Monthly Archives: December 2011
New Book “Everything Obama Knows About The Economy” Is Completely Blank
New Book “Everything Obama Knows About The Economy” Is Completely Blank – Hot Air
Tennessee banker Jimmy Moncrief just self-published his first book – a 150-page stunner called “Everything Obama Knows About the Economy.” Those who buy it won’t have much to read: Every page of the book is blank. No matter: Moncrief has already sold hundreds of copies as Christmas gag gifts.
The Daily Caller’s Alex Pappas, with more:
Moncrief said the book was inspired by a similar gag book from Sheridan Simove, who wrote a 200-page bestselling collection of blank pages called: “What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex.”
He self-published the book and sells it on Amazon and on his website. He describes the book as “a humorous talking point” that “can also be used very effectively as a notebook.” A couple cigar shops in Chattanooga are also carrying them, Moncrief said.
“Where I live, there’s just so much hatred for Obama,” said Moncrief, an independent voter who says he doesn’t support any GOP candidate this cycle.
“I like capitalism so I was like, ‘how can I make money off this.’ It’s just a funny gift, you know? I just wanted to get people to laugh,” he said.
If that doesn’t show the beauty of capitalism, I don’t know what does.
Here, he presents his authorial interpretation of his own work. Brilliant.
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Congressman: Holder’s Race-Card Play ‘Orchestrated’ By Obama
Congressman: Holder’s Race-Card Play ‘Orchestrated’ By Obama – Daily Caller
Illinois Republican Rep. Joe Walsh, one of the first members of Congress to demand Attorney General Eric Holder resign over the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking program, told The Daily Caller that Holder’s recent use of racial politics to attack his critics appears to be something President Barack Obama “orchestrated.”
Walsh agrees with Florida Republican Rep. Allen West’s assessment of Holder’s behavior, saying Holder’s race card is the “last card in the deck.”
“This is sort of the last refuge that people on the left will go to when they’re in trouble,” Walsh said in a phone interview. “They’ll accuse their opponents of racism. My God, we’ve got tons of problems in this country and … this president, is through Eric Holder, saying, ‘Nope, you can’t criticize me. If you criticize me, we’re going to accuse you of racism.’ Shame on them, that’s terrible.”
Walsh said Obama’s continued silence in the face of Holder’s inflammatory rhetoric demonstrates that the president shares in the blame for the attorney general’s choice of words.
“His [Obama’s] silence, to me, tells me the president is complicit in this,” Walsh said. “And, even if he does come out and say something, I can’t believe Eric Holder can even make a statement like that. In his statement he refers to himself and the president. I can’t believe that Eric Holder made that statement without either understanding that the president agreed with it, or [that] he had the president’s permission to say this.”
In a front page story, Holder told The Sunday New York Times that he thinks his critics are motivated by race. Holder said some unspecified faction — which he referred to as the “more extreme segment” — is driven to criticize both him and President Barack Obama because of the color of their skin.
“This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him,” Holder said, according to the Times. “Both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.”
Walsh said Holder’s use of racial politics can also be explained by pressure the attorney general is feeling from a groundswell of House members demanding his resignation. To date 60 congressmen, two senators, every major Republican presidential candidate and two sitting governors have asked Holder to step down over the Operation Fast and Furious scandal.
Additionally, 75 House members have signed on to a House resolution calling for a vote of “no confidence” in Holder as attorney general. Between the two lists, there are 86 in the House who disapprove of Holder continuing to lead the DOJ.
Walsh said Holder’s comments appear to be a small-scale preview of the 2012 election season when Obama “will do anything to get re-elected.”
“This is so despicable, because what they’re doing is they’re trying real early now to lay down the ground rules for his re-election,” Walsh said. “This time around, the American people are not going to put up with it. We can criticize this president based on the job he’s done — I don’t care what his skin color is.”
“He is going to say, because he did this during the last election, and the media is going to enable him to get away with it, that any time we criticize him, it’s because of his race,” Walsh added. “For Eric Holder to take that same line right now is absolutely ridiculous and to me, it’s just more fodder proving that he needs to resign.”
White House spokesman Eric Schultz confirmed that he received The Daily Caller’s questions about whether President Obama agrees with Holder’s characterization of his critics as racists. Schultz promised to answer the question on Monday, but he had not responded at press time.
Plans For Obama-Sanctioned Taliban Embassy In Qatar Moves Ahead On Schedule
Plans For Obama-Sanctioned Taliban Embassy In Qatar Moves Ahead On Schedule – Gateway Pundit
What could go wrong?
The plans for the Obama-sanctioned Taliban Embassy in Qatar is moving full-speed ahead.
The Nation reported, via Big Peace:
The Taliban must be part of any resolution to the Afghanistan conflict, Qatar’s premier said on Saturday after Kabul recalled its ambassador to the Gulf state in protest at being left out of talks over the opening of a Taliban office there. “A solution in Afghanistan requires the participation of the Taliban in a way that must be decided by the Afghans,” Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said on the sidelines of an Arab League meeting on the Syria crisis. “That requires talking to them,” he added, without being drawn on precisely why Afghanistan recalled its ambassador on Wednesday. A high-ranking Afghan official has said that while Kabul approved of the move, it was withdrawing its envoy in protest at not being consulted.
Afghanistan “has had brotherly relations with the government of Qatar, which it thanks for its cooperation on the reconstruction of Afghanistan,” the foreign ministry said.
“But regarding recent developments in Afghanistan and in the region, including Afghanistan’s relations with Qatar, the Afghan government has decided to recall its ambassador Khaled Ahmad Zekerya from Doha for the purpose of some consultations.”
An office of the self-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would be the first internationally recognised representation for the Taliban since it was ousted from power by the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Just last year Islamist Faisal Shahzad, who was linked to the Taliban, tried to blow up Times Square.
