Kids, so sorry, but I’m still feeling craptastic, so I went back to my American Street trough and dug out one of my old favorites. It was originally posted on April 23, 2008. I apologize if some of the links no longer work.

A great big MMMWWAAAHHHHHHHHHH to my dear Raisinettes who have been continuing to visit despite the lack of any new stuff. Hope to be back soon with some new posts and to reply to all of you comments. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy playing Condiland:

A Sweet Little Game for Sweet Little Folks

Hey kids! Are you sick of hearing about Pennsylvania yet? I know I am. I think we need to distract ourselves, and how better than with an old-fashioned board game? I bet the first game that most kids get is Candyland. Well, guess what! There’s a new version out, and I picked one up! Let me share it with you. Welcome to……

Here’s the new board!

I know it’s kinda hard to see, so let me enlarge the different stops along the way. Of course, we start at Start:

From Wiki: Rice headed Chevron’s committee on public policy until she resigned on January 15, 2001, to become National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush. Chevron honored Rice by naming an oil tanker Condoleezza Rice after her, but controversy led to its being renamed Altair Voyager.[27]

She also served on the board of directors for the Carnegie Corporation, the Charles Schwab Corporation, the Chevron Corporation, Hewlett Packard, the Rand Corporation, the Transamerica Corporation, and other organizations.

From PBS:
RICHARD BEN-VENISTE: Isn’t it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the Aug. 6 PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: I believe the title was “bin laden determined to attack inside the United States.”

Oops! I forgot to show you the special game cards!

Condoleezza Rice, September 2002: “The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he [Saddam Hussein] can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

From the Washington Post: Top Bush aides, including Vice President Cheney, micromanaged the torture of terrorist suspects from the White House basement, according to an ABC News report aired last night.

Discussions were so detailed, ABC’s sources said, that some interrogation sessions were virtually choreographed by a White House advisory group. In addition to Cheney, the group included then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, then-defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, then-secretary of state Colin Powell, then-CIA director George Tenet and then-attorney general John Ashcroft.

Gonzogate, torture, Abramoff, Scooter Libby, etc…….

From the Washington Post:
Total Fatalities: 4,507

Operation Iraqi Freedom: 4,021
Operation Enduring Freedom: 486
(Updated April 22, 2008)

From the Baltimore Sun: It looks like President Bush has achieved a historical mark but it’s certainly one he could have done without.

Gallup says Bush’s 69 percent disapproval rating is the highest it’s ever recorded in history.

From Gawker: So the Gulf Coast has gone all Mad Max, women are being raped in the Superdome, and Rice is enjoying a brief vacation in New York. We wish we were surprised.

What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats they may be forced to serve in Iraq next year and says it will soon start identifying prime candidates for jobs at the Baghdad embassy and outlying provinces, according to a cable obtained by The Associated Press.

A similar call-up notice last year caused an uproar among foreign service officers, some of whom objected to compulsory work in a war zone, although in the end the State Department found enough volunteers to fill the jobs.

Now, the State Department anticipates another staffing crisis.

You know what kids? This game isn’t as much fun as I remember!

This is the sorry state that we have come to. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows more support for the Tea Party than for the Democratic or Republican Party.

When you get underneath the numbers, a major contingent of Tea Party fans get their info from Fox News. In fact 75% of Fox News viewers were fans of the Tea Party movement. Wow, what a surprise there!

On December 15, the Tea Party (or at least one of its many factions) walked into Congress planning to stage a “die-in” where they planned to play dead to illustrate the results of any health care reform that might be passed. The result was not quite what the organizers were hoping for. In fact, subbing for Keith Olbermann on MSNBC’s “Countdown”, Lawrence O’Donnell reported that the protesters were treated to beverages when they entered the Capitol and not a single one “played dead”.

This is the band of geniuses who will be running our country starting in 2010 if the polls are to be believed. Well at least they have a sense of humor:

Respectfully,
Rutherford

WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance

Below is an email from an advertiser in one of the conservative papers I read.  It has a lot of great follow up info on the Healthcare issue.  Please call or fax the Senators listed below TODAY!!!  Thanks.  ~GetdClu

RightMarch.com PAC
                  Patriotism In Action.

Congress is BACK to Debate Socialized Medicine — Click Here to Tell the Senate to REJECT ‘ObamaCare’

ALERT: Don’t be FOOLED by mainstream media lies — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is ready to PASS his 2,074 page ObamaCare bill, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” — TODAY.

Sen. Joe Lieberman is caving in… Sen. Ben Nelson is facing political extortion to vote for it… Sen. Olympia Snowe is wavering…

That means that TODAY, it’s up to YOU AND ME to STOP the government takeover of health care in America!

TELL THE SENATE TO REJECT SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE
BETTER KNOWN AS “OBAMACARE”:
SEND YOUR FAXES NOW!
(see below for free way to contact the Senate)

We led the efforts of our members to contact every single Senator after the House passed their health care bill, to DEMAND that they reject Harry Reid’s “motion to proceed” on the ObamaCare bill — and as a result, over two hundred and sixteen thousand faxes FLOODED those Senate offices!

 
We just barely missed winning on this first vote… but WE CAN STILL DEFEAT THE BILL. The bill pushed by Obama, and passed by leftist Democrats in the House, is NOT getting the full support of every Democrat in the U.S. Senate; and without all 60 of those votes, they will NOT be able to pass the NEXT cloture vote coming up soon…

Which means that we can STILL defeat it there — IF we can overwhelm every Senator with our demands to STOP it!

Here’s what Erick Erickson at RedState.com is reporting:

The Democrats have given Joe Lieberman everything he wanted. Joe will now vote for the bill. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is being threatened with having every major military installation in Nebraska shut down. Yes, I know, but the Democrats are playing for keeps on this and health care “reform” is more important to them than the military. Liberals are being told they have to accept this to given them any credibility going into next year’s election. They don’t want to be accused of “killing reform.” Lastly, the CBO scoring of the bill is going to look fine now that the Medicare affecting portions are going to be dropped. Inevitably, this legislation is going to cause health care costs to skyrocket and force people into socialized medicine. But Barack Obama and the Democrats don’t care. They want to be seen as doing something and beating the Republicans – with what, they don’t care.

But we have NOT lost this fight. Harry Reid STILL does not have all 60 votes he needs to enact cloture and force a vote on his bill. For example, Sen. James Webb (D-VA), who voted with conservatives five times for amendments that would have prevented Reid from slashing Medicare funding, is “still undecided.” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said she would vote against the bill if it raised health care costs overall — which it does, by $234 billion. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) refused to say on Tuesday if she’s leaning towards supporting the healthcare bill. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) says the bill is “still too deeply flawed for me to support it.” And even Sen. Ben Nelson was still telling Politico yesterday, “I’m not on the bill. I have spoken with the president and he knows they are not wrapped up today. I think everybody understands they are not wrapped up today and that impression will not be given.”

So, even though Harry Reid was able to strong-arm enough of his Senators to vote for his “cloture” motion to proceed to debate — something that is usually just a procedural vote! — he STILL doesn’t have enough votes to enact cloture in order to get a final vote, which means THE BILL WOULD DIE!

We CAN still win, by keeping the Democrats from getting the 60 votes they need on the next cloture vote, scheduled for THIS WEEK… but we can’t do it without YOUR help!

TELL THE SENATE TO REJECT SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE
BETTER KNOWN AS “OBAMACARE”:
SEND YOUR FAXES NOW!

 Remember, this bill is the worst of all possible bills. It’s chock full of every far-left special interest socialistic dream imaginable. Here’s some of what’s in its TWO THOUSAND PAGES:

• The CBO estimates that H.R. 3962, the health bill that the House passed, would cost $1.2 TRILLION over 10 years, including the cost to states for mandated Medicaid expansion ($34 billion), the “Doc Fix” ($245 billion), and authorized discretionary spending for grants, public programs, changes and funding for a variety of agencies that would be responsible for implementing H.R. 3962.
• The bill protects trial lawyers. The bill gives money (authorized at “such sums”) to states that enact “certificate of merit” (a document signed by a medical professional that says there is a probability that the standard of care was violated) and / or a certificate of “early offer” (an early, confidential apology) laws, as long as the states don’t limit attorneys’ fees or impose caps on damages.
• The current version will give billions of dollars of taxpayer healthcare benefits to ILLEGAL ALIENS in America. It would allow illegal aliens to use the new healthcare “exchange” and would not require verification to keep illegal aliens out of the other parts of the proposed federal healthcare system. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus fought back against reports that leaders would add Senate language to block illegal immigrants from participating in the insurance exchange.
• It will create a nationwide federal government program, the “public option,” which will pay for abortion on demand – with federal funds, of course, because that is what federal agencies spend.

