Saturday, February 19, 2011

US Ambassador To The UN Susan Rice Condemns Israel, After Vetoing Measure Calling Settlements Illegal

Politico reports that "the Obama administration issued its first UN Security Council veto Friday, when U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice voted alone against a resolution declaring Israeli settlement activity to be illegal. The 14-1 vote failed after Rice raised her hand alone to vote in opposition to the resolution, which had several dozen co-sponsors, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Serbia, China, etc."

But after vetoing the resolution America's Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice went on to condemn Israel:

Our opposition to the resolution before this Council today should therefore not be misunderstood to mean we support settlement activity. On the contrary, we reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity. For more than four decades, Israeli settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967 has undermined Israel’s security and corroded hopes for peace and stability in the region. Continued settlement activity violates Israel’s international commitments, devastates trust between the parties, and threatens the prospects for peace…

It is the Israelis’ and Palestinians’ conflict, and even the best-intentioned outsiders cannot resolve it for them. Therefore every potential action must be measured against one overriding standard: will it move the parties closer to negotiations and an agreement? Unfortunately, this draft resolution risks hardening the positions of both sides. It could encourage the parties to stay out of negotiations and, if and when they did resume, to return to the Security Council whenever they reach an impasse…

While we agree with our fellow Council members—and indeed, with the wider world—about the folly and illegitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, we think it unwise for this Council to attempt to resolve the core issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians. We therefore regrettably have opposed this draft resolution.

Krauthammer: GOP Wants Change, Obama And Unions Want "Status Quo"

Friday, February 18, 2011

CBS’s Lara Logan Called "Jew" In Attacks By Egyptian Thugs

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that the "Egyptians who attacked and sexually assaulted CBS reporter Lara Logan last Friday reportedly yelled 'Jew! Jew!' while setting upon her. A CBS source told The New York Post about the screams of Logan's attackers. Logan told Esquire that the Egyptian soldiers bothering her and her CBS crew while they tried to report from Cairo's Tahrir Square had accused them of being 'Israeli spies.' Logan, a reporter for '60 Minutes,' is not Jewish."

Egyptian Opposition Leader Ayman Nour Calls For Referendum On Camp David Accords

To see the video for yourself visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2807.htm.

Obama's Budget Proposal: What Could You Do With $3.73 Trillion?

Rhetoric vs. Reality: Liberal Protest Of Governor Walker's Budget Repair Plan

Sean Hannity And Juan Williams On Left-Wing Hatred of Black Conservatives


Wisconsin Teacher Urges Protesters To Shout Down CNN's Difficult Question To Her

Thursday, February 17, 2011

ABC: Obama “Factually Incorrect” Statements On Budget Proposal, Heritage Explains Full Extent Of Lies

In an interview in Cincinnati with ABC affiliate WCPO, Obama told interviewer Carol Williams:

“The one that we can solve right now if we get together in a sensible kind of way is the amount of debt we’re working with on an annual basis, our annual deficits,” The president said. “My budget freezes spending for five years and what that does is solve the short term problem by saying we’re not going to spend anymore money than we’re taking in. That requires some painful cuts in certain areas, some cuts that I’d prefer not to have to do, but I think it’s important for us to get that right.”

ABC reports that this is "factually incorrect":

That is factually incorrect. Even after the president’s proposed budget – with its optimistic prediction of 3.9% growth – achieves a point, in 2017, when spending is roughly equivalent to taxes coming into the government, the U.S. government will continue to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars a year to pay for interest on the national debt accrued until that point – including debt racked up during the Obama presidency.

Indeed, the U.S., according to Obama’s own budget projections, would borrow $627 billion in 2017 to pay the interest on past debt; $618 billion in 2018; $681 billion in 2019; $735 billion in 2020; and $774 billion in 2021.

Or: $3.435 trillion.

The Heritage Institute points out the full extent of factual incorrectness:

Having pushed discretionary spending up rapidly in the prior two years, the President proposes to reduce 2012 discretionary spending by 5 percent, though he does so only by virtue of three simple and obvious budget gimmicks:

  1. Redefining Pell grants as mandatory spending. Stripped of this gimmick, discretionary spending jumps by $14 billion in 2012.[2]
  2. Reclassifying $54 billion of surface transportation spending from discretionary spending to mandatory spending.[3]
  3. Spending the peace dividend. The budget proposal includes spending for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, referred to as “overseas contingency operations,” as discretionary spending and reduces funding for these operations by $38.2 billion in 2012.[4]

Reversing these budget tricks lifts 2012 discretionary spending by $106.2 billion for an overall $31 billion increase in discretionary spending.

Earmarks. Once again, the President has promised to oppose earmarked spending. He also claimed that the 2009 stimulus bill was free of earmarks. One can only hope he is more vigorous in keeping his promise going forward than he was in the past.

Total Spending. Under the President’s budget, total spending would rise 49 percent over the next 10 years of the budget window. Even after inflation, this represents a 30 percent increase in spending.

Taxes. The President continues to play games with the scoring of tax policy. For example:

  • He proposes to raise the top tax rate on capital gains and dividends to 20 percent from 15 percent and lists this as a tax cut that reduces revenues by $124 billion over 10 years.
  • He proposes to extend the Bush tax cuts for low- and middle-income families and correctly includes this extension in the revenue baseline. But then, breaking with past practice, he leaves the tax relief for upper-income individuals and small businesses out of the baseline and thus conveniently has no reporting of the resulting tax hike.
  • He proposes to prevent the Alternative Minimum Tax from rising in 2013, and then in classic Washington style proposes $321 billion in new tax hikes to offset the cost of not raising taxes.

