Category Archives: National News

Call to Action: Defund Obamacare

From the Tea Party Patriots:
On Monday, March 14, The House of Representatives is planning to vote on a new extension of the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government.

Representatives Michele Bachman and Steve King report that the House Republican Leadership has not yet agreed to include a provision to rescind the $105 billion that was surreptitiously inserted by the Democrats in the Obamacare legislation.

We are urgently asking Patriots to melt the phones of all Republican Representatives today, Friday, March 11:

1. Urge them to pledge to vote “NO” on the next CR unless it contains a provision to defund Obamacare of the billions that were secretly and fraudulently appropriated by the old Democratic Congress..  If this is not done now, this funding will be self-perpetuating into the future.

2. Then, place a second call to the Speaker’s Office and urge Speaker Boehner to honor the will of the voters (who gave him a Republican majority and the Speaker’s Office) by including a provision to rescind the $105 billion with which Obamacare has already saddled the American Taxpayer.

You can find contact information at http://www.house.gov.

Why Democrats Love Unions

Just in case anyone wonders why Obama and his cronies are so hot to support labor unions particularly government employee unions check out the contributions.

Leading Union Political Campaign Contributors (1990-2010)
Democrats Republicans
American Fed. of State, County, & Municipal Employees $40,281,900 $547,700
Intel Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 29,705,600 679,000
National Education Association 27,679,300 2,005,200
Service Employees International Union 26,368,470 98,700
Communication Workers of America 26,305,500 125,300
Service Employees International Union 26,252,000 1,086,200
Laborers Union 25,734,000 2,138,000
American Federation of Teachers 25,682,800 200,000
United Auto Workers 25,082,200 182,700
Teamsters Union 24,926,400 1,822,000
Carpenters and Joiners Union 24,094,100 2,658,000
Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union 23,875,600 226,300
United Food and Commercial Workers Union 23,182,000 334,200
AFL-CIO 17,124,300 713,500
Sheet Metal Workers Union 16,347,200 342,800
Plumbers & Pipefitters Union 14,790,000 818,500
Operating Engineers Union 13,840,000 2,309,500
Airline Pilots Association 12,806,600 2,398,300
International Association of Firefighters 12,421,700 2,685,400
United Transportation Workers 11,807,000 1,459,300
Ironworkers Union 11,638,900 936,000
American Postal Workers Union 11,633,100 544,300
Nat’l Active & Retired Fed. Employees Association 8,135,400 2,294,600
Seafarers International Union 6,726,800 1,281,300
Source: Center for Responsive Politics, Washington, D.C.

NPR on Expose Vid: We Didn’t Take the Money…and Exec Resigned a Week Ago

NPR has just issued a statement regarding James O‘Keefe’s undercover video featuring Senior Vice President of Development Ron Schiller.

(Read our original story and watch the video.)

In it, NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm, senior vice president of marketing, communications and external relations, says the organization is appalled by Schiller’s words, and that he will be leaving the company due to an already-planned departure. However, NPR reiterates his leaving has nothing to do with the video, and the company never accepted the fake actors’ money

Read the statement below:

The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept.

We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for.

Mr. Schiller announced last week that he is leaving NPR for another job.

In a follow-up e-mail with NPR, the company told The Blaze, “Ron Schiller’s departure has nothing to do with this video – we weren’t aware there was a video until this morning.”

UPDATE:

NPR is covering its own controversy, and has a blog post that is being updated here. Author Mark Memmot offers additional details on Schiller’s new position: he will become director of the Aspen Institute Arts Program.

 

See Story here

Undercover: NPR Exec Talks ‘Racist’ Tea Party and ‘Anti-Intellectual’ GOP, but is He Kowtowing to Muslim Brotherhood?

James O’Keefe, the controversial, undercover, conservative filmmaker, has released his company’s (Project Veritas) latest video today. This time, his group’s targeting publicly-funded NPP and catches one of the news outlet’s executives saying some suspect things. The video is sure to get some attention, but it’s not bulletproof, and there could be cause for concern.

To be sure, one of the NPR executives on the video, Ron Schiller (president of the NPR Foundation and senior vice president of development), is caught making damning statements. He calls the Tea Party “racist,“ decries the ”anti-intellectual” GOP, and claims liberals “might be more educated.”

He even attacks the supposed religious views of the Tea Party: “The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved in people’s personal lives and very fundamental Christian – I wouldn’t even call it Christian. It’s this weird evangelical kind of move.”

“[I]f Schiller represents the executive view at NPR,” Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey writes, “it’s not hard to imagine what kind of treatment those white, gun-toting, xenophobic Tea Partiers can expect from NPR’s news coverage.”

But the video also falls short of its intended goal: to catch NPR execs kowtowing to a fake Muslim Brotherhood front group. Schiller, as well as his companion, do not say anything shocking about glorifying the group per se, and it must be remembered that this is a donor meeting with $5 million on the line, not a policy debate.

