Hollywood's Conservative Underground

Nicki Minaj Has Gone Crazy

2012-02-13T15:41:00.001-05:00

What was that?

That’s the reaction many might be having to Queens-native Nicki Minaj’s exorcism-infused performance of her new single “Roman Holiday” at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.
Perhaps we should’ve seen something strange coming when Minaj walked the red carpet in flowing red robes, looking like some sort of priestess.
Rapper Nicki Minaj, dressed in robes, walks with a person dressed like a bishop or pope on the red carpet of the 54th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 12, 2012 in Los Angeles. (credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
The performance began with the rapper in a faux-confession setting, sitting divided from a priest, who ultimately clutches his hands around his ears.
“I feel pretty, and witty, I slay,” rapped Minaj. The “priest” seems to be mouthing the word “stop” over and over again.
The performance then cut to a scene reminiscent of the classic horror flick “The Exorcist,” with Minaj cast as a person possessed.
What followed was a spectacle of robe-clad dancers, Minaj rapping while strapped to some kind restraining device.
Minaj is then shown kneeling at an altar, before a mock exorcism commences, with wires hoisting Minaj as a priest gesticulates nearby.
The Catholic League was not amused.
“Perhaps the most vulgar was the sexual statement that showed a scantily clad female dancer stretching backwards while an altar boy knelt between her legs in prayer,” said Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League.

“None of this was by accident, and all of it was approved The Recording Academy, which puts on the Grammys. Wheter Minaj is possessed is surely an open question, but what is not in doubt is the irresponsibility of The Recording Academy. Never would they allow an artist to insult Judaism or Islam,” Donohue said

“It’s bad enough that Catholics have to fight for their rights vis-a-vis a hostile administration in Washington also having to fend off attacks in the entertainment industry,” said Donohue. Donohue was apparently referring to the recent fracas between Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan and President Barack Obama. The two clashed over a health care policy requiring religious-backed institutions to cover the costs of birth control for their employees.

Reaction to Minaj’s performance was swift on Twitter – much of it negative.

“Maybe you had to be there,” Tweeted comedienne Wendy Liebman.

“Suddenly, Lady Gaga seems really, really normal,” Tweeted People magazine staff writer Steve Helling.

Hollywood's Conservative Underground Throws it's Support to Romney

2012-01-26T11:16:00.000-05:00

With the every increasing pressure to pick a candidate for the Republican nomination, the web site Hollywoodsconservativeunderground.com has made a choice. “It will be Mitt” says Christopher Cochran, President of the Online Media Group for the popular website. “It’s a clear choice at this point because we believe Mitt has the best chance to beat President Obama in the fall” The readers of Hollywood’s Conservative Underground (HCU) will be pleased to note that the HCU correctly predicted the overwhelming sweep in the Congressional elections last year.

GINGRICH REPEATEDLY INSULTED REAGAN

2012-01-26T09:20:00.000-05:00

In the increasingly rough Republican campaign, no candidate has wrapped himself in the mantle of Ronald Reagan more often than Newt Gingrich. “I worked with President Reagan to change things in Washington,” “we helped defeat the Soviet empire,” and “I helped lead the effort to defeat Communism in the Congress” are typical claims by the former speaker of the House.

The claims are misleading at best. As a new member of Congress in the Reagan years — and I was an assistant secretary of state — Mr. Gingrich voted with the president regularly, but equally often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides, and his policies to defeat Communism. Gingrich was voluble and certain in predicting that Reagan’s policies would fail, and in all of this he was dead wrong.

AdvertisementThe fights over Reagan’s efforts to stop Soviet expansionism in the Third World were exceptionally bitter. The battlegrounds ranged from Angola and Grenada to Afghanistan and Central America. Reagan’s top team — William Casey at CIA, Cap Weinberger at DOD, and George Shultz at State — understood as he did that if Soviet expansionism could be dealt some tough blows, not only the Soviet empire but the USSR itself would face a political, technological, and financial challenge it could not meet. Few officials besides Ronald Reagan predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union entirely, but every one of us in positions of authority understood the importance of this struggle.

But the most bitter battleground was often in Congress. Here at home, we faced vicious criticism from leading Democrats — Ted Kennedy, Christopher Dodd, Jim Wright, Tip O’Neill, and many more — who used every trick in the book to stop Reagan by denying authorities and funds to these efforts. On whom did we rely up on Capitol Hill? There were many stalwarts: Henry Hyde, elected in 1974; Dick Cheney, elected in 1978, the same year as Gingrich; Dan Burton and Connie Mack, elected in 1982; and Tom DeLay, elected in 1984, were among the leaders.
But not Newt Gingrich. He voted with the caucus, but his words should be remembered, for at the height of the bitter struggle with the Democratic leadership Gingrich chose to attack . . . Reagan.
The best examples come from a famous floor statement Gingrich made on March 21, 1986. This was right in the middle of the fight over funding for the Nicaraguan contras; the money had been cut off by Congress in 1985, though Reagan got $100 million for this cause in 1986. Here is Gingrich: “Measured against the scale and momentum of the Soviet empire’s challenge, the Reagan administration has failed, is failing, and without a dramatic change in strategy will continue to fail. . . . President Reagan is clearly failing.” Why? This was due partly to “his administration’s weak policies, which are inadequate and will ultimately fail”; partly to CIA, State, and Defense, which “have no strategies to defeat the empire.” But of course “the burden of this failure frankly must be placed first on President Reagan.” Our efforts against the Communists in the Third World were “pathetically incompetent,” so those anti-Communist members of Congress who questioned the $100 million Reagan sought for the Nicaraguan “contra” rebels “are fundamentally right.” Such was Gingrich’s faith in President Reagan that in 1985, he called Reagan’s meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev “the most dangerous summit for the West since Adolf Hitler met with Neville Chamberlain in 1938 in Munich.”

Oliver Stone would vote for Ron Paul over President Obama

2012-01-24T11:42:00.000-05:00

Filmmaker Oliver Stone, known for his liberal political views, said he would vote for GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul over President Obama should Paul win the Republican nomination.
In an interview with Rock Cellar magazine, Stone was asked if an economic collapse would lead to the fall of the American “empire.”
“I think it’s a given,” Stone said. “There’s no way that we can continue this spending spree. In fact, I think in many ways the most interesting candidate — I’d even vote for him if he was running against Obama — is Ron Paul. Because he’s the only one of anybody who’s saying anything intelligent about the future of the world.”

Stone was a vocal supporter of the president in 2008, and wrote an editorial in the Guardian saying that Obama could be the “heir to John F. Kennedy.”

According to Federal Election Commission records, in 2008 Stone donated $2,300 directly to the Obama campaign and another $2,300 to the Obama Victory Fund, which raises money for Obama’s re-election as well as for the Democratic National Committee.

Stone also has a long and controversial history of political filmmaking and political stances.

He’s directed movies about Presidents George W. Bush, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, as well as films about 9/11 and Vietnam War veteran and activist Ron Kovic.

Stone is also known for embracing some of far-left’s most notorious figures, such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Juliette Lewis latest celeb to support Ron Paul

2012-01-12T09:11:00.000-05:00

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul’s celebrity fan club — which already includes Vince Vaughn and Kelly Clarkson — has a new member: actress Juliette Lewis.

Lewis, best known for her roles in “Cape Fear” and “Natural Born Killers,” tweeted on Tuesday, “Let me be clear I AM NOT A REPUBLICAN or a Democrat even.But I like RonPaul as PresidentPaul. He is anti DefenseAct and 4ConstitutionRights.”

The actress also praised Paul on her Facebook page earlier this month, writing, " ...[I] believe in preserving the constitution and basic human rights which are slowly being dismantled with last couple presidents and then some... Ron Paul is the only one I've seen, for the ending war, less government and preserving OUR rights. I like that. ALOT.”

Harry Belafonte Turns his Back on Obama

2012-01-12T09:04:00.000-05:00

How do you get a liberal talk radio host to do your bidding? Easy. Just threaten his future invitations to White House events if you are a Democrat president. Such was apparently the case with Tavis Smiley of the Smiley & West radio show which he co-hosts with Cornell West. According to Politico, Smiley was recently ousted as the speaker of the upcoming Martin Luther King luncheon.

Tavis Smiley, the PBS talk show host who has criticized President Barack Obama for not doing enough for the African-American community, says he was ousted as the speaker at a Martin Luther King luncheon because he was trying to hold the president accountable.

Brian Maloney at the Radio Equalizer believes that Smiley has finally gotten his "mind right" about criticizing Obama. His evidence is the fact that the Smiley & West show edited out critical remarks about Obama made by actor/singer Harry Belafonte on the satellite re-feed of the show.

Yesterday's edition of the syndicated Smiley & (Cornel) West show featured Harry Belafonte detailing his ongoing unhappiness with the Obama Administration.

Though Belafonte did this previously in July 2011, something about yesterday's grievances caused an odd case of audio editing for the evening's satellite re-feed to public radio affiliates across the country. But we've managed to isolate the apparently offending passage and offer it to you here:

Here is the transcript of the censored portion of the Harry Belafonte interview which was discovered by Maloney:

HARRY BELAFONTE: When I think of Barack Obama and I think about all that is at stake here I’ve really long since left talking about how many terms he will be as a president. My question is what legacy will he leave having had the opportunity to serve under such hugely dramatic circumstances and boggled the mind and boggled people’s thinking and had such a huge impact on the universal state of things.

And how could he have had such a splendid opportunity to do more than most presidents would have ever been able to do and he let that opportunity slip away from him. And I am very cautious of the fact of those who thinks that he has some hidden agenda and that if only he could be given a second term for us to see the new light new things will be revealed. A new efforts will be made to take us to a place other than where we have been and where we languish.
I just don’t trust that. I don’t think that a safe way an accurate way to look at the scenario. I think if there was the kind of moral compass serving Barack Obama in the way we had all hoped, the moral force would have helped him make choices. The absence of that force in his equations the absence of that barometer to guide him when he has to make these decision which are hugely complicated, especially from the political perspective. He should have come to the table with things that I think would have helped us in this moment of crisis.
Maloney speculates about the reasons for censoring out this controversial portion of the interview:
So what's the problem, is it simply too close to the election? Is Smiley attempting to tone things down after the MLK disinvite? Or was it something in particular Belafonte said? If we find out you'll be the first to know.
And if Tavis Smiley can come up with a plausible explanation for this blatant censorship we sure would like to know. Oh, and if Smiley is worried about future White House invites, your humble correspondent would recommend that he show up in disguise for events like the Alice in Wonderland party next Halloween. Humpty Dumpty or the Mad Hatter? Your choice Mr. Smiley.

8.5% Unemployment! Expected to go Up!

2012-01-06T08:44:00.000-05:00

Employers have been more willing to add workers, but the trend is unlikely to improve much more in coming months and, in fact, the employment picture may deteriorate.
December’s jobs report, however, is expected to reinforce what appears to be a clear improvement in hiring, while still at a sluggish level. Economists are expecting nonfarm payroll growth for last month of about 155,000, when accounting for layoffs of roughly 25,000 public sector workers.

That compares to 120,000 in November, when the unemployment rate was reported at 8.6 percent. Economists expect unemployment to creep back up to 8.7 percent as more workers look for jobs.

“Tomorrow’s number should be pretty good,” said Goldman Sachs economist Andrew Tilton, who notes that job advertising and other indicators show an improved hiring picture. Weekly jobless claims, reported at 372,000 Thursday, continue to decline.

“In general, economic growth looks like it’s been a bit better in the last two to three months, so that’s generally correlated with hiring. Weather was very mild so that would tend to help things like construction hiring,” said Tilton. Goldman Sachs economists’ forecast of 175,000 nonfarm payrolls is among the highest for the December report, which will be released at 8:30am ET Friday.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to get a pretty strong report in January” also, he said. “We’ve had low layoffs relative to where we were for the last few years. I would think the January report would be reasonably good and the economic data have been pretty good.”

But that trend could be overtaken by a weakening economy. “We’re reasonably cautious about first -half economic growth,” he said. “On average, for the year, we expect employment growth to be somewhat lower than we expect in this (December) report.”

Mesirow Financial chief economist Diane Swonk expects to see 155,000 jobs added to December nonfarm payrolls and an unemployment rate of 8.8 percent. “It’s a particular wild card this month because they are doing annual revisions of seasonal factors,” said Swonk, who notes the adjustment could add an unexpected boost for the numbers.
She too expects the December report to be better than those in some of the coming months, as Europe’s debt crisis continues and Washington budget and tax talks come back into focus.
“I’m looking at a slowdown in growth as we move into 2012 from the fourth quarter… we’ve gotten an uneven recovery that’s accelerating. That’s kind of like ‘a glass half full,’” she said. “I think we’re going to have some rocky months ahead. I think we’re going to have a slowdown in growth in the first half of the year with Europe still volatile, wreaking havoc on the stock market. Keeping volatility high just keeps people gun shy from hiring more.”
“If we can get between 100,000 and 200,000 (monthly nonfarm payrolls) for the whole year, that would make me extremely happy,” she said.
Economists are mostly dismissing the ADP report for December, which showed that 325,000 private-sector jobs were added. The report is impacted by seasonal factors and has been overinflated in December before. But Swonk said an important element of that report showed that more than 80 percent of the new jobs were from small business, a trend that was also apparent last month.
“That’s good news and that story continues to grow,” she said. “I think that’s very important, and it’s one we want to keep momentum on, and that’s small business formation … That’s seen a real turn.”
On the negative side, the layoffs of public workers continues and now it’s shifting back to the federal payroll as opposed to state and local government workers.
“We’ve got postal workers. We’ve got veterans. We’ve got defense coming,” she said. She estimates 25,000 public-sector layoffs will be included in the December employment report.
Credit Suisse economist Jonathan Basile said an area that may show improvement is transportation, reflecting holiday hiring by parcel-delivery services. “They hire massively in December and then they cut that workforce in January,” he said.
He expects to see a total of 150,000 nonfarm payrolls. Basile does see a positive in the unemployment claims, and he notes the weekly number is more closely tied to the employment report than it has been in the past. The number has been below 400,000 for the past month.
“When you dip below 360,000, it’s really in solid positive territory for jobs. It really diminishes the chances that jobs cuts are on the table,” he said.
Improvements in the jobs report has already come as the unemployment claims dipped. “It wasn’t the hiring side that was doing the work. It was the firing side,” he said.

Is U.S. ready for second black leader?

2011-10-12T10:18:00.000-04:00

Is America ready to make history by electing the first black president to replace a black president?

That is the question latest polls increasingly raise these days that show Herman Cain jetting to the front of the GOP pack.
Not since the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court has a black conservative so disrupted the order of things at the highest levels here in Washington.

Who could forget the blood-thirsty “high-tech lynching” the left assembled to thwart him from becoming the only sitting black member of the U.S. Supreme Court?

Twenty years on, the left still harbors a special hatred for Justice Thomas. Meanwhile, his accuser returns to Washington and is feted all over town like a conquering hero who somehow stood up for racial justice by trying to derail the Thomas nomination.
Liberals tolerate blacks and they endure conservatives. But they cannot abide a successful, independent-minded black who dares to step out of line and reject the enslavement of the Plantation Party.
There is no class of people more openly loathed around here than black conservatives. Truly, it is the Mark of Cain among the liberal intelligentsia who dominate the press and corridors of power.
It is because black conservatives — like all conservatives — reject the pact Democratic Party bosses have made with black voters. That pact is governed by two overriding commandments.
First, you shall always be dependent upon the government. Second, never shall you be encouraged to take risks or venture far enough away from the government to be independent and successful. You will forever be enveloped — or entangled — in a government safety net.
In return, these black voters are expected every Election Day to put aside their doubts, stifle their frustrations and forget their ongoing despairs and — like zombies — walk into the polling booth and once again pull the lever for the Democrats.
“Brainwashed” is the term Mr. Cain used, and for which he was somehow accused of being “bigoted” and “racist” by a Democratic operative. Then condescending white liberalism weighed in when actress and activist Janeane Garofalo announced that Republicans who support Mr. Cain are somehow racist.
Oh, the Mark of Cain! Forever protected in squalor, cursed from working. And eternally hated

HOW IS THE HOPE & CHANGE THING WORKING OUT?

2011-09-22T10:07:00.000-04:00

Call it the recession's lost generation.

In record-setting numbers, young adults struggling to find work are shunning long-distance moves to live with Mom and Dad, delaying marriage and buying fewer homes, often raising kids out of wedlock. They suffer from the highest unemployment since World War II and risk living in poverty more than others - nearly 1 in 5.

New 2010 census data released Thursday show the wrenching impact of a recession that officially ended in mid-2009. It highlights the missed opportunities and dim prospects for a generation of mostly 20-somethings and 30-somethings coming of age in a prolonged slump with high unemployment.

