Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma has been a key player involved in the global warming debate as the one time chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the current highest ranking minority member. Inhofe said that using the Clean Air Act to put new regulations in place would be an unprecedented expansion of the Environmental Protection Agency's authority. "Obviously the concept of regulating carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act is flawed and the act must be amended by Congress. Today's notice should concern all lawmakers; no one should want the EPA to exercise the kind of power and authority that the career staff at EPA contemplates." He went on to sayt that "it is ironic that the EPA has proposed an even more economically destructive scheme this close to that [last months "cap and trade"] bill's demise. If Congress does not act, then the resulting regulations could be the largest regulatory intrusion into Americans' personal lives, a nightmare scenario. Big Brother is alive and well in the career ranks at the EPA."
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Saturday, July 12, 2008
Jim Inhofe Warns "Big Brother Is Alive And Well In The Career Ranks At The EPA."
Tony Snow RIP
Fox News reports that one of its former television hosts Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary and conservative pundit, died Saturday after a long bout with cancer. He was 53. President Bush said that "Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend Tony Snow. The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character."
Tony Snow sometimes filled in for Rush Limbaugh. Here is El Rushbo on Snow's death:
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Friday, July 11, 2008
Bush Urges Congress To Allow Drilling While Jim Cramer Says Drill At My Beach House
Jim Cramer is certainly expressing the correct sentiments realizing that drilling in America is imperative as one important tool that can help us be less dependent on foreign oil as well as drive down gas prices:
The AP reports that President Bush has once again urged Congress to allow oil drilling in offshore waters and in the Alaskan wildlife refuge. Bush cited the "tough economic times" for the American people. He Bush said we need to increase supply in this country by tapping "the vast potential" of crude oil reserves on offshore lands and in Alaska as well as oil shale. The Don't Drill Democrat Congress must act, and it must act immediately. Democratic inaction is inexcusable.
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Rice And Barak Talking Tough About Iran
The AP reports that "Iran's leaders should understand that Washington won't dismiss provocations from Tehran and has the ability to counter them." "I don't think the Iranians are too confused, either, about the capability and the power of the United States to do exactly that," she said. She also said that the United States will not allow Israel to be threatened without allowing Israel to defend herself. "We take very, very strongly our obligation to help our allies defend themselves, and no one should be confused about that," Rice said. Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday that Israel "proved in the past that it won't hesitate to act when its vital security interests are at stake." But the real question is whether talk is cheap in this instance.
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FISA Overhauled And Telecom Companies Recieve Immunity
President Bush signed an important bill Thursday overhauling rules about government wiretapping and grants immunity to the telecommunications companies that helped U.S. intelligence. Bush called it "landmark legislation that is vital to the security of our people."
It deals with the warrantless wiretapping issue in regards to the cross border communications which the Democrats objected to. All the federal appellate courts that had dealt with the issue with the exception a recent ruling that created an extra stir in this story, such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review believed the FISA law did not do away with the authority of the president to monitor foreign threats to national security without judicial oversight. The Court of Review ruled a few years ago the FISA "court did not provide any constitutional basis for its action — we think there is none — and misconstrued the main statutory provision on which it relied" when it came to added restrictions on the administration's foreign-intelligence investigations. The decision also said that "the FISA court may well have exceeded [its] constitutional bounds." The FISA Court of Review cited the 14th Circuit's 1980 decision in a case of surveillance of a Vietnamese spy David Truong, "The Truong court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." The court added, "We take it for granted that the President does have that authority."
Former Presidents did exactly this, including Clinton ordering a warrantless home break-in for CIA spy Aldrich Ames. "The Department of Justice believes, and the case law supports, that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes, and that the President may, as has been done, delegate this authority to the Attorney General. It is important to understand that the rules and methodology for criminal searches are inconsistent with the collection of foreign intelligence and would unduly frustrate the president in carrying out his foreign intelligence responsibilities," Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 14, 1994. Jimmy Carter signed the FISA bill and his Attorney General Griffin Bell testifying in favor of FISA told Congress that while the measure doesn't explicitly acknowledge the "inherent power of the president to conduct electronic surveillance," it "does not take away the power of the president under the Constitution."
UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh writes that when it comes to the government monitoring someone outside the United States from a telecom switch in the U.S. and listening in on the person's calls and reading their e-mails without obtaining a FISA warrant first "the Fourth Amendment may still require reasonableness in this setting when one or more people on the call of e-mail are inside the U.S. or are United States citizens, but there is no statutory warrant requirement."
Whether the program was constitutional or not, extremist at the ACLU trued dragging telecom companies through a pile of lawsuits because after 9-11 telecoms cooperated with the NSA’s warrantless surveillance of suspected terrorist communications crossing U.S. borders. There was no reason they should be sued for potentially billions of dollars in liability. This bill importantly gave the telecom companies immunity and defined the guidelines and regulations when it comes to wiretapping for national security purposes.
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Thursday, July 10, 2008
Rudy Guilianni: Barack Obama Capturing "An Anti-American Feeling"
Barack Obama and those associated with him have been consistently doing just what Rudy says they have, capturing "an Anti-American feeling." To take recent examples, yesterday he claimed "rising tensions" with Iran are caused by Bush's lack of "aggressive diplomacy." He should be placing the blame on the madmen of Iran and not on America. It was also reported yesterday that he said , and this is the comment that Rudy focuses on, that "you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish" and went on to make fun of Americans for not speaking French or German. When speaking to a private group of elite San Francisco donors he said that with economic harship small town America gets "bitter, they cling to guns or religion." He conveniently skipped the vote during the primary to condemn the anti-American ad that called General Petraeus "General Betray Us" (even though he now has criticized it). He refused to wear an American flag pin on his suit (even though it has conveniently resurfaced during the general election). His wife Michelle Obama in a campaign speech infamously said that she was proud of her country for the first time in her adult life. She also characterized America in an inteview as "just downright mean." In a speech she gave at USC she said that "it's easier to hold on to your own stereotypes and misconceptions, it makes you feel justified in your own ignorance, that's America." Let us also not forget his intimate 20 year relationship with Reverend Jeremiah "God Damn America" Wright. In a 2004 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times Obama identified a Father Michael Pfleger as a key source of spiritual guidance and featured a testimonial on his website (which has been removed). At Obama's Trinity United this man said "America is the greatest sin against God." Images have been captured of a campaign office for Barack Obama in Houston that had a Che Guevara flag on the wall. Let us also not forget his associations with America haters William Ayers and Ayers's wife. I could probably go on and on but that is more than enough for now to make the point that Rudy is right. Will Obama continue to capture this "anti-American feeling" or will he refine his act for the months before the general elections. It would obviously be prudent for him to cut it out, but that might be too hard for him. But know that there is enough in his past, be it recent or distant, that gives plenty of troubling indications about Obama's mindset.
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Obama Forgets About Clinton At Speech Where He Was Supposed To Talk About Hillary's Debt
Barack Obama was supposed to appeal for donations for Hillary Clinton's debt-relief fund in this speech, Obama aides said. He evidently forgot. That is something the candidate of unity would forget, isn't it?
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Jesse Jackson On Obama: "I Want To Cut His Nuts Off.”
Fox News reports that Jesse Jackson said that "Barack Obama is 'talking down to black people' during what Jackson thought was a private conversation before a FOX News interview Sunday. Jackson was speaking to a guest at the time about Obama’s speeches in black churches and his support for faith-based charities. Jackson added before going live, 'I want to cut his nuts off.'" Jesse Jackson apologized for the off air remarks saying he made a mistake and that "when you make mistakes you should not equivocate. You should be quick to go into offensive and not try to be evasive. And if it was said to him personally or in some public forum it would be even more hurtful. In this case, my error was responding to a question before a live mic. And so when he does hear them they will not be helpful; they will be hurtful. We have a relationship that can survive this." I think it is obvious that the mistake he is apologizing for is getting caught. Perhaps Jackson is jealous that Obama has been so succesful and that good old Jesse did not win the nomination when he ran for president. The up until now repressed anger that Jackson displays toward Obama in the clip can also be about the fact that the likes of Jackson and Sharpton rely on finding racism wherever they can for their careers as so called leaders of the black community. A black presidential candidate does not help them in that regard. It is important to note that this will probably only help Barack Obama but making it seem like he is not as radical as Jesse Jackson. Truthfully, Jesse and Barack agree on virtually every issue except perhaps something like reparations so Jackson has no real reason to be upset.
