op ed review 3/25

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

Mitt Romney won the Illinois primary. Also wins in Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOP_CAMPAIGN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-20-20-35-55

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush endorsed Mitt Romney after Romney’s lopsided win in Illinois. The former Florida Governor – a Republican heavyweight – called on members of the party to coalesce behind Romney.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/jeb-bush-endorses-mitt-romney-in-gop-primary/

The tea party says “the time has come for Republicans to unite around the former Massachusetts governor and focus on defeating President Obama.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/20/romney-gets-tepid-tea-party-support/

“America’s toughest sheriff” says there is “tons” more potentially shocking information on Barack Obama in connection with his probe into the president’s eligibility, and he calls the media’s suppression of his findings of a likely forged presidential birth certificate and Selective Service Card “probably the biggest censorship blackout in the history of the United States..”

http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/sheriff-joe-tons-more-shocking-obama-info/

The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that landowners can sue to challenge a federal government compliance order under the clean water law, a decision that sides with corporate groups and puts new limits on a key Environmental Protection Agency power.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/21/us-usa-court-epa-idUSBRE82K0YT20120321

Two-thirds of Americans say the U.S. Supreme Court should throw out either the individual mandate in the federal health care law or the law in its entirety, signaling the depth of public disagreement with that element of the Affordable Care Act.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/as-health-care-laws-trial-approaches-two-thirds-say-ditch-individual-mandate/

There’s an “extremely high level of waste” in federal health spending, ranging between 20 and 30 percent, the freshly departed head of the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services told the New York Times. (In other words a typical government program)

http://times247.com/pset/big-government-waste-that-will-infuriate-you-/page/1#ixzz1phE6KnTi

The Obama administration has approved an experiment using the remains of the bodies of unborn children victimized in abortion for research.

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/16/obama-admin-oks-using-aborted-babies-brains-in-lab-tests/

The Marine Corps Times previews its cover story about anti-Obama Marines at their 'Battle Rattle' blog.

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/marine-times-investigates-anti-obama-marines/438681

Pope Benedict XVI, flying to Cuba for a historic visit, has said that Marxism was out of place in the contemporary world and urged Cubans to find "new models".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/23/pope-benedict-communism-cuba

President Obama is about to launch a 5,000-mile, four-state, two-day trip on Air Force One to contain the political damage caused by high gas prices. His 5,000-mile trip will consume roughly 25,000 gallons of jet fuel.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/19/obama-burns-jet-fuel-to-downplay-gasoline-prices/#ixzz1pZeMAEdJ

Democratic lawmakers in Washington State said that they will try to pass a bill during the current special session requiring insurers who cover maternity care to also pay for abortions.

http://www.katu.com/politics/WA-lawmakers-vow-to-push-abortion-insurance-bill-143607216.html

It costs taxpayers more than $57 for each rider to take the Sounder commuter train from Everett to Seattle -- and that's just one way. For Sound Transit Express buses, it costs taxpayers $4.33 for each rider between the same destinations.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20120321/NEWS01/703219947

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Rich Lowry, National Review 3/6

If anyone does a year-end wrap-up of the worst ideas of 2012, losing the presidential election deserves to be high on the list.

A note of gloomy wishfulness has entered Republican thinking of late. Maybe a loss in November (if Mitt Romney wins the nomination) won’t be so bad, because a cleansing fire will rid the party of moderates once and for all. Or, from the opposite point of view (if Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich were somehow to get nominated), a devastating defeat will teach the party’s purists a lesson. In any event, a Republican Congress could foil President Barack Obama’s noxious initiatives in a second term.

All of this is hopefulness masquerading as hardheadedness. No shift in the balance of power within the Republican party, no congressional check on the president, no silver lining can possibly outweigh the setback the GOP will suffer if President Obama wins a second term.

Assuming it’s not struck down by the Supreme Court, Obamacare will be on the books until 2017, and probably forevermore. No matter how unpopular it is now, it will eventually become part of the permanent architecture of the welfare state, as unmovable as almost every other entitlement. It won’t be long before Republicans are couching their criticisms of the program in terms of “saving” it. The repeal movement will eventually feel as dated as opposition to the creation of Medicare.

If Republicans hold the House and at least a substantial minority in the Senate, the president’s ability to pass major new programs will be limited. But the debate over the Health and Human Services contraception mandate demonstrates the power and discretion attendant to controlling the executive branch. The administration came up with the rule mandating coverage with no exemption for religious institutions all on its own. What could congressional Republicans do to stop it? Nothing.

This is a theme. What could congressional Republicans do to stop the auto bailouts? Nothing. The Libya War? Nothing. The Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing? Nothing. They objected to the administration’s dithering on the Keystone pipeline, so they included a requirement that President Obama make a decision in an unrelated piece of must-pass legislation. He escaped this clever trap — by rejecting the pipeline.

This is the tale of congressional frustration when Republicans have been united. There’s no guarantee that they will remain so if their numbers diminish next year and if their standing with the public remains low. A cataract of tax increases set for 2013 will give the president invaluable leverage in budget negotiations. As ever, he will have outsized influence in setting the agenda. With one speech, he can take income inequality from an animating issue in Zuccotti Park to an animating issue in the national debate.

He will presumably replace the liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who will be 80 in 2013, with another liberal who will serve for another 30 years. If Justice Anthony Kennedy or Justice Antonin Scalia steps aside (both were born in 1936), he gets the opportunity to shift the balance of the court for decades.

There is no presidential election that is not said to be the most important in our lifetime. It was even said in 1996, when Bill Clinton won a decisive but not particularly consequential victory over Bob Dole. But Clinton had been chastened by the Republican sweep in 1994, and in a period of peace and prosperity, the country could afford to debate the meaning of “is.” Now, we are truly at an inflection point, between the Barack Obama and Paul Ryan approaches to government, between consolidation of the past three years of historic government expansion and rollback.

The downbeat musings on the right are driven by the dreary primary season and the belief that the party’s nominee will be weak. But so is the president, who leads likely nominee Mitt Romney only narrowly even after Romney’s season of self-inflicted wounds. For Republicans, the general election is still winnable, and there is no substitute for victory.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/292682/no-substitute-victory-rich-lowry

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"In the general election, President Obama will have all the advantages against Romney that Romney currently has against his Republican rivals. ... And the mainstream media will give Obama more publicity than Romney can buy. How does anyone ever defeat a sitting president then? They do it because they have a message that rings and resonates. ... The question is not which Republican looks better against Barack Obama in the polls today, before the general election campaign begins. The question is which Republican can take the fight to Barack Obama, as Reagan took the fight to Carter, and win the poll that ultimately matters, the vote on Election Day."

-Thomas Sowell

"Congratulations to Obama! He's now increased the debt more in three years than George W. Bush did his entire eight year presidency. But all that spending was worth it because just look at the great results! So what exactly is the argument that Obama isn't a hugely incompetent failure? So far it's 'Look! Over there! A war on women!'"

Frank J. Fleming

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LEFTIST WATCH

Ted Rall....a peek into the mind of an economic illiterate and absolute moron. “We've been programmed to believe that the only way to get money is to earn it. It's time to separate income from work……”

http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=14825

Riding the slippery slope: Here come the calls for “After birth abortion”….. “….the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.”

http://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2012/03/01/medethics-2011-100411.long

The liberal Media Matters for America is using a past campaign against Glenn Beck as a template against Limbaugh. Media Matters is spending at least $100,000 for two advertisements that will run in eight cities.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/22/radio-campaign-next-step-against-rush-limbaugh/

For nearly a decade search engine users looking for the word "Santorum" were greeted at the top of their results with a crude sexual term. The hijacked Google search was the result of a campaign by sex columnist and gay rights campaigner Dan Savage, who declared war on the socially conservative senator after Mr Santorum said homosexual sex was "antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family" in a 2003 interview.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/9164173/Rick-Santorum-solves-his-Google-problem.html

Singer Cee Lo Green performs his hit tune "F**k You" at an Obama fundraiser in Atlanta. He uses the explicit lyrics before he uses the radio-friendly "Forget You" lyrics. President Obama speaks shortly after his performance.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/17/cee_lo_green_performs_fk_you_flips_off_crowd_at_obama_fundraiser.html