"We have a monster jobs problem, and young people are the biggest losers," said Andrew Sum, an economist and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. He noted that for recent college grads now getting by with waitressing, bartending and odd jobs, they will have to compete with new graduates for entry-level career positions when the job market eventually does improve.
"Their really high levels of underemployment and unemployment will haunt young people for at least another decade," Sum said.
Richard Freeman, an economist at Harvard University, added, "These people will be scarred, and they will be called the `lost generation' - in that their careers would not be the same way if we had avoided this economic disaster."
Beyond the economy's impact, the new figures also show a rebound in the foreign-born population to 40 million, or 12.9 percent, the highest share since 1920. The 1.4 million increase from 2009 was the biggest since the mid-decade housing boom and could fuel debate in this election season about U.S. immigration strategy.
Most immigrants continue to be low-skilled workers from Latin America, with growing numbers from Asia also arriving on the bet that U.S. jobs await. An estimated 11.2 million immigrants are here illegally.
Seniors 65 and older tended to return to or stay put in their jobs, accounting for the few U.S. employment gains in recent months. About 1 in 6 older Americans is now in the labor force - the highest level since the 1960s, before more generous Social Security and Medicare benefits made it more attractive to retire.
Nationwide, employment among young adults 16-29 stood at 55.3 percent, down from 67.3 percent in 2000 and the lowest since the end of World War II. Young males who lacked a college degree - typically black and Hispanic - were most likely to lose jobs due to reduced demand for blue-collar jobs in construction, manufacturing and transportation during the downturn. Among teens, employment was less than 30 percent.
In all, the employment-to-population ratio for all age groups from 2007-2010 dropped faster than for any similar period since the government began tracking the data in 1948. In the past year, 43 of the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas continued to post declines in employment, led by Charlotte, N.C., Jacksonville, Fla., Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Detroit, all cities experiencing a severe housing bust, budget deficits or meltdowns in industries such as banking or manufacturing.
Without work, young adults aren't starting careers and lives in new cities, instead hanging out with their parents. Among adults 18-34, the share of long-distance moves across state lines fell last year to roughly 3.2 million people, or 4.4 percent, the lowest level since World War II. For college graduates, who historically are more likely to relocate out of state, long-distance moves dipped to 2.4 percent.
Opting to stay put, roughly 5.9 million Americans 25-34 last year lived with their parents, an increase of 25 percent from before the recession. Driven by a record 1 in 5 young men who doubled up in households, men are now nearly twice as likely as women to live with their parents.
Marriages fell to a record low last year of just 51.4 percent among adults 18 and over, compared with 57 percent in 2000. Among young adults 25-34, marriage was at 44.2 percent, also a new low.
Broken down by race and ethnicity, 31 percent of young black men lived in their parents' homes, compared with 21 percent of young Latino men and 15 percent of young white men. At the state level, New York had the highest share of young men living with their parents at 21 percent, followed by New Jersey and Hawaii, all states with higher costs of living. Most of the cities with low percentages of young adults living at home were in the Midwest. Homeownership declined for a fourth consecutive year, to 65.4 percent, following a peak of 67.3 percent in 2006. "Many young adults are essentially postponing adulthood and all of the family responsibilities and extra costs that go along with it," said Mark Mather, an associate vice president at the private Population Reference Bureau. He described a shift toward a new U.S. norm - commonly seen in Europe - in which more people wait until their 30s to leave the parental nest. "Some of these changes started before the recession but now they are accelerating, with effects on families that could be long term," Mather said.
In all, the District of Columbia plus 14 states had the largest ratios of college graduates to high-school dropouts - more than 3 to 1. Several of these places, including the District of Columbia and states with larger immigrant populations, also had the widest income gaps between rich and poor. The number of Hispanic children in poverty rose by half a million to 6.1 million last year, led by California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and Nevada, making up a majority of the increase in total child poverty. Hispanics now comprise 37 percent of children in poverty, compared with 30 percent for whites and 27 percent for blacks. "We are really at a crossroads," said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. "These new young immigrants and their children need a pathway to the middle class - good educations, affordable housing and jobs - at the same time federal and state budgets are strapped for funds. While we face tough choices, the quality of our future labor force depends on meeting their needs."
Other census findings:

-About 1 in 4 families with children is headed by single mothers, a record high. Among young families with a head of household younger than 30, the poverty rate jumped from 30 percent in 2007 to 37 percent. In contrast, poverty remained at a low 5.7 percent for families with a head of household 65 or older.

-The number of households receiving food stamps swelled by 2 million to 13.6 million, meaning that nearly 1 in 8 receives the government aid. The highest shares of recipients are in Oregon, Tennessee, Michigan, Kentucky and Mississippi. Among households receiving food stamps, more than half have children.

The 2010 numbers are from the American Community Survey, which queries 3 million households. In some cases, figures are supplemented with data from the Current Population Survey to establish historical trends.

Tea party reflects nation's health

2011-08-30T21:04:00.003-04:00

Tea party reflects nation's health 08/30/2011 3:00 AM By Heather Robinson,
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
During a forum for the unemployed in her home state this month, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., announced that ″the 'tea party' can go straight to hell,″ adding, ″And I intend to help them get there.″

This outburst came in the wake of a reference by Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., that tea party Republicans are ″terrorists″ at a Democrat caucus meeting last month.

And at a Miami town hall meeting, Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., piled on, saying, ″Let us all remember who the real enemy is. The real enemy is the tea party.″

With elected officials hurling this type of invective at fellow politicians who are associated with the tea party movement, as well as at the constituents who sent them to Washington, one would imagine the tea party was advocating something truly sinister.

In my own neighborhood (the east side of Manhattan), I have heard anxious murmurs about tea party activists that they are anti-Semitic or racist.

While fiscal conservatism has never been my personal cause, activists in the tea party movement have raised my awareness about it. And given that some of my family members are tea party activists in Western Pennsylvania, I am sick of hearing the movement and its members categorically slammed and slandered by ″enlightened″ city dwellers, most of whom have had little or no contact with its members.

Christopher Cochran, a founding member of the tea party in Western Pennsylvania (full disclosure: he is my brother-in-law), when asked if he had encountered any anti-Semitism or racism among its ranks, told me, ″Never did I see anything like that. ... The people I've known in the tea party don't have any of those feelings and if anybody would (voice something like that) -- whether it was racist or anti-Semitic or putting down women -- that would not be tolerated.″

He added that the tea party is a grassroots movement with ″no one leader. But they police themselves very well. Anyone who gets out of line, gets thrown out″ by local leadership.

While every movement has its kooks, regarding the movement in general, I am inclined to believe him and not just because he's my brother-in-law.

After all, given the need to feed the 24-hour news machine, if there were widespread expressions of racism or anti-Semitism at these rallies, wouldn't we have seen it reported? Similarly, if this were a movement whose members were prone to violence (given that hundreds of thousands of tea party activists have gathered at rallies for years now) wouldn't we have seen reports of violence?

We have not seen these crimes or heard this bigotry because it exists only in the minds of the tea party's detractors.

The tea party is a peaceful movement composed of Americans exercising their First Amendment rights. So why this fear and loathing, this condemnation to ″hell″ of a group of Americans who are breaking no laws, engaging in no smears or slurs?

Clearly, its simple insistence on the principle of self-reliance threatens the agendas of those who place their faith in government, as well as those who are dependent on government and want to stay that way. Otherwise, there would be no reason for anyone to feel threatened or enraged by a group this nonthreatening.

The tea party's civility stands in marked contrast to violent protests in places like England and Greece -- and the contrast extends beyond behavior to underlying principles.

The principles of fiscal responsibility and personal responsibility that underlie the tea party movement bode well for the United States, because a country in which the people, of their own volition, rouse themselves to demand less usurpation of their hard-earned dollars and fewer, not greater, handouts from government, is a country healthy enough to begin the challenging process of getting back on its feet.

Heather Robinson, a former Pittsburgher, is assistant editor of the New Jersey Jewish Standard.

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More lost Jobs due to Obama policies

2011-08-24T12:17:00.000-04:00

In its hurry to transport millions of barrels of oil from federal stockpiles to stabilize world oil prices earlier this summer, the Obama administration has repeatedly bypassed federal law by allowing nearly all the oil to move on foreign-owned vessels, drawing protests from domestic maritime operators.

The United States stores its oil reserves in multiple locations, including Bryan Mound, Tex.

The domestic ship owners say that 46 times the administration has waived the Jones Act, a 90-year-old law requiring purely domestic cargo to move on United States-flagged ships except under extraordinary circumstances. Only once this summer has oil from the reserve moved on American barges.

Even as unemployment hovered over 9 percent, the administration approved dozens of applications to transport nearly 30 million barrels of domestic crude oil within the borders of the United States on tankers employing foreign crews and flying the flags of the Marshall Islands, Panama and other countries.

The move, which saved time and money for the oil companies that bought the oil, took potential work from more than 30 American cargo vessels and as many as 400 sailors, American ship owners said in recent days. “This has literally flabbergasted the American maritime industry,” said Christopher Coakley, vice president for legislative affairs at the American Waterways Operators, an association of domestic ship and barge operators. “The idea was to create American jobs and help the economy. But all the profit from the sale of the oil has gone to traders and oil companies and all the profit from movement of the oil has gone to foreign shippers and crewmen, and that’s galling.”

In late June, the Obama administration, acting in concert with the 27 nations of the International Energy Agency, released the oil from the Department of Energy’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to make up some of the shortfall caused by the conflict in Libya. The administration said it wanted to get the oil to market quickly to lower prices and ensure supplies for the summer travel season. To meet that goal, it set very short deadlines for transporting the crude.
To waive the Jones Act, the president must find that there is a national security emergency and that domestic carriers are not available in a timely manner. The cutoff of oil from Libya and a lack of large-capacity American tankers provided the legal rationale for circumventing the law.
Representative Peter T. King, the New York Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said that it appeared that the administration had met the formal requirements for waiving the Jones Act, but he questioned the political and economic wisdom of doing so. “The spirit of the law is when possible, use a U.S. vessel, especially in tough economic times,” Mr. King said. “I think it has to hurt the American economy, hurt the maritime industry and affect American jobs.”
The government originally issued a blanket waiver, allowing the oil buyers to use foreign ships without prior approval, as it had when it released oil from the strategic reserve after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. When the industry protested the proposed blanket waiver in June, the administration said it would review each application. To date, there have been 47 shipments of oil from the caverns in Texas and Louisiana where the petroleum reserves are stored, according to maritime industry officials. One 150,000-barrel shipment moved on a domestic barge.
Most of the shipments were to East Coast refineries from loading points in the Gulf of Mexico.
Administration officials said that the oil was sold in large lots, most of them 500,000 barrels or more, and the dozen or so oil companies and traders that bought them found it faster and more economical to move the oil on 500,000-barrel capacity ocean-going tankers rather than on American-owned coastal barges. With only a couple of exceptions, the coastal barges tend to hold 150,000 barrels or less.
Clark Stevens, a White House spokesman, said that the administration tried to accommodate the domestic maritime industry by lowering the minimum lot size and by considering individual waivers. The administration would have preferred to use American ships but they were not available, he said.

In an e-mailed statement, he said: “Due to the volumes requested by the purchasing companies and the focus on getting this oil to U.S. markets as quickly as possible, the Department of Homeland Security — working with the Maritime Administration and the Department of Energy — determined that individual Jones Act waivers were appropriate since the U.S. fleet had only small barges available, and the buyers bid on the basis of larger, more efficient tankers.”

OSG, a shipping company based in New York, transported oil for three of the oil companies that bought crude from the petroleum reserve. It moved one shipment on an American-flagged barge and three on large tankers that are registered in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Morten Arntzen, the company’s chief executive, said that the United States was not an oil-exporting country and therefore did not have the capacity to move large shipments of oil on short notice. He said that a relatively large sale from the petroleum reserve was a rare event and that it did not make sense for domestic oil shippers to maintain fleets of tankers. “The United States hasn’t been exporting oil for decades, so this isn’t a cargo movement anybody positions their fleets for,” he said.

Government officials said that since 1995, 39 American-flagged large-capacity tankers had been taken out of commission, leaving only nine such ships, which generally are used on runs to the West Coast from Alaska. None were available on the short timeline dictated by the government, officials said.
The maritime operators said there was sufficient domestic shipping capacity available, although it would have required breaking the oil shipments into smaller lots, increasing the cost and prolonging delivery times. Mr. Coakley of the Waterways Operators said that domestic jobs should have been more important than the speed of delivery. “The urgency of that timeline is ridiculous when you consider that today, two months after the sale of the oil, almost 10 million barrels of the 30 million barrels released hasn’t yet been transported,” he said. Mr. King said, “I don’t see this as a partisan issue. But I would think a Democratic administration would be making some effort to help American workers.”

She is at it Again! Administrative Amnesty to illegals

2011-08-24T12:08:00.000-04:00

Stating that it makes "no sense" to use resources removing illegal aliens who have not yet been convicted of felonies, Secretary Janet Napolitano announced last week a plan to conduct a case-by-case review of all individual cases currently involved in removal proceedings. Such an approach will allow the Administration to dismiss all cases that do not meet its "highest priority," namely all illegal aliens who have not yet been convicted of a felony.

Not only will removal proceedings against "low priority" cases be dismissed, including all of those who would have been eligible under the repeatedly failed DREAM Act, the Administration plans to grant work authorization to those who have their cases dismissed. Such a policy is boldly ignoring what the American people have instructed Congress to authorize, and snubbing the votes of Congress, which has voted down the DREAM Act on multiple occasions.

To stop this continuous effort by the Obama Administration to bypass Congress, House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) last month introduced the "Hinder the Administration's Legalization Temptation Act" or the HALT Act (H.R. 2497). If enacted, the HALT Act would prevent the Administration from further abusing its prosecutorial discretion to grant administrative amnesty to certain classes of illegal aliens by suspending its ability to:

Grant deferred action to illegal aliens
Grant parole or extended voluntary departure to illegal aliens who do not meet narrowly defined criteria
Cancel the removal and adjust the status of illegal aliens ordered deported
Grant work authorization to illegal aliens.

Race Starts to Heat UP! Oh it's On Baby!

2011-08-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

President Barack Obama is closely matched against each of four possible Republican opponents when registered voters are asked whom they would support if the 2012 presidential election were held today. Mitt Romney leads Obama by two percentage points, 48% to 46%, Rick Perry and Obama are tied at 47%, and Obama edges out Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann by two and four points, respectively.

These prospective election ballots -- measured Aug. 17-18, well over a year before the Nov. 6, 2012, election -- indicate that the race for president at this point is generally competitive, with voters fairly evenly divided in their preference for giving Obama a second term or electing a Republican candidate. Even though the four Republican candidates tested have varying degrees of name recognition, they all fare roughly the same.

Gallup's generic presidential ballot -- measured six times this year -- shows a close race between Obama and a generic "Republican presidential candidate," although there have been survey-to-survey variations on this measure, with the Republican candidate leading in June and July.
President Obama's job approval rating is hovering around the 40% mark. This is below the rating that any of the six incumbent presidents re-elected since Eisenhower has had at the time of the presidential election. However, in August of the year before they were re-elected, Ronald Reagan (43%) and Bill Clinton (46%) were both below 50%. Obama's position of rough parity against leading GOP candidates shows that more Americans at the moment say they would vote for Obama than approve of the job he is doing -- perhaps a reflection of the continuing lack of a strong front-runner on the Republican side.
With the first official votes for the Republican nomination more than five months away, and with the very real possibility that GOP candidates such as Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, and George Pataki may jump into the race, much could still change as the election process unfolds. A look at presidential election trial heats conducted in the late summer of the year before previous elections reveals that such change is quite common:

In August 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush led Vice President Al Gore by 55% to 41% in a Gallup trial heat poll. That race ended up in a virtual dead heat, with Gore ultimately winning slightly more of the national popular vote than Bush.

In August 1995, Kansas Sen. Bob Dole was slightly ahead of President Bill Clinton in a Gallup poll, 48% to 46%. On Election Day 1996, Clinton beat Dole by eight points.

In August 1983, President Ronald Reagan was ahead of Democrat Walter Mondale by only one point, 44% to 43%. Reagan went on to beat Mondale in a 59% to 41% landslide in the November 1984 election.

In August 1979, incumbent President Jimmy Carter was tied with former California Gov. Reagan -- each getting 45% of the vote. Reagan ultimately defeated Carter by 10 points

Pelosi Called "Sell-out!" at Town Hall

2011-08-18T17:29:00.000-04:00

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was heckled several times at a town hall meeting in response to her vote for the "Satan sandwich" debt ceiling bill in Oakland, California.

Pelosi received the crowd's wrath after touting that the Democrats were able to get no cuts in entitlements in the deal. However, this was still not enough.

"Sell-out!" ... "Why did you vote for it?" ... "You voted for that Satan sandwich!" were just some of the phrases that were yelled at Pelosi.

Peter Fonda calls Obama "Traitor" at Cannes

2011-05-20T11:42:00.003-04:00

Cannes, France - Peter Fonda launched a four-letter attack on US President Barack Obama at the Cannes film festival on Wednesday, calling him a traitor over the handling of the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill.

The star of the 1969 road movie "Easy Rider" was in Cannes for the premiere of "The Big Fix" by Rebecca and Josh Tickell, the only feature documentary in the official selection at the Cannes film festival this year.

Fonda -- a keen environmentalist and co-producer of the film which centres on the explosion of the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon, the ensuing spill and its consequences -- accused Washington of trying to gag reporting on the issue.

"I sent an email to President Obama saying, 'You are a f(expletive) traitor,' using those words... 'You're a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military -- in this case the coastguard -- what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do'."

Fonda, who said he sent the email last week, appears in "The Big Fix" trying to get on to Louisiana beaches to assess the impact of the biggest oil spill in US history, only to be turned away by BP clean-up personnel.

Speaking at a press event at the American Pavilion to promote the film, Fonda denounced BP as "a bunch of Brits -- I thought we kicked them out a long time ago. They tried to get back in in 1812, but they didn't make it."

Hollywood is Turning on Obama

2011-05-18T07:47:00.000-04:00

Cindy Crawford is now backing Romney?

Actress and model Cindy Crawford supported President Obama in 2008, but has not yet committed to backing him in 2012.

