tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90170577396224156252024-03-07T00:38:18.059-08:00Things Worth ReadingHelp this publication grow. <B>Please pass on to friends!</B>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3703125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-43876316808753701742013-05-29T21:37:00.000-07:002013-05-29T21:37:43.201-07:00Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice imprisoned for fraud<div style="background-color: white;">
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<a href="http://media2.wxyz.com//photo/2013/05/28/Former_Justice_Diane_Hathaway_sentenced__621580000_20130528232347_640_480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://media2.wxyz.com//photo/2013/05/28/Former_Justice_Diane_Hathaway_sentenced__621580000_20130528232347_640_480.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jim Kouri</span></strong><br />
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A<span style="color: black;"> bank fraud suspect</span> who once sat on the bench of the highest court in the state of Michigan will be spending the next year of her life behind bars, the U.S. Attorney's office reported on Tuesday.<br />
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<span style="color: black;">Diane M. Hathaway</span>, a former Michigan Supreme Court Justice, was sentenced <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1856554435" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Tuesday</span></span> to one year and one day in federal prison after having pleaded guilty in January to committing bank fraud in connection with a property in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.<br />
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Judge Hathaway resigned after the <span style="color: black;">Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission</span> called for her suspension in January 2013. The<strong> </strong>Commission<strong></strong> recommended Hathaway's immediate suspension from the court while the matter was investigated. As a result of the action, Hathaway announced her resignation from the court. Since Hathaway retired, this matter no longer falls within the jurisdiction of the Judicial Tenure Commission.<br />
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At the time of her plea before U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara, the <span style="color: black;">58-year-old Democrat </span>admitted that between 2010 and 2011, she "knowingly engaged in a scheme" to defraud ING Direct bank by concealing assets from the bank to qualify for a “short sale.”<br />
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According to the prosecutor, a short sale is the forgiveness of debt by the bank to a borrower who claims financial hardship.<br />
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Besides her 366-days in prison, <span style="color: black;">Hathaway</span> was ordered to pay restitution to the ING in the amount of $90,000.<br />
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She will also serve two-years on probation once released from prison.<br />
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Michigan Attorney General Schuette said, “Public corruption scandals have damaged the public’s trust in government and tarnished our state’s reputation. No matter who you are or what position you hold, the same rules apply. I supported U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade’s request for prison time, and I appreciate her efforts, along with those of FBI Special Agent in Charge Bob Foley, to bring this case to a close.”<br />
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Matt Frendewey, director of communications for the <span style="color: black;">Michigan Republican Party</span>, issued the following statement: </div>
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"Justice Hathaway's real estate scam involved transferring properties out her and her husband's name into the name of their children in order to obtain a short sale. Her actions are offensive to the many Michigan families who have faced difficult times during Michigan's economic down turn. As a justice on the highest court in Michigan, Hathaway's involvement in the alleged scam, the FBI investigation, and today's [event] undermines her ability to effectively sit in a position of judgment over Michigan citizens and the state's judicial system."</blockquote>
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<span lang="0" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>Jim Kouri, CPP, is founder and CEO of Kouri Associates, a homeland security, public safety and political consulting firm. He's formerly Fifth Vice-President, now a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, a columnist for Examiner.com, a contributor to KGAB radio news, and news director for NewswithViews.com.<br /><br /><br />He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at St. Peter's University and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.<br /><br /><br />In addition, he's a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (</strong></span><a href="http://www.kgab.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>www.kgab.com</strong></span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>) and editor of Conservative Base Magazine (</strong></span><a href="http://www.conservativebase.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>www.conservativebase.com</strong></span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.<br /><br /><br />He holds a bachelor of science in Criminal Justice from Southwest University and SCI Technical School in New York City and completed training at the NYC Police Academy, FBI Continuing Education Program, and the Certified Protection Professional (CPP) of the American Society for Industrial Security.<br /><br />Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc. </strong></span></i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-31154161257750493712013-05-29T21:35:00.000-07:002013-05-29T21:38:15.940-07:00Envy, Covetousness and the Cold, Clear Fire of Hell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://davidjosephhorn.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/helllakeoffire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://davidjosephhorn.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/helllakeoffire.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1977 British journalist William Rees-Mogg saw that the West had lost its faith, and like a fish out of water or a drowning man was,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"...</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">desperately thrashing around for lack of oxygen. Since the time of Christ there has been no period in which there has been the same feeling of...spiritual impoverishment</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Idols for Destruction: The Conflict of Christian Faith and American Culture,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Herbert Schlossberg, p. 2)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thirty-six years later, but for a faithful remnant, Christendom is dead and America's idolatrous, nihilistic post-Christian culture and narcissistic postmodern church are quickly following suit. While there are as yet many faithful churches, priests, evangelists, distinguished Christian laypeople and missionaries here in America and around the world proclaiming Christ crucified for the sins of all men and fulfilling their vocations with humility and integrity, the culturally-relevant church of "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what's happening now</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">," the contemporary Church consisting of trendy, disaffected Roman and Eastern Orthodox Catholics and 'new' Protestant evangelicals practice a spirituality that is Christian in name only, a spirituality that is trivial, irreverent, self-affirming, fun-loving, irrelevant, and permissive to the point of practicing abortion:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"…</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the practice of abortion by Christians is spiritual prostitution to an idol, defiles God's sanctuary and profanes His holy name. God alone is the Author of life and it is not the creature's prerogative to question the Creator's wisdom in bringing to life a fellow human being at conception. Whenever men disregard their Creator's wise judgment by destroying His innocent creation, they are serving another god. They are, in fact, spiritually prostituting themselves to the idolatrous self whom they believe is wiser in its value judgments</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abortion and the Ancient Practice of Child Sacrifice</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Andrew White, MD, 1/5/2012, Associates for Biblical Research)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What the faithful remnant have not forgotten but our narcissistic secular culture and culturally relevant church has, is that whoever keeps God's commandments loves God (John 14:21) while the reverse is true for those who do not:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbour as thyself</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." Luke 10:27</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The end of the commandment is charity (love) from a pure heart, a good conscience and unfeigned faith. (1 Thess. 1:5) He that loves his neighbor fulfills the law for he does not lie, commit adultery or murder, nor does he steal, bear false witness (i.e., slander, gossip), and covet/envy.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Charity works no evil. It is not perversely puffed up with pride. It is not ambitious, does not serve ‘self,’ it thinks no evil, does not covet and neither rejoices in another man's misery nor derides truth and virtue as the envious do:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When men are full of envy, they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (Publius Cornelius Tacitus)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nothing sharpens sight like envy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (Thomas Fuller, British clergyman and writer, 1608-1661)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pride is seldom delicate, it will please itself with very mean advantages; and envy feels not its own happiness, but when it may be compared with the misery of others</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (Samuel Johnson, British poet, critic, writer, 1709-1784)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Winston Churchill, British orator, author and Prime Minister during World War II, 1874-1965)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I say that Marxism is based on envy, I mean that the glorious revolution of the proletariat...was really a promise to put a final end to all the conditions that make for envy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." (Joseph Epstein, author and former editor of The American Scholar, from Truths about Socialism, Coral Ridge Ministries, p. 66)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Envy/covetousness is the principle of negation and rebellion in the fallen soul of every man and woman and has played a part in human dynamics ever since the envy-bitten Cain murdered his brother Abel.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dorothy Sayers, who translated Dante's Inferno where pride and envy were punished in the lowest part of hell called envy </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">'the great leveler</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.' At its worst,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"...</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">it is a destroyer---rather than have anyone happier than itself, it will see us all miserable together</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." (ibid, p. 66)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dante described the lowest part of Hell as ice. Interestingly it was "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">clear cold fire</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" that Alice Baily saw as she came ever closer to the Hierarchy (spirit masters) by way of transcendental meditation. Baily preferred 'self' to God and other people and is one of the important contributors to the concepts and language of the New Age movement, a modern mixture of occultism, spiritism, eastern mysticism, subjectivism (everyone invents their own truth), philosophical monism (ultimate one substance), pantheism (everything is god) and self-centeredness.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Baily was an apostate Christian who negated the living supernatural triune God, heaven, hell and substitutionary atonement. She viewed other people as dehumanized 'vehicles,' taught that Christ's Kingdom is of this world, asserted her own divinity, embraced evolutionary conceptions, eugenics, abortion, revolutionary violence, communism and socialism.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As she approached the Hierarchy (or lowest part of Hell), she said,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"...darkness is pure spirit" </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and each </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"contact with the Initiator leads the initiate closer to the centre of pure darkness---a darkness which is the very antithesis of darkness...It is a centre or point of such intense brilliance that everything fades out and at the place of tension, and at that darkest point</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (we) </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">see a point of cold clear fire</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">False Dawn: The United Religious Initiative, Globalism, and the Quest for a One-World Religion</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Lee Penn, p. 283)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Decalogue shows that the beginning of envy is pride (preference for self over God and neighbor), since a proud man or elite group of men (i.e., Cain, Alice Baily, Karl Marx, Obama, global power complex) make idols out of themselves, thereby assuming they possess honor and rights. This is why pride leads to contempt for truth, law, wisdom, norms, authority, standards, rules, institutions and other people in combination with any or all of the following: lying, treachery, gluttony, greed, covetousness, lust, hate, cheating, promiscuity, sadism, sodomy, pederasty, pedophilia, adultery, theft and the dehumanization of other people resulting in psychological and physical slavery, population control schemes, abortion, brutality, terror, murder and even mass-murder or genocide. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In many respects, modern Americans and Western Europeans are the unwitting dupes and serfs of a coalition of monstrously envious/covetous elitist international bankers and corporatists, a global power complex that for over a century has been stealthily preparing its’ serfs to submit to a totalitarian socialistic world order that requires the liquidation of millions of people. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In his opus, “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tragedy and Hope</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” Dr. Carroll Quigley deliberately reveals the existence of this leviathan of political and economic power poised to seize control of the planet. Right from the start said Quigley, the complex has been controlling and manipulating Left-wing groups:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“…</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the power that….Left-wingers exercised was never their own power or communist power but…the power of the international financial coterie</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (Tragedy and Hope, p. 954)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Karen Hudes, a former insider at the World Bank affirms Quigley’s claim. She reports that a treacherous global financial system dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve dominate the pillars of America's government and control the media to cover up its crimes:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is really going on is that the world’s resources are being dominated by this group</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,” she explained, adding that the “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">corrupt power grabbers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” have managed to dominate the media as well. “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They’re being allowed to do it</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">World Bank Insider Blows Whistle on Corruption</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Federal Reserve</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Alex Newman, New American, 22 May 2013)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hudes, an attorney who spent some two decades working in the World Bank’s legal department, has observed the machinations of the criminal network up close:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I realized we were now dealing with something known as state capture, which is where the institutions of government are co-opted by the group that’s corrupt... The pillars of the U.S. government — some of them — are dysfunctional because of state capture; this is a big story, this is a big cover up</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” (ibid)<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" />Like Karl Marx and Alice Bailey, the individual ‘power grabbers’ have made idols out of themselves and are fueled by envy/covetousness and thoughts of death on a global scale. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Envy/covetousness is a major theme in the Law, Psalms, Prophets and New Testament. Scripture combines envy with pride, covetousness and selfishness into a single manifestation of idolatry of self and belief that there isn't enough 'good' to go around, hence the idolater’s burning compulsion to destroy by way of gossip, slander, ridicule, scorn and destructive criticism the good name and spiritual virtues of people who are the objects of envy as well as to consolidate all goods (i.e., recognition, honor, status, privilege, wealth, natural resources) into the hands of one or a privileged few.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Envy/covetousness ultimately leads to abortion (child sacrifice) and other forms of murder including genocide. Among the self-serving social elite of Punic Carthage for example, the institution of child sacrifice may have assisted in the consolidation and maintenance of family wealth, of eliciting favors from the gods, and as a convenient way of disposing of unwanted and illegitimately conceived babies.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1921 the largest cemetery of sacrificed infants in the ancient Near East was discovered at Carthage. Hundreds of burial urns filled with the cremated bones of infants, mostly newborns but even some children up to six years of age were uncovered at Carthage. All of the victims had been burned to death on the altars of self-serving idolatrous men and women.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The actual rite of child sacrifice at Carthage has been graphically described by Diodorus Siculus:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was in their city a bronze image of Cronus extending its hands, palms up and sloping toward the ground, so that each of the children when placed thereon rolled down and fell into a sort of gaping pit filled with fire." (Abortion and the Ancient Practice of Child Sacrifice</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Andrew White, MD, 1/5/2012, Associates for Biblical Research)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plutarch, a first and second century A.D. Greek author, adds to the description:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"...</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the whole area before the statue was filled with a loud noise of flutes and drums so that the cries of wailing should not reach the ears of the people</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." (ibid)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Church Father Tertullian condemns child sacrifice, saying that no matter how it is rationalized, it is still murder:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"....</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">murder is once for all forbidden; so even the child in the womb, while yet the mother's blood is still being drawn on to form the human being, it is not lawful to destroy. To forbid birth is only quicker murder. It makes no difference whether one take away the life once born or destroy it as it comes to birth. He is a man, who is to be a man, the fruit is always present in the seed</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." (Tertullian, Apologeticus IX.- 6, 8)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today our land is being filled with the blood of innocent babies, spilled not on the altars of Cronus, but in butcher shops run by men like Kermit Gosnell, the executioner who murdered the unwanted and illegitimately conceived babies of self-serving Americans.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The beginning of idolatry is pride (or self-esteem), which together with selfishness demonstrates preference for one's self instead of God and neighbor (and unwanted babies), and just as no violation of the Law can occur without one first being an idolater, envy/covetousness and murder are its' final results, for where ‘self’ is primary then ‘self’ deserves everything it can get, no matter the cost to other people.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Envy/covetousness will even drive men so far as to conceptualize the murder of God (theocide) as exemplified by Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Teilhard de Chardin and Alice Baily.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Death by Envy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">," Fr. George R.A. Aquaro points out that Christ's earthly ministry centered on convicting the world of idolatry by provoking people (represented by the Pharisees) to envy and then murder. By becoming the scapegoat, Jesus Christ allows mankind to place their sins upon Him so that we might repent at the sight of His blood. (p. 101)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The tragedy of the fall is that man has lost his introspection. Judas had no hope of looking within himself and seeing his own personal envy which inevitably destroyed him. The Cross is thus a messenger of mankind's envy/covetousness and murderous intentions. Therefore we are obliged to search ourselves for envy and its root cause, idolatrous self-centeredness, and repent of them because,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Look, I am coming soon! Says the Lord. My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Rev. 22:12-16) </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everything that has been thought, said and done will be revealed. There is nothing "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">covered that shall not be revealed; nor hidden that shall not be known</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" (Luke 12:2) and just as it is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"...appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" (Heb. 9:27) so there will be eternal life in Paradise for those who love God and have kept His commandments but for those who have done evil, whose "</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hardness and impenitent heart</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” has treasured</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God...for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger." (Rom. 2:5)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them, drawn down by infernal ropes to the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"cold clear fire</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" of lower hell, unto torments, to be reserved unto judgment (2 Pet. 2:4) then He shall say to all idolaters that shall be on his left hand:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">." Matthew 25:41</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-15427946469572354292013-05-29T21:20:00.001-07:002013-05-29T21:20:02.130-07:00Islamic Extremism and Sex Slaves courtesy of the IRS<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By Walid Shoebat and Ben Barrack</strong></div>
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When Malik Obama, President Obama’s half-brother, and Sarah Obama, the president’s step-grandmother raised money in the United States, they claimed it was for charity work in Kogelo, Kenya. It was later discovered that not only did the IRS illegally grant one of them (Malik) tax-deductible status retroactively, but in so doing, it supported an operation rife with polygamy and terror recruitment.</div>
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Read the full 22-page, explosive report here:<br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/New_IRS_Scandal_052113.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">New IRS Scandal: Islamic Extremism and Sex Slaves</a></strong></div>
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The <a href="http://www.barackhobamafoundation.org/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Barack H. Obama Foundation</a> (BHOF) and <a href="http://www.msof.org/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Mama Sarah Obama Foundation</a> (MSOF), are two entities claiming to be non-profit charities yet solicit funds from the United States. The money they claim is to build homes for widows, orphans and HIV/AIDS victims that are nowhere to be found. The <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/prez_brother_has_trust_issues_8rW5Gm1Dl9DLb5bcLAhmLM" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">only evidence</a> where monies were spent involves a compound, which housed Malik’s 12 wives with a restaurant including a mosque with a madrassa.</div>
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While building mosques is legally considered charity, evidence shows that the entire funding came directly from entities and individuals from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. There is nothing of charitable nature to show for all the funds Malik raises from the United States. To date, there is <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">no evidence for any accomplishments towards building homes for orphans, widows and AIDS victims in Kogelo or anywhere else in Kenya.</strong></div>
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The land, from the visible signs on the property, identifies the donor as “Alislah Society, Bahrain” and “Munadhamat Al-Dawa Alislamiya” (<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Islamic Da’wa Organization</strong>) Mission of Kenya (<a href="http://www.barackhobamafoundation.org/project_photos_3.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">here</a>). The photos were captured from de-linked web-pages that hadn’t been deleted. The mosque building, it turns out, was fully donated by two individuals – “Dr. Muhammad Al-Maneea” from “Saudi Arabia” and “Ali M. Zaghmout” from Qatar banner in 2nd photo from top at <a href="http://www.barackhobamafoundation.org/project_photos_8.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">this link</a>).</div>
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So what is <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Islamic Da’wa Organization?</strong></div>
