The NBC Investigative Unit has raised questions about two grants totaling nearly $1.5 million dollars distributed to the University of California San Francisco. The money was part of the federal stimulus program and went to studies into the erectile dysfunction of overweight middle aged men and the accurate reporting of someone’s sexual history.
The Investigative Unit looked closely at the federal government’s decision to spend nearly $1.5 million dollars of taxpayer money, money that came to California. Grant number 1R01HD056950-01A2 was among the thousands of grants funded, receiving $1.2 million dollars. This grant studied how to improve the accuracy of how people responded to questions about their sexual history.
“If you honestly report on your sexual activity and number of partners?” Scott Amey with asked with a sigh. “That’s a good one.”
A Catholic university in Ohio said Tuesday it is being forced to end a student health insurance program over the Obama administration’s contraception mandate and costs associated with other provisions of the health care overhaul.
Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, said it has so far excluded contraceptive services and products from its health insurance policy for students and will not participate in a plan that “requires us to violate the consistent teachings of the Catholic Church on the sacredness of human life.”
In its decision to drop coverage, the school cited the contraception mandate, but also a requirement that the maximum coverage amount be increased to $100,000 for policyholders — claiming that would have made premiums skyrocket. A university official told Fox News Radio the students’ basic $600 policy was going to double in cost in the fall and triple next year and that the school’s insurance provider said the increases were the result of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
OK is government out of control yet? In our budget conscious times is this what we really need to be paying for? Someone is voting for this kind of idiotic government. Make sure it isn’t you.
CARLISLE — Looking to hit the spot with a savory ice cream at Great Brook Farm State Park this week?
You may be out of luck.
The park’s popular ice-cream stand was unexpectedly shut down by state officials over the weekend, after the stand’s operator made building improvements at the site without getting permission first.
Mark Duffy, who has operated the dairy farm at the state-owned park for 26 years and has a lease with the state to run the stand, said armed Environmental Police officers showed up at stand on Friday evening and stood guard throughout the weekend, turning away customers craving delectable sundaes and frappes.
To make matters worse, said Duffy, the shutdown happened right before the sunny Mother’s Day weekend.
Edward Lambert, commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, said the stand was closed after it was discovered construction had been done without local or state permits. The work, which expanded the stand, included construction on a barn built in 1910 that is adjacent to the stand, he said.
Lambert said he is trying to protect the public’s health and safety while tests are conducted at the site.
“I like ice cream as much as anybody, so it pains us to even temporarily close what is an iconic property, but we have to make sure people eating ice cream there are safe,” said Lambert.
Duffy said he has made countless improvements to the farm over the years without permission.
“The reason I’m here and the purpose of having me here is to improve the facility and operate a commercial dairy farm,” said Duffy, 57, who lives on the farm with his wife. “I make improvements every single day and have for 26 years.”
Calls to George Mansfield, the administrator of the Carlisle Planning Board, were not returned regarding local permits.
According to testimony to Congress from Anu K. Mittal, director of the Government Accountability Office’s natural resources and environment office. According to Mittal’s testimony, the United States currently has domestic oil reserves that equal that of all other oil reserves in the world. Let that statement sink in. And also know that Director Mittal is referencing oil reserves for just one location – oil shale in the Green River Formation. She is not even including all the other oil producing regions within the United States. The newly discovered Green River Formation itself has enough potential reserves to equal those of the rest of known reserves throughout the entire world:
“The Green River Formation–an assemblage of over 1,000 feet of sedimentary rocks that lie beneath parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming–contains the world’s largest deposits of oil shale,”Anu K. Mittal, the GAO’s director of natural resources and environment said in written testimony submitted to the House Science Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.
“USGS estimates that the Green River Formation contains about 3 trillion barrels of oil, and about half of this may be recoverable, depending on available technology and economic conditions,” Mittal testified.
“The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, estimates that 30 to 60 percent of the oil shale in the Green River Formation can be recovered,” Mittal told the subcommittee. “At the midpoint of this estimate, almost half of the 3 trillion barrels of oil would be recoverable. This is an amount about equal to the entire world’s proven oil reserves.” – LINK with video
So much for Obama repeatedly saying that we only have 1 or 2% of what we use. He knows better.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded a $5.9 million grant to a University of Chicago Medical Center program run by one of President Barack Obama’s closest friends.
Obama’s longtime friend, Eric Whitaker, runs the Urban Health Initiative (UHI), which was founded as a means of connecting low-income patients with health clinics in their own communities.