Iowa Caucus Polling System Threatened By Hackers (Video)
Iowa Caucus Polling System Threatened By Hackers – Fox News
Republican Party officials in Iowa are taking new steps to secure their vote counting systems after an anonymous threat suggested computer hackers could attempt to disrupt next month’s presidential nominating caucuses.
A video uploaded to YouTube features a computer-generated voice denouncing a corrupt political system and calls on supporters to “peacefully shut down” the Jan. 3 caucuses.
The video claims to be from Anonymous, a loosely organized group of hackers who have successfully conducted past computer attacks.
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Investigators aren’t sure whether the video is authentic, but party officials have instructed precinct caucuses to use paper ballots as a backup system and taken other steps to protect the database and website that displays caucus results.
The party fears such a delay could disrupt the traditional influence of the Iowa caucuses. Candidates who do well tend to gain momentum in the presidential race, while those finishing at the back of the pack may drop out.
“With the eyes of the media on the state, the last thing we want to do is have a situation where there is trouble with the reporting system. We don’t want that to be the story,” said Wes Enos, a member of the central committee and the political director for Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign in Iowa.
The two-minute video features a computer-generated voice denouncing what it calls a corrupt political system that favors corporations and calls on supporters to “peacefully shut down the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.” The video claims to be from Anonymous, a loosely organized group of hackers that has claimed credit for attacks on targets ranging from the Peruvian government to Paypal.
Giant Tsunami-Shaped Clouds Roll Across Alabama Sky
Giant Tsunami-Shaped Clouds Roll Across Alabama Sky – Yahoo News
For a morning, the sky looked like a surfer’s dream: A series of huge breaking waves lined the horizon in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday (Dec. 16), their crests surging forward in slow motion. Amazed Alabamans took photos of the clouds and sent them to their local weather station, wondering, “What are these tsunamis in the sky?”
Experts say the clouds were pristine examples of “Kelvin-Helmholtz waves.” Whether seen in the sky or in the ocean, this type of turbulence always forms when a fast-moving layer of fluid slides on top of a slower, thicker layer, dragging its surface.
Water waves, for example, form when the layer of fluid above them (i.e., the air) is moving faster than the layer of fluid below (i.e., the water). When the difference between the wind and water speed increases to a certain point, the waves “break” – their crests lurch forward – and they take on the telltale Kelvin-Helmholtz shape. [Astonishing Video Shows a Face in the Clouds]
According to Chris Walcek , a meteorologist at the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York, Albany , fast-moving air high in the sky can drag the top of slow-moving, thick clouds underneath it in much the same way.
“In the pictures [of the Birmingham sky] there is probably a cold layer of air near the ground where the wind speed is probably low. That is why there is a cloud or fog in that layer,” Walcek told Life’s Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience. “Over this cloudy, cold, slow-moving layer is probably a warmer and faster-moving layer of air.”
Most of the time, the difference in wind speed and temperature between two layers of the atmosphere is small, and so the fast-moving air on top “simply slides smoothly over the slower-moving air like a hockey puck sliding along an ice surface,” Walcek said. At the other extreme, if the wind-speed difference is too large, the interface between the two layers breaks down into random turbulence.
Kelvin-Helmholtz waves form when the difference in the temperature and wind speed of the two layers hits a sweet spot. “What [these pictures] show is air between these two atmospheric layers that is just very close to that threshold for turbulence, and mixing to mix the two layers together,” he said.
This story was provided by Life’s Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life’s Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.
The Mysterious Physics of 7 Everyday Things Can a Butterfly in Brazil Really Cause a Tornado in Texas? Do Ocean Waves Really Travel in Sets of 7?
Daily Benefactor News – U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Pays Homage To Obama But Not Jesus
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U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Pays Homage To Obama But Not Jesus – CNS
The 63-foot Sierra White Fir lighted at the U.S. Capitol Grounds on Dec. 6 as the official 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree includes a prominently displayed ornament paying homage to President Barack Obama, but includes no ornament readily visible to a person standing near the tree’s base that uses the word “Christmas,” or includes an image of the Nativity, or bears the name or image of Jesus Christ.
This ornament, celebrating President Barack Obama, adorns the Capitol Christmas Tree that was officially lighted on Dec. 6, 2011. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
On the north side of the tree – at a height of about 4 feet and easily visible to people standing near it – there is an ornament that says: “I Heart President Obama.”
When asked whether the tree included any ornaments that mention or depict Christmas or the birth of Jesus, the office of the Architect of the Capitol, which is responsible for the tree, told CNSNews.com that it “does not have a policy nor any restrictions concerning the themes for the ornaments” that go on the tree. The office could not say, however, whether or not this year’s Christmas tree does in fact include even a single ornament that directly references or depicts Christmas or Christ.
The 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
The office of the Architect of the Capitol also did not directly respond to the question of whether any other elected official – in addition to President Obama – is mentioned on any ornament hung on the tree.
“There may be ornaments like those you describe near the top of the tree, or they could have been obscured or moved due to wind or weather,” the architect’s office said in a written statement to CNSNews.com.
Each year since 1964, Congress has been decorating a Christmas tree on the Capitol Grounds. Until 1968, the decorated tree was a live tree planted on the Grounds. Since then, the tree has been cut down – usually in a National Forest – and brought to the Capitol from somewhere in the United States. Since 1970, the U.S. Forest Service has been responsible for providing the tree.
Over the years, the Capitol Christmas Tree has come from an irregular rotation of states – including, not exclusively, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont, and California. The state that sends the tree in any given year, according to the Architect of the Capitol, chooses the theme for the ornaments it will bear. People from that state create the ornaments and donate them to the government.
This year’s tree came from the Stanislaus National Forest in Tuolumne County, Calif., which sits on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, due East of San Francisco.
The view looking past the Capitol Christmas Tree toward the Washington Monument. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
The theme for this year’s ornaments was “California Shines.”