That is not to say that Schiller is absolved from everything he said, but rather to give context. See and decide for yourself. I’ll update with some more thoughts in a bit:

Again, there is some shocking stuff there. But some things should be noted, including concerns:

1. Schiller does try to distinguish (somewhat) his professional views from his personal views. He fails. In the end, he’s at a work-related event. Trying to qualify something as “this is my personal opinion” doesn’t give him a blank slate to say whatever he wants and have it not reflect on NPR. Ironically, in the video Schiller blasts Juan Williams for doing this very thing.

2. Schiller does say that NPR is looking to feature Muslim voices. Guess what, Sean Hannity does the same thing. The Blaze does the same thing. All journalists and news organizations have a responsibility to present to the best of their ability all sides of the story. That’s why Hannity invited radical Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary on his program a few weeks ago. Even if you don’t agree with someone, they should still get a chance to say what they want. Glenn Beck has always said he’ll stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any MSNBC host for freedom of speech.

3. Some are pointing out that Schiller admits the station would be better off without federal funding, and use it as a “gotcha” moment. I‘m not sure that’s the case. I’ve worked in fundraising before, and it seems to me what Schiller is doing there is trying to remove a donation barrier. As he says, most “philanthropists” think NPR as almost fully-funded by the government, which certainly could prevent people from donating to the organization. If the government’s mainly funding NPR, why should donors?

4. It must be pointed out that Schiller does not overtly dignify the actor’s anti-Semitic comments. When the actor talks about Jews controlling the media, Schiller only  gives a half-hearted head motion. In fact, Schiller goes out of his way to point out that there’s no such thing as “Jewish influence” at NPR. That’s huge, and Schiller should be commended for that.

Unfairly, O‘Keefe puts Schiller’s response under the heading, “Jews Own the Newspapers, Obviously.” That’s not what he said at all. He said that there is Jewish influence at papers that are owned by Jews. That’s a far cry from saying “Jews own the newspapers, obviously.” In fact, Schiller’s associate, Betsy Liley, even mentions that NPR is funded in part by a Jewish organization. That doesn’t seem to be placating anti-Semitism.

5. When the actor first begins talking of the Muslim Brotherhood, the video cuts. The actor says the organization was originally funded by a few members of the MB in America, and we do not see or hear Schiller’s unedited, immediate reaction. The video instead cuts to Schiller’s talk about Muslim voices. Maybe that is his immediate reaction, but we don‘t know since there’s a video cut. That could be important, or maybe it’s not. But it’s definitely worth pointing out.

The video, in the end, not only raises questions about NPR, but it also raises questions about undercover, gotcha journalism that can sometimes border on entrapment. We’ll be discussing this more in the future.

For now, consider these points, watch the video again, and feel free to comment. We will be watching the story all day, including bringing you any reaction from NPR. By the way, we did reach out to NPR for comment. A spokeswoman declined to comment and said an official statement will be released today.

It also bears mentioning that yesterday video surfaced of NPR president Vivian Schiller issuing a challenge to find examples of NPR bias. It‘s doesn’t bode well for her that Ron Schiller’s comments about the Tea Party were made public today (note: Ron and Vivian are not related):

 

See videos here

UPDATE:

NPR has responded to the video. See our story on that here.

NPR EXEC PUNKED BY JAMES O'KEEFE: Caught On Tape Calling Tea Party 'Xenophobic' And 'Racist'


Glynnis MacNicol | Mar. 8, 2011, 10:44 AM

James O’Keefe strikes again.

O’Keefe is the ‘investigative’ journalist who made a name for himself by posing as various characters (a pimp, a repairman, a conservative activist) and recording people on hidden camera and then editing the footage to damning results (you will recall his ‘pimp’ footage from an ACORN office resulted in the entire organization being shut down) appears to have successfully punked NPR.

Sort of.

And probably not coincidentally right in the middle of fundraising week.

The Daily Caller posted a highly edited video this morning just released by O’Keefe (complete with narration and ominous middle easter music) of NPR’s (now former…he left last week) SVP of fundraising Ron Schiller (no relation to CEO Vivian Schiller) and Betsy Liley, NPR’s director of institutional, talking to a pair of men posing as “members of a Muslim Brotherhood front group.”

The men, “who identified themselves as Ibrahim Kasaam and Amir Malik from the fictitious Muslim Education Action Center (MEAC) Trust” tell Schiller they want to give $5 million to NPR “partly out of concern for the defunding process the Republicans are trying to engage in.”

Not as the Daily Caller write-up suggests because ““the Zionist coverage is quite substantial elsewhere” or at least not directly.

More importantly NPR says they refused the money. Repeatedly. It just didn’t make it to the ‘caught on tape’ apparently.

