sense is fully adopted, prepare to hear the phrase, “Now, take out a piece of paper … we’re going to have a little test.”
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GLOBALONEY
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will directly enforce new greenhouse-gas rules in parts of Arizona after the state refused to submit its own program for controlling the pollutants.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/02/20110102arizona-greenhouse-gas-rules-epa.html
The headline news for the coal industry in 2010 was what didn't happen: Construction did not begin on a single new coal-fired power plant in the United States for the second straight year. "Coal is a dead man walkin'," says Kevin Parker, global head of asset management and a member of the executive committee at Deutsche Bank. "Banks won't finance them. Insurance companies won't insure them. The EPA is coming after them. . . . And the economics to make it clean don't work."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/31/AR2010123104110.html
It may be heresy to conservatives, but a trip down memory lane shows nearly all of the top-tier Republican presidential contenders want to save the planet from global warming. On the campaign stump, in books, speeches and nationally-televised commercials, aspiring GOP White House candidates such as Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney have warned in recent years about the threats from climate change and pledged to limit greenhouse gases. Some have even committed the ultimate sin, endorsing the controversial cap-and-trade concept that was eventually branded “cap and tax.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46699.html
Claims that the "Great Garbage Patch" between California and Japan is twice the size of Texas is "grossly exaggerated" said the research which reckons it is more like one per cent the size. Further reports that the oceans are filled with more plastic than plankton, and that the patch has been growing tenfold each decade since the 1950s are equally misleading, the new research claimed. In reality it often cannot even be seen from the deck of a passing boat, said the latest analysts from Oregon State University professor of oceanography Angelicque White.
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LEFTIST WATCH
As she debated right-leaning rocker Ted Nugent on a special edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 on Wednesday during the 9:00 p.m. hour, liberal comedian Roseanne Barr tagged Sarah Palin a "loon" and a "traitor to this country" and, although she apologized later, called Palin’s followers the "dumbest people on Earth," and described them as being "on the government dole."
Noted author Paul Kengor has unearthed declassified letters and other documents in the Soviet Comintern archives linking early leaders of the ACLU with the Communist Party. Kengor found a May 23, 1931 letter in the archives signed by ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, written on ACLU stationery, to then American Communist Party Chairman William Z. Foster asking him to help ACLU Chairman Harry Ward with his then-upcoming trip to Stalin’s Russia. The letter suggests Ward intended to visit the Soviet Union to find “evidence from Soviet Russia” that would undermine the capitalist profit motive.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/01/04/the-aclu%E2%80%99s-untold-stalinist-heritage/
For more than 200 years, Americans have revered the Constitution as the law of the land, but the GOP and tea party heralding of the document in recent months - and the planned recitation on the House floor Thursday - have caused some Democrats to worry that the charter is being misconstrued as the immutable word of God. "They are reading it like a sacred text," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the outgoing chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution.
http://nation.foxnews.com/constitution/2011/01/05/propaganda-us-congressman-slanders-constitution#
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BOOKS
"In sum, the fears of Obama's harshest critics are justified. The president of the United States is a socialist." -- Stanley Kurtz, writing in “Radical-In-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism”
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/01/04/boehner-takes-on-radical-in-ch
Delingpole, in this pole-axing tome, encourages the conservative, libertarian and recovering democrat to go for the jugular vein of the socialist ingrates who’re giddy to gut our nation of its exceptionalism. James exhorts the reader to annoy the annoyers, to quit being nicer than Christ and get into the verbal fray and demolish the diminishing few who still inhale Obama’s ganja through jokes, facts, arguments and outrageous rumors. Don’t worry, this task will be easy and God will help you succeed in this venture because, as James points out: 1. Liberals have no sense of humor. 2. Liberals have no facts on their side. 3. Liberals are hypocrites. 4. God, being conservative Himself, hates liberalism at least as much as you do, which is why he created reasons 1, 2 and 3.
http://townhall.com/columnists/DougGiles/2011/01/01/2011_resolution_annoy_the_left_365/page/full/
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ISLAM
At the start of the new year, the Governor of Punjab was murdered because he had opposed the call by Pakistan’s Islamists to execute a Christian woman on false blasphemy charges arising out of her harassment by her Muslim neighbors.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/31786
“Iranian forces have arrested an American woman on spying charges after she tried to enter the country from Armenia "with spying equipment in her teeth," http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidANA20110106T125340ZLKW35
Saudi Arabian officials have "detained" a vulture on accusations of being a spy for Israel, media reports say. The griffon vulture was carrying a GPS transmitter bearing the name of Tel Aviv University, prompting rumours it was part of a Zionist plot.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12120259
Attorneys are scheduled to meet for a final time before the founder of a Muslim-oriented television station goes on trial on charges he beheaded his estranged wife inside the station's New York studios.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/lawyers_to_meet_in_advance_of_wife_SYZyh4oQYEVMO00U3Jw2iJ
An Iraqi immigrant accused of killing his daughter because he believed she was too Westernised is to go on trial in Arizona this month.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1343589/Iraqi-immigrant-Faleh-Hassan-Almaleki-trial-hit-run-kill-westernised-daughter.html
???? The number of Muslim converts in Britain has passed 100,000, fuelled by a surge in young white women adopting the Islamic faith. The figure has almost doubled in ten years – with the average convert now a 27-year-old white woman fed up with British consumerism and immorality
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CHINA
A few weeks ago, grainy photos surfaced online showing what several prominent defense analysts said appeared to be a prototype of a Chinese stealth fighter jet that could compete with the best of America's warplanes, years ahead of U.S. predictions. Days later, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet disclosed that a long-awaited Chinese anti-ship missile, designed to sink an American aircraft carrier, was nearly operational. The Pentagon had predicted that China wouldn't have a stealth fighter for a decade or more….