The UHI was one of only 26 programs — out of 3,000 applications — to receive a slice of the $1 billion in taxpayer money from the executive’s “We Can’t Wait” initiative, which is aimed at spurring job growth via executive action, reported Keith Koffler at White House Dossier.
HHS has denied any White House involvement in the decision, but the president will have a tough time feigning surprise given his deep ties to the UHI:
Eric Whitaker runs the UHI, has known the president since his days at Harvard Law and occasionally vacations with the Obamas.
Michelle Obama launched the UHI while working as an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center, which runs the program.
Valerie Jarrett, the president’s senior adviser, was the chairman of the University of Chicago Medical Center board of trustees until she resigned her post to join the White House.
David Axelrod, now-communications director for the Obama campaign, provided public relations services to the UHI after Michelle Obama recommended that he be hired in 2006.
Despite those deep ties, HHS stands by its process, describing the decision making as free from White House influence.
Few readers will be surprised to learn that decades of incompetence and entrenched corruption in Detroit’s government have not only helped wreck the city; firms linked to former Democratic mayorKwame Kilpatrick also looted the pension fund.
The latest scandal, which leaves even hardened observers of the abysmal Democratic machine that has run the city into the ground bemused, involves a real estate firm which gave the felonious mayor massages, golf outings, trips in chartered jets and other perks as this enemy of the people went about his hypocritical business of pretending to care about the poor while robbing them blind. The firm, apparently run by a sleazy low class crook named by the reprehensible Kilpatrick to be the Treasurer of what was left of Detroit’s finances, used Detroit pension funds to buy a couple of California strip malls. Title to the properties was never transferred to the pension funds, and they seem to be out $3.1 million.
Kilpatrick’s partner in slime is his ex-college frat brother Jeffrey Beasley, who is accused of taking bribes and kickbacks as he made bad investments that cost pension funds $84 million. Overall, a Detroit Free Press investigation estimates that corrupt and incompetent trustees appointed by Democratic officials over many years in Detroit are responsible for almost half a billion dollars in investments gone wrong.
I honestly don’t know why there is so little national outrage about this despicable crew and the terrible damage they have done. The ultimate victims of the crime are Detroit’s poor and the middle class and lower middle class, mostly African-American municipal workers who may face serious financial losses in old age.
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American cities have been festering pits of graft and bad governance since at least the early 19th century, but there is a difference between the “honest graft” of Tammany Hall and the nihilistic destruction practiced by some of today’s urban machines. Today’s situation, in which some city machines are so dysfunctional that the parasite is literally killing the host (and not just in Detroit), is new and, again, the most vulnerable in our society suffer the worst consequences. Minority children are the greatest ultimate victims of this loathsome corruption: they attend horrible schools and grow up in decaying, unsafe urban landscapes where there is no growth, no jobs and no opportunity for the young.
How is it anything but racist not to care about that — and not to burn with the desire to put the scabrous thugs who misgovern our cities and waste our social funds in prison where they belong?
Thor, Iron Man (Tony Stark) and Captain America (Steve Rogers)
Totally great film about people and relationships. Very good character development, solid story, great entertainment.
This film was made with great care and it showed. The film is not corny in the least. There are many ways that Marvel has gone about this and one of the ways is that the violence is not cartoon comic book. Both good guys and bad guys die in the film including scores of civilians. This is a part of what is a conscience decision by Marvel to show that violence has consequences; those consequences are real and not always reversible.
The character development is very good and sets up the chemistry and conflict between the characters, even so a little more development for some of the characters was in order and I hope that we will see it in the blue ray version. The characters have great attributes as well as great flaws. Captain America, whose real name is Captain Steve Rogers of the United States Army, having been asleep for over 60 years is not pleased with the cultural decline in society. For Steve Rogers World War II was just a few months ago. He killed a lot of Germans and watched them kill his friends. He lost the love of his life. Now he is in pain wondering what his sacrifice was for and if society is worthy of it. He is in a very dark place.
One thing I could not help notice more and more of in Stan Lee films, references praising Western Civilization and slapping the progressive secular left. Those of you who do not follow politics may not know, but the Clinton’s screwed Marvel creator Stan Lee out of millions of dollars. Stan Lee used to be a fund raising dedicated Democrat. After the multi-million dollar mugging Lee is now a genuine “Traditional Warrior”.
There were many references to Western Civ but there were a few that really stood out:
Agent Phil Coulson to Captain America: We updated your uniform.