Liberals in the House AND the Senate ignored us when the majority said, “NO BAILOUT.” They ignored us when the majority said, “NO FAKE STIMULUS.” Now, they’re trying to ignore us when the majority demands with a clear voice, “NO GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF HEALTH CARE!”

We MUST NOT let them ignore us any longer!  [CALL your Senators today!]

TAKE ACTION: Believe it or not, even Howard Dean is now saying “the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill and go back to the House” — of course, he’s saying it because he wants it to be MORE socialistic… but he’s saying the right thing, even though it’s for the wrong reason!

Every media outlet in the country is reporting that it’s still “up in the air” whether Harry Reid will have enough votes to pass the next “cloture” vote for his ObamaCare bill scheduled for THIS WEEK. But from the reports coming in to us from Capitol Hill and from our members around the country, the chances look good that we DO have enough votes to defeat it…

BUT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE SENATORS, NEED[S] TO KEEP HEARING FROM US TO BE CONVINCED!

We CANNOT let the radical liberals in Congress — and the White House — force this plan for socialized health care on the American people! That’s why we’ve set up our website to enable you to send a strong message to every single member of the U.S. Senate, OPPOSING this outrageous plan.

For about what it would cost you in time and telephone charges, you can send Blast Faxes to Democrats, Republicans, Independents — EVERYONE in the U.S. Senate, DEMANDING that they REJECT this socialized health care plan NOW.

We CAN do this! In 1993, First Lady Hillary Clinton tried to force a less radical form of socialized health care down our throats, thinking that they could do it since the Democrats controlled Congress AND the White House.

What was the result? 1994, and the Republican Revolution. The liberal Democrats are “shooting themselves in the foot” again by trying to pass even more radical socialized health care this time — but we CAN stop them!

TELL THE SENATE TO REJECT SOCIALIZED HEALTH CARE
BETTER KNOWN AS “OBAMACARE”:
SEND YOUR FAXES NOW!

This fight CAN BE WON! Please, take action right away to STOP this bill in the U.S. Senate!
Sincerely,

William Greene, President
RightMarch.com PAC

P.S. As Heritage.org is reporting, just today, the Washington Post released a poll finding that 51% of adults oppose Obamacare, with 40% in strong opposition. Meanwhile only 44% support the bill with only 25% feeling strongly about it. Digging deeper we find that 66% of Americans believe Obamacare will increase the federal budget deficit, 53% believe it will cause their own health care to cost more, 55% believe it will increase the country’s health care costs overall, and 50% believe it will not improve their quality of care. These findings echo an earlier CNN poll which found that 61% of Americans opposed Obamacare, with 79% believing it would add to the deficit and 85% believing it would raise their taxes.

We have a VERY GOOD CHANCE to defeat this bill on the next cloture vote. The Hill is reporting that there are at least seven issues dividing the Democrats right now, which we can use to keep them from getting the 60 votes they need: Public option, abortion, health insurance excise taxes, prescription drugs, affordability, insurance exchanges, and Medicare cuts. ANY ONE OF THESE ISSUES can help us to STOP this bill quickly!

WE CAN WIN! Send your faxes right away to make sure these Senators get a STRONG message, to REJECT the socialized plan of “Obamacare” NOW — Thank you!

As always, you can also send a FREE message directly to your Senators by clicking here.  Thank you.
The work of RightMarch.com PAC is funded entirely by voluntary contributions.
Help us spread the word with a donation to RightMarch.com PAC!
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CBO: Insurance Proposal Would Effectively Nationalize Private Insurance

Dec 17, 2009

by John Goodman

 A Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) is the percentage of premium dollars an insurer spends on claims as opposed to administrative costs and other expenses. According to news reports, a proposal from Senator Rockefeller and others would limit MLRs to 90%. The Reid bill already requires insurers to issue rebates to enrollees on a pro rata basis if its medical loss ratio falls below 80% or lower for the individual and small-group markets or 85% or lower for the large-group market. 

However, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that a 90% MLR would expand “the federal government’s regulatory role in the health insurance market so much that it would make such insurance an essentially governmental program, so that all transactions related to health insurance policies (even those with private companies) should be recorded as cash flows in the federal budget.”  A similar ruling helped kill Hillary Clinton’s health reform proposal 15 years ago.

Donald Marron, former Acting Director of CBO, explains the issue at his blog.

———-

 Is This Fair?

Dec 17, 2009

by John Goodman

Health reform on Capitol Hill:

Focus on Jane, a primary breadwinner making $48,000 (in 2016) to support her family of four. If Jane is offered insurance by her employer that meets the test, she must accept it or pay a fine. That means Jane ends up paying for the entire cost of, say, a $14,100 policy, according to some economists. They say she pays the premiums out of pocket and the remainder indirectly because employers offer reduced paychecks to offset the cost of their share of health insurance.

Now, meet Julie, who also makes $48,000 and is not offered insurance at her job. Julie heads to the newly created exchange to purchase the same policy. But it costs her only $5,300. The rest – about $9,000 – comes from federal subsidies.

Fair?

Full editorial by Douglas Holtz-Eakin in The Boston Globe.

———-

Now that the terrorists, er—I mean detainees— are coming to Illinois, I wanted to make sure they know what they’re leaving and what they have to look forward to here in the great MidWest, the Heartland, the breadbasket of the world that has probably fed them and their countrymen for generations.  Take a look…

The average winter temperature in northern Illinois is about 19ºF before any wind chill.  But don’t worry, I hear the Obama administration has already ordered insulated skull caps for them.

And there’s even free entertainment…

Welcome to Gitmo North: http://wp.me/pzfHB-ns

Hey kids, I’m still feeling lousy, but I wanted to post something. I dusted this off, because it stars three senators i detest–Captain Underpants, Lindseypoo, and Joe McLiebercain (now a/k/a Joe Liebermouse). It was originally posted over at Amercian Street on April 9. 2008. Make sure to wash your hands after reading it so you don’t catch the cooties!

The Same Old Song

Hiya, kids! Did you watch the Petraeus/Crocker hearings yesterday? Me, too. Well, I watched part of it. How long do you have to listen to realize that they were saying nothing new? Well, I don’t know about you, kids, but when I get fed up with the world, I listen to music. A confession here–I am not a music aficionado. I couldn’t tell you who sang what song when, with one exception–I played my CD of the Singing Senators until it wore out. I am broken-hearted that they disbanded so abruptly. Without my Singing Senators CD, I had to look for something else to listen to. Well, guess what! There are some brand new singing senators, and they sing in so many different genres! Follow me, kids, and I will show you my new musical collection…..

In the ’60’s, there was a duet, not a trio. The pop duo’s most popular hit was I Got You, Babe, and you better believe that they still got each other!

Along the way, the duet picked up a third soulmate, and they formed a simple folk group….

They began to branch out. They tried country….

….but they quickly got bored. With new vigor and a new look, what could be better than New Wave/Pop….

….after that, they reworked the band from AA to ZZ, and they tried their hand at hard headed dumb as a rock…

As though all that was not rockin’ enough, I just got their latest CD, and it’s awesome! Who could have thought they would be able to handle Heavy Metal (no, sillies, not lead–that’s a different kind of heavy metal, the stuff China puts in kids’ toys!). They even let their best friend sit in with the band!

What kind of music do you like?

Stolen from TexasFred!

Milblogs Go Silent For CJ

You may remember this post, where I posted about CJ from A Soldier’s Perspective and the grief he is getting from his children’s former school. What’s worse is that his command in Alabama did not back him up. Luckily, many prominent milblogs are, and a lot of them are going silent in solidarity with this highly decorated American hero:

On Wednesday 16 December, readers will have the chance to imagine a world without milblogs, and to do something about it. Those participating are urging their readers to contact their elected representatives in Congress, and to let their opinions be known to them and to other leaders in Washington.

Some milblogs will remain silent for several days; some just for the day. All have agreed to keep the post about the silence and C.J. at the top of their blogs until Friday 18 December.

The issues go beyond C.J., and deserve careful consideration and discussion. We hope that you will cover this event, and explore the issues that lie at the heart of the matter. Contact the milbloggers in your area or that you know, and hear the story that lies within.

A Partial List of Participating Blogs:

This Ain’t Hell
Boston Maggie
Blackfive
Miss Ladybug
Drunken Wisdom
Grim’s Hall
From My Position
CDR Salamander
Bouhammer

Today, you have the chance to imagine a world without milblogs, and to do something about it. Make your voice heard by writing your congressional representatives and others, and by making donations as you see fit. (H/T - Mr. Wolf from Blackfive)

Hopefully, this protest will raise awareness to CJ’s plight, and with any luck, the Army will start standing up for one of its own.