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BOOKS, FILM

“Hostile Takeover: Resisting Centralized Government's Stranglehold on America” Matt Kibbe, the high-profile leader of FreedomWorks—which the New York Times calls, “the most influential Tea Party-aligned group in Washington”—now offers an intelligent, aggressively argued attack on the American federal government machine in Washington, DC…..provides a blueprint for “resisting centralized government’s stranglehold on America,” in order to return the nation to the more workable system our Founding Fathers originally intended.

http://www.amazon.com/Hostile-Takeover-Centralized-Stranglehold-ebook/dp/B007BCFQ2W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1332284586&sr=8-3

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GLOBALONEY

What’s behind the environmental movement: “Effective World Government Will Be Needed to Stave Off Climate Catastrophe”

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/03/17/effective-world-government-will-still-be-needed-to-stave-off-climate-catastrophe/

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ISLAM

At least 943 Pakistani women and girls were murdered last year for allegedly defaming their family’s honor, the country’s leading human rights group said Thursday.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/22/202385.html

Iranian spies have conducted "hostile reconnaissance" of New York City landmarks and infrastructure on at least six occasions since 2002, the NYPD's director of intelligence told Congress on Wednesday. The NYPD says it has interviewed at least 13 individuals associated with the government of Iran who were caught suspiciously videotaping or photographing New York City landmarks and infrastructure, including the subway tracks in Grand Central Station, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Wall Street Heliport.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/nypd_says_iranian_spies_have_conducted_eeJK35zlbA20w7AkNXtPdK

Ten days after Saudi Arabia’s foremost religious leader called for a demolition of all churches in the Arabian Peninsula – in line with a purported injunction by Mohammed – the U.S. government and other allies of the kingdom have yet to react.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/us-silent-top-saudi-cleric-s-call-destroy-churches

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ACTIVISM

The campaign for marriage in Washington State is now at full speed! Referendum 74 petitions are now available. Get yours here:

http://www.preservemarriagewashington.com/home.php

Help fund independent investigation of Obama’s eligibility.

http://superstore.wnd.com/specialty-items/HELP-FUND-INDEPENDENT-INVESTIGATIONS-OF-OBAMAS-ELIGIBILITY

Jonah Goldberg tribute to Andrew Breitbart “The five alarm fire bell falls silent.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/292415/five-alarm-firebell-falls-silent-jonah-goldberg

You can honor the passing of Andrew Breitbart by making a donation to the Breitbart Children's Trust, 149 S. Barrington Ave, #735 Los Angeles, CA 90049.

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THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Mitt Romney's national support among Republican voters has surged in recent days, coincident with his decisive victory in the Illinois primary and a prominent endorsement from Jeb Bush. Romney's support has increased to 40%, the first time a candidate has reached that level in this campaign,

http://www.gallup.com/poll/153422/Romney-Expands-National-GOP-Lead.aspx

Romney added to his advantage over his GOP rivals in the delegate tally by winning the Puerto Rico presidential primary.

http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/17/10734544-nbc-romney-wins-puerto-rico-primary

Rick Santorum probably wishes he hadn’t said this in 2008: “Governor Romney is the candidate who will stand up for the conservative principles that we hold dear……Governor Romney has a deep understanding of the important issues confronting our country today, and he is the clear conservative candidate that can go into the general election with a united Republican party…"

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/former-us-senator-rick-santorum-r-pa-endorses-governor-mitt-romney-56763867.html

Campaigning at Bradley University, Mitt Romney quickly criticized a student for wanting "free stuff" from the government. "You're all for like 'yay freedom and all this stuff and yay pursuit of happiness,'" said the college-aged girl. "You know what would make me happy? Free birth control." "Let me tell you something, if you're looking for free stuff that you don't have to pay for, vote for the other guy," Romney told the student. "That's what he's all about."

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/romney-schools-free-birth-control-student/436581

Rick Santorum was fighting to maintain the credibility of his bid for the Republican nomination Tuesday after a series of gaffes and organizational failures started to drain momentum from his campaign. As voters headed to the polls in Illinois for the latest primary, Mr Santorum found himself on the defensive after letting slip that he "didn't care" about the unemployment rate.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Santorum+campaign+loses+momentum+gaffes+begin+tell/6329380/story.html

“Why I'd repeal ObamaCare” by Mitt Romney

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-03-22/mitt-romney-health-reform-repeal-obamacare/53711598/1

Larry Kudlow: The late William F. Buckley Jr. naturally put it best when he said, “The wisest choice would be the one who could win. No sense running Mona Lisa in a beauty contest. I’d be for the most right, viable candidate who could win.” Bill Buckley’s Law applies to Mitt Romney today……One can seriously ask whether Romney isn’t the most conservative presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/294317/reagan-romney-larry-kudlow

Oscar-Winning Producer Presents '2016': Investigative Obama Documentary. Watch the trailer here:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/03/21/oscar-winning-producer-vets-obama-2016

Unsettling article about the Romney campaign.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/23/pruden-an-attack-of-the-fruit-fly-at-romneys-campa/

VDH: When Barack Obama went into hibernation in December and vacationed in Hawaii, we noted that his poll numbers edged back up some. His advisers probably noticed the anomaly too: that the less the people hear and see of Obama, the more they seem to like the abstract idea of Obama — a young, charismatic postracial president. The reality of Obama is something else again: a highly partisan, divisive statist, who cannot finish a speech without blaming his predecessor, mangling history, or creating yet another straw-man bogeyman.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/293884/obama-s-virtual-rose-garden-victor-davis-hanson

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ARTICLES

Warning: This column contains news of evidence of possible forgery and fraud in the long-form birth certificate of the president of the United States and – bonus – his Selective Service registration card……Have you read in your local paper about the technical evidence that led the posse’s three retired criminal investigators and two attorneys to conclude that the birth certificate image White House officials uploaded at the White House website on April 27, 2011, did not originate in a paper format, but rather was created (forged) as an electronic file on a computer?.......In “1984″-style, we mustn’t question. We mustn’t look….One editor told me the problem is the evidence of fraud might prove to be true! A very famous conservative figure told me that if the president were proved to be an identity thief, “that would alienate too many people” from the Republican Party! Clearly, something has us all on lockdown. That’s much, much scarier than even the amazing possibility that some con artist might be pulling off the biggest scam in history.

http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2073/Silence-of-the-Lapdogs.aspx

Lord Christopher Monckton, a former policy adviser to British Prime Minister Thatcher, on President Obama’s citizenship: “You use Adobe Illustrator and each of the individual dates is in its own separate layer. This thing has been fabricated…..I’m no birther, don’t get me wrong….I haven’t a clue where Obama was born……But the point is, is what he has done on the White House website is he has put up a document which is plainly a forgery and I would regard that as a very serious matter.”

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/22/lord-monckton-im-no-birther-but-obama-birth-certificate-plainly-a-forgery/#ixzz1px1nPBiT

What the Mailman Knows about Ayers and Obama.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/what_the_mailman_knows_about_ayers_and_obama.html

Dr Milton Wolf (President Obama’s cousin) “Obamacare is the product of statements known by their makers to be untrue and meant to deceive - lies. Two years after the president signed his health care takeover into law, the enormity of those lies continues to grow……The government takeover of the American health care system and with it a sixth of our economy is a big deal. Lying to the American people to make it happen, as Joe Biden would say, that’s a big [expletive] deal.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/21/obamacare-its-a-big-disastrous-deal/

Back when he agreed to advise the Obama administration on economics, General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt told friends that he thought it would be good for GE and good for the country. A life-long Republican, Immelt said he believed he could at the very least moderate the president’s distinctly anti-business instincts. Friends describe Immelt as privately dismayed that, even after three years on the job, President Obama hasn’t moved to the center, but instead further left…..as one friend recently put it to me, “Jeff thought he could make a difference, and now realizes he couldn’t.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bam_angry_adviser_YOANZQkGODYVqFDAsI9LjP#ixzz1pfxw1oNL

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Jon McNaughton has released a new painting. In “One Nation Under Socialism,” President Obama holds the U.S. Constitution as it burns.

http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/artwork/view_zoom/421

Rep. Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity budget proposal:

http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/BLUEPRINT_FINAL_3192012.pdf

Computer whiz explains how the Obama birth certificate was faked in Adobe Illustrator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s9StxsFllY

Click on the rose:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/27920977?title=0&%3bbyline=0&%3bportrait=0href=

Cute kid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wt824D1Bqg

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LATE NITE:

Leno: At the White House this week, President Obama and the first lady hosted a St. Patrick's Day reception for the Irish prime minister. They had a bartender pouring green beer, which is about as close as the White House has come to creating green jobs so far…….Tim Tebow has been traded to the New York Jets. Can you imagine Tim Tebow in New York City? Talk about throwing a Christian to the lions……The State Department is warning spring breakers about the dangers of violence from Mexican drug gangs. So, to avoid the threat, stay out of L.A.