Captain America: Isn’t the whole “red white and blue” thing a little outdated for your new modern society? (Remember Captain America was asleep for over 60 years and he makes several comments about what he thinks America has lost in the time he was asleep).
Agent Phil Coulson: With everything that has happened, and everything that is about to happen, we could use a little dose of traditional.
SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson with Thor
Interestingly enough, perhaps the film’s greatest hero is Agent Coulson (played by Clark Gregg) who is likely the greatest role model in the film. Here is Agent Coulson from a previous Marvel film:
Getting back to the culture war…
Captain America speaking to Agent Romanov in reference to Thor and Loki: There’s only one God, ma’am. And I’m pretty sure He doesn’t dress like that!
Tony Stark mocks Obama: I am the only REAL green energy project going on right now. (Without exception all significant green energy contacts and loans have gone to Democratic Party donors and campaign bundlers. Dozens have taken our money and promptly gone out of business but the donors have paid themselves incredible amounts of money and donated much before and after back to the party).
SHIELD Director Nick Fury
The debate on arms control with Nick Fury was superbly written. My description does not do this conversation justice as the debate is Nick Fury vs Thor, Captain America, and Dr. Banner all while Tony Stark is being a smart ass.
Thor: You are making weapons with The Tesseract. Why?
Fury: We had no choice. Thanks to you we learned that there are other worlds out there , other threats.
Thor: Surely Asgard is no threat to humanity!
Fury: Agreed, but Asgard isn’t the only “other world” out there is it?
Thor: Via mannerism begrudgingly agrees.
Fury: We have seen just a sample of what other worlds have and we are ridiculously… NO we are hilariously out gunned. Can you seriously expect SHIELD to do nothing?
Natasha Romanova (Black Widow) and Clint Barton (Hawkeye)
At the end of the film after SHIELD and The Avengers stop the invasion a Democrat Senator from NY (ahem hello Hillary) blames the Avengers for the invasion and demands that they pay for the damage.
For those who like action The Avengers has that in spades. There were several references to previous films such as Lord of the Rings, Flash Gordon etc, but my favorite reference was to Droopy Dog. Many of you might not be old enough to remember what happens when someone gets pushy with Droopy Dog (hint: Replace Droopy with The Hulk and let your imagination run with it).
The acting was very good, especially from Mark Ruffalo who plays The Hulk. Any actor who can take something as fantastic as The Hulk and bring it right down to ground level and make it totally believable deserves an award. All of the actors made their roles believable, which is also a testimony to some fine writing and directing by Joss Whedon.
The only flaw in the film was the plot hole where Dr. Banner learns to embrace and control his anger thus learning to control the Hulk as best he can. It is Tony Stark that helps him take this new philosophical approach. This starts to happen in the film but they did not do enough of it to make it more obvious to explain how Hulk went from almost out of control on the carrier to in control at the invasion. The past of The Avengers’ two master assassins Natasha Romanova (Black Widow) and Clint Barton (Hawkeye) was just teased and it is implied that the two characters will get the attention they both deserve in Avengers II or the upcoming film Nick Fury, both are already in pre-production.
HIP Programs are a Republican Party brainchild designed to help those normally uninsurable or at high risk to get affordable insurance. HIP programs provide incentives for healthy living and reward good shopping behavior that help keep costs down. As ObamaCare gets phased in many states will be forced to give up HIP programs.
A Des Moines woman who publicly thanked President Barack Obama on Tuesday for helping her obtain health insurance actually is receiving her coverage through a long-standing state program.
CeCe Ibson was asked to share her story as an introduction to a Michelle Obama speech Tuesday in Windsor Heights. She talked about losing her health insurance when she lost her job as a lawyer two years ago. She bought private coverage for her two children, she said, but could not find it for herself.
“No one would insure me because of my pre-existing conditions. No one. Until President Obama stood up for me and millions of Americans like me across Iowa and across the country,” she said.
In fact, Ibson’s current coverage is provided by HIP Iowa, a state program for people whose health problems make them ineligible for most commercial insurance. HIP Iowa was created in 1987, during Republican Terry Branstad’s first stint as governor. Most of the program’s subsidies come from fees paid by commercial insurers.
The “big news” is that President Obama is not yet campaigning for re-election. Mr. Obama has been gallivanting around the country to read highly partisan speeches and host multimillion-dollar fundraisers, but his campaign manager announced Wednesday that the bid for a second term will “begin” on May 5.
This interesting fiction helps Mr. Obama avoid tapping his $1 billion war chest to pay for his recent stump speeches. Instead, he’s been letting taxpayers pick up the tab. Republicans cry foul.
