The Day’s Top Political News:
Sotomayor backers urge reporters to probe New Haven firefighter
Supporters of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are quietly targeting the Connecticut firefighter who's at the center of Sotomayor's most controversial ruling. A case of racism compounded by actions by her supporters.
On the eve of Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearing, her advocates have been urging journalists to scrutinize what one called the "troubled and litigious work history" of firefighter Frank Ricci.
On Friday, citing in an e-mail "Frank Ricci's troubled and litigious work history," the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way drew reporters' attention to Ricci's past. Other advocates for Sotomayor have discreetly urged journalists to pursue similar story lines. “People for the American Way” is an extreme left wing group created by liberal TV producer, Norman Lear. Sotomayou will be confirmed -- not because of qualificatioins, but because Democrats have the votes.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/71660.html
Gore: U.S. Climate Bill Will Help Bring About 'Global Governance'
Former Vice President Al Gore declared that the Congressional climate bill will help bring about “global governance.” Thus suggesting his man-made “Global Warming” scam – offers other threats to Americans.
Gore's call for “global governance” echoes former French President Jacques Chirac's call in 2000. Chirac said during a speech at The Hague that the UN's Kyoto Protocol represented "the first component of an authentic global governance." World Government without the camoflage.
The concept is a direct assault on the sovereignty of nations – a move touting One World Government – hardly one supported by normal Americans who understand the issue.
http://www.climatedepot.com/a/1893/Gore-US-Climate-Bill-Will-Help-Bring-About-Global-Governance
Even Liberal colleagues attack Sen. Al Franken – saying he has already sold out his beliefs in exchange for Beltway-style good 'ol boys acceptance.
A clear case of liberals attacking liberals. Franken as Senator is a joke after all – or should be considered one.
As one left wing cohort says of Franken: “The irony of this is unbelievable! For of all people, to be number 60, a guy who has been torn apart by the righties! Beaten up by O'Reilly! Trashed by Hannity! Ripped apart by Limbaugh! Made fun of (makes mocking voice), Air America this, Air America that, dut da dut da dut, and what does Al do? (with heavy sarcasm) He's ready to reach across the aisle (sigh)...”
Many political observers predict Franken’s actions in the Senate will raise tons of dollars for Republicans.
http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2009/07/al-frankens-former-talk-radio.html
Opinion:
It’s not just about socialism anymore, now the left seeks to destroy religion. Understand the real issues we face.
America is a nation built on a solid foundation – one that includes a strong moral base. The first amendment guarantees Americans a freedom of religion. Now, such anti American groups as the insidious ACLU are embarking on a visible effort to deny Americans religions rights and freedom.
In Santa Rosa County – in the Florida Panhandle – a school board has been intimidated by the ACLU into accepting a ban on religious activity of its teachers and employees – even off duty.
Here is the report:
The School District attempted to settle the suit by joining with the ACLU and presenting the court with a Consent Order, which essentially bans all employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities, whether before, during, or after school hours.
Of course, the School District demonstrated cowardice in caving to the ACLU, but then public education today is undermined by the extremist views of the NEA teacher’s union – which is an organic arm of the Democrat party.
The ACLU attack is nothing new. ACLU extremists have worked for years to impose atheism as a national religion – a conspiratorial act in direct violation of the First Amendment.
Now we see devout employees of Santa Rosa, Florida’s school district, being denied their personal freedoms and rights regarding their religious activity EVEN AFTER SCHOOL HOURS.
About two hundred miles to the north, there is another eruption of in-your-face atheist assault on normal Americans.
Here is the news story:
“The simple message that John Lennon once sang, "Imagine No Religion," has become the slogan on a controversial billboard that recently went up along Interstate 20 on the way from Birmingham to Talladega.
“The billboard was placed there, near the Riverside exit, by the Alabama Freethought Association, part of a national campaign by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
“Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation in Madison, Wis., said the billboard was put up the week before the Alabama Freethought Association's annual Fourth of July weekend celebration. It will be up for a month, she said”
Of course, even atheists have a right to have their free speech protected. Banning the billboard legislatively, would be wrong.
