October 29, 2008

A Thought On A Controversial Obama Quote

A lot of hay has been made over this quote from barrack Obama.

“...just to take a, sort of a realist perspective...there’s a lot of change going on outside of the Court, um, that, that judges essentially have to take judicial notice of. I mean you’ve got World War II, you’ve got uh, uh, uh, the doctrines of Nazism, that, that we are fighting against, that start looking uncomfortably similar to what we have going on, back here at home.”

Now I could pile on to Obama, and it would be easy. I won’t, though, because I can think of a perfect example in which the Court did exactly that in the midst of WWII – the famous flag salute case, WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION ET AL. v. BARNETTE (319 U.S. 624). Consider this “money quote” from the decision, which is exactly the sort of thing that Obama is talking about.

As governmental pressure toward unity becomes greater, so strife becomes more bitter as to whose unity it shall be. Probably no deeper division of our people could proceed from any provocation than from finding it necessary to choose what doctrine and whose program public educational officials shall compel youth to unite in embracing. Ultimate futility of such attempts to compel coherence is the lesson of every such effort from the Roman drive to stamp out Christianity as a disturber of its pagan unity, the Inquisition, as a means to religious and dynastic unity, the Siberian exiles as a means to Russian unity, n to the fast failing efforts of our present totalitarian enemiesose who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.

Indeed, one can reasonably presume that this is the sort of judicial notice to which Obama was referring. The sort of political conformity that the mandatory flag salute required was eerily similar to that required by the Hitler regime, even if more benignly intended. Similarly, the internment of citizens by the Roosevelt administration based upon race and ethnicity in the name of national security did bear a parallel to the much more extreme actions of the Nazis.

Unfortunately for supporters of Obama, other recently disclose Obama quotes signal a dangerous propensity to disregard the text of the Constitution in favor of some other, extra-constitutional scheme designed to dispossess citizens of their property for purposes of redistribution. That is where we need to focus, not upon this relatively benign statement.


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The Obama Tape

Imagine this – a major news organization has a tape of a presidential candidate making highly inflammatory – some would even argue hateful – statements about a close American ally while toasting a personal friend who was also closely tied to a terrorist organization. That’s something they would release in a heartbeat, right?

Not, however, if the news organization is the Los Angeles Times and the candidate is Barack Obama. Then they would hold on to the tape, having determined that the people have no right to know the full contents of the tape.

The Los Angeles Times is refusing to release a videotape that it says shows Barack Obama praising a Chicago professor who was an alleged mouthpiece for the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was a designated terrorist group in the 1970s and '80s.

According an LA Times article written by Peter Wallsten in April, Obama was a "friend and frequent dinner companion" of Rashid Khalidi, who from 1976 to1982 was reportedly a director of the official Palestinian press agency, WAFA, which was operating in exile from Beirut with the PLO.

In the article -- based on the videotape obtained by the Times -- Wallsten said Obama addressed an audience during a 2003 farewell dinner for Khalidi, who was Obama's colleague at the University of Chicago, before his departure for Columbia University in New York. Obama said his many talks with Khalidi and his wife Mona stood as "consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases."

Now one would think that the paper would be willing to offer documentation proving those charges – but they are not. Indeed, they now claim (after having repeatedly spun the decision in other ways) that they have an obligation to honor a secrecy promise made to an anonymous source. Odd, isn’t it, that the paper won’t do that with Top Secret government documents, bu will do so to protect a presidential candidate from his own words and record.

Well, the McCain camp has called out the LA Times over this journalistic malpractice in the name of electing their preferred candidate, and rightly so. After all, who knows what other bombshells might be in the tape?

Well, apparently journalist Doug Ross has some idea – he heard from an inside source at the paper who has actually seen some pretty damning content in the tape.

Saw a clip from the tape. Reason we can’t release it is because statements Obama said to rile audience up during toast. He congratulates Khalidi for his work saying “Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine” plus there’s been “genocide against the Palestinian people by Israelis.”

In other words, Barack Obama engaged in blood libel against the Jews in defense of those whose stated objective is the destruction of the Jewish homeland. Inded, his statement can only be understood as one supportive of that goal. That’s why the paper won’t allow the tape – or a transcript of the tape – to be released to the public. It would result in the desertion of Barack Oama by those who recognize that Israel is America’s only reliable ally in the region. He could kiss the Jewish vote goodbye – and with it Florida.

Interestingly enough, the sort of rhetoric Obama espoused that night should ring a bell for most Americans. It is precisely the same sort of rhetoric directed by his pastor, jeremiah Wright, against Israel from the pulpit and in his church newsletter (in which he reprinted Hamas propaganda). DoesnÂ’t that make the Wright connection incredibly relevant?

Oh, and by the way, LGF has a guest list for the event.

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October 27, 2008

And A Time To Mourn...

RIP -- Dean Barnett

Hugh Hewitt, who may have been the closest of all other bloggers to Dean, writes the following tribute.

My friend and colleague Dean Barnett died today, and the world is a much poorer place for it. As anyone who listened to him on my radio show or read his work at Soxblog, here or at the Weekly Standard knows, and as everyone who had the great, great pleasure of knowing Dean will attest, Dean's combination of sparking intelligence and enormous good humor made him one fo the most memorable of friends. What too few people know, though, is what a kind, extraordinarily giving and compassionate man he was. Dean loved people and he loved this country and threw himself into every cause.

Be sure to read it all.

I'd like to encourage others to contribute to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in his honor. Let's help eradicate this killer in his honor.

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Ted Stevens Convicted

I said it over the summer when he was first indicted -- Ted Stevens' corruption necessitates his departure from the US Senate.

There remain serious issues for appeal, though, given the amount of prosecutorial misconduct during this trial. He may yet walk, or die before seeing the inside of a prison cell (he is 84, after all).

And let me say that I agree with Ed and Michelle -- to a point.

Â…the Republicans deserve to lose it for not doing a better job of defeating Stevens in the primary.

They are right -- we deserve to lose the seat for not getting rid of him.

However, I must admit that I still hopes he wins and takes his seat next January -- after which he should submit his immediate resignation from office. At that point, Alaska's Governor will appoint a Republican replacement -- and we could see a scenario in which Gov. Sarah Palin becomes Senator Sarah Palin -- making her the GOP front-runner for 2012.

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What An Obama Victory Means

Barney Frank will have a big influence if the Dems continue to hold the House and Senate – and will be even more powerful if Barack Obama wins the White House.

HereÂ’s what he tells us are the goals of Democrats if that happens.

Case in point: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who has told a hometown newspaper House Democrats will seek a 25 percent reduction in defense spending upon Obama's ascension.
Oh, and stand by for a big tax hike.
* * *

"We'll have to raise taxes, ultimately," Frank said. "Not now, but eventually."

So forget all that stuff about higher taxes only for the top 5% of earners and cuts for the rest of us – your taxes will be going up, one way or another.