The video is edited to such an extent it is impossible to tell whether the two posers actually say or do what the narrator says they say or do, or what exactly Schiller is responding to.

We do hear the pair tell Schiller that their “organization was originally founded by a few members of the Muslim Brotherhood in America actually.” But the description apparently stops there, and it’s unclear why this disclosure should necessarily be off-putting (but should that be a grey area for you the ominous background music is there to help).

Schiller says, (though in response to what is unclear): “I think what we all believe is if we don’t have Muslim voices in our schools and on our air. I mean it’s the same thing we faced when we as a nation didn’t have female voice.”

Again. Unclear why that viewpoint from a national news org is bad.

That doesn’t mean he is out of the clear

Here’s what this is what’s going to get him, and NPR, into trouble. And it has nothing really to do with Muslims. Apropos of something the video doesn’t make clear Schiller has this to say about the Tea Party:

The current Republican party, particularly the Tea Party is fanatically involved in people’s personal lives and very fundamental Christian. I wouldn’t even call it Christian.It’s this weird evangelical kind of movement.

[…]

The current Republican party is not even the really the Republican party — it’s been hijacked by this group — that is — [overdub] — exactly and not just Islamaphobic but xenophobic, and they are, they believe in sort of white, middle America, gun-toting, I mean it’s scary. They’re seriously, racist, racist people.

So that’s not good. Actually it’s very bad and not only because it feeds into every stereotype the right has about NPR (and liberal media in general) and leaves so little grey area that NPR will have a tough time turning the focus of the story to the fact much of this video is a thinly veiled attempt to appeal to anti-Muslim sentiment.

Back to the Zionist coverage remark.

Later in the lunch (the viewer is lead to believe, anyway…the posers do not appear on camera) one of them tells Schiller: “Jews do kind of control the media or, I mean, certainly the Zionists and the people who have the interests in swaying media coverage toward a favorable direction of Israel.” Schiller hears him out but goes on to say: “I don’t find that at NPR, the Zionist or pro-Israel. Even among funders….I mean it’s there in people who own newspapers, obviously, but no one owns NPR. I don’t find it.”

NPR tells me a statement on the matter will be forthcoming. Their media reporter David Folkenflik is tweeting out parts of it now: “We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for.”

Alas, I think between this and the Juan Williams thing, which NPR is still only recovering from, NPR is facing a serious uphill branding battle.

Update: Here is the full (if brief) statement) fromDana Davis Rehm, SVP of Marketing, Communications & External Relations for NPR.

“The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept.

We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for.

Mr. Schiller announced last week that he is leaving NPR for another job.”

Read more

No guts, no glory: GOP should heed lesson of '91

By: Byron York 03/07/11 8:05 PM
Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork
Governor Bill Clinton announces his candidacy for the presidency in October 1991 in Little Rock, Arkansas.-AP File
Governor Bill Clinton announces his candidacy for the presidency in October 1991 in Little Rock, Arkansas.-AP File

In early March 1991, all the smart people in politics knew one thing about the upcoming 1992 campaign: President George H.W. Bush was unbeatable.

Fresh from victory in the Gulf War, Bush enjoyed a job approval rating around 90 percent. At a time when potential challengers should be enlisting supporters and planning campaigns, Democrats who had been expected to challenge Bush held back, hesitant to enter a race that seemed hopeless.

 

“Will anybody run against George Bush in 1992?” asked Juan Williams in the Washington Post on March 10, 1991. “There are no candidate footprints in the pristine snows of New Hampshire this winter and the Iowa cornfields are untrampled.”

March passed, and then April, May, June, and July, and still Democrats searched for candidates willing to challenge Bush. One by one, the big names — Al Gore, Dick Gephardt, Mario Cuomo — decided not to run. Bush was just too strong.

The Democratic field that finally emerged seemed decidedly lackluster: Jerry Brown, Paul Tsongas, Bob Kerrey, Bill Clinton, Douglas Wilder and Tom Harkin. After an undistinguished primary season, one of them would be the sacrificial lamb to run against Bush.

Today, 20 years later, there’s no need to elaborate on how it turned out. All you have to say is that the prize went to the candidate who took a risk when others shied away.

Now we’re in a political season in which it is Republicans who seem hesitant to challenge an incumbent president. And we’re seeing the emergence of a new conventional wisdom: Barack Obama will be very, very tough to beat.

What a change. Back in 1991, the pundits discussed how hard it would be to defeat a president with a job approval rating of 90 percent. Now, they’re talking about how hard it would be to defeat a president with a job approval rating of 48 percent.

Back in the first Bush administration, some GOP strategists surveyed the struggling Democratic field and repeated the old axiom, “You can’t beat somebody with nobody.” Who could possibly have the stature to knock off President George H.W. Bush? Now, some of those same Republicans are fretting about the quality of their own presidential field and repeating the same slogan, this time not in overconfidence but in self-reproach. Maybe they’ve forgotten 1991.