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The Middle east media sheds much light never mentioned by western media until now regarding the activism of Malik Obama, the bulk of which documents some troubling realities: Malik’s only active role in charities is within his position as <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Executive Secretary for the Islamic Da’wa Organization</strong> itself, centered in Khartoum, Sudan and according to the <a href="http://alddawa.org/?page_id=272" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">home page of Malik’s Kenyan section,</a> we learn its purpose:</div>
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<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Muslims in Kenya suffer from the great challenge of the tyranny of the church which is known for its aggression…”</strong></div>
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://shoebat.com/the-case-for-islamophobia/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Is it a good thing to be afflicted with Islamophobia? Get the new book from Walid Shoebat, The Case FOR ISLAMOPHOBIA: Jihad by the Word; America’s Final Warning.</a></strong></em></div>
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All of Malik’s non-profit work seems to involve attending events <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">only in his capacity as executive secretary for Islamic Da’wa Organization.</strong> In these reports, Malik is shown actively working with some of the most notorious Wahhabists known in the region, to include Omar al-Bashir, the President of Sudan who also happens to be wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. At one event where Bashir collaborated with Malik, the Sudanese leader was even spewing <a href="http://www.alriyadh.com/2010/02/12/article497818.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">virulent rhetoric</a> against the United States.</div>
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Al-Riyadh Saudi news <a href="http://lojainiat.com/main/Content/%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D9%83-%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%B4%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%B2%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">reported</a> Malik even meeting with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) “to get to know the work of this global charity, and discuss aspects of cooperation with them”. WAMY is known to have aided Al-Qaeda’s Usama Bin Laden by <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=world_assembly_of_muslim_youth" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">allegedly funding</a>militants in the Philippines and has also welcomed speakers such as Khaled Mash’al Hamas terrorist leader. WAMY’s funds have reportedly wound up in the hands of Hamas terrorists on several occasions.</div>
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<a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Malik_WAMY.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Malik_WAMY" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-37742" height="268" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Malik_WAMY.jpg" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.701961); border: 1px solid rgb(230, 230, 230); display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 3px; text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;" width="368" /></a></div>
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Even president Obama’s uncle—Sayid Hussein Obama—works for Sarah and is quite active in the notorious Muslim World League (MWL) as <a href="http://www.sauress.com/aljazirah/1103293283" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">reported by Saudi media.</a> MWL has <a href="http://www.shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3000_Americans_for_Three_Saudi_Princes_091012.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">extensive ties</a>to terrorism and numerous <a href="http://www.sept11terrorlitigation.com/pdf/Continental_Casualty_Amend_Complaint_.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">connections with al Qaeda operatives.</a> Like Sayid, Malik also works closely with Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. On March 4, 2009 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an <a href="http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/doc/doc639078.pdf" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">arrest warrant</a> against Bashir for 7 counts of crimes against humanity. Malik Obama (aka Roy Abongo) is also a U.S. resident and <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/18/us-kenya-election-obama-idUSBRE90H0R420130118" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">has lived</a> in Washington D.C. since 1985 while traveling back and forth to Kenya.</div>
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Sarah’s charity (MSOF) is a similar case; she essentially operates as a non-profit by using<a href="http://charitycheck101.org/report/?id=953510055" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">California Community Foundation</a> (CCF) in Los Angeles, itself a 501(c)(3) which transfers the funds from the U.S. to Kenya.</div>
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In all the countless articles on both Malik and Sarah’s work, there is not a single accomplishment regarding <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">helping HIV/AIDS victims,</strong> since aiding these <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">is actually contrary to Wahhabist doctrine.</strong> The bulk of the Sarah’s benevolence fund has her fund-raising agent, Musa Ismail Obama (president Obama’s first cousin), explaining how the funds goes toward scholarships destined for Saudi Arabia’s most virulent Wahhabi Sharia centers—the Islamic University in Medina, Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah (founded by Wahhab himself) and Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.</div>
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When Al-Jazeera asked, “Do all these scholarships involve studying Arabic and Sharia?” Musa explained, “Some of those do not involve Sharia, like medicine or engineering.” Al-Jazeera then asks, “…but the majority involves what?” Musa answers: “Uuuhhh…. The majority of course is Sharia schools,” adding, “because my connection to the institutions is with Sharia schools.”</div>
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Malik is also a philanderer and polygamist who was recorded explaining how he had the mother and brother of one under-age girl named Sheila Anyango, 35 years his junior, sign away the girl to him and can even be seen on video.</div>
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Wives testify that Malik had at least 12 wives in total living in the Barack H. Obama Foundation’s compound and that he continually lures underage young girls who attend his mosque. Based on Kenyan standards under-age marriage is illegal and testimonies of <a href="http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_04/US-President-Obama-s-half-brother-campaigns-in-Kenya-amid-abuse-allegations/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">alleged wife-beating</a> with at least <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287565/Obamas-brother-accused-attacking-2-TWELVE-wives-seducing-schoolgirl.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">two cases</a> involving minors. Malik dismisses the wife-beating allegations as being “a matter of interpretation”. By “interpretation” what Malik is referring to is that Sharia permits certain amount of spousal beating and that western interpretation prohibits abuse in all forms.</div>
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The physical abuse of women has also been approved by Mama Sarah, who lives nearby. She said the following to a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2012/aug/03/africa-obama-administration" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">U.K. Guardian reporter</a> last August:</div>
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“The wives that are disobedient, they should be beaten.”</div>
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Employees working for his charity complain of serious abuses, including <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287565/Obamas-brother-accused-attacking-2-TWELVE-wives-seducing-schoolgirl.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">breaking minimum wage laws.</a> “He pays his staff at the Obama Foundation less than £5 a week,” nearly half of the standard weekly minimum wage allowed in Kenya (£9.8).</div>
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Monies from the U.S. raised by the Obamas in Kenya, go primarily toward aiding Malik’s polygamy compound, running a restaurant, and sending Muslims to madrassas. When he was Secretary of State, Colin Powell <a href="http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040312/world.htm#2" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">testified in 2004,</a> before the House Appropriations Committee that madrassas were breeding grounds for <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“fundamentalists and terrorists…”</strong> On October 16, 2003, in <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/executive/rumsfeld-memo.htm" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #1f65b3; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">a memo</a> to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other top Pentagon officials, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld posed similar issues regarding the role of madrassas as a breeding ground for terrorism.</div>
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Now, president Obama’s own relatives are funding them and no one seems to listen.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-39120911741244634042013-05-29T21:16:00.002-07:002013-05-29T21:16:46.066-07:00Epidemic of terrorist bombings plague Iraq<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivLoO50K125Z0YMjW9XB046qtDboGXZH8vJs0BsNUSy70mUED4Q_aWgLRGYOS8LFgrKbI7RAWCzzMGlVMorgFV9HCYSx2zQXTVDSoU5cT0TlPPdvfuMM_Vp840lPYUm-WvcvpmpJpe3os/s640/ON+ITS+HEELS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivLoO50K125Z0YMjW9XB046qtDboGXZH8vJs0BsNUSy70mUED4Q_aWgLRGYOS8LFgrKbI7RAWCzzMGlVMorgFV9HCYSx2zQXTVDSoU5cT0TlPPdvfuMM_Vp840lPYUm-WvcvpmpJpe3os/s320/ON+ITS+HEELS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Jim Kouri</span></strong> </div>
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<em>"Al-Qaeda is on its heels." - President Barack Obama</em></div>
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About 35 Iraqi citizens died and another 155 were wounded in a series of car bomb explosions throughout<strong> </strong><a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/27/Baghdad-blasts-kill-four-civilians-security-forces-targeted-in-Kirkuk.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Baghdad </a><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1856554405" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Monday</span></span> by suspected members of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQII), according to counterterrorism and police official Marvin Gertz. </div>
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In one of the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">attacks</a>, a car bomb and a roadside bomb ripped through a neighborhood in southern Baghdad, killing upwards of six civilians and wounding 35 others, Gertz, who monitors Middle East terrorism, noted. </div>
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Another car <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10082911/Baghdad-bombs-kill-70-as-sectarian-violence-worsens.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">bomb exploded</a> in northern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding eight others, Gertz said. </div>
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Meanwhile in central Baghdad, a third car bomb blast at a popular marketplace left five people killed and 31 others wounded, the source added.</div>
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At about the same time, a car bomb exploded at a major thoroughfare in the southern part of the Iraqi capital leaving two people dead and nine others injured, he said.</div>
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In <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/sadr-city-imagery.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Sadr City</a>, five Iraqi civilians were killed and more than 25 sustained injuries after two car bombs were detonated simultaneously in Habibiyah area within the Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, Gertz added. </div>
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These latest<strong> </strong><a href="http://english.sina.com/world/2013/0527/594070.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">car bomb attacks</a><strong></strong> followed two bombings in the afternoon in the capital. One car bomb went off in downtown Baghdad, killing upwards of six people and wounding another 14, while a car bomb was detonated near al-Samarrai mosque in the southern part of the Baghdad, killing one civilian and injuring nine. </div>
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In addition, on <a href="http://english.cntv.cn/20130528/100550.shtml" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Monday</a>, a car bomb exploded in northeastern Baghdad, this time killing three civilians and wounding 15 others, while yet another vehicle filled with explosives blew up near a market in southern Baghdad killing four people and wounding 11 other victims, Gertz said. </div>
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While no group has claimed credit for the numerous attacks, <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2013/05/26/Sunni-grievances-drive-spike-in-Iraq-unrest-.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">officials in Iraq </a>believe the improvised explosive devices were built, planted and detonated by al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQII) who are responsible for numerous attacks against the struggling post-Saddam Hussein government. </div>
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<span lang="0" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><i>Jim Kouri, CPP, is founder and CEO of Kouri Associates, a homeland security, public safety and political consulting firm. He's formerly Fifth Vice-President, now a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, a columnist for Examiner.com, a contributor to KGAB radio news, and news director for NewswithViews.com.<br /><br /><br />He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at St. Peter's University and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.<br /><br /><br />In addition, he's a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (<a href="http://www.kgab.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.kgab.com</a>) and editor of Conservative Base Magazine (<a href="http://www.conservativebase.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.conservativebase.com</a>). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.<br /><br /><br />He holds a bachelor of science in Criminal Justice from Southwest University and SCI Technical School in New York City and completed training at the NYC Police Academy, FBI Continuing Education Program, and the Certified Protection Professional (CPP) of the American Society for Industrial Security.<br /><br />Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc. </i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-76868875832175835202013-05-29T21:13:00.002-07:002013-05-29T21:13:46.796-07:00Ashamed of America<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Gary Bray<br />
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When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all Hope of being saved. Acts 27:20<br />
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For the first time in my life, I am really ashamed of my Country. We are witnessing the most corrupt and vindictive administration and media we have ever seen. Most patriots are idealists who believe in equality and fairness who understand the constitution was created to protect the weak from the strong and now we are seeing the most powerful force on the earth attempting to crush the weak. This is what happens when end justifying communists take power, they use that power to stifle dissent. This is the exact opposite of what the American ideal is all about.<br />
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In the last month we have had scandal after scandal revealed by the alternative press since the establishment media is every bit as corrupt as the ruling class. First, we had final confirmation of the complete fabrication of the ridiculous story invented about Benghazi and the video. Only the most moronic fool would believe their lie of the attack on 9/11 of a US embassy was spontaneous, yet our dutiful Obamedia reported it straight faced and even bereted Romney for questioning the fabrication, even though they were hiding the truth about a murdered ambassador. This is pure corruption inside the administration and the media.<br />
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Now we have had it revealed the administration’s dragoons were systematically harassing groups that wanted to organize opposition during the last election. We had the IRS working as a wall to keep Tea Party groups from enjoying the tax exempt advantages DNC based political groups were given. They were singled out to keep them from the public forum to promote non-Democrat candidates. This was a well organized army designed to misuse the full power and might of the Fed to silence dissent. Anybody who values freedom should be outraged by this type of treatment by either party against dissent, yet we will not hear a peep from the left when it is their corruption on display. The media is a valuable part of their army.<br />
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The latest outrage is the targeting of reporters the Party considers a threat. Their spying on James Rosen of Fox News is an activity we suspect from Cuba, China and Russia, but not in America where we have such a thing as Freedom of the Press. Apparently, those Rights only apply to the friendly mediots. This is as outrageous a behavior as any we have witnessed as we all remember how often they cried foul during the Bush years, but we will hear none of the outrage from the most transparent administration ever. We are simply seeing the tip of the dictatorial iceberg.<br />
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The corruption when it is approved and encouraged from the top will permeate the entire organization and this is what we are seeing. This same activity was most likely happening in the elections offices around the country as people either looked the other way or encouraged voter fraud and corruption. Ever since the Tea Party stood up against his phony stimulus plan and Obamacare we have seen a war on these Patriots using their vilification and humiliation tactics. They even harassed Billy Graham’s son. As most suspected these tactics were being followed throughout the agencies to the point of harassment and persecution. It appears we have lost both Freedom of Religion, the Press and Speech which asks the question, what next?<br />
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If we had the harassment of political dissent and organization through the use of gummit agencies such as the IRS and the Justice Dept, what would stop them from using the elections division? It is pretty obvious there is massive election fraud at the city level in most states, but is it being mandated from the federal level too, just like the IRS? You would have to assume that it is which means that if they have the only three or four states that matter we have effectively lost our Right to vote. This used to be what separated us from the rest of the world and now we are nothing more than slaves to the ruling class who have found an ironclad way to steal elections.<br />
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We now have a communist form of gummit which has organized the federal gummit to be an army against dissention. There is no longer a guarantee to free speech, elections or the freedom to gather together as an advocacy group. Anyone who believes in freedom is now an enemy of the state and the state is in complete control of your lives from birth to death. This brings us to the final solution which just like the IRS, they will now control your very life. This IRS will now decide if you live or die thanks to the death matrix in Obamacare. Welcome to the Soviet Union.<br />
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There is only one way to beat this unholy alliance. You have to organize your street and town and begin to win local elections. If you can find enough people who are willing to work harder than they ever had and stop watching the TV, there is a way to beat back this unholy alliance. You have to start yesterday and you have to be dedicated to taking back your neighborhood, county, state and country. There is a way to go around the media and these forces, it does work and it is effective. If you are interested, send me an email, if not stay low and hope they don’t build the Gulag.<br />
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We can either, run and hide or we can stand and fight. Everyone has to make this decision for themselves, but there is a solution to this and America is able to see the corruption. We have to organize and fight this war for America the same way they have and look at the short term local solutions followed by the long term national solution. It does start locally and it does start with you standing up and leading your neighborhood towards the return of our Rights. Send an email and I will send the manual to get you started. It seems most Republicans just don’t care about apathy and are willing to suffer the consequences. The first step is the hardest to take, send that email and begin your journey back to being proud of America again.<br />
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Pray for America to Wake UpUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-31270845504247627942013-05-29T21:10:00.001-07:002013-05-29T21:10:10.413-07:00Memo to GOP: Don’t be a scorpion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">By John David Powell</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A scorpion comes to a flooded river and cannot cross, so the story goes. The scorpion asks a nearby frog to ferry him to the other side. The frog declines, fearing the scorpion will sting him during the trip. The scorpion scoffs at the frog’s fear, explaining that if he stings the frog, then both will sink and drown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The frog agrees, but halfway across, the scorpion stings the frog. As the pair dies, the frog asks why the scorpion did it, to which the scorpion replies: “Because that’s my nature.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The nature of politics today, it seems, is to snipe and to snark. Since most people are not professional snarkers, they come across as mean-spirited doofi (the plural of doofus). And in doing so, they become the story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A few weeks ago, former Alaska governor and GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin posted on her Facebook page (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151619341908588&l=7a3e21fe6e" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr>photo.php?fbid=<wbr></wbr>10151619341908588&l=7a3e21fe6e</a><wbr></wbr>) a photo of her 12-year-old daughter Piper celebrating her graduation, complete with balloons and snow. Palin wrote the party moved indoors so everyone could sit around the fireplace and watch the mini-blizzard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As she put it: “(Global warming my gluteus maximus.) Congratulations to this year's graduates all across America. Job well done.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The folks at the Huffington Post (<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/sarah-palin-global-warming_n_3306867.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/<wbr></wbr>05/20/sarah-palin-global-<wbr></wbr>warming_n_3306867.html</a>), as with other liberals, could not resist an opportunity to use a 12-year-old to sling an outrageous arrow at the mother for her belief regarding global warming. Nowhere in the story’s seven paragraphs did the writer offer a graduation congratulation to Piper. And, I could not find a single “way to go” out of the 209 comments at the end of the article. But, that’s their nature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a father of two and a grandfather of two, let me offer a big Texas congratulations, Piper. It’s tough being an adolescent, and being in the spotlight because of a parent does not make life easier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If there is an award for Political Doofus of the Year, Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse has emerged as the front-runner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every week, Whitehouse delivers a speech in the U.S. Senate on climate change. On the afternoon of May 20, Whitehouse rose to attack (<a href="http://youtu.be/Se3d9--KZe0" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/Se3d9--KZe0</a>) Senate Republicans and all who do not believe in global warming.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“When cyclones tear up Oklahoma, and hurricanes swamp Alabama, and wildfires scorch Texas, you come to us, for billions of dollars to recover. And the damage your polluters and deniers are doing doesn’t just hit Oklahoma and Alabama and Texas; it hits Rhode Island with floods and storms, and Oregon with acidified seas, and Montana with dying forests. So like it or not, we’re in this together. You drag America with you to your fate.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If the date of Whitehouse’s speech sounds familiar, that’s because a tornado was tearing through Moore, Okla., as Whitehouse was tearing through his Republican colleagues. Whitehouse’s office issued a statement (<a href="http://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/statement-on-tragedy-in-oklahoma" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.whitehouse.senate.gov/<wbr></wbr>news/release/statement-on-<wbr></wbr>tragedy-in-oklahoma</a>) the next day that lamely explained the senator did not know a tornado was killing people at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes it is better to stick with an apology rather than try to justify doofidity (the state of being a doofus). In this case, the shallow mea culpa made it appear the good people of Rhode Island have no interest in what happens outside the Ocean State, because, as implied in Whitehouse’s official statement, he never heard about the tornado that hit Shawnee, Okla., several hours earlier, killing two elderly residents, or the one that killed several residents of Granbury, Texas, the previous week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Memo to Huffington Post and Sheldon Whitehouse: We may not be able to control Mother Nature, but surely we can control the hot air that comes out of our mouths, especially at times like these.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A similar memo should go to Republicans right now. Political trolls deep inside the bowels of the Executive Branch have handed the opposition some campaign contributions just ahead of the 2014 mid-term elections: spinning the terrorist murders in Benghazi, spying on journalists, targeting conservatives and religious organizations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not in the nature of Republican politicians and conservative pundits to sit back, to let events unfold, to allow people to squirm and to look guilty like a kid standing over a broken lamp. “What lamp?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It also is not in the nature of liberal politicians and the media who love them to be gracious and kind, so they will seize on any opportunity to divert attention from the real issue. “It’s snowing on your graduation day? Hey, your mother is an idiot.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Republican Pete Olson (<a href="http://olson.house.gov/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://olson.house.gov</a>), whose Texas congressional district sits down the road from us here at the ranch, sent out a media statement (<a href="http://olson.house.gov/2013-press-releases/obama-administrations-disregard-for-the-truth-must-end" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://olson.house.gov/2013-<wbr></wbr>press-releases/obama-<wbr></wbr>administrations-disregard-for-<wbr></wbr>the-truth-must-end</a>) about Benghazi, the IRS, and the Justice Department (<a href="http://www.doj.gov/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.doj.gov</a>) harvest of phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Olson used these threats to national security and civil liberties to remind constituents how he asked for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious that allowed hundreds of weapons to fall into the hands of Mexican drug thugs and resulted in the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. He again called for Holder’s resignation, this time because of the AP probe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Note to Olson: no one is going to resign because of your media statement. You just look opportunistic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When Republican politicians and conservative pundits rise up and holler at times like these, they end up being the story. But, just like the scorpion, they can’t help it. Neither can the media. And that leaves the stung American public looking up and asking why.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">John David Powell writes his Lone Star Award-winning columns from ShadeyHill Ranch in Texas. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-60268043878538403102013-05-28T00:29:00.000-07:002013-05-28T00:29:07.762-07:00Global Warming Skeptics Rebut Face the Nation Segment on Climate Change and Moore Tornado<div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