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WISE WORDS

"No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable."

-George Washington

op ed review 3/18

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

80% Say They’re Not Better Off Now Than Four Years Ago

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/293296/mere-80-say-theyre-not-better-four-years-ago

Congressional Budget Office: Debt is exploding under Obama policies

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74109.html

Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels said Tuesday that the size of the U.S. national debt and the rate at which the debt is accumulating will lead the United States to “ruin” -- and no other outcome is mathematically possible

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gov-mitch-daniels-terrifying-rate-which-us-debt-accumulating-will-lead-national-ruin

Some 10,215 new federal regulations from the Obama administration are costing consumers, businesses and the economy overall $46 billion annually, more than five times the regulatory price tag of former President Bush in his first three years in office. Worse: just implementing those regulations had a one-time additional cost of $11 billion, according to a Heritage Foundation analysis.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/washington-secrets/2012/03/regulation-nation-new-study-finds-obama%E2%80%99s-regs-cost-46-billion

President Obama's national health care law will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, according to a new projection released today by the Congressional Budget Office, rather than the $940 billion forecast when it was signed into law.

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/cbo-obamacare-cost-176-trillion-over-10-yrs/425831

Almost two-thirds of Americans, 65 percent, said they disapprove of the way Obama is dealing with rising prices at the pump, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds. Only 26 percent – the president’s lowest rating in the poll — said they approve of his handling of gas, while a majority, 52 percent, said they “strongly” disapprove.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73875.html

President Obama's approval rating has hit the lowest level ever in CBS News polling, according to the latest CBS News/New York Times survey.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57395703-503544/poll-obamas-approval-rating-sinks-to-new-low/

The fallout from two major polls yesterday—Washington Post/ABC and New York Times/CBS—finding measurable and significant drops in support for Barack Obama nationwide during the past month has instantly changed the national conversation. Obama is in trouble, and there’s no pretending he isn’t. One poll might have been viewed as an outlier, but two polls taken around the same time with the same sample size of American adults can’t be dismissed as statistical noise

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/03/13/obama-poll-troubles-and-2012-strategy/

You can almost hear the note of surprise in their voices when you read the Washington Post and New York Times reporters' stories on their papers' latest political polls. Surprise! Just when they thought that Barack Obama was pulling ahead, with positive job ratings, and just after the mainstream media have been savaging Republicans for two words Rush Limbaugh uttered on his radio program, Obama's numbers seem to be tanking. Actually, the numbers are not so striking or so surprising.

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/pundits-gasp-economy-dents-obamas-poll-numbers/425931

VP Joe Biden tells 87 couples who paid a minimum $10,000 for dinner that Republicans are out of touch. “These guys don’t have a sense of the average folks out there. They don’t know what it means to be middle class.”

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/biden-hails-middle-class-wealthy-fundraiser/424931

President Obama's campaign staff made the curious decision to build a fundraising message around their candidate's apparent weakness, warning supporters that Mitt Romney would beat Obama if the election were held today.

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/obama-camp-if-election-were-today-mitt-would-win/426896

Obama Fares Worse Among Women after Month-Long Contraception Mandate Battle…..Washington Post poll contradicts Washington Post narrative about female voters.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/washington-post-poll-contradicts-washington-post-narrative-women-voters_633469.html?nopager=1

A resurgent Rick Santorum swept to victory in primaries in Alabama and Mississippi, upending the race for the Republican presidential nomination yet again and trying to nudge Newt Gingrich toward the sidelines.

http://www.ocala.com/article/20120313/APP/1203130549

If you thought the tea party was over, think again. Kathleen Sebelius just shot a flare into a dynamite factory. On Monday night, Ms. Sebelius’s Department of Health and Human Services released a final decree concerning a troubling codicil in the individual mandate section of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Boil it down, and it comes to this: Next year, every American adult will be required by law to pay for abortions.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/13/the-next-big-scandal-taxpayer-funding-for-abortion/

President Obama has never apologized to Mexican President Felipe Calderon for the 300 civilians murdered with weapons the United States provided to Mexico’s drug cartels, but on Sunday he found time to place a call to Afghan president Hamid Karzai apologizing for deaths caused by an American soldier this weekend in Afghanistan.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/11/obama-apologizes-for-afghan-slayings-still-ignores-mexican-fast-and-furious-murders/

Britain intends to tell the European Court of Human Rights that Christians should not be permitted to wear the symbol of their faith at work

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9136191/Christians-have-no-right-to-wear-cross-at-work-says-Government.html

Meanwhile, the most influential leader in the Muslim world has issued a fatwa to destroy Christian churches. “If the pope called for the destruction of all the mosques in Europe, the uproar would be cataclysmic….”.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/16/destroy-all-churches/

The Justice Department's civil rights division has blocked a new photo ID requirement for voters in Texas because many Hispanic voters lack state-issued identification. Texas follows South Carolina as the second state in recent months to become embroiled in a court battle with the Justice Department over new photo ID requirements for voters.

http://news.yahoo.com/justice-dept-opposes-texas-voter-id-law-144238429.html

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Gerald R. Molen is an Oscar-winning film producer whose credits include "Rain Man," "Minority Report," "Twister," "Schindler's List" and "Jurassic Park."

My fellow patriots,

…..An event took place in 2008 that changed the world we live in. It changed the face of America, it changed the direction of our moral values, it changed how we view the future and how we see ourselves as human beings and it changed the make up of our basic freedoms that we so irreverently tossed aside for entitlement freebies and empty promises by the engineers at the helm.

Thus, I have some questions; As we sit at the precipice of financial collapse from debt and entitlements, how much time do we have? Can we reverse course?... are we too late? No. Not really. That is the one thing we do as Americans ... once awakened from a slumber and the realization sinks in that we are in a pot of dirty soup up to our noses and some bunch of dirt bags are throwing in more slop to hopefully drown us in our own spittle, we fight. We fight hard and will win in the end because we always have. It's in our DNA. The sad part is we have to get to the point of losing everything before we stand tall and state unequivocally, "No more. Stop the madness. Stop it now!"

The event I speak of, of course, was the presidential election of 2008. We put a man in office, a man not really qualified to be a dog catcher, much less the most powerful man in the world. We refused to listen to what he was saying. We missed the first gasp of incredulity when he promised to transform America. Oh, we bought into the cliched slogans of "hope and change." We liked his smile, his ability to read from a teleprompter, his super-friendly demeanor and his charismatic oratorical skills. Yeah, we jumped in with both feet thinking the country would show the world we had found our mojo and racism was gone forever.

Once again, our ears failed us. Our eyes failed us. We failed to hear that horrific sucking sound of our falling into the vortex of calm voices pushing us ever so gently but with assured and deft platitudes, into the hell of our own making. We found that the dreaded four-letter word that could burn the eardrums of a sweet mother or even a hard-hearted father did not start with the letter 'F.'…..There are worse four-letter words that not only burn the eardrums but they singe the soul. They change life as we know it. They create an environment of hell on earth. And alas, sometimes they come wrapped in the promises of easy living, free lunches forever and fun times at the social picnic. But as the wrappings are peeled away and truth is revealed, and we see the four-letter words that imprison us with our own trappings. They become clear and defined. They are "fear and envy" and the worst four letter word of all, "hate."

Hate fuels the fear, the envy, and we bind ourselves to the adversary by falling into the trap of each of them. We can never lose our awareness that those who perpetrate the lie and the hate by using their best tools of fear and envy and class warfare are alive and well and doing their very best to take our basic freedoms away from us…

Another part of the ongoing dilemma is that the President surrounded himself with self-proclaimed Marxists, socialists, communists and progressives. Why? Is the answer that he embodies some or all of those ideological characteristics? I think so. Each of them arrived with an agenda to turn America into the vision of themselves and the despicable goal of changing America into a European style state of fear and class warfare. Sadly, we see it happening before our very eyes, but we refuse to stand up and make our presence and our voices known. That must change. We have to get involved. If we sit still for the usual emanations from Washington, D.C. and say nothing, do nothing, we will be nothing. Who to blame? Only ourselves.

