Extreme

If this is extreme, I don't want to be moderate.

Too Good to Be True

Just this week, the Obama administration released bureaucratic new health care regulations that could change or eliminate more than half of all employer-provided health care plans, affecting tens of millions of Americans. Apparently, “If you like it, you can keep it” was an Obama promise too good to be true – one of many, as it is turning out. -

Promises Made, Promises Broken: The Consequences of ObamaCare

Told ya so.

The Story of Your Stuff

If you aren't the parent of an elementary school child or an elementary school teacher, then you probably haven't heard of Annie Leonard's video, "The Story of Stuff."

The Story of Stuff is a teaching tool - distributed throughout public grade schools - designed to bring environmental and Marxist ideas into children's classrooms disguised as a discussion on economics and ethics. No, that's not hyperbole.

Today being Earth Day, many schools will be airing this video to their students, and many of the concepts Leonard preaches will be blasted throughout all forms of media today to their parents (and the rest of us, as well).

The problem with Leonard's video isn't only that it attacks Americanism, innovation and industry. The problem is that it does so through lies and misinformation. Again, that's not hyperbole. Many of Leonard's claims regarding the environment, the government, capitalism and consumerism are easily disproven, and yet are still presented to students as truth.

Below I have embedded the first part of a critique of her video and these falsehoods, such as:

• Over 50% of US tax dollars go towards the military (which is why we're all rich, right?)
• Only 4% of American forests still exist
• 99% of products are trashed within 6 months
• Indigenous peoples in third world countries are better off in native poverty than they are in having foreign investors come and provide job opportunities
• The government, corporations and media have all been working together for the last 50 years in a conspiracy to train us to hate ourselves and find comfort in materialism.

Yes, all those topics and more are explicitly stated in the video.

And are being fed to our schoolchildren. It is absolutely unacceptable that provable falsehoods be taught in the classroom.

There are four parts in total. This is just the first.

I promise, you want to watch the following 3 parts as well. And after you've watched, be sure and share this video.

If you repeat a lie loud enough and often enough, the people will believe it" ~ Joseph Goebbels

Sometimes the truth hurts

The Conservative talking heads are buzzing that apparently Tom Coburn is now bedfellows with Nancy Pelosi. The headlines all say "Coburn defends Pelosi," obviously trying to imply that he is siding with Pelosi politically. And many have fallen for it.

This was the most complete article on the conversation in question that I found. You can read it for yourself, but in summary, what happened was this:

Some "questioner" (though we never really got what the question was) started ranting about "all the evil people in Washington" and Coburn said there are a lot of good people in Washington "whose biggest problem is that they don't know what they don't know." And went on to say that Nancy Pelosi is a "nice lady."

And that's it.

No defense of policy or politics. Just that she's a nice person. And people are lapping it up as though it's a proclamation of reregistration.

All he said was that Nancy Pelosi is nice, but wrong - and then went on to detail what she was wrong about. Okay, that may be uncomfortable for us to hear, we like to think of our enemies as soulless baby eaters. But he said what I could say about many liberal Democrats I know - they're nice people, just wrong. And this is supposed to mean he's crossed over to the dark side? Does your back hurt from jumping to those conclusions?

When you are right on the issues, you don't need to go off on personal attacks. That's why the left's biggest defensive position on Obamacare is that people who oppose it are rich, cold-hearted racists who don't "care about people." The left's primary strategy is to demonize their opponents personally, not politically. Hello, Sarah Palin? And that's what Coburn's larger point was.

As far as Coburn's remarks regarding Fox News, I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and saying that was made in the heat of the moment. Then again, when Fox News now employs Glenn Beck - who to this day has yet to take back his erroneous statements saying there is no difference between Republicans (who stood in solidarity against Obamacare and nearly every major policy Obama and Pelosi have proposed over the last year) and Democrats - can you really blame him?

Tricksy...

Putin Speaks at World Economic Forum

In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.

Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.

And one more point: anti-crisis measures should not escalate into financial populism and a refusal to implement responsible macroeconomic policies. The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous stock-jobbing....My conviction is that reasonable restraint in military spending, especially coupled with efforts to enhance global stability and security, will certainly bring significant economic dividends.

I hope that this viewpoint will eventually dominate globally. On our part, we are geared to intensive work on discussing further disarmament.

Tricksy Russian. He pulls you in with all this talk about "free enterprise" and anti-statism...and then sneaks in disarmament. Darned if it didn't work.

OTC what?

‘Seeing’ Red at Reconciliation over Medicine Cabinet Tax

But one of the first things millions of Americans will “see” is an effective 40 percent tax hike on the over-the-counter medicines – from an antihistamine such as Claritin for allergies, pain relief medicine such as Tylenol or Excedrin, Pedialyte to prevent their kids from becoming dehydrated when they are sick, and even prenatal vitamins if they are expecting another one.