Recent presidential orations leave little doubt that the campaign is in full swing. Audiences invited to his events chant things like, “We love you, Barack.” It’s so coordinated that in Iowa and Colorado, college students booed during speeches at the same cue line: “Last year, over 40 states cut their higher education spending.” The president responded by saying “Not good” both times. The words on Mr. Obama’s teleprompter have little to do with governance and everything to do with themes of class warfare.
House Speaker John A. Boehner on Thursday blasted Mr. Obama’s recent excursion to shore up the youth vote through student-loan subsidies. “For the president to make a campaign issue out of this and then to travel to three battleground states and go to three large college campuses on taxpayers’ money to try to make this a political issue is pathetic,” the Ohio Republican told reporters. “His campaign ought to be reimbursing the Treasury for the cost of this trip.”
On Wednesday, Republican National Committee (RNC) ChairmanReince Priebus raised serious legal questions. Mr. Priebus asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate whether government funds are being misused for the benefit of Obama for America. “He’s done more campaign events than his predecessor and set a new standard for raising money courtesy of the American taxpayer,” Mr. Priebus told The Washington Times.
The GOP leader added that despite White House Press Secretary Jay Carney’s assertion that the president spends 5 percent of his time on political activities, RNC staff calculated Mr. Obama has spent five full workweeks fundraising at taxpayer expense in the last 12 months. That’s in addition to puttering around for the equivalent of four weeks on the golf course by our calculation.
George Soros and Warren Buffet benefited from Obama Keystone Pipeline Veto – LINK
Obama Administration In Bed With Lobbyists Like Never Before – LINK
Top 20 Industry Money Recipients This Election Cycle – Who is in the back pocket of Wall Street? – LINK
Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2012 – Hint: Most goes to Democrats – LINK
The taxes Democrats propose to “soak the rich” always seem to miss those who they demagogue for not paying their fair share. They have been “soaking the rich” for decades and keep missing the target. Why? – LINK
Corruption You Can Believe In: Failed Sub Primes and Mortgage Fraud Lenders Funneled Money to Dodd & Obama the Most. Fannie & Freddie Gave $200 Million to Partisans-Most Went to Democrats! Dodd, Obama Among Top Recipients. Republicans Attempted to Pass Reforms-Blocked by Democrat Leadership! – LINK
Hypocrite! Elizabeth Warren Takes Wall Street Cash! – LINK
Forbes: Government Education Spending Up 7 Times & Nothing To Show For It – LINK
Gas Prices Grow More Under Obama than Carter – LINK
America’s Debt Is Greater than Entire Eurozone & U.K.’s Combined Debt – LINK
Foreign Companies Flying In Foreign Workers For Stimulus Projects You Paid For…..(video) – LINK
Another Department of Energy funded solar energy company goes bankrupt… (but look who got paid) – LINK
Obama IRS Makes New Regulations to Shut Down Small Tax Preparers – LINK
U.S. per capita government debt worse than Greece – LINK
Obama and Democrats Create More Debt Than All Previous Presidents Combined – LINK
Obama’s Stimulus Promise Became A Punch Line. Where are the Jobs? – LINK
Gov. Mitch Daniels: ‘Terrifying Rate’ at Which U.S. Debt Is Accumulating ‘Will Lead to National Ruin’ – LINK
Obama: Largest Wall Street Money Recipient, Hands Out Jobs to Contributors – LINK
Some recovery. Initial claims for unemployment have been between 380,000 and 415,000 (that is 400k lost jobs per week) every time we have checked for three years now. Democrats called the George W. Bush recovery a “jobless recovery” even when unemployment dropped well below unemployment under President Clinton.
Bloomberg News – More Americans Than Projected Filed Jobless Claims Last Week
For those who continue to complain that “We the People”, mainly conservatives, are cutting government too much, this should put everything into perspective. I know liberal progressives dislike me because we promulgate the truth which for them is like sunlight on a vampire. America, we are becoming a socialist egalitarian welfare nanny state and hardworking American taxpayers are on the road to Serfdom.
A video surfaced on Wednesday showing a regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency comparing his agency’s philosophy with respect to regulation of oil and gas companies to brutal tactics employed by the ancient Roman army to intimidate its foes into submission.
EPA’s “philosophy of enforcement,” said EPA’s Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz, is “kind of like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean: they’d go into little Turkish towns somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they’d run into, and they’d crucify them.”
