Political Truth and Fact

Thursday's Web

Political Truth and Fact.Com
Neither fair nor balanced, but absolutely factual

Communications and the new era

For decades, it was clear that the ability of the left to count on the media to sign on to any political position they chose to promote, but common sense Americans at a distinct disadvantage.  After all, in politics, truth is what the people believe – no matter what the actual facts might be.

Such far left dominance of the information industry allowed the rise of a lot of nutso beliefs and position which, in more rational times, would have been laughed off the proverbial stage.

“Political Correctness” immediately comes to mind and to a lesser extent, “diversity” however that concept might be designed. Most outrageously, the Admiral who heads the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, was outrageously quoted as having said “diversity” is the priority of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.  Pardon me, I have always thought the prime objective of all the military academies to be training and producing the best officers possible to lead our troops.

Media dominance also allow Al Gore to sell his man-made Global Warming scam – making a ton of money in the process.

We can all offer examples through which absurd concepts and ideas were sold to Americans primarily because the seller used our mass media – a development mostly of the twentieth century.

In an editorial recently, Internet pundit Selwyn Duke made some cogent observations on the subject and its more recent developments.  Including a misuse of  the capabilities.  His piece said, in part:

“We have numerous sayings alluding to the power of ideas, such as “Knowledge is power,” “The pen is mightier than the sword” and “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.”  And with modern forms of communication, such as radio and television — and now the Internet — ideas can be transmitted at a rate unfathomable for most of man’s existence. 

“This makes civilization very unstable.  Think about it: For most of history, the only relatively quick way to change a society was through military conquest, such as when Islam’s hordes turned North Africa Muslim within a century’s time.  Yet, using that as an example, what would have been the Moors’ prospects for success had they been forced to rely on a few proselytizing Imams and handwritten Korans to spread their message?”

Duke continues, “but with the modern ability to disseminate information at the touch of a button, the amount of peaceful social change that might have taken 300 years to effect in the Middle Ages may be realized in only a decade today.  So now a lie can get all the way around the world before the Truth even knows the liar has logged on.

“This phenomenon of rapid, haphazard change”, says Duke, “also widens generation gaps, as each generation grows up in a more radically different moral and social environment.  And I should add that, contrary to popular belief, a generation gap isn’t inevitable.  It only develops when the spirit of the age is constantly changing and, as a consequence, the young and old end up worshiping different ones.  If, however, a culture safeguards tradition and insulates itself from competing ideas (a big “if,” I know), everyone will occupy the same page.  For example, I really cannot imagine that any ancient Aztec youth ever said, “No, dad, I don’t want to sacrifice a virgin to Quetzalcoatl today!  And I don’t believe in gods!”

“Now, there are those who like to deny the negative effects of these media.  For example, point out that gratuitous sex and violence on television have a corruptive effect, and excuses will fly.  “We may hear, ‘It’s OK because it didn’t cause me any problems,’ which is much like saying that ‘Being a long-time smoker hasn’t hurt me’ because you can’t see your blackened lungs and aren’t dead yet.  Or we may hear, ‘It’s the values taught by the parents that matter,’ which is much like saying it’s of no consequence if strangers feed your children foxglove and arsenic as long as you make sure they have a good diet at home.

“In reality, these are rationalizations, only trotted out when the onus is placed on something we hold dear.  During moments of clarity, however, even the most ardent cultural apologist knows that entertainment influences thinking.  If this isn’t so, why was there a hue and cry to get “Amos & Andy” and other shows containing old stereotypes off the air?” 

Duke concludes, “obviously, the examples people set for others matter, and this doesn’t cease being the case simply because the behavior is observed via a screen as opposed to in person.  So while we can argue about the magnitude of modern entertainment’s effect, or about whether it’s on balance good or bad, that it has an effect simply isn’t disputable.”

Of course It isn’t.

Buddy 

The day’s top political news:

Two new rules will give Constitution a starring role in GOP-controlled House

WASHINGTON POST: When Republicans take over the House next week, they will do something that apparently has never been done before in the chamber's 221-year history:

They will read the Constitution aloud.

And then they will require that every new bill contain a statement by the lawmaker who wrote it citing the constitutional authority to enact the proposed legislation.

Call it the tea party-ization of Congress.

These are two standout changes on a long list of new rules Republicans will institute in the House when they assume the majority on Jan. 5. After handing out pocket-size Constitutions at rallies, after studying the document article by article and after demanding that Washington return to its founding principles, tea party activists have something new to applaud. A pillar of their grass-roots movement will become a staple in the bureaucracy that governs Congress.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/29/AR2010122901402.html?hpid=topnews

After two years of Democratic ascendancy, Washington braces for divided government

THE ECONOMIST: LIKE Rome before its sacking, Washington is not entirely sure what to expect when the newly elected Republican-controlled House of Representatives settles down to work in the nation’s capital on January 5th. But it does know, in a general sort of way, that a certain amount of unpleasantness lies ahead.

To judge by what they say, the incoming Republicans see themselves less as Goths than as cleansers of the Augean stables. Before November’s elections they portrayed “Washington”—a constellation embracing the president, the federal government and the pork-ladling, tax-raising, freedom-crushing Congress—as a monster that trampled on the people’s rights, smothered enterprise with pointless regulation and pauperised future generations by spending money it did not have. They are promising to cut it down to size—and fast.

They do, however, face a small difficulty. For the fact is that they have not actually won control of Washington. They will control the House with a handsome majority of 242 to 193. But the Democrats will continue to have a majority, albeit a diminished one, in the Senate; and Barack Obama has at least two more years as president. Moreover, the Democrats showed during the lame-duck session in November and December that in spite of their mid-term chastisement they still have some fight left in them. Indeed, the 111th Congress ended in an unexpected parade of successes for Mr Obama, who after a cheerful, self-congratulatory press conference departed for an end-of-year holiday in Hawaii with an unmistakable swagger in his step.

http://www.economist.com/node/17804471?story_id=17804471

Obama uses recess appointment to seat controversial Justice Dept. official

THE HILL: President Obama used a recess appointment Wednesday to name James Cole as deputy attorney general. The president also recess appointed five other officials, including four ambassadors.

Cole's nomination to the second-ranking post at the Department of Justice had been held up over objections from Republicans, who raised concerns over his tenure as an independent monitor of insurance giant AIG between 2005 and 2009. The federal government bailed out the company in 2008.

While the recess appointment allows Obama to fill a key spot at the Department of Justice, Cole will have to be renominated and confirmed by the end of the next session of Congress. That could be tougher given the larger GOP minority in the next Senate.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/135415-obama-uses-recess-appointment-to-seat-second-ranking-justice-official

 

Wednesday's Web

Political Truth and Fact.Com
Neither fair nor balanced, but absolutely factual

Democrats work to deceive Americans on death panels and Cap and Trade

No wonder Americans are mad.  No wonder there’s a tea party movement – an activist revolt against Capitol Hill – especially liberals, more specifically, Democrats.   Americans resent being lied to them, especially by people they elect to represent them in government.  Democrats are doing just that.

Once again, Democrats are going back on their word.  Once again, Democrats are actively working to fool the American people.

This time, their conspiracy deals with the infamous death panel provisions included in the Obama health scheme through which government takes over the health care industry.

It has been reported the Wall Street Journal has published an editorial confirming the Obama Administration is now using VA hospitals to order doctors to pressure all military veterans to sign "pull the plug" do-not-resuscitate orders, hastening their deaths through "end of life" counseling. A pro-euthanasia booklet, is now being referred to patients in VA hospitals.  “This heaps even more evidence upon the growing list of proofs that the Obama Administration is lying to the Public by denying their health care plan pushes euthanasia on the elderly. They already do it today.  Just imagine if ALL hospitals become government-run like the VA.”