I know you are, but what am I

Americans don’t like ObamaCare because “…they’re confused, it’s complicated”

While being questioned by Fox’s Bill O’Reilly about why there is so much bitterness following the ObamaCare vote, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell falls back on the tired old liberal argument that the average American just isn’t quite smart enough to understand the complicated health care bill.

Maybe so, Governor, but you’d be surprised how many of those stupid Americans are smart enough to spell ‘liberal elitist’.

You lie!

The "threat" hoaxes:

2010: A Race Odyssey — Disproving a Negative for Cash Prizes or, How the Civil Rights Movement Jumped the Shark

Coward Russ Carnahan Pushes Bogus Tea Party Lie to Media– Claims Prayer Service With Coffin Was a Violent Threat

Marinus van der Lubbe, Call Your Agent; Saul Alinsky Would Like To Speak With You

Will continue to be updated as more reports come in.

Birds of a Feather

Fidel Castro Applauds Passage of Obama's Health Care Overhaul

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Thursday declared passage of American health care reform "a miracle" and a major victory for Obama's presidency, but couldn't help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what communist Cuba achieved decades ago.

I don't even need to comment on this one, do I?

He was talking in light-years, obviously

For those of you who missed it or were unaware...

Obama breaks five-day pledge

But Obama’s 5 p.m. signing came barely three hours after the House approved the bill, breaching Obama’s promise to have a five-day period of “sunlight before signing,” as he detailed on the campaign trail and on his website.

In the words of a great man,

YOU LIE!

But it's for the kids....?

Gap in health care law's protection for children

WASHINGTON — Hours after President Barack Obama signed historic health care legislation, a potential problem emerged. Administration officials are now scrambling to fix a gap in highly touted benefits for children.

Obama made better coverage for children a centerpiece of his health care remake, but it turns out the letter of the law provided a less-than-complete guarantee that kids with health problems would not be shut out of coverage.

Under the new law, insurance companies still would be able to refuse new coverage to children because of a pre-existing medical problem, said Karen Lightfoot, spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the main congressional panels that wrote the bill Obama signed into law Tuesday.

Well, knock me over with a feather....you mean they lied again? I'm shocked, shocked!

At least the Sun is still free...

Health-Care Overhaul Changes to Start Taking Effect This Year

March 23 (Bloomberg) -- Indoor tanning salons will charge customers a 10 percent tax beginning today in just one of the changes Americans will see as a result of the U.S. health-care overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama.

And you thought this was about helping the poor, uninsured masses.

Silly you.

Debra Medina and the Truthers: Why It Matters

Something has arisen which I feel needs to be addressed. I do not think I am the best person to do so, but I am the only person I can make do so.

Based on an interview he had with her, part of Glenn Beck's base has violently split from him, denouncing him as either unwilling or unable to 'handle the facts,' and making an issue out of a non-issue: that is, whether or not Texas Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina is a 9/11 Truther, or pals around with Truthers.

They say that, since she is running for a state-level office and not a federal level office, this is a moot point and should be overlooked. Of course, the majority of those saying this are themselves Truthers. Do they have a point? Would it only matter if we were talking about a federal-level candidate or appointee?

Believing that the US government was directly responsible (as opposed to indirectly, through a series of intelligence breakdowns throughout the 1990s) for the attacks on 9/11 is not the same as believing we faked the moon landing or in Santa Claus.

When you choose to take the position that our government attacked and killed American civilians on American soil, you are making an accusation of mass murder. And not just against George Bush. There are millions of people on the left who hate George Bush who don't think he ordered the 9/11 attacks. It goes farther than that.

Because, you see, part of that theory includes not just those giving the orders, but those receiving them. The orders to fly planes full of civilians into buildings full of civilians were not made to civilian pilots, or even automated drones.

No, the crux of the plan would have relied on soldiers (or airmen, more likely) first slaughtering the passengers on all four flights to prevent them from calling for help (because, you see, the recordings we have of them calling 911 or saying goodbye to their families were fabricated, either through machine or voice actors) and then flying planes into buildings full of thousands of even more civilians. All because they "were just following orders."

This is why I have zero tolerance for any person, public or private, who not only believes but acknowledges such belief as valid. This is worse than spitting on returning Vietnam Vets. It's perpetuating the myth that soldiers are nothing more than mindless, soulless baby-killing machines not only willing but eager to shed blood, friend or foe, so long as they have the excuse of "orders."

It is also why Debra Medina's views on this subject are, in fact, germane to her run for governor.