While I am not a milblogger, I am also participating in the day of silence in honor of CJ and every other milblogger out there. Thank you all for what you do.

Fred Notes: This post, Milblogs Go Silent For CJ, is taken, in it’s entirety, from my blog buddy Wyatt Earp at Support Your Local Gunfighter. I am a part time Milblogger, I blog about politics, police matters and military support, as well as a myriad of other topics, but I stand in full support of Wyatt Earp and Military Bloggers the world over!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

From the Desk of:
Steve Elliott, Grassfire Nation

   Reid is moving to cut off debate on ObamaCare as soon as
   this Friday and we still haven’t seen the bill! I believe a
   grand deception is under way.

   [Call your Senators NOW!]

Yesterday’s meeting between President Obama and the 60-member
democratic caucus means we’ve reached the end game on the
Senate ObamaCare vote.

But the meeting and Obama’s claim that we are “on the precipice”
to passage are all part of a grand deception scheme that,
sadly, is on the verge of succeeding.

First… The legislative text of the new Reid bill HAS NOT
BEEN RELEASED. There is NO BILL for your Senators to actually
see and read, and NO BILL for you to see and read!

THE REAL WORK AND THE REAL DEALS ARE TAKING PLACE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS!

Second, what’s really happening amounts to pure bribery.

   With YOUR MONEY, Reid and Obama are trying to buy
   the votes of swing senators to the tune of hundreds of
   millions of dollars. Reports indicate that Sen. Ben Nelson
   may have been offered $500 million in earmarks for his
   state in appreciation of his support of ObamaCare.

Also, we’re told that in Reid’s latest plan, the “public option”
has been removed. But has it? (I guess we’re supposed to take
Reid on his word that the not-yet-seen 2,000+ page bill does
not include a public option!) And does it matter…

   With or without a formal “public option,” ObamaCare
   means government-run health care. ObamaCare still is
   based on the unconstitutional “individual mandate,”
   includes massive tax increases, imposes an oppressive new
   government bureaucracy and puts the government in
   charge of your health care.

+ + Action: Let Your Senators Know What YOU Think!

I want to encourage you to use every means at your disposal to
let your Senators and other key Senators know what you think
about ObamaCare. Some resources for you:

+ + Action #1: Fax Your Senators Now

Use our FaxFire system to get your faxes to your two Senators
and other key Senators right now. Go here:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=23684&CID=122&RID=21727630

Or… send your own faxes. We have provided all the information
you need. Go here:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=23685&CID=122&RID=21727630

+ + Action #2: Call your two Senators

Talking Points:

–Tell them you live in their state

–Tell your Senators you want to actually see the bill and that
 you are outraged that Senate leaders are forcing their secret
 bill to a final vote.

–Tell them you oppose ObamaCare and urge them to vote “NO” on
 cloture and the final bill.

–Tell them you oppose the unconstitutional “individual mandate”
 and the oppressive taxes in the plan.

Sen. Durbin     202-224-2152

Sen. Burris     202-224-2854

+ + Action #3: Alert your friends

We just completed the latest round of hand-delivery of more
than 800,000 petitions and our next hand-delivery will begin
TOMORROW. [Thursday]

Please forward this link to your friends and ask them to sign
so they can be included in the next hand-delivery:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?u=23689&PID=21727630

Thanks for taking a stand for freedom!

Steve Elliott
Grassfire Nation

P.S. Despite the claims of Obama and Reid, this debate is not over.
A grand deception is under way to convince YOU and YOUR SENATORS
that passage of ObamaCare is inevitable. What they fear is a
massive grassroots uprising in these final hours. Go here to
send faxes:

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=23686&CID=122&RID=21727630

+   +  +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +  +  +   +   +   +   +   +
(Note: Please do not “reply” directly to this e-mail message. This
e-mail address is not designed to receive your personal messages.
To contact Grassfire Nation with comments, questions or to
change your status, see link at the end.)

+ + + + +
Grassfire Nation is a million-strong network of grassroots
conservatives that is dedicated to equipping you with the
tools that give you a real impact on the key issues of our
day. Copyright 2009 Grassroots Action, Inc.
+ + Comments? Questions?

http://www.grassfire.net/r.asp?U=23687&CID=122&RID=21727630

HC Deception's End Game—Call your Senators NOW!: http://wp.me/pzfHB-nm

Horrific Christian Persecution never seems to Stop

Last night I went all the way up to the big city to see a show that was advertised as a Christmas Concert.  I was, of course, expecting to hear songs celebrating the Miracle birth of the Beautiful Baby Jesus Boy, and how the evil darkness of the world will Tremble with Great Fear when He comes again.

But about half way into the concert, the burn choir started to sing hanaka songs!!!

What made this sacrilege even more shocking, the concert was being sung in a Christian Church!

While the choir sang jewish, which made them sound like they had marbles in their cheeks, you could just feel the acid tears of Baby Jesus flowing down His plump cheeks and it became too much to bear.

So naturally, I got up out of my pew decrying the sacrilege, and promptly went to the back of the church where I demanded not only a full refund, but also financial remuneration for my travel expenses and my lost time.  These people who ran this choir, one of who I am certain was jewish, refused to pay me back, and one thing led to another, before I knew it I was escorted out of the Church by an extremely large and hostile negro man threatening to call the police unless I quieted down.

I would gladly get me a lawyer who is expert in false advertising if I could find one to take the case.  Unfortunately, there is no doubt in my mind that the burn Choir who put on this program under COMPLETELY FALSE pretenses will be defended by the government-backed ACLU. Most lawyers are too intimidated to fight the ACLU and won’t even accept a healthy retainer just to look into its merits.

Christ suffered unspeakable rendition and torture for our Sins.  But He only had to fight off the jews and the romans.  To right this horrific wrong I would have to fight the ACLU and the jewish liberal elitist establishment.  I try hard to live my life like Christ Jesus, and I know my God would never ask me to suffer anything worse than what His Son suffered.

Therefore, I won’t press charges or fight the ACLU because it would be a far worse experience than getting crucified for all of past, present and future Sins of Humanity.  I would simply advise that if you are going to a Christmas Concert this year, you might want to inquire about what songs are on the program, and don’t assume that just because it is performed in a Christian Church that it will be Sanctified music.  I would especially advise you to avoid Catholic Churches in particular.  Your sneaky papist is shiftier than a snake on hot coals.

So everyone is talking about how Pres. Obama graded himself a B+ for this first year in his administration.  Many say it should be lower, some say higher, some just say incomplete.  I think B+ is sufficient for this year though, I’d probably give Obama a B(-), but it depends on where you stand on certain issues.  I would have preferred to see more done on Climate Change but I’m happy with the effort put into stimulating the economy, though more could have been done.  Unfortunately since we do have a two-party system, the stimulus couldn’t have everything that dems would have put in it to move the process faster but nonetheless the rate of unemployment is slowing.  The issue of Afghanistan from my view was handled well.  Also, I’m happy with the work Joe Biden has done in getting out the message and being there but not in an overbearing controlling way like Dick Cheney was.

So, now it’s the GOP’s turn.  What should their grade be?  They were the party of “NO” throughout this whole year.  They couldn’t find a clear message for most of the year until health care became a huge issue.  Now their message is a cross between “you lie!” and random conspiracy theories.  Their party leaders for this year have been, Limbaugh then Glenn Beck.  As far as substance, the party has failed, I can’t think of anything they haven’t obstructed and anything they have done to better America.  Then when they tried to put out an economic plan, the plan included no numbers of estimates.  They also tried to put out a health care plan, the plan included no cost estimates.

I’d give the GOP a gracious “D”.

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I guess it’s sort of a chicken-egg scenario. Does a polarized society breed a polarized media or does a polarized media breed a polarized society? Increasingly we are seeing folks take opposite positions not on opinion but on the facts. When that happens, someone plain and simple, is lying.

There are loads of examples but the one that was most recently brought to my attention by my readers is the case of Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings. Let’s start with the phrase “Safe Schools Czar”. This phrase fits in with the conservative talking point that Obama has all these unconstitutional “czars”. The Safe Schools Czar was in fact created by George W. Bush as part of No Child Left Behind and was staffed with two people with no qualifications in education. Jennings, appointed by Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education  (not Obama) was the first Safe Schools Czar with any background in education.

Let’s dig deeper and look at some of the coverage:

Jennings hid a case of statutory rape: A student confided in Jennings that he had been involved with an older man. Jennings “counseled” him that he should wear protection. Jennings actually contributed to the statutory rape part of the story by mistakenly referring to the boy as 15 years of age when he was in fact 16 (the age of consent).  Fox News had to correct its sensational headline when the boy himself came forward with evidence of his age. To further lay the matter to rest, Jennings said:

Twenty one years later I can see how I should have handled this situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities. Teachers back then had little training or guidance about this kind of thing. All teachers should have a basic level of preparedness. I would like to see the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools play a bigger role in helping to prepare teachers.

via Kevin Jennings Releases Statement on Past Controversial Conduct.