The Obama White House earlier claimed it removed the death panel provisions – but they were lying.  It has just been revealed the provisions have been re-instated.  Not only are White House officials lying to the American people, but they acknowledge they know it is wrong in emails attributed to Democrat Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, the author of the original end-of-life proposal which included the following statements "While we are very happy with the result, we won’t be shouting it(Re-instatement of death panels) from the rooftops because we aren’t out of the woods yet." ~~~ "This regulation could be modified or reversed, especially if Republican leaders try to use this small provision to perpetuate the ‘death panel’ myth." ~~~~

"We would ask that you not broadcast this accomplishment out to any of your lists, even if they are ‘supporters’ — e-mails can too easily be forwarded. Thus far, it seems that no press or blogs have discovered it, but we will be keeping a close watch and may be calling on you if we need a rapid, targeted response. The longer this goes unnoticed, the better our chances of keeping it."

In other words, these far left Democrats acknowledge they know they are acting against the will of the American people, and plan to sneak the provision into law, just as they sneak illegal immigrants into this country.

It should be noted that sneaking in death panel provisions is not all Obama’s people have been up to lately.

The EPA has re-imposed provisions from the infamous Cap and Trade conspiracies that were passed by the House, but had too much opposition to even be considered by the Senate.

Who needs the Senate if the EPA can be corrupted enough to impose the same things through its regulations?  Unless EPA is stopped – like the GOP Controlled House slashing its budget – prices for our groceries and other necessities will soar.  All of it a result of the myths and fantasies authored by Al Gore.

Are you ready for $8 a gallon gasoline?

Buddy

The day's top political news:

White House Plans to Push Global Warming Policy, GOP Vows Fight

FOX NEWS: After failing to get climate-change legislation through Congress, the Obama administration plans on pushing through its environmental policies through other means. Republicans are ready to put up a fight.  On Jan. 2, new carbon emissions limits will be put forward as the Environmental Protection Agency prepares regulations that would force companies to get permits to release greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

Critics say the new rules are a backdoor effort to enact the president's agenda on global warming without the support of Congress, and would hurt the economy and put jobs in jeopardy by forcing companies to pay for expensive new equipment.

The administration says it has the power to issue the regulation under a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that directed the agency to make a determination on whether carbon dioxide, blamed for global warming, was a hazard to human health.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/28/white-house-plans-push-global-warming-policy-gop-vows-fight/#ixzz19VcjUBR7

White House attempts to quiet revived talk of 'death panels'

THE HILL: The Obama administration is desperate to quiet talk about “death panel” provisions in the Obama health scheme. The New York Times reported Sunday that a new Medicare regulation includes incentives for “end-of-life-care planning”.

The Medicare policy will pay doctors for holding end-of-life-care discussions with patients, according to the Times. A similar provision was dropped from the new healthcare reform law after Republicans accused the administration of withholding care from the sick, elderly and disabled.

However, an administration spokesman said the regulation is actually a continuation of a policy enacted under former President George W. Bush.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/135167-white-house-tries-to-smother-new-death-panel-talk

Delegate Courting begins in 2012 early states

POLITICO; Members of Congress from South Carolina, Iowa and New Hampshire are being wooed by the presidential set — and the potential candidates are reaching deep into those state’s political rosters in search of critical endorsements.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a virtual unknown until last year, became a hero when he yelled, “You lie!” at President Barack Obama during the State of the Union Address.  On election night this year, he got congratulatory calls from Massachusetts former Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

In Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley is long used to the early game of presidential wooing.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a Republican who is considering a 2012 run, threw two fundraisers for Grassley — one in Washington and another in South Dakota — during this past election cycle.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46852.html#ixzz19VfDMbjz

 

 

Monday's Web

Political Truth and Fact.com

Neither fair nor balanced, but totally true

Planning for a new political Environment

With Christmas behind them, political plotters can get back to wotk…as if they ever really relaxed,

Several key issues confront them:

`           1. How will the GOP effort to unseat Obama shape up?  Who will be its Presidential candidate?  (for the record, I have no clue --- but I DO have several favorites.)

            2.  How will a badly defeated and badly rejected liberal establishment deal with defeat?

            3.  What is the long-range implication and impact of the tea-party, so-called?

Of course the list could be much longer, but it’s sufficient for the morning, In terms of the presidential race, while I believe Romney is probably the most electable, he will have serious problems talking his way out of entanglements with the Mass. Healthcare mess.  He might be able to do it, if given a fair shot, but he will face explaining the issue (one with huge negatives) while fending off bitter attacks from liberal politicians aided and abetted by the conventional media. 

Meanwhile, opponents will unfairly paint Mormons as cultists, and suggest Romney is ready to accept polygamy.  It won’t be fair, nor legitimate, but it will be nasty and intense.  Bush’s military record was savaged by attacks based entirely on lies – but the phony attacks hurt.  (Unlike his opponent, Bush earned an honorable discharge, while John Kerry could not)

If I could appoint a president, I’d choose Newt or Haley Barbour.  Barbour has a proven ability to run a state, a national party under stress, and perform effectively with two major emergencies: Katrina and the BP Oil spill.  But Haley has been a lobbyist, and has a Southern accent – “it’s the only one I’ve got” explains Barbour.

Haley’s been a friend for years, and has demonstrated the sort of steadfast loyalty that is rare in politics.  He is also smart – offering solutions and approaches that leave others scratching  their heads and wondering why they didn’t think of it,  We call it “plain old common-sense” where I come from, which is not far from where Haley has his roots either.

Similar in geography and friendship, is Newt…a political entity whose political successes make his last name unnecessary.  Newt is an old friend too – one I once advised not to run because his last name was too complicated. I was wrong – Newt made it so.

Newt is another very sharp mind too – but his approach is more that of an academic rather than Haley’s down home folksiness.

For the record, I am urging Newt to run.  Not because I  believe he can win – but because I know a Newt campaign would raise questions the nation should consider and discuss.  (For the record, if I had the power, I’d insist Haley and Newt be top advisors to the next GOP president. The nation would be much the better for it.

I don’t believe Sarah Palin will run – she has too much influence and power now – and if nominated, I think Democrat media ranters will do all they can to tear her and her family to shreds.  (Come to think of it, they have pretty much already done that)

We need an evaluation of the tea party.  Forget predictions from pundits. They are mostly liberal, and liberals just hate tea partiers and have never been able to grasp what the movement is all about.

They never will.  The grass root activism rejects the liberalism that has dominated Capitol Hill and the conventional media for many decades.  Tea party sentiment looked Washington straight in the eye and shouted “enough!”

Liberals still think opposition to Obama is racial.  It never has been, of course, just as it the tea party movement has never been racist – nor has it had any violent strain.  Liberals such as Pelosi did so hope they did and would display it at some point.

The former Speaker was dead wrong about that too.

The new GOP government should heed the tea party on issues because a majority of Americans agree with them.  Following “the will of the governed” would  be a pleasant change.

First, oppose illegal immigration and secure the borders.  Then Join Arizona’s effort.  Next, repeal Obamacare and start all over.   Americans can’t trust that approach to healthcare – they are now learning the “death panels” are alive and well despite Democrat denials.  Follw that by stopping EPA conspiracies imposing Cap and Trade. Groceries already cost enough, and no one wants $8 a gallon gasoline.

Republicans led, by Congressman Spencer Bachus of Alabama, are set to take on and take out Fannie and Freddie – roots of the financial fiasco.  Then turn to taking apart the banking “reform” crafted by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank.  Bachus replaces Barney as Committee Chairman, and counts on Congressman Ron Paul’s Sub Committee leadership in dealing with the Fed and with Obama’s Treasury Secretary.