Anyone with such a view of our armed forces should never be elected to a position of authority over those armed forces. The Governor of Texas is the Commander in Chief of the Texas National Guard, a deployable force made up of men and women who are dentists, students, mechanics and moms. They deserve better than to be led by anyone who thinks there is room for debate over whether or not they are a class of sadistic mass murderers waiting to be let loose on society.

RIP: Tim Pope

Let’s be fair to Tim Pope. Tim was indicted by the Multicounty Grand Jury on 12 felonies, including perjury, conspiracy, etc., etc., etc. The case ultimately proved an embarrassment to Edmondson. One of his witnesses would not cooperate, the second recklessly killed a mother of four and was charged with negligent homicide, and the third’s lawyer had written a wholly exculpatory letter before the investigation even started.

Ultimately, as Tim’s lawyer, I negotiated a resolution that all of the felony cases would be dismissed with cost paid by the State. In return, the State would file a single misdemeanor count to which Tim would make an Alford plea of "guilty," but would be placed on probation without conditions or supervision and that, too, would be dismissed. Tim died unconvicted of any crime.

He was an articulate, hard working, thorn-in-the side of the Democrats. In a day of self-important political consultants who charge outrageous fees, Tim was a winner of races on a local, district or county level. He successfully led Brent Rinehart to victory which caused an earthquake downtown at the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, and in the Sheriff’s office. Time has proven Rinehart was right on his complaints and criticism, even if his style was too populist for the "tall building" crowd.

Tim’s greatest achievement, possibly, came in 2006 when Republicans lost their shirt in the statewide races. Tim managed brillantly five campaigns and won all of them.

l. He was the campaign coordinator for Bill Graves who defeated incumbent District Judge Susan Caswell. What a breath of fresh air that was at the Oklahoma County Courthouse once Bill took the oath.

2. He successfully managed Randy Terrill’s reelection in Cleveland County.

3. He guided Anthony Sykes to a last-minute, sleeper, cliff-hanger victory and inched the Republicans forward to control of the State Senate. Tony was a public defender subject to a last-minute television smear by the Democrats because of his clients. All it took to turn that away was Anthony’s father, a victim of the Oklahoma City bombing, to appear on a television ad and tell voters he was proud of his son.

4. Tim led the campaign for Jason Murphrey of Guthrie on his second attempt for the legislature. He defeated an incumbent Republican whom many judged a RINO.

5. Finally, the greatest upset for all, Charles Key, after several unsuccessful efforts, managed to get back in the House of Representatives by defeating his well financed Republican primary opponent by 40 votes.

Tim hit five home runs.

For that, Edmondson filed a $10 million lawsuit against him alleging a new interpretation of "ROBO call" identification requirements heretofore unknown, later said he would take $100,000, then $10,000, and after Tim won an appeal on a technical basis and it was remanded, Tim settled for $4,500.

The Democrats tried every way they could to destroy Tim or silence him. Only God has silenced Tim Pope. He was a fearless champion who fought for what he believed in, and a devoted family man. He was a strong Republican. He did not trim his political views. He was my client for four years, and it was a joy to be around him. Tim could energize any room and come from behind in any political race.

One other note to remind Republicans. While Edmondson really prosecuted Tim, and all Republicans should remember that this year, he did it behind a fig leaf. He appointed Rob Hudson, the Republican, that’s right, Republican District Attorney of Logan County and Stillwater, to be the "special prosecutor." Hudson never showed up for any court appearances and never was involved in the case, but simply lent his name to the cruel and meritless effort. By selecting a Republican to lead the investigation, Edmondson could claim it was "bi-partisan."

In the final analysis, while Jim Roth probably had too much to carry to get elected to a full term on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission with President Obama at the top of the ticket, all you have to do is look at how Jim Roth ran in some rural precincts and counties along the Red River and the Arkansas border. Those Democrat county commissioners knew what Edmondson and Roth had done to Brent Rinehart, who may have been a pariah in Oklahoma County, but in the rural districts among the commissioners was viewed as a hero and a man who could not be broken. Brent may have been defeated, Tim may have stood in the shadow of the jail, but Jim Roth was defeated and the Republican control of the Corporation Commission continued.

Tim Pope was a political organization genius and a good man in every sense of the word. Not many people had the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the assault that he faced and ultimately prevailed. http://wwwtmrcom.blogspot.com/

One Word

"Corpse-man"

Re: The O'Keefe Scandal

This may well be the biggest news story of the year, not because of the specific incident in question, but of the subsequent and surrounding acts. This could be the final spear in the soft underbelly of the blind, biased monster known as the Main Stream Media.