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Obama Is Right In Telling Black Youth To Stay In School But Still Wrong On Vouchers
ABC news reports that Barack Obama took a tough love message to African American youth. "You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil' Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school," Obama told a cheering town hall crowd in Powder Springs, Georgia. Obama said he knows some young men think they can't find a job unless they are really good at basketball "which most of you brothas are not. I know you think you are, but you're not. You are over-rated in your own mind. You will not play in the NBA." I wonder whether Obama is using rhetoric like this to differentiate himself from so called black leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Either way, I commend Obama for his "tough love" message to African-American youth. Instilling the value of education and the necessity of doing well in school is critical in all communities, but especially critical in inner city black neighborhoods plagued by gangs and drugs. I agree with Obama and applaud him for his remarks.
I wish I could leave it at that, but something comes to my mind when I hear Obama preach to black youth about staying in school. It is the issue of school vouchers. On February 20, 2008 the Obama campaign released a statement that said "Senator Obama has always been a critic of vouchers." The statement went on, "Throughout his career, he has voted against voucher proposals and voiced concern for siphoning off resources from our public schools." The fact of the matter is that the schools in the inner city are very often terrible, whether it be the environment, the amount of students, the quality of teachers, or whatever else. The daughters of Senator Obama attend elite private schools of the kind that can be accessed by pupils from ordinary families only where there are scholarships or experimental voucher programs. Obama fails to tell his audience this little fact. It is one thing to tell kids to stay in school, which of course they should, but it is another to oppose a policy that would allow many of those kids to move to substantially better schools. McCain rightly says on his campaign website, on the other hand, that "I believe parents should be empowered with school choice to send their children to the school that can best educate them just as many members of Congress do with their own children. I find it beyond hypocritical, that many of those who would refuse to allow public school parents to choose their child's school would never agree to force their own children into a school that did not work or was unsafe."
School vouchers redirect some education funding to individual families rather than to school districts allowing families to select the public or private schools of their choice and have all or part of the tuition paid with the voucher. Of course this does not bode well with the teacher's union which Democrats walk with shoulder to shoulder when it comes to vouchers. One voucher program has taken place in the nation's capital. The Washington D.C. program offers scholarships to nearly 2,000 students which they can use to leave the notorious Washington D.C. public school system for a better private alternative. Over 95 percent of those using a voucher are black or Hispanic. On average they come from families with an annual income of about $18,000. Vouchers give school choice to those from lower income neighborhoods. The Democratic party is painted as the supposed party of the little guy, but when it comes to vouchers they would rather stick with being the party of big government. Researcher Patrick Wolf revealed the findings of his evaluation of the D.C. program. Students appear to have somewhat higher academic achievement in reading. There have not, however, been gains in math. When it comes to parents, they are more satisfied with the private schools and the safety provided by them. The maximum voucher amount in D.C. is only about half what is spent per child in the public schools. So even if the academic gains of students on vouchers were not highly substantial, the cost is actually cheaper and the results are at least the same with parents feeling better about their children's education and environment.
Barack Obama is not helping the African-American community by his opposition to school choice. He is telling young poor blacks to stay in school while forcing them to stay in the crummiest ones. It is a blinded commitment to big government and public education over the well being of students and parents. The D.C. program proves that this is not some ploy to help rich folks, but can actually be directed toward and aid poor minorities in giving them choice in education. Obama's children are in elite schools because Obama can afford to choose to send his kids to private school. If he believed in public education he would be consistent and send his own kids to public school. Yet when it comes to other peoples kids he blocks them from having the same choice and opportunities afforded to the Obama children.
Democrats pretend to be pro-choice, but in truth they are not the party of choice at all. They only believe in choice when it comes to the unborn and abortion. They are against choice when it comes to schools. They are against choice when it comes to firearms. They are against choice when it comes to social security. They are against choice when it truly matters.