(Fortunately, Lamar Advertising, a private corporation, rejected the billboard – as a private firm, Lamar has that right)
It is no accident that these two incidents – open attacks on normal American values by atheists, happed where they do – in the Florida Panhandle, and in central Alabama. These are areas in which Christian values specifically, and religious respect in general, flourish. The atheists are staging these attacks to generate outrage, action, and debate. They will use those actions to increase their fund raising (a means through which support can be provided the atheist scheme, without being public), and to generate debate in more favorable areas of the country such as Wisconsin and California. Atheists are counting on there being a well spring of support across the country that will be energized by the publicity these two stunts generate in the media.
In political campaign academia, the tactic Is dubbed “causative attack” – a tactical assault on opponents for the sole purpose of generating actions by the opponent resulting in self-inflicted wounds.
At first blush, we might presume the atheists have been “too clever by half”. That suggests the atheists may have outsmarted themselves. But consider another matter:
The current president is not a religious person either. He did attend a church in Chicago – but it was a hate filled theology that preached a litany of racial hatred and anti Americanism…and did so openly as we have all heard.
After all, Obama’s mother was an avowed atheist so he was denied spiritual or moral training and guidance as he grew up. Some of his education came in schools with religious views that are much in dispute.
Thus has Obama required crosses and other religious symbols covered when he speaks, and, unlike our other presidents, eschewed open observation of the national Day of Prayer.
We are seeing the first open assault on American values by those who conspire to support such atheistic views as those of the ACLU. In the mid 60s, normal, decent, patriotic Americans rose up and ended the old KKK. It’s time we do the same with the ACLU.
THEY have framed a debate – the outrageous actions in Santa Rosa County, Florida, and through the billboard in Taladeega Alabama. Atheists have a right to make their case – normal America has the right – indeed an obligation – to strike back and strike down those who would deprive us of religious freedom.
Buddy
The day’s top blogs:
1.
Breaking: Senate postpones cap-and-trade
Ed Morrissey
The Washington Post reports that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold off on consideration of the House cap-and-trade bill until September at the earliest:
President Barack Obama’s push for quick action by Congress on climate change legislation suffered a setback on Thursday when the U.S. Senate committee leading the drive delayed work on the bill until September.
(NOTE: The delay can be counted a victory for those who oppose this new Democrat tax scheme and scam. The original plan was to steam roll the measure through the Senate as was done in the House. Passage in the House came as a result of eight Republicans turning their backs on their people and voting for the tax. A number of “Blue Dog” Democrats joined in supporting the tax. There have been serious reactions by taxpayers in some of the districts in which the Congressman voted for the new tax.)
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer said her self-imposed deadline of early August for finishing writing a bill to combat global warming has been put off until after Congress returns from a recess that ends in early September.
“We’ll do it as soon as we get back” from that break, Boxer told reporters. Asked if this delay jeopardizes chances the Senate will pass a bill this year, Boxer said, “Not a bit … we’ll be in (session) until Christmas, so I’m not worried about it.”
But Boxer did not guarantee Congress will be able to finish a bill and deliver it to Obama by December, when he plans to attend an international summit on climate change in Copenhagen.
Two weeks ago, when the House barely pushed this through a vote, Barack Obama’s poll numbers still looked good enough to imply that there may not be consequences for hobbling the economy with ludicrous taxes, fees, and penalties for energy production. With his poll numbers eroding quickly and the electorate losing patience with high unemployment and Porkulus’ failure, that doesn’t seem like a safe bet any more. As the economy continues to drag, cap-and-trade will look more like a disaster than the mythical one it purports to avoid.