Admittedly, this statement is a bit too little too late. As gay conservative blogger, B. Daniel Blatt points out, the issue is how could anyone in counseling the boy neglect to give the obvious advice to NOT have casual sex with strangers (which is what the boy admitted to).  By fanning the flames of a bogus statutory rape charge, the right-wing lost the opportunity to hammer home Blatt’s more relevant point.

Jennings is a NAMBLA supporter: This one falls in the “Obama pals around with terrorists” category, namely lazy connect the dots journalism. Jennings, who is gay, spoke positively of Harry Hay, a gay activist from the 1950’s and  1960’s. He found inspiration from Hay’s advocacy.  Some headlines cited Hay as founder of NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association). The fact is that Hay did not found NAMBLA although late in his life he was a vocal NAMBLA sympathizer. At no time did Jennings voice support for NAMBLA nor did he say that Hay’s support of NAMBLA influenced him.

Jennings distributed porn to students: This is one of the latest shoddy jobs of journalism (i.e. lies) coming out of the right-wing. Jennings founded and led GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network). GLSEN sponsored a conference at which a third-party (Fenway Community Health) made available pamphlets describing explicit sexual activity. GLSEN did not request this information be made available nor did it approve of it. It was basically a slip up.

Now let’s look at this slip up from a few different angles. First, this was not classroom activity in a school, this was a conference about sexual matters and any parent taking their kid to such a conference had to understand the inherent risk of seeing information that might be over the top. I cannot for the life of me comprehend why any parent would take their kid to such a conference. Second, although Fenway claims no child took any of the pamphlets, let’s assume one did. Would that pamphlet scar him for life? Would it be any different from the kid finding a Hustler magazine in the basement? Cable companies have accidentally broadcast porn in the middle of a family show. While it triggered outrage, were any kids permanently scarred? Third, there is the question of what information should be shared with kids by way of preparing them for the real world. While I found the information in the pamphlet age-inappropriate (various “alternative” sexual practices were discussed) it reminded me of information I received in junior high school some 35 years ago. Back then, under the guise of informing kids about drugs so they wouldn’t use them, very detailed information was distributed to students on every drug imaginable, its effects, its slang names, etc. Years later, I looked back on it a bit puzzled. Why would you tell kids everything they wanted to know about drugs if the goal was to keep them away from it? In my opinion this is a typical pattern in educational circles of giving too much information. While the GLSEN conference is an extreme case, I think it fits the pattern.

Jennings wrote the forward to a pedophilia book: This is one of the more preposterous of the lies promulgated by the right-wing media. This lie is almost understandable because the truth is much more complex and to many minds, just as disturbing. Fox and friends simply found the lie easier to sell than the more complicated truth. The book in question is titled Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue about Sexualities and Schooling. I read an excerpt on Amazon.com. From my reading, it starts from the premise that homosexuals are born that way and therefore, teachers have in their class straight and gay students. Right off the bat, this premise leaves behind an entire league of people for whom homosexuality is deemed a choice, not an innate predisposition. With that premise in place, the book goes on to discuss how can we educate “homosexual children” in such a way that they are not demeaned or pigeon holed into a heterosexual model of behavior.

To any ordinary Joe, this is some radical stuff. The whole idea of labeling a five year old gay is ridiculous to some and downright repugnant to many. The fact is, as far as I can surmise, Kevin Jennings is steeped in a very political view of gay rights that includes the perception that gays are unfairly treated right out of the womb. (By the way, his “hero” Harry Hay seems to have the same view.)

So what is the bottom line to all this? In the never-ending effort to dumb down America and get eyeballs on web pages and TV screens, the right-wing media chose a bunch of lies (and some half-truths) to get everyone riled up about Kevin Jennings. What is fascinating is that the truth, although perhaps harder to present on paper, still leaves the average person with misgivings about Jennings. Should Duncan have appointed him? Despite Jenning’s stellar resume, I think Duncan bought himself more trouble than he needed to. America is justifiably sensitive about who controls their children’s education. While I believe Jenning’s ultimate influence in his job is small, mostly limited to anti-bullying campaigns, his real background (not the trumped up BS) touches on radical ideas for which most of the country is not yet ready. Some may call Jennings an outright pervert, others may call him a man before his time. No matter how you cut it, Duncan could have made a better choice.

If you want to investigate the different sides of this story, Gateway Pundit has made an entire side-business to “following” Jennings. Media Matters has taken the position of supporting Jennings (unfortunately mostly by saying “that’s not true, that’s not true” but providing little contrary evidence). Think Progress wrote a practical unemotional attempt to fact check the Jennings stories. George Stephanopoulos and Sean Hannity square off on the topic, with George trying to be a journalist and Hannity yelling the sky is falling.

Unfortunately, as long as the media chooses to lie instead of doing the hard work, you will have to do your own research to get a better understanding of any issue.

Respectfully,
Rutherford

WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance

UPDATE 2:15 pm CST

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!  You received the alert below and took action.  You have completely overwhelmed the Senate switchboard.  I have received emails stating that calls to some of the Senators below were being re-directed to Sen. Reid’s office and other Senators in the Democratic leadership.  I have had reports that the voice mail boxes are full.  Some of you have stated that you received messages stating the calls could not go through.  Some have received a message asking you to put in the mailbox number or phone number.   The phone numbers we sent out were taken directly from the Senators web sites.
 
Keep up the great work!  You are making a difference in this battle!  I have included the phone numbers of the Senators district offices below.  Please call them as well… Let’s go get ‘em !!!

From the Tea Party Patriots, Action Alert!

YOUR ACTION IS STRONGLY NEEDED TODAY

Dear Fellow Tea Party Patriots,

We are at a critical point in our fight against government run healthcare.  
 
We need to have the same urgency and intensity level that we displayed at the Congressional Town Hall Meetings during the August recess. We must not diminish our fight to defeat the Senate healthcare bill. Many “Blue Dog” Democrats and some GOP Senators have stated that they don’t see the same intensity level opposing the Senate Healthcare bill that we displayed opposing the House version. They are beginning to believe that we do not strongly oppose the Senate Healthcare bill.  We need to let them know that is not true.
 
President Obama and the Senate Democratic leadership are pulling out all the stops to pass this Senate Healthcare bill. They are putting enormous pressure on the “Blue Dog” Democrat Senators to pass the bill.
 
We urgently need you to make phones today and tomorrow  to the Senators listed below. Please call their District Office and their D.C. office. Also, please continue to contact your Senator. Forward this to your email lists and ask them to make phone calls.
 
The latest Rasmussen Poll showed that 60% oppose this healthcare bill.
 
We need you to make phones calls to the Senators listed below.

Targeted Senators

Sen. Ben Nelson, Nebraska
DC Office Number: 202-224-6551, DC Fax Number: 202-228-0012

Washington, D.C.
720 Hart Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: 1-202-224-6551
Fax: 1-202-228-0012
 
Omaha
7602 Pacific St.
Suite 205
Omaha, NE 68114
Tel: (402) 391-3411
Fax: (402) 391-4725
 
Lincoln
440 North 8th Street
Suite 120
Lincoln, NE 68508
Tel: (402) 441-4600
Fax: (402) 476-8753
 
Scottsbluff
Tel: (308) 631-7614

Kearney
Tel: (308) 293-5818
 
South Sioux City
Tel: (402) 209-3595

 
Sen. Jim Webb, Virginia
DC Office Phone Number: 202-224-4024, DC Fax Number: 202-228-6363

Danville
308 Craghead Street
Suite 102A
Danville, VA 24541
Phone: 434-792-0976
Fax: 434-972-0978
 
Hampton Roads
222 Central Park Ave.
Suite 120
Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Phone: 757-518-1674
Fax: 757-518-1679
 
Northern Virginia
7309 Arlington Boulevard
Suite 316
Falls Church, VA 22042
Loehmann’s Plaza
Phone:703-573-7090
Fax:703-573-7098
 
Norton
756 Park Avenue, N.W.
Norton, VA 24273
Mail to: 756 Park Avenue, N.W.
P.O. Box 1300
Norton, VA 24273
Phone: 276-679-4925
Fax: 276-679-4929
 
Richmond
507 East Franklin Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone: 804-771-2221
Fax: 804-771-8313
 
Roanoke
3140 Chaparral Drive
Building C, Suite 101
Roanoke, VA 24018
Phone: 540-772-4236
Fax: 540-772-6870
 
Washington, D.C.
248 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-4024
Fax: 202-228-6363
 
Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia
DC Office Phone Number: 202-224-2023, DC Fax Number: 202-224-6295

459A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2023
Fax: 202-224-6295
 
Abingdon
180 West Main Street
Abingdon, VA 24210
Phone Number: 276-628-8158
Fax Number: 276-628-1036

Norfolk
101 W. Main Street
Suite 4900
Norfolk, VA 23510
Phone Number: 757-441-3079
Fax Number: 757-441-6250
 
Richmond
919 E. Main Street
Suite 630
Richmond, VA 23219
Phone Number: 804-775-2314
Fax Number: 804-775-2319
 
Vienna
8000 Towers Crescent Drive
Suite 200
Vienna, Virginia 22182
Phone: 703-442-0670
Fax: 703-442-0408

[202-224-4041 is the direct line if you have the voice mail box number of the Senators.]
 