None of this is to say that conditions today are the same as they were 20 years ago. There are a zillion differences. Bush was riding what turned out to be a fleeting wave of popularity after the war in ’91, while Obama will likely have more durable support in ’12. Also, the economy was trending downward in ’91 but will (hopefully) be headed up in ’12. And much of the press was against the incumbent president in ’91 but will most assuredly be for the incumbent president in ’12.

But whatever the differences, the similarity is that for Republicans, victory is possible for a candidate with daring, confidence, and skill. Yet some of the most qualified potential GOP candidates appear to be hanging back, reluctant to take on the White House. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is surely one of the more capable potential presidents out there, but he has gone back and forth on the question of running and at the moment seems to be leaning against it. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has flatly declared himself unready for the job. Other Republicans with proven appeal, like former Arkansas governor and ’08 candidate Mike Huckabee, are biding their time.

But time is passing. The first Republican presidential debate is less than two months away, and by now candidates should have already spent months organizing and seeking support in early primary and caucus states. Those who haven’t been doing that are already behind.

Yes, Obama will be difficult to beat. He has the enormous power of incumbency, and he can lose a number of the states he won in 2008 and still be re-elected. But George H.W. Bush seemed unbeatable, too. In 1991, Clinton decided to go forward, in the face of all the conventional wisdom, and ended up in the White House. No one knows whether a Republican challenger could do the same thing now. But we know this for sure: They won’t win if they don’t run.

Byron York, The Examiner‘s chief political correspondent, can be contacted at byork@washingtonexaminer.com. His column appears on Tuesday and Friday, and his stories and blogposts appear on ExaminerPolitics.com.

 

The American Bar Association Supports Sharia Law in USA!

Via the AmericanThinker

 

Tuesday, in an article called The ABA’s Jihad in The American Thinker, I exposed the Islamic supremacism taking root at the American Bar Association, breaking the story of the ABA’s support for Sharia law. I revealed the notice, circulated among ABA members, of an organized ABA campaign to oppose the anti-Sharia legislation that has been introduced in 14 state legislatures. Then on Wednesday the ABA issued a statement in response to my article, claiming that “the American Bar Association has taken no action in support of, or in opposition to, judges considering Islamic law or Sharia.”
How dishonest and disingenuous.
The ABA statement said that the organization has “nearly 400,000 members, many of whom volunteer with any of the ABA’s 2,200 entities. One of those 2,200 entities is the Section on International Law, which has elected to assemble a taskforce of several individuals to examine this issue.” The statement makes it sound as if this examination is completely neutral: “These individuals are examining whether the proposed changes to the law impact important constitutional questions.  They are also considering implications for international commerce.”
Above all, the ABA claims that this taskforce has nothing to do with the organization itself: “The actions of a few interested members within one section are not and cannot be interpreted to be those of the entire American Bar Association. Claims to the contrary are erroneous.”
This is spin and damage control. In my Tuesday article I quoted the Section on International Law stating that the ABA’s Executive Counsel “has organized a Task Force to review the legislation of 14 states — Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming — in which anti-Sharia legislation has been introduced.”
There was no way this Task Force could be understood as neutral. Clearly it was dedicated to working against anti-Sharia legal initiatives. The Section on International Law document said: “The Section’s Executive Counsel [sic] has organized a Task Force to review the legislation of 14 states — Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming – in which anti-Sharia legislation has been introduced.  The goal of the Task Force is to have a Report and Recommendation against such legislation as well as an informal set of ‘talking points’ that local opponents of these initiatives could use to make their case in each of these states.”
This should incite justifiable public outrage, and actually increase support for and awareness of the legislation among the grassroots electorate.
A source knowledgeable about the ABA has also informed me that the organization’s Middle East law committee recently began a lobbying campaign, which the ABA’s international law chair endorsed. It was a political act, not a neutral study. This source sent me ABA policy guidelines that make it clear that policies that are formulated by small committees or “entities” can and do become official ABA policy under certain circumstances, and those circumstances are present in the case of this pro-Sharia Task Force.
This puts the ABA on the spot: either its policy mechanism on Middle East law has been taken over by Middle East-based lawyer(s) with Islamic supremacist sympathies, or the Middle East law committee does represent the ABA’s actual positions.
Further, is there any ABA group or task force assigned to helping those who oppose Sharia to craft legislation to ban it? No. There is only an initiative to oppose those fighting the Sharia.
Particularly troubling is the non-democratic way in which the ABA made the decision to oppose the anti-Sharia initiatives of various states. A tiny minority of the ABA’s total membership steers its policies, which almost always are developed from the top down. The pro-Sharia initiative seems to have been pushed forward through what the ABA calls a “blanket approval” or even more rapid “technical comment” procedure, and seems to go beyond issuing mere statements to actively organizing lobbying to influence state legislation – a practice that is generally forbidden for tax-exempt organizations.
All this makes it obvious that the ABA’s statement disclaiming any support for Sharia was completely false and dishonest.
If the ABA continues to forward this deceitful rhetoric, I will expose even more information about its support for Sharia.
There is one way the ABA could make at least partial amends now: it’s time the ABA created a task force to help those of us who are fighting the introduction of Islamic law in America.
We’re waiting.