Crawford's appearance at a Mitt Romney fundraising event on Monday sparked a lot of chatter that she has turned on Obama. But that's not accurate, according to her publicist, Annett Wolf.

Wolf told The Hill Tuesday afternoon that “at this time, [Crawford] is not aligned with anyone politically.”

The controversy started Monday when Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom tweeted: “Cindy Crawford appears in a demonstration video at Romney call day to show people how to use ComMitt fundraising software.”

The “call day” Fehrnstrom refers to was held on Monday in Las Vegas, where about 800 Romney supporters placed telephone calls to raise money for the likely 2012 GOP presidential candidate.

Wolf said Crawford appeared at the event as a favor to Tagg Romney, who is a friend of Crawford's and the son of the ex-Massachusetts governor. Wolf added that like many other people, Crawford is undecided on who she will support in 2012.

Crawford was among the many celebrities who backed Obama for president in 2008, contributing to his campaign as well as sporting a pro-Obama T-shirt.

Gutsycall.com Redirects Users to Obama's Campaign Website

2011-05-06T08:17:00.000-04:00

Obama's not one to "spike the football" after a victory (or after killing Osama bin Laden), but it seems his campaign team (or some of his ardent supporters) doesn't feel the same way. Check outwww.gutsycall.com -- it redirects users to Obama's campaign website, www.barackobama.com. Could it be that his reelection campaign made this call? Or is it just a couple of his most steadfast supporters?
According to this domain lookup website, the website was purchased yesterday, May 4. The purchaser, though, remains anonymous.

Obama Job Approval at 41%, Tying His Low

2011-04-16T09:22:00.001-04:00

Independents' approval rating down to 35%

The latest Gallup Daily tracking three-day average shows 41% of Americans approving of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. That ties his low as president, which he registered three times previously -- twice in August 2010 and once in October 2010.

The current 41% approval rating from April 12-14 polling includes interviews conducted before and after Obama announced his plan for deficit reduction on Wednesday. It also comes in the same week Congress is voting on the 2011 budget deal reached last Friday. The deal did not seem to have an immediate effect on the way Americans viewed Obama, given his 44% approval rating in the three days prior to the agreement and his 46% rating in the initial days after the agreement.

The economy is likely also a factor in Obama's declining ratings. Though unemployment is improving according to government estimates, the economic recovery remains slow and is being challenged by rising fuel prices. Presidents' approval ratings have historically suffered in times of high gas prices.

The current three-day average finds 50% of Americans disapproving of Obama, two percentage points below his high disapproval rating of 52% from Aug. 15-17 and Aug. 16-18, 2010, polling.

Obama's approval rating has averaged 48% thus far in 2011, including a slightly higher 50% averageduring the last two weeks in January.

Declining Approval Most Apparent Among Independents

Obama's approval rating in April 12-14 polling is down most among independents when compared with his 2011 average to date as well as his term average among this group. Currently, 35% of independents approve of the president, nine points off his average from independents this year. Democrats' current ratings are also below what he has averaged thus far in 2011 (down four points), while Republicans' are the same.

Implications

President Obama is now as unpopular as he has been at any time since he became president. He faces difficult challenges ahead in trying to improve the economy and get the federal budget deficit under control, and must do so with Republicans in control of the House. His ability to navigate these challenges will help determine whether he will be elected to a second term as president. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton all were similarly unpopular at this stage of their presidencies, but the last two were able to turn things around in time to win a second term in office.

Explore President Obama's approval ratings in depth and compare them with those of past presidents in the Gallup Presidential Job Approval Center.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 12-14, 2011, on the Gallup Daily tracking survey, with a random sample of 1,540 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell phones numbers are selected using random digit dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.

Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone-only/landline only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2010 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com.

Even dogs say NO to Obama

2011-04-13T07:59:00.001-04:00

Just say "NO" to Obama.

This picture is worth a trillion $$

2011-03-31T15:15:00.001-04:00

House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, pictured standing, far right, speaks while colleagues Rep. Barbara Lambert, D-Milford and Rep. Jack F. Hennessy, D-Bridgeport, play solitaire Monday night as the House convened to vote on a new budget. (AP)
The guy sitting in the row in front of these two....he's on Facebook, and the guy behind Hennessy is checking out the baseball scores.

These are the folks that couldn't get the budget out by Oct. 1, and are about to control your health care, cap and trade, and the list goes on and on….

Should we buy them larger screen computers - or - a ticket home, permanently?
This is one of their 3-DAY WORK WEEKS that we all pay for (salary is about $179,000 per year).

The Wolves will be herding the Sheep!

2011-03-21T15:52:00.000-04:00

Well, boys and girls, today the fox is guarding the hen house. The wolves will be herding the sheep! Obama has appointed two devout Muslims to homeland security posts.

Obama and Janet Napolitano appointed Arif Alikhan, described as a "devout Muslim," as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano swore-in Kareem Shora, also a "devout Muslim," born in Damascus, Syria, as ADC National Executive Director and as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC).
NOTE: Has anyone ever heard a new government official being identified as a “devout Catholic,” a "devout Jew," or a "devout Protestant?” Just wondering. As I recall, 19 devout Muslims imploded the World Trade Center, resulting in change we all now believe in.

"UP YOURS Democrats!"

2010-12-16T09:02:00.002-05:00

The Obama Tax Compromise is a bad deal for Americans. Like many deals the Democrats are trying to push down our throats, this one is no different. The current Democrat majority is using Christmas to race and pass bills under the cover of darkness. Push to stop the Democrats and hold off till January.

Oppose the tax compromise for several reasons:

1. There are no spending cuts
2. The relief is for only two years which is not enough
3. The deal fails to end the "Death Tax" which punishes families
4. Too many earmarks were added for special interest groups

This bill was passed in the Senate and is now in the House.  Please call your U.S. Representative and ask him to vote no on the Obama Tax Compromise.  For contact your representative's phone numbers, click here.

Here are some talking points from the Citizens for the Republic which we agree with.
Check out Citizens for the Republic's powerful advertisement Mourning in America.

OPPOSE THE OBAMA "COMPROMISE DEAL" WHILE THE GOAL POSTS KEEP MOVING--- WE SHOULD FOCUS SOLELY ON REDUCING THE TAX RATES SET TO INCREASE OR WAIT FOR A NEW CONGRESS IN JANUARY

5 Reasons to Oppose this Lame-Duck Spend, Borrow, Earmark Deal:

1. Where are the Spending Cuts???:

Our current and long-term fiscal situation is untenable, and the U.S. is quickly headed
for a debt crisis on par with what is being witnessed by our allies in Europe. Instead of cutting spending, the Obama tax deal extends for 13 months additional unemployment benefits that were meant to be temporary-without any offsets. These benefits were enacted as part of the President's flawed trillion dollar "stimulus" plan, and if extended yet again, the additional unemployment benefits spawned by the stimulus would total $185 billion-fast resembling a permanent new entitlement. President Obama should not be allowed to use the present situation to leverage an extension of his own spending habits.

2. Makes Tax Relief Only Temporary:

The U.S. will not witness sustained, robust economic recovery unless government gets out of the way and there is certainty in the economy, particularly with regard to tax policy. A two-year extension does not amount to such tax certainty and does not provide the sort of assurance needed for families and job creators to plan, invest, and take risks that grow the economy. Conservatives in Congress should stand for a permanent extension of current tax rates, as proposed in legislation by Senator Jim DeMint and Congressman Mike Pence, and then begin the vital work to reform a complicated tax code. Such tax reform cannot happen if conservatives have to fight against a tax increase every two years.

3. Fails to Permanently End "Death Tax":

The death tax is currently zero. And while the death tax is scheduled to return under current law at a high confiscatory rate, this is a tax increase no different than the other scheduled tax increases under the tax code. We are alarmed that negotiators felt the need to create a special dispensation for this particular tax increase whereby its current level (zero) is not also extended for two years but raised. A death tax punishes families and job creators, taxes a second time wealth that was already taxed once, and is fundamentally immoral in that it makes death a taxable event.

4. Earmarks were added after the "compromise" was announced:

On Monday, December 6 the "compromise" framework was announced and it contained no earmarks. But by Thursday, December 9 when the legislation was made public there were goodies and favors-also know as earmarks-for an array of special interests.

5. This is exactly the type of Washington DC deal making the American People rebelled against on November 2:

The deal is premature. By striking a "compromise" in a lame duck Congress, negotiators are essentially ignoring the will of the American electorate as expressed in last month's elections. Given the term of the deal, Members who have been voted out of office will be allowed effectively to participate in setting major policy even after their own electorates made clear that they preferred different representation.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE PRESIDENT OBAMA'S "COMPROMISE DEAL" VISIT THESE WEBSITES & BLOGS:

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/news/#2

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/09/AR2010120904472.html

Congressman Jeff Flake A "Hard No" On "The Deal"; Senator Tom Coburn Up In The Air      (Hewitt)

Hugh Hewitt on how the deal breaks the Pledge to America:http://www.hughhewitt.com/blog/g/108e5800-5773-4867-90c7-059c9a537694

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/HughHewitt/2010/12/08/congressman_jeff_flake_a_hard_no_on_the_deal;_senator_tom_coburn_up_in_the_air

DeMint lays out his opposition: http://www.hughhewitt.com/transcripts.aspx?id=99d5377d-aff2-4e5c-aaac-76ea57bcba22

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/12/09/putting-the-tarp-band-back-together

http://billpascoe.net/detail.php?c=2390489&t=Obama-baits-trap-for-Republicans

The Rise of the Black GOP, Silence from the Mainstream media.

2010-10-06T17:13:00.000-04:00

Nearly thirty-two African-Americans are running this election season as Republicans. If you only watched the mainstream media, you would think there were only three: South Carolinas’ Tim Scott, Allen West of Florida, and Republican strategist Angela McGlowan (lost primary) of Mississippi. But there are 28 others who are running under the banner of Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the most since reconstruction. Many are running in the deep south and maybe I shouldn’t use this word, but the south appears to be more “progressive” than its northern neighbors.

Many of the candidates have been endorsed by their local teaparties and the always controversial former Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. Maybe that is the reason the media isn’t reporting on these candidates, their endorsements from the tea party movement doesn’t jive with their premise that the movement is racist because of their disagreement with President Obama’s policies. Maybe the real truth is the tea parties descent is about ideology and not the color of Obama’s skin.

The New York Times took a look at the many candidates of African descent who are running under the Republican banner. We have added the names of the candidates and a link to each so one can learn more about each of the candidate running this election season.

Among the many reverberations of President Obama’s election, here is one he probably never anticipated: at least 32 African-Americans are running for Congress this year as Republicans, the biggest surge since Reconstruction, according to party officials.

But now black Republicans are running across the country — from a largely white swath of beach communities in Florida to the suburbs of Phoenix, where an African-American candidate has raised more money than all but two of his nine (white) Republican competitors in the primary.
Party officials and the candidates themselves acknowledge that they still have uphill fights in both the primaries and the general elections, but they say that black Republicans are running with a confidence they have never had before. They credit the marriage of two factors: dissatisfaction with the Obama administration, and the proof, as provided by Mr. Obama, that blacks can get elected.
“I ran in 2008 and raised half a million dollars, and the state party didn’t support me and the national party didn’t support me,” said Allen West, who is running for Congress in Florida and is one of roughly five black candidates the party believes could win. “But we came back and we’re running and things are looking great.”

Here is a list of black Republican candidates in 2010

Senate candidates:
Marion Thorpe, FloridaLarry Linney, North Carolina
Michael Williams, Texas

Congressional candidates:

Lester Phillip, Alabama’s 5th District
Princella Smith, Arkansas’s 1st District
Vernon Parker, Arizona’s 3rd District
Virginia Fuller,California’s 7th District
Star Parker, California’s 37th District
Chrystopher Smith, California’s 39th District
Mason Weaver, California’s 53rd District
Ryan Frazier, Colorado’s 7th District
Eddie Adams, Florida’s 11th District
Corey Poitier, Florida’s 17th District
Allen West, Florida’s 22nd District
Deon Long, Florida’s 24th District
Cory Ruth, Georgia’s 4th District
Deborah Honeycutt, Georgia’s 13th District
Rupert Parchment, Georgia’s 13th District
Isaac Hayes, Illinois’s 2nd District
Robert Broadus, Maryland’s 4th District
Charles Lollar, Maryland’s 5th District
Bill Hardiman, Michigan’s 3rd District
Angela McGlowan, Mississippi’s 1st District
Martin Baker, Missouri’s 1st District
Shannon Wright, New Jersey’s 6th District
Michael Faulkner,New York’s 15th District
Jerry Grimes, North Carolina’s 1st District
Lou Huddleston, North Carolina’s 8th District
Bill Randall, North Carolina’s 13th District
Tim Scott, South Carolina’s 3rd District
Jean Howard-Hill, Tennessee’s 3rd District
Charlotte Bergmann, Tennessee’s 9th District
Stephen Broaden, Texas’s 30th District
David Castillo, Washington’s 3rd District

OBAMA says"We can absorb a terrorist attack."

2010-09-22T10:20:00.000-04:00

Bob Woodward book details Obama battles with advisers over exit plan for Afghan war

President Obama urgently looked for a way out of the war in Afghanistan last year, repeatedly pressing his top military advisers for an exit plan that they never gave him, according to secret meeting notes and documents cited in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward.
Frustrated with his military commanders for consistently offering only options that required significantly more troops, Obama finally crafted his own strategy, dictating a classified six-page "terms sheet" that sought to limit U.S. involvement, Woodward reports in "Obama's Wars," to be released on Monday.
According to Woodward's meeting-by-meeting, memo-by-memo account of the 2009 Afghan strategy review, the president avoided talk of victory as he described his objectives.
"This needs to be a plan about how we're going to hand it off and get out of Afghanistan," Obama is quoted as telling White House aides as he laid out his reasons for adding 30,000 troops in a short-term escalation. "Everything we're doing has to be focused on how we're going to get to the point where we can reduce our footprint. It's in our national security interest. There cannot be any wiggle room."
Obama rejected the military's request for 40,000 troops as part of an expansive mission that had no foreseeable end. "I'm not doing 10 years," he told Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a meeting on Oct. 26, 2009. "I'm not doing long-term nation-building. I am not spending a trillion dollars."
Woodward's book portrays Obama and the White House as barraged by warnings about the threat of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and confronted with the difficulty in preventing them. During an interview with Woodward in July, the president said, "We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger."
But most of the book centers on the strategy review, and the dissension, distrust and infighting that consumed Obama's national security team as it was locked in a fierce and emotional struggle over the direction, goals, timetable, troop levels and the chances of success for a war that is almost certain to be one of the defining events of this presidency.
Obama is shown at odds with his uniformed military commanders, particularly Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command during the 2009 strategy review and now the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.
Woodward reveals their conflicts through detailed accounts of two dozen closed-door secret strategy sessions and nearly 40 private conversations between Obama and Cabinet officers, key aides and intelligence officials.
Tensions often turned personal. National security adviser James L. Jones privately referred to Obama's political aides as "the water bugs," the "Politburo," the "Mafia," or the "campaign set." Petraeus, who felt shut out by the new administration, told an aide that he considered the president's senior adviser David Axelrod to be "a complete spin doctor."
During a flight in May, after a glass of wine, Petraeus told his own staffers that the administration was "[expletive] with the wrong guy." Gates was tempted to walk out of an Oval Office meeting after being offended by comments made by deputy national security adviser Thomas E. Donilon about a general not named in the book.
Suspicion lingered among some from the 2008 presidential campaign as well. When Obama floated the idea of naming Clinton to a high-profile post, Axelrod asked him, "How could you trust Hillary?"
'Can't afford any mistakes'
"Obama's Wars" marks the 16th book by Woodward, 67, a Washington Post associate editor. Woodward's reporting with Carl Bernstein on the Watergate coverup in the early 1970s led to their bestselling book "All the President's Men."
Among the book's other disclosures:
-- Obama told Woodward in the July interview that he didn't think about the Afghan war in the "classic" terms of the United States winning or losing. "I think about it more in terms of: Do you successfully prosecute a strategy that results in the country being stronger rather than weaker at the end?" he said.
-- The CIA created, controls and pays for a clandestine 3,000-man paramilitary army of local Afghans, known as Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams. Woodward describes these teams as elite, well-trained units that conduct highly sensitive covert operations into Pakistan as part of a stepped-up campaign against al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens there.
-- Obama has kept in place or expanded 14 intelligence orders, known as findings, issued by his predecessor, George W. Bush. The orders provide the legal basis for the CIA's worldwide covert operations.
-- A new capability developed by the National Security Agency has dramatically increased the speed at which intercepted communications can be turned around into useful information for intelligence analysts and covert operators. "They talk, we listen. They move, we observe. Given the opportunity, we react operationally," then-Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell explained to Obama at a briefing two days after he was elected president.
-- A classified exercise in May showed that the government was woefully unprepared to deal with a nuclear terrorist attack in the United States. The scenario involved the detonation of a small, crude nuclear weapon in Indianapolis and the simultaneous threat of a second blast in Los Angeles. Obama, in the interview with Woodward, called a nuclear attack here "a potential game changer." He said: "When I go down the list of things I have to worry about all the time, that is at the top, because that's one where you can't afford any mistakes."
-- Afghan President Hamid Karzai was diagnosed as manic depressive, according to U.S. intelligence reports. "He's on his meds, he's off his meds," Woodward quotes U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry as saying.
'The cancer is in Pakistan'
Obama campaigned on a promise to extract U.S. forces from Iraq and focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan, which he described as the greater threat to American security. At McConnell's top-secret briefing for Obama, the intelligence chief told the president-elect that Pakistan is a dishonest partner, unwilling or unable to stop elements of the Pakistani intelligence service from giving clandestine aid, weapons and money to the Afghan Taliban, Woodward writes.
By the end of the 2009 strategy review, Woodward reports, Obama concluded that no mission in Afghanistan could be successful without attacking the al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban havens operating with impunity in Pakistan's remote tribal regions.
"We need to make clear to people that the cancer is in Pakistan," Obama is quoted as saying at an Oval Office meeting on Nov. 25, 2009. Creating a more secure Afghanistan is imperative, the president said, "so the cancer doesn't spread" there.
The war in Iraq draws no attention in the book, except as a reference point for considering and developing a new Afghanistan strategy. The book's title, "Obama's Wars," appears to refer to the conflict in Afghanistan and the conflicts among the president's national security team.
An older war - the Vietnam conflict - does figure prominently in the minds of Obama and his advisers. When Vice President Biden rushed to the White House on a Sunday morning to make one last appeal for a narrowly defined mission, he warned Obama that a major escalation would mean "we're locked into Vietnam."
Obama kept asking for "an exit plan" to go along with any further troop commitment, and is shown growing increasingly frustrated with the military hierarchy for not providing one. At one strategy session, the president waved a memo from the Office of Management and Budget, which put a price tag of $889 billion over 10 years on the military's open-ended approach.
In the end, Obama essentially designed his own strategy for the 30,000 troops, which some aides considered a compromise between the military command's request for 40,000 and Biden's relentless efforts to limit the escalation to 20,000 as part of a "hybrid option" that he had developed with Gen. James E. Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In a dramatic scene at the White House on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009, Obama summoned the national security team to outline his decision and distribute his six-page terms sheet. He went around the room, one by one, asking each participant whether he or she had any objections - to "say so now," Woodward reports.
The document - a copy of which is reprinted in the book - took the unusual step of stating, along with the strategy's objectives, what the military was not supposed to do. The president went into detail, according to Woodward, to make sure that the military wouldn't attempt to expand the mission.
After Obama informed the military of his decision, Woodward writes, the Pentagon kept trying to reopen the decision, peppering the White House with new questions. Obama, in exasperation, reacted by asking, "Why do we keep having these meetings?"
Along with Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan at the time, they kept pushing for their 40,000-troop option as part of a broad counterinsurgency plan along the lines of what Petraeus had developed for Iraq.
The president is quoted as telling Mullen, Petraeus and Gates: "In 2010, we will not be having a conversation about how to do more. I will not want to hear, 'We're doing fine, Mr. President, but we'd be better if we just do more.' We're not going to be having a conversation about how to change [the mission] . . . unless we're talking about how to draw down faster than anticipated in 2011."
Petraeus took Obama's decision as a personal repudiation, Woodward writes. Petraeus continued to believe that a "protect-the-Afghan-people" counterinsurgency was the best plan. When the president tapped Petraeus this year to replace McChrystal as the head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Petraeus found himself in charge of making Obama's more limited strategy a success.
Woodward quotes Petraeus as saying, "You have to recognize also that I don't think you win this war. I think you keep fighting. It's a little bit like Iraq, actually. . . . Yes, there has been enormous progress in Iraq. But there are still horrific attacks in Iraq, and you have to stay vigilant. You have to stay after it. This is the kind of fight we're in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids' lives."