“Ornaments should be designed to reflect our theme ‘California Shines’ by showing how the rich cultural and ecological diversity of this state make it shine,” says the tree’s official website, which was funded by corporate sponsors. “From the Pacific Ocean to the sparkling deserts, from the high mountain peaks to its forests, rivers and abundant Central Valley, the diversity of nature and the people who live here are what make the great state of California shine.”
While the website said that all Californians were invited to submit ornaments, it put a special emphasis on getting students to participate.
“We invite participation from all Californians,” said the website. “From individuals, artists, crafters, young and old alike, any and all are invited to create and send in an ornament.”
But a flyer distributed by the website said: “Although anyone can participate, a special invitation goes out to school classes, after-school programs, home school groups, scout troops and all other interested youth groups to create the ornaments for the outdoor tree.”
In keeping with this special invitation to students, the official website also produced some environmental “lesson plans” that teachers could use in helping their students create ornaments.
“We ask that all ornaments for the Capitol Christmas Tree be made out of natural or recycled materials,” said the introduction to the lesson plans. “Please share the thoughts in our mini-lesson ‘There is No Away’ with your students when they create an ornament for the Tree.”
This ornament shows gold miner, backed by a Bible, circled by a quote from Psalm 19. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
“Ask students where they think that trash goes when they throw it away,” said this introduction. “Work with them until they understand that trash eventually ends up in a landfill. Show students the image of a landfill.”
Although the Capitol Christmas Tree, as it stood on the morning of Dec. 19, included no readily visible ornament that mentioned or depicted Christmas or Jesus, it did include one ornament that pointed to the Bible and Psalm 19. This ornament, made from an aluminum pie tin, shows a miner panning for gold with a Bible behind him. There is a gold cross on the cover of the Bible. Around the interior wall of the pie tin, these words are written with what appears to be a blue marker: “More precious than Gold” and “Psalm 19.”
This lonely religious ornament cites Psalm 19 with what appears to be a blue marker. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
Psalm 19 says in part: “The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold.”
The tree also includes an ornament that from a distance looks like it could be a cross – but closer up turns out to be a road sign, pointing the direction not to California – but 4837 miles to Hawaii.
Other prominent ornaments on the tree tout Disneyland, Hollywood, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The tree also includes a number of ornaments representing Christmas gift packages. The ribbons on these packages are arranged in a cross pattern – but all of them have “Happy Holidays” ensribed on them.
The official website of the Capitol Christmas Tree has posted 87 photos of Californians making ornaments or posing with ornaments they have made. One of these photos shows a young girl holding an ornament that depicts one of the missions founded in California in the 18th century by Spanish Franciscan missionaries. It is unclear whether this ornament was placed somewhere on the 63-foot tree.
From a distance, this ornament appears as if it could be a cross, but turns out to be a a mile marker pointing toward Hawaii. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
CNSNews.com sent a series of question about the ornaments to the U.S. Forest Service office in Tuolumne County, Calif., that was responsible for securing the tree and collecting the ornaments and sending them to Washington, D.C. These questions asked if any ornaments had been excluded because of their content and if there were any ornaments actually hung on the tree that expressly mentioned or depicted Christmas, or the birth of Jesus, or any Christian cultural site in California, such as the California missions.
Along with these questions, CNSNews.com sent the Forest Service a photograph of the ornaments that said “I Heart President Obama” and that quoted Psalm 19, and asked if there were any other ornaments on the tree that mentioned an incumbent elected official or that cited a biblical passage from either the Old or New Testament.
A number of ornaments depict Christmas packages tied with ribbons in a cross pattern – but all say: “Happy Holidays.” (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
The Forest Service said that it had simply sent all ornaments that had been donated by Californians – along with the 63-foot White Sierra Fir – to Ted Bechtol, who works under the Architect of the Capitol as the Superintendent of the Capitol Ground. The Forest Service also said it had forwarded CNSnews.com’s questions to Bechtol.
An ornamental star celebrating Hollywood on the Capitol Christmas Tree. (CNSNews.com/Terence P. Jeffrey)
Separately, CNSNews.com sent the questions and photos directly to Bechtol and Eva Malecki, communications officer for the Architect of the Capitol. Malecki responded with this statement:
“Thank you for your inquiry. The Office of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) does not have a policy nor any restrictions concerning the themes for the ornaments donated for the Capitol Christmas Tree. Each state determines its own theme each year, and the U.S. Forest Service collects the ornaments from communities throughout the state from which the tree is donated. (For more information about the types of ornaments collected and collection process, I recommend you speak with the U.S. Forest Service.) Thousands of ornaments are delivered by the U.S. Forest Service to the U.S. Capitol in large boxes along with the Capitol Christmas Tree. There is no selection process to determine which ornaments were to be placed on the Capitol Christmas Tree and which were not based on theme or content. Rather, the Capitol Grounds crew has to decorate a 65-foot tree in a matter of days, therefore they place ornaments on the Capitol Christmas Tree until it is fully decorated. Their only concern is that the ornaments stand up to the weather (durable and waterproof). We cannot provide you with the information you requested as to the location of specific ornaments on the Capitol Christmas Tree. As I noted earlier, the Capitol Grounds crew placed thousands of the hand-crafted ornaments on the 65-foot tall Capitol Christmas Tree. There may be ornaments like those you describe near the top of the tree, or they could have been obscured or moved due to wind or weather. The Capitol Christmas Tree has been a wonderful tradition on Capitol Hill for more than 45 years, and it is not the AOC’s policy or practice to exclude the display of donated ornaments on the Capitol Christmas Tree because of any viewpoint of those individuals who created them.”
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Thousands Rally to Support Texas Nativity Scene Against Atheist Attacks | Video | TheBlaze.com
The battle over a nativity scene in Athens, Texas, reached new heights this weekend when up to 5,000 supporters flooded the town square. Their purpose? To stand firmly opposed to the attacks a prominent atheist group has waged on the religious display. As the Blaze reported earlier this month, the Wisconsin-based Freedom…
The Ron Paul Double Standard
The Ron Paul Double Standard – Washington Examiner
I have a number of strong objections to Tim Carney’s Ron Paul column this morning (including his glossing over Pat Buchanan’s record) that I won’t get into, in the interest of keeping my response to a reasonable length. But there are a few points I feel compelled to make.