 
PriceWaterhouseCooper released an independent study of the Senate Finance Committee version of the government takeover of health care bill.  The study showed that American family’s budgets will be severely impacted by the bill and that health insurance premiums will increase dramatically.  You may wish to read the study and use this as supporting documentation when you contact the Senators.  Additionally, you may find some these resources helpful as well:
Tea Party Patriots Health Care Talking Points
Why Is Tea Party Patriots Focusing on Health Care
Questions to Ask Your Representative About Health Care

Cloture Process and Timeline

Approximately 6 days minimum, if all time used

Cloture – definition:

–noun
    1.  a method of closing a debate and causing an immediate vote to be taken on the question.

–verb (used with object), verb (used without object

    2. to close (a debate) by cloture.

~ Dictionary.com   (getdclu)

· Day 1: Cloture filed on the managers’ amendment, the Reid substitute amendment, and the bill (Note: there is a lot of mischief that can happen on Day 1 but that is not included in this memo)
 
· Day 2: Cloture motions ripen
 
· Day 3: Cloture vote on the managers’ amendment occurs one hour after the Senate convenes
60 votes are required to invoke cloture on the managers’ amendment

If cloture is invoked, no other Senate business may be conducted during the 30 hours of post-cloture time

· 30 Hours later: The up/down vote on the managers’ amendment occurs. A majority vote is required to agree to the managers’ amendment.

Immediately after the up/down vote on the managers’ amendment, the Senate proceeds to the cloture vote on the Reid substitute amendment (as amended by the managers’ amendment)

60 votes are required to invoke cloture on the Reid substitute amendment

If cloture is invoked, no other Senate business may be conducted during the 30 hours of post-cloture time

· 30 Hours later: The up/down vote on the Reid substitute amendment occurs. A majority vote is required to agree to the Reid substitute amendment

Immediately after the up/down vote on the Reid substitute amendment, the Senate proceeds to the cloture vote on the health care reform bill (as amended by the substitute amendment, which has been amended by the managers’ amendment)

60 votes are required to invoke cloture on the health reform bill, as amended

If cloture is invoked, no other Senate business may be conducted during the 30 hours of post-cloture time

· 30 Hours later: The up/down final passage vote on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended, occurs. A majority vote is required to pass the bill, as amended.

You are the heart and soul of the Tea Party Movement. Thank you for promoting the causes of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets with us!

Your Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator Team,
Debbie Dooley, Mike Gaske, Kellen Giuda, Ryan Hecker, Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Meckler, Sally Oljar, Diana Reimer, Billie Tucker, and Dawn Wildman

Jenny Beth Martin (jennybethm@gmail.com, 770-878-1550)
Dawn Wildman (dmwtpp11@yahoo.com)
Mark Meckler (mark.grassroots@gmail.com)
Diana Reimer (philatppatriots@gmail.com)
Debbie Dooley (debbie0040@yahoo.com)

Tea Party Patriots, Inc. is a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Tea Party Patriots, Inc. are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.

[This email message was intended for Central US recipients, but I feel is essential for all national patriots. - getdclu]

http://getdclu.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/shut-down-senate-health-care/
Shut Down Senate Health Care: http://wp.me/pzfHB-n8

With all the Health Care Reform brouhaha about losing the public option (which I want 100 %!) it may seem that we Democrats are losing the Health Care Reform battle – that’s not true.  Don’t believe the hype.

No,  we are not getting everything we want (neither is anyone else) but the chances of us getting everything we wanted with hundreds of law makers voting in Congress and needing 60 votes in the Senate was never realistic…it wasn’t going to happen; not ever.  There are too many politicians with specific political interests and geographical interests to make any one group or region completely happy.

But let us not forget the prize — Health Care Reform.  Let us re-focus. I know we’re in the middle of Hanukkah and Christmas is next week but we must get this done.

Even without the public option an additional 33 million Americans will receive health care benefits – we want that.  Even without the public option all insurance companies will legally have to cover you and me and our families and friends and neighbors regardless of pre-existing conditions – we want that.  We have NEVER had that in American health care before.  That is major!!! That is worth it to me. Plus there are other benefits even without the public option.

Don’t forget that when Health Care Reform is passed it WILL be tweaked in the upcoming months and even years to come so that things that seem to be lost now can be added later. 

The important thing is to PASS HEALTH CARE REFORM NOW so that we have a foundation to build on; we can always make the bill better later.  If we don’t pass Health Care Reform now the precedence will be set that says we really don’t care about Health Care Reform and we will probably never see health care pass in the next 30 years — we can’t wait 30 more years!!!  Remember that this fight has been going on for over 60 years!!!  This is the closest we have ever been so let’s get this done in 2009.

Please contact your elected officials and tell them to PASS AMERICA’S HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!

You’ll find links to e-mail, tweet, postal addresses, and phone numbers for key elected officials from our President to State Legislators at http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml.  All you have to do is enter your zip code and your elected officials’ information will pop up.

Keep your eyes on the prize.  Call your elected officials today!!!

Happy Holidays!

An article in Monday’s newspaper about the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (MSRRA) struck me, at the time, as a case of missing the forest for the trees.

The act, passed on Veterans Day, will extend residential benefits to spouses of military personnel, allowing them to retain residency in their home state for tax and voting purposes.

While the article focused on personal property taxes (the trees), what immediately jumped out at me was the larger impact on the revenues of the Commonwealth (the forest).  If a spouse is allowed to claim residence elsewhere while working in Virginia, the income taxes that would heretofore have been paid to Virginia would go elsewhere.

According to the most recent information I could find (pdf), Virginia ranks 5th in the country in terms of the percentage of residents who are active duty military or in the reserves/guard. That same report shows that Virginia ranks third in terms of enlisted personnel, with approximately 109,000 members. Another source estimates Virginia’s total military personnel at 124,000, with approximately 40,000 of those being reserve and national guard. Maryland, which has approximately 57,000 total military members with approximately 26,000 being in the reserve and national guard, estimates the cost to the state for this change in the law to be $5 million. I was unable to readily locate any statistics on the number of returns filed in Virginia by spouses of active duty military members.

My experience tells me that many active duty (AD) service members claim a home of record in a state that doesn’t have income taxes – Texas for Army members, Florida for Navy members – or, as has been increasingly the case, states that do not tax the military member if they are not in the state during the year, like New York or Ohio. Virginia is one of the states that continues to tax the military pay of AD personnel if the Commonwealth is the home of record.

Until the passage of the MSRRA, spouses were taxed wherever they earned their income. Monday’s article sent me hunting for the law and the interpretation of it. What I found isn’t pretty and leaves me wondering: did anyone in Washington actually think this through before this bill became law?

It appears to me that the intent of this law was to simply things for AD members by allowing their spouses to claim the same home of record. But that wasn’t the way the law was passed. The best explanation I have found for the law as it stands is that provided by the Reserve Officers Association. The examples there are quite clear and the conclusion sobering for those who thought this law was going to make life easy:

The new law is good news for some military families, but because of the way that the law was drafted most military families will not benefit.

I doubt if many people will follow the examples and instead simply claim that their home of record is in a state other than Virginia. (In fact, I’ve already seen, in my research for this article, people advocating claiming a state of residence to which they are not entitled to and letting the states try to catch them.) Although the Virginia Department of Taxation has released a tax bulletin (pdf) saying that they are collaborating with other states on the implementation of the law, my research tells me otherwise. A number of states have already issued guidance, among them:

• Kansas (pdf) places the burden on the employers to determine if the spouse is a resident of another state.
• California
• Colorado (pdf)

I see so many problems with this new law that I’m in the process of contacting my representatives and asking them to reconsider it. The first is that the law was passed so late in the year and is applicable to this tax year, giving the states little time to get things in place.  If other states follow the lead of Kansas and place the burden on the employers to determine the residency, where is the guidance on that for the employers? If the burden is placed on the states themselves, how do they intend to track down and verify that those who have claimed the exemption are entitled to it?