See more below.
------------------------------------------

Statement from James O’Keefe

by James O'Keefe

The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: no one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.

As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetuated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.

I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.

On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.

It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story. MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent “gag order.” The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I “broke in” to an office which is open to the public. The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me. And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. The public will judge whether reporters who can’t get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.

The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.

As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.

I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.

On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building. The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator. We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.

It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story. MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent “gag order.” The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I “broke in” to an office which is open to the public. The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me. And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting. The public will judge whether reporters who can’t get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.

------------------------

More:

Correction Request: Talking Points Memo

Correction Request: Newsweek

Correction Request: New Orleans Times-Picayune

Correction Request: Los Angeles Times

Correction Request: The Atlantic

Correction Request: The Huffington Post

Top 10 Things I Learned Listening To SOTU Last Night

From Big Journalism:

Top 10 Things I Learned Listening To SOTU Last Night

Posted by Rich Trzupek

10) It’s really, really hard to be President – people expect you to do things and stuff.

9) America needs to be more like China.

8) Five year plans: they’re not just for Stalin anymore.

7) It’s still Bush’s fault.

6) Equity demands that it should be ten times more expensive to go to college in order to do something productive than it should be to go to college in order to become a bureaucrat.

5) Spending more public money on health care will still reduce the deficit. Really. It will.

4) Ending the influence of lobbyists and operating transparent government remains as important a promise to make today as it was during the 2008 campaign.

3) Joe Biden is very, very bored.

2) The problem with Washington is that everyone is eternal campaign mode. Accordingly, everyone should follow the President’s example and limit themselves to no more than 158 interviews and 411 speeches per year.

1) Nancy Pelosi’s face really is frozen.

(Honorable Mention: McCain-Feingold was passed during Teddy Roosevelt’s administration, for in overturning it the Supreme Court “reversed 100 years” of law).

What REALLY Happened at the March for Life

Great Scott!!

Memo to Democrats: It's about the issues. Get it?

Good Heavens

"Separation of Church and State." Those words are tossed around a lot nowadays, usually and most often by people who do not know the original (and only applicable) context of them.

Firstly, should the church and the state exist as two separate entities? Yes. Even the Bible teaches us this. In Exodus, when God established the nation of Israel, he appointed Moses to be the political/judicial leader and his brother Aaron to be religious leader. However, He never intended for the two to be antagonistic toward each other. Quite the opposite, the very first law He gave Moses was that we should "not have any other gods before [Him]." But by establishing two different, separate institutions - church and state - He allowed for them both to focus on their own responsibilities while complimenting but not competing with each other.

Flash forward a few millennia. The Danbury Baptist Association wrote to Thomas Jefferson, worried that this new government he and his peers were forming would become too much like the one they were leaving - that it would mandate religion and religious practices. He responded with a letter, the letter from which we get the infamous above phrase. Here is the text of the letter:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.

Read that carefully, for that is the original source, context and intent of the sentiment "Separation of (or between) church and state." The intent was not to keep religion out of the state or to keep religious beliefs from influencing the state (as are so often claimed in the current marriage and abortion debates), but to keep religion free from government interference, either by establishing a national religion (as England had done) or by prohibiting an individual's practice of their religion.

So, it is with that in mind we approach today's topic:

Apparently, last August, our President held a webcast with clergy across the country, asking them to sermonize in favor of his health care plan.

Yes, that's right. He asked them to give sermons that pushed his political agenda.

Now, in light of the true intention of Separation of Church and State, is this appropriate behavior for a sitting President?

Of course, the nameless White House officials quoted in the article say that wasn't really what the President asked, that he doesn't actually expect them to give political messages from the pulpit. Duh!

That doesn't jive at all with what the members of the webcast have reported. They felt the intent of his statements was just that, based on the conversation that went on.

I've already posted my opinion on Obama's faith. This seems to fall in line with the impression he gives that faith is a facade, a useful tool to pull out when he needs to influence voters, but not something essential in his own life.

George W. Bush was often criticized for being too openly evangelical, such as stating that his favorite philosopher was "Christ, because he changed my life." But you can't name one instance where Bush tried to influence what was being preached in the pulpits. This is, in American history, unprecedented.

First, Obama tried to interfere in local schools. Now, he's trying to interfere in our worship services.

Take heed, and keep an eye out. We've just started the second year.

Equality for Thee, But Not for Me

Let's take a poll, shall we? The punishment for a 1st grader bringing a plastic fork/knife/spoon utensil to school: suspension The punishment for wearing an anti-Obama t-shirt to school: suspension The punishment for a group of Arab-American 11th graders to design and wear these shirts to class: Nothing. Read the full story. They were not identifying with the towers in that graphic.