The Democrats simply don’t have the votes now on cap-and-trade, and unless the economy suddenly lurches back to life, the political situation will be worse in September. That doesn’t mean we can let up on the pressure, as Michelle says. Keep calling your Senators to tell them that a vote for cap-and-trade means adding to the unemployment lines — starting with themselves.
Update: This might have had something to do with it, too:
“I cannot support the House bill in its present form,” Byrd said in a statement. “I continue to believe that clean coal can be a ‘green’ energy. Those of us who understand coal’s great potential in our quest for energy independence must continue to work diligently in shaping a climate bill that will ensure access to affordable energy for West Virginians.” …
Senator Byrd’s was one of the two sponsors of the Byrd-Hagel Resolution, which the senate unanimously passed, 95–0, in 1997. Byrd-Hagel stated the sense of the Senate that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing nations as well as industrialized nations or “would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States.” Byrd-Hagel prevented Clinton from even trying to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which like the Waxman-Markey “cap and trade” climate change legislation, would have put the U.S. economy at an economic disadvantage to China and India.
2.
ACORN whistleblower MonCrief now identifies with
KEVIN MOONEY
Commentary Staff Writer
Although she was indoctrinated into liberal thinking at a young age and has been a life-long Democrat, Anita MonCrief said in an interview that she now identifies with economic and social reforms that are championed by conservatives.
MonCrief is a former employee of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) and its Project Vote affiliate who offered testimony last year in Harrisburg, Pa. as part of an election law suit filed against the organization. MonCrief discussed Project Vote’s voter registration activities and ACORN’s relationship with the Obama presidential campaign as part of her testimony.
“I’ve always been an outsider in my party because I ask a lot of questions and I didn’t like some of the answers I’ve been getting,” she said. “The problem I have with Democrats is that they promise you the world but then they don’t deliver. I identify now with conservative ideas because the answer is not social welfare. The answer instead comes from being less dependent on the government and keeping families together.”
(NOTE: ACORN is a liberal conspiracy designed to register voters likely or almost certain to vote Democrat – then get those voters to the polls on election day. However, ACORN often is seen as going further and generating vote fraud and theft.)
MonCrief now plans to drop her party registration as a Democrat but is not quite ready to embrace Republicans. Instead she is more inclined to be an independent, unaffiliated voter. However, MonCrief does see an opportunity for Republicans to connect better with African-American voters who actually share the party’s convictions on key issues. This can happen if Republicans adopt a better communications strategy, she added.
MonCrief also said she very supportive of the ACORN 8 whistleblower group that came together last year in response to an embezzlement scandal involving the national organization’s top officials. But she is not part of ACORN 8 and prefers to chart her own path.
“While we are fighting the same cause, my beliefs and viewpoints have changed and I have moved more to the right in my thinking,” MonCrief said. “I am an ex-liberal trying to find my way.”
By contrast, ACORN 8 members have said that they remain committed to ACORN’s stated mission and would prefer to reform the organization from within by calling for greater transparency and accountability.
“They’re working their way, and I’m working mine,” MonCrief said. “I’ve come to believe that social programs do not work and are actually quite destructive to the black family.”
Food stamp and housing assistance programs, for instance, do not provide people with an incentive to get married and to keep husbands and wives together, she said.
MonCrief who is Catholic is now engaged to a Baptist and looks forward to providing her daughter with a stable family home.
“You might think there would be some push, pull as far as religion for our daughter is concerned,” she said. “But we have common interests, common values and common goals. I’ve also been able to connect with people across the country from areas like the Midwest. We’ve been able to get beyond media stereotypes of what Republicans are and I find that we have a lot in common, even though I have a different set of experiences being a black woman from Alabama.”
Unfortunately, Republicans still allow their opponents to define the national debate too much and to hide behind the specter of racism.
“If you want to shut a Republican up just call him a racist,” she said. “They just don’t know how to respond to these accusations. But historically Republicans have been favorable to blacks, while the Democrats have actually pushed policies that were quite harmful.”
MonCrief is also an ardent supporter of Second Amendment rights.