A major beef I have is that Carney doesn’t really grapple with criticisms of Paul, instead, he lumps all critics together as being part of the “mainstream” and “establishment” that objects to his, “principled, antiwar, Constitution-obeying, Fed-hating, libertarian” stances.
That’s hogwash. There are plenty of fair-minded conservatives who may even agree with Paul on domestic issues, but still passionately object to his candidacy. As I wrote last week, though there are those who hold a principled belief that the U.S. should have a non-interventionist foreign policy, Paul often crosses the line beyond mere non-interventionism, especially on Israel.
If Carney wants to defend Paul against such criticisms – including Paul’s decision to go on the official propaganda channel of Iran’s Islamist government to bash Israel and claim Palestinians were living in “concentration camps,” or Paul’s decision to condemn the raid that killed Osama bin Laden – he should do so. But it’s otherwise unfair to dismiss criticisms of Ron Paul with a broad brush as coming from the dreaded “establishment.”
When Carney does suggest that some criticism of Paul may be legitimate, he claims its importance is exaggerated:
Paul’s indiscretions – such as abiding 9/11 conspiracy theorists and allowing racist material in a newsletter published under his name – will be blown up to paint a scary caricature.
But the newsletters were much bigger than a mere “indiscretion.” Even Paul supporters like Carney acknowledge that the newsletters printed racist material. For further details, see Jamie Kirchick’s 2008 New Republic article or his new follow-up piece in the Weekly Standard, in which he also addresses Paul’s indulgence of 9/11 truthers.
It’s important to remember that these newsletters were not just some small part of Paul’s career. As Dave Weigel and Julian Sanchez reported in the libertarian Reason magazine in 2008:
The publishing operation was lucrative. A tax document from June 1993 – wrapping up the year in which the Political Report had published the “welfare checks” comment on the L.A. riots – reported an annual income of $940,000 for Ron Paul & Associates, listing four employees in Texas (Paul’s family and [Lew] Rockwell) and seven more employees around the country. If Paul didn’t know who was writing his newsletters, he knew they were a crucial source of income and a successful tool for building his fundraising base for a political comeback.
It’s one thing for Paul to deny that he wrote the newsletters. But it’s less plausible that he no idea about their consistently racist content. And it’s even harder to believe that he didn’t know who wrote them, as he asserted in a post-debate interview with Sean Hannity just last week. Even if you were to be incredibly charitable and believe that all of this is possible, it still doesn’t absolve him. Because if you’re a public figure, it’s your responsibility to monitor what is being published under your name. And if your best defense is massive disorganization within a business you ran that had just a few employees, it’s a pretty severe indictment of your management abilities as you seek the presidency. And this is where we get to the double standard part.
Rick Perry and Mitt Romney have both attacked each other for what was written in their respective books. If either of those books had included a number of overtly racist statements, their candidacies would be over before they started. If they used the Ron Paul defense – that they didn’t write the words themselves, they didn’t know what was in the books and don’t even know who wrote them, it would only make matters worse. They could kiss their political careers goodbye.
Yet Ron Paul’s supporters in the media demand special treatment. You see, few people believe he’s running to actually become president – he’s just in the race to bring more attention to his message. So Carney, like other Paul sympathizers who agree with that broad message, want to have it both ways. On the one hand, Carney wrote a column a few months ago demanding that people take Ron Paul’s candidacy more seriously. But on the other hand, he writes today’s column smearing Paul’s critics, as if Paul should get a free pass from the scrutiny that’s a natural consequence of being taken more seriously.
Paul doesn’t get to have it both ways. If he wins Iowa, his outrageous statements and ugly associations will be granted a lot more attention. Deservedly so.
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Related article:
The Myth Of Isolationism, Part 1: American Leadership And The Cause Of Liberty – Heritage Foundation
Excerpt: There is a renewed popular interest in the foreign policy approach of America’s Founders. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and nearly a decade after 9/11, many are unsatisfied with U.S. foreign policy and have called for a reappraisal of America’s objectives, means, and national interest. Foreign policy observers from Walter Russell Mead of the Council on Foreign Relations[1] to Congressman Ron Paul[2] have also called for a new paradigm in American foreign policy, one that seeks inspiration and guidance from America’s Founders.
There are, however, many misconceptions about America’s early foreign policy. Perhaps no misunderstanding is as widespread as the belief that the Founding Fathers of the United States were isolationists who made non-interventionism their guiding principle.
The erroneous belief that America’s early foreign policy was isolationist is a fairly recent one. According to historian George C. Herring, the term isolationism did “not become fixed in the American political lexicon until the twentieth century.”[3] The term itself soon came to be understood as the antithesis of the increasingly trendy concept of internationalism. By the end of the 20th century, few objected when historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. described America’s reaction against Woodrow Wilson’s internationalism as a return to the “womb” of “familiar and soothing isolationism” which, according to Schlesinger’s Progressive narrative, had been articulated by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.[4]
What some historians and politicians dismissively (or winsomely) consider eras of virtuous and glorious isolationism are in fact better understood as periods of uncontested independence when the U.S. was afforded the luxury of following a policy of neutrality. The young American republic did try to remain outside of the torrential affairs of the old and bloody continent. In Washington’s words, the United States endeavored “to gain time for our country to settle and mature its recent institutions, and to progress, without interruption, to that degree of strength and consistency, which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking command of its own fortune.”[5] Yet this prudential policy should not be mistaken for weakness or passivity. Indeed, America’s early foreign policy was remarkably engaged, and the United States stood for freedom around the world. Why, then, have the Founders been labeled isolationist?
Maria Conchita Alonso to Sean Penn: Communist!