John Krupa is a FAKE Tea Party Candidate supported by the left.

2010-08-15T12:10:00.007-04:00

The left has placed a fake Tea Party candidate

on the ballot as a gubernatorial candidate in

Pennsylvania. Why? In order to deceive our tea

party friends, spoil the election and steal our name,

Tea Party, as a party name. This has been done

this in other states where the tea party movement is

strong, and 19% of Pennsylvanians say they are tea

party members and 45% think our movement is good

for the country according to Rasmussen.

I want all Pennsylvanians to know:

John Krupa is a FAKE Tea Party Candidate
supported by the left. Don't vote for him.
Spread the word.

Last week, a man named John Krupa filed nomination papers with the PA
Department of State to run as a "Tea Party" candidate for Governor! As
you know, I have attended many Tea Party events all across PA and the
country and I am in contact with many of the Pennsylvania grassroots
organizations. No one has heard of the guy. I was completely stunned to
learn of this information. When I heard he had filed as an alleged member
of the Tea Party, I decided to take a closer look at his nomination papers.
And what I found was the most shocking and it was deeply troubling. Mr.
Krupa's nomination papers were littered with circulators who DO NOT share
our value and principles! Krupa's petitions had more than 20 individuals
who are closely aligned with anti-free market Unions! Additionally, there
are 20 more individuals that are closely aligned with the Dan Onorato for
Governor Campaign and other major Democratic establishment insiders!

Despite only having to add a candidate for the US Senate on these papers,
no such candidate was added! Nor was a candidate added for Lieutenant
Governor, which is in violation of the Commonwealth of PA Constitution!
It has become very clear that this is nothing more than an effort planned
and executed by Dan Onorato's campaign to get a 3rd Party candidate on
the ballot and confuse the voters in an attempt to hijack the Tea Party
name and save his campaign. This is a dishonest tactic that we will not allow
to stand. We cannot let all of the efforts and hard twork that we have done
be stolen by Dan Onorato's campaign in a disgusting political tactic! I smell
cheese and the Pittsburgh Tribune called him a"OnoRATo" for attempting this
effort! This has major implications for the Tea Party moving forward---if this
Onorato (sponsored) Tea Party candidate, once on the ballot for the General
Election 2010 receives 2% of the vote this year, he and his five-person
self-identified Committee, who are also not Tea Party organizers, will be able
to nominate "Tea Party" candidates in Pennsylvania for the next four years! Understanding these consequences, I knew action needed to be taken for our
Tea Party movement! We have worked too hard to have Dan Onorato or
anyone else steal our movement. Monday August 9 I along with three other
activists filed an objection to John Krupa"s nomination papers. Wednesday,
we were made aware that our petition challenge would begin in court on
August 17th, 2010. However, before we get to court, both sides of the
challenge and now I am required to go through each signature being
challenged one-by-one. This exhaustive effort will begin on Friday and
continue through the weekend. I am extremely confident that our
challenges will be successful and we will prevent the hijacking of the
Tea Party name by Dan Onorato or anyone!

Flight attendant, Steve Slater's tirade 'refreshing'?

2010-08-14T23:03:00.000-04:00

Now that is a Governor for You!

2010-08-11T13:14:00.000-04:00

Now here is a governor for U!!

Way go to, Governor Brewer!

Hey Sarver, how about letting those hordes of Suns fans sneak in free? And give em some eats and drinks too. Because you don't want to be a racist, do you?

Robert Sarver, current majority owner of the Phoenix Suns, has bad-mouthed Arizona’s new immigration law.

Arizona’s Governor, Jan Brewer, released the following statement in response to Sarver’s criticism:

“What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into games without paying? What if they had a good idea who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn’t be ejected. Furthermore, what if Suns’ ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?”
-Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

Congress Ranks Last in Confidence in Institutions

2010-07-22T11:35:00.001-04:00

Gallup's 2010 Confidence in Institutions poll finds Congress ranking dead last out of the 16 institutions rated this year. Eleven percent of Americans say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress, down from 17% in 2009 and a percentage point lower than the previous low for Congress, recorded in 2008.

The Gallup poll was conducted July 8-11, shortly before Congress passed a major financial regulatory reform bill, which President Obama signed into law this week.
Underscoring Congress' image problem, half of Americans now say they have "very little" or no confidence in Congress, up from 38% in 2009 -- and the highest for any institution since Gallup first asked this question in 1973. Previous near-50% readings include 48% found for the presidency in 2008, and 49% for the criminal justice system in 1994.
This year's poll also finds a 15-point drop in high confidence in the presidency, to 36% from 51% in June 2009. Over the same period, President Barack Obama's approval rating fell by 11 points, from 58% to 47%. However, confidence in the presidency remains higher than in 2008 -- the last year of George W. Bush's term -- when the figure was 26%.

Military Still No. 1

The military continues its long-standing run as the highest-rated U.S. institution. Small business and the police occupy second and third places, respectively. These three top-tier institutions all earn high confidence from a majority of Americans, something no other institution achieves this year.
The military has been No. 1 in Gallup's annual Confidence in Institutions list continuously since 1998, and has ranked No.1 or No. 2 almost every year since its initial 1975 measure.
The high level of confidence in small business contrasts with the low level of confidence in big business; the latter is tied with HMOs at 19% for next-to-last place. Confidence in organized religion is similar to where it has been since 2002, but is significantly lower than in prior years.
Forthcoming articles on Gallup.com will review the trends for these and other institutions in greater depth.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted July 8-11, 2010, with a random sample of 1,020 adults, aged 18 and older, living in the continental U.S., selected using random-digit-dial sampling.For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones (for respondents with a landline telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell phone-only). Each sample includes a minimum quota of 150 cell phone-only respondents and 850 landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents for gender within region. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.
Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, education, region, and phone lines. Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2009 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in continental U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design.

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls

Where is Hollywood? The Gulf does not fit their Agenda.

2010-06-13T09:59:00.000-04:00

In January, when a magnitude-7.0 earthquake killed an estimated 230,000 Haitians and left more than a million others homeless, Hollywood shed a collective, well-choreographed tear, then banded together like a Christopher Guest cast to help put the country back together. The tabloids kept track of themost generous celebrities, noting that Brangelina and Sandra Bullock each donated $1 million, while others, like Sean Penn, decamped to Haiti to work directly on refugee efforts. In perhaps the most visible celebrity relief effort, George Clooney hosted a star-studded telethon that featured performances by Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and, obviously, Bono.

Yet as hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil continue to leak into and spread out across the Gulf of Mexico each day, Hollywood has seemed largely unmoved by the BP oil spill, which is creating its own long list of need: Eleven workers died in the accident that led to the leak, and scientists have so far tallied an animal fatality count of 23 birds, 156 sea turtles and 12 dolphins, numbers that are expected to rise (countless more will simply sink to the ocean floor, undiscovered). Thousands of fishermen are abruptly out of work, and it may take decades for the gulf ecosystem to recover. All in all, most experts say the damage here will eclipse that of 1989's catastrophic Exxon Valdez spill, which dumped 11 million gallons into Alaska's Prince William Sound and cost the company nearly $4 billion.

So what gives? Where are the photos of Lady Gaga in waders? Does Clooney have something againsttuna?

According to Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy, donations to help have Haiti added up to$1.3 billion so far; Hurricane Katrina was an even bigger catalyst for altruism, commanding a whopping $5.3 billion. By contrast, the celebrity effort in the wake of the gulf oil spill has been a D-plus, B-list effort at best. Last week, Lenny Kravitz, Mos Def, John Legend and others took part inGulf Aid, a fundraising concert held in New Orleans, which producer Ben Jaffe says raised $350,000 for fishing families and wetlands restoration. Louisiana native and actor Ian Somerhalder, who earned moderate fame as one of the first major characters to get the boot during season one of "Lost," filmed a few PSAs for the Audubon Institute and told the Los Angeles Times, "I never talk about politics, but right now is a time to be angry and sad." Still -- he's no Bono. He's not even Josh Holloway.

Don't Miss

Liz Condo, Pool / AP

Watch: Live Video of Spill

A cynic might suggest that the gulf spill is playing second fiddle to more pressing celebrity travails: philanthropic heavies Clooney, Bullock, and the Pitt-Jolies -- who own a house in New Orleans -- are all either going through real or alleged break-ups. It's also possible that man-made disasters just don't command the sort of sympathy as natural ones, especially since BP has already agreed tocover all costs associated with cleanup and claims for property damage, injury and business losses. But then, survivors of 1986's Chernobyl accident garnered support from Michael Stipe, Bono and Helena Christensen, while Exxon Valdez inspired Kevin Costner to spend $26 million of his own money to hire a team of engineers and scientists to create a way to separate oil from seawater. More likely, it's just a result of unfortunate timing. Penn remains in Haiti, and Pitt's still going on about Katrina. And, well, awards season isn't for another nine months.

Gulf Aid producer Jaffe says he hopes to raise more funds by airing the concert on cable TV. In the meantime, Costner's devices, called Ocean Therapy, have been added to BP's cleanup efforts. And Stephen Baldwin, the youngest Baldwin brother best known for his work on "Celebrity Big Brother" (or was it I'm a "Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here?"), has been in Cannes talking up his in-the-works documentary about the spill and America's oil dependency, called "The Will to Drill." Costner will narrate.

Beyond that, little Gulf Coast sea turtles: You're on your own.

Hollywoods Conservative Aboveground

2010-06-01T17:02:00.000-04:00

For just about as long as anyone can remember, liberalism has been the political ideology of choice in Hollywood. But that is slowly beginning to change.

In October 2008, director David Zucker, famous for his Airplane and Naked Gun movies, released An American Carol, a film that spoofs Hollywood liberalism and its most notorious propaganda artist, Michael Moore. The film starred a host of Hollywood conservatives, who 10 or 15 years ago would have lost their careers for such political blasphemy!

But it isn't the film's plot that makes it such an important piece of cinema. It's what the film says about the conservative movement. By coming out with a clearly right-of-center film -- a comedy, no less -- Hollywood conservatives are saying they're willing to put their careers on the line to help the movement move into the light of day.

Below is a list of Tinseltown celebs who make no bones about their conservative commitments. The list is growing, and each week one of these Hollywood celebrities will be profiled -- complete with a breakdown of their conservative credentials. Some you'll know. Others might surprise you. Either way, enjoy ... and know that if you're a conservative, you're not alone (even though it might feel like it sometimes)!

•Trace Adkins: Country Music Singer & TV Personality

•Danny Aiello: Film Actor

•Stephen Baldwin: Actor, Radio Personality

•Pat Boone: Singer, Songwriter

•Wilfred Brimley: Commercial Actor & Star of Cocoon

•Jerry Bruckheimer: TV & Film Producer

•James Caan: Legendary Film Actor

•Drew Carey: Game Show Host & Former TV Star

•Adam Carolla: Former Host of The Man's Show

•Tom Clancy: Espionage and Military Science Author

•Jon Cryer: Notable Film & TV Actor

•Robert Davi: TV & Film Actor

•Bo Derek: Model, Film & Television Actress

•Dale Earnhardt Jr.: American Race Car Driver

•Clint Eastwood: Academy Award Winning Film Actor & Director

•John Elway: Hall of Fame Quarterback & Super Bowl MVP with the Denver Broncos

•Sara Evans: Country Music Singer

•Lou Ferrigno: TV Actor (Star of The Incredible Hulk & King of Queens Guest Star)

•Mel Gibson: Film Actor & Academy Award-Winning Director

•Kelsey Grammer: TV & Film Actor, Star of TV's Long-Running Series, Frasier

•Angie Harmon: TV & Film Actor, Star of TV's Law & Order

•Elizabeth Hasslebeck: Former "Survivor" Contestant & Co-Host of The View

•Dennis Hopper: Actor, Director & Two-Time Academy Award Nominee

•Patricia Heaton: TV Actor, Female Lead in TV's Everybody Loves Raymond

•Naomi Judd: Country Music Singer, Actress & Author

•Lorenzo Lamas: TV Actor

•Heather Locklear: TV & Film Actress

•Susan Lucci: Emmy Award-Winning Actress & Soap Star

•Dennis Miller: Actor, Stand-Up Comedian & Political Commentator

•Chuck Norris: Legendary TV Actor

•Ted Nugent: Legendary Musician, Speaker

•Richard Petty: Seven-time NASCAR Champion

•Johnny Ramone (John Cummings), Legenday Musician, Founder of The Ramones

•John Ratzenberger: TV Actor, Voice-Over Personality

•Robert James "Kid Rock" Ritchie: Singer, Song Writer & Rapper

•Adam Sandler: Legendary Stand-Up Comedian, "Saturday Night Live" Alum & Hollywood Film Star

•Pat Sajak: Wheel of Fortune Game Show Host & Political Columnist

•Curt Schilling: World Series Champion & Former Phillies, Diamondbacks & Red Sox Pitcher

•Tom Selleck: TV & Film Actor

•Ron Silver: TV & Film Actor

•Jessica Simpson: Singer, Actress & TV Personality

•Gary Sinise: Academy Award Nominated Film Actor & TV Star

•Sylvester Stallone: Producer, Director, Writer & Legendary Film Actor, Star of Rocky & Rambo Films

•Ben Stein: Film Actor, Game Show Host & Political Commentator

•John Stossel: Investigative Reporter, Speaker

•Janine Turner: Film & TV Actor

•Jon Voight: Academy Award-winning Film Actor and Political Activist

•Bruce Willis: Legendary Film Actor & Two-Time Emmy Award Winner

•Lee Ann Womack: Country Music Singer

•James Woods: Noteable Film Actor

•David Zucker: Director of Airplane & Naked Gun Films

Why Hollywood should be very nervous about Elena Kagan

2010-05-11T15:41:00.000-04:00

Hollywood may have some reason to be nervous about President Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Not a whole lot is known about Kagan's judicial philosophy, which in some ways, makes her the perfect pick to win confirmation by the Senate. Her record on issues the industry cares about, though, isn't entirely opaque. Hollywood's biggest worry about Kagan might be her philosophy on intellectual property matters. As dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009, she was instrumental in beefing up the school's Berkman Center for Internet & Society by recruiting Lawrence Lessig and others who take a strongly liberal position on "fair use" in copyright disputes.