Now we are confronted with the possibility of changing the mistake the country made in putting Obama in the highest office in the land by electing a new POTUS. But will we? Will the majority fall on their faces while groveling at the feet of the feed-lot proprietor? Will our defenses be pushed aside by the desire to partake of the entitlements the proprietor doles out as temporary freebies and the empty promises of a better life if only we will give our souls and our minds to this false benefactor? Or will we stand up to the forces of promises of easy living and more and more entitlements? It won't be easy, but it is necessary, or we won't live in the America we grew up in….

We need to reawaken our memories. Give them a jolt. Then each of us should care enough to get off our butts and do something about the crisis we find ourselves in. When we do not, we condemn our progeny to a lifetime of debt and potential servitude to the miseries of progressive lifestyles and socialist living conditions. The era of personal responsibility will be gone forever and the future we leave to the next generations will fall on our inability to shoulder the reasoning of our forefathers and the burdens of freedom. Yes, there is a price to pay for the greatness of America. Are we and will we stand up to the task and be willing to carry our portion of that burden? It is my fervent and continued prayer that we will find the resolve, the strength, the willingness and the love of country enough to make a difference.

By the way ... Last month, the conservative side of politics lost a champion of truth and a strong voice in the conservative movement with the passing of Andrew Breitbart. He was a man of high intellect, vision and courage. He never backed away from a fight and was responsible for turning out those who sought to endear themselves at the public trough via their egregious actions and poor moral values. He disclosed them and brought them to the bar of justice for the American people to see and judge for themselves. He was a great example for all of us to aspire to. We cannot allow his passing to be just a closing of another chapter in the fortunes of America. We must carry his part of the burden he was so willing to share for all of us.

In freedom and in purpose, I am……..Jerry Molen

Edited for length, read the entire article here:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/03/13/oscar-winning-producer-slams-obama-salutes-breitbart

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"If the left really cared about women, they have lots of misogyny on their own side to police without ever having to worry about conservatives. Plus, their own side might actually listen to them. But they tolerated a Senator who left a woman to drown in a car. And enthusiastically supported a president who sexually harassed women and dismissed accusations of rape against him. And just look at how they treat Sarah Palin. So if a liberal says he cares about women, tell him, 'You care about women the same way I care about your face.' Then punch him really hard in the face."

-Frank J. Fleming

"Feminists are declaring a sex strike for Obamacare-subsidized birth control. The group Liberal Ladies Who Lunch is organizing 'Access Denied,' a week-long exercise in self-denial starting April 28. The strike is supposed to motivate men to stand up for government-funded birth control 'because when we lose our reproductive choices, so do they.' This is akin to protesting welfare cuts by getting a job. ... In this case, activists are abandoning the activity that causes their supposed need for the birth-control handout. ... Conservatives should applaud the strike. Abstention is well-regarded on the right, and not simply because it is 100 percent effective in preventing unwanted pregnancies. Taking a week off from promiscuity may give young women an opportunity to think about their life choices. Perhaps there is more to being a woman than ensuring the government supplies the means to engage in limitless hookups. Nursing chastity for a week puts necessary perspective on the type of subsidized sexuality that's at the center of the debate."

-The Washington Times

"President Obama compared himself to Gandhi and Nelson Mandela in the struggle to bring about change. The comparison is flawed. They spent years in jail before taking political power, while politicians from Chicago do it the other way around."

-Argus Hamilton

"The Air Force is pulling nine cargo aircraft from military operations to support President Obama's stepped-up visits to campaign events. Good. Now he can carry his entire ego with him on the trail."

-Fred Thompson

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LEFTIST WATCH

In an interview published by The Washington Post on Friday, cartoonist Garry Trudeau, creator of “Doonesbury,” likened the pre-abortion sonogram required by a new Texas law to rape. “You tell me the difference,” Trudeau said. The Texas law, signed by Gov. Rick Perry, requires that abortionists administer a sonogram to a pregnant woman 24 hours before aborting her baby.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/garry-trudeau-likens-pre-abortion-sonogram-rape-you-tell-me-difference

The nation’s largest labor unions, whose support has been a mainstay of the Democratic Party, have set aside their frustrations and disappointments in President Obama and formally lined up behind his bid for a second term.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/afl-cio-labor-unions-line-up-behind-obama/

A man described as a President Obama fanatic pleads guilty to threatening to kill Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/justice/man-pleads-guilty-to-threatening-arpaio-03142012

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BOOKS, FILM

Are you sick of self-important celebrities preaching against “global warming,” yet flying private planes to their countless homes? Fed up with lectures about charity and philanthropy from miserly rockers who will do anything for a tax break? Disgusted by leftist stars decrying the evils of the Second Amendment as their personal bodyguards pack more heat than a Chuck Norris kick to the face? The same Hollywood loons who got Barack Hussein Obama elected in 2008 will do so again in 2012. That is, unless we muzzle them. Four years ago, Republicans sat back like wimps and let Obama’s celebrity-fueled cool machine steamroll them into electoral smithereens. This time, we must do the steamrolling. New York Times bestselling author of Obama Zombies and gonzo journalist Jason Mattera takes the first stand with Hollywood Hypocrites, as he slays the Left’s sacred celebrity cows and teaches Obama’s Tinseltown foot soldiers their most important lesson yet: No longer can they attempt to deny Americans the very liberties they use to catapult themselves to prosperity and stardom. "Best-selling Brooklyn bruiser Jason Mattera unleashes a barrage of body blows to Hollywood’s holier-than-thou limousine liberals that may make them think twice next time they open their pretty mouths.” –Andrew Breitbart

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Hollywood-Hypocrites/Jason-Mattera/9781451625615?mcd=z_120306_BD_HH_drudge

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GLOBALONEY

"If I was a bird, I'd be an angry bird right now," said David Almasi, executive director of the National Center for Public Policy Research and director of the National Center's "Occupy Occupy DC" project. "Countless innocent birds that only want to be with their eggs die every year from crashing into wind turbines. The environmentalists who promote wind energy at the expense of the birds are green pigs!"

http://secure.campaigner.com/Campaigner/Public/t.show?R4Eb--CWgx-o75G48

The nearly 60-year record of 132.6 inches of snow in Anchorage, AK is almost broken.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ANCHORAGE_SNOW?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-17-05-18-38

“Most polar ice ever recorded” So much for an ice-free Arctic. Henry Hudson’s long-ago dream of a Northwest Passage that would link England to the Orient by sea will have to wait another century as Mother Earth gives him the cold shoulder.

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/52724

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ISLAM

The mullah was astounded and a little angered to be asked why the accidental burning of Korans last month could provoke violence nationwide, while an intentional mass murder that included nine children last Sunday did not. “How can you compare the dishonoring of the Holy Koran with the martyrdom of innocent civilians?” said an incredulous Mullah Khaliq Dad, a member of the council of religious leaders who investigated the Koran burnings. “The whole goal of our life is religion.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/world/asia/disconnect-clear-in-us-bafflement-over-2-afghan-responses.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120315=

Pamela Geller was struck by that ad The New York Times ran the other day, “It’s Time To Quit The Catholic Church“, an “open letter to ‘liberal’ and ‘nominal’ Catholics”. So she sent in her own ad, “It’s Time To Quit Islam“, an “open letter to ‘moderate’ Muslims”. Analogous artwork, same pitch, only difference being the intended target. The Times’ Senior Vice-President for Corporate Hogwash called to tell Miss Geller that – surprise! surprise! – they were way less eager to rush this one into print:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/293451/quit-and-dead-mark-steyn

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THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE

Election year math: It'll all come down to three states that went for Obama last time. the final battleground is likely to be North Carolina, Virginia and Colorado. Now, what do these three states have in common? Very simply, they are the nation's new "suburbs," the emerging middle ground between urban centers of the East and West Coasts and Upper Midwest, all voting Democratic, and the great rural in-between that is now wedded to the Republicans. These are Joel Garreau's "Edge Cities" or David Brooks' "Latte Towns" -- take your pick -- inhabited by Richard Florida's "Creative Class." Their voters are college-educated, employed well-paying, high-status jobs, but far enough away from the media centers so that they haven't yet bought into the liberal dogma that the only way for things to be "fair" in America is to vote for Democrats.