CBS's <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Face the Nation</em> Sunday spent fifteen minutes discussing climate change and amongst other things its impact on tornadoes - in particular the EF-5 that hit Moore, Oklahoma, last week.</div>
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As not one global warming skeptic was invited to participate in the panel, I've taken the liberty of getting opinions from some of the leaders on the realist side of the debate (video follows with commentary and full transcript of the segment at the end of the post):</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px;">First to respond was Competitive Enterprise Institute's Christopher Horner:</span><br />
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The intro description of the panel that they assembled -- to tell you how bad things will [sic] get -- is spot on, but for the "will," admirable in its candor.</div>
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Vivid memories of many calls w/producers: "Well, we're looking for someone to say [X]"...</div>
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Thanks Chris.</div>
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Next up <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/26/claim-400-ppm-co2-gives-the-weather-personality/" style="color: #ff4300; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">was</a> was <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Watts Up With That</em>'s Anthony Watts:</div>
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I’ve made several responses about this need to try to link tornadoes to climate change over the years, and this is just another sad claim by activists that can easily be falsified by the data. A list of my previous responses follows, but let’s take one instance from the interview where Dr. Heidi Cullen says:</div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">So, basically, add additional heat to the atmosphere, suddenly, you’re now adding more moisture to the atmosphere, so we know that certain kinds of extreme events are going to happen more frequently.</em></div>
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I don’t even need to look at long term data to falsify this nonsense, just looking at seasonal variations is more than enough. If extreme weather events like tornadoes are more common due to more heat being in the atmosphere, then you’d expect more tornadoes when it is warmer, right?</div>
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First let’s look at solar isolation versus temperature on a yearly basis in the norther hemisphere. Plotted below, from the middle of tornado alley is the daily temperature data for Manhattan, Kansas for the year 2006. Compared to the normalized insolation from the sun. In the spring the temperature mostly lies beneath the energy. After the peak energy it tends to be above the energy curve due to the time lag.</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/temp-insolation1.png?w=640&h=678" style="border: 0px; height: 424px; width: 400px;" /></div>
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Graphic by John Kehr, <a href="http://theinconvenientskeptic.com/" style="color: #ff4300; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Inconvenient Skeptic.</a></div>
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Note that peak temperature lags peak solar insolation. Solar insolation is a function of Earth’s orbit around the sun. Insolation peaks with the summer solstice, typicall [sic] on June 21st each year, but temperature continues to rise after that.</div>
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You can plot insolation vs temperature for just about any northern hemisphere city and see the same result, it is a well known relationship. Temperatures peak around late July to early August.</div>
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By Dr. Cullen’s claims of more heat being in the atmosphere, we’d expect to see tornadoes peak around August, right? The real world data says the opposite:</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tornadoes_bymonth1.png?w=640&h=480" style="border: 0px; height: 300px; width: 400px;" /></div>
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Tornadoes peak in May and June, prior to the peak temperature, which is a proxy for heat in the atmosphere.</div>
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So if more heat in the atmosphere produces more localized exterme weather events, as Dr. Cullen insinuates, we’d see peak tornadoes aligned with peak temperature. But, we don’t.</div>
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Dr. Cullen is being an advocate, rather than a scientist, but we already knew that since she works for a privately funded advocate organization, Climate Central.</div>
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Thanks Anthony.</div>
(Story continues below...)<br />
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Next up was <a href="http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/" style="color: #ff4300; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Real Science</a>'s Steve Goddard:</div>
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David Bernard (from Miami) is complaining about hurricanes. Florida hasn't had a hurricane strike for eight years, which is their longest hurricane-free period on record, by far.</div>
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2012 US temperatures were no warmer than 1921, before NCDC jacked them up.</div>
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79% of the US is below normal temperatures this year:</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://newsbusters.org/sites/default/files/2012/Goddard%20526.png" style="border: 0px; height: 275px; width: 400px;" /></div>
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Thanks Steve. Next up was WeatherBell.com's Joe Bastardi:</div>
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Warming world...For the past 17 years IT'S NOT WARMING, and the past 4 since the PDO flip has taken effect it's cooling. So the notion and assumption that we are currently warming should be rejected. This is classic climate cycle theory based on the oscillations in the oceans. No matter how complex one wished to make it, the cooling tropical Pacific is cutting the feet out from under the temp. rise. Once the AMO goes, it will drop further.</div>
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The CO2 is a red herring beyond what it's small contribution is and it will always be "boxed in" by the greater forces around it. I am miffed cause I got beat over the head 5 years ago by these climatic ambulance chasers when I proposed the big test (the last time was a challenge to Bill Nye) to see where it goes. Well it's not going up. And to just give these guys the high ground that it's warming is absurd. The cooling will last until the resultant change in the PDO, then AMO, is compensated for by the atmosphere just like the warming lasted while that was occurring. The sun is a factor that has to be accounted for, but I am strictly talking the oceans.</div>
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All one needs do is FALL IN LOVE WITH THE WEATHER and watch how it behaved in the 1950s. Dave Bernard's comment assuming warming is disappointing to say the least. Cullen is one thing. She makes some of the most inaccurate statements about weather events I have ever heard. But Bernard ought to know it's the AMO for the Atlantic, and this will pass just like the previous cycle did.</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://models.weatherbell.com/climate/cfsr_t2m_recent.png" style="border: 0px; height: 300px; width: 400px;" /><br />
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And one final thought: for some reason, no one on this distinguished panel chose to bring up tornado data released earlier this month that should have had a significant role in the discussion.</div>
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As USA Today <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/05/09/quiet-tornado-season/2148075/" style="color: #ff4300; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">reported</a> May 10:</div>
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The USA in the past 12 months has seen the fewest number of tornadoes since at least 1954, and the death tolls from the dangerous storms have dropped dramatically since 2011. [...]</div>
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The seven people killed from May 2012 to April 2013 is the fewest in a 12-month period since five people died in September 1899-August 1900, according to Harold Brooks, research meteorologist with the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.</div>
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The year-to-date count of tornadoes is probably approaching the lower 10% of all years on record, said Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman.</div>
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The reason: An unusually cool weather pattern from the Rockies to the East Coast. "Generally, the lower the temperature and/or the drier the air, the lower the number of thunderstorms," said AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.</div>
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As Christopher Monckton marvelously <a href="http://www.cfact.org/2012/12/01/18-annual-climate-gabfests-16-years-without-warming/" style="color: #ff4300; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">wrote</a> in December 2012:</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://newsbusters.org/sites/default/files/thumbnail_photos/2013/May/AGW%20525.jpg?1369663487" style="border: 0px; height: 319px; width: 400px;" /></div>
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The fact is that despite continually rising atmospheric CO2 levels, there hasn't been any global warming in over a decade.</div>
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But none of the geniuses Schieffer brought on to discuss this issue Sunday had the scientific integrity to mention it.</div>
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Also of note was Cullen talking about the current atmospheric CO2 level as being a "steroid" to temperatures and Shepherd agreeing. Unfortunately, nobody mentioned that in the history of our planet, our current CO2 level is actually quite low.</div>
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In a paper called "Geologic Global Climate Changes," Nasif Nahle <a href="http://www.biocab.org/carbon_dioxide_geological_timescale.html" style="color: #ff4300; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">observed</a> in March 2007:</div>
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Scientific studies have shown that atmospheric Carbon Dioxide in past eras reached concentrations that were 20 times higher than the current concentration. Recent investigations have shown that the current change of climate is part of a larger cycle known as climatic lowstand phase which precedes a sequential warming period known as transgression phase. The purpose of this evaluation is to demonstrate that the Earth is actually cooling, in the context of the total geological timescale, and that the current change is equivalent to a serial climate phase known as lowstand.</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.biocab.org/Geological_Timescale_op_712x534.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: 300px; width: 400px;" /></div>
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In prehistoric times, during the Permian, in the Palaeozoic Era, for example, the concentration of Carbon Dioxide dropped below 210 ppmV...The change of atmospheric temperature at the time of the Permian was around 10 °C. By comparison, the current change of global temperature is only 0.52 °C while the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is 385 ppmV. If the global temperature is dependent on CO2, then the change of temperature at present would be around 10 °C or higher, as it was during the Permian Period.</div>
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From the early Triassic to the middle Cretaceous, the concentration of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide was similar to its current density. From the late cretaceous to the early Miocene, the concentration climbed above 210 ppmV. During the Holocene period, the concentration has oscillated from 210 ppmV to 385 ppmV.</div>
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It is possible that the concentration of atmospheric CO2 will increase normally in the course of the next 50 million years to 1050 ppmV or 2500 ppmV. [...]</div>
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Scientists have also observed that the concentration of atmospheric CO2 increases during periods of warming. However, an increase in temperature always precedes an increase in carbon dioxide, which generally occurs decades or centuries after any change of temperature. We have not observed an increase in the concentration of Carbon Dioxide to have preceded a period of warming. This latter phenomenon occurs because when oceans absorb more heat from an increase in the amount of direct solar irradiance incident upon the Earth's surface, they release more Carbon Dioxide molecules into the atmosphere. Nevertheless, most drastic increases in CO2 concentration occur decades or centuries after the oceans have warmed up. For example, the present increase of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide was caused by an extraordinary increase in solar activity in 1998 which warmed up the El Niño South Atlantic Oceanic Oscillation.</div>
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Not surprisingly, real science and historical facts such as these weren't part of the discussion on <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Face the Nation </em>Sunday. Only junk science and hysterical propaganda:</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: And welcome back to FACE THE NATION Part Two. For Page Two today we thought we'd explore a subject that affects everyone--the weather. So we have convened a panel of experts to tell us how bad things are going to get this summer and beyond. Heidi Cullen is the chief climatologist for Climate Central which is an independent organization of scientists and journalists who study the climate, now it's changing; Jeffrey Kluger is an editor-at-large for TIME Magazine. He co-wrote this week's cover story on the Oklahoma Tornado; David Bernard is with us in person today. He usually joins us from his weather watching post at WFOR TV, our CBS affiliate in Miami; and Marshall Shepherd is the president of the American Meteorological Society. He is in Atlanta this morning. Doctor Shepherd, I want to start with you because we've had floods. We've had droughts. We've had tornadoes. We've had superstorms. It's cold when it ought to be warm and it's warm when it is supposed to be cold. I guess, you know, if it starts raining frogs that's probably the only thing we haven't had so far. What is happening? Is this something different? Is this just a cycle? What's going on here?</div>
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J. MARSHALL SHEPHERD (American Meteorological Society/University of Georgia): Yeah, well, it really-- and-- and I'm a professor at the University of Georgia and here in-- in Georgia, we've actually had almost all of those examples that you just gave-- tornadoes in Atlanta. We flooded in 2009, a really bad drought. I-- I think it depends on which-- which phenomenon you talk about. Certainly, as I often say, weather is your mood and climate is your personality, so on any given day you can have really cold weather or really violent weather, but the scientific literature, including our recent AMS Climate Change statement, does suggest that our climate is changing and I think we can say some things about certain weather phenomenon and climate phenomenon that are more linked to this climate change and we are in a different climate system now. Almost every weather phenomenon happens in a warmer and more moist climate. And so I-- I think we do see some changes in our climate and some responses in our weather. I-- I-- I think it's a bit premature to say that there is a definitive link between that Moore tornado last week and-- and-- and climate change. But I think more research is needed there.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: Well-- well, Jeff, is there any consensus about what is causing this?</div>
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JEFFREY KLUGER (TIME): Well, in the case of the tornadoes, as Doctor Shepherd says, we're reasonably sure that there is no link. And-- and in fact, to the extent that climate change plays a role, the variables kind of neutralize one another, you get an increase in warm moist air, which feeds tornadoes, but you also get a decrease in the updraft, the vertical shear, so they sort of cancel each other out. I think what we see though the fact that we crossed four hundred parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere just last week. This is the highest it's been since the Pleistocene era when there were forests in Greenland and sea levels were sixty feet higher than they are now. As recently as 1958, it was only three hundred and fifteen. So, we have supercharged, super accelerated CO2 input into the atmosphere and this I think is what's driving so much of the mood or the-- the personality, the climate change variables we see. B</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: Doctor Cullen, there's no question that it's getting warmer. We have a graphic here that just shows 2012 was the hottest year on record. It shows how much hotter it was. The entire country was affected. Is this going to get any better or is it going to get worse?</div>
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HEIDI CULLEN (Climate Central): It's not going to get any better if we don't do anything about it. I mean right now we've added about a degree and a half of extra warming to our atmosphere, the planet is that much warmer. And so what we are talking about is how does that extra degree and a half affect our day-to-day weather? And so right now I'd say that, you know, the jury is still out as to how global warming will affect tornadoes, which of those two variables will win out. But when it comes to things like heat waves, when it comes to things like heavy rainstorms, drought, wildfires, we know that, you know, the-- the atmosphere is on steroids, if you will. So basically, you know, we know that we'd have to deal with weather-related risks. We live in a country that has always seen extreme weather. We're basically moving in a direction where we're going to see more and more of certain of these extremes and-- and as we heard before that-- that stuff is really expensive.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, but what is causing this?</div>
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HEIDI CULLEN: So, basically, add additional heat to the atmosphere, suddenly, you're now adding more moisture to the atmosphere, so we know that certain kinds of extreme events are going to happen more frequently. So the heat wave that would only happen, say, one in a hundred years is now going to happen say once every fifty years. The statistics, if you will, the likelihood of seeing a certain kind of extreme increases just by the virtue of the fact that the planet is warmer, and then also when it comes to storms there is more moisture in the atmosphere. Those storms can now rain down more heavily and basically at the same time we've got more people in harm's way. We saw that with-- with Moore, Oklahoma, as well. So, you know, this combination of-- of amplifying risks, more people in harm's way, a warmer planet with more moisture to-- to bring more storms into-- into play, it basically just increases our vulnerability across the boards.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: All right. Dave Bernard, you're our man on the hurricane watch. We talked to you many times during hurricane season and the bad news is NOAA has come out with hurricane season predictions that say it could be worse this year than it-- than it was last year. They're predicting a likelihood of, I think, thirteen to twenty name storms of which seven to eleven could become hurricanes.</div>
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DAVID BERNARD (WFOR Miami): Well, you know, the key here is we have been in a climate pattern for the last twenty years of excessive storms in the Atlantic Basin. That climate pattern, Bob, is still in place, so that's the reason why we're looking at an elevated number of storms. Now, of course, the key everywhere year is, where do these storms go? That's one thing that we really can't tell ahead of time. Last year, there were nineteen storms and basically we had Isaac hit Louisiana and, of course, Superstorm Sandy. But the majority of the storms, they stayed out to sea. But with a forecast like that and the potential for more land falling storms, I-- I think there could be even a-- a greater impact and what we learned from Sandy and even going back to Hurricane Katrina and basically what Doctor Cullen was saying, we have more people now living on the coast than ever before. So the impact potential really is that much greater and we have to learn how to mitigate against these storms. Clearly, that was not done in the Northeast. We'd gone so long without a significant hurricane there. We've seen that in other areas. We have to learn to live with these storms and going forward since we don't know exactly where this climate pattern may take us. With a warming world we have to learn to adapt to these storms as well.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, Doctor Shepherd, let me just cut to the chase here. Are we doing something here on Earth that is causing the weather to change or is this just one of the cycles that-- that what we go through?</div>
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J. MARSHALL SHEPHERD (American Meteorological Society): Yeah, this is a question I often get, Bob. Of course, I mean, it's amazing to me when someone comes up to me and says "Doctor Shepherd, the climate change is natural." I say, of course, it does. I should send my degree back to Florida State University, if I didn't know that. But what's most important about that is that on top of this natural variability, as-- as Heidi mentioned, we now have a steroid. Think of a basketball player. I mean I'm a big basketball fan. We were in the middle of the playoffs right now. A basketball ten feet high think of it this way: Climate change is actually adding about a foot to the basketball floor so that more people can dunk the basketball. There's just more amplification. That warmer and more moist climate is amplifying, as-- as Heidi mentioned, some of the weather systems that we see. And one quick point I want to make. I often get the question: well, what is the big deal? One and a half degree? Well, if our child gets a one-and-a-half or a two-degree fever that may not sound like a lot, but our body responds to that and our climate system as well. But the scary news is we're talking about an additional three- to ten-to-fourteen degrees perhaps in some models in the next one hundred years.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: So Jeff?</div>
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JEFFREY KLUGER (TIME): And one of the problems is the problem is getting worse, as Doctor Shepherd says. We have now baked in another fifty parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. Even if we turned everything around now, what's in the pipeline already is going to increase up to four fifty and at a rate of 5.4 billion tons of CO2, the U.S. puts into the atmosphere every year and 2.4 million pounds per second that the world pumps in. We're getting a level of consensus on thousands of peer-reviewed studies over decades that have established the-- the connection between human activity and this kind of climate change and we have to face the reality that the problem exists and now we have to address it.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, what is the human activity then?</div>
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JEFFREY KLUGER: Well, the human activity principally is fossil fuels. Now finally, everybody attribute this is to cars principally. Actually forty percent of all of the contribution is our homes, our office buildings and things of that nature. Fossil fuels do make a difference. And we are actually making progress, the slow transition to renewables, the increase in-- in mileage standards for cars. All of this is bringing these numbers down, but all that's doing is sort of putting out the fringes of the wildfire that's blazing. We have to get to the heart of it and began to shut it down.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: And this is not just something that the United States that's happening in the United States this is happening worldwide.</div>
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HEIDI CULLEN: That's what's so tricky about this problem, right? It's-- it's kind of the ultimate tragedy of the commons in the sense that we all contribute to the problem and so it-- it really, you know, someone once said that climate change is really about a million little fixes and it's also the biggest procrastination problem in the sense that the longer you wait to fix it, the tougher it gets to fix so the sooner we start the better off we are.</div>