Especially as they define “the wealthy” down from those couples making $250K to those making $200K and finally to those couples making $100K – in other words, a good chunk of two-income middle class families.

And while my taxes wonÂ’t be increased (my wife and I have only one income, and I am a teacher so donÂ’t have to worry about making anywhere near any of those figures above), I will be paying higher prices when I head to the store and seeing smaller pay raises as the economy slows and my district lacks the ability to increase my compensation at the 3% or 4% annual increase we usually see. Anyone who actually understands the economics of tax increases knows that is how it always works.

And as for those defense cuts -- they are clearly a case of CHANGE that puts the safety of this country last in the HOPE that our nation's enemies will play nice as we disarm.

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Dems Violate Privacy Laws To Tar Citizen Who Dared To Question Candidate

I noted how Joe the Plumber was attacked for participating in the democratic process by asking a pointed question of one of the two major party candidates for president. What we now find out is that laws were broken in the process. Where are the howls of outrage from the media and the activists who object to spying on terrorists intent upon attacking American interests and their associates?

Public records requested by The Dispatch disclose that information on WurzelbacherÂ’s driverÂ’s license or his sport-utility vehicle was pulled from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database three times shortly after the debate.

Information on Wurzelbacher was accessed by accounts assigned to the office of Ohio Attorney General Nancy H. Rogers, the Cuyahoga County Child Support Enforcement Agency and the Toledo Police Department.

It has not been determined who checked on Wurzelbacher, or why. Direct access to driverÂ’s license and vehicle registration information from BMV computers is restricted to legitimate law enforcement and government business.

His criminal records and child support records were also accessed during the same time period.

Now ObamaÂ’s campaign denounced folks looking into the presidential candidateÂ’s passport file (as well as those of Hillary Clinton and John McCain) just a few months back, and people were fired. Why are they silent about this breach of privacy against a private citizen simply because he engaged in protected First Amendment activity?

UPDATE: This does raise an interesting question -- if it is so easy to get a look at the records of a private citizen who has the audacity to exercise his First Amendment rights during a political campaign, why can the American public still see a copy of Barack Obama's original birth certificate? After all, receiving indisputable evidence that Obama is a constitutionally eligible for the office he seeks would certainly seem to be a much more serious matter of public concern than anything about Joe the Plumber.

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Hey CD 22 – Let’s Make Sure We Get Rid Of Lampson!

The polling numbers say we can do it – are we motivated enough to carry it off?

U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, trailed Republican challenger Pete Olson by 17 percentage points early last week, according to the survey by Zogby International. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

* * *

In the 22nd Congressional District, represented by Lampson after the 2006 resignation of Republican powerhouse Tom DeLay, only 5 percent of Republican voters in the survey had defected to Lampson.

Lampson led Olson among independents, 45 percent to 39 percent. But only 16 percent in the poll identified themselves as independent; while 52 percent said Republican and 32 percent said Democrat.

WeÂ’ve been stuck with this lemon since Tom DeLay decided to go out on his own ego trip two years ago. He hasnÂ’t been much of a centrist, and it is clear that he hasnÂ’t voted the way his constituents wanted him to, despite his claims to the contrary. If he had, he would not be losing by 17 points in the poll. And while Pete Olson was not my primary candidate 9and was not even among my top three choices in the 10 person race), IÂ’ve gladly supported him this fall.

And folks, make sure you vote the straight GOP ticket. After all, we have a whole host of down-ballot races for judges and county-wide offices that are important for us to hold on to. If you donÂ’t vote, they will go by default to the Democrats.

Posted by: Greg at 11:50 AM | Comments (140) | Add Comment
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Simple Question: What If This Were Obama?

Want to bet we would hear shrill shrieks of R-R-R-A-A-A-C-C-C-I-I-I-S-S-S-M-M-M from the Obama campaign, the DNC, assorted race hos, and the MSM?

But somehow they find this acceptable.

Palin[1].jpg

First he tried to justify it in terms of it being Halloween.

He says "it should be seen as art, and as within the month of October. It's Halloween, it's time to be scary it's time to be spooky."

But then he tried to argue that it was OK because Palin, after all, is only white.

"I know if we had done it with Barack Obama, people would've probably thrown things through our windows," Morrisette said. "The image of a hanged black man is a lot more intense than the image of a hanged white woman -- for our country -- in the history of our country."

Yep – it is that racial double standard again.

So got that – the tolerant Left thinks thinks it is “art” to depict the murder of white women with the wrong political opinions. But there are some lines that they refuse to cross – even though we are oftent old that art is supposed to be “edgy” and “cross boundaries”. I guess those are only conservative boundaries. Because please notice that Joe Biden isn’t depicted as a part of the display, though John McCain is.

And its just as well – even if Morrisette’s “art” were to include a hanging Barack Obama, and it were accepted as part of the spirit of the season, there would still be a serious uproar. After all, calling such a display “spooky” would be simply one more opportunity for the usual suspects to holler R-R-R-A-A-A-C-C-C-I-I-I-S-S-S-M-M-M!

Great commentary from Don Surber, Michelle Malkin and Gay Patriot.

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Yes, She Lied

HavenÂ’t had a chance to post for several days, so I have not had the opportunity to comment on the news that the reported assault on a McCain campaign volunteer was false. I hold her in equal contempt.

Police say a campaign volunteer confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter B in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker; now sheÂ’s facing charges.

At a news conference this afternoon, officials said they believe that Ashley ToddÂ’s injuries were self-inflicted.

Todd, 20, of Texas, is now facing charges for filing a false report to police.

First, IÂ’m glad she is facing charges. Second, I hope she is convicted, and gets the maximum sentence. Her offense struck directly at the heart of race relations and the political process. In my eyes she is no better than the student in Illinois who faked anti-Muslim hate crimes.

Oh, yweah -- and I urge Texas A&M to expel her from the university as a way of protecting its good name.

And sadly, her actions serve to discredit the dozens of documented crimes (including gunshots at the Straight Talk Express, which one commenter sought to justify here) committed against McCain supporters.

H/T Malkin

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October 23, 2008

Watcher's Council Results

Just realized I hadn't posted these -- so here are the most recent results from the Watcher's Council.

Winning Council Entries



Winning Non-Council Entries

Hateful And Violent Politics UPDATED

No, not the GOP.

The Democrats.

You know, stuff like this.

The home of a Central Florida Republican headquarters manager was shot up and damaged over his support of Sen. John McCain, the man told police.

Let’s see – we’ve had fire bombings of signs, assaults on folks engaged in peaceful political advocacy, an attack on the Straight Talk Express and now gun violence against a private home. Looks to me like too many members of the Obamanation are too unstable to be allowed anywhere near the reins of power.

UPDATE: Just got a link to this in my email, so I'm updating and bumping.

A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, apparently because of her political views, Pittsburgh police said.