The actress KNOWS what Communism is, she was raised in Venezuela, where Hugo Chavez is ruining that beautiful nation Sean Penn, who has no freaking idea what Communism is like, is good buddies with Chavez. Maggie let’s us in on Alonso trying to set Penn straight.
Maria Conchita Alonso, a Cuban-American Grammy-award winning singer and actress, raised in Venezuela, ended up in the Miami airport American Airlines baggage carousel, face-to-face with one of Hugo Chavez’Hollywood supporters, Sean Penn. Right there in the airport, the smarmy, commie sympathizer, called her “a pig,” to which she responded “You ARE a Communist!” Later she added that he was a Communist “A-hole.” At least that’s the story in the video below.
Read her letter to Penn. It will inspire you
Woman Jailed After Posting Signs Advertising Marijuana For Sale
Woman Jailed After Posting Signs Advertising Marijuana For Sale – Weekly Vice
Tami Lorraine Madison, a 40-year-old Montana woman was jailed Saturday after she allegedly posted signs advertising “Marijuana for sales with free samples.”
According to the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office, a deputy was on patrol Saturday morning when he passed a car parked behind a gas station that displayed signs that advertised “Marijuana for sale – Free Samples.”
When the deputy stopped and questioned Madison, she stated that the signs were a joke. A search of her vehicle, however, told another story.
Investigators allegedly found more than eight pounds of processed marijuana inside her vehicle.
Madison was booked into the Humboldt County Jail and charged with felony possession of marijuana for sale. Her bail has been set at $25,000.
Joe Biden: The Taliban Per Se Is Not Our Enemy
Joe Biden: The Taliban Per Se Is Not Our Enemy – Hot Air
Clueless Joe is at it again:
In an interview with Leslie Gelb in Newsweek, Vice President Joe Biden says:
Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests. If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us.
NPR might agree with Biden, along with select NY Times op-ed contributors, but the 9/11 Commission report – the recommendations of which Biden voted “yes” on implementing – does not agree:
The Taliban seemed to open the doors to all who wanted to come to Afghanistan to train in the camps. The alliance with the Taliban provided al Qaeda a sanctuary in which to train and indoctrinate fighters and terrorists, import weapons, forge ties with other jihad groups and leaders, and plot and staff terrorist schemes. While Bin Ladin maintained his own al Qaeda guesthouses and camps for vetting and training recruits, he also provided support to and benefited from the broad infrastructure of such facilities in Afghanistan made available to the global network of Islamist movements. U.S. intelligence estimates put the total number of fighters who underwent instruction in Bin Ladin-supported camps in Afghanistan from 1996 through 9/11 at 10,000 to 20,000.
Ah, but wait – maybe Joe just didn’t want to say anything too negative about the Taliban while this is going on. Unlikely though. When it comes to keeping secrets, Biden makes Cindy Brady look like an unbreakable confidant, so those beans would have more than likely been spilled during the interview.
(h/t Lachlan Markay, Newsbusters June 2011)
‘Islamists’ Get 75% In Latest Egyptian Vote
‘Islamists’ Get 75% In Latest Egyptian Vote – Sweetness & Light
From a delighted al-Reuters:
Egypt’s Islamists claim sweep of second round vote
By Marwa Awad and Tamim Elyan
Sun Dec 18, 2011CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s two leading Islamist parties said on Sunday their separate party lists secured about three-quarters of votes cast in the second round of a parliamentary election, extending their lead in the three-stage vote.
A source from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said it was on track to win about 40 percent of votes for party lists, based on results from most districts.
A spokesman for the ultra-conservative Salafi al-Nour Party said its list received about 35 percent of votes.
In the first round of the six-week poll, the FJP won about 37 percent of votes for lists and Nour secured about 24 percent…
Despite their commanding position built up so far in the vote that runs till January, it is unclear whether the two rival Islamist groups will form an alliance in parliament, as they have each spoken warily of the other…
It is only “unclear” to the Western news media and the Obama administration and everyone else who wants to pretend that we are not witnessing Islamic fundamentalists taking over Egypt.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian military’s desperate efforts to fend off the mullahs is being portrayed by our watchdog media as a war against humanity.
Such as in this article, also from al-Reuters:
Egypt clashes move into 4th day, US worried
By Marwa Awad and Edmund Blair
CAIRO, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Egyptian security forces fought opponents of army rule in Cairo for a fourth day on Monday and the United States, worried by the violence, urged the generals to respect human rights.
Medical sources said the death toll had risen to 13 since Friday. Hundreds have been wounded and scores detained.
Police and soldiers using batons and teargas drove stone-throwing protesters out of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, hub of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February, overnight…
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the “excessive” force used against the demonstrations that have widened a rift among Egyptians over the role of the army and cast a shadow over the country’s first free election in decades.
An army general told a news conference “evil forces” wanted to sow chaos and he defended soldiers who had shown “self-restraint” despite provocation by those trying to burn down buildings and create discord between the army and the people.
These peace-loving protesters have done more than try to burn down buildings – they have succeeded. They have even tried to burn down an important Cairo library in an attempt to draw in foreign intervention, who they hope will give them power.
Soldiers have been filmed beating protesters with batons even after they have fallen to the ground. A Reuters picture showed two policemen dragging a prostrate woman by the shirt, exposing her underwear…
The outrage! Soon that won’t be a problem, since all of the women will be in burkas.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “deeply concerned” about the violence and urged the security forces “to respect and protect the universal rights of all Egyptians”…
That is the smartest woman in the world talking. Hillary ‘Always On The Wrong Side Of History’ Clinton.
“From the start of the revolution, the evil forces have wanted to drag Egypt into a chaos, putting army into confrontation with the people,” General Adel Emara said, adding those guarding state buildings had a right to self-defence.
“What is happening does not belong with the revolution and its pure youth, who never wanted to bring down this nation,” he said, adding that troops had faced people wielding knives, petrol bombs and other weapons…
But even this general is afraid to point out who these forces are. But, of course, they are the Muslim Brotherhood and their fellow radical Muslims.