Obama Administration Running Guns to Mexico!

CBS, yes CBS is breaking news that shows the Obama Administration has been running guns to Mexico!

 

Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

ATF agent says “Fast and Furious” program let guns “walk” into hands of Mexican drug cartels with aim of tracking and breaking a big case

By Sharyl Attkisson
  • Video ATF agent: It’s not overATF special agent John Dodson explained to Sharyl Attkisson that there is no telling where their gun exchange program will end.
  • Video ATF agent explains why he let guns “walk”Sharyl Attkisson spoke with ATF special agent John Dodson who explained the reasoning behind the ATF’s “Fast and Furious” program that guns “walk” into hands of Mexican drug cartels with aim of tracking and breaking a big case.
(CBS News)WASHINGTON – Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief.

He was intentionally letting guns go to Mexico?

“Yes ma’am,” Dodson told CBS News. “The agency was.”

An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson’s job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.

Investigators call the tactic letting guns “walk.” In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the United States.

Sharyl Attkisson’s original “Gunrunner” report

Center for Public Integrity report

Dodson’s bosses say that never happened. Now, he’s risking his job to go public.

“I’m boots on the ground in Phoenix, telling you we’ve been doing it every day since I’ve been here,” he said. “Here I am. Tell me I didn’t do the things that I did. Tell me you didn’t order me to do the things I did. Tell me it didn’t happen. Now you have a name on it. You have a face to put with it. Here I am. Someone now, tell me it didn’t happen.”

Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.

ATF named the case “Fast and Furious.”

Surveillance video obtained by CBS News shows suspected drug cartel suppliers carrying boxes of weapons to their cars at a Phoenix gun shop. The long boxes shown in the video being loaded in were AK-47-type assault rifles.

 

So it turns out ATF not only allowed it – they videotaped it.

Documents show the inevitable result: The guns that ATF let go began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico. And as ATF stood by watching thousands of weapons hit the streets… the Fast and Furious group supervisor noted the escalating Mexican violence.

One e-mail noted, “958 killed in March 2010 … most violent month since 2005.” The same e-mail notes: “Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone,” including “numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles.”

Dodson feels that ATF was partly to blame for the escalating violence in Mexico and on the border. “I even asked them if they could see the correlation between the two,” he said. “The more our guys buy, the more violence we’re having down there.”

Senior agents including Dodson told CBS News they confronted their supervisors over and over.

 

Their answer, according to Dodson, was, “If you’re going to make an omelette, you’ve got to break some eggs.”

There was so much opposition to the gun walking, that an ATF supervisor issued an e-mail noting a “schism” among the agents. “Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case…we are doing what they envisioned…. If you don’t think this is fun you’re in the wrong line of work… Maybe the Maricopa County jail is hiring detention officers and you can get $30,000 … to serve lunch to inmates…”

“We just knew it wasn’t going to end well. There’s just no way it could,” Dodson said.

 

On Dec. 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down. Dodson got the bad news from a colleague.

According to Dodson, “They said, ‘Did you hear about the border patrol agent?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And they said ‘Well it was one of the Fast and Furious guns.’ There’s not really much you can say after that.”

Two assault rifles ATF had let go nearly a year before were found at Terry’s murder.

Dodson said, “I felt guilty. I mean it’s crushing. I don’t know how to explain it.”

Sen. Grassley began investigating after his office spoke to Dodson and a dozen other ATF sources — all telling the same story.

Read Sen. Grassley’s letter to the attorney general

The response was “practically zilch,” Grassley said. “From the standpoint that documents we want – we have not gotten them. I think it’s a case of stonewalling.”

Dodson said he hopes that speaking out helps Terry’s family. They haven’t been told much of anything about his murder – or where the bullet came from.

“First of all, I’d tell them that I’m sorry. Second of all, I’d tell them I’ve done everything that I can for them to get the truth,” Dodson said. “After this, I don’t know what else I can do. But I hope they get it.”

Dodson said they never did take down a drug cartels. However, he said thousands of Fast and Furious weapons are still out there and will be claiming victims on both sides of the border for years to come.

Late tonight, the ATF said it will convene a panel to look into its national firearms trafficking strategy. But it refused to comment specifically on Sharyl’s report.