Most notably, during those years, Professor Charles Nesson at the Berkman Center represented accused file-sharer Joel Tenenbaum in the defense of a lawsuit by the RIAA. Professor Nesson led his cyberlaw class in alleging that "the RIAA is abusing law and the civil process" with excessive damage claims in piracy cases. It was Kagan herself who wrote a personal letter to the U.S. District Court to help certify the students.

Ironically, the Obama administration later weighed in on the side of the RIAA in the case. But it was before Kagan was fully confirmed as U.S. Solicitor General. At the time, Professor Nesson expressed some doubts about whether Kagan would back the government's amicus brief and also called her "enlightened" on these issues.

Kagan got her biggest opportunity to showcase her feelings on IP when the U.S. Supreme Court asked her, as U.S. Solicitor General, to weigh in on the big Cablevision case.
Hollywood was upset when Cablevision announced its intention to allow subscribers to store TV programs on the cable operator's computer servers instead of a hard-top box. The introduction of remote-storage DVR kicked off furious litigation, and the 2nd Circuit overturned a lower court ruling by saying that the technology wouldn't violate copyright holder's rights. The studios appealed to the Supreme Court.
In Kagan's brief to the high court, she argued the justices shouldn't take the case and trumpeted fair use. She went against broadcasters there and even criticized Cablevision for limiting the scope of its arguments.
Of course, this isn't quite enough evidence to predict what kind of U.S. Supreme Court justice she will be. At Harvard, she was famous for ingratiating herself to professors of all political stripes, so who knows if Nesson has a good read on her? Working in the Obama administration, she also surrounded herself with entertainment industry advocates, including as her assistant, Ginger Anders, who worked on an amicus brief in the Cablevision case for a coalition that included the RIAA.
And finally, Hollywood's got at least one reason to cheer. Her history in academia suggests she'll be an extreme supporter of free speech under the First Amendment.

The Best Offense is a strong Defense

2010-05-05T15:38:00.001-04:00

Granting illegal immigrants citizenship is a top priority of the Obama administration. We can stop this by enacting state laws nationwide to enforce our federal immigration laws.

Yesterday, Pennsylvania Representative Daryl Metcalfe introduced a law modeled after Arizona's new Anti-Illegal Immigration Law. Our state is the first state to join Arizona on this issue; other states are expected to join the effort soon. Rep. Metcalfe's bill, HB 2479, entitled Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, is essentially the new Arizona Law plus incorporation in the Pennsylvania law of the federal government's e-verify system, the SAVE system, and a new law against smuggling of illegal aliens, which were preexisting in Arizona law. Rep. Metcalfe is part of a national coalition of legislators from 37 states called the State Legislators for Legal Immigration. statelegislatorsforlegalimmigration.com

Tomorrow, a group of illegal aliens is protesting this new bill in Philadelphia, so we need to act quickly to have our voices heard.

We are asking for your help in two ways. First, please contact your local state representative and ask for support for HB 2479 the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. The representatives' contact information can be found at: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/find.cfm.
(If you live in Rep. Metcalfe's district please just thank him for sponsoring the bill.) Second, please pass this on to friends in other grassroots groups in Pennsylvania. This is one of the first state issues our tea party group has addressed and we want our elected state officials to know that there are many of us with tea party values.
Enforcement of illegal immigration laws is consistent with our core value of fiscal responsibility. If Pennsylvania were to correct its illegal alien problem, our state budget deficit issue would be resolved. This law essentially calls on the Federal government to perform its constitutional duty to enforce existing immigration laws and secure our sovereign borders.
Rep. Metcalfe issued a press release regarding HB 2479 that provides considerable detail on the new law and supporting arguments: http://www.repmetcalfe.com/NewsItem.aspx?NewsID=8874

If you would like to read the law in full, it will be posted on the state website
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/ later today.

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2009&sind=0&body=H&type=B&BN=2479

This new law would facilitate local enforcement of immigration laws which has been a problem in the past in Pennsylvania, specifically in Hazleton.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8L4BC3O0&show_article=1
The best offense is a strong defense. Let's end the discussion of granting illegal aliens citizenship as quickly as possible. Thanks for calling.

National Tea Party Federation calls for Federal Government to Execute its Constitutional Duty

2010-05-03T16:14:00.000-04:00

Defend the borders and protect US citizens

Enforce existing immigration laws already on the books

May 3, 2010 - The National Tea Party Federation (NTPF) in a statement of support for the citizens of Arizona, calls on the Federal government to perform its constitutional duty and enforce existing immigration laws and secure our sovereign borders. It is in the national security, and economic interest of this nation that the appropriate actions be taken.
The illegal entry of foreign nationals, drug and human trafficking, has had a devastating effect on the border communities. It has caused undue hardship on border residents, and led to untold human suffering of illegal foreign nationals. In addition, there has been a significant increase in murder, home invasions, kidnappings, and robberies, especially in the state of Arizona.

Toby Walker, President of the Waco Tea Party stated, "While the focus of criticism seems to be that the state of Arizona decided to act in its best interests, we in Texas understand the frustration by the lack of action from the Federal Government in protecting our borders. Representatives in our own state are now calling for a similar law to be passed in Texas. When the Federal Government does not execute its Constitutional duties, the states must act to protect its citizens." Jason Hoyt of the Orlando Tea Party commented, "The left is trying to make this about race. It is not. This is about the rights of states and their respective responsibility to protect their citizenry. The border must be secured and the crime, drug dealing and human trafficking that now engulfs the border states must be dealt with before we discuss immigration reform. I'm proud of the state of Arizona for exercising their state's rights and no longer waiting for the Federal government." Robin Stublen president of Punta Gorda Tea Party said, "The failure by the Federal Government to meet its obligations under the Constitution resulted in the passage of a new state law by Arizona. We respect and support the leaders of Arizona in their effort to restore order in their state and protect their citizens. We can all agree that more must be done and that our borders must be protected. However, until the Federal Government and those elected decide to take the necessary steps to properly secure our borders against trespassing by foreign nationals, we support Arizona and urge other states to adopt the Arizona law as well. It is not only their right under Article 4 Section 4, but their duty to protect their citizens and their property. Jerry Clark, President of the Las Cruces Tea Party said, "New Mexico is a diverse state. We embrace legal immigration and the enforcement of our laws. However, Arizona is acting in its best interests for its people. The Federal Government has done little to secure our borders and we expect nothing more. A nation without borders is not a nation and the Obama administration has shown no interest in performing one of the key Constitutional duties enumerated in the Constitution, protecting our national security."

As a nation of immigrants we honor those foreign nationals who reside within our sovereign boundaries legally by obeying visa and residency laws. We welcome and acknowledge those following the legal and reasonable process to become proud, naturalized citizens of the United States.

For further information or to register and participate in the National Tea Party Federation, log on to

http://www.thenationalteapartyfederation.com/

About the National Tea Party Federation (NTPF):

The Federation is a broad coalition of national and regional Tea Party groups committed to improving communications between local, regional, and national tea party organizations. Our purpose is to facilitate and support clarity of message, rapid response to media misinformation, and to continue to collaborate and promote the movement's core principles of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets.

"Meeting of wealthy white men"

2010-05-03T11:41:00.003-04:00

It wasn't long ago that the liberals were all in love with Warren Buffett. When then Senator Obama was running for President, Buffett was a strong ally on the Obama financial team. President Obama touted him as proof of his great wisdom on all things financial. Those same people are now going out to destroy him by calling him “one of the rich white men”. I have attached a link that supports that claim as well as the most recent support of Goldman.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/05/warren_buffet_r.php

OMAHA, Neb.— Warren Buffett, long a critic of the excesses of Wall Street and the risks of derivatives, is emerging as a stalwart defender of the financial system.

At Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual meeting here this weekend, the legendary investor mounted a vigorous defense of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., sued for civil fraud by regulators and under assault by Congress for its business dealings. And he praised the business model of Moody's Corp., whose ratings agency has been lambasted as too cozy with bankers.

Though he acknowledged that banks and other financial firms had engaged in excesses in the years leading up to the crisis, he didn't lay blame at their feet. Wall Street was caught up in a "mania that prevailed throughout the investment world," he said.
"I haven't seen anything in Goldman's behavior that makes it any more subject to criticism than Wall Street generally," Mr. Buffett said at a news conference Sunday, the day after Berkshire's annual meeting.
Mr. Buffett's remarks contrasted with his long-standing mantra against what's he has called the self-serving ways of Wall Street and, to an extent, the ethos of his shareholder meeting generally.
The event, held far from financial centers and attended this year by some 40,000 investors, is a sort of pep rally for Berkshire and its brand of Main Street, basic-business values investing. "I was surprised by how strong he stood by [Goldman]...and that he wasn't more critical of the Wall Street culture," said Justin Fuller, partner at Chicago's Midway Capital Research & Management, which closely tracks Berkshire.
Mr. Buffett's long-time partner, Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger, was blunter in his criticisms of Wall Street. The financial industry is "a very defective system," he said at a press conference Sunday. "When systems are defective, very good people will start doing things...that are counterproductive."
Mr. Munger placed the blame on lax or dysfunctional government regulations, comparing the relationship between banks and regulators to that between a tiger and a tiger keeper.
"When the tiger gets out and starts creating damage, it's insane to blame the tiger, it's the idiot tiger keeper" that deserves the blame, he said.   To some extent, Mr. Buffett's defense of Goldman and Moody's could be expected: Berkshire has invested billions in financial firms including Goldman, a close partner for decades. It is also an investor Moody's, though it has been selling the firm's stock in recent months.

Buffett Says Business is on Upswing
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett on the nation's attitude toward Wall Street, the shareholders meeting and his investment in Goldman Sachs. Courtesy Fox Business Network.
Mr. Buffett addressed in detail the Securities and Exchange Commission's fraud charges against Goldman, which allege the bank defrauded investors when it created a mortgage investment, dubbed Abacus, with the help of a bearish hedge fund and failed to disclose the fund's role and position. Goldman says it did nothing wrong.   "I have no problem with that Abacus transaction. If there were other things that were hugely troublesome, I haven't seen them," Mr. Buffett said. He referred to his experience nearly 20 years ago helping to save Wall Street firm Salomon Brothers, then a big holding of his, from a scandal. "That was my big fear at Salomon—that is always the worry, that you haven't really found the problem yet," he said
Mr. Buffett said parties to the deal, which plunged in value when the housing market fell apart in 2007, should be responsible for their own actions. "It's a little hard for me to get terribly sympathetic for a bank that made a bad credit deal," he said.
The "allegation alone causes the company to lose reputation" and "hurt morale," he said. But he said the charges need more proof beyond the SEC's allegations if they are to have a lasting impact on Goldman. He offered strong support for Goldman Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, saying in response to a question about a successor to Mr. Blankfein: "If Lloyd had a twin brother, I'd go for him." Mr. Buffett also defended Moody's, which owns one of the ratings firm that critics say amplified the crisis by giving triple-A ratings to assets that ultimately collapsed.
Ratings outfits such as Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's, a unit of McGraw-Hill Cos. have "incredibly wonderful businesses," he said, adding that their "pricing power is significant." But he conceded that "many feel that the ratings agencies let them down."   Mr. Buffett did have some criticisms for investment banking. "There's a lot of good in it, and there are a lot of things that take place on Wall Street that we don't like," he said. Mr. Buffett said Berkshire recorded a first-quarter profit of $3.6 billion, compared with a net loss of $1.5 billion a year earlier. Mr. Buffett said the company's results show the global economy is showing significant signs of recovery for the first time. Operating profit was $2.2 billion, reversing a year-ago loss of $3.2 billion. "What was sort of a sputtering recovery months ago seemed to pick up steam in March and April," Mr. Buffett said. "We're seeing a pretty good uptick." Mr. Buffett has also been taking heat for a push Berkshire has made on Capitol Hill for exemptions for several large derivatives deals his firm has made in recent years. A bill before Congress could force Berkshire to post billions in collateral for the deals. In the past, Berkshire hasn't been required to put up much cash—if any—to back its derivatives transactions.
Mr. Buffett said he is confident that his firm would likely not be required to post collateral on existing derivative contracts under the financial-overhaul bill currently before the Congress.

OBAMA CHEATING SCANDAL: SHOCKING NEW REPORTS

2010-05-02T09:26:00.000-04:00

OBAMA CHEATING SCANDAL: SHOCKING NEW REPORTS

Photo by: splash news online

UPDATED: Reports out of Washington, DC: PRESIDENT OBAMA in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, DC Hotel with a former campaign aide.

A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-oldVERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions

Now, the investigators are searching for a hotel surveillance videotape.

While Baker has insisted in the past that "nothing happened" between them, reports reveal that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Among those being offered money is a limo driver who says in 2004 that he took Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous in where Obama was staying.

An ENQUIRER reporter has confirmed the limo driver's account of the secret 2004 rendezvous and has also learned that on-site hotel surveillance video camera footage could provide indisputable evidence to the investigation.

DEVELOPING STORY

Afghanistan Goes Gaga

2010-04-30T11:22:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haHXgFU7qNI&feature=player_embedded#!

APRIL 30--In what may be the most entertaining music video homage ever shot in a war zone, a group of American soldiers stationed at a military base in southwest Afghanistan star in a lip-synced version of Lady Gaga's hit "Telephone." The video, which yesterday began to spread online, was filmed recently inside what appears to be a garage at the Forward Operating Base in Farah Province. Posted to YouTube a week ago, the 3:45 production--complete with props, signs, and costumes--features an all-male cast from the 82nd Airborne Division. The video, which can be viewed above, was the brainchild of Aaron Melcher, a married 24-year-old soldier who graduated in 2004 from North Carolina's Gramercy Christian School. Melcher opens the video in a pas de deux, of sorts, with fellow enlistee Justin Baker, who is not nearly as enthusiastic a dancer as the gyrating Melcher, who incorporated elements of the original video's choreography in his desert remake. On the following pages, you'll find video stills of Melcher's co-stars, along with photos of most of the soldiers in their normal work clothes. Melcher, pictured below, can be seen in the video wearing, a la Gaga, a revealing top fashioned out of yellow police tape. The 23-year-old Baker, wearing a belly-bearing shirt, is accessorized with a pink "Drama Queen" sash. Soldier Kenneth Eichler wears short shorts and a pair of oversized yellow shades. Other performers include a shirtless James Conley, telephone-wearing Private First Class Kory Roberts, sign carrier Mike Castor, and Joshua Pilon, whose costume could not be discerned. Contacted last night, Melcher declined to answer questions. The video, he noted, was intended to be for "a couple of our friends and family and you can see that it has blown up way more than that...nobody in the video would like any further media coverage." When he first uploaded "Telephone: The Afghanistan Re-make," Melcher told Facebook friends to "feel free to share it with the world." He added, "it's the hotness." Melcher and several of his fellow soldiers have carefully monitored the spiraling number of views their video has received. On Wednesday, Pilon posted a brief update on his Facebook wall: "5,000 views...I'm going to be Famous!!!" In a post on his Facebook page, Conley wrote of the video, "this is what people do with they free time in Afghanistan. Its crazy out here. And yeah im in it too."

Vote NO on HR 2499

2010-04-29T12:08:00.000-04:00

There is a bill to make Puerto Rico a state. Again, they are trying to pull one over on us and on Puerto Ricans, who have consistently said they do not want to become a state. Read below for more information (from Eagle Forum). This was also discussed by Rep Tom Price on a conference call yesterday.

Please consider this:

* The U.S. would transform, overnight, into a bilingual nation. At least half of Puerto Ricans do not speak English, the language of our U.S. Constitution and founding documents. The Washington Times article, "Puerto Rican statehood," analyzes all the implications of adding a foreign language-speaking state to the Union.

* It would bring immediate demands for massive federal spending. The average income of Puerto Ricans is less than half that of our poorest state, and infrastructure and the environment are far below American standards. Puerto Rico has a population with a median national income of $17,741, nearly a third of that for the U.S.

* Puerto Rico is already a democracy. Despite the bill's deceptive title, Puerto Rico already has an elected government and exists as a self-governed commonwealth of the U.S.

* Statehood would give Puerto Rico more congressional representation than 25 of our 50 states! It would inevitably give Democrats two additional U.S. Senators and 6 to 8 additional Members of the House.

H.R. 2499 is stealth legislation designed to lead to the admission of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico as the 51st state, thereby making us a de facto bilingual nation, like Canada. The U.S. Congress should not be forcing Puerto Ricans to vote on statehood, especially since the Puerto Rican people have rejected statehood three times since 1991!

No Member of Congress who describes himself as a limited government, fiscal conservative should be casting a YEA vote for H.R. 2499,as Puerto Rican statehood would cause an immediate increase in federal expenditures, particularly for taxpayer-funded welfare state services.

Read the whole thing:

http://biggovernment.com/taylorking/2010/04/28/puerto-rico-51st-state-congress-scrambling-to-make-it-so/

The Puerto Rican government is even playing hardball with it own people! Read this by Ann Shibler :

The United States House of Representatives is set to vote on H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, as early as this week. This bill would mandate a non-binding expression by the voters of Puerto Rico as to their wishes with regard to retaining their commonwealth status or becoming a state or becoming an independent nation, but in conjunction with other legislation already introduced inside Puerto Rico, the commonwealth status of the island could be eliminated as early as this year.

Three times in the past 43 years Puerto Ricans have voted against becoming the 51st state in the Union, the last time being 11 years ago. But this time the bill is rigged to eliminate the commonwealth option and grant either full statehood, or total independence. Sen. Jose Hernandez-Mayoral of the island's minority Popular Democratic Party said, "Behind this innocuous bill lies a fully thought out assault on Congress to designate the island the 51st state." "With the commonwealth option out of the ballot, statehood is finally, albeit crookedly, assured a victory."