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DAVID BERNARD: And I really think adaptation is going to be the key. We've already baked in this CO2. We can't get rid of that. So we have to learn to live with the way the climate is going and that means responsible development. We can't keep building in the same places that maybe more prone to floods. I live in Miami Beach. We're dealing with sea level rise. That's something we're going to have to think about going forward in this new reality.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: Doctor Shepherd, what-- what I find kind of interesting is kind of like-- it's kind of like the country is divided in half. The western half of the country going through these droughts, which bring on the fires and all of that. Yet, on the eastern side of the country we have all these floods that are-- that are going on right now. Is there any reason, scientific reason, that it's kind of divided the country in half like this?</div>
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J. MARSHALL SHEPHERD: Well, it-- it is. One of the things that we've always known in the literature is that places that are drier likely will get more dry and places that are wetter will become more wet. If-- you have to really look at how weather patterns occur weather patterns occur as big waves in the atmosphere. We call them scientifically raspy waves. And so if you look at a weather map, for example, on any given day in terms of weather you'll have one part of the country that is cool and wet there and a big sort of dip in the wave pattern, a trough, as we call it. Meanwhile, you have-- you'll have a ridge of high pressure and nice weather in another part of the country. We're-- we're it's gorgeous here in Atlanta right now and I was watching the Braves and Mets last night in New York, pouring down rain and cool the last couple of days. That kind of take that sort of wave pattern and think about that from the perspective of climate. So you're not going to have the same type of response everywhere. That's why it's important to keep that in mind when we hear "Well, gee, it's really cold this last couple of weeks, what are you guys talking about, global warming?" You cannot say anything about the overall climate system by looking at the last couple of days or where you live. Boy, I wish I could actually predict my stock portfolio based on the stocks the last two weeks, the last two months. We can't do that. We cannot do that with our climate.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: You know-- and as is always the case around my house, we say when everything else goes wrong and top of it the toilet breaks. I mean, the least the-- the thing you would least expect. In the middle of all this, Jeff, NOAA recently had one of its weather satellites go off line. What is the status of our technology?</div>
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JEFFREY KLUGER: The status of our technology is precarious and funnily it's easy to fix it. We have two major weather satellites hovering over the eastern half-- half-- East and West Coast, the GOES East and GOES West, they're called. They're in geosynchronous orbit. They just hover there. We have five polar satellites. These are all set to go down at one form or another, to wink out between 2015 and 2016. The earliest we can replace them will be those very years, which means that if there's any lag at all in launching construction schedules we're going to be struck blind. This we saw the wages of back during Sandy when the GOES East satellite did go down for a few weeks just as this storm was brewing and we did not predict the sharp left hook Sandy took into the Eastern Seaboard that is exactly what did the sixty-five billion dollars worth of damage. It took the European system to weigh in and inform us that this was about to happen. Now we had just enough assets in place, a spare satellite in orbit to swing into position and take care of this. But if we don't take care of this now and allocate the necessary money we are going to be vulnerable to whatever is out there.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: I take you, you would endorse that?</div>
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HEIDI CULLEN: I-- you know, I couldn't have said it better. Right now ninety percent of the data that goes into our weather models comes from satellites and this infrastructure it's critical, it's our eyes in the sky and if we lose it we're flying blind. And we desperately, I mean, as a country that sees a lot of extreme weather across the board we need strong forward-looking forecasts.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: I'll let you close it out here, Dave. What do we look for?</div>
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DAVID BERNARD: Well, I think as we go through the next few months everybody needs to keep in mind that regardless of where our climate is heading in the next fifty, one hundred years, the hurricane season it's here now and that's hurricane preparedness week and as we saw it last year, everybody from Maine to Texas, you need to be ready, you need to have a plan.</div>
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BOB SCHIEFFER: I guess we can't say have a nice day to close out this segment, but thank you all for being here.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-77483412543486425942013-05-28T00:17:00.000-07:002013-05-28T00:17:20.002-07:00Brit Hume Hammers Juan Williams for Saying Eric Holder's the 'Exact Right Person' to Probe His Own Department<div id="content-inner" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.399999618530273px; overflow: visible !important;">
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On Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume hammered at fellow Fox analyst Juan Williams for asserting Attorney General Eric Holder was “the exact right person” to investigate his own Justice Department’s excesses in probing journalists for leaks.<br /><br />Not even Bob Schieffer was buying that idea on CBS. He said it <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/05/26/cbss-bob-schieffer-how-about-someone-other-holder-investigating-holde" style="color: #ff4300; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">"makes no sense." </a> Williams tried to blame the Republicans and the Bush administration for the heightened leak investigations: [video below]</div>
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CHRIS WALLACE: Can you defend his decision to ask Eric Holder to investigate and review Eric Holder's actions?<br /><br />JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS ANALYST: Well, I think the first thing to say is that Republicans have been hammering Eric Holder and I think that hammer is Eric Holder's language, his own, to go after the leaks. That they have wanted him to pursue leaks that had to do with how bin Laden was killed to secret prisons to the attack on the cyber network in Iran that the U.S. had launched. Why is all this information flowing from the Obama White House? Is Obama trying to glamorize himself? All that.<br /><br />That came from Republicans, and it has been something that the Bush administration started and it has been continued with a vengeance, to everyone’s surprise by this administration. In the direct response to your question, Chris, Eric Holder did not conduct the probe that led people to somehow come to the madhouse conclusion that James Rosen is somehow a co-conspirator. Is somehow ...<br /><br />WALLACE: But wait a minute, was that not in the FBI affidavit seeking--<br /><br />WILLIAMS: He signed the affidavit as Attorney General of the United States, he did not conduct the probe. So the question is, how can you go and,would come to the conclusion that a working reporter with a long-standing, excellent career in Washington is somehow now involved in espionage. That is the question.<br /><br />WALLACE: Well, he is ...<br /><br />BRIT HUME: The problem is, it went to Holder and he okayed it!<br /><br />WILLIAMS: He okayed the work of his investigators, and so now as the attorney general--<br /><br />HUME: You are saying he is not ultimately responsible as the head man of the Justice Department ...<br /><br />WILLIAMS: Well, that's why ....<br /><br />HUME: ... who personally signed off on this?<br /><br />WILLIAMS: That's -- he signed off on -- the question ...<br /><br />HUME: He signed off...<br /><br />WILLIAMS: ... to go back and look at the work of the investigators ...<br /><br />HUME: I understand that, but how he -- if he signed off on it, how can he investigate it?<br /><br />WILLIAMS: Because now is an opportunity, and he is the exact right person as Atorney general of the United States to see what prosecutors did and how they came to this conclusion.<br /><br />HUME: Well, he is ...<br /><br />WILLIAMS: We've seen this ... <br /><br />HUME: Wasn't he supposed to see all of that before he signed off on the affidavit?<br /><br />WILLIAMS: You cannot see everything. I mean you -- what he did was to say, these are good people, he trusts his people. Now it's time for someone including ...<br /><br />HUME: I don't know whether he said anything like that or not.<br /><br />WILLIAMS: I understand--<br /><br />HUME: What you do know is, and what we all know is that when that affidavit came to him, rife with assertions that this reporter doing his job, was acting in a criminal way, he okayed it!</div>
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Before Williams began talking strangely, Hume said treating Fox News reporter James Rosen like a potential criminal suspect is outrageous, and exposes Holder as a liar, or a bumbler:</div>
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That does not square with what Holder told Congress. And not only about the standards he would use, but also about his own involvement. It's going to be argued by a lot of people he was lying. At a minimum, I would say, it's another example of his being untrustworthy and I would say also bumbling. And it can't be reconciled, and the president's decision to have him review it, because it encompasses the Rosen case, obviously, means that he is in effect making inquiry into himself, which is a howling conflict of interest, not merely a potential one, but a clear one. So I don't even know how anybody could take him seriously for five minutes.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-44779085640477420722013-05-28T00:07:00.002-07:002013-05-28T00:07:48.825-07:00Obama '07: AG's Job Is to Tell WH 'Here are the Limits of Your Power'<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.199999809265137px; line-height: 17.600000381469727px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
In 2007, then Senator Barack Obama appeared on CNN's Larry King Live and called on U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. Obama said Gonzales was acting more like the president's attorney than the people's attorney and viewed himself as an "enabler of the administration."</div>
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"Well, I voted against Alberto Gonzales confirmation for precisely the reason we are seeing now. I said this on the floor of the senate, that although he seemed to be a capable attorney, he seemed to conceive his role as being the president's attorney instead of being the people's attorney," Obama said.</div>
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The attorney general's job is to set boundaries for the president, not to carry out his "political vendettas":</div>
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"Part of the role of the attorney general is to say to the executive branch, 'Here are the limits of your power,' 'Here are the things that you can't do.' I don't think Alberto Gonzales ever told the president that there was something he could not do.</div>
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"So, as a consequence, when the White House decides a U.S. attorney is not carrying out the political vendettas of the White House, then there are some questions over whether Gonzales was urged to fire these individuals. You've got a situation in terms of the FBI where the procedures used for issuing national security letters seemed to have been completely sloppy and based on erroneous fact. There doesn't seem to be any oversight there."</div>
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Obama goes on to say Gonzales viewed himself more as an "enabler of the administration" than someone who cared about the American people - and called for him to resign:</div>
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"What you get a sense of is an attorney general who saw himself as an enabler of the administration as opposed to somebody who was actually trying to look out for the American people's interest, and for that reason I think it's time for him to step down and for another attorney general, who can exercise some independence, to be put for the remainder of this president's term."</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-56003573251731108542013-05-27T19:06:00.000-07:002013-05-27T19:06:13.876-07:00Illinois Teacher in Hot Water After Informing Students of Fifth Amendment Rights<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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By Susan Sarkauskas<br />
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A Batavia High School teacher's fans are rallying to support him as he faces possible discipline for advising students of their Constitutional rights before taking a school survey on their behavior.<br />
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They've been collecting signatures on an online petition, passing the word on Facebook, sending letters to the school board, and planning to speak at Tuesday's school board meeting.<br />
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Students and parents have praised his ability to interest reluctant students in history and current affairs.<br />
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But John Dryden said he's not the point. He wants people to focus on the issue he raised: Whether school officials considered that students could incriminate themselves with their answers to the survey that included questions about drug and alcohol use.<br />
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Dryden, a social studies teacher, told some of his students April 18 that they had a 5th Amendment right to not incriminate themselves by answering questions on the survey, which had each student's name printed on it.<br />
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The survey is part of measuring how students meet the social-emotional learning standards set by the state. It is the first year Batavia has administered such a survey.<br />
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School district officials declined to provide a copy of the survey to the Daily Herald, saying the district bought the survey from a private company, Multi-Health Systems Inc., and the contents are proprietary business information.<br />
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They did provide the script teachers were to read to students before the test.<br />
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It does not tell students whether participation is mandatory or optional.<br />
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An April email communication to parents said their children could choose not to take the survey, but they had to notify the district by April 17.<br />
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The survey asked about drug, alcohol and tobacco use, and emotions, according to Brad Newkirk, chief academic officer.<br />
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The results were to be reviewed by school officials, including social workers, counselors and psychologists.<br />
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The survey was not a diagnostic tool, but a "screener" to figure out which students might need specific help, Newkirk said.<br />
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Superintendent Jack Barshinger said teacher support for doing a survey grew after several suicides by students in recent years. Students and staff typically said they had no idea those teens were in distress.<br />
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"We can't help them if we aren't aware of their needs," Barshinger said.<br />
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The results will also be compared from year to year, to see if interventions offered work, he said.<br />
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School officials have already reviewed the surveys and have talked to some students about their answers.<br />
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<b>Day of the survey</b><br />
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Dryden said it was just "dumb luck" he learned about the contents. He picked up surveys from his mailbox about 10 minutes before his first class. Seeing students' names on them, unlike past surveys, he started reading the 34 questions.<br />
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"Oh. Well. Ummm, somebody needs to remind them they have the ability not to incriminate themselves," he recalled thinking. It was particularly on his mind because his classes had recently finished reviewing the Bill of Rights. And the school has a police officer stationed there as a liaison, he pointed out. Barshinger said the results weren't shared with police.<br />
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"I made a judgment call. There was no time to ask anyone," Dryden said. If the survey had been handed out a day or two before, he said, he would have talked to an administrator about his concern.<br />
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Instead, he gave the warning to his first-, second- and third-block classes. The test was given to all students during third block.<br />
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He suspects it was a teacher who told the administration about what Dryden had done, after the other teacher had trouble getting all the students to take the survey.<br />
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But he had also spoken afterward with administrators about the questions. "So I was already on the radar," he said.<br />
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Dryden faces having a "letter of remedy" placed in his employment file. He said this week he is negotiating the matter with district authorities.<br />
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Only a school board can issue a letter of remedy, which informs teachers their conduct was improper and could have consequences up to dismissal, according to state law.<br />
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Barshinger declined to speak about Dryden's specific situation. The board will discuss the matter in closed session Tuesday. Any action, however, would have to take place in open session.<br />
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Dryden mentioned his situation to a former student, Joe Bertalmio.<br />
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<b>The campaign</b><br />
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Bertalmio was outraged. The 2002 graduate, who took one class with Dryden, credits him with teaching him how to examine positions and make logical arguments, no matter where one stands politically.<br />
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"Back it up — give me evidence," is what Dryden taught, Bertalmio said.<br />
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Bertalmio posted the news on Facebook, where it was noticed by fellow graduates. Parents of current students have also joined in. There are more than 1,000 signatures on the "Defend and Support John Dryden" petition at the petitionsite.com, although many seem to be repeats. He has also urged people to write letters to the Batavia school board, plans to speak at the board's meeting, and may have a rally before the meeting. A Batavia alderman told the city council Monday he plans to attend the meeting in support, and encouraged other people to do so.<br />
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<b>Stick to the issue</b><br />
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But Dryden doesn't want this seen as him vs. the administrators. He said he knows they were acting in what they thought was the best interests of the students.<br />
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"These are good, professional, smart people on the other side who want to do what is right by kids," he said.<br />
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He would rather focus the discussion on the survey.<br />
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"I have asked people (the supporters) to talk about the survey. I think I am a sideshow," he said. "This (the survey) was rushed and it wasn't vetted."<br />
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"I'm not a martyr," he said. "I'm trying to refocus people's attentions. Calm down."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-57992105861011221812013-05-27T18:36:00.000-07:002013-05-27T18:36:06.965-07:00Texas legislature passes tax cuts for businessesBy Corrie MacLaggan<br />
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(Reuters) - Texas lawmakers sent Governor Rick Perry more than $1 billion in proposed business tax cuts shortly before the end of the biennial legislative session on Monday.<br />
The tax-cut package - the final piece of which was approved by the House and Senate late on Sunday - includes an extension of a business franchise tax exemption for small businesses and a rate cut for businesses of all sizes.<br />
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The Republican-majority legislature also approved about $300 million in electricity rebates.<br />
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Perry, a Republican, had called on lawmakers to pass tax relief for businesses. Thirty-five states are taking up tax reform in their current legislative sessions, according to a recent survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures.<br />
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Texas' franchise tax legislation removes inequities and lowers the tax rate for more than 800,000 businesses, according to Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, a Republican.<br />
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Passing the proposal "sends a clear message that we are committed to sustaining the country's best climate for job creation and economic growth here in Texas," Dewhurst said.<br />
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Dick Lavine, a senior fiscal analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities, criticized the tax cuts, in particular a sales tax exemption for businesses buying equipment for research and development.<br />
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"As always, it didn't matter what the question was. The answer was, 'Let's cut taxes,'" said Lavine, whose organization advocates for low-income Texans. "It's well known that the best return on investment comes from pre-kindergarten through higher education. Who's going to be doing the research and development if we don't train our students?"<br />
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The biennial legislative session that began in January had a decidedly different tone than two years ago, when lawmakers faced a budget crunch and slashed spending.<br />
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This year, as the legislature convened, the state comptroller announced that lawmakers would have more revenue to spend than they did in the previous cycle thanks to higher-than-expected tax collections boosted by economic growth.<br />
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Texas lawmakers this year passed a two-year budget that restores cuts made to schools in 2011.<br />
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They also decided to ask voters this fall to approve $2 billion from the state's rainy-day fund to pay for a loan program for water infrastructure and reduced the number of standardized tests students would have to pass to graduate from high school.<br />
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"Texas is significantly closer to having the water supply needed to respond to severe droughts and to encourage private-sector growth," House Speaker Joe Straus said on Monday. "In addition, educators will have the flexibility needed to prepare every student for success while spending less time on standardized tests."<br />
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The legislature did not pass a proposal pushed by Perry to ban late-term abortions, and conservative lawmakers are asking the governor to add that and other anti-abortion measures to the agenda if he calls a special session.<br />
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Perry has not said whether he will bring lawmakers into a special session, but speculation swirled at the Capitol on Monday about whether he might do so, perhaps to address redistricting.<br />
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The governor had called for the legislature to pass measures requiring drug tests for applicants for unemployment benefits - which lawmakers did pass - and for welfare, which they did not.<br />
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Lawmakers sent the governor a bill that says students and teachers are allowed to say "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hanukkah." They also sent him a sweet piece of legislation - a proposal to make the pecan pie the state pie of Texas.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-34891678530294334172013-05-27T18:29:00.003-07:002013-05-27T18:29:37.647-07:00MEET REPORTER THE WHITE HOUSE FEARS...By <a href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=5E3D52B4-21AE-4068-8822-47D065213593" target="_blank">DYLAN BYERS </a><br />
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Sharyl Attkisson has problems.<br />
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The Obama administration won’t answer the CBS News correspondent’s questions because her investigations — into Benghazi, Fast and Furious, Solyndra — often reflect negatively on it. Some colleagues at CBS News, where she has worked for two decades and earned multiple Emmy awards, dismiss her work because they perceive a political agenda. And now, she says, someone may have hacked into her computers.<br />
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Attkisson’s one piece of solace may come from finally gaining some like-minded colleagues in the media. For years, Attkisson has been one of the few mainstream reporters pursuing critical stories about the Obama administration. Today, as “scandal season” takes hold in Washington, she has seen her longstanding skepticism of the White House and the Justice Department become the conventional attitude among a formerly deferential Beltway press corps.<br />
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Attkisson is a dogged reporter, driven by a strong skepticism of government. Producers at CBS News once nicknamed her “Pit Bull,” a source said, because she gets on a story and won’t let go. But that is seen as both a strength and a weakness. Her drive can produce great journalism, but it can also cause her to push stories to the point that colleagues — especially those of a more progressive bent — suspect a political agenda.<br />
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Among conservatives who rarely find champions in the mainstream media, however, Attkisson is widely respected.<br />
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“She goes after the stories others won’t go after, and she was right to go after them,” Greta Van Susteren, the Fox News host, told POLITICO.<br />