According to WTAE's news exchange partners at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, was using an ATM at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m. Wednesday when a man approached her and put a knife to her throat.

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard said the robber took $60 from Todd, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim's car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter "B" into her face, Richard said.

Sounds like another Obama supporter, with so high a degree of tolerance for other peoples' views that he is willing to do bodily harm to anyone so intolerant as to disagree with him. While some might argue that Obama and Biden are not responsible for this attack by a criminal thug, I disagree -- after all, McCain and Palin have been held responsible for words allegedly (but in at least some cases not actually) spoken by a supporter. Those assigning such responsibility have been the Democrat candidates themselves. By their own standards, therefore, they are responsible for this action by one of their criminal followers.

Will the MSM hold their feet to the fire on this one? I'm guessing the answer is NO.

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About BarackÂ’s Buddy, Bill Ayres

Just a reminder about his political philosophy.

20081022AyersBookQuote01[1].jpg

But don’t worry – if you are reading this blog you wouldn’t have had to worry about anything like that. You would probably resist the political reeducation camps he and his confreres proposed – and so would have been one of the 25 million Americans they proposed doing away with in a fashion reminiscent of Stalin, Hitler, or Pol Pot.

But then again, he was more than willing to see innocents killed as a part of his “revolution”.

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How Does This Tarnish Heroism?

IÂ’ve heard a lot of crazy stuff out of the media, but never anything as bizarre as this illogical statement regarding newly released tapes of John McCain from his POW days.

The video portrays the Republican as a hero but the message may be tarnished as he is filmed smoking a cigarette.

Excuse me? Cigarette smoking by a prisoner FOUR DECADES AGO might tarnish his image, or somehow devalue the heroism of the man? Are these folks on crack?

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Will They Stock This Book In Fiction?

Crystal Mangum, the lying, drug-addled stripper whose false accusations disrupted the lives and tarnished the reputations of innocent Duke University students now has a book out. And it is clear from some of the claims she makes in the book and related interviews that the story she is peddling today bears no more relationship to the truth than did her initial accusations.

The woman who North Carolina prosecutors determined falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her at a team party maintains in a new memoir that she was attacked.
Crystal Mangum, who appeared publicly Thursday for the first time since making the allegations more than two years ago, says in her forthcoming book she is not "looking forward to opening old wounds" but that she had to defend herself.
"Even as I try to move on with my life, I still find it necessary to take one more stand and fight," she writes in the book, "The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story."
"I want to assert, without equivocation, that I was assaulted. Make of that what you will. You will decide what that means to you because the state of North Carolina saw fit not to look at all that happened the night I became infamous."

Did you get that last line? “Saw fit not to look at all that happened that night”? Is she joking, or just delusional? She had a prosecutor so gung ho to believe her story that he was willing to violate basic rules of investigation, rules of evidence, and the law in order to get charges and convictions based upon a flimsy story and evidence that completely contradicted Mangum’s sordid tale. She had every authority in the county and on the Duke campus supporting her, even after her claims broke down under closer examination. She was able to stir up a lynch mob against the innocent, including “civil rights activists” who suggested that the accused young men should be convicted even if the assault did not happen as a form of reparations for past injustices against blacks.

And what is even worse is that the state of North Carolina didn’t see fit to file charges against her for the false report she made against the Duke lacrosse team. That’s the only example I can think of that would constitute a decision “not to look at all that happened that night” – the cowardly refusal to punish the individual who started the whole charade with her lies.

Don’t buy the book – she doesn’t deserve the money.

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October 22, 2008

Freedom For The Spech We Hate

I despise racist organizations and individuals -- those who are truly racist, not ones that are simply slapped with the label when a group or candidate seeks to preempt discussion by playing the race card. As such, I carry no brief for the KKK, historically the paramilitary terrorist wing of the Democrats and the enemy of all that the GOP stands for.

But when I see an article like this one, I feel a need to remind folks that racist speech does have the protection of the US Constitution, as disgusted as we might be by it.

Take this case.

Commuters found fliers with the image of a white-hooded horseman holding a blazing cross placed on the windshields of hundreds of cars parked at a Long Island Rail Road station.

The fliers were printed with messages such as "Join the Klan and save our land" and "We are of the United Northern & Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are unapologetically committed to the interest and values of the white race!"

Suffolk County police are investigating who may have left the fliers, but says it's possible that no crime was committed. They say the dissemination of the fliers at the Deer Park station Tuesday could be regarding as an act of free expression.

It is that last paragraph that sticks in my craw -- "could be regarded as an act of free expression"? Seems to me that the correct position is should be regarded as an act of free expression, if not "must be regarded" as an act of free expression. After all, the First Amendment is meaningless if it only protects the inoffensive and non-controversial.

Oh, and for the record -- those involved in this little effort are nothing but scum.

Posted by: Greg at 02:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Freedom For The Spech We Hate

I despise racist organizations and individuals -- those who are truly racist, not ones that are simply slapped with the label when a group or candidate seeks to preempt discussion by playing the race card. As such, I carry no brief for the KKK, historically the paramilitary terrorist wing of the Democrats and the enemy of all that the GOP stands for.

But when I see an article like this one, I feel a need to remind folks that racist speech does have the protection of the US Constitution, as disgusted as we might be by it.

Take this case.

Commuters found fliers with the image of a white-hooded horseman holding a blazing cross placed on the windshields of hundreds of cars parked at a Long Island Rail Road station.

The fliers were printed with messages such as "Join the Klan and save our land" and "We are of the United Northern & Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are unapologetically committed to the interest and values of the white race!"

Suffolk County police are investigating who may have left the fliers, but says it's possible that no crime was committed. They say the dissemination of the fliers at the Deer Park station Tuesday could be regarding as an act of free expression.

It is that last paragraph that sticks in my craw -- "could be regarded as an act of free expression"? Seems to me that the correct position is should be regarded as an act of free expression, if not "must be regarded as an act of free expression. After all, the First Amendment is meaningless if it only protects the inoffensive and non-controversial.

Oh, and for the record -- those involved in this little effort are nothing but scum.

Posted by: Greg at 02:44 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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FBI Wusses Out On Honor Killing

I praised the FBI for recently calling the honor killing of two teenage girls in Dallas exactly what it was.

Now they have dhimmified and kow-towed to CAIR and the rest of the Islamic grievance establishment.

The FBI said Tuesday that it had deleted the term because the FBI never meant to attach a label to the case. Special agent Mark White, media coordinator in the bureau's Dallas office, told FOXNews.com that the FBI changed the wording “because the statement was not meant to indicate that the FBI was ‘labeling’ anything.

"The person who wrote it up did not see the misunderstanding that [the original wording] would create,” White said.

And yet the FBI will continue to label certain incidents as “hate crimes” before such motivation is ever proven in a court of law. I don’t see the Department of Justice caving to hate groups the way they do to CAIR, an unindicted co-conspirator in at least one case related to the funding of terrorism.