Already Virginia is constantly tracking down people with Virginia addresses who haven’t filed returns here. The numbers just go up dramatically with this new law. Another 50,000 – 60,000 returns to look for?

Which brings me to the second point: will Virginia receive additional federal funds for the impact of the lost revenue as well as the additional resources that will be required to track down and determine if the person claiming exemption is entitled to it? If not, this becomes another unfunded mandate placed on the Commonwealth.

Finally, for those spouses who end up claiming residency in states where there is an income tax, this law places a burden on them to make estimated income tax payments in that state. The federal government may be able to withhold income taxes in every state (and locality) that charges them but small businesses simply cannot. Given that the law, as it stands, is in effect for this year, will the states waive the underpayment of estimated tax penalties?

There is no doubt in my mind that the effective date of this legislation needs to be pushed back.

And I have a fairly simple fix to avoid the extra work for the states: an alteration of the W-2. Put a box on there that, if checked, indicates that the employee has claimed exemption from tax in the state in which they work. And put a field next to the box capable of handling the two-digit state code for the state of residence the employee is claiming. Every state requires copies of the W-2 to be sent to them. With a bit of programming, the states could then determine which employees are claiming the exemption and the state in which they are claiming residency, thereby avoiding the “where’s your tax return” notices that get sent out. (And, of course, require all but the smallest employers to file their W-2s electronically.) Updating the W-2 is something that the software vendors are used to doing. The state withholding form (in Virginia, form VA-4) would need to be updated to capture this information as well.

But that can’t happen overnight – certainly not between now and the time that W-2s are required to be filed.

If the effective date of the legislation is not pushed back, I can see this bill costing Virginia millions of dollars at a time when we can least afford it.

Oh – and the effect on personal property taxes? I’m surprised that anyone with an AD spouse has been paying personal property taxes.

WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance

WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES TUESDAY GITMO MOVING TO ILLINOIS
ILLINOIS TEA PARTY PATRIOTS are taking the lead on protesting the GITMO Terrorists moving to our state. It was announced this morning that the White House has made the decision, even though as late as yesterday, Quinn’s office said that the December 22nd Public Hearing will determine if this transfer will happen. 

Here is what WE can do to bring awareness to our citizens and get our voices heard!  Do we live in a communist country where our voices mean nothing??  
 
Other groups in Illinois will be joining us on 12/22 – AS WILL A GROUP TO COUNTER-PROTEST US
This was sent to me anonymously last night from the Democratic underground:

Tea-Bag Counter-Protest (Gitmo Trials)
Tuesday, December 22nd 2009 1 P.M.
Sterling, IL USA

Opponents of a plan to house Guantanamo Bay detainees in Carroll County say they’ll protest the move before a public hearing to be held by an advisory panel made up of state House and Senate members.

Illinois TEA Party Patriots plan to rally outside Sterling High School’s Centennial Auditorium 1 hour before the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability opens a mandatory hearing on the sale of Thomson Correctional Center to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?calid=25170
 

AP 12/15/09
WASHINGTON – Taking an important step on the thorny path to closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the White House plans to announce Tuesday that the government will acquire an underutilized state prison in rural Illinois to be the new home for a limited number of terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo.

Administration officials as well as Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will make an official announcement at the White House.
Officials from both the White House and Durbin’s office confirmed that President Barack Obama had directed the government to acquire Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill., a sleepy town near the Mississippi River about 150 miles from Chicago. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting Tuesday’s announcement.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091215/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_detainee_prison

Guantanamo Bay North: Thomson, Illinois

Decision to Bring Detainees to U.S. Places International Public Relations Above American Security“I remain opposed to transferring Guantanamo detainees to Illinois, or anywhere in the U.S., while awaiting more detailed information on what’s being proposed, including potential security threats and plans for resolving detainees’ final status.  As of yet, I have seen neither.”                    
— Rep. Melissa Bean (D-IL), November 18, 2009

On Tuesday, December 15, 2009, the Obama Administration announced that it will buy the Thomson Correctional Center, a State prison in Thompson, Illinois, for the purpose of housing up to 100 detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  This move would be a precursor to shutting down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which President Obama proposed in a January 2009 executive order.  According to the executive order, Guantanamo Bay would be shut by late January 2010, though that deadline will clearly be missed.  Before detainees can be moved, however, Congress must vote to allow detainees to be housed on U.S. soil for reasons other than trial.  The House Republican Conference has compiled several reason why bringing Guantanamo Bay detainees to the U.S. is dangerous, jeopardizes justice, and is a poor use of taxpayer funds.

Jeopardizing Justice:  The Thomson prison is located in the Northern District of Illinois, meaning that any civilian prosecution of terrorist detainees held there would probably occur in Rockford or downtown Chicago.   In Illinois, terrorist detainees may well enjoy the legal rights and benefits of U.S. citizens and resident aliens under the Constitution.   According to the Congressional Research Service, “non-citizens held in the United States may be entitled to more protections under the Constitution than those detained abroad.” [emphasis mine]  If tried by civilian courts, the government would be forced to reveal all of its intelligence on detainees and how it obtained it.  Additionally, treating the terrorist attacks as a simple criminal matter rather than an act of war will hinder U.S. efforts to fight terrorism and sends the wrong signal to U.S. enemies abroad.  Costly civilian court trials for detainees moved to Illinois will also likely take years.  Additionally, at a civilian trial, prosecutors would be forced to reveal U.S. intelligence on detainees, along with the methods and sources used in acquiring it.  This will enable al Qaeda to better understand our intelligence-gathering techniques and respond accordingly.  For example, Osama bin Laden used U.S. government information revealed during the 1993 World Trade Center bombing criminal trial to update and enhance his techniques. 

Wasting Taxpayer Dollars:  The Federal Bureau of Prisons estimates that purchasing the Thomson prison would cost the federal government about $120 million up front and $65 million to $85 million annually to operate.  The state-of-the-art detention facility at Guantanamo Bay was built at a cost of over $50 million for the explicit purpose of keeping terrorists away from U.S. soil.  Members may be concerned that scrapping the Guantanamo Bay facility for a more expensive one in the U.S. is an imprudent use of taxpayer dollars during a recession.  Holding and prosecuting detainees in Illinois would also place a significant cost burden on the State and local governments, as well as pose an enormous inconvenience to residents and taxpayers.  If the Moussaoui trial is an example, Rockford or Chicago will be a scene of rooftop snipers, bomb-sniffing dogs inspecting cars, identification checks, and heavily armed patrols. 

Risking Security:  Moving almost 100 terrorist detainees to Illinois would likely increase the focus of terrorists on the State and especially Chicago metropolitan area, possibly making the region a target.  The Chicago area is home to about 9.5 million residents, the tallest building in the U.S. (Sears Tower) and the busiest airport in the nation (O’Hare International).  The people of Illinois and the Midwest should not be subjected to such a greater security threat unnecessarily. 

Thomson Correctional Center:  The Thomson Correctional Center is an eight-year-old State prison located in rural Thomson, Illinois, near the border with Iowa.  The facility is about 150 miles from Chicago.  The 1,600-bed State prison currently holds about 200 minimum security inmates.  Some Members may be concerned that the Thomson prison does not have facilities for civilian trials or military commissions, and the closest hospital for surgery or intensive care is about 10 miles away, in Iowa.

Democrats have yet to explain how closing Guantanamo Bay and moving terrorists to the U.S. will make Americans safer.  Republicans have proposed H.R. 2294, the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, which gives Congress an opportunity to stand with the American people by affirming their opposition to releasing the terrorists at Guantanamo prison or bringing them into the U.S.  The bill makes clear that governors and State legislatures must pre-approve the transfer or release of any terrorist detainee into their respective states.  Lastly, it requires the President to meet strict criteria and certification standards before terrorists housed at the Guantanamo prison could be brought to the United States.  For more information, visit http://www.gop.gov/detainees. [ Staff Contact: Adam Hepburn, adam.hepburn@mail.house.gov, x63202 ]

 
Please be sure to sign and forward our petition:  http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/illinoisgitmo/

Please feel free to forward this article with the petition to people in Illinois.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=343820
Chuck Goudie’s article:

There’s no date yet for the garage sale at Gitmo.

Nevertheless, White House officials are about to send off a supply of wardrobe boxes so 250 radical Islamist terrorists can start packing their thobe robes for a one-way trip to Illinois.