The whole article is here: http://www.jbs.org/us-constitution-blog/6230-legislation-promotes-statehood-for-puerto-rico

HR2499 text:

Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009 (Reported in House):

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h2499rh.txt.pdf

Sanctions on Arizona??? Not on Iran??? End of the World is near.

2010-04-28T16:49:00.004-04:00

The daily assault by the mainstream media and Democratic politicians, co-conspirators, would be bizarrely humorous if we weren't being fed our breakfast by a deft propaganda tag team and if the stakes were less than our freedom, our livelihood, our Democracy.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0428-arizona-boycott-20100428,0,3848260.story

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mario-solismarich/america-must-boycott-ariz_b_539160.html

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/SF-Supe-Calls-for-Arizona-Boycott-92095669.html

http://laeastside.com/2010/04/boycott-arizona-now/

It's that sense of disbelief, much like we experience when we hear news of a tragic loss of life, of personal loss. You hope you are dreaming, but you aren't. I experience these moments of heart- sinking surreality almost daily now.

The Democrat leaders appear to be more in line with the Mullah's of Iran than the principles of Democracy, and of the spirit of America, in their insecurity and intolerance of ideas that are different from their own.
Buffoonery in the media and our liberal politicians baffles me every day…Wait! Every minute I should say. There are calls to Boycott Arizona. That is code word for Sanctions.

At no time in the post war history of the United States has our security been placed at more risk than it is today by Iran. And our diplomatic support for our ally, Israel, has been marginalized. We cannot even deliver on full out Sanctions, by the way, that is code for Boycotting, on Iran.

The all out assault on our country men/women in Arizona is almost too much to take. Boycott (sanctions) on Arizona? Who the hell do you think that will hurt? That’s right American’s. But you see everyone, it makes sense. The left in this county hates their own and will stop at nothing to tear it apart. In their mind, breaking eggs along the way is part of their goal. The left is more in line with the Mullahs in Iran, than they are with good Americans in Arizona exercising their States Rights.

Support Arizona!!!

Author
Christopher "Hollywood" Cochran

2010-04-19T14:52:00.005-04:00

If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one. If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat. If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life. If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation. A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels. Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church. A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it. A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

We aint gonna take it ANYMORE!!!

2010-04-15T11:20:00.001-04:00

Pittsburgh Tea Party Movement

Tea party group for the greater Pittsburgh area and organizers of the Pittsburgh Tax Day Tea Party in Market Square, Pittsburgh Independence Day Tea Party in Schenley Park and July 17th Protest in Mellon Square Park.

http://www.pittsburghteapartymovement.com/

April 15th D.C. Bus Trip

We have arranged for buses to Washington, D.C. on April 15th for the FreedomWorks' Tax Day Tea Party at 7:00 p.m. Details of that event are provided at the very end of this letter. Because we have lined up outstanding speakers for our local event in downtown Pittsburgh, we planned our buses so you could attend both events.

We will be returning to the Pittsburgh area around 2:30 a.m. and we figured most of you would not want to be walking around downtown at that time of night. Accordingly, we have arranged for you to park at Ross Town Center in front of Roomful Express, at Lowe's in Monroeville near Miracle Mile and at Butler Motor Transit's parking lot. We will also have a downtown departure for those who don't mind paying for parking and finding cars at 2:30 in the morning downtown.
Here is how the bus logistics will work. Passengers will be picked up from each of the following locations at the designated times and will be driven to Mellon Square for the Pittsburgh event.

Butler Motor Transit 9:30 a.m. (210 S. Monroe Street, Butler 16001)
Ross Towne Center 11:00 a.m. (7219 McKnight Road, Pittsburgh 15237)
Lowe's11:00 a.m. (4200 William Penn Hwy, Monroeville 15146)

You may leave your belongings for Washington, D.C. on the buses as it will be locked while you are at the Mellon Square event. When the Mellon Square event ends, you will have until 1:20 p.m. to board the same bus at the same place where you were dropped off downtown. Once fully loaded, the buses will leave for Washington, D.C. One of the buses will make an additional stop at Lowe's on the way to the turnpike to pick up those who cannot attend the downtown event but want to go to DC.
We are asking everyone to bring bag lunches and dinners to save time as we would like to arrive in Washington at 6:30 for the event which starts at 7:00 p.m. We will have one brief 15 minute restroom stop instead of our usual 30 minute breakfast break.
Reservations will be taken directly at our email address. Reserve a seat only if you are definitely planning on going. You will need to sign up for a departure location when making this reservation. I will send a confirmation to you within 24 hours of your reservation. Please provide your cell phone number. If you do not have a cell phone, please provide your home phone number. Our email address is PittsburghTeaParty@gmail.com.Please sign up as soon as you are certain you can commit to going and you are certain of your departure location as it will give us more time to secure additional buses if needed. The cost is $50 per person round trip, including tips to the drivers. Money will be collected on the bus. The deadline for signup is April14 at noon.
Confirmed speakers for the FreedomWorks Tax Day Tea Party event include: Andrew Breitbart; Lord Monckton; Rev. C.L. Bryant; Nic Lott; Deneen Borelli; Tucker Carlson; Brendan Steinhauser; Andrew Moylan; Neal Boortz; Congressmen Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Jim DeMint and Tim Price; and FreedomWorks' Dick Armey, Matt Kibbe and Tom Gaiten. Updates will be available at www.FreedomWorks.org . The event officially starts at 7:00 with warm-up speakers and musicians beginning earlier.
Attendees are welcome to bring small umbrellas, bottled water, bagged lunch (no glass containers), lawn chairs, cameras, blankets, small coolers and backpacks. (Everything may be subject to search.)
FreedomWorks is expecting buses from Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, which to me means attendance is likely to be at least in the tens of thousands.

Obama: America a Superpower 'Whether We Like It or Not'

2010-04-15T11:09:00.004-04:00

In a little-noticed remark at the close of the two-day nuclear security summit in Washington, D.C., this week, President Obama suggested the United States was somehow burdened by its military might.
Being a superpower ain't all that, at least according to President Obama.

In a little-noticed remark at the close of the two-day nuclear security summit in Washington, D.C., this week, President Obama suggested the United States is somehow burdened by its military might -- a comment that drew a stern rebuke from his former rival in the presidential campaign.

Obama was responding to a question Tuesday about how the summit would play into peace-making efforts in the Middle East when he addressed the downsides of -- by virtue of America's world stature -- being obligated to intervene in international conflicts. "It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them," Obama said. "And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure." The remark got little attention in mainstream coverage of the summit, but was picked up on several conservative blogs, which panned the president for suggesting Americans had grown weary of superpower status.

Having Insurance 'Going to be Like Christmas'

2010-03-23T10:57:00.000-04:00

Durham, N.C. — Uninsured Triangle residents said Monday that they eagerly await the overhaul of the nation's health care system.

"It's just going to be like Christmas," said DeCarlo Flythe, who lost health coverage for his family when he was laid off almost three years ago. "It's going to be great. You know, no worries (about) the bills. We are going to go ahead and pay our co-pay and be alright."

Obama is going to pay for my Gas

Job losses left many people uninsured
Flythe, a diabetic, said he checked into buying a policy for his family, but he couldn't afford it. He recently landed another job, but the new benefits haven't kicked in yet.
"I worry day to day, honestly," he said. "I pray to make sure my child or my wife don't' get sick because, if they go to the hospital, we are looking at a couple of thousand (dollars in bills)."
Flythe was among the patients Monday at the Walltown Clinic, a joint program of Duke University and Lincoln Community Health Center that serves the low-income neighborhoods near Duke's campus. The clinic serves 3,000 to 4,000 patients a year – 80 percent don't have health insurance – and charges co-pays based on what patients can afford. "People will come in and say, 'I suddenly don't have a job. I've lost my insurance. Can you help me?'" said Kaity Granda, a physician's assistant at the clinic.Norman Rucker said he hasn't had health insurance in almost 10 years because his employers haven't offered it.
"I'm not a person who gets sick a lot, so I didn't think I'd need any medicine," said Rucker, who racked up about $100,000 in hospital bills over that period by going to the emergency room whenever he needed care. "I'm trying to pay them off. Collection agencies call me all the time.
Rucker's wife has insurance, but the couple couldn't afford to put him on the policy. Now, he's excited he may also have coverage because of health care reform.
"It'll make the world better. It'll make us all better, actually," he said.

Pelosi is loosing IT!

2010-03-09T11:41:00.002-05:00

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not accustomed to the word she’s been hearing far more frequently in recent days: “no.” Over the past two weeks, Pelosi has faced a series of subtle but significant challenges to her authority — revolts from Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Blue Dog Coalition and politically vulnerable first- and second-term members.

The dynamic stems from an “every man for himself” attitude developing in the Democratic Caucus rather than a loss of respect for Pelosi, according to a senior Democratic aide. But it’s making Pelosi’s life — and efforts to maintain Democratic unity — harder. And it’s noteworthy, in part, because Pelosi’s signature strength has been a firmer hand than past Democratic leaders — an aptitude for wielding raw power in a consensus-minded caucus. But her inability — or unwillingness — to dictate when Rep. Charles Rangel would resign his Ways and Means Committee chairmanship and who would replace him is one sign that she is commanding the caucus with less authority. Although he would give up his gavel the next day, Rangel defiantly pronounced he was still chairman after leaving a come-to-Jesus meeting last Tuesday night in Pelosi’s ceremonial office next to the House floor. Her first choice to succeed him, Pete Stark of California, was rejected by the Ways and Means Committee members, as was her plan to split power on the committee between Stark and Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan. Pelosi’s backers said that what she really wanted was to avoid a fight for the gavel — and that she succeeded by refusing to apply a heavy hand. But a veteran Democratic lawmaker told POLITICO the denouement was “an indication that things aren’t all hunky-dory.”

That episode came immediately on the heels of Pelosi’s 180-degree turn on Rangel. After the ethics committee admonished him for breaking House gift rules, Pelosi issued a public message that she would stand by Rangel until the committee completed its look at other allegations against him.

“We’ll just see what happens next and what comes out of the ethics committee,” she said then.

But politically vulnerable Democrats sent a message right back: They would dump him if she didn’t.
Before leaders could gather last Tuesday to plan their week, politically imperiled Democratic lawmakers from around the country were making clear that they would vote with Republicans to strip Rangel of his chairmanship if Pelosi didn’t avert a floor vote by getting him to step down.
Even on legislative matters, Pelosi has been subject to low-grade insurrections. She was unable to send a $15 billion Senate-passed jobs bill directly to the president because members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the conservative Blue Dog Coalition and the Transportation Committee objected to some items that were in the bill and some that were absent.
CBC members said the measure shouldn’t even be called a “jobs bill” because, in their view, it would do little to create jobs.

Pelosi satisfied enough recalcitrant Democrats to amend the bill and send it back to the Senate last week — but not before 38 defections from the ranks of conservatives and CBC members put the measure in jeopardy on a procedural vote.
“Nancy Pelosi is a little bit like a Forest Service warden during a particularly dry summer in which there are little blazes springing up all over the place. Some of them can be easily contained, and others could grow into pretty serious forest fires,” said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Baker said Pelosi is not weaker than before but that the dynamics have shifted for her in short order.
“Her grasp is somewhat more tentative,” Baker said. “The obstacles that face her are just much more imposing than they were as recently as two years ago.”
Those obstacles include a tough election cycle and House Democrats’ desire to retaliate against the Senate for moving too slowly or too far to the middle. But when they vote no — whether they’re angry at Pelosi, the Democratic-controlled Senate or President Barack Obama — it is Pelosi’s tally that suffers.
There’s little room for the speaker to brook challenges on the controversial overhaul of the nation’s health care system, but her spokesman, Brendan Daly, said he’s not worried about residual effects of the Ways and Means Committee shake-up.
“I don’t think any of this was a challenge. As [Pelosi] said, now that’s behind us, and we’re going to move ahead,” Daly said. “We’re on the cusp of historic health reform, and she’s going to work very hard in the next few weeks to make sure that happens.”
Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at the left-leaning Brookings Institution, said it’s hard to say Pelosi’s grip is slipping, because she never ruled with an iron fist.
“Pelosi’s strength has always been her ability to understand the diversity within her caucus and to figure out a way to bring [people] together when the tough votes come down,” Mann said. “I don’t see any change in her standing. She never had the capacity to issue orders.”
To be sure, Pelosi has pooled an immense reservoir of goodwill over the years, first as a talented rank-and-file Democrat and later as the leader who positioned Democrats to win, and then expand, a majority. Even in tough times, most of her fellow Democrats believe Pelosi is on their side.
“People know that her heart is right,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).
But that hasn’t stopped even some of Pelosi’s allies from bucking her in recent weeks.
In insisting that his resignation of the Ways and Means Committee chairmanship was only temporary — even though there is no such provision in House rules — Rangel said, “I wrote the letter and I wrote what I meant, and I said what I meant. If there’s anyone that needs clarification, it’s the speaker, not you.”

The Audacity of Liberalism

2010-02-01T15:14:00.000-05:00

Prior to the election of President Obama, I wrote this blog piece but I never released it for publication. Much of what I said holds true for today. Liberals like Obama cannot help themselves. Blaming Bush is all they have and the American people have caught on to his baby tantrums. Keep Crying Mr. President!

As my post election blues fade into the sunset, I am constinantly reminder of the "The Audacity of the Liberalism". Turn on most tv or radio programs and you will find conservative commentators wishing sincere blessings to Barack Obama. Ask you self this question, "When have you ever seen the left cut a break to George Bush. I for one, will not cut Barack Obama a break.

George Bush is now politically irrelevant and it makes sense that Liberals now have the opportunity to try to make themselves look decent, (in an effort that perhaps should be called absurd), by distracting attention from the angry, hating, rhetoric which was so regularly directed at Bush over the years.

In response to the gentlemanly response of conservatives to the election of O'Bama, the liberals feel the need all the more to pretend that they were not so egregiously ungenerous in their treatment of Bush. So, in the face of both Bush's irrelevance and the conservative's gentlemanly response to their loss, (the election of Obama), the liberlas want to pretend to be taking the high road, perhaps in hopes also that their egregious treatment of Bush will be forgotten, replaced by the current ingenuine syrup.

Mainstream Media Continues to Drink the Kool-Aid

2010-01-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

As far as the Mainstream media and the President are concerned, the election of Scott Brown never happened. It was simply another glitch in their attempt to socialize this great land.

There was no "pivot" but rather a "head fake" to the right. His speech was filled with liberal talking points, contradictions and double-talk and the liberal media let it pass them by.
The speech was nothing more than another Harvard lecture about the evils of George W. Bush.

Here are a few samplings of the Mainstream quotes the other night.

Chris Matthews: “[Obama] is post-racial by all appearances. You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour.”

Howard Fineman (Newsweek): “If presidential leadership were only about giving speeches, the jackhammers would already be at work on Mt. Rushmore.”

Katie Couric (misquoting another liberal journalist): “[Obama is] better at making us smarter than making us angry.” Soon thereafter, CBS News reported that it’s quick poll revealed 83 percent support for the “proposals made in [Obama’s] speech.”

Newsweek's Howard Fineman this weekend telling host Chris Matthews, "Of course he is," referring to President Obama being "smarter than us." Chris Matthews had asked Fineman, "Is he smarter than us?" Fineman's immediate response was "Of course he is, much smarter!"

Pittsburgh Tea Party Events-State of the Union Address Viewing and Discussion

2010-01-26T16:33:00.002-05:00

Map to Directions

http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=40.550613&lon=-80.019211&zoom=17&q1=8000%20Mcknight%20Rd%20%2C15237

State of the Union Address Viewing and Discussion

8:00 Wednesday, January 27
(President Obama's speech starts at 9:00)
Fox and Hound
2002 North Way Mall
8000 McKnight Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
(412-364-1885 for directions)

Pittsburgh Tea Party

Mark your calendars for our future events:

February 27th - Pot luck Brunch/ Viewing of "The Tea Party: The Documentary Film"

April 15th - Second Annual Tax Day Tea Party in Pittsburgh

Obama Uses Teleprompters During Speech at Elementary School...

2010-01-25T11:38:00.000-05:00

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, speaks to the media after a discussion with 6th grade students at Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Va., Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010.

The Madness never ends.

This man has no shame. A Teleprompter at an Elementary School??

Actor or Liar? or Both?

2010-01-22T21:34:00.000-05:00

Thank you Mr President for your good judgement.

You've managed to spook our markets while in the midst of recovery from the worst financial setback since the Great Depression!!

It's a Lame Duck!

2010-01-21T23:30:00.003-05:00

I have no doubt that President Obama will still attempt do what he can to execute his dangerous agenda, whatever the additional cost be to our country's health, wealth and morale. If we thought Obama might at last be humbled into a more reasonable approach to conducting our country's business by the resounding voice with which the Massachusetts electorate articulated its refusal to comply with more of the same, let's now accept; he's not voluntarily altering his goals or his approach. Look at Thursday's shenanigans. Even if we accept the improbable; that O'Bama really believes Wall Street is culpable for substantially all of the financial hardships facing our country, and that our government, (recall that government programs, presumably with well meaning but ill-fated intentions, encouraged subprime lending), and free markets, (which is the only form of economics that has demonstrably worked in the history of society, but by nature is known to be imperfect and prone to occasional substantial downs), - played no meaningful role in these financial hard times, isn't Obama’s timing in proposing the latest punishing restrictions on banks,- just after the Democrat's profound loss in Massachusetts, a little conspicuous?