Senator James Inhofe is calling for an investigation:
See our previous post – Food Stamp Spending Doubled Since 2008. Welfare Spending Nearing $1 Trillion a Year – LINK.
How do and a half million people become disabled since the election of a president?
This cannot be simply chalked up to the wars because the Afghan and Iraq wars have resulted in 35,000 wounded. They might not even be a part of this number as those on VA disability are often counted separately. Perhaps we can estimate that 50,000 have PTSD and need mental health services.
But let us face the music shall we? Much of this is due to the Democrat’s repeal of the very successful Gingrich/Clinton Welfare Reform Law. Welfare Reform’s repeal was buried in the Obama Stimulus Bill.
Think of how much harder it is for people who are genuinely disabled to get care.
A record 5.4 million workers and their dependents have signed up to collect federal disability checks since President Obama took office, according to the latest official government data, as discouraged workers increasingly give up looking for jobs and take advantage of the federal program.
This is straining already-stretched government finances while posing a long-term economic threat by creating an ever-growing pool of permanently dependent working-age Americans.
Since the recession ended in June 2009, the number of new enrollees to Social Security’s disability insurance program is twice the job growth figure. (See nearby chart.) In just the first four months of this year, 539,000 joined the disability rolls and more than 725,000 put in applications.
As a result, by April there were a total of 10.8 million people on disability, according to Social Security Administration data released this week. Even after accounting for all those who’ve left the program — about 700,000 drop out each year, mainly because they hit retirement age or died — that’s up 53% from a decade ago.
Much of this is due to the Democrat’s repeal of the very successful Gingrich/Clinton Welfare Reform Law. Welfare Reform’s repeal was buried in the Obama Stimulus Bill.
UPDATE: 5.4 Million Join Disability Rolls Under Obama – LINK.
The number of Americans on food stamps (or, as it is now called, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) is higher than ever before, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report. Since 2007, rolls have grown by 70 percent. And participation rates are expected to increase over the next two years.
The growth in participation rates seems to be part of the federal government’s goal, as a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture released just this month explains.
The food stamps program is just one part of an ever-expanding government welfare system that includes not only 12 food assistance welfare programs but a total of 79 federal welfare programs. These programs provide not only food assistance but cash, housing, energy and utility assistance, education services, child care, medical care, and so forth.
As Heritage senior fellow Robert Rector said last week at a House Budget Committee hearing, out of control welfare costs are contributing to “ruinous and unsustainable future budget deficits.”
This is exactly what Barack Obama ran against, and instead he relaxed lobbying rules in the administration and hired them to work in the White House – LINKS – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
Keep in mind that The Democrats reversed the very popular and effective Gingrich/Clinton Welfare Reform program when they passed the so called Stimulus Bill.
Here are the Top 10 Reasons George Soros Is Dangerous:
1. Gives billions to left-wing causes: Soros started the Open Society Institute in 1993 as a way to spread his wealth to progressive causes. Using Open Society as a conduit, Soros has given more than $7 billion to a who’s who of left-wing groups. This partial list of recipients of Soros’ money says it all: ACORN, Apollo Alliance, National Council of La Raza, Tides Foundation, Huffington Post, Southern Poverty Law Center, Soujourners, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, and the National Organization for Women.
2. Influence on U.S. elections: Soros once said that removing President George W. Bush from office in 2004 was the “central focus of my life.” He put his money where his mouth is, giving $23.58 million to various 527 groups dedicated to defeating Bush. His early financial support helped jump-start Barack Obama’s political career. Soros hosted a 2004 fund-raiser for Obama when he was running for the Illinois Senate and gave the maximum-allowed contribution within hours of Obama’s announcement that he was running for President.
3. Wants to curtail American sovereignty: Soros would like nothing better than for America to become subservient to international bodies. He wants more power for groups such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, even while saying the U.S. role in the IMF should be “downsized.” In 1998, he wrote: “Insofar as there are collective interests that transcend state boundaries, the sovereignty of states must be subordinated to international law and international institutions.”
4. Media Matters: Soros is a financial backer of Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog group that hyperventilates over any conservative view that makes it into the mainstream media. Now its founder, David Brock, has openly declared war on Fox News, telling Politico that the group was mounting “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” against the cable news channel, and would try to disrupt the commercial interests of owner Rupert Murdoch—an odd mission for a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt educational foundation that is barred from participating in partisan political activity.