Conservatives now have the House leadership, and it remains to be seen how they use it.  They will get help from redistricting, and now have Senate control as almost as great a target as defeating Obama.

Obama has made himself a target by extreme moves that have run contrary to public opinion.  He has made Democrats who survived the mid-terms vulnerable to defeat.  Democrats point out Reagan and Bush were as unpopular as Obama is now, and yet won.  True.  But Obama is no Bush, and he is certainly no Reagan,

Obama has angered his base, and done little to win independents.  But he IS the incumbent, and that’s an advantage that can be huge. 

We’ll see.

Buddy

The Day’s top political News:

Obama sneaks death panels into Obamacare

Dec. 3, the Obama administration flouted the will of Congress by issuing a new Medicare regulation detailing "voluntary advance care planning" that is to be included during patients' annual checkups. The regulation aimed at the aged "may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment,"  according to the New York Times.

The new provision, which goes into effect Jan. 1, allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death. Critics say it is another attempt to limit healthcare options for the elderly as they face serious illness.

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner said during the healthcare debate: “This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.”. Specifically, the measure was known as Section 1233 of the bill the House passed in November 2009. It was not included in the final legislation, however. It allowed Medicare to pay for consultations about advance care planning every five years. In contrast, the new rule allows annual discussions as part of wellness visits.

Obama Embraces 'Death Panel' Concept in Medicare Rule

Liberals fear spending bill failure could come back to haunt Obama

Left-leaning think tanks already disappointed with President Obama's tax-cut compromise fear its political and economic benefits will be wiped out by budget cuts in the next Congress.

They argue Obama and congressional Democrats will come to regret not moving a yearlong continuing resolution or omnibus bill that would have locked in spending and administration policy for all of fiscal 2011.  Instead, Congress passed a stopgap spending bill during the lame duck session that funds the government only through  March 4.  Angst about the collapse of the over $1 trillion omnibus bill on Dec. 16, showed up quickly on far left websites. 

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/135139-liberals-fear-failure-on-spending-bill-may-come-back-to-haunt-obama

Surveying the field of RNC race: Priebus out front, but it's anyone's guess

No clear favorite has emerged in the race for RNC Chairman despite the election’s being less than a month away.

Conversations with a number of strategists close to the RNC - and its 168 voting members - suggest that none of the six candidates in the running are anywhere close to securing the 85 votes needed to claim the chairmanship.

But two tiers of candidates have begun to emerge, with the top three seen as potential winners and the bottom three regarded as longer shots. Given the number of undecided voters and the unpredictability of the ballot process, though, it's hard to count anyone out at the moment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/26/AR2010122601668.html

 

  

Friday's Web

Political Truth and Fact.com

Neither fair nor balanced, but absolutely factual

Obama’s Lame Duck – a last gasp for liberals

Media pundits are falling over each other these days, pumping up the recent Obama legislative scorecard as if the White House had suddenly found its sea legs and begun operating.  The “moribund” has suddenly gained momentum and produced the most successful Lame Duck session ever.

Some even go so far as to see an early rejection of the recent GOP sweep of the elections and even pronounce the civilian activism of the tea party movement dead.

It’s time for a reality check.

Obama did crowbar yet another round of unemployment payments,  but at a price of denying the tax increases liberals choose to call “Bush tax cuts for the wealthy”.  No point arguing the absurdity of the label right now – but the agreement was compromise, not victory.

The military gay ban was lifted, and there were even some Republican crossovers,  but liberals have been wotking on that issue for quite some time, and the actual ramifications will come in the field when real life collides with theory.  In such cases, real life always wins the day.

Obama lost his stealth amnesty scheme cunningly described as a “Dream Act”.  Furthermore, Republicans pronounce any plan for its resurrection in the upcoming sessions “DOA”.

Liberals yearning to describe the Lame Duck session as a prelude to Capitol Hill peace and harmony get a lump of political coal in their stocking from Ohio Representative, Jim Jordan, who will head the influential Republican Study Committee.  Proclaims Jordan: "Nov. 2 wasn't about working with the president, it's about stopping him."

Actions of the Lame Duck reflect none of the results of November 2.  Obama and his far left Democrat minions still held sway with dominating majorities in both houses, and with many of their members licking deep wounds of defeat, and scrambling to pack up and leave town.

Among Democrats who survived, they are having to move down a notch or two as they surrender their committee chairmanships.  Particularly delicious for a majority of Americans is the forced ouster of far left Democrat Barney Frank  Republican Spencer Bachus takes over with announced commitments to reform, rejection, and repair of damage Frank inflicted on the nation’s Financial Services.

Expect serious derailing of recent passage of a particularly extreme piece of legislation contrived by outgoing Senator Chris Dodd, and Frank.  Needless to say, a confluence of efforts by two such extreme lawmakers produced a bill in serious need of repeal.  Expect Bachus to bring big time enthusiasm to the job of unraveling.  Along with that, Bachus intends taking on and taking down the twin towers of government failure – Freddie and Fannie.

Faint hearts among ordinary Americans fearing the GOP will lapse into old habits and surrender to Capitol Hill tradition, can begin to smile a bit as Republican leaders such as  Bachus and Jordon sound the trumpets and gird for battle.

Of course Obama still controls the veto pen – but he must stand for appraisal by voters in just under two years.  He will have to defend his radical health scheme, a failing effort against illegal immigration, and a bucket-ful of unfulfilled promises and a bushel of out and out lies.

To quote Obama’s spiritual mentor and closest advisor, “the chickens have come home to roost”.

Buddy

 

The Day’s Top Political News:

GOP Battle cry for the New Congress: “It’s about stopping him!”

All the momentum President Barack Obama picked up at the tail end of the 111th Congress means he'll hit the partisan wall that much harder when the 112th Congress opens, according to liberal and conservative lawmakers who are girding for political warfare in January.

"Nov. 2 wasn't about working with the president," Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, new chairman of the influential and deeply conservative Republican Study Committee, told POLITICO Wednesday. "It's about stopping him."

It's the singular, not-on-my-watch determination of Jordan's wing of the GOP — bolstered by the coming influx of tea party Republicans in both chambers — that has many lawmakers convinced the deal-making lame-duck session will give way to a blood-feuding 112th Congress. Liberals are gearing up, too, ready to defend Obama when he takes up their causes and to treat him as a traitor when he embraces Republicans.

In this view, the old model of divided government producing results because each party has an incentive to prove it can govern is just that — an old model — in the polarized era. The past seven weeks of heavy legislative lifting can be written off as an anomaly — a deceptively harmonious interregnum or a calm before the storm.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46766.html#ixzz192nn1wZq

GOP Declares “Dream Act” Dead

Congressional Republicans are pronouncing President Obama's proposal that the next Congress overhaul the country's immigration laws as dead before arrival. In his year-end news conference Wednesday, Obama said his biggest regret about the recent lame-duck session of Congress was the defeat of the DREAM Act, a measure that offered a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.

Congressional Republicans said in interviews Thursday that their concerns about the measure remain strong, and both House and Senate GOP leaders said they would fight any attempt to legalize any of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country before the administration secured the nation's southern border with Mexico.

"It is pointless to talk about any new immigration bills that grant amnesty until we secure the border, since such bills will only encourage more illegal immigration," incoming House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) said in a statement. In an interview, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the House immigration subcommittee, accused Obama of playing politics with immigration and toying with Latino voters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/23/AR2010122303480.html

EPA sets the stage for expanded climate rules

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a schedule Thursday for setting greenhouse gas standards for power plants and oil refineries.While EPA is pledging a “common-sense” approach, the move is likely to escalate a battle between the Obama administration and Republicans, who argue climate regulations will hurt the economy. Members of the GOP are pledging to block the rules on Capitol Hill next year.