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/15/election-year-math

Is it possible to turn on the TV today without being told how wonderful Barack Obama is? Apparently not, for on Wednesday’s American Idol – yes, the nation’s premier musical competition – the Commander-in-Chief was gushed and fawned over like a rock star.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/03/15/american-idol-pays-tribute-barack-obama#ixzz1pCCTl77R

Debra Saunders: “The 2012 general election ought to be about the role and finances of the federal government, but Santorum is mired in a traditional values war…..I'll defend to the bitter end Santorum's right to his deeply held religious beliefs. But a man who wants to be president and represent the American people shouldn't talk like an exorcist.”

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/12/3975445/obama-administrations-hypocritical.html

It's vital for Americans to realize that Obama has already surrendered the defense of the civilized world. We know that, because the critical window of opportunity to prevent Iranian nukes has been closing, closing, closing. The risk of preventive action is getting greater by the day, which means that the optimal time for intervention is now fading as the Iranians continue to disperse and fortify their nuclear industry.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/iran_obama_has_surrendered.html

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ARTICLES

As we have been again reminded by the Barack Obama Administration’s fraudulent Sandra Fluke, abortion-pill-and-birth-control assault on the First Amendment, we are staring down the barrel of the ObamaCare gun. Its 2014 full-on implementation will lead inexorably to more and more rescissions of our Constitutional rights, a downward spiral of poorer, slower medical attention, rationing thereof - and ultimately all of us herded into the government-only Communal Care Pit….

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/12/obamacare-subjects-nearly-every-phone-and-computer-to-government-control

U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg's groundbreaking March 5 ruling that Maryland cannot refuse to issue a handgun permit to an otherwise qualified individual unless that person has an acceptable reason for wanting one is a jurisprudential gem that correctly shifts the burden of proof from the citizen to the government. His elegant reiteration of basic Second Amendment rights in Woollard v. Sheridan will be quoted for generations: "A citizen may not be required to offer a 'good and substantial reason' why he should be permitted to exercise his rights. The right's existence is all the reason he needs."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2012/03/examiner-local-editorial-another-victory-second-amendment/371356

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Republicans Mock Obama Documentary With Fake Movie Poster

http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/republicans-mock-obama-documentary-with-fake-movie

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LATE NITE:

Leno: ….They say gasoline could be $6 a gallon. But the good news is the White House says President Obama is aware of the problem, and will continue to talk about it between fundraisers……President Obama said he's set up a task force to look into high gas prices. He'd look into it himself, but he's busy working on those NCAA tournament brackets.

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WISE WORDS

"The preservation of freedom is the protective reason for limiting and decentralizing governmental power. But there is also a constructive reason. The great advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science or in literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government."

-Milton Friedman

"I assert that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and noblest driving force behind scientific research. ... God Almighty does not throw dice. ... Before God we are all equally wise -- equally foolish. ... My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds."

-Albert Einstein

op ed review 3/11

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

It wasn't pretty and it wasn't easy, but Mitt Romney has essentially locked up the GOP nomination. On Super Tuesday, the former Massachusetts governor won the most states (six out of 10), the most votes (nearly 1.4 million vs. 819,000 for his closest rival, Rick Santorum) and the most delegates (more than 210 Super Tuesday delegates vs. less than 180 for his three rivals). Romney now leads in total delegates (404 vs. 165 for Santorum, 106 for Gingrich, and 66 for Paul). He is the only GOP candidate to have won states in every region of the country.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/07/opinion/wehner-super-tuesday/index.html?hpt=hp_bn9

Santorum benefitted from crossover Democrats while Mitt Romney easily won the vote among actual Republicans, according to a Washington Times analysis.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/7/romney-drew-gop-faithful-santorum-got-crossover-he/

President Obama’s approval index is now minus nineteen. Mitt Romney leads President Obama by six points in a hypothetical 2012 matchup.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

U.S. unemployment increased to 9.1% in February from 8.6% in January and 8.5% in December.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/153161/Unemployment-February.aspx

America remains mired in the longest jobs recession since the Great Depression.

http://news.investors.com/article/603791/201203090838/jobs-recession-is-longest-since-depression.htm

Gas is $5/gallon at many stations in LA.

http://www.californiagasprices.com/

President Obama says unions aren’t “special interest groups.” Never mind that organized labor is one of the all-time largest lobbying groups, spending $492 million on lobbying from 1998 to 2011.

http://times247.com/articles/obama-unions-aren-t-special-interest

Just in time for election year: With no authorization from Congress, President Obama has announced that the Federal Housing Administration will insure refinanced mortgages for 2 to 3 million borrowers without verifying their income or even if they hold a job.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-will-make-taxpayers-guarantee-mortgages-without-checking-borrowers-incomes-or

The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched.

http://freebeacon.com/trashing-tricare/

In a development that could chill the dedication of every soldier in the field, the U.S. government has refused to deny reports by the government of Afghanistan that NATO has agreed to have the soldiers who burned copies of the Quran face trial. The wording suggests members of the military could be handed over to an Afghan system that imposes Shariah-related penalties.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/afghans-quran-burning-soldiers-to-face-trial/

The Los Angeles County coroner's office said it is awaiting the results of toxicology tests before releasing an official cause of death for conservative author and activist Andrew Breitbart, who died unexpectedly at age 43.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/03/andrew-breitbart-coroner-wants-to-cover-all-bases-in-death-probe.html

On Monday, March 5, Northwestern University School of Law was the location of an extraordinary scene for a free nation. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder presented President Barack Obama's claim that he has the authority to kill any U.S. citizen he considers a threat.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/06/obama_s_kill_doctrine

Our own media won’t report this so we have to read about it in Pravda: “Arizona sheriff finds Obama presidential qualifications forged……Arpaio asserts that his forensics investigators discovered, during a 6 month long investigation which is ongoing, not only was the "Long Form" likely a digitally created forgery, but the president’s Selective Service Card (Draft Card), allegedly filed in 1980, was also a forgery. These documents are what Barack Hussein Obama relies upon to prove his constitutional eligibility to the office of President of the United States.”

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/07-03-2012/120708-arizona_sheriff_obama-0/

“In the days ahead, it will be interesting to see if the mainstream media provides any coverage of the event's allegations. Sitting in the room we were overwhelmed by the professionalism of these sworn officers of the law. They clearly used the best experts in their investigation. Finally a legitimate law enforcement official has looked at the evidence and found, as Arpaio said, "probable cause that a felony has been committed."

http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index.ssf/2012/03/sheriff_joe_arpaio_exposes_for.html

Despite President Obama and Democrats’ insistence that the rich “pay their fair share,” three-quarters of likely voters believe the nation’s richest should pay lower, not higher, taxes, according to a poll conducted by the Hill.

http://freebeacon.com/poll-vast-majority-of-likely-voters-think-rich-already-pay-their-fair-share/

The federal government recorded its worst monthly deficit in history in February.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/8/govt-sets-record-deficit-february/

Health and Human Services Sec. Sebelius says she has “no idea” whether Obamacare adds to the deficit.

http://freebeacon.com/sebelius-has-no-idea-if-obamacare-adds-to-the-deficit/

Despite receiving more than $885 million in federal economic stimulus funds since 2009, the Washington D.C. government cannot say how many jobs it actually created for those who live in the District.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/7/dc-has-no-count-of-jobs-from-stimulus/

More than half of Obama’s 47 biggest fundraisers, those who collected at least $500,000 for his campaign, have been given administration jobs. Nine more have been appointed to presidential boards and committees.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-influence-industry-obama-gives-administration-jobs-to-some-big-fundraisers/2012/03/06/gIQA9y3txR_story.html?hpid=z2

Obama likens himself to Gandhi and Nelson Mandela

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/02/obama_likens_himself_to_gandhi_and_nelson_mandela.html

“Below is footage of Barack Obama praising and hugging Professor Derrick Bell. It was spliced and diced by the media to avoid showing just how close Obama was to Bell. More than that, a close associate of the Obama campaign, Harvard Law School’s Professor Charles Ogletree, admitted on our exclusive tape, “We hid this throughout the 2008 campaign. I don’t care if they find it now.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/07/buzzefeed-selectively-edits-obama-tape