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Barack Obama: "You Need To Make Sure Your Child Can Speak Spanish"
Barack Obama said the following today: "I agree that immigrants should learn English...but, understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they'll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish." Obviously Obama does not believe in the motto "E Pluribus Unum" or "Out of many, One." The point is not whether people should be multilingual. Of course it is a great skill to have more than one language at your disposal, but that has nothing to do with government policy. People should learn to read music or play an instrument as well, but not everyone does and it is not necessary. Learning Spanish should not be a necessity in America. All countries need a common language in order to preserve unity. But Barack opposed making English the national language even though he is apparently the candidate of "unity." The language of our country has always been English. To believe that it is just as important that Americans learn Spanish is ludicrous. Immigrants and their children are the ones who need to adapt to the common language of the nation they have immigrated to. Americans should not have to adapt to the language of immigrants. Furthermore, Barack claims we "need" to make our kids speak Spanish but then goes on to "it’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beaucoup." So is it Spanish we need to learn or maybe French or German so that Obama is not embarrassed by Americans? Being opposed to English as a national language is opposition to the unity of this country. It is the cult of multiculturalism taken to the extreme. Obama is no doubt part of that cult, but that he would claim that Americans need to learn Spanish and put that on the same level as immigrants learning English is quite stupid and beyond ridiculous.
Here is a little song on the subject that is quite apropos:
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Iran Reportedly Test-Fires 9 Missiles
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards reported Wednesday test-firing nine missiles. According to Iranian claims, one of these missiles has the range to reach Israel. Al-Alam quoted Revolutionary Guards air force commander Hossein Salami was quoted as saying, "Our missiles are ready for shooting at any place and any time, quickly and with accuracy. The enemy must not repeat its mistakes. The enemy targets are under surveillance." Defense Secretary Robert Gates correctly noted that this military activity bolsters the U.S. and Israeli argument that Iran is a geniune threat. Iran could be preparing for a counterattack against Israel and U.S. interests if a military attempt to halt its dangerous nuclear program is taken. It is interesting that the Iranian state-run news agencies went out of their way to make sure to let everyone know that the missiles are capable of reaching Israel. "Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch," the official IRNA news agency quoted Salami as saying Wednesday. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Wednesday's tests "evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one. Those who say that there is no Iranian missile threat against which we should build a missile defense system perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about their claims."
Both McCain and Obama responded to this news. John McCain rightly responded with this statement: "Iran’s most recent missile tests demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel. Ballistic missile testing coupled with Iran’s continued refusal to cease its nuclear activities should unite the international community in efforts to counter Iran’s dangerous ambitions. Iran’s missile tests also demonstrate the need for effective missile defense now and in the future, and this includes missile defense in Europe as is planned with the Czech Republic and Poland. Working with our European and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy."
Barack Obama, on the other hand, seems to have taken a different lesson from this than did John McCain. On the Today Show Matt Lauer asks what Obama's immediate response would be if he were president today and Obama answers that we need a "coherent policy" with regard to Iran that must "combine much tougher threats of economic sanctions with direct diplomacy...so that we avoid provocation but we give the strong incentives for the Iranians to change their behavior." He contradicts himself in the same sentence. How can he "avoid provocation" while at the same time use "much tougher threats of economic sanctions"? Are much tougher economic sanctions not a provocation in the eyes of the Iranian government? He says that it is the absence of "aggressive diplomacy" that will lead to "rising tensions." This is a blame America first attitude that he seems to hold. Obama seems to think that it is just the fact that Bush has not gone and talked with the Iranians that has caused all the tensions. Placing the blame on Bush for Iran's actions and nuclear ambitions are naive and ignorant. The Iranian regime has been the strongest state-sponsor of Islamic terrorism before Bush was even in the White House. Obama should leave the blaming of Bush to the Iranian government. Futhermore, Obama calls for tougher economic sanctions but fails to point out that Bush supports tough economic sanctions but that Russia and China are the roadblocks to this. Of course Obama makes no mention of how he would get the Russians and Chinese to stop covering for the Iranians in the United Nations. Furthermore, Obama brags on his website that he "opposed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment" calling it "saber-rattling" and claiming "it was reckless for Congress to give George Bush any justification to extend the Iraq War or to attack Iran." The Kyl-Lieberman amendment called for labeling Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. This creates tougher sanctions on the Iranian military and those associated with it. But Obama, who today says we need tougher sanctions, opposed this common sense amendment. Obama is flat out wrong when it comes to dealing with Iran. Obama then goes on to hit his talking points about how we've been "farming out dipolomatic activity to the Europeans." Bush is constantly attacked for being a unilateralist and engaging in cowboy diplomacy on the one hand, but when he gets the EU-3 to negotiate with Iran it is "farming out" diplomacy. The U.S. should not be negotiating with a state-sponsor of terrorism that is funding and supplying Hamas, Hezbollah, Taliban elements, and terrorists in Iraq that have killed Americans. For years Bush has allowed the Europeans to conduct diplomacy, to offer incentives, to attempt to convince Iran to abandon it nuclear program. Bush gets attacked for this as well. This one issue, the danger of Iran and its nuclear ambitions, is reason enough to vote for John McCain over Barack Obama. John McCain's response in his statement is makes sense and shows an understanding of the Iranian threat. Barack is all over the place in his response and displays his inexperience in foreign policy and his naivete when it comes to America's enemies.