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About Ending TAKS

Let’s be realistic here – TAKS (for high school, anyway) is going to be dead in a couple of years. The Texas Legislature has already mandated its demise and replacement with End of Course exams actually tied to the content of the course in which they are given. But that does not mean that the following idea is a bad one.

Texas students in certain grades would no longer have to pass the state achievement test to be promoted under a new school accountability plan unveiled Tuesday by leaders of the House and Senate education committees.

The proposal would scuttle a requirement originally championed by former Gov. George W. Bush as a way to curtail the widespread practice of social promotion – automatically passing students regardless of achievement.

In addition, the new accountability plan would base annual school performance ratings on three years of test scores rather than the most recent year, allowing school districts and campuses to make up for a bad year of results with a couple of positive years.

Now let’s be honest – the no promotion rule has been ineffective for years due to an exception allowing school officials and parents to agree to promote a student who failed anyway, as well as provisions for special summer programs for such students in most districts. On the high school level, the only sanction was at graduation, so the promotion issue was non-existent.

So what, then, is there to like about this proposal? It is the three-year rule for evaluating schools and districts. Such a plan would be more reasonable in many instances, allowing a school to overcome a single bad year – especially when such years are based upon the performance of a handful of students in a sub-group. I once heard of a school being rated unacceptable because three children (all new to the district) failed a single test – all were members of the same minority group and had led to the school to be deemed as failing to provide a proper education to that minority group. Similarly, I already know that many schools and districts in this area will take a hit in the wake of Hurricane Ike – the lost school days and disruption to the lives of our students will likely hurt scores. Does a one-year “snapshot” this spring REALLY reflect on the job these districts and schools are doing?

Oh, and a note to Greg at GregÂ’s Opinion: It isnÂ’t at all inconsistent to support state oversight of school districts because those districts are, in fact, a creature of the state itself and are therefore properly under such oversight. That differs from the case of federal oversight of the states, which constitutionally exist independent of and distinct from the federal government. So while one can argue about whether the current testing regime is a good one or not, it is not a case of the state intruding where it does not have any place going.

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October 21, 2008

Obama Must Have Known

Just remember -- this is while Baraack Obama was working with William Ayers, unrepentant terrorist.

Bill Ayers didn't keep his opinions or his past a secret. For Obama to claim he did not know or assumed he was reformed is a crock.

And that, my friends, raises not just the judgment issue, but also the character issue because of his propensity to lie to the American people at every opportunity.

By the way -- how well did Obama know Ayers and how far back does the close relationship go? Close enough for him to be mentioned in one of Ayers' books, for him to give a pre-publication blurb for the book, and for him to give Ayers a glowing personal recommendation.

102008_obamablurb[1].jpg

Explain this one away, Barry!

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October 20, 2008

Illegal Immigrant Identity Theft Case Highlights Need For Conservative Justices

HereÂ’s another one of those cases in which ideologically litmus tested liberal justices could make a big difference in the outcome.

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether people picked up on immigration violations also can face charges of identity theft if they use Social Security and other identification numbers that belong to others.

Federal appeals courts have split over whether the defendant must know that the phony ID numbers belong to a real person and the court said it will resolve the question.

Federal prosecutors have increasingly been bringing the more serious identity theft charges against undocumented immigrants, including many who were arrested in raids on meatpacking plants.

Defense lawyers have argued that their clients should not be charged with stealing someone elseÂ’s identity because the immigrants only were seeking documentation that would allow them to work. They didnÂ’t know if the numbers were fictitious or belonged to someone else, their lawyers say.

The Bush administration, however, has said that it doesnÂ’t matter under federal law.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in St. Louis, agreed with the administration and upheld the conviction of Ignacio Carlos Flores-Figueroa.

Actually, three federal appellate courts have ruled in favor of the administrationÂ’s position, while only one has ruled against it. I would imagine a couple of rushed Supreme Court picks could have a great deal of impact upon the outcome of the case if Barack Obama were to win the election in two weeks, with the pro-illegal ideology of Obama and any justices he appointed leading to a decision that illegal immigrants can get away with crimes that US citizens cannot.

Of course, an Obama victory could well lead to a decision by the new administration to change its position on the issue, and lead to the enshrinement of that principle into law as well.

To protect your identity from border jumpers, vote for McCain – at least he’s better on immigration than Obama.

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Gunshot Hits Straight Talk Express

Why have Barack Obama and Joe Biden stked the fires of hate so high that there would be an act of gun violence against the official McCain campaign bus only weeks before the election? DonÂ’t they and their surrogates know that their extreme words could lead to such violence from their more unstable supporters??

Oh, and why isnÂ’t the media reporting on this story?

We learned at this morningÂ’s Stop Obama Rally here that the McCain/Palin Straight Talk Express came through town yesterday. It arrived with a window shattered by a .22 caliber weapon. It had also been hit by an unknown number of paint balls from a paint ball gun or guns. There were reportedly no injuries and neither candidate was on board.

One local man who saw the damage and spoke with the McCain/Palin staffers said the attack(s) had occured in southern New Mexico that same day. The Express is traveling the country independent of the candidates, handing out campaign materials.

Now tell me, what would happen if the official Obama campaign bus were shot at, even without either of the Democrat candidates aboard? It would be front page news, with all sorts of condemnations of the Republicans for encouraging hatred, and restatements of the discredited stories about calls to kill Barack Obama being heard at GOP rallies.

But actual violence against the McCain campaign bus? The media apparently thinks there is nothing of importance in this news, and so wonÂ’t report it at all.

Posted by: Greg at 01:20 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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Some Sense From The Pentagon

Too bad the political appointees, PC Homeland Security officials and State Department weenies are unlikely to embrace this common sense acknowledgment of the reality of the enemy we fight.

A U.S. military "Red Team" charged with challenging conventional thinking says that words like "jihad" and "Islamist" are needed in discussing 21st-century terrorism and that federal agencies that avoid the words soft-pedaled the link between religious extremism and violent acts.

* * *

"The fact is our enemies cite the source of Islam as the foundation for their global jihad," the report said. "We are left with the responsibility of portraying our enemies in an honest and accurate fashion."

Using the terms in question is simply a matter of intellectual honesty. While one can debate whether or not al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations accurately represent orthodox Islam in their ideology, what cannot be denied is that they claim to base their ideology upon Islam. To refuse to use the terms that they use themselves makes understanding them much more difficult, if not impossible. Those members of the Islamic community who insist that the terms not be used by our government are, whether intentionally or not, hindering the war on terror by cutting off what are fruitful discussions of the motivations of the terrorists themselves. We simply cannot allow ourselves to be held hostage to political correctness.

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Unethical Obama

If you are serving as a legislator and are not allowed to take speaking fees, how can you have speaking fees as a part of your income? That would mean you broke the law to personally enrich yourself.

And if you are a candidate running for president who has such illegal speaking fees, as documented by your tax returns, wouldnÂ’t the media be gung ho to report on your unethical/illegal activity?