5. MoveOn.org: Soros has been a major funder of MoveOn.org, a progressive advocacy group and political action committee that raises millions for liberal candidates. This is the group that had on its website an ad comparing President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler and ran the infamous “General Betray Us” ad in the New York Times, disparaging the integrity of Gen. David Petraeus.
6. Center for American Progress: Headed by John Podesta, White House chief of staff under President Clinton, the Center for American Progress has been instrumental in providing progressive talking points and policy positions for the Obama administration. There has also been a revolving door between the White House and the Soros-funded think tank, with Obama staffing his administration with many CAP officials.
7. Environmental extremism: Former Obama green jobs czar Van Jones and his leftist environmental ideas have been funded by Soros’ money at these groups: the Ella Baker Center, Green For All, the Center for American Progress, and the Apollo Alliance, which was instrumental in getting $110 billion in green initiatives included in Obama’s stimulus package. Soros also funds the Climate Policy Initiative to address global warming and gave Friends of the Earth money to “integrate a climate equity perspective in the presidential transition.”
8. America Coming Together: Soros gave nearly $20 million to this 527 group with the express purpose of defeating President Bush. A massive get-out-the-vote effort, ACT’s door-to-door canvassing teams included numerous felons, its voter registration drives were riddled with fraud, and it handed out incendiary fliers and made misleading taped phone calls to voters. ACT was fined $775,000 by the Federal Election Commission for violations of various federal campaign finance laws.
9. Currency manipulation: A large part of Soros’ multibillion-dollar fortune has come from manipulating currencies. During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad accused him of bringing down the nation’s currency through his trading activities, and in Thailand he was called an “economic war criminal.” Known as “The Man who Broke the Bank of England,” Soros initiated a British financial crisis by dumping 10 billion sterling, forcing the devaluation of the currency and gaining a billion-dollar profit.
10. Delusions: Soros has repeatedly said that he sees himself as a messianic figure. Who but a megalomaniac would make these comments? “I admit that I have always harbored an exaggerated view of my self-importance—to put it bluntly, I fancied myself as some kind of god” or “I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise I might end up in the loony bin.” If only the loony bin were an option. As it is, one of the wealthiest men in the world is using his billions to impose a radical agenda on America.
In the midst of ongoing rocket terror attacks against Israel from Gaza and even Egypt, as civil war rages in Syria, and as the threat from Iran approaches the point of no return, 74 Democrats in the House of Representatives have joined the radical, George Soros-funded J Street pressure group in supporting the Obama administration’s attempt to force Israel into making risky concessions to the Palestinians.
J Street calls itself pro-Israel, but has frequently taken positions–from supporting the libelous Goldstone Report and opposing Iran sanctions–that are quite clearly anti-Israel. It has lied about its funding from Soros, given a platform to radicals pushing for boycotts of Israel, cheered confrontation between the U.S. and Israeli governments, and singled out Jewish charities for criticism (while leaving Islamic charities alone).
Over time, and given the cold shoulder from the Israeli government, J Street has attempted to moderate its positions somewhat. That led Israel to send an envoy to J Street’s annual conference this year, after refusing to do so in years past. Much to the surprise and chagrin of J Street’s leaders and members, Deputy Ambassador Barukh Bina delivered a rebuke to the organization:
In this spirit of democracy and openness, I have to broach an issue with you, for J Street is not just an NGO that publishes a magazine and states an opinion in the free market if ideas. It is an organization that lobbies congress. You practice not only free speech but a legislative agenda. You don’t only publish op-eds, you bring members of Congress to the region. I respectfully submit that this relatively new role lays responsibilities before you which I am not certain have always been adequately considered. Thus, when you bring lawmakers to Israel, please make sure that they come out with a full picture.You may be critical of settlements, but if you choose to show the most extreme, it behooves you to present the greater mass of moderates as well. If you show them negative aspects of checkpoints, please show as well the catastrophe and grief of terror victims. If you show them Israel’s failings, show them also our triumphs such as the aliyah of the Jewish community of Ethiopia. I urge you to strive for balance, so that these lawmakers may become friends of Israel who might be critical, and not critics of Israel who are not friends.
I welcome the evolution in J-Street’s position, which brought about the recognition of the ultimate need to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities. I hope that this will be followed by adopting President Obama’s policy that all the options, including a military effort, are on the table.
Likewise, I welcome your position against one-sided resolutions on settlements, and I hope that you will never go back to opposing a veto cast by the Obama administration, like you did in January of 2011.