The agency plans to propose so-called performance standards for oil- and coal-fired power plants in July of 2011, and for refineries in December of 2011. The agency plans to finalize the power plant rules in May of 2012 and complete the refiner rules in November of 2012.

EPA has already completed rules that will begin to include carbon emissions in Clean Air Act permitting programs early next year. But those initial rules will only cover new and overhauled industrial plants with large emissions, and are applied on a case-by-case basis.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/134969-epa-sets-stage-for-expanded-climate-rules

 

Thursday's Web

 

Political Truth and Fact,com

Neither fair nor balanced, but totally factual

Liberals move to muzzle Internet free debate 

it is hardly difficult to figure why liberals are so intense in their efforts to reign in the Internet, after all it has been the free flow of information and discussion that has led to the massive rejection of far left politicians in general and the Democrat Party in particular .  It is notable to find far left zealots also rabidly opposed to talk radio – a medium that has helped fuel conservative consensus.  Face it, today, the American majority is conservative. 

This is reflected in their choices in radio and TV, as well as discussions on the Internet.

Liberals just hate those facts. Their versions of talk radio don’t survive in the free market.  While conservative talk radio prospers, liberal talk radio fails to attract sustainable audiences and thus survives only by unwilling taxpayers being forced to pony up tax dollars to keep NPR alive.  Liberal radio falls flat when left on its own.

Thanks to the unfettered freedom of the Internet, Americans are voting with their TV remotes and computer key boards.  The end result is domination by conservatives allowed to freely express honest choices – a majority opt for conservative choices. 

Now the FCC  is having  none of this and intends to muzzle Internet voices. 

It must be noted FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is a former law school friend of Obama and has worked closely with the White House on the issue dubbed “net neutrality”  (Official visitor logs show he's had at least 11 personal meetings with the president.  “Nuff said!”)

Thus the plot thickens.

Research reveals the campaign to regulate the Internet has been funded by a who's who of left-liberal foundations.  Surprise, surprise!

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, John Fund reports, “The net neutrality vision for government regulation of the Internet began with the work of Robert McChesney, a University of Illinois communications professor who founded the liberal lobby ‘Free Press’ in 2002. Mr.  McChesney's  agenda? -- at the moment, the battle over network neutrality is not to completely eliminate the telephone and cable companies,’ he told the website ‘Socialist Project’ in 2009. ‘But the ultimate goal is to get rid of the media capitalists in the phone and cable companies and to divest them from control.’

Fund continues, “a year earlier, Mr. McChesney wrote in the Marxist journal “Monthly Review” that ‘any serious effort to reform the media system would have to necessarily be part of a revolutionary program to overthrow the capitalist system itself.  “Mr. McChesney told me in an interview,” says Fund, “that some of his comments have been ‘taken out of context.’ He acknowledged that he is a socialist and said he was ‘hesitant to say I'm not a Marxist.’"

It is significant to note further, that Chairman Genachowski’s own press secretary. Jen Howard, once was in charge of media at Free Press.  Further, the chief “diversity” officer, Mark Lloyd, wrote a “Free Press” report calling for regulation of political talk radio.

In short, it is far left cadre members moving  to assure government control, and thus hobble the most effective weapon of conservatives: an honest flow of information, and a free exchange of ideas and thought.

This  proves once more that left wing philosophy does not survive free exchanges of opinion, just as liberal positions, proposals, and programs cannot survive the test of truth and fact. “Net nutrality” is emerging as another far left plot.  Ordinary A

Americans have a major stake in opposing the scheme and removing from positions of power, those who are its authors and supporters.  Freedom itself is at stake.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703886904576031512110086694.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop=’

Buddy

The day’s top political news:

Steven Spielberg Is Advising Nancy Pelosi on rebranding Democrats

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has turned to director Steven Spielberg for help rebranding House Democrats.

Lawmakers say she is consulting marketing experts about building a stronger brand. The most prominent of her new whisperers is Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director whose films have been works of branding genius. Lawmakers said Spielberg has not reported to Pelosi with a recommendation.

Spielberg has been a power player in Democratic politics for years, but, news that he is advising the leading Democrat in the House on building a strong party brand would seem to be a different -- and more expansive -- role than Spielberg has played in the past.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/democratic-party/steven-spielberg-advising-nanc.html

111th Congress comes to a close; new session begins on Jan. 5

The House has passed a motion to adjourn the 111th Congress “Sine Die”, bringing to a close Democrats four-year reign in the lower chamber. It also ended what has been the most productive lame-duck session in recent memory.

The House received a message informing it of an adjournment resolution passed earlier in the day by the Senate and moved to adjourn by voice vote, marking the end of Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) tenure as Speaker.
  
In the Senate, lawmakers rushed off the floor to catch planes home after casting their final two roll-call votes of the year on New START treaty and the nomination of Mary Helen Murguia to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit – the most liberal court in the land.  Senate Democrats and Republicans joined together to pass a string of major bills including ratification of the New START Treaty.

 

 http://thehill.com/homenews/house/134917-111th-congress-comes-to-a-close3

Congress Bars Gitmo Transfers

Wednesday, Congress passed legislation that would effectively bar the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. for trial, rejecting pleas from Obama administration officials who called the move unwise.

A defense authorization bill passed by the House and Senate included the language on the offshore prison, which President Barack Obama tried unsuccessfully to close in his first year in office. It also says the Pentagon can't spend money on any U.S. facility aimed at housing detainees moved from Guantanamo, in a slap at the administration's study of building such a facility in Illinois.

The Guantanamo ban was originally included in a broad appropriations bill earlier this month in the House, which died for unrelated reasons. At the time, Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter to congressional leaders calling the ban "an extreme and risky encroachment on the authority of the executive branch to determine when and where to prosecute terrorist suspects."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704774604576036520690885858.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5

 

Wednesday's Web

Political Truth and Fact.Com
Neither fair nor balanced, but absolutely factual

Harry Reid and the Democrat $1.2 trillion stocking stuffer

For  months, I have noted Democrats have yet to grasp the tea party movement or have any remote understanding of what it is or is all about.  I guess if far left Democrats understood the American people, or had any inclination to reflect their convictions and values, they would not be far left politicians in the first place.

Yesterday, Democrat Senate leadership proved that point, plus the point they also have no clue about what the recent mid-term election was all about. 

Those Senate Democrats filed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill  -- one they design to fund the government through fiscal year 2011.

The 1,924-page bill includes funding to implement Obamacare – a radical measure opposed by most Americans, and which had a major provision defeated in court earlier in the week.  The Democrat measure also includes  additional funds for hiring more Internal Revenue Service agents needed to implement some of the extremist provisions.

The bill includes over 6,000 earmarks – spending that totals $8 billion for local project seen as “pork”.  The raid on the treasury comes weeks after Washington swore off earmarks for their pet projects.  Some of the earmarks were filed earlier by Republicans, but the GOP pledged to reject such localized spending only a short time ago.  It is presumed, many of those GOP bills will be withdrawn.

Meanwhile , far left Democrats again demonstrate they have no clue about what the American people want or demand from their government.  They sneer at concerns regarding deficit spending and the national debt.  No wonder Democrats are presiding over a major job crisis.

Two years ago, as ordinary Americans began venting anger at what they see as government excesses and irresponsibility, liberal Democrats such as House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, airily dismissed the public reaction – claiming it was phony, something generated by insurance companies opposed to the Democrat health scam, and rather than legitimate grass root activism, they called it “Astroturf”.