Oops: Two-Month Payroll-Tax Holiday Would Be A Logistical Nightmare, Say Experts
Oops: Two-Month Payroll-Tax Holiday Would Be A Logistical Nightmare, Say Experts – Hot Air
Righties on Twitter are crowing that this means Reid’s bill is DOA, but I’m not so sure. Don’t forget, The One has been known to stand behind programs that even his own cabinet says are surefire disasters in the making. If he and Reid let little things like unworkable math or Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmares stop them from passing legislation, we wouldn’t have ObamaCare, now would we?
Pete Isberg, president of the [nonprofit National Payroll Reporting Consortium] today wrote to the key leaders of the relevant committees of the House and Senate, telling them that “insufficient lead time” to implement the complicated change mandated by the legislation means the two-month payroll tax holiday “could create substantial problems, confusion and costs affecting a significant percentage of U.S. employers and employees.”…
The two-month payroll tax holiday, which the president has said should be extended throughout 2012, will mean that wages would face a Social Security tax of 4.2 percent during January and February, but it would increase to 6.2 percent in March.
Isberg wrote that “many payroll systems are not likely to be able to make such a substantial programming change before January or even February. The systems affected tend to be highly complex, normally requiring at least ninety days for a change of this magnitude for software testing alone; not to mention analysis, design, coding and implementation.”
That’s not the only group that says two months is too short. The National Association of Wholesale-Distributors wrote to Congress today to second the conclusions of the NPRC, so in case there was any lingering doubt about how tonight’s House vote will go, this should eliminate it. The only mystery now is how partisan the roll will be. Will House Democrats stick with Reid by endorsing a policy that would cause chaos to payrolls across the country or will they bail too, backing Reid into a corner? And what happens now to Senate Republicans like Scott Brown who have been grumbling that Boehner’s reversal on the two-month extension is irresponsible and wrong”? Do they cave under the weight of the NPRC verdict or press on for another dumb, lazy stopgap measure? Only one thing is certain: If not for one last round of congressional histrionics and floor drama, there’d be nothing to blog about this week at all.
Here’s Dick Lugar encouraging Boehner and the House to cave because it’s “best for the country” or whatever. Exit question: Congress isn’t actually going to deadlock over a tax cut for the middle-class, is it? Geez.
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50 Facts About The U.S. Economy That Will Shock You
50 Facts About The U.S. Economy That Will Shock You – The Blaze
“Even though most Americans have become very frustrated with this economy, the reality is that the vast majority of them still have no idea just how bad our economic decline has been or how much trouble we are going to be in if we don’t make dramatic changes immediately,” writes The Economic Collapse (TEC).
For those unfamiliar with this site, TEC is an economic blog that regularly compiles a comprehensive list of the most startling and unsettling facts about the U.S. economy.
Why? Because Americans need to understand that U.S. economy is precariously balanced on the edge of full-blown collapse.
“If we do not educate the American people about how deathly ill the U.S. economy has become, then they will just keep falling for the same old lies that our politicians keep telling them. Just ‘tweaking’ things here and there is not going to fix this economy,” the site explains.
Indeed, America’s economic situation has become increasingly unstable. However, what’s arguably more disconcerting than the state of the U.S. economy is the fact many Americans are largely–if not completely–unaware of just how serious things have become.
“America is consuming far more wealth than it is producing and our debt is absolutely exploding,” TEC explains. “If we stay on this current path, an economic collapse is inevitable. Hopefully the crazy economic numbers from 2011 that I have included in this article will be shocking enough to wake some people up.”
It might behoove Blaze readers to share the facts listed below with family and friends.
“If we all work together, hopefully we can get millions of people to wake up and realize that ‘business as usual’ will result in a national economic apocalypse,” writes TEC.
Here are the 50 economic numbers from 2011 that will shock you (via The Economic Collapse):
1. A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.
2. Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be “low income” or impoverished.
3. If the number of Americans that “wanted jobs” was the same today as it was back in 2007, the “official” unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.
4. The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.
5. One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.
6. There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.
7. Since December 2007, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8 percent once you account for inflation.
8. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.
9. A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.
10. According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.
11. Back in 1980, less than 30 percent of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40 percent of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.
12. Back in 1969, 95 percent of all men between the ages of 25 and 54 had a job. In July, only 81.2 percent of men in that age group had a job.
13. One recent survey found that one out of every three Americans would not be able to make a mortgage or rent payment next month if they suddenly lost their current job.
14. The Federal Reserve recently announced that the total net worth of U.S. households declined by 4.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011 alone.
15. According to a recent study conducted by the BlackRock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent.
16. As the economy has slowed down, so has the number of marriages. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, only 51 percent of all Americans that are at least 18 years old are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent of all U.S. adults were married.
17. The U.S. Postal Service has lost more than 5 billion dollars over the past year.
18. In Stockton, California home prices have declined 64 percent from where they were at when the housing market peaked.
19. Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 59 months in a row.
20. If you can believe it, the median price of a home in Detroit is now just $6000.
21. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of all homes in the state of Florida are sitting vacant. That figure is 63 percent larger than it was just ten years ago.
22. New home construction in the United States is on pace to set a brand new all-time record low in 2011.
23. 19 percent of all American men between the ages of 25 and 34 are now living with their parents.
24. Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.
25. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5 percent of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3 percent.
26. One study found that approximately 41 percent of all working age Americans either have medical bill problems or are currently paying off medical debt.
27. If you can believe it, one out of every seven Americans has at least 10 credit cards.
28. The United States spends about 4 dollars on goods and services from China for every one dollar that China spends on goods and services from the United States.
29. It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit for 2011 will be 558.2 billion dollars.
30. The retirement crisis in the United States just continues to get worse. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.
31. Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.
32. According to a study that was just released, CEO pay at America’s biggest companies rose by 36.5 percent in just one recent 12 month period.