Debt. Under the President’s budget, despite the proposed tax hikes, publicly held debt (net of financial assets) rises from $9.5 trillion in the current year to $16.7 trillion by 2021.

"It's Hearsay!": Union Stooge Defends Video Of Teachers Taking Students To Union Protests

MSNBC's O’Donnell Outrageously And Crazily Attacks Congressman Who Sleeps In His Office As "Tax Criminal"

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

U.S. To Join UN Security Council Statement Rebuking Israel Over Settlements

Foreign Policy reports that the "U.S. informed Arab governments Tuesday that it will support a U.N. Security Council statement reaffirming that the 15-nation body 'does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity,' a move aimed at avoiding the prospect of having to veto a stronger Palestinian resolution calling the settlements illegal."

What kind of nonsense is this? There is no reason the US can't oppose and veto both the resolutions. With the situation in Egypt on a precarious edge, Iran cracking down on protesters, Hezbollah controlling Lebanon, and more, it makes little sense for now to be the time to join resolutions condemning Israel.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Authors Of "The Politically Incorrect Guide To The Constitution" And "The Politically Incorrect Guide To American History" Speak On C-Span

To see the two authors speeches about their respective books visit http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/199391-5#.

Mark Levin Interviews Congressman Paul Ryan: If We Don't Get This Budget Under Control Our Kids Will Pay 60% To 70 % In Taxes

Frank Gaffney And Hugh Hewitt: Egypt And Pre-Violent Jihad

Former CIA Director James Woolsey: The Importance Of Shariah In The Egyptian Revolution

Patriot Act Extension Passes House, One Week After Initial Defeat Under Fast-Track Rules

The Washington Post reports that the "House approved Monday a measure that would extend key provisions of the Patriot Act through December. Their vote came less than a week after House Republicans suffered an embarrassing defeat when the same bill was brought up under fast-track rules and failed by seven votes. The measure passed Monday night on a vote of 275 to 144, two fewer than it received last week. But this time, no two-thirds super-majority was required for passage, only a simple majority. Twenty-seven Republicans joined most Democrats on Monday to vote 'no,' while 65 Democrats joined with most Republicans to support the measure. The bill would extend three key provisions of the counterterrorism surveillance law that are set to expire Feb. 28, unless Congress moves to reauthorize them."

Atlas Shrugged Trailer, Appropriately Opens April 15, 2011

David Horowitz's Speech At CPAC 2011, Discusses Muslim Brotherhood

Senator Sessions: President's Budget "A Blueprint For Losing The Future"

WSJ's Daniel Henninger: "A Presidency To Nowhere: High-Speed Rail And Solar Shingles Are Not The Answer To America's 'Sputnik Moment.'"

Daniel Henninger writes:

No president before Barack Obama has been so right and so wrong. When in his State of the Union speech Mr. Obama said, "This is our generation's Sputnik moment," citing the emergence of global competition from the likes of China and India, he was right. Minutes later he proposed to cover the country with high-speed rail and companies making solar shingles. High-speed rail and solar shingles? If that's the president's idea of meeting our Sputnik moment, then Houston, we have a problem.

To continue reading this article visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106234062909502.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson Destroys Obama Over Egypt

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Justice Antonin Scalia Interview At UC Hastings Law School

To watch for yourself visit http://www.uchastings.edu/legally-speaking/scalia.html.

Hillary On Iran "Hypocrisy" Over Protests

Obama Unveils Catastrophic New Budget

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: "Budget Was An Opportunity For The President To Lead. He Punted.”

Debt Now Equals Total U.S. Economy

The Washington Times reports that "President Obama projects that the gross federal debt will top $15 trillion this year, officially equalling the size of the entire U.S. economy, and will jump to nearly $21 trillion in five years’ time. Amid the other staggering numbers in the budget Mr. Obama sent to Congress on Monday, the debt stands out — both because Congress will need to vote to raise the debt limit later this year, and because the numbers are so large. Mr. Obama‘s budget said 2011 will see the biggest one-year jump in debt in history, or nearly $2 trillion in a single year. And the administration says it will reach $15.476 trillion by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, to reach 102.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) — the first time since World War II that dubious figure has been reached. In one often-cited study, two economists have argued that when gross debt passes 90 percent it hinders overall economic growth. The president’s budget said debt as a percentage of GDP will top out at 106 percent in 2013, but only if the economy booms."

Protests Gather Steam In Tehran

The Wall Street Journal reports that "thousands of Iranians gathered in several locations across Tehran Monday, heeding calls in recent days by opposition leaders to demonstrate in solidarity with Egyptian and Tunisian protesters who recently toppled their own regimes. Cellphone and text-messaging service was down along the protest routes, Iranians reported. Security forces clashed with protesters in several areas in Tehran, Isfahan and other cities, dispersing crowds with tear gas and beating them, according to witnesses. Police used tear gas against protesters in central Tehran's Enghelab Square and in Imam Hussein Square, as well as in other nearby main streets, the Associated Press reported, adding that demonstrators responded by setting garbage cans on fire. Security forces on motorcycles could also be seen chasing protesters through the streets, the AP reported eyewitnesses as saying."

Border Officer Says WMDs Have Been Found In US

Paul Ryan Slams Obama For Budget Crisis "Punt"