Well sure they would – unless your name is Barack Hussein Obama.

Apparently, on ObamaÂ’s released tax records, he discloses income from speaking fees. The problem? Accepting payment for speaking fees when youÂ’re a legislator is against Illinois state law

Apparently, as an Illinois state legislator through 2004, Barack was prohibited from taking honoraria for speaking under the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act
But what about Barack ObamaÂ’s 2000 and 2002 tax returns?

2000: On his 2000 Schedule C-EZ, Barack reported that he received $16,500 as a “Foundation director/Educational speaker.”

2001: On his 2001 Schedule C-EZ, Barack reported $98,158 from a Chicago law firm, Miner, Barnhill, for “Legal services/attorney” (and nothing for speaking)
2002: On his 2002 Schedule C, Barack reported $34,491 for “LEGAL SERVCES / SPEAKING FEES.”

These “speaking fees” are in addition to the amounts that Barack was paid as an employee, a lecturer at the University of Chicago, reported on the first page of his 1040s.

In other words, ObamaÂ’s campaign has released documents signed by barrack Obama on which he admits to illegal and unethical activity. This isnÂ’t stuff being manufactured by his opponents, it is information that ObamaÂ’s own staff has given to the media and the public at his direction.

But somehow, the media isn’t interested in this little tidbit. They would rather look at Cindy McCain’s American Express bill and how many houses the McCains own and the make and model of their vehicles. Illegal activity by Barack Obama? Not a chance – after all, that would mean they would have to call Barack Obama a criminal, and calling a black man who has committed a crime a criminal would be racist .

Posted by: Greg at 01:17 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Once Again, The Race Card

If you won’t vote for Obama, it is because of your racism – so says Joe Biden.

"Undecided people are having a difficult time just culturally making the change, making the move for the first African American president in the history of the United States of America," the Democratic vice-presidential nominee said at a San Francisco fundraiser Saturday evening. "So we need to respond. We need to respond at the moment, immediately, not wait, not hang around, not assume any of this won't stick."

In other words, it isn’t concern about experience, income redistribution, or national security that is prompting people to reject the most inexperienced presidential candidate since William Jennings Bryan (the first time around) – it is racism. Joe Biden, whose own history of racial and ethnic gaffes, has proclaimed it to be so.

And those of us concerned that the there might be a major international crisis provoked by foreign powers seeking to test a neophyte like Obama are simply listening to fear mongers – like Joe Biden. Such concerns are really just a code for race.

AinÂ’t it great that Barack Obama is a post-racial candidate running a campaign based upon issues?

NOTE TO SUPPORTERS OF ISRAEL CONSIDERING OBAMA: Are you sure you want to risk the crisis being an attack on Israel by Iran, Syria, or Hezbollah?

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October 18, 2008

Why Isn't This A Hate Crime?

Well, it looks like there's been another case of a Muslim student claiming slurs and assault directed her way by an "Islamophobic" hatemonger. And, once again, there is the minor problem that the incident did not happen.

A Muslim student who said a masked gunman assaulted her after he wrote anti-Islamic slurs in a women's restroom at Elmhurst College was arrested Friday after an investigation concluded the attack never happened.

A week after the case roiled the small college, Elmhurst Police Chief Steven Neubauer said Safia Jilani, 19, of Oak Brook had been booked on a felony charge of filing a false police report, which is punishable by 1 to 3 years in prison.

Jilani reported Oct. 9 that the man beat her with the gun in the college's science center, authorities said. Anti-Muslim graffiti was written on the wall, similar to a threat written on the same student's locker the previous week.

Authorities have now confirmed that there is no evidence supporting Jilani's claims. It appears that she was simply trying to delegitimize those who reject Islamist terrorism, as a small group of students did some weeks previous when they shouted at the perp and her friends while they protested against the US government and in support of al-Qaeda terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo.

Which leads me to ask a question. Jilani created a climate of hate based upon ethnicity and religion with this false report. There were two groups of victims. The first were the white male (presumably Christian) students who were all tarred by her description of her assailant. But the second were all of her fellow Muslim students at Elmhurst College, who were equally targeted by her false report. Why can't these indisputable facts be used to raise the ante a bit, and charge her with a bias crime against both groups?

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October 17, 2008

Which Matters More?

The tax lien against Joe the Plumber? Or the tax lien against ObamaÂ’s campaign treasurer? Enquiring minds want to know!

One snarky liberal reader wrote in, "WhatÂ’s Joe the Plumber so worried about taxes for? It doesnÂ’t sound like he pays them anyway."

I wonder if she feels the same way about Obama's campaign treasurer, Martin Nesbitt, who has a $2,411 tax lien from the state of California.

Think about it. In 24 hours, we've learned more unflattering details about a guy who asked Obama a question and walked away unpersuaded than almost any of his campaign staff or associates.

Well, since only one has failed to fall down and worship at the altar of Obamism, we know what the Left and the media (but I repeat myself) think. Still, this ought to be Exhibit A of how deep in the tank the MSM is for Obama.

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What Do The Polls Say?

Well, these are certainly interesting, to say the very least.

A lot of the state polls look pretty bad for McCain lately, but there's been an interesting shift in the tracking polls.

• Rasmussen’s Presidential Tracking poll now shows Barack Obama leading John McCain by four points, 50 percent to 46 percent. At one point, Obama was up by 8.
• Gallup’s national tracking poll of likely voters has Obama leading McCain by two points, 49 percent to 47 percent.
• AP/Yahoo shows Obama leading McCain by two points, 44%-42%
• The Reuters/C-Span/Zogby national tracking survey shows Obama leading McCain by five points, 49%-44%.
• The GW/Battleground tracking poll has Obama leading McCain by four points, 49%-45%.

The other thing is, in most of these, if there's been movement, Obama's been pretty consistent - right around, or just under, 50 percent. McCain's gains have come from undecideds.

The key fact there – Obama doesn’t get more than 50% in any of the polls, and in none of them is he ahead by more than 5%. That makes this race winnable in the next 18 days – if we can each persuade one undecided voter to come around to our side – or one unmotivated individual who leans towards McCain to get off their duffs and vote for him.

It is ours to lose – or ours to win. I’d much rather win.

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What Would Happen If This Were Reversed?

If a student wearing a Barack )bama shirt to school faced this sort of racial harrassment for expressing her political opinions, the press would present it as but one more piece of GOP intolerance. But when it happens to a girl wearing a McCain-Palin shirt, the response is muted and the school seeks to ignore the incident.

She's only 12 years old but Ashleigh Jones is feeling the heat of this election year.

ThatÂ’s because the seventh grader at New Smyrna Beach Middle School was called a racist by classmates for wearing a pro-Sarah Palin t-shirt.

Jones is volunteering at the Republican Headquarters in New Smyrna Beach. The Palin t-shirt was a gift from her fellow volunteers.
But when she wore it to school she learned just how tough politics can be.