Expect an announcement before the end of the year that part of the nearly empty Thomson, Illinois, state penitentiary will be turned into a prison camp for Guantanamo inmates. Might I recommend that the feds also buy a selection of thermal taqiyahs to keep the prisoners’ scalps from getting chilly. Northwestern Illinois isn’t as warm as eastern Cuba in the wintertime.

A draft of a memo prepared by the Justice Department identified Thomson as the number one site under consideration. The memo had been “leaked” to a political Web site; however, don’t confuse the term “leaked” with “unapproved.” Most information leaked by politicians or their top staffers is part of a grand scheme devised by operatives in a formerly smoky room.

Asked about the memo, a White House official described it as “pre-decisional,” which makes perfect sense. “Pre” means before and “decisional” means the act of making a decision. Since a decision hasn’t been made yet, pre-decisional is an apt description … especially if the White House official was pre-delusional as to what the outcome will be.
Once the place is purchased by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Gitmo prisoners are moved to Thomson, the fun will begin.
Just like it did at Guantanamo.

Call it playing by the book.

The “Declaration of Jihad” book.

The rules of engagement for captured terrorists are prescribed as clearly as can be in lesson 18. That is the chapter titled “Prisons and Detention Centers.” Here are the first two, and presumably most important, rules for prisoners to follow:

1. At the beginning of the trial, once more the brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them by State Security (investigators) before the judge. 2. Complain (to the court) of mistreatment while in prison.

So, whether or not terrorist prisoners have been strung up by their toenails, they are to “insist on proving torture was inflicted on them” and “complain of mistreatment while in prison.”

Such tactics shouldn’t be surprising. The playbook was found by British police in May of 2000 on a computer seized during a raid of Osama bin Laden’s one-time personal secretary.

Even though the 180-page “al-Qaida handbook,” was authenticated and used by federal prosecutors, it has been criticized as incomplete and not the genuine article.

You can’t argue with this: The rules set forth in the prison section of the Jihad handbook line up with the behavior of top terrorist suspects at Gitmo.

“The brother has to do his best to know the names of the state security officers, who participated in his torture and mention their names to the judge,” states one rule for captured Jihadists. “These names may be obtained from brothers who had to deal with those officers in previous cases.”

If you don’t still don’t believe that Thomson-bound terrorists are just following orders by fabricating torture claims, consider these comments:

“al-Qaida’s training manual, seized by British authorities in Manchester, England, openly instructs detained al-Qaida fighters to claim torture and other types of abuse as a means of obtaining a moral advantage over their captors.

That advice has been routinely followed by detainees at Guantanamo Bay, who have succeeded in generating incessant demands from international actors or for the base’s closure or ‘for their own liberation,’ unquote. That’s what was in their manual.”

Those are of the words of Rep. Trent Franks, an Arizona Republican and a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Judiciary Committee, during a hearing last May on closing Guantanamo.

“Isn’t the administration’s closure of Gitmo and the removal of enemy combatants, possibly even in the United States, a complete victory of lawfare for al-Qaida?” Rep. Franks asked Attorney General Eric Holder, who was a witness at the hearing.

“I mean, what else could they (the terrorists) possibly ask for if this is in their book and we’re following it to the letter? What more could they ask for us to do?” Franks said.

Atty. Gen. Holder replied: “I don’t think it’s a victory. I think it’ll be a victory for our country and a victory for the causes that we fight for by closing Guantanamo and taking from al-Qaida the ability to recruit and point to that place as a place where inappropriate things happen, true or not. I mean, that has become a symbol of practices that this administration has decided not to use. [try not to roll your eyes...]

So I don’t see the closing of Guantanamo as a victory at all for al-Qaida. I think it’s going to be a victory for the American people and for our allies.”

Regardless, the 559 official residents of Thomson, Illinois, will soon be able to decide for themselves. As they greet the prison buses rolling down Highway 84, they should be prepared to see rule #8B in action from the Jihadist training manual.

“When the brothers are transported from and to the prison (on their way to the court) they should shout Islamic slogans out loud from inside the prison cars to impress upon the people and their family the need to support Islam.”

• Chuck Goudie, whose column appears each Monday, is the chief investigative reporter at ABC 7 News in Chicago. The views in this column are his own and not those of WLS-TV. He can be reached by e-mail at chuckgoudie@gmail.com and followed at twitter.com/ChuckGoudie.

More:

U.S. announces transfer of Guantanamo detainees to Illinois prison

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that a bipartisan majority in Congress “already rejected bringing terrorists to U.S. soil for long-term detention.”

“The administration,” McConnell said, “has failed to explain how transferring terrorists to Gitmo North will make Americans safer than keeping these terrorists off of our shores in the secure facility in Cuba.”

Closure Of Guantanamo Detention Facilities 
EXECUTIVE ORDER — REVIEW AND DISPOSITION OF INDIVIDUALS DETAINED AT THE GUANTÁNAMO BAY NAVAL BASE AND CLOSURE OF DETENTION FACILITIES,

Transferring terrorists to Gitmo North will not make Americans safer than keeping these terrorists off of our shores in the secure facility in Cuba. This is a national security issue, not a jobs recovery issue! Let the govt. do its duty!

IL Becomes an Official Terrorists' State—Gitmo North: http://wp.me/pzfHB-n0

From E.J. Dionne at The Washington Post:

Take yourself back to the endless wrangling in Sen. Max Baucus’ Finance Committee – or, more particularly, among his select “gang of six,” including three Republicans, two of whom clearly never had any intention of voting for health-care reform. They negotiated and negotiated and negotiated and negotiated — and got nowhere. Baucus failed to produce a draft bill before the August recess. The Democrats’ summer of discontent and the tea party madness followed.

This, it turns out, was a crucial moment. It set back the schedule for a health-care bill by at least a month, maybe two. There was no urgency in the Baucus process. Now there is urgency. And that gave Joe Lieberman his near dictatorial powers to kill a Medicare buy-in proposal that he had supported as recently as three months ago.

Original DVD cover

If the bill had stayed on schedule — if this were, say, Nov. 15th, not Dec. 15th — there would still be time to wrangle. But time is running out.

The vast majority of Senate Democrats — reluctantly, sadly, in some cases, angrily — caved to Lieberman because, in the end, they share President Obama’s view that a health-care bill needs to get out of the Senate before the end of the year.

…snip…

This gave Lieberman the whip hand. I find Lieberman’s behavior in this affair unconscionable, and I share [Ezra] Klein’s anger with him, which produced his dust-up with Chuck Lane on this blog. Klein is right that there is not a shred of principle in Lieberman’s opposition to the proposal to allow people 55 and over to buy into Medicare. Again: Lieberman supported the idea just three months ago. The genius of the compromise negotiated by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was that it got rid of the old public option, objectionable to Lieberman and some other moderates, and replaced it with a more modest but potentially promising test of the public option idea that many of the moderates, including Lieberman, had supported in the past.

I think the evidence is overwhelming that Lieberman double-crossed Reid, Schumer and the rest of his colleagues.

The Medicare buy-in compromise was not announced until it had been cleared with Lieberman. I was in close touch with the negotiations at the time, and everyone involved thought Lieberman was on board. I don’t think they misunderstood what Lieberman was telling them, since his own public statement at the time, while cautious, was positive.  “I am encouraged by the progress toward a consensus on proposals to send to the Congressional Budget Office to review,” he said on Dec. 9. [...] But of course Lieberman did not so “look forward” to the Congressional Budget Office analysis that he actually waited to see it. He dropped the hammer on the buy-in before the analysis appeared. This is not about substance. It’s about political positioning.

…snip…

Senate liberals, on the other hand, care primarily about expanding health-care coverage, which is why they are willing to give way on the Medicare buy-in to get a bill passed. They know the buy-in, though a good idea, is less important than moving toward a system of near-universal coverage.

The undemocratic Senate, which vastly over-represents conservative states and rural interests, has become even more undemocratic by the over-use of the filibuster, which gives tiny minorities — sometimes a minority of one — the power to kill proposals supported by the vast majority of its members. That’s why there was no time to lose during the Finance Committee’s leisurely negotiations. But that time was lost, and so was the public option and the Medicare buy-in, at least in the Senate.

There is so much going on in the news right now I don’t know where to begin. From the new statue of Obama as a 10-year-old in Jakarta to Chris Matthews railing about “white tribalism” from a network that’s never met a black anchor it liked, from Democrats crying murder at conservatives against healthcare reform with bogus horror stories to the SEIU-backed immigration bill that Democrats are trying to push despite unemployment levels at an all-time high, I’m not sure where to begin.

Just over a week ago, my uncle Kenny called me from Houston. He was absolutely stunned: it was snowing for the first time in nearly a decade. It wasn’t just snowing, though…it was sticking, and there was enough for my aunt Jennifer and cousin Judy to build a snowman at the family ranch. I watched the news that night to see my hometown transformed into a winter wonderland, a place I couldn’t recognize because I couldn’t see the skyline for all the snow falling.