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Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Man Charged With Honor Killing In Georgia
CNN reportst that a Pakistani man named Chaudchry Rashid has been accused of killing his daughter because she wanted out of an arranged marriage and told a judge on Tuesday that he had done nothing wrong. Officers found his daughter Sandeela Kanwal dead in an upstairs bedroom of the family's suburban Atlanta home early Sunday, according to a Clayton County police report. Police discovered possible ligature marks on her body and made note of an iron and a necklace as potential causes of the bruising...Police found a 'distraught and possibly mournful' Rashid sitting behind a vehicle in the driveway. 'My daughter is dead,' he told police. When asked how she died, police said Rashid did not answer. 'He just dropped his head,' the report states. 'Apparently she and the father had argued over the marriage and the fact that it was arranged, and at some point during the altercation he did end up killing his daughter,' said Clayton County Police spokesman Tim Owens."
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Congressional Approval Falls To Single Digits For First Time Ever
Rasmussen Reports that "the percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job...The percentage of Democrats who give Congress positive ratings fell from 17% last month to 13% this month. The number of Democrats who give Congress a poor rating remained unchanged. Among Republicans, 8% give Congress good or excellent ratings, up just a point from last month. Sixty-five percent (65%) of GOP voters say Congress is doing a poor job, down a single point from last month. Voters not affiliated with either party are the most critical of Congressional performance. Just 3% of those voters give Congress positive ratings, down from 6% last month. Sixty-three percent (63%) believe Congress is doing a poor job, up from 57% last month...Most voters (72%) think most members of Congress are more interested in furthering their own political careers. Just 14% believe members are genuinely interested in helping people." So remember this the next time someone talks about Bush's low approval ratings.
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Monday, July 7, 2008
Iraq May Agree To Timetable For U.S. Withdrawal
Despite the fact that President Bush has insisted that any timetable would give an advantage to the enemy, Reuters reports that "Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki raised the prospect on Monday of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of negotiations over a new security agreement with Washington" and that "it was the first time the U.S.-backed Shi'ite-led government has floated the idea of a timetable." Maliki has importantly, leading a Shiite dominated Iraqi government, launched crackdowns on terrorist Shi'ite militias. "Today, we are looking at the necessity of terminating the foreign presence on Iraqi lands and restoring full sovereignty," Maliki told Arab ambassadors in blunt remarks during an official visit to Abu Dhabi.
The Times of London's Marie Colvin reports from Mosul on July 6 that "American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror" and that "Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant 'last stand' in the northern city of Mosul. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10. Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects." Brigadier General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, was quoted as saying that “we’ve limited their movements with check-points. They are doing small attacks and trying big ones, but they’re mostly not succeeding.” Major-General Mark Hertling, American commander in the north, said: “I think we’re at the irreversible point.”
Perhaps it is the fact that Iraq has seen measurable progress that allows Mailiki to make statements about timetables. Perhaps it merely trying to woo Arab states. I am not sure whether a timetable is necessary if the U.S. were to withdraw, because I am nto sure what the point of alerting the enemy to future plans would be. But I think Bush needs to work as hard as possible to make Iraq as secure and safe as possible, to make the Iraqi army as competent and strong as possible, and the Iraqi government as functional and unified as possible before he leaves office. This is especially important if Barack Obama were to be the next President and were to immediately begin a timetabled withdrawal. To leave Obama a stronger Iraq that can hopefully withstand his withdrawal without collapse would be a major victory for the Bush presidency. This might be a pipe dream and unrealistic but we can only hope that progress politically and militarily continues so that the next president can work with a self-sufficient secure Iraqi government.
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