There’s far more coming on Derrick Bell. This is just the beginning. And this video is a smoking gun showing that Barack Obama not only associated with radicals, he was their advocate.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/07/buzzefeed-selectively-edits-obama-tape

Kraft Foods has decided to pull advertising for its popular Philadelphia Cream Cheese from the controversial ABC television show “Good Christian B******”, which critics say attacks Christianity. The Chicago-based cream cheese titan says it made the decision after customer complaints began to pile up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111760/Cream-cheese-giant-yanks-advertising-controversial-ABC-GCB.html

Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) announced he'll retire at the end of the year after 18 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Rep-Norm-Dicks-announces-he-will-not-seek-re-election--141184633.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Chanting "USA, USA, USA,” at a basketball game is now considered a racial insult?

http://www.ksat.com/news/defenders/Racial-incident-mars-high-school-game/-/478436/9225754/-/145ddl2/-/index.html

In response to the media firestorm surrounding Rush Limbaugh's insulting comments about Democratic activist Sandra Fluke (comments for which Limbaugh apologized), Kirsten Powers writes about the liberal men who have used misogynistic rhetoric without facing the same outrage. Powers notes that "the grand pooh-bah of media misogyny is without a doubt Bill Maher—who also happens to be a favorite of liberals—who has personally given $1 million to President Obama’s super PAC."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/will-obama-super-pac-return-misogynist-bill-mahers-million-dollar-donation_633200.html

Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke is being represented by a former Obama adviser’s PR firm….suggesting that the young woman was indirectly planted at the center of the contraception controversy by the Obama administration.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/08/oreilly-former-obama-adviser-anita-dunns-pr-firm-representing-sandra-fluke/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter\

“Rush Limbaugh got in trouble last week when he said a Georgetown activist dressed like a “slutty flight attendant” and said that during a ballgame, her 14-year-old daughter “was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.” Oh wait. That was what David Letterman said of Sarah Palin in June 2009.”

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/52542

Sculptor E. Spencer Schubert is preparing to add two busts to the Hall of Famous Missourians in the State Capitol: Dred Scott and Rush Limbaugh. The hall includes Mark Twain, Walt Disney, Harry Truman, Scott Joplin, Charlie Parker and Sacajawea. “This ought to go over well…..Liberals of course will show their open-mindedness, tolerance and multi-cultural diversity.”

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/52500

Dutch mobile euthanasia units to make house calls….new scheme called 'Life End' will respond to sick people whose own doctors have refused to help them end their lives at home

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/01/dutch-mobile-euthanasia-units

The New Hampshire state Senate passed a bill requiring residents to show identification before voting after a well-publicized video showed how easy it is to obtain a ballot in the name of a dead person in the state. Conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe produced the bombshell video earlier this year.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/08/nh-senate-passes-voter-id-bill-after-o%e2%80%99keefe-video/

In just one hour, The New York Post was able to buy a phony green card, Social Security card and New York state driver’s license from a stranger on a corner — all of which could serve as a gateway to obtain legitimate IDs.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/capital_of_phony_theft_75NPS8XVvQuyzhR1bznG5H

“THE passage of a Republican budget out of the Washington State Senate with a majority of Democrats amounts to a political earthquake not seen in 25 years. Events like this do not happen without cause and cannot be talked into going away.”

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2017667609_edit05senate.html?cmpid=2628

_______________________________________________________________________________

THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Mark Alexander 3/9/12

Democrats should be on the defensive over the ObamaCare contraception mandate but have instead made the entire issue a circus. They're employing their best smoke and mirrors to distract from the fundamental issue at stake -- whether Barack Obama has the constitutional authority to override religious liberty to achieve his desired insurance coverage -- but they won't get away with it.

As we noted last week, one Sandra Fluke testified before Congress on the need to have free birth control provided for all women at Georgetown University. Fluke is no typical college student, however. She's a 30-year-old self-professed "reproductive rights activist" who is pursuing her law degree, though she chose the Jesuit school for the express purpose of changing its policy on insuring contraception. Birth control is contrary to the religious doctrine of the Catholic Church, of which Jesuits are a part.

Simply put, Fluke wants them to abandon their principles in order to accommodate her and her fellow female students' recreational choices. The Left then cloaks this in the language of "rights" when no one on the Right is talking about taking rights away from anyone.

So how did Fluke gain a hearing before Congress? Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called a hearing on the constitutionality of the Obama mandate. Democrats first wanted Americans United for Separation of Church and State executive director Barry Lynn to testify. Lynn is a typical anti-religious leftist, but at least he has some measure of "expertise" on the matter of Obama's interference with the church.

However, in a last-minute effort to misdirect the issue to "women's health," Democrats asked that Fluke appear. The committee had not vetted her, and Issa denied the request. Undeterred, Democrats held a subcommittee hearing, called their media accomplices for ample coverage, and allowed Fluke to testify about the plight of young women at Georgetown who supposedly can't afford their own birth control (despite its availability at the local pharmacy for $9 a month) and demand that the university buy it for them. She has no expertise on the subject of Obama's mandate, and her testimony was completely irrelevant hearsay.

Then, while discussing the topic last week, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh called Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" and elaborated on what that meant in terms not fit for a family show. Clearly, he crossed the line with his language, and he issued two apologies -- apologies that also happened to serve to rehash his (quite valid) argument. Fluke dismissed those apologies, and we won't belabor the point; enough has been said on the subject and Limbaugh is perfectly capable of defending himself.

Naturally, the Left went into overdrive to misdirect the issue again, this time to Limbaugh's comments instead of Obama's tyranny. They even hung Limbaugh's comments around the necks of Republicans -- as if they are responsible for him when no such similar standard ever exists for leftist talkingheads -- big mouths like Bill Maher, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz and Keith Olbermann, whose own vulgar comments about women have heretofore been given a free pass. Predictably, Obama piled on with a politically opportunistic call to Fluke to "see if she was all right," and to further denounce Limbaugh and his fellow defenders of liberty.

It's critical to remember that the real issue is Obama's determination to deny religious liberty in the name of "women's health." Democrats realize that if the issue is framed properly, they lose. Their only hope is to distract and deceive by making the issue about women's access to birth control, or whether Rush is a misogynist or whatever other sideshow they can contrive.

Democrats claim that they want reproductive choices left between a woman and her doctor, but it is they who demand government control over health care in general, and, more specifically, authority to force employers and others to pay for certain "health" benefits regardless of the cost. Democrats claim that they love individual rights and liberties, but it is they who deny them for the sake of their pet causes. ObamaCare is designed to destroy liberty, and we mustn't let the Left's Big Top Circus distract from the mission to repeal it

http://patriotpost.us/edition/2012/03/09/digest/

“Sandra Fluke is now the official, media-designated victim of woman-hating Republicans, with an assist from Rush Limbaugh. Where have we seen this soap opera before? That's an important question, because this is the Big Play of the scapegoating left. It's pure, standard Alinsky, and they do it over and over again. That's why it is important for normal, decent Americans to learn how it works. Conservatives who can't predict the radical left are losers. As in football, we have to study the playbook of the opposition….”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/04/obama-alinsky-love-song

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"So why are the Left and the media still pushing and publicizing a campaign for advertisers to dump the [Rush] Limbaugh show and end his career? ... Liberals want this government-mandate controversy to be not about religious liberty, which is devastating, but about contraceptives, which works in their favor. That is intellectually dishonest. They want to position conservatives as 'anti-women.' ... The Left honors their own pundits as 'brilliant' for verbally assaulting women, then circulates petitions calling for advertisers to drop the Limbaugh show because his 'anti-woman tirades are appalling.' To the Left, this is simply an opportunity to put their attacks on religious liberty in a feminist frame, and an opportunity to try and shut down Limbaugh."

-Brent Bozell

“Endorsements are a holdover from a happier day before endless strings of primaries upset the time-tested process of selection of the party nominees. The backrooms, smoke and all, produced the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge, FDR and Harry S. Truman. The primaries have produced such giants as Michael Dukakis, George McGovern and John Kerry. An endorsement by a congressman, a blogger, a pundit or a guitar-plucker long past his sell-by date are mere ego trips, fitting only for the new age. But if a wannabe priest, a moonstruck gasbag and a nutty sawbones can be taken seriously as presidential candidates, well, why not? Is this a great country, or what?”