Today's smokescreen has holes, and we can see thru them to the winks and handshakes outside those doors which were closed for recent "Cadillac Healthcare" deal making.

Here's hoping that if it walks like - and talks like, - and is lame....It's a Lame Duck!

By Christopher "Hollywood" Cochran

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rise

2010-01-21T12:10:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A surprising jump in first-time claims for unemployment benefits is a painful reminder that jobs remain scarce six months into the economic recovery. The increase deflated hopes among some analysts that the economy would produce a net gain in jobs in January. The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose last week by 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 482,000. Wall Street economists expected a small drop, according to Thomson Reuters. The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, rose for the first time since August, to 448,250. A Labor Department analyst said that much of the increase last week was due to administrative backlogs leftover from the winter holidays in the state agencies that process the claims. Still, that would indicate that claims totals in previous weeks were articifically low, many economists said. Those drops had raised hopes that layoffs were ending and that employers would add a modest number of jobs in January. The January employment report will be issued Feb. 5. But the surveys that are used to compile that report were conducted last week, so economists pay are paying close attention to the jobless claims figures from that week. "The trend in the data is still discouraging," Diane Swonk, chief economist for Mesirow Financial, wrote in a note to clients. "Hopes for a positive employment number in January ... are rapidly dimming." The stock market fell in morning trading. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 170 points by late morning, while broader indexes also declined.
A separate report that seeks to forecast future economic activity was positive: The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators jumped 1.1 percent in December, suggesting that economic growth could pick up this spring. Eight of the 10 components in the index showed improvement, with the strongest gains in the so-called interest rate spread and building permits, which are a signal of future home construction. The interest rate spread is the difference between the cost of borrowing money for 10 years and borrowing overnight. In jobs market, initial claims for unemployment benefits had dropped steadily since last fall, as companies cut fewer jobs. First-time claims have dropped by 50,000, or almost 10 percent, since late October. Still, employers are reluctant to hire. The Labor Department said earlier this month that employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, after adding 4,000 in November. November's increase was the first in nearly two years. The unemployment rate was 10 percent, unchanged from November. Many economists say the four week average of claims will need to fall to below 425,000 to signal that the economy is close to generating net job gains. The economy is growing, but not quickly enough to bring down widespread joblessness. Most economists estimate that the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy's output, grew at about a 4 percent clip in last year's fourth quarter. That followed 2.2 percent growth in the July-September period. Meanwhile, the number of people continuing to claim regular benefits dropped slightly to just under 4.6 million. The continuing claims data lags initial claims by a week. But the so-called continuing claims do not include millions of people who have used up the regular 26 weeks of benefits customarily provided by states and are now receiving extended benefits for up to 73 additional weeks, paid for by the federal government. More than 5.9 million are receiving extended benefits in the week ending Jan. 2, the latest data available, an increase of more than 600,000 from the previous week. The data for emergency benefits lags initial claims by two weeks. The increasing number of people claiming extended unemployment insurance indicates that even as layoffs are declining, hiring hasn't picked up. That leaves people out of work for longer and longer periods of time. Among the states, California saw the largest increase in claims, with 16,160. Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and Georgia saw the next largest increases. The state data lags the initial claims data by a week. Oregon saw the biggest drop in claims, of 5,784, followed by Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Massachusetts.

Pelosi: "We will have healthcare -- one way or another"

2010-01-19T08:45:00.011-05:00

Given what looks like the impending loss of the party's Senate supermajority, Democrats have reason to be down in the dumps about healthcare reform. But if that's the way House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's feeling, she's not showing it publicly.
"Let's remove all doubt, we will have healthcare one way or another," Pelosi said during an event in San Francisco on Monday. "Certainly the dynamic would change depending on what happens in Massachusetts. Just the question about how we would proceed. But it doesn't mean we won't have a health care bill"
With the pending election results, we can only sit back and watch this soap opera unfold. The impact of the election is clear and it's impact on my fellow Tea Party members is electrifying.
One thing is clear, Liberals will do anything to pass this bill even if it means going against the will of the people.
As I write this from my comfy home in Pittsburgh, you can be sure the Liberals are scheming to pass the Senate version of the bill, which would send the measure directly to President Obama for his signature. Stay tuned.

By Christopher "Hollywood" Cochran

Hollywoods Conservative Underground Merchandise

2009-12-05T15:00:00.006-05:00

After much interest in my site I have decided to open up my new merchandise website.

Come get your Hollywoods Conservative Underground gear!

Click on the Dog to the Left or click below

Come visit my store on CafePress!

Obama's Teleprompeter Malfunctions During Family Dinner

2009-11-19T12:05:00.005-05:00

Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner. What to do!!

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

Friends of Abe

2009-09-09T10:27:00.001-04:00

A group of politically conservative and centrist Hollywood figures organized by actor Gary Sinise and others has been meeting quietly in restaurants and private homes, forming a loose-knit network of entertainers who share common beliefs like supporting U.S. troops and traditional American values.

Some of those involved are taking more public steps to counter the entertainment industry's tilt toward liberalism and Democratic politics, such as campaigning for Republican Sen. John McCain or crafting projects to portray America in a more positive light.

The group, whose members call themselves "Friends of Abe" after Abraham Lincoln, was organized as an underground movement because of fears that prominent industry titans with outspoken liberal views would retaliate, said participants. They often were reluctant to name members of the group in interviews for fear it would hurt their careers.

"It's a growing movement, and word is getting out that there's many of us in this business ...," said 1950s singer Pat Boone, one of the few conservatives to talk about the movement publicly. "If certain studio execs - hirers and firers - learn that this is a movement and growing, and that some of these people that they hire are of this inclination, these people could be unemployed."

Friends of Abe has functioned like a support group, organizing informal gatherings where actors, producers, screenwriters, key grips and other industry types can share common values or discuss concerns like anti-Americanism in Hollywood movies or the perception of industry bias against conservatives and Republicans.

The movement has grown over the past few years from gatherings of a few dozen to one last month that drew more than 600 to a billionaire's California estate, Mr. Boone said.

People familiar with the movement credited Mr. Sinise, whose roles range from the blockbuster movie "Forrest Gump" to the TV show "CSI: New York" for helping organize the movement.

Sinise spokeswoman Staci Wolfe said the actor was traveling with a band to entertain U.S. troops overseas and was unavailable for an interview. She would say only: "He is not registered with any political party."

Participants said Friends of Abe is not partisan, but rather functions as a support group where Republicans, Democrats and independents alike can discuss issues they care about. And the low-key gatherings at restaurants and homes have given conservatives a safe place to meet and express their views, they added.

"A Friend of Abe is someone who has reverence for those who serve in our military and believes that American liberal democracy is a unique success, different from others, and it's worthy of the respect of our popular culture ... of Hollywood in particular," said screenwriter Lionel Chetwynd, who helped organize Friends of Abe luncheons when they began four years ago.

Mr. Chetwynd said Friends of Abe generally find themselves at odds with the rhetoric of their hard-left colleagues in Hollywood.

Craig Haffner, a producer who also attended the gatherings, said Friends of Abe is "not a political action group; people are gravitating to it because they love their country."

While the group is not organizing any political activities, some of its members are taking action into their own hands.

Actor Jon Voight, Mr. Boone, Mr. Chetwynd and Mr. Haffner have stepped forward and actively campaigned for Mr. McCain's presidential bid. Mr. Boone said he talked to McCain campaign staffers last week about how he and other stars can help. Supporters now are assembling a formal organization for Mr. McCain in Hollywood, a few of the leaders said.

Meanwhile, many want to produce more movie and theater projects with a positive American message and stronger emphasis on positive cultural values instead of films that paint America as "the great Satan," Mr. Boone said. Mr. Chetwynd said such efforts have been under way for several years, well before the Friends of Abe luncheons began.

Actor Kelsey Grammer, a Republican, is aware of the group but won't comment further, his publicist said.

David Horowitz, another Hollywood conservative and founder of the Los Angeles-based Center for the Study of Popular Culture, said the group is serving a good purpose but he worries its members won't be aggressive enough.

"There's a kind of ... intellectual terror in this town. People are terrorized; they're afraid to say what they think. So what Gary is doing to provide aid and comfort to its victims is admirable, and I applaud him for it," he said. "But my concern is it's not going to be much more than that."

Hooray for Hollywood's right. Let's see more of it. You can encourage the right by supporting their creative efforts. And you can send a stiff message to the Left by ignoring their movies, music, plays, and associated products.

Tea Parties historic

2009-04-16T20:03:00.006-04:00

As seen in the When I indicated to fellow Pittsburghers my intention to participate in the local tax-day Tea Party I received two common responses: "Good for you. Maybe I'll join you." And "That won't be well attended. How many people around here make more than $250,000 a year? There's nothing to protest.

"Despite the persistent rain, Pittsburgh's Tea Party was well- attended.

Protesters came to express a variety of concerns. The core issues are out-of-control spending, burgeoning government, an unreasonable tax code and borrowing against the future of our children. Individually, we've listened to conservative radio and tv and visited conservative web sites. These are informative, critically valuable electronic links. But they are anonymous and solitary by nature. According to some estimates, up to one million people gathered at Tea Parties in hundreds of locations across America.

Let's note the dignified nature of these protests. Perhaps a million participants were without exception responsible, peaceful and proud demonstrators. "Right Wing Extremists?" We beg your pardon. Pittsburgh's was an invigorating gathering. It was an exercise of our rights of free speech and assembly, which protect our traditions of self-expression, leadership and debate. These are vital characteristics of a functioning Democracy.

The significance of the gathering was underscored by its non- elitist composition and by its organic genesis. Your neighbor was there. Her husband too. He brought his cousin. His cousin brought her little girl. People exchanged thoughts about Constitutional rights, states rights, the concern that these economic hard times are being used opportunistically, national security, capitalism, a country with an unequalled place in history.

You didn't have to make upwards of 250k to be there and you weren't greedy or politically or socially incorrect if you were there.

This felt like a historic moment. The sort of moment that introduces a movement.

By Christopher "Hollywood" Cochran

Pittsburgh Tea Party Photos

2009-04-15T18:24:00.015-04:00

Pittsburgh Tax Tea Pary

2009-04-07T20:33:00.011-04:00

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent-Thomas Jefferson

On April 15th, 2009, I will be doing my "patriotic duty" by paying taxes to the US Government. Just like you. Of course 40% of our fellow Americans will not. But who's counting!?
Me. It matters to me that here in our country, which we have contributed toward, been proud of and loved, that we must pay for those who don't pay.
This is truly an "ObamaNation!"

I will be doing something else on the 15th...peacefully and spiritedly protesting, against what in my view amounts to "legal extortion" of my hard earned money.
I have lost half of my 401k just like you. I'd be much more optimistic about a rebound if we were not facing redistributive tax policies.

I have decided to actively speak out against this "legal extortion," and to that end will be participating in the "Pittsburgh Tea Party," on April 15th, at Forbes and Market Square at Noon. If you are fed up with the "Obomanable" state of our beloved country, why not stop down and say hello.

I will be the guy holding the sign that says "The only thing we have to fear is redistributive economics itself."

OBAMA SHOULD KEEP GITMO OPEN

2009-01-22T12:52:00.001-05:00

MAF Leaders Call on President-Elect to Visit Personally to Get Facts

Move America Forward (MAF), the nation’s largest pro-troop, grassroots organization, urged President-Elect Barack Obama to personally travel to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and learn why Gitmo should be kept open to house the world’s worst terrorists.

Melanie Morgan, Chairman of Move America Forward, led a delegation to the naval base last week to bring gifts, Christmas and Hanukkah cards and expressions of support to American troops there. The entourage was granted a tour of the detention facilities while at the base.

Morgan, said, “We strongly urge President-elect Obama to meet with our military men and women at Guantanamo Bay and see for himself the high level of professionalism of America’s soldiers. He can then be assured that these terrorists are treated far better in the detention center than they are in their own countries. They have better food, better health care, better security, better movie selections and better and cleaner clothes than they have ever had in their lives.

“There is a reason why the average terrorist detainee has gained 15 pounds while staying here. It isn’t because he is being mistreated, instead he is being treated with kid gloves,” Morgan concluded.

Morgan was accompanied on the trip by Kylie Williams, the official ambassador for veterans’ advocacy for the State of Florida, who facilitated the trip. Traveling on the tour in addition to Morgan and Williams were MAF staff members Catherine Moy, Danny Gonzalez and Ryan Gill. Also accompanying the group was Gold Star Mom and MAF spokesperson Debbie Lee, whose son Marc Alan Lee was the first Navy SEAL killed in Iraq.

Morgan added, “It disturbed me to see how well the terrorists are being treated, and then have to put up with liberal politicians attacking our troops. As one of the soldiers said to me, ‘It makes us sick when people tell lies about what we do. We are proud to represent America and we do NOTHING to shame our Commander-in-Chief or the American people.’

Obama appeared on 60 Minutes last month and proclaimed again, “I intent to close Guantanamo and I will follow through on that.” He has said that he wants to move the terrorists to Leavenworth, Kansas, and other civilian and military prisons in the United States.

"Do we really want to invite terrorist attacks to our neighborhoods, schools and communities where federal prisons are potentially slated to house these monsters?" asks Morgan

The group is urging Obama to reverse his campaign pledge to close Gitmo and bring the terrorists to the United States for criminal trials.

Debbie Lee responded, “My son gave his life to kill the terrorists in their country, not to bring them to our country. Our military men and women are sacrificing every day to keep us safe. The wrong thing for the President to do is to close this base in the face of false charges against our military. He should get the facts himself and not listen to those who follow the anti-military line without knowing the truth.”
The worst comment from an American politician came from Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin:
"If I ... didn't tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners [At Guantanamo] in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime, Pol Pot, or others that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners." (PBS' "The Newshour," 6/17/05)
Durbin subsequently offered a half-hearted apology for his outrageous accusations against our military.
In reality, the terrorists have better accommodations than our troops. They live in air conditioned state-of-the art new buildings; they have more recreation time than American school children; they get prayer rugs and Qurans, which non-Muslim U.S. soldiers cannot even touch. They get six different menus to choose from; among their offerings are Baked Tandouri Chicken Breast, Mustard-Dill Baked Fish, Lyonnaise Rice, and Fish Amandine.
Morgan said, “I don't remember seeing that on the menu at Nazi concentration camps or in Soviet gulags. I doubt Pol Pot offered them in the killing fields of Cambodia.”
According to the Congressional Record, Vermont U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy had this to say:
"Now that may sound like an experience from some oppressive and authoritarian regime, something that may have happened under the Taliban, something that Saddam Hussein might have ordered or in the fiction of Kafka." (Congressional Record, 9/28/06, p. S10356)
“It is just disgusting what some American politicians are willing to say to appeal to the far left anti-military crowd in the United States. When terrorists decided to smash their TV and destroy their TV room at Gitmo because a Palmolive soap commercial came on that revealed a woman's arm, what do you think our response was? Yes, we got them a new flat screen TV - although this time it is encased in hard Plexiglas so they couldn't destroy it again,” Morgan said.
Recent news stories suggest that Obama may be having second thoughts about bringing terrorist onto American shores. Negotiations are apparently underway with some of our allies to hold some of the terrorists on their shores to keep Obama from having to take the political heat of bringing terrorists to America.

“The real solution is easy,” Morgan said, “if Obama can free himself from the left-wing anti-military ideologues that supported his campaign. . . Keep Gitmo Open!”

Tales of a Patriot Family

2008-12-07T23:25:00.009-05:00

I want to share with you a favorite family story, as the inaugural post for a new section on this site: Tales of a Patriot Family

I think this story reflects a recent, yet bygone era in our society. I know we can't all throw... Well, I don't want to give the story away.
I would love to include stories that you, (members of my large conservative family of friends and relatives), submit for publication.
It is invaluable to record and share stories which keep us laughing and remind us of simpler and in some ways, better times.

Thanks for taking the time to read the story. I hope you enjoy it.

Stafford's

I could describe the Filet Mignon I ordered that night at Parc Stafford in glowing terms. I could tell you that it was the best meal I have ever eaten, and that the meat was a succulent cut of melt-in-your mouth glory. But in truth, while my food was delicious, it is the memory of my father’s order, as well as a most unexpected occurrence, that evening, which I shall forever savor.

Dad spoke often of "Stafford’s," upon his return from business trips to Philadelphia. He used a hushed tone. "That Lemon Sole, Christopher, you know it’s my favorite and Stafford’s prepares the freshest and sweetest I ever ate."

He brought home postcards depicting the restaurant’s grandeur. Mom magneted them to our refrigerator door. The postcards hung as a shrine to the majesty of Parc Stafford and served as a sort of delicious tease. For whatever our refrigerator contained could not approach the splendor I dreamed my taste buds would some day experience, while dining beneath one of those sparkling crystal chandeliers.

Mom and I were excited for weeks. Dad made our reservation well in advance, and I believe Mom confirmed it twice.

Dad picked up Mom and me in his brand new ‘79 Silver Cadillac Fleetwood. He had a single red rose for mom. She snapped off its stem and pinned it to her ample cotton shawl.

"You know Chrissie," my mom said, turning in her seat to look back at me, her eyes moistening, "when your father was a young man, I didn’t think he had a romantic bone in his body. And now I know that deep down under all that Navy Officer cha cha, was a true lady’s man. So, don’t you go hidin’ your heart from a girl until you’re fifty, provin’ you’re a tough guy!"
Mom scooched over and planted a big kiss on dad’s cheek.