(It is definitely worth mentioning that Houston voted to elect its first-ever gay mayor, Annise Parker, though I will reserve support for her until I am able to find out more about her positions on key issues that affect my city. She is a Democrat.)

While the biggest snowfall in a decade blanketed Houston, extreme low temperatures were recorded in other parts of the country–and a big pow-wow started in Copenhagen, Denmark. The UN held its first-ever global climate change summit. It’s still going on.

Al Gore made an ass of himself (yes, again). He said this:

“These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.”

It gets better. The doctor he quoted came back, stunned, to say that there were no actual figures to support this announcement. Dr. Maslowski said that the numbers given by Gore were “ballpark estimates” given in a discussion they’d had several years ago. The good doctor admitted openly that there was no actual data to prove any of this. And doctors from the NOAA soundly rebuked Gore’s nonsense.

While this was going on, the leaders of third-world countries walked out in protest. Why? They were angry over the lack of progress on drafting legally binding emissions targets for rich nations like the US. In other words, they were pitching a fit because all the money they are slated to get if this deal goes through–money to be paid by countries like ours to these poorer countries ostensibly to defray the costs of scaling back carbon emissions, amounts which will end up being enormous–isn’t guaranteed. In short they were angry that payday might not come as some other countries promised. Who wouldn’t walk out?

When my parents were kids, global cooling was all the rage. If we didn’t do something about how were were treating the planet we were going to see the next ice age. Now, a couple of generations later, we’re at the other end of the spectrum. Most scientists say that data points to the idea that the planet goes through these cycles regularly–cooling and warming–to balance itself out. I think our continual obsession with our ability to destroy the planet is little more than narcissism.

I emailed back and forth with Dan Proft personally today to get some clarity on the issue of thousands of people leaving Illinois due to high taxes, poor education and bad business practices—all the usual bad politics.  Here’s the discussion…

Get d’Clu:

In your email this morning, you cite “736,000 more people have moved out than have moved in to Illinois in the past decade.”  Of that 736k, how many of those were retirees moving to warmer climes, rather than those looking for better tax states or better job states or better anything states?  I agree with you that IL is chasing people out of the state, but this point should have been investigated and communicated better because it’s wide open to interpretation, even tho’ it’s an accurate statistic.

 Dan Proft:

It’s a good point but it should be pointed out that IL is the number one net out-migration state per capita. So on an apples-to-apples comparison with the other 49 states contemplating the variables you point out, IL is seeing population flight like no other state.

Appreciate the note.

So there you have it from Dan’s Blackberry.

Yesterday, I received a press release from Dan Proft about Andy McKenna’s use of his party chairmanship to boost his own campaign.  Today, the ILGOP launched an ethics probe into Andy McKenna’s use of the chairmanship ( http://is.gd/5oCTi ).

Using party money to finance a “statewide run” poll without public accountability to advance his own political position is just what Illinois career politicians do and what Conservative voters are tired of!  Fellow party members, some who had already commented on their upcoming gubernatorial campaigns to the chairman (per Proft), knew nothing of this poll and likely would not have approved it.

Conflict of interest should be the middle name of IL politics-as-usual.  We’re all for a new way of doing it here, downstate.  As Dan Proft says, “’Illinois Isn’t Broken.  It’s Fixed.’  In other words, the fix is in for the political class and their functionaries in state government.  Our challenge and opportunity is to “un-fix” the big-ticket systems in Springfield such that they serve the people who play by the rules in Illinois and advance their quality of life interests.  However, before we can “un-fix” Illinois, we have to “un-fix” the Illinois Republican Party.   Our ability to do both will be directly dependent on our GOP nominees this election cycle, beginning with our candidate for Governor.  The decisions GOP primary voters make on February 2 will determine if our party and our state can be salvaged.”

That sounds like change I can believe in, don’t you?

McKenna target of ethics probe?
Michael Sneed talks about this issue in the Sun-Times

Proft releases April 2009 IL GOP poll including McKenna’s name
Chicago Daily Observer, from RSS of Illinois Review

Illinois Review told Proft if the IL GOP members’ dues and donations paid for the survey, they have a right to see the figures under the dedacted portions of the pages.  Proft did not reply.

I’ll – getdclu  – email Dan to see if he’ll respond and will update later…

I look forward to a polite response from candidate McKenna.

Attachment:  McKenna Survey – ILGOP survey conducted by the Tarrance Group

Politics As Usual In the IL GUBE Race: http://wp.me/pzfHB-mN 

Hat Tip to Texas Fred for the heads up on this. Regular readers know that I support LEO’s to the hilt. But, there always has to be an exception to make the rule or so the saying goes.

That exception, is the BATFE. The only agency dedicated to the destruction of The Bill of Rights. During the Clinton years Explosives were added to the responsibilities of the notoriously rogue agency. One can only guess that Clinton did that in order to lend an air of legitimacy to the group of maniacs that brought you the Ruby Ridge travesty and the Waco Holocaust.

I am on record as having stated that any thing that is legitimate that they do, should, on a federal level be performed by the FBI. No, the FBI isn’t perfect, but compared to BATFE? The FBI wins hands down when it comes to acting ethically.

Moving BATFE from the IRS to DHS hasn’t changed much…

Read about this HERE

“The hacked emails from the global warming center of the universe — the Climate Research Unit at Britain’s East Anglia University — could be the climatology equivalent of discovering the bones of Jesus. If the veracity of the emails is confirmed and if they contain evidence of data ‘trickery,’ as some global warming skeptics have suggested, their content could perhaps point to a vast cover-up of scientific evidence that some believe will disprove the ‘doctrine’ of man-made climate change. So who are the real flat-earthers? Are they the ones who won’t listen to any evidence except that which supports their cult-like faith, or are they the growing number who say the science is anything but settled and needs more study? Leonard Weinstein has scientific credentials no reasonable person can deny. Dr. Weinstein is a former senior research scientist who worked more than 30 years at the NASA Langley Research Center. He is now senior research fellow at the National Institute of Aerospace. Last April, he wrote an essay ‘Disproving the Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) Problem’…. Dr. Weinstein wrote: ‘In order to support a theory, specific predictions need to be made that are based on the claims of the theory, and the predictions then need to happen.’ He lists six theories on which the AGW model is based and then proceeds to dismantle each of them. … Dr. Weinstein concludes: ‘The final question that arises is what prediction has the AGW made that has been demonstrated, and that strongly supports the theory. It appears that there is NO real supporting evidence and much disagreeing evidence for the AGW theory as proposed. That is not to say there is no effect from Human activity. Clearly human pollution (not greenhouse gases) is a problem. There is also almost surely some contribution to the present temperature from the increase in CO₂ and CH4, but it seems to be small and not a driver of future climate. Any reasonable scientific analysis must conclude the basic theory wrong!!’” –columnist Cal Thomas

“On the day Copenhagen opened, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claimed jurisdiction over the regulation of carbon emissions by declaring them an ‘endangerment’ to human health. Since we operate an overwhelmingly carbon-based economy, the EPA will be regulating practically everything. No institution that emits more than 250 tons of CO₂ a year will fall outside EPA control. This means over a million building complexes, hospitals, plants, schools, businesses and similar enterprises. … Not since the creation of the Internal Revenue Service has a federal agency been given more intrusive power over every aspect of economic life. … Forget for a moment the economic effects of severe carbon chastity. There’s the matter of constitutional decency. If you want to revolutionize society — as will drastic carbon regulation and taxation in an energy economy that is 85 percent carbon-based — you do it through Congress reflecting popular will. Not by administrative fiat of EPA bureaucrats. Congress should not just resist this executive overreaching, but trump it: Amend existing clean air laws and restore their original intent by excluding CO₂ from EPA control and reserving that power for Congress and future legislation. Do it now. Do it soon. Because Big Brother isn’t lurking in CIA cloak. He’s knocking on your door, smiling under an EPA cap.” –columnist Charles Krauthammer

SOURCE

The Bill of Rights was inspired by three remarkable documents: John Locke’s 1689 thesis, Two Treatises of Government, regarding the protection of “property” (in the Latin context, proprius, or one’s own “life, liberty and estate”); in part from the Virginia Declaration of Rights authored by George Mason in 1776 as part of that state’s Constitution; and, of course, in part from our Declaration of Independence authored by Thomas Jefferson.

Read in context, the Bill of Rights is both an affirmation of innate individual rights and a clear delineation on constraints upon the central government. As oft trampled and abused as the Bill of Rights is, Patriots should remain vigilant in the fight for our rights.

SOURCE