-Wes Pruden

"As David Brooks recently wrote in the New York Times, 'the U.S. does not have a significantly smaller welfare state than the European nations. We're just better at hiding it.' Whereas European countries 'provide welfare provisions through direct government payments,' the U.S. does it 'through the back door via tax breaks.' For instance, 'European governments offer public childcare. In the U.S., we have child tax credits.' European governments openly 'subsidize favored industries.' We provide 'special tax deductions and exemptions' for Washington's favored industries. This back-door approach allows Americans to indulge in the fantasy of their self-reliance and rugged individualism without actually being self-reliant or rugged. ... When you include both direct and back-door social spending, our welfare state is bigger than Italy's. It is 'far above average' when compared to other industrialized nations. Unless we intend to leave our children and grandchildren with an unconscionable debt burden, that must change."

-Chuck Colson

"We have become a nation where far too many people believe we can set the parameters of good and evil as we go along, and that we must all worship at the altar of non-judgmentalism. Yet the concept of non-judgmentalism is yet another progressive manipulation of the language: those who refuse to ascribe value to anything are not non-judgmental. They are amoral. Furthermore, a society with substantial numbers of amoral people is easily manipulable. But don't take my word for it. There are more than a few people still alive with tattooed numbers on their arms who can attest to the depths that easily manipulated, 'reasonable' people can sink. Fanaticism rarely occurs in a vacuum. It proceeds from that which is initially perceived to be reasonable to utter depravity. From abortion to infanticide. From a classless society to the ninety-nine percent versus the one percent. From the so-called one percent to the ovens of Auschwitz and Dachau. One incrementally amoral step after another."

-Arnold Ahlert

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BOOKS

“During my stretch in the Soviet Union (1986–1991), there was a popular joke making the rounds among the Russians. It seems there were two subsistence farmers, Ivan and Mikhail, both equally poor. Then one day, Ivan somehow acquires a cow. His life immediately improves. Instead of the wife, the cow pulls the plow; the cow gives milk; it produces calves for meat and the market. Quickly, Ivan far outpaces Mikhail. One night, starving and miserable, Mikhail drops to his knees and prays. “Oh, God,” he implores, “Ivan and I were always equal. And now look at him — rich, like boyar. So God, please, make us equal once more.” There’s a sudden thunderclap and suddenly Mikhail hears the Voice of God. “Your prayers will be answered,” says the Lord. “You shall once more be equal again.” Mikhail practically screams with joy. “Great!” he exclaims. “You’re going to kill Ivan’s cow!” And that, in a nutshell, is the monstrous “equality” myth currently going by the name of “socialism,” but which has been with us in one dystopic form or another since Plato’s The Republic: Utopianism — or, as Mark Levin phrases it in his brilliant new book, “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America”, “deception disguised as hope . . . abstraction disguised as progress” — that most potent and dangerous antithesis of individual liberty.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/292671/iameritopiai-and-death-ivans-cow-michael-walsh

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LEFTIST WATCH

Documents published online this month show that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an organization known for its uncompromising animal-rights positions, killed more than 95 percent of the pets in its care in 2011

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/24/documents-peta-kills-more-than-95-percent-of-pets-in-its-care/#ixzz1nVFX6P27

Breitbart.com has received exclusive tape of an Occupy Strategy Session at New York University, billed as a group talk on “The Abolition of Capitalism.” One of the headline speakers at this session was Stephen Lerner, former leader and International Board Member of the SEIU and frequent Obama White House visitor. Lerner argued in favor of people not paying their mortgages and “occupying” their homes; he spoke in favor of invading annual shareholders meetings to shut them down.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/04/SEIU-lerner-Occupy

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FILM

Act of Valor opened last weekend to an enthusiastic response from movie-goers–it topped all films with a $24.5 million gross–but a less enthusiastic reaction from liberal critics and pundits. A common theme was that Act of Valor is propaganda. Thus, the Washington Post headlined: “‘Act of Valor’ with real-life SEALs: new breed of war movie or propaganda?”

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/02/liberals-decide-they-dont-like-propaganda.php

Game Change, the new HBO movie about Sarah Palin: “Game Change is mostly liberal catnip, but it does have a wider value. Every politician from now until doomsday should view it as a cautionary tale about choosing your aides wisely.”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/back-stab_633411.html

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GLOBALONEY

Days after General Motors announced it was temporarily suspending production of the Chevy Volt, the electric car was named European Car of the Year.

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/automobiles/214155-chevy-volt-dubbed-european-car-of-the-year

Everything proves global warming to the true believers. If it floods, that proves global warming. If it doesn’t rain, that proves global warming. If it is warm, that proves global warming. If it is cold, that proves global warming. And if everything proves it — nothing does really.

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/52170

CONSUMER REPORTS tries to test a $100K plug-in hybrid; breaks down during check-in process...

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/bad-karma--our-fisker-karma-plug-in-hybrid-breaks-down.html

Barack Obama is now achieving a vision that environmentalist ideologues could only dream about in the 1970s: He is driving Americans out of their cars

http://cnsnews.com/blog/terence-p-jeffrey/obamas-driving-americans-out-cars

The U.S. government last year announced a $10 million award, dubbed the “L Prize,” for any manufacturer that could create a “green” but affordable light bulb. Now the winning bulb is on the market. The price is $50.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/government-subsidized-green-light-bulb-carries-costly-price-tag/2012/03/07/gIQAFxOD0R_story.html

Energy Secretary Stephen Chu told the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power that he does not own a car. But The Daily Caller has learned that Chu’s wife does — a big gas guzzling BMW.

http://times247.com/articles/chu-s-wife-drives-gas-guzzling-bmw

Remember the spotted owl? “To save the imperiled spotted owl, the Obama administration is moving forward with a controversial plan to shoot barred owls, a rival bird that has shoved its smaller cousin aside.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ap-newsbreak-obama-administration-plan-would-kill-rival-bird-to-save-spotted-owl/2012/02/28/gIQAvxAUgR_story.html

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ISLAM

The Muslim world should not accept an apology issued by U.S. President Barack Obama over the burning of Korans in an American base in Afghanistan, a top Iranian military commander said on Saturday, adding that nothing short of "burning the White House can relieve the wound”.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/iran-military-official-only-burning-white-house-can-make-up-for-burning-koran-1.414765#.T0k-5XriQww.facebook

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ANDREW BREITBART

Editors and reporters hand-picked by new media pioneer Andrew Breitbart have descended upon Los Angeles to attend his funeral service. Breitbart, 43, died unexpectedly of natural causes last Thursday morning.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/03/06/breitbart-team-gathers-to-honor-andrew

“Last night the spirit of Breitbart lived on with the release of a video showing Harvard law student Barack Obama celebrating the radical “critical race theorist” Derrick Bell. Bell can’t be written off as “some guy in my neighborhood” as Obama did with William Ayers, or sloughed off like Rev. Jeremiah Wright with the “I-didn’t-really-listen-to-his-sermons” excuse. Obama used to assign Bell in his class on “race and the law” at the University of Chicago. Now we know Obama has an affinity for Bell. Let’s see if the mainstream media asks about this the way.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/03/obama-and-the-bell-curve.php

He died March 1, but we haven’t heard the last from Andrew Breitbart, because the conservative rabble-rouser is set to star in two documentary movies, both of which are in post-production and will no doubt get some measure of theatrical distribution. He’ll also make his acting debut in the second episode of Courage: New Hampshire, a show that streams online where he plays a pre-Revolutionary War sheriff.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/andrew-breitbart-dead-movies-297316

Breitbart's Legacy: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/03/03/breitbarts-legacy-new-generation-of-conservative-leaders

“Andrew Breitbart changed my life. I don't think I am alone. When I was a 19-year-old kid touring the country in a beat-up old van alongside my band mates, the last place on earth I thought I'd be a mere four years later was at the Conservative Political Action Conference….”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/breitbart_and_me.html

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THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE

With all the creepy preaching from Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney’s disastrous attempts at relating to earthlings who don’t own a couple of Cadillacs or hobnob with owners of NASCAR teams, it is understandable Republicans might be a wee bit depressed these days. But, if you step wa-a-a-a-a-ay back and look at the much larger picture, Republicans just might have some reason to be optimistic once this whole agonizing primary is over. Remember, in the months leading up to Ronald Reagan’s landslide annihilation of Jimmy Carter, the polls almost exclusively showed the Gipper in a dogfight too close to call

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/28/hurt-big-picture-looks-good-for-gop/

A new poll shows that the combative and heavily scrutinized primary season so far has damaged the republican party and its candidates. Four in 10 of all adults say the GOP nominating process has given them a less favorable impression of the Republican Party, versus just slightly more than one in 10 with a more favorable opinion.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/04/10578249-nbcwsj-poll-primary-season-takes-corrosive-toll-on-gop-and-its-candidates

“In a speech that the Gingrich campaign has begun broadcasting around the country, and which is posted at Newt.org, Gingrich presents a unique new vision for a booming American economy. I think you will find it pathbreaking. It is so compelling that it drew Obama into a transcontinental debate with the former Speaker, the first exchange that Obama has decisively lost since he appeared on the national stage.”