Pelosi was not only wrong, she was dead wrong and proceeded to lead her fellow Democrats to one of the most massive defeats and rejections, ever.  She was convinced the “tea party” movement was racist in nature and prone to violence. Of course she was quite wrong on those assumptions too.

Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid is equally tone deaf.  Reid conspires behind closed doors to craft the radical Democrat health plan.  Reid clearly thinks he and his far left cohorts in the Senate, can continue operating in secret and doing whatever  they wish, no matter how extreme.

Reid developed the $1.2 trillion scheme without input or insight from other than a handful of insiders.  A result is an almost two thousand page bundle of spending demands, coming on the eve of Christmas, and with only a few days remaining in the lame duck session.  In the early days of January, Republicans take control of the House and increase their numbers in the Senate.  Reid faces more trying times when 2011 arrives.

It is coincidental that while Reid was dropping his incredible documented political dollar grab on the Senate, a thug was robbing a Casino in Reid’s own home town of Las Vegas.  Symmetry prevails.

Merry Christmas

Buddy

The day’s top political news:

Senate spending bill – costing more than one trillion dollars -- contains thousands of earmarks

WASHIINGTON POST: Weeks after swearing off earmarks, many senators stand to gain tens of millions of dollars for pet projects in a massive spending bill that could be their last chance at the money before a more conservative Congress begins next month.

The $1.2 trillion bill, released on Tuesday, includes more than 6,000 earmarks totaling $8 billion, an amount that many lawmakers decried as an irresponsible binge following a midterm election in which many voters demanded that the government cut spending.

The bill includes $18 million for two nonprofits associated with deceased Democrats, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Rep. John P. Murtha; $349,000 for swine waste management in North Carolina; and $6 million for a rural Iowa school program named after Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/133563-senate-dems-unveil-11t-omnibus-spending-bill-

Senate moves toward passage of Compromise extending tax cuts for all Americans

YAHOO:  The Senate is moving to pass a package Wednesday that would spare taxpayers at every income level from a significant tax increase on Jan. 1.

The package will then go to the House, where Democrats are fuming over extended tax breaks for the wealthy that President Barack Obama negotiated with Senate Republicans. House Democrats are considering possible changes, perhaps holding a vote to enact a higher estate tax than Obama negotiated. But even critics of the package say they expect it to pass as is.

Obama on Wednesday urged Congress to pass the plan quickly.  It faces opposition in the House, primarily from far left Democrats angry with the Obama Administration position.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tax_cuts

Congress' Job Approval Rating Worst in Gallup History

GALLUP:  Americans' assessment of Congress has hit a new low, with 13% saying they approve of the way Congress is handling its job. The 83% disapproval rating is also the worst Gallup has measured in more than 30 years of tracking congressional job performance. The prior low approval rating for Congress was 14% in July 2008 when the United States was dealing with record-high gas prices and the economy was in recession.

The current results are based on a Dec. 10-12 Gallup poll, conducted as Congress is finishing work on an important lame-duck session. The session has been highlighted by the agreement on taxes forged last week by President Obama and Republicans in Congress. The tax deal preserves the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates for all Americans for two years, revises the estate tax, extends unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed for a year, and reduces payroll taxes for American workers. It is expected to pass despite vocal opposition from some lawmakers.

Americans are generally more positive than negative toward the deal, but many Democrats in Congress oppose it. Frustration with the tax deal among Democrats in the general population could be a major reason for Americans' historically low approval rating of Congress. That frustration could be opposition to the bill's particulars or frustration with the Democrats in Congress opposing the president's deal. Democrats' approval of Congress is down significantly, to 16% now, from 29% in November. The November poll was conducted after Republicans won control of the House of Representatives for 2011-2012 in the midterm elections, so the drop in this month's numbers is not a reaction to the Democrats' midterm losses.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/145238/Congress-Job-Approval-Rating-Worst-Gallup-History.aspx

 

Tuesday's Web

Political Truth and Fact.Com
Neither fair nor balanced, but absolutely factual

The Ousting of Barney Frank, should bring honest cheer to the hearts of millions

As Congress works its way through its Lame Duck session, one of the more significant changes coming to Capitol Hill is the ouster of far left Democrat Barney Frank, and the replacing with Congressman Spencer Bachus – Republican of Alabama – rated the most conservative member of the Alabama Congressional delegation.

Bachus has served as the committee's top Republican on the Financial Services Committee since 2007.  He successfully secured the backing of House GOP leaders to be elected last week by party members to serve as the committee's chairman for the upcoming 112th Congress.

Financial Services is among the most important of committees in Congress.  It was known as the House Banking Committee in previous years.  In any case, the title says it all – it’s the committee providing Congressional oversight on banking and on all things financial.

These days, it doesn’t get more important than that.  Bachus will be challenged to repair a system suffering from liberal overreach, especially given the far left positions of the previous Chairman, the ultra liberal Barney Frank.  

Frank is viewed by many as a key player in creating the recent financial chaos. For example, Frank gave his assurance that Freddie and Fannie were secure, and, within weeks, both collapsed.  Crippling bank failures and bailouts followed.

During the Obama term, while badly outnumbered on the Committee, Bachus fought a determined battle against Chairman Frank.  Thoughts of Bachus taking over the office complex Frank ruled, and seeing Frank “head down the hall” to more modest digs, brings particular cheer to the hearts of dedicated conservatives who have watched Frank’s career.  The Massachusetts Democrat Congressman is symbolic of the liberal excess that marking the first two years of the Obama administration.

Bachus says one of his key priorities is to revamp, if not undo and unravel, much of the president's financial reforms including in the landmark Dodd-Frank Act passed in July.

Among the major objections to Dodd-Frank, is the institutionalizing of the concept of “too big to fail” … given the act’s provisions disguised as consumer protection, expanded and more aggressive government involvement in the operation of larger financial firms is feared.

One report on Bachus’ replacement of Frank described the Alabamian as a soft-spoken, reserved member of Congress “with few — if any — enemies on Capitol Hill or Wall Street”.

Says the new Financial Services Chairman: “I will honor our pledge to America and act on the priorities the American people delivered us last November" in the congressional elections, Mr. Bachus said. ‘We are going to protect taxpayers by ending 'too big to fail' and the administration's unlimited bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  The Bachus appointment of outspoken conservative Texas Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling as the committee's vice chairman will serve as  counterbalance and give Republicans a solid one-two punch on the panel, notes one write up.”

While such write ups focus on prospects of a “softer tone” in running Financial Services, such reports miss the mark.  Bachus has long been an effective member, and – per his ratings – a solid conservative as well.  Among his Co-chairmen will be Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who now has oversight dominion over the Federal Reserve.  Paul has long aggressively pushed for an audit of the Fed, and now has the power to – perhaps – make it happen.

As the new Congressional session arrives on Capitol Hill, expectations by a majority of Americans, seem headed toward fulfillment.  So far, Republicans are providing signals they fully grasp the message of the mid-terms and are deeply involved in plans to make that demands of that message real – or as real as it can get.

As the Lame Duck session ebbs, in politics as well as in the holidays, “hearts are merry and bright”.  Have another egg nog, take a seat by the fire, and watch as the story unfolds.  Already, Obamacare has taken a serious hit, and liberals have been forced to surrender on cutting taxes.  Hope remains alive.

Merry Christmas.

Buddy

The day’s top political news:

Federal judge in Va. strikes down part of health-care law

THE WASHINGTON POST: A federal judge in Virginia ruled Monday that it is unconstitutional for the government to compel Americans to buy health insurance, marking the first time a court has struck down any facet of the massive new law to overhaul the nation's health-care system.