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“She is actually doing what journalists are supposed to do,” said Laura Ingraham, the conservative radio host. “That’s not easy in Washington, D.C., where we have a president with whom the majority of reporters agree with politically.”<br />
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Last year, in a rare moment of right-wing support for a mainstream reporter, the conservative watchdog group Accuracy In Media gave Attkisson an award for her “outstanding contribution to journalism.”<br />
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Earlier this week, Attkisson told POLITICO her personal and work computers had been “compromised” and were under investigation. Though she said she was “not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity,” she said elsewhere that “there could be some relationship between these things and what’s happened to James [Rosen],” the Fox News reporter who became the subject of a Justice Department investigation after reporting on CIA intelligence about North Korea in 2009.<br />
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Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesperson, told POLITICO, “To our knowledge, the Justice Department has never ‘compromised’ Ms. Atkisson’s computers, or otherwise sought any information from or concerning any telephone, computer or other media device she may own or use.”<br />
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The bulk of Attkisson’s work over the past five years has focused on the failures or perceived failures of the Obama administration, which has led to an icy relationship with the White House and the Justice Department.<br />
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In February 2011, Attkisson wrote a landmark report about the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal, which earned her an Emmy award. Months later, she went on Ingraham’s radio show and said that officials from both the White House and the Justice Department had yelled and screamed at her because of her report.<br />
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“[The White House and Justice Department] will tell you that I’m the only reporter — as they told me — that is not reasonable,” Attkisson told Ingraham. “They say The Washington Post is reasonable, the L.A. Times is reasonable, The New York Times is reasonable, I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.”<br />
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White House spokespeople declined to discuss their attitude toward Attkisson’s reporting on the record, though they are said to view her recent work as being more in line with that of Fox News than CBS.<br />
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Attkisson has caused similar frustrations within the Department of Energy for her extensive reporting on the administration’s failed green energy investments, including Solyndra, Beacon and Abound Solar — all of which have filed for bankruptcy.<br />
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But nothing has earned Attkisson a greater reputation for opposition to the administration than her sustained efforts to uncover information about the attacks in Benghazi. Outside of Fox News, Attkisson has been the most persistent media critic of the administration’s version of events there — a topic the White House has often dismissed as a partisan sideshow.<br />
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Liberal media watchdogs have tried to discredit some of Attkisson’s work. Media Matters for America has accused her of “shoddy, irresponsible reporting” and pointed to holes in her reporting on green energy and autism vaccines. This month, she quoted summaries of the email correspondence between the White House and State Department (about the Benghazi talking points) that gave an inaccurate depiction of what those emails actually said and of the White House’s role. ABC News correspondent Jon Karl, who made a similar mistake, later issued a formal apology. Attkisson has not, although CBS News later reported on the discrepancies between the actual emails and the summaries that had been earlier provided by Republican sources.<br />
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Attkisson declined to be interviewed for this article, but she defended her reporting on the Benghazi talking points in an email. “The talking point emails were never represented to me, or by me, as direct quotes,” she wrote. “I accurately disclosed prominently, in every instance, that they were provided by a source who had taken handwritten notes and had repeatedly pointed out they may be ‘paraphrased’ since the Administration did not allow the Congressional committees to copy the actual emails. The email paraphrases, as provided to me, matched up well with the actual emails when the Obama administration finally released them to the public a week later, and in no instance contradicted their general meaning.”)<br />
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In light of the Washington press corps’ current distrust of the Obama administration, much of Attkisson’s reporting now seems prescient — the sort of thing one might expect CBS News executives to celebrate publicly.<br />
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Instead, suspicions of partisanship have made Attkisson a polarizing figure within her own organization.<br />
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CBS News President David Rhodes is said to value her diligence, but there are others, most notably Pat Shevlin, the executive producer of CBS Evening News, who are wary of her motives and have even dismissed her, in private, as a partisan carrying water for Republicans.<br />
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Alternatively, some sources suggested that Shevlin’s own political bias, which they described as liberal, was to blame.<br />
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Either way, the tension has caused Attkisson to feel that she’s been marginalized at the network, sources said.<br />
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“She doesn’t get much love here,” one CBS News source told POLITICO. “Part of that is her fault — she doesn’t have a filter on when to push certain stories, when to say that’s not big enough for the Evening News.<br />
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“She is a dogged reporter, a good reporter, but some people here get the feeling she goes too far — that she’s agenda-driven,” another source said. “She’s not afraid, and that’s a great thing. But sometimes, people here believe she has to be reined in.”<br />
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As of last month, Attkisson has been in informal talks to leave CBS News ahead of contract, though sources tell POLITICO that the network is making a concerted effort to keep her there. CBS News spokesperson Sonya McNair said that Shevlin and Rhodes would not be available to comment.<br />
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“Patricia Shevlin and Sharyl Attkisson are two of CBS News’ most respected journalists whose countless contributions speak for themselves,” McNair said.<br />
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In fact, Attkisson has written many stories about GOP failures as well as Democratic ones. Her 2008 investigations into the so-called “TARP Bait & Switch” under then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson won her an Emmy award for investigative reporting. In March 2012, she reported on GOP freshmen betraying their promises of reforming Washington and instead hobnobbing with fundraisers at a resort in Key Largo.<br />
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Attkisson has said before that she is not a Republican reporter, and sources at CBS News said that the effort to cast Attkisson as an agenda-driven reporter were misplaced.<br />
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“You ask what makes Sharyl tick: It’s that she’s highly skeptical of people in power, and right now the people in power are Democrats,” one source said. “I don’t see her as an agenda-driven reporter.”<br />
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“[Attkisson believes] that public officials and federal officials work for us, and that it’s gotten to the point where they don’t believe that they should be held accountable,” another source said. “That’s not partisan.”Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-10227153492976244692013-05-27T18:22:00.002-07:002013-05-27T18:22:24.587-07:00Fighting rages, more chemical attacks reported...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Heavy fighting raged around the strategic Syrian border town of Qusair and the capital Damascus on Monday and further reports surfaced of chemical weapons attacks by President Bashar al-Assad's forces on rebel areas.<br />
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Intensified government offensives are widely seen as a bid to strengthen Assad's position before a peace conference proposed by the United States and Russia for next month.<br />
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In Brussels, British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who was pushing his European Union colleagues to allow member states to arm the rebels, said the expiry of existing EU sanctions this week meant countries could now choose to send weapons to opposition fighters if they wanted to.<br />
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While Britain and France say such a move could strengthen the rebels ahead of the peace talks, other countries oppose sending arms and EU diplomats said there was an agreement not to send weapons for now.<br />
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The Syrian military pounded eastern suburbs of Damascus with air strikes and artillery and loud explosions echoed around al-Nabak, 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital, where fighting has cut the highway running north to the central city of Homs, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said.<br />
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Opposition activists said Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters were pressing a sustained assault on Qusair, a town long used by insurgents as a way station for arms and other supplies from Lebanon.<br />
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For Assad, Qusair is a crucial link between Damascus and loyalist strongholds on the Mediterranean coast. Recapturing the town could also sever connections between rebel-held areas in the north and south of Syria.<br />
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Hezbollah's deepening involvement in Qusair has raised the prospect of renewed civil war in Lebanon, where two rockets hit the Shi'ite Muslim movement's stronghold in south Beirut on Sunday and one was fired from south Lebanon towards Israel.<br />
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The rockets struck hours after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah promised that his anti-Israel guerrillas, fighting alongside Assad's forces, would win whatever the cost.<br />
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A Lebanese security source said another 107mm rocket, which did not go off, had been aimed at Beirut airport. The launch sites were near Aitat, in the hills just south of the capital.<br />
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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced "deep concern" at Hezbollah's admitted combat role and the risk that the Syrian conflict will spill into Lebanon and other neighboring states.<br />
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"CHEMICAL ATTACK" AFFECTS DOZENS<br />
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The U.S.-Russian initiative so far appears only to have intensified the violence, especially around Qusair and Damascus.<br />
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In Harasta, an eastern Damascus suburb largely under rebel control, dozens of people were afflicted by respiratory difficulties after an apparent overnight chemical attack, according to opposition sources. Video showed victims lying on the floor of a room, breathing from oxygen masks.<br />
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The sides in the conflict, now in its third year, have accused each other of using chemical weapons. France's Le Monde newspaper published first-hand accounts on Monday of apparent chemical attacks by Assad's forces in April.<br />
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The newspaper said one of its photographers had suffered blurred vision and breathing problems for four days after an attack on April 13 on the Jobar front, in central Damascus.<br />
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Another video from Harasta overnight showed at least two fighters being put into a van, their eyes watering and struggling to breathe while medics put tubes into their throats.<br />
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It was not possible to verify the videos independently.<br />
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Syria, which is not a member of the anti-chemical weapons convention, is believed to have one of the world's last remaining stockpiles of undeclared chemical arms.<br />
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French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters in Brussels there was "increasingly strong evidence of localized use of chemical weapons" in Syria and said Paris would consult its partners on what action ought to be taken.<br />
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TALL ORDER<br />
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The U.S.-Russian initiative provides the first slim hope in almost a year for a diplomatic end to a conflict that has cost more than 80,000 lives and caused a refugee exodus that the U.N. refugee agency expects to top 3.5 million by the end of 2013.<br />
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After a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said organising a peace conference - which may happen in Geneva in June - was a tricky but not, he hoped, impossible endeavor.<br />
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"It's not an easy task. It's a very tall order. But I hope that when the United States and the Russian Federation take this kind of initiative, the chances for success are there," he said after the two met by themselves for roughly 90 minutes.<br />
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China, which along with Russia, has three times blocked U.N. Security Council action on Syria, said on Monday it would join the proposed talks and would push all concerned towards peace.<br />
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Damascus has indicated it will take part in the talks. But the fractured opposition, which has previously required Assad's exit to be guaranteed before any negotiations, has yet to lay out its position and remains mired in internal quarrels.<br />
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The opposition crisis deepened on Monday when liberals were offered only token representation, undermining international efforts to lend the Islamist-dominated alliance greater support.<br />
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To the dismay of envoys of Western and Arab nations monitoring four days of opposition talks in Istanbul, the 60-member Syrian National Coalition thwarted a deal to admit a liberal bloc headed by opposition campaigner Michel Kilo.<br />
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The failure to broaden the coalition, in which a Qatari-backed bloc influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood is prominent, could sap Saudi support for the revolt.<br />
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The coalition's Western backers had wanted more seats for liberals, an idea backed by Saudi Arabia, which had been uneasy about Qatar's rising influence, coalition insiders said.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-31304662436960455492013-05-27T18:13:00.001-07:002013-05-27T18:13:50.260-07:00A vote for permanent poverty<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Late last month, the elected officials of a small, rural New Mexico county became the first in the nation to vote for permanent poverty. Mora County’s unemployment is double that of most of the country and nearly 500% greater than that of some other parts of <a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/NMEDDY5URN" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">the state</a> where oil and gas development is taking place, and <a href="http://www.errorsofenchantment.com/2013/05/02/mora-ons-against-prosperity/#comments" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">23.8%</a> of Mora County’s residents live in poverty. With that in mind, you’d think that the Mora County Commissioners would welcome the jobs that are boosting the economy in the southeastern part of the state. Instead, they voted, 2-1—in a session that may violate the Open Meetings Act as the notice did not contain the date, time, and place of the meeting—to pass an ordinance that permanently bans oil and gas drilling.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Defending his vote, Chairman John Olivas, an employee of <a href="http://www.nmwild.org/about-us/staff/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">New Mexico Wilderness Alliance</a>with no political experience, explained: “We need to create other jobs. First, sustainable agriculture; second, business development; and third, eco-tourism to keep people on the land.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Frank Trambley, the Mora County GOP chairman, disagrees: “In our economic climate, we simply cannot afford to needlessly throw the possibility for jobs down the drain.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Currently, Mora County has no oil and gas activity—and now it looks like it never will (though the outcome of potential lawsuits could change that). But there is reason to believe that the potential for development and jobs is there. Shell Oil has 100,000 acres leased for development—not to mention private interest—in Mora County, and there are more than 120 leases on state lands within the county.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">In adjacent Colfax County, there are 950 natural gas wells. There the Commissioners don’t seem too troubled by the activity. The Colfax Country Commissioners are looking at drafting an<a href="http://ratonrange.com/colfaxs-neighbor-bans-oil-gas-extraction-mora-county-claims-to-be-first-p4915-1.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">ordinance</a> that would “allow oil and gas drilling to continue while setting standards and regulations to give county officials control over aspects of the industry’s work that affect landowners and other citizens.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">But this story is bigger than the sparsely populated—less than <a href="http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/35/35033.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">5000</a> and declining—northeastern New Mexico County. Following the passage of their “ban” ordinance, the two “yes” vote commissioners sent a letter to all the county commissioners in the state: “We’re sending you this letter to urge you to consider adopting a similar law. In Mora, we decided that ‘fracking,’ along with other forms of oil and gas drilling are not compatible with Mora farming, forestry, and our quality of life.” Apparently unemployment and poverty are “compatible” with the Mora “quality of life.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">How did Mora come to believe that it might become the little county that could “force” change aimed at “restoring democratic control of our communities”? They had the help of an out-of-state environmental group: the <a href="http://celdf.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund</a> (CELDF)—which helped draft Mora’s “Community Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance.” Thomas Linzey, executive director of CELDF <a href="http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_23140521/nm-county-ordinance-bans-oil-gas-development" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">explained</a>: “This is the fight that people have been too chicken to pick over the last 10 years.” The CELDF <a href="http://www.celdf.org/downloads/MORA%20COUNTY%20PRESS%20RELEASE%2004%2029%2013.pdf" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">press release</a> on the ban states: “Mora is joining a growing people’s movement for community and nature’s rights” and brags about CELDF’s involvement in other communities across the country.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Mora Commissioners’ letter—on County letterhead—encourages all other New Mexico Commissioners to join them and invites participation in a gathering “hosted by a new group, the New Mexico Coalition for Community Rights (<a href="http://www.nmccr.org/hot-news-1/therootedlands" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">NMCCR</a>) which was formed this past year to begin to change how our system here in New Mexico functions.” <a href="http://celdf.org/staff" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Kathleen Dudley</a>, a “community organizer” and CELDF staffer, is the “contact person for that event.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wayne Johnson, a Bernalillo County Commissioner, alerted me to the Mora letter that may be in violation of state’s <a href="http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/lcsdocs/182994.pdf" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">code of conduct</a>—to which every elected official is subject. Johnson told me: “I believe I would at least be violating the spirit of the law if I sent out a letter on Bernalillo County letterhead that directly promotes the political activities of a specific group. Imagine the uproar that would be caused if I sent out—at taxpayers’ expense—a letter promoting an NRA conference or a Right to Life meeting. The First Amendment guarantees the right to express their political opinion. However using government resources to do so is inappropriate.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The letter also includes this: “You may be unaffected by fracking and oil and gas drilling in your county.” Wrong. There is no county in New Mexico that is “unaffected.” In response to the letter, Greg Nibert, Chairman of the Chaves County Commission, shot back: “The oil and gas producing counties bear more than 40% of the entire state budget. We send money to Santa Fe that pays for educating the children of New Mexico. It is difficult to swallow that a county who may be blessed with such rich resources would enact such an ordinance.” Along with the other counties in the region, the Chaves County Commissioners plan to send a “strong letter in opposition to the Mora County Commission letter.” In a recent radio interview Mora’s Olivas said that he had no problem accepting state revenue from energy development in other counties, but is unwilling to allow any production and contribution from his own.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">If the other counties followed Mora’s lead and banned fracking and/or oil and gas development, the state would lose 33,000 jobs—that’s 33,000 people who would be unable to put food on their families’ tables, pay their bills without worry, and even save for retirement. The states’ budget would be short a combined $5.73 billion dollars of investment. The majority of New Mexico’s 50,000+ wells use hydraulic fracturing for decades.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Nibert hopes some brave citizens of Mora County will step forward and bring a law suit against Mora County and at least its two commissioners who enacted the ordinance, as it takes the real property of its citizens without compensation, which is guaranteed by the US Constitution and the Constitution of New Mexico. To date, no one has come forward. “I know some lawyers who would love to take the case!”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Nibert may get his wish. Several groups are looking at a legal challenge.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The one dissenting vote was from Commissioner Paula Garcia, who believes the ordinance goes too far. Federal and state law typically overrides local county legislation, but in regards to oil and gas extraction, the Mora ordinance puts the county above state and US government. Garcia<a href="http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/politics/mora-county-bans-oil-gas-extraction" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">says</a>: “It is trying to reclaim local decision making that isn't recognized in the law currently, and, in essence, it is challenging existing laws.” She “worries the ordinance won't hold up in court and that Mora County can’t afford a pricey lawsuit.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The state says its Oil Conservation Division can still issue permits to drill in Mora County, but permit holders will now likely have to go to court to fight the county ordinance. Likewise, officials at the Bureau of Land Management say that they are not bound by local ordinances. Yet, the little county’s ordinance has the gall to demand an amendment to the state Constitution “to explicitly secure a community right to local self-government that cannot be preempted by the State”—even threatening secession.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Olivas believes Mora County is prepared: “What we’re doing to prepare ourselves is signing with a legal firm to represent us. At the next County Commissioner meeting, we will sign a retainer with the firm.” It is <a href="http://newmexico.watchdog.org/17783/get-ready-for-lawsuits-after-mora-county-passes-oil-and-gas-ban/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">reported</a> that CELDF is the firm—charging $1 for representation, and that Mora County is working to establish a fund to help pay for the living and travel expenses involved in representation.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Trambley told me: “The County is split on the drilling issue, but people are afraid to speak out against the ban—afraid that if they do, they’ll lose their job. It’s maddening to see sweeping bans being made without accurate information about the economic and environmental effects of drilling.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A recent <a href="http://westernenergyalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/News-Release-Voters-to-Washington-_-Develop-America%E2%80%99s-Abundant-Oil-Natural-Gas.pdf" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">poll</a> from the <a href="http://westernenergyalliance.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Western Energy Alliance</a> supports Trambley’s position. Responses showed that “prior to any presentation of the facts, almost a majority (49%) of voters support” the use of fracking. However, “if and when the public understands what industry is doing to protect their safety and the environment, their support for hydraulic fracturing increases up to 71%.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I firmly believe that government closest to the people is the best. I’ve rallied with hundreds of people from other New Mexico counties who are fighting federal overreach that denies them their economic freedoms. But, when an out-of-state entity is driving an issue by spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt, and when the Commission has to hide the time and location of the meeting to get the vote through—that is not the true voice of the locals.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Commissioner Olivas defends his actions by claiming that his vote followed through on a campaign promise. Sources tell me that his campaign was heavily funded by a single source that doesn’t primarily live in the county and whose money comes from the Progressive Insurance fortune.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">While this is a New Mexico story, beware. CELDF has its <a href="http://www.celdf.org/where-we-work-1" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">sights set</a> on a national movement. Emboldened by its success in Mora County, they may be coming to a community near you. You may find that your local leadership voted for permanent poverty.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A tweet from Occupy New Mexico following the Mora announcement: “After the victory in Mora, the #communityrights movement is spreading across New Mexico. Next up, #SantaFe #NM! @OccupyWallStNYC @350 #NMPOL” You can be sure they are not just “spreading across New Mexico.”<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">The author of </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.imprbooks.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=158&idproduct=2095" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Energy Freedom</span></i></b></a></span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">, Marita <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1686325700" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Noon</span></span> serves as the executive director for </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://energymakesamericagreat.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Energy Makes America Great Inc</span></i></a></span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">. and the companion educational organization, the </span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.responsiblenergy.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy</span></i></a></span><i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;">(CARE). Together they work to educate the public and influence policy makers regarding energy, its role in freedom, and the American way of life. Combining energy, news, politics, and, the environment through public events, speaking engagements, and media, the organizations’ combined efforts serve as America’s voice for energy.</span></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-25172656427148255702013-05-27T18:10:00.001-07:002013-05-27T18:10:36.688-07:00Glaring Omission in Memorial Day Servicesby Rev. Austin Miles<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIlEtWuk7oB1ttir9FNX9fcRtEmUfOdDRkXfHYKpf3sOZdkrsJcW3EFHU8wrxH7l46ioh5vUNFCqF9fBVpc5aKC-G2kkZj3WII8ELTFgVKhBcE-eGTwdCZC8x4ekbNs3039-x2vX0ADM/s1600/ImoJimo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIlEtWuk7oB1ttir9FNX9fcRtEmUfOdDRkXfHYKpf3sOZdkrsJcW3EFHU8wrxH7l46ioh5vUNFCqF9fBVpc5aKC-G2kkZj3WII8ELTFgVKhBcE-eGTwdCZC8x4ekbNs3039-x2vX0ADM/s200/ImoJimo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