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/02/29/obama-loses-his-first-debate

It's as slick as any commercial Hollywood production. And it's about as much a "documentary" as a campaign speech by Joe Biden. President Barack Obama's re-election machine on Thursday released a two-minute trailer for what they have billed as a 17-minute documentary that makes the case that he deserves a second term. From the giant American flag fluttering over a cheering crowd in the opening scene to the dramatic recounting of the Navy SEAL raid that took out Osama bin Laden to Tom Hanks' narration, "The Road We've Traveled" is undeniably a state-of-the-art pitch for the president.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/tom-hanks-stars-obama-campaign-documentary-161040381.html

Everyone expects much of Hollywood to do what it can to get Barack Obama reelected this November. As Bloomberg reported Saturday, Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim - he of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" infamy - has been hired by the current White House resident to make another campaign film about him: Obama’s re-election staff in Chicago spent $162,834 on the film last month.

http://m.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/02/25/obama-hires-inconvenient-truth-director-campaign-film-about-him

Mike Huckabee says Romney's momentum in Ohio shows the growing sense of GOP consolidation behind him:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/03/huckabee-gop-starting-to-unite-behind-romney-116424.html

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer endorses Mitt Romney.

http://thedc.com/yGHr8M

Romney also won the Michigan and Arizona primaries.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204653604577251272804570082.html?mod=WSJ_Home_largeHeadline

Several unions that back President Obama’s reelection bid are spending big in an effort to damage Mitt Romney in key GOP primary states.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/213943-unions-spend-open-their-wallets-in-bid-to-damage-mitt-romney

“Their fight with President Obama over contraceptive coverage is becoming a losing battle for Republicans, a significant chunk of whom reject GOP leaders’ stance that it’s a fight about religious liberty, according to the latest Washington Times/JZ Analytics poll. While a majority of Republicans side with their party’s leaders, a striking 30 percent agree with Mr. Obama’s stance that his contraception mandate is about women’s health. Regarding young voters, the poll has even worse news for the GOP. “Drop this baby right now. Drop it. This is not a winner,” John Zogby, the pollster who conducted the survey, said by way of advising the GOP. “I don’t know if the White House was smart enough to box Republicans into a corner on this — I don’t know if it was by plan — but I think it worked out that way.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/5/gop-on-losing-side-of-birth-control/

Lowry: The downbeat musings on the right are driven by the dreary primary season and the belief that the party’s nominee will be weak. But so is the president, who leads likely nominee Mitt Romney only narrowly even after his season of self-inflicted wounds. For Republicans, the general election is still winnable, and there is no substitute for victory.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/this_is_no_time_for_republican_gloom_QH88ReciMsV0gGNM7QGmFN#ixzz1oMlgjP2O

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ARTICLES

Good article: “Having to pay for your own contraceptives has suddenly become a national crisis. In one way it is beyond belief and in another it is totally predictable. Sandra Fluke, a third-year law student at Georgetown law school, in testimony before a congressional committee argued that she and forty percent of her fellow students are "struggling financially" because they have to pay for their own contraceptives. The Democrat-media complex, rather than laughing in her face, is making Ms. Fluke a hero. She even got a phone call from President Obama urging her on……How did we get to this point?.......President Obama cannot run on his record. His reelection team knows that. "We don't want to talk about the economy, Obamacare, or gasoline prices. Let's talk about contraceptives or Rush Limbaugh…”

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/07/wag-the-coed

The excitement on the left over 30 advertisers dropping Rush Limbaugh has reached idiotic heights. Many are openly predicting the end of the Rush Limbaugh show - as if simply saying it out loud would make it true. This isn't going to happen. As Howard Kurtz points out, Rush may be losing some advertisers, but he hasn't lost any listeners. And that's the bottom line for radio stations carrying his show.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/03/liberals_are_dreaming_if_they_think_they_can_bring_down_limbaugh.html

You know the story by now, right? Republicans run the he-man women haters club. As the media has it the story goes like this: poor, unassuming, innocent Georgetown coed, accidentally ends up in front of Congress pleading for “reproductive rights.” Evil mean conservatives led by scalawag Rush Limbaugh unfairly call her a slut and announce a war on women to end their “access to contraception.” Of course, that’s the left-wing media’s narrative. The real tale is that this is as manufactured a story as you can find, one created for the purpose of assisting Obama….

http://bigjournalism.com/wthuston/2012/03/04/slutgate-obamas-manufactured-media-tactic/

Although most conservatives understand the important of defeating Obama, the next Congress has to be almost coequal in importance. ObamaCare, for example, cannot be repealed without control of the House of Representatives and not only control of the Senate, but enough senators to forestall a filibuster. Appointments to the federal bench, especially the Supreme Court, require Senate approval. Many of the reforms which conservatives see as vital to economic growth -- reform of the tax code, deregulation of environmental extremism, and changes to the entitlements systems -- will require congressional concurrence.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/will_2012_be_a_republican_year.html

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Great idea! Tired of high gas prices? Get Your Gas Pump "Stick it to Obama" Post-It-Notes today!

http://patriotdepot.com/gas-pump-stick-it-to-obama-notes-25-pack/

http://store.visiontoamerica.com/gas-pump-stick-it-to-obama-notes-25-pack/

Many in our country, particularly those in elected leadership, have strayed from the principles of individual liberty and limited government that the Constitution upholds. That’s why Hillsdale College has launched one of its most ambitious undertakings yet . . . For the first time ever, Hillsdale College is offering a no-cost 10 week online Constitution course based on the course Hillsdale College students must complete, in order to graduate.

http://constitution.hillsdale.edu/

Andrew Breitbart tshirts:

http://anthemstudios.net/index.php?cPath=6

All tshirt money goes ti the Breitbart family.

http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=122670

New website where visitors can sign a petition denouncing "attempts by radical left-wing organizations and the media to censor Rush and his commonsense conservative message."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb-staff/2012/03/05/sign-our-petition-defending-rush-limbaugh-istandwithrushorg#ixzz1oMmMLBYW

http://www.tellthetruth2012.org/splash.html

Americans for Prosperity just launched a redesigned website- complete with a People's Brief to the Supreme Court. Americans for Prosperity believes that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the President's entire health care law must be struck down with it.

http://americansforprosperity.org/handsoff/?tr=y&auid=10364182

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HUMOR

The University of North Carolina-Greensboro has ordered a Christian club to allow non-Christians as leaders. While we're at it, let's put high school dropouts in charge of the University."

-Fred Thompson

"In a speech on Wall Street the other day, President Obama compared himself to Gandhi. Well, that makes sense. He's created a lot of jobs in India."

-Jay Leno

"A U.S. Marine rescued a boy who fell into the lion cage at the National Zoo. He jumped over the fence, punched the lion, and snatched away the boy. The next day the Washington Post reported that a Marine attacked an African immigrant and stole his lunch."

-Argus Hamilton

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WISE WORDS

"Listen carefully when you hear screeching accusations about fairness. Just below the surface, you'll hear an appeal to greed and envy totally inconsistent with the American spirit."

-Ronald Reagan

"If we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, we shall attain our object; but if we break into squads, everyone pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check."

-Thomas Jefferson

"We must be unanimous; there must be no pulling different ways; we must hang together."

-John Hancock