Statement from Kenneth E. Melson, Acting Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives:

 

“The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will ask a multi-disciplinary panel of law enforcement professionals to review the bureau’s current firearms trafficking strategies employed by field division managers and special agents. This review will enable ATF to maximize its effectiveness when undertaking complex firearms trafficking investigations and prosecutions. It will support the goals of ATF to stem the illegal flow of firearms to Mexico and combat firearms trafficking in the United States.”

© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.

Click here for CBS link

Tea Party Being Hijacked by Progressives

The Foundary

 

Posted March 7th, 2011 at 9:59am in First Principles

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) recently asserted that there is a “potential alliance” forming between Progressive and Tea Party lawmakers on the issue of defense spending cuts. Others have also noted this opportunity:  “Arguably, the new Tea Party push on defense spending merely echoes long-standing progressive attacks on the Pentagon budget as the nation’s number one ‘entitlement’ program.”

But defense is no entitlement program. It is one of the core responsibilities of the federal government, and a necessity for sustained security and an independent American foreign policy. The issue of defense spending is exacerbated by a gross misunderstanding among average Americans about the share of military spending in the budget. According to a recent poll, 63% of those asked believe that the United States spends more on the military than on Social Security and Medicare. This is far from reality: roughly 58% of the 2010 U.S. budget was spent on domestic entitlements and welfare spending, whereas 20% was spent on defense.

The US need not police the world, but since the beginning, military preparedness for threats both manifest and unknown has been a priority. In George Washington’s first annual address to Congress in 1790, he cautioned future Americans to safeguard defense:

Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention, that of providing for the common defence will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well digested plan is requisite: And their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories, as tend to render them independent on others, for essential, particularly for military supplies.

America’s traditional spending priorities deserve to be voiced in the current budget debate.

While Progressives and some Libertarians are attempting to form political alliances to cut American military spending, China plans to increase its military spending by 12.6% (to $91.5 billion) in 2011, prompting concern from countries in the region. China may not constitute a direct military threat at this time, but according to George Washington’s understanding of Congress’ role, the imminence of a threat is secondary to ensuring “effectual means” to provide for U.S. security.

Progressives such as Barney Frank do not “merit particular regard” for American security and independence abroad. Indeed, they would rather sacrifice military preparedness on the altar of domestic entitlement spending, in an effort to survive the current spending cuts with their bloated welfare programs intact. What could be further from the goals and values of the Tea Party movement?

 

The Foundry

Shutting Down TARP & Saving Taxpayers $8 Billion – With More to Come

March 6, 2011 | Posted by Speaker Boehner’s Press Office  | Permalink
This week, the House will begin the process of shutting down the TARP bailout program, saving taxpayers $8 billion in mandatory spending — with more savings to come. Economists agree that immediate and meaningful spending cuts are needed to help promote private-sector job creation. Read more about GOP efforts to cut spending and create a better environment for job growth below. And check out the weekly Republican address by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) who says the path to prosperity lies in liberating our economy from the shackles of big government and out-of-control spending:

ON FACEBOOK? “Like” the Office of Speaker Boehner here:

 

Liberating Our Economy from the Shackles of Debt & Big Government

 

  • WATCH: Speaker Boehner discussed Taylor’s analysis with FOX News’ Greta Van Susteren.
  • Republican freshmen signed a letter to the president urging swift action on pending trade agreements to help “create badly needed jobs for Americans.” Experts say these agreements will “increase business and employment opportunities for Americans for years to come.”

 

America’s Massive Debt Poses a “Mortal Threat to Our Country” & Our Economy

 

  • WATCH: In a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters, Speaker Boehner said we have a moral responsibility to rein in the federal debt which poses a “mortal threat to our country.”
  • The Government Accountability Office uncovered billions of dollars in wasteful government spending.
  • A joint-Congressional report found that the massive Medicaid expansion in the $2.6 trillion ObamaCare law is twice what had been estimated and will overwhelm states with new costs.
  • Meanwhile, the Democrats who run Washington are pushing an inadequate status quo plan that keeps government spending at current “stimulus”-inflated levels.

 

As Gas Prices Rise, GOP Works to Stop the EPA From Imposing a Job-Crushing National Energy Tax

 

  • Experts agree that polices pushed by the Democrats who run Washington are raising fuel costs and jeopardizing American jobs.
  • The sharp increase in fuel costs is “putting the squeeze on drivers’ wallets” and “forcing tough choices on small-business owners” – which could mean fewer jobs for American workers.
  • Republicans introduced the Energy Tax Prevention Act to stop the EPA from imposing a national energy tax that would further drive up fuel costs for families and small businesses. Republicans are committed to an all-of-the-above energy strategy that increases American-made energy production, provides for more clean renewable and alternative fuels, and increases conservation.

 

As always, we appreciate your interest in the new House majority and encourage you to stay connected with the Office of the Speaker on Facebook, Twitter, and on Speaker.gov. Have a great week!