Although the opinion by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson gives significant political ammunition to the law's opponents, it does not invalidate the entire law or force federal and state officials to stop the work of putting it into effect - steps Virginia had asked him to take.

The ruling by Hudson, named to the bench by George W. Bush, sets up a conflict with opinions by two Democratic-appointed judges who have concluded recently that the law is constitutional. The cases are among two dozen in federal courts across the country that challenge many aspects of the law. The final word is widely expected to come from the U.S. Supreme Court.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/13/AR2010121302420_pf.html

RNC Chairman Michael Steele says he will run for a second term.

USA TODAY:  The news was posted on the Twitter account of Saul Anuzis, a former Michigan GOP party chairman who is among several candidates seeking to oust Steele. The RNC will pick its chairman next month. Steele outlined his record during a conference call tonight with the 168-member committee. "I'm asking tonight for your support, I'm asking for another term," Steele said, according to an ABC News blog post.

The embattled Steele has come under fire for his financial management of the party. The committee is expected to play a key role in the 2012 presidential election, in which there will be a spirited fight among Republicans to take on President Obama.

Steele's fundraising and financial record will likely come up in the chairman's race. Steele and the party were embarrassed last spring by revelations that nearly $2,000 in RNC funds were spent at a lesbian bondage club.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2010/12/michael-steele-chairman-republican-national-committee-/1

Tax deal clears first test in Congress

REUTERS: Obama's bipartisan tax plan overwhelmingly passed its first test in Congress on Monday, even as a Wall Street ratings agency warned its damage to America's strained finances would outweigh any short-term economic boost.

The $858 billion package, which would keep lower income-tax rates from expiring at the end of the year, now heads to a final vote in the Senate on Tuesday or Wednesday, with a vote in the House of Representatives expected by the end of the week.

By a vote of 83 to 15, the measure easily cleared the 60-vote threshold needed for most legislation to advance in the 100-seat Senate. Both chambers of Congress could approve the bill by the end of the week, despite complaints from many Democrats that Obama has given away too much to the Republicans who will soon enjoy greater clout in Washington.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6A44K020101213

 

Monday's Web

Political Truth and Fact.Com
Neither fair nor balanced, but absolutely factual

Republicans must learn the lesson Democrats just provided

We arrive at a Monday in Washington during an interregnum between Congressional sessions and at a major chasm of political change.  Just two years ago, Democrats were taking over Washington with victories from the White House to the House of Representatives, with a swing by the US Senate.  The far left owned dominating majorities and the veto pen was safely sheathed.

Liberals stood positioned to impose their will on all Americans.

History will show they certainly tried.   Beginning by taking over major auto companies and financial institutions with massive bail outs, liberals moved for government take-over of health care.  Republicans, reduced to pitiful minorities, faced circumstances meaning any bi-partisan twitch would be surrender.  So Republicans hung together with unified opposition to Obama’s frivolous “stimulus” scam, and then with Obamacare and other measures. 

Meanwhile, grass root Americans revolted, found their voice and the grass root uprising known as the tea party movement began.  It was powerful.

As a result, voters handed Republicans a major victory in the mid-term elections and thus the nation looks toward January as a dénouement of the current political narrative.

James Lewis, writing in today’s American Thinker asks: “Want to know why the Democrats in Congress are mumbling (obscenities) regarding the president"? 

“Want to know why the Cancun mobsters are demanding world power for yesterday's climate fascism?

“This is Dunkirk, folks.  It's the Battles of Midway and Gettysburg rolled into one.  This is the watershed moment in history.

“This is where the Evil Empire gets its comeuppance. “

Concludes Lewis:“The next few years may be the most historic ones in our lives. “

Lewis is not alone in his evaluation.  Carl Hulse, writing in no less a liberal newspaper than the NY Times, says: “As House Democrats met privately to weigh the tax deal negotiated by the White House, an angry chant spontaneously rolled across the room.

 ‘“Just say no, just say no,’ rebellious lawmakers cried. Vulgar words were aimed at President Obama. Incensed members spoiled for a fight.

“The fury coursing through the meeting last Thursday in the basement of the Capitol was just the latest manifestation of the foul mood of House and Senate Democrats as they suffer through the final days of the 111th Congress, watching their power ebb while scores of them cast their last votes.”

The Times article concludes: “Many are having difficulty adjusting to their abruptly changed circumstances just two years after a triumphant inauguration of a new president who sealed Democratic hegemony over Washington. Deepening the wound is the fact that Democrats are still in charge, yet the White House struck its tax deal mainly with Senate Republicans.“

Thus Democrats stand amid the rubble of the empire they thought was dawning 24 months ago.  Their defeat will no doubt usher in major changes in government operations – more than simply a conventional shift in party power.

Republicans provided a matrix on which effective resistance to the liberal wave could be built by ordinary Americans outraged by liberal extremism.  But the GOP sweep is a product, not of Republican conversions, but of grass root resistance to far left government ordinary Americans opposed.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a major contributor to the massive defeat of her party.  By election day, Pelosi and her policies were as much motivation for emotional opposition to Democrats as were those of Obama himself.

Thus, the great political divide at which we stand today.  As much as Republicans might claim they won, Democrats – especially Pelosi and the President – lost.  Most of all, ordinary American voters won.

Political equations have shifted, and new rules will govern Washington in the new session of Congress.  As they take controls once more, Republicans should keep in mind how the arrogant actions of Democrats angered voters and inspired reaction.  Forget back room deals, and comfortable compromise.  Voters want action to fulfill the perceived promise of the election.  They will be keeping close tabs on the direction GOP leadership takes, and hold them responsible – as they did the Democrats.

So far, Republicans are on the proper path.  They should be encouraged to continue.

Buddy 

The Day’s Top Political News:

Federal Judge to Rule on Health Law's Constitutionality

WALL STREET JOURNAL: A Virginia federal judge is expected to rule today on whether the Obama administration's health law violates the Constitution, opening a new stage in the administration's defense of its biggest legislative achievement.

The ruling by District Judge Henry E. Hudson is perhaps the most significant so far among a slew of state-based legal challenges to the law, which also faces attack by newly resurgent Republicans in Congress. More than 20 federal lawsuits have been filed against the health overhaul since President Barack Obama signed it in March.

While the cases differ somewhat, they largely rest on the argument that Congress lacks constitutional authority to require most Americans to carry health insurance or pay a fee. The Obama administration counters that three clauses of the Constitution gave Congress the power to put the requirement, known as the individual mandate, in the law as part of regulating how people pay for health care. The Virginia challenge is led by that state's attorney general, Republican Ken Cuccinelli. Separately, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola, Fla., on Thursday will hear arguments in a challenge brought by officials in 20 states. He could offer the clearest indication yet of how he will rule.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704058704576015631138296112.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth

Poll: Obama's losing support; Romney would beat him now

McCatchy: President Barack Obama's approval ratings have sunk to the lowest level of his presidency, so low that he'd lose the White House to Republican Mitt Romney if the election were held today, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.

The biggest reason for Obama's fall: a sharp drop in approval among Democrats and liberals, apparently unhappy with his moves toward the center since he led the party to landslide losses in November's midterm elections. At the same time, he's gained nothing among independents.

The poll was taken from Dec. 2 through Wednesday, as the president proposed a two-year freeze on federal civilian workers' pay and cut a deal with congressional Republicans to extend expiring tax cuts — even those for the wealthy, which he'd opposed. Overall, just 42 percent of registered voters approve of how he's doing his job, while 50 percent disapprove.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/12/10/105105/poll-obamas-losing-support-romney.html#ixzz180B9ir5u

New Appropriations Republicans vow to slash spending quickly

THE HILL: The nine new Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee are united in espousing the new GOP appropriations mantra: make deep cuts to spending, and make them quickly. House Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) has vowed weekly votes on spending cuts starting in January, and the Appropriations committee will be charged with drafting rescission bills to make that happen.