BRENTWOOD,California-Memorial Day-2013. It was not deliberate or intentional. This writer just became aware of it on this Memorial Day while preparing a funeral for tomorrow, May 28th.<br />
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That service will be for Helen Genevieve Mastraccio in Brentwood, California. Born into a privileged life, she was in St. Thomas University in Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada, left the University after a year and a half to put on working clothes and a helmet to work in a factory in Rome, New York where she lived.<br />
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World War II had broken out and heated up. Very young men were lined up at all recruiting offices to join the service, many lying about their age in order to do so.<br />
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Americans had to make sacrifices to assist the war effort, submitting to rationing of staples, sugar, metal, rubber tires, gasoline and nylons along with many others. And they did it willingly.<br />
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An intense inward patriotism was displayed in those days which is why it is called: “The Greatest Generation.” Everybody was ready to help defend America. And that included a score of women.<br />
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Since most of the men were off to the front lines, there were very few qualified men available to work in the factories vital to the war effort. Ammunition, weapons, jeeps, tanks, battle ships, and airplanes had to be built and kept in supply.<br />
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It was the women who then lined up to perform this essential work to construct the equipment that would be needed in the war. The shipyards in Richmond, California introduced the term, “Rosie The Riveter,” which became known and respected.<br />
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One of those, Helen Mastraccio, went to work for Rome (NY) Cable Corporation, working on cables and leads for airplanes used in the war, making her one of the first East Coast Rosie the Riveters.<br />
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Had it not been for these patriotic women who were not afraid to do manual work to supply our fighting men and women with secure equipment and transportation, the U.S. Military might not have been so successful.<br />
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It will be urged at the beginning of the next Memorial Day-2014, that flags be put on all graves of Rosie the Riveters who have passed away, and should be honored along with the men and women on the front lines. PBS TV that produces a stunning annual Memorial Day Concert and tribute in Washington, D.C. will be notified and encouraged to add this element to the future event.<br />
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This will begin a couple of months before the date so that families of a Rosie The Riveter can prepare to place a flag at the grave-site of their loved ones and take part in area Memorial Day observances and services.<br />
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Like those incredible men and women in the military, Each Rosie put her own hopes, dreams and desires on hold, pouring out her last full measure of devotion so that each American can fulfill their own. They too are heroes who should be held in the highest level of honor in our hearts. And their families should also be presented a flag at their funerals when they pass away.<br />
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May This Memorial Day Hold Special Signifcance for All Americans.<br />
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Rev. Austin Miles, a very active chaplain, is a veteran.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-66010673628659470552013-05-27T07:20:00.000-07:002013-05-27T07:20:57.299-07:00No end to scandals in sight for embattled Obama White HouseBatten down the hatches and wait for the storm to clear.<br />
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That’s the advice veteran Washington Democrats are urging on a White House that has been embattled for a full two weeks by the triad of controversies revolving around the IRS, Benghazi and the Justice Department’s seizure of reporters’ phone records. No-one expects the pressure to let up anytime soon.<br />
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“There is blood in the water and the sharks are circling,” said Jim Manley, who spent years as the top communications aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) before moving on to a career at a lobbying firm.<br />
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“The last thing the White House needs to do is to make any unnecessary quick moves — by making dramatic personnel changes, for example.”<br />
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Mike McCurry, who labored as White House Press Secretary for President Bill Clinton during the feverish early days of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, opted for a different marine metaphor.<br />
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“The temptation, when you have some variety of these feeding frenzies, is only to worry about the churning water and not the longer-term horizon,” he said. “The critical thing is to not lose sight of the larger agenda that the president got elected to execute.”<br />
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The advice from the likes of Manley and McCurry is finding a receptive audience at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. McCurry recently spoke with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough, and came away impressed with the discipline McDonough was instilling in the rest of the staff.<br />
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McDonough, as has been widely reported, wants to cap at 10 percent the amount of White House time that gets spent responding to the furors of the moment rather than advancing the president’s broader agenda.<br />
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Among other White House staff, solace is taken from a number of factors.<br />
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First, they believe that there is no direct link between the president and any of the misbehavior that is being probed.<br />
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Second, they contend that the only thing that could truly jeopardize him, or his top aides, is inappropriate meddling in future investigations or those currently underway.<br />
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Third, they say that maintaining a steady focus on the large issues of national importance will pay off in the long run.<br />
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Obama supporters who have left the White House make similar points.<br />
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“There’s a difference between what interests the Washington press corps and what the American people care about,” said Bill Burton, the former Deputy White House Press Secretary who went on to run Priorities USA Action, the super-PAC that supported Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. “As long as the president keeps his head down and keeps working on the issues that matter for the American people, it’ll all work out.”<br />
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The most prominent example to date of this approach came with the president’s address on national security on Thursday. The speech was an important one, and on a controversial enough topic, to seize media attention for at least 24 hours. On Sunday, he will travel to the Oklahoma City area to see for himself the devastation wrought by the recent tornado.<br />
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From a political perspective, however, such moments provide only the most fleeting respite from near-blanket media coverage of the intensifying probes. The White House has to be patient, Democrats say.<br />
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“In the short-term, when things are all a-fire, the best they can do is generate one good picture showing the president doing his work,” McCurry said. “But over time you get back to a higher place on the agenda.”<br />
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Another episode last week showed just how unpredictably these stories can unspool, however. Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of the tax-exempt division, appeared before the House Oversight Committee, and was expected to simply invoke the protection of the Fifth Amendment and depart.<br />
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Instead, she prefaced her “taking of the fifth” with an emphatic profession of her innocence — an approach that some Republicans, including committee chairman Darrell Issa (Calif.) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (S.C.), asserted might have voided her desire to protect herself from self-incrimination. Issa now says he wants to bring Lerner back before the committee.<br />
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Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist who previously worked as a top aide for then-Speaker Dennis Hastert (Ill.), contended that these were the kind of developments that made message management perilous, even from the bully pulpit of the presidency.<br />
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Referring to Obama’s team, he asserted, “It is unlikely that they will be able to correct the course by playing damage control because of the capacity for an unexpected turn of events. They could be focusing on deploying a message on Tuesday morning, hoping to get the president back on track. But as they are doing so, another revelation breaks about the IRS probe.<br />
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“It is almost impossible,” he added.<br />
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Opinion is divided as to how the scandals are likely to affect Obama’s legislative priorities. On one hand, some Democrats express the hope that Republicans have a compelling self-interest to move forward with the big issue of the moment, immigration reform. On the other, conservatives note that the stream of damaging stories has loosened Obama’s leverage.<br />
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“Republicans do have an imperative to pursue [immigration reform] but they’ve also now been given an easier pathway to walk away from any negotiation, because the credibility of the president is at an all-time low,” said Hogan Gidley, who worked as communications director for former Sen. Rick Santorum’s (Pa.) 2012 presidential campaign.<br />
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“His ability to govern is slipping away minute by minute.”<br />
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Democrats protest that there is plenty of time to recover. And they live in hope that the Republicans will make their own mistakes, perhaps engaging in hyperbole and being seen as out of sync with the broader public’s priorities.<br />
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Time, they contend, can repair the president’s standing. But there will be turbulent currents to navigate before then.<br />
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“The White House has to recognize that the Republicans are prepared to spend the entire summer doing anything but legislating, focusing on one so-called scandal after another,” Manley said.<br />
“They just have to stay focused on the issues, doing what they need to do.”Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-16993716508780166182013-05-27T07:12:00.000-07:002013-05-27T07:21:07.444-07:00Alternative media (Stuff like this website) forcing real issues into national news coverage<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 18.19791603088379px; margin-top: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="outline: 0px;">Jeffrey Phelps</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/alternative-media-forcing-real-issues-into-national-news-coverage" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">examiner.com</a><br />
May 26, 2013</div>
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MSNBC’s Maddow is strangely and ironically begging the GOP to stop listening to Alex Jones and the alternative media, as if this not only threatens the GOP, but also as if she actually cares about the Republican party. Who’s twisted? Credits: Rachel Maddow / Facebook</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;"><a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/rachel-maddow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rachel Maddow</a>’s continued </strong><strong style="outline: 0px;"><a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/maddow-hammers-crack-pot-alex-jones-oklahoma-tornado-weather-weapon-conspiracy-theory/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">coverage of Alex Jones</a></strong><strong style="outline: 0px;"> and the weather weapons issue is further proof the so-called “alternative” media is winning the info-war.</strong></div>
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It used to be so easy for the national media to pretend government conspiracies, in large part, didn’t exist. Even when the vast amount of high-level conspiracies, that have occurred throughout the years, played out in front of news audiences in the US, on a routine bases, skilled teleprompter programmers and those who read the teleprompters in front of the public, like Rachel Maddow, or her (alleged opposite) counterpart Bill O’Reilly and their predecessors, were somehow able to fool the masses into believing they were all generally anomalies that almost never occurred, or didn’t occur at all.</div>
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The same way Americans in the early 1900s would have never expected the government to give <a href="http://theunjustmedia.com/Banking%20&%20Federal%20Reserve/The%20Federal%20Reserve%20is%20Privately%20owned.htm" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">private banking families</a> control over the US economy and allow them to <a href="http://www.themoneymasters.com/the-money-masters/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">slowly steal all the wealth</a> through the implementation of the Fed and the dollar, is the same way they would have never imagined the government would have had <a href="http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=408" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">prior knowledge</a>, yet still allow the attack on Pearl Harbor to occur, or pull off a false flag attack in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/world/asia/15vietnam.html?_r=3&emc=eta1" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">the Gulf of Tonkin</a>, as excuses for war.</div>
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People in the US have, in large part, long suffered from the “it can’t happen here” syndrome, largely thanks to newscasters and those who read the copy, which has allowed people in positions of authority to get away with far more than they ever should have throughout the years.</div>
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Prior to the age of the widespread internet, that even some of the poorest in America and around the world now have regular access to, it was much easier to make the public at large assume, through careful use of language and the way in which the news was structured, politicians and the types of individuals seeking power were generally the types of people one could trust, even with the most sensitive aspects of the constitution and the rule of law.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 18.19791603088379px;">Despite the obvious historical reality individuals seeking power regularly prove to be the type of people that cannot be trusted with the vast power they assume in government, one of the most important and regularly stated warnings given by the founders and for obvious reasons, the national media has turned out to be a weapon of disinformation for the establishment and the power elite and acts as though the vast majority of the power-hungry are almost infallible and generally free of the need for constant scrutiny. When the opposite is glaringly true.</span><br />
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We are in a dire situation in this country today, and small publications like this one do not have the huge resources of George Soros pouring in like our liberal friends. <br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Worth Reading is <span style="font-style: italic;">not funded</span> by the government like NPR. <br />
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Worth Reading <span style="font-style: italic;">is not</span> funded by the government like PBS.</span> <br />
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As time keeps ticking into the future and more people start seeking alternatives to what used to be relatively very few sources for news and information, such as the alternative media’s top-ranked “<a href="http://www.infowars.com/listen-on-the-internet" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">The Alex Jones Show</a>,” proving again necessity is the mother of invention, people are beginning to realize there are views, growing increasingly credible, that are in stark contrast to those portrayed as accurate on establishment and corporate controlled media, on either side of the always pro-establishment “two” party ideology.</div>
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As those so-called alternative sources <a href="http://youtu.be/w3U7TOV894g" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">continue to steal ratings and trust</a> away from the corporate (dinosaur) media, threatening the stranglehold of information control they’ve had for many decades, rather than merely pretending alternative views don’t exist or are lacking in credibility, those very teleprompter readers have been forced to more regularly voice the issues and topics their programmers would much rather ignore, in large part due to a fear of losing credibility and viewership altogether.</div>
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One of the best examples of just how desperate the establishment media has become, in attempting to discredit the rising alternative media, is not only the constant use of the term <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/conspiracy" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">conspiracy</a> “theory” to describe the alternative media’s views, regardless of the accuracy of those views, but just how often alternative views have been forced into the national spotlight as a result. Within that paradigm, there is perhaps no better example than <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/msnbc" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">MSNBC</a>’s “<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/vp/51985676%20-%2051973039" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">The Rachel Maddow Show</a>.”</div>
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Over the past couple years, Maddow’s producers and programmers, although not exclusive to MSNBC or Rachel’s Show, have been doing everything they can to attempt regaining some of that lost viewership and <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2012/08/16/further-decline-in-credibility-ratings-for-most-news-organizations/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">ratings decline</a>, by ironically trying to discredit the alternative views they’re being forced to cover.</div>
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More recently, Maddow’s attention has turned toward The <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/alex-jones" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Alex Jones</a> Show, rather than directing that scrutiny toward a current administration that is much more worthy of that type of attention… In much the same way she gave past-due attention to the lies told by the Bush administration, during the run-up to the War on Terror, with her recent documentary “<a href="http://youtu.be/B5FaMbnINwc" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Hubris: Selling the Iraq War</a>.” (Another actual conspiracy.)</div>
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But of course, none of that type of investigative “journalism” would ever be needed for a “progressive” Obama administration, as far as Maddow, or anyone else on MSNBC is concerned. The overarching assertion is, that would be ridiculous to assume… Why even bother? The very same way FOX News acted while the Bush administration was in office and thus the cycle continues.</div>
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Once serious questions about the validity of the official <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/aurora-theater-shooting-court-documents-blows-inside-job-conspiracy-wide-open" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Aurora theater shooting</a> narrative turned into just as serious questions about the official <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/sandy-hook-was-an-inside-job" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Sandy Hook school shooting</a> narrative in the alternative media, both turning out to possess all the classical signs of being <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/false-flag-terrorism" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">false flag terrorism</a> ops for political purposes, complete with a growing portion of the public turning toward a much more credible alternative media for the information you can’t get on liberal entertainment outlets like MSNBC, the folks there must have realized they had no other choice but to engage in an info-war with the alternative media, they were likely hoping they would never have to fight.</div>
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But it was after the Boston Marathon bombing when things really started to heat up for Maddow’s producers. Once one of Alex’s reporters made national headlines, after blowing up multiple post-bombing press conferences, <a href="http://youtu.be/3FBBM9_saoA" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">with questions</a> officials were hoping never got asked on national TV, such as whether or not the bombing was “a staged, false flag operation to trick the American people into giving up even more of their liberties” than they already have, Alex’s InfoWars.com web traffic spiked to all-time highs… <a href="http://www.infowars.com/whats-a-false-flag-google-trends-shows-search-term-spike/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">As did the internet search query “false flag,”</a> prompting <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/rachel-maddow-annihilates-alex-jones-conspiracies-in-epic-segment/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">another Maddow rant</a> that is still used as a heroic liberal talking point on the internet, despite the question’s actual validity.</div>
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All that may pale in comparison however to <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/23/maddow-will-weather-weapon-talk-finally-drive-gop-away-from-alex-jones/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">this week’s Maddow rant</a>, after Alex’s take on the possibility Monday’s Oklahoma tornado, tearing apart a large portion of Moore, OK and killing at least 24 people, may have also been the work of a rogue government operation, timed to distract attention away from the growing scandals rocking the Obama administration and threatening his public reputation. <a href="http://www.infowars.com/nbc-obama-scandals-take-a-pause-because-of-tornado/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">A distraction</a> even the mainstream press admitted welcoming.</div>
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The problem here, at least for Maddow, her teleprompter programmers and ultimately her viewers, is how they twisted and distorted <a href="http://youtu.be/0hp-2zUXa_U" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">what Alex actually said</a>, in order for the statements made on her show to sound legitimate and attempt to do the most possible damage to Alex’s growing reputation, while doing everything they can to avoid the issue at hand.</div>
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Rather than digging into why Alex would make such accusations, or if this type of weather manipulation was even possible, in the same way “Maddow” dug into the War on Terror lies told by the Neocons (as if she actually made the documentary herself), Maddow’s show instead engaged in the kind of <a href="http://www.infowars.com/rachel-maddows-jihad-against-alex-jones-part-ii/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">child-like personal character attacks</a>, typically seen on shows like hers, when the national news industry embarks on a mission to distract viewers’ attention from why these well-researched assertions, referred to as conspiracy “theories,” are being made in the first place.</div>