“Some of the students were calling me racist because I was Caucasian,” she said. “I wanted the Caucasian man to win. And I told them that’s not true. It’s my freedom of speech, it’s my opinion.”

Interestingly enough, Ashleigh and her family are not planning to sue, nor are they seeking legal intervention to punish the school or her harassers. That’s refreshing in one sense –but I don’t think it is the right response. Given the consistent use of thug tactics to silence those who do not hew to the tenets of Obamism and fall down in worship of the Obamessiah, I think it is important that we take every opportunity to get legal precedents on the books to protect the rights of those of us who dissent from that foul ideology. Not, of course, that I expect the rights or precedents to be respected by a potential Obama Administration or the mind-numbed zombies who are voting for him – but I’d like there to be a crystal clear record of how American liberties were undermined by these folks.

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Mahoney Investigation – Where’s The Press?

Remember the media hubbub two years over the Mark Foley (R-FL) “dirty email” scandal? Well, it is now clear that his successor, Tim Mahoney (D-FL), has had no less than two affairs since taking over the office on a platform of family values and restored morality. So where is the press on this story – especially now that it appears there is a federal investigation involving the misuse of congressional funds and a potential sexual quid-pro-quo for disaster relief funds in the county run by one of his bimbos.

The FBI is investigating whether Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney broke any laws or misused federal money when he hired a mistress to work in his office, a senior federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

Federal agents also are examining whether a second affair Mahoney was having with a high-level official in his Florida district was behind his decision to push for federal emergency funds for her county, the official said.

The person spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation. The person noted investigators would likely need both women's help to pursue the matter. The cases would be hard to prove without them.

We’ve yet to hear the media ask what the Democrat leadership knew and when they knew it – and why they didn’t address it with an ethics investigation at the time rather than waiting until the long-rumored affairs were finally made public. For that matter, the press isn’t giving us the saturation coverage that they gave a handful of questionable emails sent to male pages and held by Democrat activists until they would do the most political damage to the GOP. I wonder why that could be?

The good news, though, is that Mahoney is now down by 26 in the polls, with the deficit widening since it became public that he couldnÂ’t keep his pants on and his mistresses out of the public purse.

H/T NewsBusters

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Early Voting In Harris County, Texas

It begins Monday, folks, and I urge you to take advantage of the opportunity to vote before election day at one of the many early voting sites in the area.

An unprecedented half-million Harris County voters are expected to cast early ballots for the presidential race and other offices during the two-week early voting period, an increase sparked in part by political parties and candidates urging supporters to vote before Election Day.

In response to the forecast of a record-high early vote that starts Monday in Texas, county officials have added extra polling stations and voting booths and new auxiliary equipment to keep waiting lines as short as possible.

The most interesting change is the addition of a card reader that will enable the poll workers to swipe your drivers’ license to get your identifying information more quickly – though a license is still not required to vote.

And I’d like to add a special note to all the voters of Seabrook’s Precinct 333 – as you may know, Evelyn Meador Library has been our polling place for years, but it is one of the many beloved casualties of Hurricane Ike last month. I was informed on Wednesday that our polling place this year will be Bay Elementary School – but be aware that we are voting in the back gymnasium, which is most easily accessed by entering the school grounds by way of city hall rather than off of Highway 146. We’ll be there for our usual hours – but I know that many of you (like me) are out of your homes. I’d therefore like to encourage you to take advantage of early voting if it is more convenient for you, especially if you are temporarily residing outside of the precinct. Not only do we have the presidential election, but Seabrook’s own Pete Olson is going to need all our votes in his effort to unseat Nick Lampson and put CD22 in the GOP column where it belongs. Add to that the importance of reelecting John Cornyn to the US Senate and Mike Jackson to the Texas Senate, as well as all the county and judicial races that are on the ballot, and a solidly conservative precinct like ours needs a strong turnout to ensure that we have the sort of government we believe in for the county, state, and nation. And yes, Democrats are welcome to come out and vote, too (that means you, Janet and Paula and the rest of you) – after all, events of the last few weeks have made it ever so clear how important it is that we make our voices heard.

A complete list of Harris County early voting locations and hours can be found here.

Posted by: Greg at 12:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Archaeology Geeking

Here’s a neat discovery for fans of the movie Gladiator – the tomb of the man whose life partially inspired the main character of the movie.

The 1,800-year-old stone mausoleum on the banks of the River Tiber was hailed by experts as an "extraordinary discovery" and one of the most important Roman finds for decades.

It was built to contain the remains of Marcus Nonius Macrinus, a proconsul and a favourite of Marcus Aurelius, who ruled as emperor from 161 AD to his death in 180 AD.

Macrinus was born in Brescia, in northern Italy, and won victories leading Roman legions into battle.

He became a confidant of Emperor Aurelius, being appointed a proconsul in Asia Minor and describing himself as "chosen out of the closest friends".

Elements of his life were incorporated into Maximus Decimus Meridius, the fictional character for which Crowe won an Oscar in the 2000 film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott.

In other words, Macrinus was a rather extraordinary man who ascended to the very heights of Roman government. As such, his tomb is rather extraordinary.

The intricately carved marble tomb, complete with a stone inscription identifying it as that of Macrinus, was found near the Via Flaminia, one of the arterial roads which led in and out of ancient Rome.

The jumble of broken columns, friezes and stone blocks was discovered during the demolition of a warehouse, along with remarkably intact parts of the original Roman road.

* * *

Over the centuries parts of the tomb crumbled into the Tiber but enough has been recovered during months of painstaking excavation work that experts are discussing the possibility of reconstructing it as the focus of an archeological park.

I’ve always wanted to visit the Eternal City – and if I ever do, this sounds like one more site to add to my itinerary.

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For The Record – Quannell X Is Nothing But A Whore

After all, he’ll apparently hold an Astroturf rally for you to create the appearance of a grassroots movement – if you are willing to cough up $20K for him.

ThatÂ’s one of the details exposed in the billing dispute between local Democrat hack lawyer Lloyd Kelley and former clients Erik and Sean Ibarra over KelleyÂ’s bill. One of the things that he wants the Ibarras to pay for is this little expense.

Kelley said he had $300,000 in expenses, but a judge approved only a reimbursement of $51,000. The remainder of the expenses, according to the contract signed by the brothers and Kelley, says the brothers must pay the expenses.

* * *

A supplemental page of expenses filed by Kelley show $95,000 paid to attorney Tammy Tran for jury consulting and $20,000 to community activist Quanell X for organizing a rally in front of the courthouse, Sorrels said.

In other words, the rally intended to represent the “outraged community” was actually nothing but a bit of political theater bought and paid for by the plaintiffs’ lawyer from a “community activist” who will prostitute himself and his followers out if the price is right.

In other words, the name of the game for Quannell X is “show me the money!”