I would like to express our appreciation of J Street’s active repudiation of BDS, and of your activity on campus to help stem this insidious ideology. Our shared view is that BDS is not a form of criticism, but a blatant, though veiled attack. I hope that the leaders of the BDS movement will not be welcomed at J Street, and that all calls for boycott will continue to be refuted. They use such appearances as a means of gaining legitimacy, and whatever actually happens in your fora, they report to their supports that they were greeted at J Street with enthusiasm and consent. Please don’t let yourselves be used. They aren’t honest players.
J Street is a tax-exempt organization, but is quite obviously a Democrat front. In the 2008 election, the group helped engineer the un-inviting of Sarah Palin from an important rally against Iran’s nuclear program in New York. In 2012, the organization and its supporters are attempting to cover for President Barack Obama’s dismal record on Israel by attacking positions adopted by the Republican candidates.
The group’s latest effort is the so-called “Cohen-Yarmuth-Connolly Letter,” which calls on the Obama administration to keep pushing Israel towards accepting a two-state solution–as if Israel’s acceptance of, and enthusiasm for, that solution were ever in doubt. This week, a Palestinian official called for the rival Hamas and Fatah factions to unite to destroy Israel; Hillary Clinton’s response has been to give them more money.
J Street’s Cohen-Yarmuth Connolly letter also sets up a straw man, attacking “those calling for a ‘one-state solution’ under which Jews would soon become a minority in their own historic homeland.” Not only is that prediction based on faulty demographic data, but it also fails to identify a single one of “those” who are campaigning for a “one-state solution” (hint: they’re not pro-Israel).
Ask yourself this: In which administration have there been more egregious miscarriages of justice than the following list?
1. Challenges voter ID laws
The Justice Department has challenged state voter ID laws, first in South Carolina and more recently in Texas, the first such actions in 20 years. Apparently requiring a U.S. citizen to bring a driver’s license to the voting booth is an onerous infringement on their constitutional rights. Why would the chief law-enforcement office in the nation try to make it easier to engage in voter fraud? Could it be because Barack Hussein Obama is on the ballot this November?
2. Challenges immigration laws
The Justice Department is also challenging immigration laws enacted by states—most notably Arizona’s legislation (hasn’t Mr. Holder heard of the Constitution’s 10th Amendment?) In its brief challenging Arizona’s S.B. 1070, the Justice Department said the law interferes with the federal government’s authority to enforce immigration policy. We didn’t know that the federal government was doing much of anything to control illegal immigration.
3. Fast and Furious outrage
The Justice Department turned a blind-eye to the Fast and Furious gun-running operations, with the weaponry ending up in the hands of deadly Mexican drug gangs, and then obfuscated when Congress reviewed the operation. Allowing guns to cross the border resulted in the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and some 300 deaths in Mexico. New revelations are still coming, such as the news that one of the chief gun traffickers was questioned and released by Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents.
4. New Black Panther Party dismissal
The Justice Department decided to dismiss charges of violating the Voting Rights Act against three members of the New Black Panther Party, who acted menacingly outside a polling station in Philadelphia in 2008, hurling threats, racial slurs, and brandishing a night stick. The action by the Justice Department prompted a probe by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which heard testimony by J. Christian Adams, who resigned from the department over the issue. Adams said he was instructed by his superiors to ignore cases involving black defendants and white victims.
5. Defense of marriage recusal
The Justice Department served notice last year that it would no long defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which states that the federal government defines marriage to be between one man and one woman. The action, in a letter from the attorney general to congressional leaders, said President Obama had decided that the act, signed into law in 1996 by President Clinton, was unconstitutional. Odd, we can’t seem to find the spot in the Constitution that allows the President to declare a law unconstitutional.
6. Sen. Ted Stevens case bungled
In its pursuit of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on charges he failed to report gifts on his financial disclosure forms, the Justice Department concealed evidence from the defense. A report by a special counsel said there was “systematic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence” by the Justice Department, “which would have independently corroborated Senator Stevens’ defense.” Stevens was found guilty and died in a plane crash before he could be exonerated. Imagine the howls from the mainstream media, if the senator in question had been Ted Kennedy, instead of Ted Stevens.
7. Civilian trials for terror detainees
The Justice Department sought to bring 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to trial in a civilian New York City courtroom, blocks from the World Trade Center site. The action would have afforded Mohammed all the constitutional guarantees of a fair trial, raising the possibility that Mohammed could go free on a technicality despite confessing to involvement in the 1993 and 2001World Trade Center attacks, the Bali, Indonesia, bombings, the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl, and other failed terror plots. The outcry against civilian trials forced Holder to back down, and Mohammed and four co-defendants will now face a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay.