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-military-20110107,0,3324067.story
“I am struck by the juxtaposition of two news items. First, it is being reported that Bob Gates is proposing $100 billion in defense cuts over the next five years, including the cancellation of the Marines' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. Second it is being reported that China's military modernization program is moving ahead faster than expected.”
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/boot/385761
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ACTIVISM
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) is sponsoring two conferences in January that you should attend if you can. Called Push Forward, these day long events are designed to make you a better informed and equipped citizen activist. On January 15, the conference will be held at the Sea Tac Doubletree and on January 29 at the Hilton Vancouver Convention Center. They will run from 9 AM – 4 PM. There will be sessions on the state budget problems and solutions, on how state government is organized, and on blogging, research and lobbying.
http://pushforwardseattle.eventbrite.com/
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is asking supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund to help him build a war chest ahead of the 2012 elections, when Republicans are hopeful they can take back the majority in the Senate. In an email sent Tuesday with the subject line "Say No to RINOs in 2011," DeMint pledged that the Senate Conservatives Fund will play a key role in the upcoming legislative battles in the Senate with an eye towards 2012. In the fundraising appeal, DeMint also reminded supporters that five of his political action committee's endorsed candidates won this past November.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/135801-demint-say-no-to-rinos-in-2011
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ARTICLES
The Triumph of Propaganda: Does anyone remember what happened on Christmas Eve last year? In one of the most expensive Christmas presents ever, the government removed the $400 billion limit on their Fannie and Freddie guaranty. This act increased taxpayer liabilities by six trillion dollars; however, the news was lost in the holiday cheer. This is one instance in a broader campaign to manipulate the public perception, gradually depriving us of independent thought…….. Amazingly, any attempt to hold the government accountable for its role in the subprime meltdown is dismissed as right-wing propaganda. This dismissal is left-wing propaganda. It was the government that initiated securitization as a tool to dispose of RTC assets. Bill Clinton ducks all responsibility, ignoring how his administration imposed arbitrary quotas on any banks looking to merge as Attorney General Janet Reno "threatened legal action against lenders whose racial statistics raised her suspicions."[iv] Greenspan fueled the rise of subprime derivatives by lowering rates,[v] lowering reserves,[vi] and beating down reasonable opposition. And at the center of it all were Fannie and Freddie bribing officials, committing fraud, dominating private-sector competition, and expanding to a six-trillion-dollar debacle. The fact that these facts are dismissed as propaganda shows just how divorced from reality our ‘news' has become.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/the_triumph_of_propaganda.html
Washington State is growing, as evidenced by the fact that we'll be receiving a new Congressional district in 2012. And while conventional wisdom holds that a population boom in the "Soviet of Washington" is a boon for Democrats, a closer examination of the actual numbers might prove different. Broken down by legislative districts, the fastest-growing regions in the Evergreen State are overwhelmingly Republican. Areas where population growth has trailed or stagnated vote overwhelmingly Democrat. What this means is a potential shift of power in Olympia, if not the other Washington, for the 2012 election after redistricting takes place.
The late Murray Rothbard, famous Austrian economist and libertarian, published a collection of essays under the title Making Economic Sense. One subsection was entitled "Politics as Economic Violence." That phrase described, in Rothbard's view, politics' contribution to society. Rothbard's reasoning was simple: Economics is the interaction of people freely making choices while subject to minimal restriction (no theft, coercion, fraud, etc.). Politics is coercion to force outcomes that otherwise would not occur. Thus, politics is violence against economics, or people, because it precludes freedom's running its natural course.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/the_coming_political_upheaval.html
Lock up your daughters, here come the feminists! Or rather, the so-called feminists. Because what is “feminist” about teaching generations of women that men are the enemy, all-powerful, oppressive and malevolent? What is feminist about the message that women are victims, passive and powerless? Absolutely nothing. And finally, after 50 years of this wrong-headed orthodoxy being dressed up as liberating and empowering, a report exposes it as nothing but a big fat myth.
Ponzi socialism
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/ponzi_socialism_N5xwI2ZD0bi10DOp9wsARM
Big Labor and politicians across the United States have transferred union costs to taxpayers. For example, SEIU Local 444 (The Sanitation Officers Association, see related snow slowdown stories) has six full-time union officials who are paid full-time city benefits and salary, yet work 0.00% of the time for New York City. These Sanitation Officers are working on everything but New York City business – including political activities and golf outings – all on the taxpayers’ dime.
http://biggovernment.com/dloos/2011/01/06/new-york-citys-no-show-seiu-snow-jobs/
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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES
“Obummer”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiGg8D4hFLc
Tea Party 2010: A year of review in photos
RightChange engages Americans through informed, fact-based content delivered in a creative format and through multimedia platforms to allow viewers to develop their own conclusions about the most critical economic and national security policies of our day. RightChange cuts through the political spin by using politicians’ own words, votes and actions to hold them accountable.
Outrageous quotes of 2010
http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/2010/default.aspx
The 10 Most Underreported Stories for 2010
http://bigjournalism.com/dloesch/2011/01/03/the-10-most-underreported-stories-for-2010/
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HUMOR
Dave Barry: Let's put things into perspective: 2010 was not the worst year ever. There have been MUCH worse years. For example, toward the end of the Cretaceous Period, Earth was struck by an asteroid that wiped out about 75 percent of all of the species on the planet. Can we honestly say that we had a worse year than those species did? Yes, we can, because they were not exposed to "Jersey Shore."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/23/AR2010122303570.html?hpid=topnews
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WISE WORDS
"[T]he present Constitution is the standard to which we are to cling. Under its banners, bona fide must we combat our political foes -- rejecting all changes but through the channel itself provides for amendments."
-Alexander Hamilton
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12:07 PM
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