UPDATE -- 10/17/2008, 7:30 PM: Looks like the issue may be fraud by Kelley, with Quannell X being a pawn in this whole thing:

Longtime Houston activist Quanell X wants you to know that he did not get $20,000 for organizing a demonstration last June in support of the Ibarra brothers during the lawsuit in which they won $1.7 million for mistreatment by Harris County deputies.

The brothers had been roughed up and falsely arrested for taking photographs from their own property of a drug raid on the house next door. Quanell X led a demonstration march as the jury was hearing testimony. But he insists he was not paid for the expression of outrage.

"That is absolutely not the case," Quanell X said Thursday. "Nobody has ever paid me for a demonstration."

Randy Sorrels is the attorney for the Ibarras in a lawsuit over that and other expenses flamboyant lawyer Lloyd Kelley is charging them for work on their wildly successful suit against the county.

Sorrels says Kelley told the brothers the payment to Quanell X was for organizing a demonstration march.

Not so, says Quanell X. He says he even turned down an offer from the Ibarra brothers to help pay the expenses.

"I told them I didn't want anybody saying you paid for the march."

Quannell X was, however brought in as a jury consultant, for which he was paid. That would make it appear that the officemate of the Democrat candidate for DA is trying to rip off his former clients just days before the election, and using fraudulent documents in the process.

Posted by: Greg at 04:14 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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October 16, 2008

“Kill Him” Didn’t Happen

But that won’t stop the Left from saying it did – after all, the truth quit mattering to them some time ago.

The agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Scranton said allegations that someone yelled “kill him” when presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s name was mentioned during Tuesday’s Sarah Palin rally are unfounded.
The Scranton Times-Tribune first reported the alleged incident on its Web site Tuesday and then again in its print edition Wednesday. The first story, written by reporter David Singleton, appeared with allegations that while congressional candidate Chris Hackett was addressing the crowd and mentioned Obama’s name a man in the audience shouted “kill him."
News organizations including ABC, The Associated Press, The Washington Monthly and MSNBCÂ’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann reported the claim, with most attributing the allegations to the Times-Tribune story.
Agent Bill Slavoski said he was in the audience, along with an undisclosed number of additional secret service agents and other law enforcement officers and not one heard the comment.
“I was baffled,” he said after reading the report in Wednesday’s Times-Tribune.
He said the agency conducted an investigation Wednesday, after seeing the story, and could not find one person to corroborate the allegation other than Singleton.
Slavoski said more than 20 non-security agents were interviewed Wednesday, from news media to ordinary citizens in attendance at the rally for the Republican vice presidential candidate held at the Riverfront Sports Complex. He said Singleton was the only one to say he heard someone yell “kill him.”
“We have yet to find someone to back up the story,” Slavoski said. “We had people all over and we have yet to find anyone who said they heard it.”

Not, of course, that the minor detail that their reporter was the only person who seems to have heard the comment matters to the Scranton Times-Tribune and its editors. They have staked out the position that since their reporter reported it and they approved it, it must be the truth. So never mind what the protective detail and participants in the rally have to say – the outrageous comment is reality because the press says it is.

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Obama Supporter Shows Lack Of Class

If you lack any legitimate argument in favor of your candidate, just dump dog shit in the back of your neighborÂ’s truck because he supports the other guy.

A St. Cloud man, and self-proclaimed John McCain hater, was arrested Wednesday for putting bags of dog poop in the bed of a pickup truck with McCain-Palin stickers.
Officers responded to the 2300 block of 27th St. S on Wednesday for a complaint of someone dumping dog poop in the back of a pickup truck.
The owner of the truck said he put McCain-Palin campaign stickers on his truck about two weeks ago. Shortly after, he started finding small bags of dog poop in the back of the truck.
Wednesday morning, the ownerÂ’s mother saw a neighbor putting bags of poop in the truck and called police.
David Vandelinden, 45, of St. Cloud was identified as the suspect, and admitted to placing the dog poop in the truck because “he hates McCain.”
Vandelinden was issued a $183 fine for littering and unlawful dumping.

Well, I suppose that is a step up from Molotov cocktails, but it still betrays a lack of civility of the sort that Obama and his minions complain that Republicans lack. Could it be that such charges are nothing more than projection?

Posted by: Greg at 04:11 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Why We Should Be Afraid Of The Obama Crowd

Because if you exercise your civil liberties to question their ideology, you will lose your right to privacy and will be investigated by the government.

Want an example? Look at the response of the KOSsacks to Joe the Plumber after he dared to dissent (didnÂ’t we hear for the last 8 years that dissent is the highest from the Gospel According to Obama the Lightworker.

The IRS, the FBI, and the FTC should be checking into this guy.
This guy Joe may regret his 15 minutes of fame. Most of us have skeletons in the closet. Does he really want his revealed?

Got that? For questioning the policy proposals of a presidential candidate, he needs to have his taxes audited, a criminal investigation launched against him, and complete scrutiny of his business practices – as well as having complete exposure of the details of his private life. What next – a show trial like those put on by Stalin during the Purges? Can you imagine the abuses that would result if these people were ever permitted to hold the reins of power? We would rapidly descend into the depths of leftist tyranny!

In other words, the preservation of our civil liberties are at stake in this election – and that is reason enough to vote for McCain in order to stave of the legions of forced conformity under the tyrannical banner of Obamism. But then again, why should we be surprised – Biden has already let us know that when the Democrats are in charge, paying higher taxes is the highest sign of liberty, not dissent.

H/T Newsbusters, Don Surber

UPDATE: Interesting, isn't it, that Obama and his supporters object to efforts to take jobs away from "undocumented workers" who have entered the country illegally and have no right to be employed here -- but are now rushing around to get a US citizen like Joe the Plumber shut down because he lacks a city plumbing license. Too bad he isn't Jose el Plomero -- he might be able to get someone to stand up on his behalf in the face of an attack on his civil liberties and right to a decent job at which he makes a decent living. But since he's white, English-speaking, and a US citizen, the same folks who would be defending him are now out to destroy him for voicing an unacceptable political view.

Posted by: Greg at 04:03 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Lots Of Watcher's Council Results

Here are the results from council votes that I've missed posting since Hurricane Ike. I offer my apologies for the delays, and hope to do better in the future.

OCTOBER 10

Winning Council Entries



Winning Non-Council Entries



* - T denotes a tie

OCTOBER 3

Winning Council Entries



Winning Non-Council Entries



* - T denotes a tie

SEPTEMBER 26

Winning Council Entries



Winning Non-Council Entries



* - T denotes a tie

SEPTEMBER 19
Council Winners



Non-Council Winners


October 14, 2008

A Bad Choice By A Textbook Publisher

When I was in middle school, our textbook had a bit of a memoir by Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. It was a decent piece of literature about his youth and love of the great outdoors. Since justices are appointed for life, I don’t see a problem with using the work of one as an example of a literary form. If, on the other hand, Douglas had been a politician who regularly stood for reelection, I’d argue the position differently – and I say this even though I hold Douglas in great esteem (though I would argue strongly against elements of his jurisprudence).