New committee members interviewed by The Hill on Friday identified unspent stimulus money and the Obama healthcare reform bills as high on their list of targets for cuts. They said a more careful approach has to be taken with defense spending.

Whether the new committee members will, in the long run, remain true to their rhetoric about fiscal restraint is an open question. Some of the GOP lawmakers interviewed expressed some unease with the voluntary earmarks moratorium that Republicans in the House and Senate adopted last month.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/appropriations/133277-new-appropriations-republicans-vow-to-slash-spending-deeply-quickly

 

Sunday's Web

Political Truth and Fact.Com
Neither fair nor balanced, but absolutely factual

As Republicans move into offices won in their mid-term sweep, among their political priorities should be cleaning up the elective process, and the voter registration rolls.  Most of these sorts of reforms must come at state levels and under the sponsorship of the new and re-elected Republican governors.

Vote theft and fraud is widespread.  In fact, it is a major strategy of liberal Democrats.

As the American Thinker notes, George Soros, the billionaire money man for far left Democrat causes and candidates, initiated a now infamous Secretary of State Project (SOS) specifically designed to manipulate elections. A Thinker article, “Vote Fraud as a Democrat Strategy” by Peter Raymond, notes “Soros openly boasts that financing the campaigns of far left ideologues was one of his better "political investments."   Gloating over his brainchild is not unfounded since it has proven to be highly effective in winning key secretary of state seats and advancing the progressive agenda.”  (Secretaries of State usually have dominion over the elective processes of states)

Raymond says further that, “SOS cofounder Becky Bond of San Francisco revealed the SOS's objective in 2006 when she said, ‘Any serious commitment to wrestling control of the country from the Republican Party must include removing their political operatives from deciding who can vote and whose votes will count.’  It certainly does not sound like free and fair elections were part of her calculus”, observes Raymond.

Voter fraud has long been an integral part of the political process, especially throughout the South, and specifically on the part of Democrats.  Part of the southern problem stems from the iron-clad control of the political system Democrats enjoyed for generations.  Some Democrat Parties in the South, blocked voting by Blacks as recently as the mid 1960s.  When Republicans began offering competitive candidates and campaigns, many Democrat officials reacted venomously.  Often, when Republicans attempted to protest illegal actions, their lawyers were put in a serious bind – challenging the integrity of elected Democrat officials in front of a Democrat judiciary with whom they would have to deal in their daily practice, the conflict usually resulted in a lack of action.

Using such political operatives as deputy sheriffs, Democrats worked their way through nursing homes, illegally voting for elderly patients who had no remote idea of what was going on.  Such politicians referred to the practice as “voting vegetables”.

Lately, a Houston, Texas group called the King Street Patriots (KSP) have attempted to expose voter fraud and, as a result, have been harassed and sued.

A vehement reaction to their efforts for achieving honest elections, comes from  Texans for Public Justice and Texans Together Education Fund.  The Open Society Foundation funds such groups, according to Raymond.  George Soros funds the Open Society Foundation.  Surprise, surprise.

Seeing a group whose title suggests a connection to education as part of the Soros Cabal is of little surprise as well, teacher’s unions are up to their necks in political shenanigans.  The largest teacher’s union, the National Education Associations, operates in such a partisan manner, it is widely considered an organic arm of the Democrat Party.  It is powerful.

In Alabama, particularly, its state level operation, the AEA, has long dominated state government.  Fortunately, Republicans recently swept Alabama legislative races and ethics reform is high on their stated goals.  Unfortunately, it has been revealed the AEA sponsored a cover operation through a phony GOP group, played a major role in the election of the new Republican governor.

The Alabama gubernatorial scandal is only one matter.  Abilities to distort, twist, and even steal elections exist in a rich environment of opportunity. A study in 2009 found 16 million dead or ineligible voters are on registration rolls nationwide. Groups such as Obama’s own ACORN are accused of using such a condition to generate widespread vote fraud.  ACORN has been prosecuted in more than a dozen states.

Wall Street Journal pundit, John Fund has observed the National Voting Rights Act establishes "fraud-friendly rules" which makes "fraud and foul-ups in election counts possible.  Democrat-dominated governments in Washington have enacted other invitations to registration fraud – such as the Motor Voter Act and other measures designed to make registration easier.  Common sense leads any serious observer to note such simplicity also provides easy avenues for fraud, theft and other forms of political corruption.

The Houston volunteer group deserves major applause for its efforts to clean up politics in its area.   The vicious reaction by liberal groups underscores just how effective the Houston Group has been.  It also reveals how deeply involved in supporting political malfeasance are far left liberals such as George Soros.

An American public, aroused and motivated to act – as was the case with the tea party movement – is needed to clean up the process.  The fight will have to be state-by-state, and even county by county.  It will be tedious and hard.  But it must be done.

Nothing less than our freedom and liberty is at stake. When they steal our elections they deny us both.

Buddy

The Day’s Top Political News:

Gas pump prices close in on average $3 a gallon

YAHOO NEWS: The average price of a gallon of gasoline this week continued to march steadily to $3 a gallon. In some parts of the country, it's above that already.

On Friday the average price of a gallon of regular across the U.S. was almost $2.98, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's up 2 cents from Monday and 10 cents more than a week ago. Drivers on the West Coast pay an average $3.21 a gallon. Gas is about $3.09 a gallon in New England, $3.05 in the Mid-Atlantic states, $2.98 around the Great Lakes and $2.82 in the Southwest.

A dime more a gallon may not sound like much, but it adds up to $40 million more out of the driving public's pocket. The rising price of oil has pushed up gasoline prices. Crude has climbed about 5 percent in the past 10 days, and on Tuesday it topped $90 for the first time in over two years. On Friday, benchmark oil lost 58 cents to settle at $87.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Gas-pump-prices-close-in-on-apf-2605246459.html?x=0&.v=1

Holder reassures Muslims of DOJ's anti-bias focus

MY WAY NEWS: Attorney General Eric Holder has reiterated his resolve to prosecute hate crimes while standing behind the methods used in anti-terrorism cases during a speech before a Muslim advocacy group near San Francisco.

Speaking to Muslim Advocates, a San Francisco-based group, Holder told the group that he's heard from many Muslim and Arab Americans who feel uneasy and singled out by law enforcement. The organization is one of several groups voicing concerns over hate crimes, alleged rights violations at the hands of law enforcement and the tactics used in anti-terrorism cases.

Carefully-crafted sting operations by FBI and Justice Department officials have included plots against a Portland, Ore., Christmas celebration, Dallas skyscrapers, Washington subways, a Chicago nightclub and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101211/D9K1L4081.html

Liberals Using Intimidation to Protect their vote fraud strategies

AMERICAN THINKER: A Houston, Texas group – KSP – received national attention earlier this year when their initiative, True the Vote, discovered "numerous incomplete, inaccurate or false voter registrations."  KSP volunteers pored over voter rolls "double-checking all registrations" and even photographed vacant lots and non-existent addresses given on voter registration forms to validate their findings. 

The reaction from the leftist goons has predictably followed the Saul Alinsky playbook for radicals.  Texans Together Education Fund and the Texas Democrat Party sued KSP while Texans for Public Justice filed an ethics complaint in an attempt to "bind and gag" KSP volunteers.  At the same time, progressive bloggers and websites launched a malicious smear campaign to discredit KSP efforts. George Soros, through his Open Society Foundation, funds Texans for Public Justice and Texans Together Education Fund. 