33. Today, the “too big to fail” banks are larger than ever. The total assets of the six largest U.S. banks increased by 39 percent between September 30, 2006 and September 30, 2011.
34. The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the bottom 30 percent of all Americans combined.
35. According to an analysis of Census Bureau data done by the Pew Research Center, the median net worth for households led by someone 65 years of age or older is 47 times greater than the median net worth for households led by someone under the age of 35.
36. If you can believe it, 37 percent of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.
37. A higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty (6.7 percent) than has ever been measured before.
38. Child homelessness in the United States is now 33 percent higher than it was back in 2007.
39. Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent.
40. Sadly, child poverty is absolutely exploding all over America. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 36.4 percent of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty, 40.1 percent of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty, 52.6 percent of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and 53.6 percent of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.
41. Today, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps.
42. In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.
43. A staggering 48.5 percent of all Americans live in a household that receives some form of government benefits. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.
44. Right now, spending by the federal government accounts for about 24 percent of GDP. Back in 2001, it accounted for just 18 percent.
45. For fiscal year 2011, the U.S. federal government had a budget deficit of nearly 1.3 trillion dollars. That was the third year in a row that our budget deficit has topped one trillion dollars.
46. If Bill Gates gave every single penny of his fortune to the U.S. government, it would only cover the U.S. budget deficit for about 15 days.
47. Amazingly, the U.S. government has now accumulated a total debt of 15 trillion dollars. When Barack Obama first took office the national debt was just 10.6 trillion dollars.
48. If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.
49. The U.S. national debt has been increasing by an average of more than 4 billion dollars per day since the beginning of the Obama administration.
50. During the Obama administration, the U.S. government has accumulated more debt than it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that Bill Clinton took office.
Of course, after going through all these numbers, the obvious question is, “how has it come to this?” The Economic Collapse has a simple answer:
…the heart of our economic problems is the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is a perpetual debt machine, it has almost completely destroyed the value of the U.S. dollar and it has an absolutely nightmarish track record of incompetence. If the Federal Reserve system had never been created, the U.S. economy would be in far better shape. The federal government needs to shut down the Federal Reserve and start issuing currency that is not debt-based.
But who among America’s leaders has the will and determination to do this? Judging by how the Obama administration has conducted itself thus far, it probably won’t consider (let alone implement) any of the suggestions mentioned in the above. Therefore, that leaves only the GOP candidates.
Who among them has the best chance to restore economic stability? Who is the most likely to return the U.S. to prosperity?
“Hopefully next year more Americans than ever will wake up, because 2012 is going to represent a huge turning point for this country,” TEC writes.
Indeed, 2012 may be one of the biggest turning points this country has ever seen.
(h/t Zero Hedge)
I have the perfect solution to whether or not Eric Holder keeps his job
That solution in a minute, but first via Hot Air comes news that Holder is playing the YOU-KNOW-WHAT card
Attorney General Eric Holder told The New York Times this weekend that “the more extreme segment” of his Fast and Furious critics are motivated by — you guessed it — racism. But Florida Rep. Allen West will have none of it.
In remarks to The Daily Caller, West interpreted Holder’s shameless rhetorical tactic as a sign of desperation — and called him out for his non-race-related incompetence:
“I think this is absolutely the last card in the deck, and that shows how weak their ground is,” West said in a phone interview. “But, what that means is they want to make white individuals afraid of continuing to put the pressure on Eric Holder because they don’t want to be seen as racist, and that is something that we have got to move beyond.”
West said Holder can’t logically assign race as a motivation behind the criticisms for his handling of Operation Fast and Furious. “What Fast and Furious has to do with is misleading the Congress and the American people about what you knew about this program, and if you did not know anything about this program, then who’s in charge of the Department of Justice?” West said. “It has nothing to do with your race — it has everything to do with competence, with your character and with your ability to lead the Department of Justice.”
West said Holder’s use of race as a way to attack his critics is “the most insidious thing I ever heard.”
“I grew up in the United States military and it’s not about your color, it’s about your competence, it’s about your abilities to execute a mission,” West said. “If your commanding officer turns heat on you, it’s because you have failed to achieve the mission and I think what we’re doing is we’re looking at something that was a very horrible program — this Operation Fast and Furious.”
Pathetic but sadly predictable of Holder. Now, I say we solve this in this manner. We lock West, and Holder in a room, and, well, I think you know the rest!
A Time for Choosing indeed! Rick Perry Is THAT MAN!
Image via Wikipedia
I have said everything i can to push Perry. I am convinced that we have a rare opportunity this election year. I am convinced that we can not only make Obama a one term president, but that we can elect a true Conservative who will serve this nation is a great way.
At Big Government Mike Flynn makes the case for Perry, go read!
Oh yeah, and the jobs. The GOP really doesn’t want to go into this election with the guy running the state creating the jobs during a recession? Obviously, Perry didn’t create these jobs, but he understands that tax and regulatory policies can be a drag on private sector growth. While most other states were busy adding new taxes and regulations, Texas didn’t. The result is an influx of citizens from other states and a thriving private sector job market. Isn’t this a narrative we want in 2012?
Perry has clearly been a good Governor. He has not, however, been a great candidate. His early campaign was too Texas-centric. We all know about his debate performances. He has positions I disagree with. And his campaign has made some steps I also disagree with. But, I believe he could be a great President. He understand the limits of government, the power of the private sector to create prosperity and the dangers government policies pose to that. And, I believe he understands these principles in a more fundamental way than the other candidates.
Over the next few years, America will face some existential questions. Will American exceptionalism endure or will we slip into a quasi-European welfare state in permanent decline? Our present trajectory is unsustainable. Even with a Republican House and, most likely, a Republican Senate after next year, the GOP in Washington doesn’t seem quite up to the task of reclaiming that “shining city on the hill.” They can’t quite get beyond repainting a house whose foundation has cracked. We will need a President who is a strong leader with very grounded conservative convictions to navigate our way back to prosperity. One who understand that Washington has already assumed too much power and that future economic growth and personal liberty requires rolling back much of that power.