This brings us forward to the present day, and a choice by a textbook publisher that is rather troubling – the choice of Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father as an example of a memoir in a recently published middle school textbook.

My 8th grade son is in an advanced English class at a public middle school here in Racine, Wisconsin. I just found out that my son's new (copyright 200 Wisconsin - McDougal Littell Literature book has 15 pages covering Barack Obama.

I was shocked - No John McCain, no Hillary Clinton, no George Bush - Just Barack Obama. I'm wondering how it is that Obama's story gets put into an 8th grade literature book? It would be one thing, if it was just the tidbit about his boyhood days, but 15 pages, and they talk about his "Life of Service". Honestly, what has Obama really done to be included in this book? Not only that, but on page 847 there is a photo of Obama at the 2004 Democratic Convention with at least 8 Obama signs in the background! Front & center is an www.obama2004.com sign.

Now let’s say this up front – Dreams from My Father is a good book, and it is a good example of a memoir. Were Obama not a living politician currently seeking office (and likely to continue doing so for the life of that textbook), I’d probably agree with the choice of the excerpt – though I’d have some concern, given that the book as a whole is written at a 12th grade reading level according to one article I recently saw. But the reality is that we are in the midst of an election campaign and will likely have Obama as a major political figure for the next couple of decades, and the choice therefore raises the specter of political favoritism, whether accidental or intentional.

For the record, let me add that my objection is not about Barack Obama per se. I’d have the same objection if this were an excerpt from Faith of My Fathers by John McCain. We simply need to keep the active politicians out of the textbooks to the degree possible – with the possible exception of history and government books, I don’t see where their presence is particularly appropriate or desirable.

H/T Newsbusters, Malkin

UPDATE -- 10/17/2008: The MSM catches up with this story -- sort of.

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Mahoney DoesnÂ’t Quite Own Up To Hypocrisy

But his standard of ethics seems to be “Well, it wasn’t illegal.”

Responding for the first time to allegations he paid $121,000 to prevent a lawsuit by a former staffer with whom he had an affair, Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney this morning acknowledged causing "pain" to his family, but said he didn't break any laws and would fight for his reelection.

Mahoney, accompanied by his wife, appeared before local reporters for less than two minutes in a meeting room at the PGA National Resort. He read a prepared statement and did not take questions.

"I have not violated my oath of office, nor have I violated any laws, and I consider this to be a private matter," said Mahoney.

Except you ran as the guy with great family values who was going to bring a higher moral tone after the Mark Foley dirty email scandal. Now it appears that he was boffing a campaign aide during that very campaign, and has since paid her off to keep the matter out of court. That makes it a public matter.

Now if only the press will spend some time running down the story about Barack ObamaÂ’s girlfriend who Michelle ran offÂ…

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Religious Discrimination On Campus

At a number of schools around the country, all sorts of special accommodations have been made to enable Muslims to pray on campus.

Foot baths.

Prayer rooms designed with Islamic sensibilities in mind.

But on at least one campus, Christian prayer will get you tossed out on your ear, according to a lawsuit filed in California.

Two students filed a federal lawsuit this past Monday against the publicly-funded College of Alameda alleging that school officials at the California school threatened to expel them for praying.

The events prompting the lawsuit took place in December, 2007, a press release from the Pacific Justice Institute reports.

That month, student Kandy Kyriacou visited an instructor to give her a Christmas gift. Kyriacou found the instructor alone in her shared office. When the instructor indicated she was ill, Kyriacou offered to pray for her.

The instructor bowed her head and Kyriacou began to pray. They were then interrupted by another faculty member, Derek Piazza, who entered the room and said “You can’t be doing that here!”

Kyriacou left to join her friend and fellow student Ojoma Omaga. Piazza followed Kyriacou and repeated his rebuke. The students related that they were surprised by his intimidating behavior.

Three days before Christmas, both students received letters notifying them of the college’s retroactive “intent to suspend” them. While school policy requires such letters to state factual bases for the charges, the letter only vaguely accused the students of “disruptive or insulting behavior, willful disobedience . . . persistent abuse of college employees.”

An administrative hearing reportedly found KyriacouÂ’s prayer worthy of discipline and threatened suspension or expulsion for further infractions.

Excuse me – “You can’t be doing that here”?

Why not, exactly? Since when is a public college or university a religion-free zone? Since when is voluntary prayer forbidden – especially since, it would appear, that the prayer was taking place in the instructor’s office, which would be a private (or at least semi-private) space. Even were the office shared with Piazza, that would not in any way limit the right of Kyriacou and her instructor to engage in prayer in that space, any more than it being a shared space would allow Piazza to dictate what topics of conversation the two could discuss in the space.

What’s more, Piazza’s decision to pursue the two students and engage in an ongoing religiously based harassment of the two should have resulted in disciplinary action against Piazza, not the students. Such behavior was clearly an abuse of whatever minimal authority that Piazza would have outside of a classroom or his office space. While the record here is unclear as to what interaction the two students had with Piazza during that time, I would imagine that it related to the two attempting to defend their First Amendment rights – something which should not result in disciplinary action at a public institution.

I’m curious – would the same penalty have been imposed if these had been some of the school’s “diverse” Muslims? Or would Piazza been shipped off to a sensitivity class for giving the students offense by his words and action – assuming he was not the subject of a fatwa or beheading.

Posted by: Greg at 10:53 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Calling A Double Murder What It Really Was

Simply one more example of one of Islam’s dishonorable “honor killings”.

Sarah Said, 17, and her sister Amina, 18, were killed on New Year's Day, but for nine months authorities deflected questions about whether their father — the prime suspect and the subject of a nationwide manhunt — may have targeted them because of a perceived slight upon his honor.

The girls' great-aunt, Gail Gartrell, says the girls' Egyptian-born father killed them both because he felt they disgraced the family by dating non-Muslims and acting too Western, and she called the girls' murders an honor killing from the start.

But the FBI held off on calling it an honor killing until just recently, when it made Yaser Abdel Said the "featured fugitive" on its Web site.

The apologists for Islamist extremism at CAIR, however, attempt to whitewash the religiously based murder that follow a pattern noted around the Muslim world.

"As far as we're concerned, until the motive is proven in a court of law, this is [just] a homicide," Mustafaa Carroll, the executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations in Dallas, told FOXNews.com.

Frankly, IÂ’m surprised that Carroll is even willing to acknowledge that the two innocent victims are dead until that is proven in a court of law. After all, these folks have never encountered a violent act in the name of Islam that they are willing to whole-heartedly condemn. Why would they now come out and denounce as an honor killing the murder of two American teenagers for behaving like American teenagers, simply because being American teenagers offended the religious sensibilities and manhood of their Muslim father?

Posted by: Greg at 10:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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