“Even when I was a liberal I always thought Charlton Heston was a firecracker and I loved him to death,” she said. “He stood up for the Constitution and did a good job of explaining why these rights were important. I’ve noticed that whenever there is movement to take away gun rights it’s usually in African-American community like Washington D.C.”
This is yet another area where Republicans and African-Americans can find common ground, she said.
3.
Bachus Statement During Derivatives Hearing
WASHINGTON – Congressman Spencer Bachus, the top Republican on the Financial Services Committee, made the following statement today during the hearing on derivatives.
“Mr. Chairman, derivatives serve an important function in the market. They allow companies to hedge against risk, deploy capital effectively, lower cost and offer protection against fluctuating prices. However, derivatives are also about shifting risk. We do not want a system that shifts that risk on to the taxpayer and I am concerned that the Administration’s proposal will do just that. As we learned from Fannie and Freddie fiasco, government regulators are not in the best position to effectively evaluate these risks.
“In addition I am concerned that the Administration’s proposal will adversely affect the thousands of companies across America that use derivatives to manage interest rate, exchange rate, commodity, credit default, and other risks.
“For example, the Administration supports moving over-the-counter products into venues like clearinghouses and exchanges that will require the terms of the contracts to become standardized. Because accounting rules require derivative hedges to have a close and consistent relationship with the underlying asset or liability that is being hedged, standardization could make it more difficult, if not impossible, for American companies to manage their risk exposures with the customized derivatives they require for hedge accounting.
(NOTE: If some of these issues seem confusing, count on one thing: Republican leadership such as that of Congressman Bachus, will point the way toward a result that benefits normal America. The path promoted by such liberal Demomcrats as Barney Frank, will point in an opposite directioin.)
“In addition, mandatory clearing would require some companies to divert hundreds of millions of dollars of capital away from business investment for use as cash collateral. It seems counterintuitive during a recession to leave companies exposed to greater risk, raise their cost of capital, and make economic recovery more difficult to achieve.
“I also want to take this opportunity to address the larger issues surrounding regulatory reform. Republicans are not saying no to reform—we are saying no to bail outs. The Administration plan does nothing to stop the endless cycle of costly taxpayer bailouts and in fact sets up a new framework to perpetuate the bailouts. The Republican plan provides for an enhanced bankruptcy process in which financial firms and their creditors – not the American taxpayer –bear the costs of failure, as an alternative to continuing the bailouts.
“Republicans also take a different approach on consumer protection. The Administration’s plan, which is reflected in your bill, Mr. Chairman, will make it harder for families to get the credit they need to make ends meet, and will undermine the economic recovery.
“Creation of this redundant agency will also weaken our community banks which will incur higher fees for deposit insurance, higher compliance costs to meet the new mandates, and considerable assessment burden to fund this massive new agency. This will place community banks at a competitive disadvantage to mega-banks; restrict credit availability and consumer choice; and lead to more consolidation in the financial services industry.
“The Republican plan would do a better job of protecting consumers. Consolidating the consumer protection functions of the Federal Reserve, OCC, OTS, NCUA and FDIC in a new functional regulator for all depository institutions will ensure consistency in enforcement and eliminate the consumer confusion created by the current system. We would streamline the complaint process. And we would strengthen anti-fraud enforcement, give regulators more investigative and enforcement tools, and increase restitution for victims.
“Republicans also question the wisdom of anointing the Federal Reserve as a super regulator. The Republican plan would refocus the Fed on its core mission of conducting the nation’s monetary policy and eliminate entirely its authority to conduct AIG-style bailouts of individual companies at taxpayer expense.
“As you can see, Mr. Chairman, we are very concerned that the regulatory reform proposals put forth by the Administration will continue the same regulatory policies that created the financial and credit market crisis, and exacerbate the credit contraction that is hindering the economic recovery.”
Congressman Spencet Bachus, Ranking Republican member of the Financial Services Committee.
Comments