– Speaker Boehner’s Press Office

 

 

SPEAKER PRESS OFFICE
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH)
H-232, THE CAPITOL
(202) 225-0600 | SPEAKER.GOV

Veterans Support Organization – Fraud?

Veterans Support Organization

Updated: Thursday, 03 Feb 2011, 9:44 PM EST
Published : Thursday, 03 Feb 2011, 9:44 PM EST

MYFOXNY.COM – You may have seen people dressed in camouflage fatigues outside your local mall or grocery store. They are part of a group called VSO — Veterans Support Organization — collects money for veterans.

But where is the money actually going? Arnold Diaz investigated.

 

Video, FoxNews, NY

OH Tea Party Faces Off Union

Below is an email talking about how the OH Tea Party is facing off the OH teachers union. The union is sending in paid “protesters” similar to what is going on in WI. Take note, it might happen in NC.

Subject: Rally in Canton on Tuesday, Monthly Meeting Wednesday

Dear Charles,

First of all I want to thank the 100 members of the Portage County TEA Party who took time off from work and paid their own way to Columbus on Thursday to support Senate Bill #5.  Thanks also to those of you who donated money to help pay for some of the riders.  Our members represented you with honor and courage in an environment that I can only describe to you as being surreal.  The Unions tried to intimidate us, they pushed us and shoved us, took our signs, and yelled profanities at us and we did not back down an inch. (We will show you some video from the event at our meeting on Wednesday at Maplewood.)   We stood toe to toe with them for hours on end and by time we were done, they knew that we are a force to be reckoned.  Every one of them was paid to be there, some even admitted to us that the Democratic Party paid their way, if the Union did not. It was important that we showed up Thursday to prevent a situation like they have in Wisconsin, where the people are letting the unions intimidate them. Understand, in the entire life of most of these Union works, no one has ever stood up to them and they could bully elected officials because the citizens did not do their duty.  Those days are over.

It was also important for our elected officials to see us there, and in fact we now know that two Republican Senators who were on the fence declared on Friday that they would vote yes on SB5 because of the showing we made on Thursday.  We also felt that we won the day in the media. The fact that common citizens would pay their own way to support elected officials was news.  We came across as intelligent and reasonable while the union people came across as radical and ignorant.  Pear Pullman from our group was on the Cleveland TV stations, Leo Nagle’s picture was in the Columbus Dispatch, I was on National Public Radio and quoted in several newspapers.  We did a good job and all of our members should be proud.

But the battle has just begun. It has come to my attention that the Unions are going to employee a Sal Alinsky tactic against the Governor. They are going to send there phony pay-to-protest people to every place the Governor goes in an effort to stop people from meeting with him.  Just like Glenn Beck has taught us, they are going to isolate him and then destroy him.  However, [they have never had to deal with the TEA Party before and] we are not going to let that happen.  So, for those of you who could not take a full day off to go to Columbus, your job now is to get out of work a little early this Tuesday and get to the Canton Civic Center around 4:00 PM. The address is 1101 Market Avenue N # 1, Canton, OH. The Governor is going to be speaking at 5:00 PM.  We are going to coordinate with the Stark 912 Group as well as the Akron 912 Group and the Republican Party in Portage and Summit Counties.  Wear Red and bring signs, here are some sign ideas:

We support Governor Kasich!

VOTE YES ON SB 5 !

I’m Not Being Paid to be here!

I Paid my way to the rally – who paid your way?

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS

500,000 unemployed Ohioans would love your job

I’ll take your job – if you don’t want it!

It’s not our job to take care of you for life!

Now, here is where we stand on SB5.  We only need 17 votes to win, because their are 33 Ohio Senators and you just need a simple majority. Their are 23, Republican Senators and 10 Democrat Senators.  Though it should be a easy win, things are never easy in politics.  Their were 8 Republican Senators on the fence as of Thursday.  We got two to commit, so we are at 17, but you need to do better than that or one person can send it down.  So here are the Senators in play:

Definite No’s:

Jim Hughes

Tom Patton

Scott Oelslager

Possible No’s:

Bill Seitz – because he is “eccentric” and no one – including him knows what he will do, but would vote with the majority if it was clear cut.  Call him and ask him to vote yes, he likes attention, 614-466-8068.

Possible Gets:

Frank LaRose – I believe we have already have him, he just wants a few tweaks in the bill before deciding, so call him and ask him to vote yes.  614-466-4823

Gayle Manning – 13th District.  Former Teacher who does not like the Teachers Union.

I am told she is the key, if we get her everyone else who has any issues falls in line.