8. CIA probed
Attorney General Holder re-opened a probe of CIA officials involved in the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on terror detainees. Holder’s action came despite earlier rulings that the interrogations were legally authorized, despite seven former CIA directors asking the probe be shut down, and despite the fact that the interrogations provided valuable intelligence that led to Osama bin Laden’s Pakistani hideaway. Holder later admitted he hadn’t read Justice Department memos that concluded no laws were broken.
9. NYPD probed
When the New York Police Department conducted surveillance operations in the Muslim community—including monitoring members of the Muslim Student Association, which has connections to the Muslim Brotherhood—the Justice Department decided to review the police department. While the NYPD is trying to thwart another 9/11, the Justice Department is siding with Muslim apologists. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg had the right response to the Justice Department when he said, “To let our guard down would just be an outrage.”
10. Pool fiasco
Justice Department guidelines for compliance with the Americans for Disabilities Act included a requirement for public swimming pools to install a lift that could move the disabled from a wheelchair to the water. As 300,000 public pools faced a March 15 deadline to install the lifts—at a cost of up to $20,000 each—DOJ backed down and issued a 60-day stay of execution in March before allowing lawsuits over the matter. Considering there is not an available number of lifts or installers of the devices for every pool in America, “poolmagedon” will provide the nation’s trial lawyers—major supporters of the Democrats—with plenty of new business opportunities.
When Kenneth Warden was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer, his hospital consultant sent him home to die, ruling that at 78 he was too old to treat.
Even the palliative surgery or chemotherapy that could have eased his distressing symptoms were declared off-limits because of his age.
His distraught daughter Michele Halligan accepted the sad prognosis but was determined her father would spend his last months in comfort. So she paid for him to seen privately by a second doctor to discover what could be done to ease his symptoms.
Ken Warden
Michele’s fight began in September 2008, when her father noticed blood in his urine. His GP sent him to a consultant urologist at a hospital in the north-west of England and a large tumour was found in his bladder.
An MRI scan showed that the tumour was advanced and went through his bladder wall and muscle.
A minor operation enabled Kenneth to pass urine, but left him needing to do so every 20 minutes, day and night.
‘He was exhausted by lack of sleep,’ says Michele. ‘It was making him more ill than the tumour was. The pain was like having permanent cystitis.
‘But when I asked for Dad to be given help for this, the consultant said there was no treatment available.’
Michele, who lives in Chester and is married with two children, was not satisfied. As a former midwife, she was more confident than most about attempting her own medical research on the internet.
She read on one site that radiotherapy could shrink the tumour and give her father relief from his terrible symptoms. Further surgery on the bladder might help even more.
‘I was not looking for a cure, just a way to give my father some quality of life for the time he had remaining,’ she says.
‘We went back to the urologist and asked about radiotherapy. I also wanted to know why my father could not have an operation to relieve his urinary symptoms.
‘The doctor said that as my father was 78, these treatments would not be appropriate because he was “too old”.
‘But my father was very fit and muscular. He regularly went running and worked out at the gym. He was also a lifelong rower who held competition records. But all the consultant would say was: “You have to accept that your father is dying.”
This is what the British National Health service does to people every day. Don Berwick, who President Obama put in charge of some of Medicare program, made speeches about how wonderful the British system is.
More:
In desperation, the family found nearly £3,000 to pay for private tests and a second opinion from a consultant in Birmingham.
‘The private consultant agreed with me that Dad should be given chemotherapy to shrink the tumour prior to a radical cystectomy.’
After being told there was nothing anyone can do Kenneth Warden was sent to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham and is now cancer free
This operation involves removing the bladder, surrounding lymph nodes and the prostate gland. Though neither Michele nor her father had private medical insurance, the new consultant arranged for Kenneth to have the operation on the NHS at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.
‘The treatment there was superb,’ says Michele. ‘Dad went for chemotherapy every week for nine weeks, followed by one month off. Then he went back in March 2009 and had the radical cystectomy.
‘The operation went well. We felt it would relieve so much of Dad’s anguish during the time he had left.’
But as it turned out, the chemotherapy and surgery did not just relieve his symptoms: they also banished his cancer. Now, four years after the operation, a total body scan shows Kenneth to be completely free of the disease.
Michele says: ‘He is back rowing and working out at the gym. He has enjoyed seven holidays abroad and bought himself a sports car.’
“If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” – Malcolm X
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