"Stop that Shirl!", my dad yapped, batting at the soft pink lip mark. He knew without glancing in the rear view, she had stamped his cheek.

"We’re all gassed up folks. Sit back, make yourselves comfortable. I’ll have us there in a jiffy." .
Dad is a veteran of long destination car trips. To him the 2 1/2 hour drive from Harrisburg to the posh Phili suburb of Gladwyne, home to Parc Stafford, was a short haul. At twelve years old, it seemed a long ride to me, but my parents heard no complaints.

"Chrissie," my mom said, "here’s your napkin Honey." She placed the silky, pale gold napkin across my lap.

"Good evening, I am Girard. Cocktails, Hors D’oeuvres?" Our waiter impatiently snapped.
Like all of the servers at Parc Stafford, he wore a crisp, perfectly sized tuxedo. "Zirard" held his thin, delicate nose high in the air.

"Do you require additional time?"

My dad was busy studying his favorite menu, considering the appetizers.
With a flick of Girard’s pale, boney wrist he snapped my mom’s napkin open in mid-air and slung it across her lap.

"Well thank you, sir," my mom said, ever the good sport. " Fancy service here, Chrissie," she said, leaning in to me, smiling.

"Well Bob, what are we drinkin’ tonight, Hon?" Mom asked, deferring to my dad. He tended to choose their alcohol, always to their great satisfaction.
"Manhattans, Shirl."

"Sounds yummy, Honey" my mom replied, fluttering the lashes of her pale blue eyes.
Girard stood statue-still beside our table, his nose and order pad held conspicuously in the air.
"And a Shirley Temple for Chrissie here," mom said.
Mom and Dad got into a disagreement about my drink. Dad said Shirley Temples are for girls. Mom said it’s the same drink as a Rob Roy, which was the name dad used for this drink.
" Make it a Rob Roy, Girard," said Dad.
"Yeah and a cherry too sir," I added.
"Girard, bring us adults the escargot and our boy will love your onion soup, dad said."
"Sound good Christopher?"
"Great Dad."

Girard repeated our order, his accent and attitude, thickening.
"Yes, sirh, two Manhattans and a Rob Roy," Girard rolled his eyes, "and escargot and onion soup, sirh." He clicked the chunky heels of his black leather platform shoes together. And off to the kitchen Girard pranced.

"This fancy pants has never waited on me before. I’ve seen him here for years though," Dad said, looking as if something smelled rotten.
"Well Honey," my Mom said, intoning her deep, breathy Peggy Lee voice for flirtatious emphasis, "we got the only Frenchman in a restaurant that’s not French.
I love it!" Mom chuckled with excitement.

Friendly waiters and waitresses who’d waited on dad, came by our table to say hello. Dad proudly introduced Mom and me to each of them.
"It’s a pleasure to meet your lovely family Mr Cochran," said Adeline, one of dad’s favorites.

"This is just a beautiful place Bob." Mom stroked the petals of her rose corsage, "And a wonderful experience."
She looked over both shoulders, wide-eyeing our surroundings. "The woodwork...I love the music Bob. You know he’s playing tunes from Chorus Line, dear," Mom said, tapping her finger in the direction of the pianist.
"What I did for love..." Mom began to croon , pretty much on key with the music.
Dad smiled, "Well nothin’s too good for my family, Shirl."

"Chrissie," mom said, "You should thank your daddy for bringing us here. This is a special treat. Won’t your brothers feel like they missed out when they hear about this."
"Yeah, I guess the food at this place way beats summer camp cuisine. Thanks Dad."
Mom and Dad both laughed. I sure knew how to bring a smile to my parent’s faces.

Girard trotted over to our table. He positioned his order pad like a weapon, aiming it at us. And he fixed his gaze just above our eyes.
"Dinner selections?"
Undaunted by his attitude, Mom said, "Girard, you offer so many wonderful sounding choices here. She attempted to look him in the eye, to establish a connection with this man who seemed determined to maintain an air of superiority.

"Sirh?" Girard impatiently skipped over Mom.
"Now just a minute Girard," Dad said.
"Mermaid Girl, you’d love their Seafood Coquille." This was dad’s favorite pet name for mom who grew up in Delaware near the shore. She used to tell us kids stories of...A little girl named Shirl, who wore a fancy pearl, and whose heart belonged to the sea.

"Oh Bob, that sounds just wonderful," Mom said, rolling her shoulders with excitement.
"Now Christopher , would you like a steak?" Dad asked.
"Yes sir. In a fancy restaurant like this, I bet it’ll be the best steak I ever ate."
"Such a sweet boy," Mom said, as she combed her fingers through my thick, feathered hair.
"Cook the boy’s filet medium," my Dad commanded.
"Yes, Sirh."

"I see you’ve got my favorite dinner on the menu tonight," Dad said with a wide grin.
Girard placed his hand on his hip and cocked his head in a most unattractive way ...as if to say Sirh, you who thinks he’s so clever, do enlighten me...I want nothing more than to know your favorite.
" That would be Filet of Lemon Sole, Girard."
"Yes, Sirh."

Girard reappeared with our first course. I dove my spoon right into the soup’s lid of golden brown cheese. A musky aroma rose from my bowl. "That’s stinkin’ good," I said. Girard shot me a nasty look.
"Oh Bob, look at these escargot. Why, they are the most beautiful we’ve ever been served," said Mom.
"Don’t look at them Shirl, eat em."
We ate in the silence that only good food could produce in my family.
I tipped my bowl, angling the last of my soup onto the spoon. Dad forked the final escargot over to the edge of Mom’s lips.
"Oh Bob, I’m getting full already, and with so much more to come. You have it."
"No protests Shirl, just enjoy."
Mom slipped the escargot off Dad’s fork and covered her mouth as she chewed.

"Alright. Here comes Fancy with the entrees," Dad said, as Girard approached.
Each entree was placed on our table, enshrined beneath a silver lid. Girard lifted the lids, unveiling our dinners. He announced each entree, his voice searing with attitude.
" Seafood Coquille,.... Filet Mignon,.... and of course, Filet of Sole, for the gentleman." Girard clicked his fancy heels together and hastened to the kitchen.

Dad studied his plate with a doubtful look. "This doesn’t look like any Sole I’ve ever seen.
He brought me the wrong order, Shirl. This is Flounder!"

Adeline, who was helping a party seated next to us, overheard dad. She said she would let Girard know there was a problem.

Girard came stomping out of the kitchen.
"Yes, Sirh?"
"This isn’t Lemon Sole. This is Flounder. I ordered Lemon Sole!" said Dad.
With great effort, Girard lowered his gaze from the ceiling down to dad’s plate.
"It is Filet-of- Sole, sirh, as you ordered" Girard clicked his heels.
"This is Flounder!" said Dad, his face reddening.
"No, sirh, it is Sole." heel click!
"It’s Flounder!"
"No, sirh it is FILET-of-SOLE." Girard gave his loudest heel click yet and turned to leave our table.
Dad stood... Grabbing hold of Girard’s tuxedo lapel, and shiny black belt, he lifted him several inches off the ground.
I remember seeing Girard suspended in the air, staring at the ceiling.
Then Girard’s eyes met mine in a moment of fright, as he came flying, together with our plates and glasses, across the table, toward mom and me..
Dad had aimed Girard in the space directly between us. He landed on the floor and skidded to a stop at the feet of another table of diners.

A few frozen moments followed the sound of shattering glass and gasping patrons, as everyone considered what they had just witnessed.
Girard was the first to break the stillness. He rose to his feet, brushing shards of glass from his tux with his server’s napkin.

Dad looked from his plate to Girard. "This is not Filet-of-Sole!"
"I will bring you Filet of Sole, sirh." Heel Click.

Mom’s forehead rested on the table and her hands were clasped before her. "Dear Lord, please don’t let them call the cops on Bob." She raised her head slowly, looking around.

"Bob, that was so rude."

For one heartbreaking moment I thought Mom was criticizing Dad for his handling of Girard. "He had it comin’ to him. You ordered Lemon Sole. He can’t treat people that way."

"Yeah Dad. You sure showed him," I said, a little frightened, but never prouder.

First one table stood. Then a second. Then all the others at once.
The chefs marched out of the kitchen. The servers stood at attention. And then all together we applauded dad. I think everyone in the restaurant, except for Girard, participated in the standing ovation.

Several servers came by our table and thanked dad. They said Girard had been awful to customers for years and no pleasure to work with either. Apparently nobody ever stood up to him. Not even the owner of the restaurant. "I think you taught him a lesson he won’t soon forget," Adeline said, with a smile.

"Filet-of-Sole, sirh." Girard placed the entree before my dad. The fish was presented more beautifully now, accompanied by a mini pear, sprigs of parsley and a half lemon in a small pouch.
"Now that’s what I ordered. I know Lemon Sole when I see it," said Dad.
"Enjoy it sirh."
Girard had a replacement Seafood Coquille and Filet Mignon, for Mom and me, as he had prematurely cleared our meals while flying across our table.
"No hard feelings Girard. I just expect to get what I order," dad said.
"Yes sirh." Girard clicked his heels and returned to the kitchen.

"How are your dinners?" Dad asked us.
"This Coquille is marvelous, Bob."
I held up my pointer finger and thumb together, in a gesture of perfection.
"How’s you sole Bob?" Mom asked.
"Just as fresh and sweet as ever, Mermaid Girl."

Returning to our table, Girard said "I hope everything is satisfactory? Madame? Sir?" His eyes met my father’s momentarily.

"Delicious. Just delicious, Girard," Dad assured him.

As we rose to leave, the pianist began to play Hail-to-the-Chief. Dad saluted him as we strode by. I took a careful last look around the restaurant, noticing details I didn’t want to miss; the funny flowered hat worn by the fancy old lady seated at a table in the far corner, the rainbow of colors sparkling from the largest of the crystal chandeliers, the respectful, parting nods of servers and patrons alike.

In the years that followed, dad returned to Parc Stafford many times and was always treated as a celebrity. Drinks were on the house and smiles were plentiful. His entree order was always anticipated. Adeline told dad that Girard was a lot more respectful to his customers, and even his fellow servers, thanks to him.

One balmy summer night on our porch, following a telling of this classic story to friends of our family, my Dad said to me, "Maybe I was a little tough on ole’ Girard, but like I’ve always told you son, sometimes you’ve got to fight for what you love, and Christopher, I sure love Stafford’s Filet-of-Sole."

By Christopher "Hollywood" Cochran

Conservatism is Just

2008-11-14T10:14:00.011-05:00

When I allow myself to contemplate what "The O’Bama Effect" might produce on an economy currently in turmoil of historic proportions it feels like that moment of recognition in a bad dream when an unmistakable sense of tragedy crystalizes and you learn who has died.

Then I laugh emptily, recognizing once again that I am awake and this is no bad dream. This is reality. Now, I admit that there is always room for hope. I consider myself generally to be an "optimist", but these prospects challenge the most optimistic among us not to re-label ourselves "realists", and let the feelings of foreboding settle in.

Liberals would have you believe that the current economic mess is attributable to the Republicans. Yes, our economic woes surfaced during the latter years of the second Bush administration, but placing blame on the Republicans for this reason is overly simplistic and largely wrong.

Why? Because we know that the housing market collapse, which led to the credit crisis, which is currently causing a variety of other related economic problems, was due originally and most notably to the subprime borrowing fiasco, which I believe had its origins in Democratic hands.
I think this is another example, among many historical examples, of Liberal economic policy which may have been well intended, and sounded good to much of the public at the time, but was fatally flawed and was destined for failure.

Who would have deigned to criticize policies which supported loan programs to make the "American Dream" of home ownership possible for more Americans. Why not support a program which aims to help less fortunate people into a home that they can proudly occupy and own? You wouldn’t have foreseen any cost to you. I personally wasn’t aware of this legislation at the time, but admit that had I been aware of the legislation, without information about the specific risks inherent in these programs - (lending money to people with incomes and credit that would not have qualified them for loans under then existing loan standards), making home ownership possible for more Americans naturally would have sounded like a good thing.

I admit to not knowing every last detail about the legislation which enabled and promoted the sub-prime loan circumstance. Perhaps there was some bi-partisan support for an idea that on its face would have sounded so positive. But blaming Republicans and punishing Republicans, and by direct extension our country, by electing a candidate with a notoriously liberal voting record who promises economic betterment via economic redistribution, is an unfortunate, and mistaken response. In political elections, as with many of life’s choices, it is emotion, often based on unclear and incomplete information that swings the pendulum, prevailing over careful judgement.

Several polls leading up to the election indicated that it had become essentially a one issue race. The decision was principally about the economy when votes were cast. Because John McCain is a Republican, he conveniently was branded by the O’Bama campaign, quite successfully, together with the mainstream media, as a near mirror image of George Bush, in terms of economic policy and otherwise.

Although John McCain’s economic proposals were not identical to George Bush’s, and more importantly, although George Bush, think what you will about him, in fairness, bears little if any responsibility for our economic woes, enough people bought the "Bush was President at the time the housing and credit markets began to implode, so he must be responsible, and McCain is just like Bush," rhetoric.

So now when our economy and the world most needs the benefit of conservative economic policy in the United States, to encourage the markets back towards stability and growth, ironically, perhaps tragically, we will receive the liberal’s perceived antidote to the economic calamity. We will see higher taxes on many of the most productive economic participants - (which will likely come to apply also to earners of less than $250,000), liberal, redistributive policies that at least in the intermediate and longer-term, history has shown us will be of advantage to noone, at any level of society. This seems like fuel tossed on an already blazing fire.

When predictably you’re given the explanation that our government intends to increase your taxes additionally, and you consider that this money may support social programs for the potential benefit of less fortunate citizens, remember how compelling the idea perhaps sounded, if you heard it at the time the related legislation was passed, (rather than more recently, in the throes of our economic meltdown), for the government to help make possible the realization of the "American Dream" of home ownership for more Americans.

By Christopher "Hollywood" Cochran

Those that are fooled

2008-11-08T09:29:00.010-05:00

The election of the first African American to the highest office in our land is a powerful symbol of the strength of our democracy and a reassuring indicator that we have come an enormous distance in race relations.
Doubtless, Obama's election serves as a source of great pride to African Americans and a powerful example of the unlimited possibilities which apply to all people in our society.
We should all be proud that our country has made enormous strides toward overcoming racial bigotry. But it does not necessarily follow that we must like the prospects of an Obama administration.
To the true conservatives of our country, myself certainly included, while appreciating the great symbolic value of this historic first, our concerns in respect to the Obama administration remain, despite recognition of the social, emotional and perhaps even spiritual significance of his election.
I won't claim to be such a tough guy so as not to have been affected myself by the sight on the first African American President-elect delivering his victory speech. However, these sentiments were for me quickly replaced by a reality check that went something like this...
"Wait a minute, who really is this guy? His physical presence in this context has great symbolic value, but what does he stand for? The only things I am certain of regarding his politics and experience is that he has a notoriously liberal voting record and that his experience serving in an executive capacity, (the President is the chief executive of our country, after all!), is non-existent.
And what about the list of radical associates? Despite the shallow dig on the part of the media to unearth the details of these connections, enough surfaced to evidence that these associations were more than casual. Certainly this is most obviously true in the case of Rev Wright, who was Obama's pastor for 20 years! So I am left hoping that he chose these associates for his political gain when he was angling his way on the local, Chicago political scene. That's the least concerning explanation for his chosen associations, and it still reflects unflatteringly!
Yes, his victory speech was well written, and delivered with poise and eloquence. But so were the speeches that came before. In fact, the opinion that Obama is a gifted orator is so established as to have become essentially a consensus opinion some time ago. The concern that his powerful speaking ability represented style over substance is also an established, though partisan, opinion.
After the election was concluded and the results announced, I closed my eyes and thought for a moment, if I were really young and still full of idealism, could I have been persuaded by the Obama euphoria sweeping the Nation? I couldn't project my thinking back that far, because doing so would require me to erase so many life experiences, and the accumulation of knowledge stemming from these experiences.
None can handicap the future, yet we are programmed to try. I suppose the idealists who supported Obama with wholehearted enthusiasm, if they asked themselves the question, "Will negotiating with Iran without preconditions work and spare the world the fate of a nuclearized Iran, probably would have answered "yes." I hope they are right. I don't claim to see the future. But life has taught me that certain people and situations require a strong, direct approach. My sense is that this critical situation probably is not an exception.
On the economy, even as a more impressionable, younger adult, with the example of the Carter administration fresh in my mind, I would have been unable to believe any sustainable good could come of liberal economic policies, to any level of society, especially over the intermediate to long term, most especially when applied to existing weakness, such as we presently face. So I realized, as I tried to project my thinking and feelings back to younger adulthood, that I really just could not. The events of my life have manifest in my possession of conservative political opinions and ideals. No amount of working on myself could render me enthusiastic about the prospects of an Obama administration. Though as a lover of our Democracy, I recognize the enormous symbolic significance of his election.
There is a lot of Bush bashing, used as a means of defending enthusiasm for OBama. Everyone knows Bush is the lefts favorite whipping boy. But Bush is soon to be relegated to the history books. By this point I would think Bush bashing would have become passe even among liberals. Personally I respect him. But if you disagree, at least you can happily note the obvious - that he is no longer relevant.
So, if you are enthusiastic about an Obama administration, I hope in 4 or 8 years your enthusiasm will not have caused you disappointment. And if you are enthusiastic about Obama, not symbolically, but materially, (because of his stance on the issues, or what you suppose his stance may be), then you are attaching hope to liberal policy and executive inexperience.
But I sure hope you are right!

By Christopher "Hollywood" Cochran