Rick Perry is that man.
Mike also lays out strong arguments against Mitt or Newt as well, read the entire column.
The GOP establishment is wrong about Mitt, Ann Coulter hardest hit!
I think we all can agree that Mitt Romney is the choice the GOP establishment wants us to close our eyes, hold our noses, and overcome our gag reflex and vote for. We all have heard the arguments for Mitt. He can get those independents they tell us. He can reach the moderates they assure us. He is not “too extreme” He is smart, and a good debater, and oh yes, he is electable! The establishment is wrong though. I do not see Mitt as the “only electable” candidate.
what really worries me, though, is that the media has left Mitt alone. They have attacked Gingrich, Bachmann, Santorum, and boy did they attack Cain. Their most hostile attacks were, and still are launched towards Rick Perry. They have heaped praise on Mitt, while attacking the rest of the GOP field. Hmmmmm
This tells me something. Something, apparently, that escapes the all-knowing GOP establishment. The media WANTS Mitt Romney to win the GOP nomination! And why would that be? Of course it is because they truly see Romney as the guy Obama can most easily beat. Isn’t it interesting that the most LIBERAL of the GOP field not counting Hunstman of course, is the one the media is codling? Remember how the media loved the Maverick? John McCain? Until he got the nomination of course. Then out came the knives. Do the GOP “experts” like Coulter and the rest think this will NOT happen again?
I also think we can read from the attacks on Perry, that the media wants to pit him vs Obama the least! Given that the economy is the biggest issue, and given Perry’s economic record, and Obama’s, I think we can understand why the media has tried to destroy Perry.
Chris, at Wyblog, offers his take on Romney, and his inevitability as nominee.
*I’m the token Republican in a sea of blue state leftists, so naturally they think I have some kind of direct pipeline to either GOP or Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Headquarters, or something. If only they knew…
Almost unanimously they don’t like Obama. The reasons vary (alas some even feel that he hasn’t driven the country far enough to the left). I heard “weak,” “ineffective,” “unqualified,” and more than one wishful lament that a Draft Hillary movement hasn’t gained any traction.
So, what do I make of this? My socialist neighborhood clearly isn’t moving into the Conservative Camp. They recoil in horror at the thought of Newt Gingrich being the nominee. Ditto for Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann. Rick Perry intrigues them (as does Chris Christie) because both guys stand up for their principles, and the concept of “leadership” is a big factor among the sheeple. But their perception is that Perry is a lousy communicator and thus not “electable.” I guess they’re still looking for a silver-tongued messiah to lead them to the promised land. Which of course is how we got Obama in the first place.
In my mind this really seals Romney’s RINO status. Liberals are comfortable with him because he’s one of them. Ugh.
AH, the lie, and it is a lie, that Perry in unelectable, because he is “stupid” or cannot speak, a lie pushed by both the media and the GOP establishment, has caused many to think they can write him off. But, as Chris points out, the interest in Perry is real. This tells me that the more he talks to folks, and campaigns on the ground, his strong suit. The better his chances are.
Remember my first rule of politics, look at which Republican the media is propping up, then look for the Republican they are most intent on tearing down, the rest should be self-explanatory shouldn’t it?
As Chris says
I’m intrigued by the softness of Obama’s support here among the die-hard lefty faithful. And I’m sure we can do better than Mitt Romney’s interpretation of Obama Lite. C’mon Rick Perry, your moment awaits.
Hillary Clinton Pushes To Make Criticism Of Islam A Crime In The U.S.
Hillary Clinton Pushes To Make Criticism Of Islam A Crime In The U.S. – SodaHead
Are Hillary and Barack in a race to see which one can destroy this Country first? May God protect the United States of America from these two Marxist thugs!
One of the fundamental laws of Islam deals with “slander,” which is defined in shariah as saying “anything concerning a person [a Muslim] that he would dislike.” At the OIC’s Third Extraordinary Session, held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in December 2005, the organization adopted a “Ten-Year Programme of Action to Meet the Challenges Facing the Muslim Ummah in the 21st Century.” A key agenda item of that meeting was “the need to counter Islamophobia” by seeking to have the UN “…adopt an international resolution to counter
Islamophobia, and call upon all States to enact laws to counter it, including deterrent punishments.” The word “Islamophobia” is a completely invented word, coined by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) front group. OIC adoption of the term reflects the close operational relationship between the OIC and the Ikhwan.
Six years later, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to host OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in Washington, DC in mid-December 2011 to discuss how the United States can implement the OIC agenda to criminalize criticism of Islam. Cloaked in the sanctimonious language of “Resolution 16/18,” that was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in April 2011, the WDC three-day experts meeting is billed as a working session to discuss legal mechanisms to combat religious discrimination (but the only religion the Human Rights Council has ever mentioned in any previous resolution is Islam). The UN Human Rights Council, which includes such bastions of human rights as China, Cuba, Libya, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, introduced Resolution 16/18 to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), where it was passed in March 2011.
The Resolution was presented to the UNGA by Pakistan (where women get the death penalty for being raped and “blasphemy” against Islam is punished by death). Ostensibly about “combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and…incitement to violence against persons based on religion or belief,” the only partnership mentioned in the text is the one with the OIC. The U.S., whose official envoy to the OIC, Rashad Hussain, helped write Obama’s Cairo speech, actively collaborated in the drafting of Resolution 16/18.
Now, the OIC’s Ihsanoglu will come to Washington, DC, the capital of one of the only countries in the world with a Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and a judicial
system that consistently defends it, with a publicized agenda to criminalize criticism of Islam. His agenda, and, apparently that of his host, the U.S. Department of State, seek to bring the U.S. into full compliance with Islamic law on slander, as noted above.
Gatordoug
darcprynce
Dave C