Call her and ask her to vote yes.  Tell her the citizens are behind her. 614-466-7613

Got’s:

Jimmy Stewart – Committed on Friday – Call him and thank him 614-466-8076

Bill Beagle – Committed on Friday – Call him and thank him 614-466-6247

Finally, you need to be at the Monthly meeting next Wednesday night, at Maplewood Career Center on State Route 88 just North of Ravenna at 7:00 PM.   Our speakers will be Sheriff David Doak and Ravenna Mayor Joe Bica.  ( I have attached the press release.) Afterwords, we will discuss our groups strategy going forward for the next month. It is time to get off the couch and get back in the game, the very fate of our country is at stake. Come to the meeting Wednesday night at Maplewood at 7:00 PM.

Best Regards,

Portage County TEA Party

4682 State Route 43 • Kent, Ohio • 44240 • 330-474-3878 • 330-673-4672 (Fax)

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 18, 2011

SHERIFF DAVID DOAK, MAYOR JOE BICA TO SPEAK AT MONTHLY MEETING

Kent, Ohio –  The Portage County TEA Party announced today that Portage County Sheriff, David Doak, and Ravenna Mayor, Joe Bica, will be speaking at the groups monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 23, 2011. The meeting will be held at the Maplewood Career Center, at 7075 Ohio 88, Ravenna, OH, starting at 7:00 PM. The meeting is open to the public and free of charge. Refreshments will be served. After the speaker portion of the meeting, the group will hold a short meeting to discuss current issues and activities.

Tom Zawistowski, Executive Director of the Portage County TEA Party, said “ We are extremely excited about both speakers for this months meeting.  In the Constitution, the County Sheriff is the person most responsible for protecting the individual rights of citizens.  Many of our members have never had the opportunity to meet Sheriff Doak, and are not aware of the many challenges being faced by the sheriff’s department on a daily basis.”  He went on to say “Mayor Joe Bica, is the first mayor that we have had the opportunity to have speak to our group.  He is going to speak specifically about his effort to collaborate with other municipalities, departments and government agencies, to save money and reduce the size of government at the local level. We are looking forward to learning about his efforts.”

The TEA Party is not a political party but a political movement.  It is loosely based on the Boston Tea Party of 1773 in which American Colonists rebelled against the “Taxation Without Representation” of the King of England and the English Parliament by dumping tea into Boston Harbor.  The initials TEA are today used to show that many current American citizens feel that they are “Taxed Enough Already” by the U.S. Government as well as state and local governments. The movement is attempting to motivate common American citizens to take a more active role in their own self governance at the local, state and federal level.

#30#

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

CONTACT: Tom Zawistowski

TomZ@PortageCountyTEAParty.com

1-800-846-4630 Ext 104

DNC playing role in Wisconsin protests

February 17, 2011

DNC playing role in Wisconsin protests

The Democratic National Committee’s Organizing for America arm — the remnant of the 2008 Obama campaign — is playing an active role in organizing protests against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to strip most public employees of collective bargaining rights.

OfA, as the campaign group is known, has been criticized at times for staying out of local issues like same-sex marraige, but it’s riding to the aide of the public sector unions who hoping to persuade some Republican legislators to oppose Walker’s plan. And while Obama may have his difference with teachers unions, OfA’s engagement with the fight — and Obama’s own clear stance against Walker — mean that he’s remaining loyal to key Democratic Party allies at what is, for them, a very dangerous moment.

OfA Wisconsin’s field efforts include filling buses and building turnout for the rallies this week in Madison, organizing 15 rapid response phone banks urging supporters to call their state legislators, and working on planning and producing rallies, a Democratic Party official in Washington said.

The @OFA_WI twitter account has published 54 tweets promoting the rallies, which the group has also plugged on its blog.

“At a time when most folks are still struggling to get back on their feet, Gov. Walker has asked the state legislature to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights. Under his plan, park rangers, teachers, and prison guards would no longer be able to fight back if the new Republican majority tries to slash their health benefits or pensions,” OfA Wisconsin State Director Dan Grandone wrote supporters in an email. “But that’s not even the most shocking part: The governor has also put the state National Guard on alert in case of ‘labor unrest.’ We can’t — and won’t — let Scott Walker’s heavy-handed tactics scare us. This Tuesday and Wednesday, February 15th and 16th, volunteers will be attending rallies at the state

He continued:

Gov. Walker won’t even talk to state workers about his proposal to strip them of their rights. He is ignoring Wisconsin voices today and asking for the power to drown them out permanently tomorrow.

We’re ready to do all we can to make sure that doesn’t happen. OFA volunteers are going to fight for our friends with state jobs, our allies in organized labor, and the freedom of all Wisconsinites to organize their communities.

UPDATE: House Speaker John Boehner called on Obama to pull OfA out of the effort:

“I’m disappointed that instead of providing similar leadership from the White House, the president has chosen to attack leaders such as Gov. Walker, who are listening to the people and confronting problems that have been neglected for years at the expense of jobs and economic growth,” Boehner said in a statement. “I urge the president to order the DNC to suspend these tactics.”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0211/DNC_playing_role_in_Wisconsin_protests.html