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Despite the knowledge <a href="http://www.weathermodification.com/projects.php" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">weather modification</a> and <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/1965/nsb1265.pdf" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">manipulation programs (PDF)</a> have existed for decades, and growing more technologically advanced with every passing year, her teleprompter programmers decided to treat their waning audience like a class of grade-schoolers, unworthy of being afforded the respect of an intelligent debate. The reason for that is, the very same reason she’s even talking about Jones and the alternative media in the first place, they have no choice.</div>
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But therein lies the irony of the circumstances. As they continue treating their audience like a bunch of morons, while being forced to cover the alternative media and the issues they would much rather ignore, she and others like her continue alienating and disenfranchising their viewers, as evidenced <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/23/maddow-will-weather-weapon-talk-finally-drive-gop-away-from-alex-jones/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">in the comments sections</a> of the articles that once housed almost nothing but praise for her own brand of hubris.</div>
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If, in fact, people like Alex Jones and Rand Paul are actually doing damage to the GOP, as her teleprompter programmers forced her to say during the show’s most recent Alex Jones conspiracy related episode segment, why then would she even bother to cover it? Wouldn’t that be something she and her “progressive” constituency would have been praying for all along, alleged “nut-jobs” ultimately ruining the Republican Party? Does anyone else find it particularly odd, or revealing, she would be begging conservatives and republicans in Washington to stop listening to the alternative media and people like Alex Jones?</div>
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Maybe the better question asked is whether or not it’s time to stop tuning in and listening to people like Rachel Maddow, altogether.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">Additional Info:</strong></div>
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Google: “weather modification programs”</div>
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<a href="http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=674" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen</a> (1997): “Others are engaging even in an eco- type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves. So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations. It’s real, and that’s the reason why we have to intensify our efforts, and that’s why this is so important.”</div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Modification_Convention" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">1978 Convention</a> Treaty on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques</div>
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<a href="http://youtu.be/VA1YZzI0wSs" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Al Gore admits “chemtrails” are used</a> as a form of “preventing global warming.”</div>
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theguradian: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/06/bill-gates-climate-scientists-geoengineering" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Bill Gates backs climate scientists lobbying for large-scale geoengineering</a></div>
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AmericanDream: <a href="http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/solid-proof-that-weather-modification-projects-are-being-conducted-all-over-the-united-states" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Solid Proof That Weather Modification Projects Are Being Conducted All Over the United States</a></div>
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(<a href="http://youtu.be/UFFgm-Xzopk" rel="nofollow" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">YouTube</a>) RE: Rachel Maddow DENIES Weather Modification = Serious Misinformation</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-54680325669841966772013-05-27T07:06:00.000-07:002013-05-27T07:09:19.331-07:0040 Statistics About The Fall Of The U.S. Economy That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 18.19791603088379px; margin-top: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="outline: 0px;">Michael Snyder</strong><br style="outline: 0px;" /><a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/40-statistics-about-the-fall-of-the-u-s-economy-that-are-almost-too-crazy-to-believe" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Economic Collapse</a><br style="outline: 0px;" />May 27, 2013</div>
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If you know someone that actually believes that the U.S. economy is in good shape, just show them the statistics in this article. When you step back and look at the long-term trends, it is undeniable what is happening to us. We are in the midst of a horrifying economic decline that is the result of decades of very bad decisions. 30 years ago, the U.S. national debt was about one trillion dollars. Today, it is almost 17 trillion dollars. 40 years ago, the total amount of debt in the United States was about 2 trillion dollars. </div>
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Today, it is more than 56 trillion dollars. At the same time that we have been running up all of this debt, our economic infrastructure and our ability to produce wealth has been absolutely gutted. Since 2001, the United States has lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities and millions of good jobs have been shipped overseas. Our share of global GDP declined from 31.8 percent in 2001 to 21.6 percent in 2011. The percentage of Americans that are self-employed is at a record low, and the percentage of Americans that are dependent on the government is at a record high. The U.S. economy is a complete and total mess, and it is time that we faced the truth.</div>
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The following are 40 statistics about the fall of the U.S. economy that are almost too crazy to believe…</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#1</strong> Back in 1980, the U.S. national debt was <a href="http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="less than one trillion dollars">less than one trillion dollars</a>. Today, it is rapidly approaching 17 trillion dollars…</div>
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<a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/?attachment_id=5737" rel="attachment wp-att-5737" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="National Debt" height="255" src="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/National-Debt-425x255.png" style="border: none; outline: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px;" width="425" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><strong style="outline: 0px;">#2</strong> During Obama’s first term, the federal government accumulated more debt than it did under <a href="http://cnsnews.com/news/article/first-term-obama-increased-debt-50521-household-more-first-42-presidents-53-terms" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="the first 42 U.S presidents combined">the first 42 U.S presidents combined</a>.</span></div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#3</strong> The U.S. national debt is now <a href="http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo4.htm" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="more than 22 times larger">more than 23 times larger</a> than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#4</strong> If you started paying off <strong style="outline: 0px;">just the new debt</strong> that the U.S. has accumulated during the Obama administration at the rate of one dollar per second, it would take <strong style="outline: 0px;">more than 184,000 years</strong> to pay it off.</div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><strong style="outline: 0px;">#5</strong> The federal government is stealing more than 100 million dollars from our children and our grandchildren every single hour of every single day.</span></div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#6</strong> Back in 1970, the total amount of debt in the United States (government debt + business debt + consumer debt, etc.) was less than 2 trillion dollars. Today it is over 56 trillion dollars…</div>
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<a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/?attachment_id=5738" rel="attachment wp-att-5738" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="Total Debt" height="255" src="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Total-Debt-425x255.png" style="border: none; outline: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px;" width="425" /></a></div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#7</strong> According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for <a href="http://acrossthestreetnet.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/the-cost-of-kidding-yourself/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="31.8 percent">31.8 percent</a>of all global economic activity in 2001. That number dropped to <a href="http://acrossthestreetnet.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/the-cost-of-kidding-yourself/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="21.6 percent">21.6 percent</a> in 2011.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#8</strong> The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum <a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/a-look-behind-the-u-s-decline-in-global-competitiveness/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="for four years in a row">for four years in a row</a>.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#9</strong> According to The Economist, the United States was the best place in the world to be born into <a href="http://www.economicnoise.com/2012/11/29/you-wont-build-that/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="back in 1988">back in 1988</a>. Today, the United States is only <a href="http://www.economicnoise.com/2012/11/29/you-wont-build-that/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="tied for 16th place">tied for 16th place</a>.</div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><strong style="outline: 0px;">#10</strong> Incredibly, <a href="http://www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2011/nov/07/betty-sutton/betty-sutton-says-average-15-us-factories-close-ea/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="more than 56,000">more than 56,000</a> manufacturing facilities in the United States have been permanently shut down since 2001.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><strong style="outline: 0px;">#11</strong> There are less Americans working in manufacturing today <a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/10-amazing-charts-that-demonstrate-the-slow-agonizing-death-of-the-american-worker" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="than there was in 1950">than there was in 1950</a> even though the population of the country has more than doubled since then.</span></div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#12</strong> According to the New York Times, there are now <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2013/04/detroits_encroaching_blight_as.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="approximately 70,000 abandoned buildings">approximately 70,000 abandoned buildings</a> in Detroit.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#13</strong> When NAFTA was pushed through Congress in 1993, the United States had a trade <strong style="outline: 0px;">surplus</strong> with Mexico of 1.6 billion dollars. By 2010, we had a trade <strong style="outline: 0px;">deficit</strong> with Mexico of <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2012/06/we-need-more-economic-nationalists/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="61.6 billion dollars">61.6 billion dollars</a>.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#14</strong> Back in 1985, our trade deficit with China was approximately <a href="http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="6 million dollars">6<strong style="outline: 0px;">million</strong> dollars</a> (million with a little “m”) for the <strong style="outline: 0px;">entire</strong> year. In 2012, our trade deficit with China was <a href="http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="$295.4 billion">315 <strong style="outline: 0px;">billion</strong> dollars</a>. That was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#15</strong> Overall, the United States has run a trade deficit of <a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/will-it-be-inflation-or-delfation-the-answer-may-surprise-you" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="more than 8 trillion dollars">more than 8 trillion dollars</a> with the rest of the world since 1975.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#16</strong> According to the Economic Policy Institute, the United States is losing <a href="http://economyincrisis.org/content/trade-deficit-china-could-cost-half-million-jobs" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="half a million jobs">half a million jobs</a> to China every single year.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#17</strong> Back in 1950, <a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/LNS12300001" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="more than 80 percent">more than 80 percent</a> of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, <a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/LNS12300001" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="less than 65 percent">less than 65 percent</a> of all men in the United States have jobs.</div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><strong style="outline: 0px;">#18</strong> At this point, an astounding <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2011" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="53 percent">53 percent</a> of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.</span></div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#19</strong> Small business is rapidly dying in America. At this point, <a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/they-are-murdering-small-business-the-percentage-of-self-employed-americans-is-at-a-record-low" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="only about 7 percent">only about 7 percent</a> of all non-farm workers in the United States are self-employed. That is an all-time record low.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#20</strong> Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners in the United States had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned. By 2007, that figure had soared <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/02/news/economy/income-debt-inequality/index.htm?iid=HP_LN" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="to $1.48">to $1.48</a>.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#21</strong> In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/opinion/05kristof.html?_r=1&ref=nicholasdkristof" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="than the bottom 90 percent combined">than the bottom 90 percent combined</a>.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#22</strong> According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chuck-collins/the-99-percent-spring-and_b_1395812.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="combined">combined</a>.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#23</strong> The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have as much wealth as the bottom one-third of all Americans <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-walton-family-has-as-much-money-as-the-bottom-third-of-the-us-2013-1" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="combined">combined</a>.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#24</strong> According to the U.S. Census Bureau, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/census-shows-1-in-2-peopl_1_n_1150128.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="more than 146 million Americans">more than 146 million Americans</a> are either “poor” or “low income”.</div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><strong style="outline: 0px;">#25</strong> According to the U.S. Census Bureau, <a href="http://news.investors.com/Article/598993/201201260805/entitlements-soar-under-president-obama.htm" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="49 percent">49 percent</a> of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government. Back in 1983, <a href="http://news.investors.com/Article/598993/201201260805/entitlements-soar-under-president-obama.htm" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="less than a third">less than a third</a> of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.</span></div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#26</strong> Overall, the federal government runs <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/over-100-million-now-receiving-federal-welfare_649589.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="almost 80">nearly 80</a> different “means-tested welfare programs”, and at this point <a href="http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/more-than-100-million-americans-are-on-welfare" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="more than 100 million Americans">more than 100 million Americans</a> are enrolled in at least one of them.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#27</strong> Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-usa-inc-february-24-2011-2" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="one out of every 6">one out of every 6</a> Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add <a href="http://news.investors.com/Article.aspx?id=598993&ibdbot=1&p=2" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="16 million more Americans">16 million more Americans</a> to the Medicaid rolls.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#28</strong> As I wrote <a href="http://thetruthwins.com/archives/11-signs-that-the-u-s-health-care-system-is-heading-straight-down-the-toilet" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="the other day">recently</a>, it is being projected that the number of Americans on Medicare will grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to <a href="http://theweek.com/article/index/231267/is-america-running-out-of-doctors" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="73.2 million">73.2 million</a> in 2025.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#29</strong> At this point, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years. That comes to approximately<a href="http://cnsnews.com/news/article/medicare-faces-unfunded-liability-386t-or-328404-each-us-household" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="$328,404">$328,404</a> for every single household in the United States.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#30</strong> Right now, there are approximately 56 million Americans collecting Social Security benefits. By 2035, that number is projected to soar to an astounding <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/USCP/PNI/Front%20Page/2012-08-20-PNI0820wirSocial-SecurityOptionsADV20_ST_U.htm" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="91 million">91 million</a>.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#31</strong> Overall, the Social Security system is facing a <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/USCP/PNI/Front%20Page/2012-08-20-PNI0820wirSocial-SecurityOptionsADV20_ST_U.htm" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="134 trillion dollar shortfall">134 <strong style="outline: 0px;">trillion</strong> dollar shortfall</a> over the next 75 years.</div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><strong style="outline: 0px;">#32</strong> Today, the number of Americans on Social Security Disability now exceeds <a href="http://cnsnews.com/news/article/10962532-us-disability-beneficiaries-exceed-population-greece" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="the entire population of Greece">the entire population of Greece</a>, and the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds <a href="http://cnsnews.com/news/article/food-stamp-rolls-america-now-surpass-population-spain" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="the entire population of Spain">the entire population of Spain</a>.</span></div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#33</strong> According to a report recently issued <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/11/07/the-rising-age-gap-in-economic-well-being/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="by the Pew Research Center">by the Pew Research Center</a>, on average Americans over the age of 65 have 47 times as much wealth as Americans under the age of 35.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#34</strong> U.S. families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate <a href="http://lrfuller.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/the-generation-that-never-stood-a-chance/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="of 37 percent">of 37 percent</a>.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#35</strong> As I mentioned <a href="http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/will-the-new-housing-bubble-that-bernanke-is-creating-end-as-badly-as-the-last-one-did" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="yesterday">recently</a>, the homeownership rate in America is now at its lowest level <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-30/u-s-home-vacancies-fell-in-first-quarter-from-prior-year.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="in nearly 18 years">in nearly 18 years</a>.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#36</strong> There are now <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/housing-costs-half-of-income_n_1587865.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="20.2 million Americans">20.2 million Americans</a> that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#37</strong> <a href="http://www.nccp.org/media/releases/release_136.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="45 percent">45 percent</a> of all children are living in poverty in Miami, <a href="http://www.nccp.org/media/releases/release_136.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="more than 50 percent">more than 50 percent</a> of all children are living in poverty in Cleveland, and about <a href="http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/01/24/report-childhood-poverty-high-in-detroit-but-teen-pregnancy-down/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="60 percent">60 percent</a> of all children are living in poverty in Detroit.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">#38</strong> Today, <a href="http://www.nlchp.org/view_release.cfm?PRID=148" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="more than a million">more than a million</a> public school students in the United States are homeless. This is the first time that has ever happened in our history.</div>
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<span style="background-color: red;"><b><span style="outline: 0px;">#39</span> When Barack Obama first entered the White House, about 32 million Americans were on food stamps. Now, <a href="http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/34snapmonthly.htm" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="more than 47 million Americans">more than 47 million Americans</a> are on food stamps.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><strong style="outline: 0px;">#40</strong> According <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/23/Exclusive-Food-Stamp-Recipients-Outnumber-Populations-Of-24-States-Combined" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank" title="to one calculation">to one calculation</a>, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-46398521113733155292013-05-27T06:51:00.001-07:002013-05-27T06:51:34.099-07:00Bowhunters claim Obama targeting them, too...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn.washingtonexaminer.biz/cache/w200-bba5691ec5408112fe8f40a4df982c22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.washingtonexaminer.biz/cache/w200-bba5691ec5408112fe8f40a4df982c22.jpg" /></a></div>
As the White House strategizes on a new scheme to pass gun control, bowhunters are joining gun defenders, claiming that they are President Obama's next target.<br />
<br />
The sport's bible, Bowhunter Magazine, is calling on bow and arrow hunters to join Second Amendment advocates to stop gun control, which they view as a smokescreen to hide an anti-hunting agenda.<br />
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"There is no doubt the anti-gun community is, in part, colonized by anti-hunting elements. They operate covertly because they want to the focus to be on guns. In their twisted minds, if guns go away, so goes hunting," wrote editor Curt Wells.<br />
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"The anti-hunting community will use any means to stop hunting, and if emasculating the Second Amendment helps they'll support it. They they'll move on to bowhunting. All hunters stand in front of the same bull's-eye, which is precisely why we must stand united," he added.<br />
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(Story continues below...)<br />
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Several other bowhunting websites and groups have joined efforts to block gun control and are gearing up for the next fight, predicted by the National Rifle Association to be even meaner than this spring's battle over expanded background checks on gun buyers.<br />
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Some bowhunting purists don't use guns, but Wells noted that most have at least one firearm and that bowhunters should stand with gun owners. "We must show unity, not weakness," he penned. "Support your local hunters, regardless of their choice of weapon. Stand up with gun owners, just as you hope they would someday stand with you."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-25109147238454820742013-05-27T06:46:00.003-07:002013-05-27T06:46:45.236-07:00Kerry 'dishes some iffy claims abroad'...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/thumbnails//Kerry_Ethiopia.sff_WX108_20130526101411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/ap/thumbnails//Kerry_Ethiopia.sff_WX108_20130526101411.jpg" /></a></div>
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry straddled the diplomatic boundary this weekend between presenting the best face of America and a misleading one.<br />
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In a question-and-answer session with young Ethiopians on Sunday, Kerry exaggerated the U.S. record on climate change, appeared to conflate past U.S. policy on drones with President Barack Obama's new policy and gave an incomplete account of how he opposed the Iraq war. A day earlier, he struggled with economic data as well as the contents of his own department's terrorism blacklist.<br />
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Here's a look at how some of his statements measured up against the facts:<br />
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KERRY on drones: "The only people that we are going after are confirmed terrorist targets, at the highest level. ... We will not fire when we know there are children or collateral damage. ... I am convinced that we have one of the strictest, most accountable and fairest programs."<br />
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THE FACTS: President Barack Obama's recently amended drone policy includes some of these elements, but that was not always the case. According to the New America Foundation, the CIA and U.S. military have killed 3,364 militants and civilians with drones over the last decade. <br />
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Although the number of noncombatants killed is not known, the dead have not all been "highest level" terrorists.<br />
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The New America Foundation maintains a database of the strikes and compiles its numbers from reports in major news media that rely on local officials and eyewitness accounts. It estimates that one in five of those killed by drones is a noncombatant. The Obama administration says the number of civilians killed is in the single digits. As for comparisons, no other country is known to use armed drones to kill individuals in foreign lands.<br />
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KERRY: "I opposed the president's decision to go into Iraq."<br />
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THE FACTS: This is a simpler account of his complex position on the Iraq war than the one that caused him grief in his 2004 Democratic presidential campaign against President George W. Bush. Speaking during the campaign about money for the war, Kerry declared, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." Critics shorthanded this comment to "I was for it before I was against it," painting him as a flip-flopper. Although Kerry turned against the war, two years earlier he had voted to give Bush, in his words, "the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein."<br />
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KERRY on climate change: "We're below the Kyoto levels now."<br />
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THE FACTS: The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which the Clinton administration signed but never won ratification for, called on the U.S. to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 6 percent from 1990 levels. Although a natural gas surge and economic woes have helped the U.S. lower emissions, they were still up some 9.5 percent from 1990 to 2011, the last year for which full data is available. Kerry also said the country met a target to cut emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. Government data shows about a 7 percent reduction from 2005 to 2011.<br />
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KERRY on talking with terrorists: "The requirement for the Taliban to come to the table was that they agree that they will not engage in violence against other people and violence against other countries; they won't engage in terrorism and they will not threaten the Afghanistan constitution and so forth."<br />
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THE FACTS: Those are the conditions the U.S. laid out for any peace agreement with the Taliban. But it held talks with the Taliban in 2011 without ever securing an agreement from their militants to drop their fight or endorse Afghanistan's constitution.<br />
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KERRY on what legacy he might leave in Africa: "I'm here to try to help. President Obama wants to try to help. And maybe our legacy will be what we do to try to help. I think of what we've done with PEPFAR. I was proud. I wrote that legislation."<br />
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THE FACTS: To be clear, the $48 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, started in 2003 under Bush and therefore is part of his legacy. Obama also has embraced the effort. Then-Sens. Kerry and Bill Frist laid the groundwork for the program. So in speaking about what "we've done" to expand AIDS prevention, treatment and support programs in countries hit by the epidemic, Kerry meant the U.S. over two administrations, not the Obama administration alone.<br />
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KERRY (on Saturday): "Boko Haram is a terrorist organization."<br />
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THE FACTS: The State Department hasn't designated the Nigeria-based, al-Qaida-linked extremist group as a foreign terrorist organization. It has set sanctions against several of Boko Haram's leaders.<br />
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KERRY: "Ethiopia's ... up in the double digits in growth."<br />
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THE FACTS: Ethiopia's economic growth was 7 percent last year, following several other years of growth in the mid to high single digits. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-44347970510571387622013-05-26T22:30:00.000-07:002013-05-26T22:30:05.405-07:00Did Eric Holder lie in Congressional testimony last week?<div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.5em auto; padding: 0px;">
That’s the question asked by <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/05/24/did-eric-holder-lie-under-oath-n1605570" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Katie Pavlich</a> and <a href="http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/05/breaking-holder-caught-lying-to-congress-on-phone-records-investigation-video/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Jim Hoft</a> after the revelation that Attorney General Eric Holder <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2013/05/23/holder-signed-off-on-warrant-for-james-rosen-records/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">personally approved the application</a> for a warrant on Fox News’ James Rosen as a potential co-conspirator in espionage. Last week, under relatively friendly questioning from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) about the Department of Justice seizure of Associated Press phone records, Johnson asked about the potential to prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act of 1917. ”You’ve got a long way to go to try to prosecute the press for publication of material,” Holder responded. Later, though, he returned to the topic unbidden, emphasis mine (at the 5-minute mark):</div>
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In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material.<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of</strong>, or would think would be wise policy.</div>
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As it turns out, Holder not only heard of it, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">he personally approved it</em>. The warrant in the Rosen case specified that he was considered a potential suspect in the leak of classified material, the reason that the DoJ didn’t bother to follow the existing Watergate-era statute in coordinating the records request with Fox News. And note that Holder’s testimony in this case wasn’t produced by some sophisticated perjury trap sprung by a Republican, but as a freely-offered representation to no particular question during the question period of a Democrat.</div>
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There is no other way to view this except as a lie. Even if Holder wasn’t under oath, that would constitute <a href="http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/18/I/47/1001" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a felony punishable by up to five years in prison</a>. It certainly should produce at least a resignation, and almost assuredly would require the appointment of a special prosecutor, especially since the next person down in the organization, James Cole, is suspected of doing the same thing with reporters.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Update</strong>: Looks like <a href="http://twitchy.com/2013/05/24/sarah-palin-says-its-time-for-eric-holder-to-go-and-huffington-post-and-tavis-smiley-agree" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a wide bipartisan consensus </a>has formed for Holder’s resignation. The<a href="http://t.co/KIN8lcOM9S" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a> wants him gone, as does <a href="http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_DOJ_And_The_AP" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Esquire</a>. A resignation at this point is probably not enough, either, if the House decides that further action is required after this false representation on a key issue.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Update</strong>: According to Guy Benson and Gabriel Malor, Holder was under oath:</div>
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I couldn’t recall this when I wrote the post, even though I watched most of that hearing. That, of course, puts a charge of perjury on the table.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Update</strong>: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/05/24/holder-must-go/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Jennifer Rubin</a> independently reached the same conclusion, and notes the specificity in the warrant application of Rosen’s status as a suspect:</div>
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First, the affidavit (paragraph 45) asserts that DOJ exhausted all means available to get the material from Rosen’s e-mails and phone, and “because of [Rosen's] own potential criminal liability in this matter,” asking for the documents voluntarily would compromise the integrity of the investigation. Moreover, the affidavit asserts that the “targets” of the investigation (including Rosen) were a risk to “mask their identity and activity, flee or otherwise obstruct this investigation.” It is highly questionable whether Holder believed any of that to be true. (Really, he imagined a Fox News reporter would flee the country? He thought Rosen would don a disguise?) Was the affidavit a sort of ruse to get Rosen’s records (or later to pressure his cooperation)? Did Holder intentionally mislead a judge when he signed off on the affidavit? That is worth exploring.</div>
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Indeed, along with the question of perjury in Congressional testimony.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Update</strong>: <a href="http://www.therightsphere.com/2013/05/yup-eric-holder-perjured-himself/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Right Sphere</a>‘s RB makes a good point:</div>
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I’m sure Holder and his allies will say that they never intended to prosecute Rosen, but that’s 1) not the point and 2) even worse. If that’s their defense, they knowingly lied to the judge who would, hopefully, reject the request if they admitted it was just a fishing expedition for information.</div>
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They’re stuck. Either he (by signing the request for the records) lied to the judge or Holder lied directly to Congress.</div>
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I hadn’t thought about that, but RB is right. Either Holder misrepresented the DoJ in a court filing, or he lied to Congress, and arguably he did <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">both</em>. Either one should get Holder disbarred, at the least.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-6951757669974215252013-05-26T22:08:00.002-07:002013-05-26T22:08:54.079-07:00Brit Hume: Putting Holder in charge of probing media warrants a “howling conflict of interest,” blasts Juan Williams’ defense<div style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 1.5em auto; padding: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/349353/hume-holder-inquiry-howling-conflict-interest" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Via NRO</a>, here’s one of the few questions we’ll get today on the Sunday talk shows about any of the scandals erupting in Washington DC, and Fox gets its money’s worth from Brit Hume. Hume laughed at the promise from Barack Obama last week to have Attorney General Eric Holder investigate the abuse of power at Justice, especially after the DoJ admitted that Holder signed off on the snooping performed on Fox reporter James Rosen:</div>
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On <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Fox News Sunday</em>, Brit Hume called attorney general Eric Holder’s potential investigation into Holder’s own actions a “howling conflict of interest.”</div>
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The affidavit against <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Fox News</em> reporter James Rosen signed by Eric Holder, which explicitly treats Rosen “as a criminal,” “does not square with what Holder told Congress.”</div>
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“It’s going to be argued by a lot of people that he [Holder] was lying. At a minimum it’s another example of his being untrustworthy, and I would say also bumbling.”</div>
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When Juan Williams tried to defend Eric Holder and blame Republicans, <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/349354/fns-hume-destroys-williams-defense-ag-holder" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Hume let him have it</a>:</div>
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’Williams tried to argue that Eric Holder was not responsible for the investigation that Rosen was a “criminal co-conspirator,” despite signing off on the affidavit. Williams</div>
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“You’re saying he [Holder] is not ultimately responsible as the head man of the Justice Department?” asked Hume.</div>
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Williams responded that Holder was simply trusting the work of his underlings and that he “is the exact right person” to conduct an investigation to see how prosecutors came to their conclusions about Rosen.</div>
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“Wasn’t he supposed to see all that before he signed off on the affidavit?” asked Hume incredulously.</div>
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“You can’t see everything!” retorted Williams.</div>
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Does anyone think that the scandal will remain limited to the AP and Rosen? The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/us/leaks-inquiries-show-how-wide-a-net-is-cast.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1369505313-YF0G3tpKU8tum4wASCh6yA&&pagewanted=print" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">New York Times</a> thinks that something similar happened to one of its reporters, although the DoJ fell short of filing court documents identifying him as a suspect in espionage:</div>
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In a separate case last year, F.B.I. agents asked the White House, the Defense Department and intelligence agencies for phone and e-mail logs showing exchanges with a New York Times reporter writing about computer attacks on Iran. Agents grilled officials about their contacts with him, two people familiar with the investigation said.</div>
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And agents tracing the leak of a highly classified C.I.A. report on North Korea to a Fox News reporter pulled electronic archives showing which officials had gained access to the report and had contact with the reporter on the day of the leak.</div>
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The emerging details of these and other cases show just how wide a net the Obama administration has cast in its investigations into disclosures of government secrets, querying hundreds of officials across the federal government and even some of their foreign counterparts.</div>
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This isn’t quite the same thing, however, as the Times acknowledges. Although the search revolved around communications with one of their reporters — David Sanger — the records they searched belonged to government agencies, where they were looking for leakers, and not the Times or Sanger. Connor Simpson at The Atlantic wonders <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/justice-department-investigated-york-times-reporter-too-185853445.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">why they bothered at all</a>, considering the nature of the Stuxnet story:</div>
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The intense investigation into Sanger is a little confusing. There were discussions when the story came out about how <a data-rapid_p="10" href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/06/why-government-investigating-leak-it-probably-authorized/53190/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">it seemed the White House may have leaked the story</a>. Or, at the very least, they liked it. It showed the President taking action against Iran during election season. Sanger told <a data-rapid_p="11" href="http://gawker.com/5915026/white-house-didnt-ask-new-york-times-not-to-publish-classified-information" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Gawker’s John Cook</a> the White didn’t protest the story being released. The White House didn’t actually leak the story, Sanger said, but they didn’t fight him about it either. The investigation into the Stuxnet leak was announced the same day as the AP investigation.</div>
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The Times complains that the aggressive investigations are drying up their sources:</div>
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Some officials are now declining to take calls from certain reporters, concerned that any contact may lead to investigation. Some complain of being taken from their offices to endure uncomfortable questioning. And the government officials typically must pay for lawyers themselves, unlike reporters for large news organizations whose companies provide legal representation.</div>
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Intimidating potential whistleblowers may have been the point of the Sanger investigation. The point of the Rosen and AP probes was to intimidate reporters and news organizations. We’ll see if Holder and the DoJ succeed at the latter.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-14185697815219314052013-05-26T21:58:00.000-07:002013-05-26T21:58:53.388-07:00Help us grow, follow us on FACEBOOK.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-21776178876436422712013-05-26T21:01:00.000-07:002013-05-26T21:30:28.554-07:00Facebook censors pictures of children rallying against GMOs<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 18.19791603088379px; margin-top: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="outline: 0px;">Mike Adams</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/040484_Facebook_censorship_children_Monsanto_rally.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Natural News</a><br />
May 26, 2013</div>
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<a href="http://cofcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Facebook-Censored.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://cofcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Facebook-Censored.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
In one of the most devastating acts of destruction of its own credibility, Facebook engaged in yet more censorship of Free Speech with the suspending of an account that posted a photo of children rallying against Monsanto during today’s global <em style="outline: 0px;"><a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/040483_March_Against_Monsanto_rally_photos.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">March Against Monsanto</a></em>.</div>
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The picture shows two children of Natural News reader Andrea Lalama. They are carrying hand-drawn signs that read:</div>
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“ORGANIC FOOD It’s My Medicine – Label GMOs – Say NO to GMO”</div>
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and</div>
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“BIOPESTICIDES = AUTISM – SAY NO TO GMO”</div>
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After this picture was shared on Facebook by <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Natural News</a>, Andrea’s account was immediately suspended. Facebook displayed a message on her account which read (see screen capture, below):</div>
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“FACEBOOK: You have been restricted from Interacting With Pages until Saturday, June 8, 2013 at 6:47pm.”</div>
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At this point, Andrea can only re-post other people’s content but is disallowed from posting her own content. Why? Because children with signs are obviously very, very dangerous to the establishment.</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">See the photo of two children that Facebook says is “abusive”</strong></div>
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Here’s the photo of the children that caused Facebook to suspend her account:</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.naturalnews.com/gallery/articles/Facebook-censorship-children-GMO.jpg" style="border: none; outline: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px;" /></div>
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And here’s the account suspension notice screen capture:</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.naturalnews.com/gallery/articles/Facebook-censorship-Monsanto-rally.jpg" style="border: none; outline: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px;" /></div>
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Here’s a link to Andrea’s Facebook page, which remains suspended:</div>
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http://www.facebook.com/andreacausa</div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">Another woman, Georgia Gallucci, was also censored by Facebook</strong></div>
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As the following screen capture shows, another FB user named Georgia Gallucci also had her account suspended by Facebook after “reposting a friend’s photo from the Monsanto March.”</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.naturalnews.com/gallery/articles/Facebook-censorship-Georgia-gallucci.jpg" style="border: none; outline: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px;" /></div>
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Yet another account called “Reversing Autism” was also suspended by Facebook for posting Monsanto march photos. The following screen capture shows the Reversing Autism account being labeled by Facebook as posting content that is “abusive.”</div>
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<img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.naturalnews.com/gallery/articles/Facebook-censorship-Monsanto-blocked.jpg" style="border: none; outline: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px;" width="600" /></div>
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Astonishingly, Facebook believes that a corporation growing corn engineered to contain a deadly poison is not abusive, but <strong style="outline: 0px;">talking about it IS abusive!</strong></div>
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<strong style="outline: 0px;">Facebook previously censored Natural News for posting a quote from Gandhi</strong></div>
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Remember, Facebook previously censored a <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/038484_Gandhi_quote_Facebook_censorship.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Gandhi quote infographic</a>, claiming it violated its “community guidelines.” Facebook hit Natural News with a “final warning” and threatening to permanently delete the Natural News account.</div>
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Facebook has also been caught in the outrageous abuse of Free Speech through the censorship of people who have all sorts of non-mainstream views, including people who believe in the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution.</div>
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So this <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/Facebook_censorship.html" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Facebook censorship</a> is nothing new, and in light of recent revelations that the U.S. government engaged in an outrageous abuse of power to threaten, intimidate and silence certain groups through the IRS, many people are now questioning whether Facebook actually is part of the government surveillance grid that intentionally suppresses information the government doesn’t want to be seen.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017057739622415625.post-92029956891644240772013-05-26T20:53:00.000-07:002013-05-26T20:53:45.116-07:00World Bank Insider Blows Whistle on Corruption, Federal Reserve<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 18.19791603088379px; margin-top: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<strong style="outline: 0px;">Alex Newman</strong><br style="outline: 0px;" /><a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/15473-world-bank-insider-blows-whistle-on-corruption-federal-reserve" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">thenewamerican.com</a><br style="outline: 0px;" />May 26, 2013</div>
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A former insider at the World Bank, ex-Senior Counsel Karen Hudes, says the global financial system is dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve. The network has seized control of the media to cover up its crimes, too, she explained. In an interview with <em style="outline: 0px;">The New American</em>, Hudes said that when she tried to blow the whistle on multiple problems at the World Bank, she was fired for her efforts. Now, along with a network of fellow whistleblowers, Hudes is determined to expose and end the corruption. And she is confident of success.</div>
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Citing an <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0025995#s3" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">explosive 2011 Swiss study</a> published in the <em style="outline: 0px;">PLOS ONE</em> journal on the “network of global corporate control,” Hudes pointed out that a small group of entities — mostly financial institutions and especially central banks — exert a massive amount of influence over the international economy from behind the scenes. “What is really going on is that the world’s resources are being dominated by this group,” she explained, adding that the “corrupt power grabbers” have managed to dominate the media as well. “They’re being allowed to do it.”</div>
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According to the peer-reviewed paper, which presented the first global investigation of ownership architecture in the international economy, transnational corporations form a “giant bow-tie structure.” A large portion of control, meanwhile, “flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions.” The researchers described the core as an “economic ‘super-entity’” that raises important issues for policymakers and researchers. Of course, the implications are enormous for citizens as well.</div>
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<a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/15473-world-bank-insider-blows-whistle-on-corruption-federal-reserve" style="color: #0066cc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Read more</a></div>
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