Voter fraud has become a pivotal strategy for the progressives.  This is why they are coordinating such vicious attacks against honest citizens working to combat electoral corruption.  Only with chicanery can collectivists successfully implement their social justice agenda rejected by most Americans.  The uprooting of voter fraud jeopardizes the left's delusional aspirations, so they feel justified in using every despicable trick to thwart the efforts of groups like KSP.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/12/vote_fraud_as_a_democrat_start.html

 

Saturday's Web

Political Truth and Fact.Com

Neither fair nor balanced, but absolutely factual

Bill Clinton takes over the White House podium – maybe the party itself

Consider the morning’s political realities:

The top political story is best entitled “The Return of Bill Clinton”.  (The Freddie Kruger of politics.)  For conservatives, its a horror story marked by a potential reprise of years in which a GOP Congress fought and struggled against  liberal Democrats who owned the White House.

Things were bad enough for Obama going into Friday. He was forced to concede he is still unable to bring members of his own party – especially the far left remnants – on board with a compromise bill gaining yet another extension of unemployment benefits.  However the price of that victory is the extension of tax cuts for all Americans – including that productive element of society making more than $250,000 a year.

In case no one has noticed it, Democrats – especially far left Democrats – hate successful people.  Leftists are perpetually jealous of success and remain victims of waves of envy mixed with tremors of insecurity and self doubt.  They cover up their psychological problems with arrogance and with claims of sympathy for victims and wishes to “do good”.  It’s all farce, of course, and the victims are often manipulated.

Those conversant with the debate, long ago deciphered the leftist mindset and understand the deep seated mania for spreading government control to all segments of society. Big Government, more control.

Strangely, Clinton was a beneficiary of massive defeat, but Clinton is lucky, if nothing else.  His administration was marked with scandal.  But politics can produce limited memory.  Selective recall can be wide spread among voters.

Today such voters believe Clinton presided over prosperous times, and happy days.  They forget the dark moments, and ignore such things as Clinton’s total refusal to effectively deal with terror attacks by radical Islam.

What is also forgotten is Clinton’s economic success was generated by Newt’s Republican Congress.  One important fact – Clinton was dead set against a balanced budget; But Newt and his associates, dragged the Democrat President, kicking and screaming, to approving the idea.  Today, many American voters give credit for such legislative success to Clinton. 

Obama, meanwhile, has presided over a Democrat squandering of massive political power while also squandering billions upon billions of tax dollars. Records for increasing the national debt have been set within the limits of just half his term.

Last week end, Obama announced a compromise through which Republicans agree to extend unemployment payments.  To get the agreement, Obama caved on his opposition to a universal extension of the GOP-favored tax cuts.  Obama crafted the agreement with Republicans, behind closed doors, and without participation of elements of his own party – after all, extending the tax cuts before the year ends, is crucial to prevent a tax increase on all Americans.

The most extreme segment of the Democrat far left, went ballistic immediately. Vice President Joe Biden was dispatched to Capitol Hill twice.  Biden held  meetings with Democrats – meetings designed to bring enough Democrats on board to pass the compromise.  Biden failed.

As the week waned, so did the likelihood Obama could bring his party on board.  He stands a political figure with his power and stature oozing from a multitude of wounds.  He is becoming more desperate by the day.

Friday, he called a news conference in which he would deal with questions regarding the compromise.  At the time, probability of success among liberals remained dim.  In fact, as the news conference opened, Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed Socialist, was engaging in an old-fashioned filibuster against the compromise. 

Suddenly, a bright light of hope broke through – Bill Clinton joined Obama at the News Conference podium.  It was awkward and took only minutes for Clinton to capture the entire center of attention.  Signaling defeat, Obama signaled defeat by excusing himself and surrendering the White House podium – and the official White House news conference to Bill Clinton.  As is his want, Clinton was not brief. He spoke for over twenty minutes.  In the end, what Clinton said is of little importance.  That Clinton appeared on stage as the designated political savior of Democrats, is the story.

At a time in which Obama’s handling of the office of president is at low levels, and in the immediate wake of an overwhelming  GOP mid-term victory many Democrat operatives are mumbling about replacing Obama on the 2012 ticket.

How amazing to see Bill Clinton step forward and take over the White House podium at such a moment!  The cavalry was arriving to save the day!

Democrats are applauding Clinton – not what he said –  but cheering Clinton as savior.  They ended the week with Bill Clinton, not Barack Obama standing as their leader.

Meanwhile, Bill’s wife, Hillary, made a political move: under cover of retiring the debt from her presidential campaign, a massive and aggressive fund raising effort began.

A lot of money will be raised.  More importantly, success will signal Hillary can produce a lot of power at this particular moment.  With Bill making his move in conjunction with Hillary’s solicitations, the table is set.  Hillary’s fund raising will signal her popularity – greater popularity given Bill’s timely re-appearance on the political stage.  Maybe Democrats can now see a glimmer of hope.  Where there is Hillary, there is Bill.  Seldom have Democrats needed help more – nor is there any other Democrat politician who can rally the troops faster than Bill, with Hillary at his side.  Or even, the other way around.  It doesn’t matter and all is forgiven.

That’s the state of politics as this week ends.  Make of it what you will.

Buddy

The Day’s Top Political News:

Clinton Becomes Stand-in President at White House News Conference

YAHOO: Reprising his performance years ago, speaking on and one at a Democrat Convention, Bill Clinton startled the West Wing in a surprise appearance with Obama.  Clinton stalks where Obama fears to tread.

Clinton met reporters to let it be known that he endorsed the tax deal that Obama cut with the Republican Party, even though many Democrats were raising a fuss about it.

Clinton in his element, like he had never left. And almost like he wasn't going to leave this time. For one remarkable half hour, Clinton turned a seemingly slow Friday afternoon into his stage. He tutored in loving detail about economic theory and nuclear disarmament. He was short on time, yet somehow found some for just one more question. He bit on his lip and spread his arms as he spoke and did all those other familiar gestures.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/At-Obamas-side-Clinton-backs-apf-4065249916.html?x=0&.v=1

Sen. Bernie Sanders 'Filibusters' Tax Cut Deal

NPR: Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Socialist who conferences with Democrats, launched a filibuster at 10:30 a.m. Friday against President Obama's tax cut compromise with congressional Republicans. He shows no sign of letting up. He has vowed to go as long as he can. But it’s all nothing but political theater.

He's getting occasional help from other senators. Democrats Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Mary Landrieux of Louisiana have come to the floor to assist him. He also has a Twitter feed going where you can follow along. Sanders has blasted the deal since it was announced earlier in the week because it extends the Bush-era tax cuts to all the income of the nation's wealthiest.

If Sanders' speech threatened to get in the way of the debate and vote on the tax cut legislation, Sen. Harry Reid would most likely get enough votes to get past Sanders, between the Senate Republicans and Democrats who would v

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2010/12/10/131966984/sen-bernie-sanders-filibusters-tax-cut-deal

US Posts $150.4 Billion November Budget Deficit

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: The U.S. government ran its 26th straight monthly budget deficit in November amid wrangling over a package that would extend big tax cuts to Americans trying to recover from recession.

The Treasury Department, in its regular budget monthly statement, said the government spent $150.4 billion than it collected in the second month of fiscal 2011. The U.S. government ran its 26th straight monthly budget deficit in November amid wrangling over a package that would extend big tax cuts to Americans trying to recover from recession.

The Treasury Department, in its regular budget monthly statement, said the government spent $150.4 billion than it collected in the second month of fiscal 2011.

Washington has spent in excess of $1 trillion during each of the last two fiscal years, as revenues were reduced by the deep recession. At the same time, the economic slump and Wall Street bailout raised the government's expenses.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704457604576011683555582342.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLTopStories