Saturday, June 11, 2011

Michele Bachmann Says She Is A Fan Of Ludwig Von Mises

From Stephen Moore in the WSJ:

Ms. Bachmann is best known for her conservative activism on issues like abortion, but what I want to talk about today is economics. When I ask who she reads on the subject, she responds that she admires the late Milton Friedman as well as Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams. "I'm also an Art Laffer fiend—we're very close," she adds. "And [Ludwig] von Mises. I love von Mises," getting excited and rattling off some of his classics like "Human Action" and "Bureaucracy." "When I go on vacation and I lay on the beach, I bring von Mises."

Andrew Breitbart On Anthony Weiner: "I Cannot Imagine That This Guy Can Survive Til Monday"

Top Democrats Begin To Demand Anthony Weiner Resign

Friday, June 10, 2011

CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin Attacks Breitbart For Reporting Weiner Was Alleged to Send Messages To Teens On Twitter, Which Is Now Being Proven True



Of course police are now investigating the truthful "allegations" of Andrew Breitbart:

Anthony Weiner's Messages To Teenage Girl In Delaware Draw Police Attention

Fox News reports that "Police on Friday afternoon came to the home of a 17-year-old high school junior to ask her about direct online communications she has had with Rep. Anthony Weiner. Two officers from the New Castle County Police Department arrived at the girl's home around 4:30 p.m. and asked to speak with the girl's mother about the daughter's contact with Weiner. Another officer appeared at the home a short time later. A FoxNews.com reporter was at the home when the police arrived." Read more at http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/10/exclusive-weiners-messages-to-teenage-girl-in-delaware-draw-police-attention/#ixzz1OuxbWfya

Glenn Beck Interviews David Mamet On His Becoming Conservative And His New Book "The Secret Knowledge"

Full Glenn Beck Interview With Herman Cain

One Nation Under Arrest: How Crazy Laws, Rogue Prosecutors, And Activist Judges Threaten Your Liberty

Senator Orrin Hatch Accuses Obama Of Undermining Israel, Offers Resolution On Borders

The Hill reports:

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah.) on Thursday accused President Obama of undermining Israel by calling for a peace deal to be based on the country's 1967 borders.

Hatch also introduced a resolution designed to reaffirm U.S. support for Israel's borders to be based on the territory it gained in the 1967 war against several Arab states.

"It is contrary to United States policy and our national security to have the borders of Israel return to the armistice lines that existed on June 4, 1967," the resolution states.

In comments on the Senate floor, Hatch said the resolution "removes any harmful ambiguity the president’s remarks might have caused."...

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and 29 other lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors, including Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.).

According to Hatch, the resolution, which has bipartisan support, will reaffirm "our nation’s steadfast and unshakable commitment to the security of Israel, specifically through the establishment of secure, recognized, and defensible borders."

Dalai Lama Tells Chinese Students: "I Am A Marxist"

USA Today reports:

So Tsering Namgyal, a journalist based in Minneapolis, was jolted by the Dalai Lama's talk to 150 Chinese students this month at the University of Minnesota. Writing at Religion Dispatches, he says:

Midway through the conversation, His Holiness, much to their surprise, told them "as far as socio-political beliefs are concerned, I consider myself a Marxist ... But not a Leninist," he clarified.


If that is what you consider yourself, Dalai Lama, then I and all other informed people should consider you at the very least an utter fool.

Chris Matthews: Anthony Weiner In Trouble Because His Behavior Offends "Culturally Backward" Christian Conservatives

Hugh Hewitt And Stephen Hayward On Global Warming

Russell Crowe Calls Jewish Circumcision "Barbaric," Tells All Who Circumcise To "F--k Off"

The Telegraph reports:

The Oscar-winning actor laballed the practice “barbaric and stupid” during a row with his Twitter followers, telling them to “f--- off” if they disagreed with him.

The 47-year-old engaged in an angry exchange with one follower, whom he branded a “moron”, before imploring Jewish people to “stop cutting your babies”.

The debate followed a question by one of his fans called @picknic11 who asked him: “My son is due soon. Do you think I should get him circumstanced? [sic]”

Crowe, who hit the headlines in 2005 when he was charged with second-degree assault in New York after throwing a telephone at a hotel employee, tweeted: “Circumcision is barbaric and stupid. Who are you to correct nature? Is it real that GOD requires a donation of foreskin? Babies are perfect.”

He added: “Many Jewish friends, I love my Jewish friends, I love the apples and the honey and the funny little hats but stop cutting yr babies.

“I will always stand for the perfection of babies, I will always believe in God, not man's interpretation of what God requires.

“Last of it, if u feel it is yr right 2 cut things off yr babies please unfollow and f--- off, I'll take attentive parenting over barbarism.”

The outburst provoked dozens of responses from his followers. One said: “There's actually a scientific reason for [circumcision], u should google it.”

Crowe replied: “My friend, "human" science has caused too much damage, don't be a moron.”

Another follower told him: “I disagree on Circumcision , It's more hygienic and nobody remembers it”, to which Crowe replied “Hygienic? Why don't you sew up your a-- then?" The follower then seemingly offered to fight Crowe if he was ever in Newfoundland.

Crowe also apparently likened circumcision to human sacrifice, when another follower asked: “You are comparing sexual mutilation w/ a jewish ceremonial act?!”

He replied: “Can you actually read the words you just typed " a ceremonial act" , F--- that. The Mayans had ceremonial acts too.”

Washington Post: "In Egypt, Islamist Salafist Movement" Growing In Political Power

The Washington Post reports:


For years, the rugged Mediterranean shoreline here has been a favorite necking place for young Egyptian couples. But now menacing new messages have been spray-painted on the rocks.

“Would you find it all right for your sister?” one message says, addressing the men who bring girlfriends to the rocky area where waves break. “God sees you.” Other messages decry alcohol. One says simply, “Enough sins.”

The fresh scrawls are the work of Islamists who are emerging from the fringes of Egyptian society with zeal and swagger. Their graffiti and billboards calling for a more conservative Egypt have become pervasive here in recent months, part of a rapidly growing debate about what should emerge from a revolution that toppled an autocratic leader and unleashed long-subdued social and political forces.

“There is going to be a battle between two visions for Egypt,” said Abdel Moneim El-Shahat, a leader in Egypt’s fundamentalist Salafist movement, whose members spent long years in jail under President Hosni Mubarak.

With parliamentary elections scheduled for this fall, the Salafists are poised to emerge as a powerful political force in the contest, which could become an unofficial referendum on how piously the Arab world’s largest nation should be governed in the post-revolutionary era.

Salafists are loosely organized around the ideal that Islam ought to be restored to what they consider the pure, fundamental way the prophet Muhammad and his immediate descendants practiced it.

In Egypt, Salafist men shun alcohol and grow long beards. They insist that female relatives refrain from working outside the household and cover their faces with the garment known as the niqab. Unlike the Muslim Brotherhood, they have not actively participated in Egyptian politics and have not opened their political ranks to minorities, such as Coptic Christians.

Wisconsin Anti-Walker Union Protesters Disrupt Special Olympics Ceremony

US Supreme Court: Fleeing Police In Car Can Be "Violent Felony," Scalia Dissents Saying Law Is Far Too Vague And Imprecise

The New York Times reports:

Fleeing from the police in a car is a violent felony that can subject criminals to mandatory 15-year prison terms, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a 6-to-3 decision.

The decision was the court’s fourth encounter since 2007 with a phrase in a federal law, the Armed Career Criminal Act. Under the law, convicted felons found with guns face a maximum sentence of 10 years. But those with three convictions for violent felonies are subject to a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence.

The law defines violent felonies as including burglary, arson and other “conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” The defendant in the case Thursday, Marcus Sykes, pleaded guilty to having a gun in violation of the federal law, and it was undisputed that he had twice committed violent felonies, by robbing a man of his wristwatch and a woman of her purse.

The question in the case was whether a third conviction under Indiana law for fleeing from the police in a car was also a violent felony. Mr. Sykes’s flight was dangerous, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority. “Sykes wove through traffic, drove on the wrong side of the road and through yards containing bystanders, passed through a fence and struck the rear of a house,” Justice Kennedy wrote.

But, Justice Kennedy went on, the issue was not whether Mr. Sykes’s actual conduct had been violent. Rather, it was whether the crime he had been convicted of was as a general matter a crime of violence.

As a matter of both common experience and statistics, Justice Kennedy wrote, the answer was yes. Fleeing from the police in a car, he wrote, “is a provocative and dangerous act that dares, and in a typical case requires, the officer to give chase.”

As a statistical matter, he wrote, four police officers or bystanders are injured for every 100 pursuits. By contrast, he said, there are 3.2 injuries for every 100 burglaries.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Sonia Sotomayor joined the majority opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas voted with the majority in the case, Sykes v. United States, No. 09-11311, but on slightly different grounds.

“In the real world,” Justice Thomas wrote, “everyone — police, citizens and suspects who elect to flee — knows that vehicular flight is dangerous.”

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing only for himself, issued a vigorous dissent. He said the provision of the federal law under review (“involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another”) was a hopelessly vague Congressional “drafting failure” and that “today’s tutti-frutti opinion” produces “a fourth ad hoc judgment that will sow further confusion.”

“Insanity, it has been said, is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results,” Justice Scalia wrote. “Four times is enough.”

Justice Scalia also criticized the majority’s reliance on statistics that had not been tested in the adversary process, calling it “judicial fact-finding masquerading as statutory interpretation.”


A key line from Justice Antonin Scalia's dissent which is certainly true regardless of the outcome of this particular case of statutory interpretation and possible vagueness of the law:


We face a Congress that puts forth an ever-increasing volume of laws in general, and of criminal laws in particular. It should be no surprise that as the volume increases, so do the number of imprecise laws. And no surprise that our indulgence of imprecisions that violate the Constitution encourages imprecisions that violate the Constitution. Fuzzy, leave-the-details-to-be-sorted-out-by-the-courts legislation is attractive to the Congressman who wants credit for addressing a national problem but does not have the time (or perhaps the votes) to grapple with the nitty-gritty... [I]t is time to call a halt.

New Anti-Weiner Ad: Stop Sexting And Spending

Retrial For Muslim Convicted Of Creating Terror Manual Jihad Handbook

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

HE WAS the first person in Australia to be jailed for making a ''terror manual''.

Bilal Khazaal, a former Qantas baggage handler, was sentenced in 2009 to 12 years' jail for producing a 110-page e-book called the Provisions on the Rules of Jihad. He posted the e-book, prepared over three days in September 2003, using material in Arabic downloaded from the internet, on a website allegedly connected to al-Qaeda.

Mr Khazaal never denied making the e-book but insisted it was merely religious journalism as he was a writer for the magazine Nida'ul Islam (The Call of Islam) and was never intended as a terrorism manual.

The book included such topics as ''detonating a car from a distance'', letter bombs, sniping and identifying desirable characteristics of an assassin.

Yesterday Mr Khazaal had his conviction quashed and a new trial ordered. Two of the three NSW Court of Criminal appeal judges ruled the trial judge, Megan Latham, should have directed the jury that the Crown was required to prove beyond reasonable doubt the document was intended to facilitate the preparation for or assist in a terrorist act rather than as an academic exercise...

Prosecutors had alleged at Mr Khazaal's trial that the act of selecting, compiling and editing the downloaded content and writing a forward to the book - subtitled ''Short Judicial Rulings and Organisational Instructions for Fighters and Mujahideen Against Infidels'' - amounted to the ''making of a document''.

Mr Khazaal was convicted in 2009 of making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the second count - that he attempted to urge others to commit a terrorist act.




Former Girlfriend Kirsten Powers Takes Anthony Weiner To Task For Misogyny, "Sociopathic Lying"

Flotilla Photos Further Vindicate Israel

Israel National News reports:

Only now, more than a year after the violent flotilla incident in which terrorists tried to run Israel's blockade of Gaza, has it been conclusively shown that some of the "humanitarian" flotilla participants were armed with guns.

Photos of passengers on the Marmara ship sporting the guns were published on Tuesday in the Yediot Acharonot daily. It is not clear why the photos were not published until now.

The flotilla, ostensibly organized to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza, was organized by the Turkish organization IHH, of radical Islamic anti-Western orientation and with a history of ties with and fund-raising for Hamas....

"Chicago Businessman" Convicted Of Aiding Mumbai Jihadists And Attack On Danish Newspaper Which Published Mohammed Cartoons

BBC News reports:

A US jury has convicted a Chicago businessman of supporting an Islamic militant group blamed for the Mumbai attack in 2008.
But Tahawwur Rana, 50, was cleared of the more serious charge of helping plot the attack that killed more that 160 people in the Indian city.
The Chicago jury also convicted the Pakistani-born Canadian of helping an aborted attack on a Danish newspaper.
Rana is expected to be sentenced later and faces up to 30 years in prison.
Correspondents say the trial gave a rare glimpse into the workings of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which said it carried out the Mumbai attack.
Star witness
The jurors at the federal court in Chicago reached their verdict on Thursday after two days of deliberations.
They found Rana guilty of providing material support to LeT.
But he was cleared of involvement in the Mumbai attack, in which 166 people died after group of militants stormed a train station, hotels, cafes and a Jewish centre, shooting and throwing bombs.
Rana was also found guilty of providing material support to a plot to bomb a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, which had published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The plan was never carried out....

Israel: Hezbollah Has 50,000 Rockets In Its Arsenal

The Jerusalem Post reports:

The IDF has identified thousands of Hezbollah sites throughout Lebanon, making its “target bank” many times larger than it was in 2006 on the eve of the Second Lebanon War, a senior IDF officer told The Jerusalem Post ahead of the fifth anniversary of the start of the conflict.
According to the officer, the IDF had approximately 200 pre-designated targets on July 12, 2006, when Hezbollah set off the war by abducting reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Those targets included close to 100 homes and other storage sites where the Islamist group had deployed long-range missiles it received from Iran. The targets were destroyed on the first night of the war.
Today the bank has thousands more sites throughout Lebanon that would constitute legitimate targets in the event of a future war with Hezbollah, the officer told the Post. Earlier this year, the IDF released a map showing 950 locations scattered across the country – a majority of them bunkers and surveillance sites.
According to the officer, Hezbollah is also believed to have passed the 50,000 mark in the number of rockets and missiles it has obtained. Most of these weapons are stored in some 100 villages around southern Lebanon...
UNIFIL’s mandate will be up for extension in August, and the IDF is hoping that by raising awareness of Hezbollah’s growing presence in these villages it might succeed in getting the UN to enforce a tougher mandate.
Currently, peacekeeping troops who want to enter villages need to coordinate their moves with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which in many cases warns Hezbollah.
“UNIFIL is doing an effective job in open areas, and for that reason we don’t really see Hezbollah positions there,” the officer said. “Instead, Hezbollah is based inside villages, since UNIFIL cannot go there freely.”...

Thursday, June 9, 2011

GE CEO Jack Welch: Tim Pawlenty “Intrigues The Hell” Out Of Me

Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3S6XtyznbI to see the CNN clip for yourself.

Jon Stewart Takes Full Responsibility for Not Covering Anthony Weiner Press Conference



Salon's Joan Walsh Admits She Was A Liberal Dupe: Weiner "Made Me Look Stupid"

Democratic Pennsylvania Congresswoman Demands Anthony Weiner Resign

Elliot Spitzer To Andrew Breitbart: I Disagree With You, But In This Instance You’ve Been Vindicated

Weiner Constituent Flees O’Reilly Factor’s Jesse Watters

Trump On Anthony Weiner Scandal: "Maybe He Has A Death Wish"

Herman Cain: Homosexuality Is "A Sin" And "Choice"

Andrew Breitbart On The Leaking Of The X-Rated Picture Of Anthony Weiner's Genatalia

Dennis Miller On Anthony Weiner: "Nasty Piece Of Work"

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Andrew Breitbart Talks With Bill O'Reilly About Left-Wing Smear Tactics In Weinergate Story

Late Night Comedians On Anthony Weiner Scandal

Two Democratic Members Of Congress Donate Campaign Contributions From Weiner To Charity

CNN reports:

Weiner has said he would “welcome and fully cooperate” with the probe. However, a senior Democratic aide said Pelosi’s letter was not required, and her releasing it was more of a political move.

“This certainly adds pressure for him to go,” said the senior Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of not being identified…

By Tuesday afternoon, two House Democrats from competitive districts announced they were donating campaign contributions from Weiner to charity.

A spokesman for Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, said she will make a $1,000 donation to local charities instead of keeping the campaign contribution from Weiner.

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Tim Walz also decided to give to charity the $3,000 he received from Weiner.

CNN’s Piers Morgan Asks Romney About The Mormon Church's Position On Homosexuality In Discussing "Gay Rights"

Historian And Israeli Ambassador To US Michael Oren On Why Israel Cannot Return To 1967 Borders: "Remembering Six Days In 1967"

To read Michael Oren' article on the the "anniversary of Israel's Six-Day War" as "a reminder why it cannot return to armistice borders" visit http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/06/remembering_six_days_in_1967

Wolf Blitzer: After Interviewing Anthony Weiner, I Had Believed He Was Hacked And Had No Idea He Was "Blatantly Lying"

Harry Reid Asked What Advice He Would Give Anthony Weiner And Says "Call Somebody Else"; Nancy Pelosi "Disappointed And Saddened"



Nancy Pelosi:

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Monday called for an ethics investigation into Rep. Anthony Weiner's admission that he held inappropriate online relationships with half a dozen women over three years. "I am deeply disappointed and saddened about this situation; for Anthony's wife, Huma, his family, his staff and his constituents," Pelosi said in a written statement.

Egypt Accepts Muslim Brotherhood As Legal Party For First Time In 80 Years

Ynetnews reports:

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood's political party was declared legal by Cairo Tuesday, the state news agency MENA said.

The achievement is the movement's first since its inception, eight decades ago. "The commission on party affairs has given its approval for the formation of the Freedom and Justice Party," MENA said.

The Muslim Brotherhood was officially illegal but mostly tolerated during the rule of president Hosni Mubarak, ousted in a popular revolt on February 11. It was set up in 1928 and an official ban imposed in 1954, over its suspected involvement in a series of political assassinations in the 1950s, including an attempt on the life of Egypt's first republican president, Gamal Abdal Nasser.

James Carville On Democrat Reaction To Weinergate: "They’re Really Mad At Him"

Anthony Weiner And Nevada Woman Planned To Meet

The New York Post reports:

Wait until the wife reads this!

Just when you didn't think it could get worse, new X-rated text messages were made public today where Rep. Anthony Weiner got down and dirty with one of the women he had befriended on Facebook -- even telling her that he was prepared to travel to Nevada to bed her.

In a series of dirty chat messages dating back to Sept. 17, 2010, the kinky Weiner wrote to 40-year-old Lisa Weiss -- a Nevada blackjack dealer who went back and forth with Weiner on Facebook for more than a year -- that he was interested in meeting her.

"i'm ready for a vegas trip. truth telling during the day. got a night plan for us?" Weiner wrote, according to a transcript of 220 messages posted on RadarOnline.com.

"haha..that was a very loaded questions! i've got all kinds of night plans for us! when are you coming?" she replied.

"dunno. make me an offer i can't refuse," Weiner shot back.

The horny Democratic lawmaker ended the sexting session by boasting about his penis size.

"you'd be surprised how big'," he wrote.

The raunchy texts didn't end there.

Two days later, Weiss wrote, "you are a naughty boy! i'll have to wait to share all of the details till i meet you in person.

On Sept. 21, Weiss wrote, "oooohhh…i bet you look hot in tights! can i be your sidekick? get your ass to vegas!!"

"stop staring at my weapon! I'm effecting the vegas trip. this whole reelection thing is keeping me tied up," Weiner replied.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor On Anthony Weiner: "I Think He Should Resign"

Eric Cantor has called Anthony Weiner to resign:

At a press conference in Louisa, Virginia, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called on the scandal-embroiled Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York Democrat, to resign his position as a U.S. Congressman.

“Congressman Weiner and his constituents will make that decision,” Cantor said during a Louisa County Chamber of Commerce luncheon. “I certainly don’t condone his activity and I think he should resign.”

Rush Limbaugh On The Conclusion Of Weinergate

Breitbart Tells Matt Lauer How He Broke Weinergate Story

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

Ann Coulter On Weinergate

Congressman Allen West Responds To Weinergate

Washington Post Fact Checker: "President Obama’s Phony Accounting On The Auto Industry Bailout"

The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler writes:

We take no view on whether the administration’s efforts on behalf of the automobile industry were a good or bad thing; that’s a matter for the editorial pages and eventually the historians. But we are interested in the facts the president cited to make his case.

What we found is one of the most misleading collections of assertions we have seen in a short presidential speech. Virtually every claim by the president regarding the auto industry needs an asterisk, just like the fine print in that too-good-to-be-true car loan.

Front Pages Of NY Post, NY Daily News, And AM NY, On Anthony Weiner: "Shmuck," "Naked Truth," "Dumb"



John Edwards E-Mails Acknowledge Secret Payments

The Associated Press reports:

People familiar with the case told The Associated Press that Edwards and his former speechwriter Wendy Button exchanged e-mails working on a draft statement for him to acknowledge what he had denied publicly — paternity of his out-of-wedlock child, along with knowledge of payments to keep his pregnant mistress in hiding.

The messages, draft statements and notes of their related phone conversations were obtained by prosecutors in their case against Edwards, indicted on charges he failed to report nearly $1 million allegedly spent to keep his mistress out of the public eye as he pursued the White House. The former senator was still denying he was the baby’s father and publicly maintained he knew nothing about any money that may have been spent when the e-mails were sent in summer 2009.

Prosecutors must prove the 2004 vice presidential nominee had knowledge of the payments to convict him in the campaign finance case. Edwards proclaimed his innocence of any crime after being indicted Friday.

Weinergate: Woman Sent Lewd Photo By Anthony Weiner, Meagan Broussard, Speaks To ABC

MSNBC's Ed Schultz Demands Anthony Weiner Resign

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



Here's the transcript:

Congressman, there is only one person who can end this story -- you. You got to take one for the team. The country. Your constituents. And your party. They all deserve better. Congressman Weiner has put Nancy Pelosi in an untenable position. The Democratic Leader has already called for an ethics investigation, so what does that tell you? I don't see any Democrats out there on the cables tonight just jumping to supporting Anthony Weiner. This know what this means. They know how tough this road is going to be and they shouldn't have to shoulder it. Congressman Weiner. He says he takes full responsibility? I take issue with that. Not really.

After nude pictures came out and he couldn't manage it anymore then the responsibility started. I think that this is an issue of character.

Now, as an American worker put yourself in the Congressman's position. He's tweeting pictures to a girl half his age on company time and lying about it to the boss. By the way, you're the taxpayer. You're the boss. Do you think you would survive that in your workplace? Maybe you would. Maybe that's just the way America and society is now. I have no interest in Congressman Weiner's private life. He and his wife, I think, have got quite a bit to deal with and work out at this point. He made this a public issue. He did it. When he lied repeatedly during a media tour that lasted a week. This is about trust. Do you trust what he says now? This is about character. And this is about the people and what the people of this country deserve in elected officials. All of the people that have gotten in trouble before I've advocated them resigning because the taxpayers deserve total focus. Congressman Weiner, if you believe in yourself, you will resign and you will come back and run again in 2012 because that's what the taxpayers deserve. They deserve a Representative that is totally focused.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Wolf Blitzer: Andrew Breitbart Vindicated

Nancy Pelosi Calls For House Ethics Investigation Of Weiner

The Washington Post reports:

But after his news conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced that she was calling for a House ethics committee probe into whether government resources had been mishandled.

“I am calling for an Ethics Committee investigation to determine whether any official resources were used or any other violation of House rules occurred,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi added that she was “deeply disappointed and saddened” for Weiner’s wife and constituents.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) agreed that an ethics panel must review the situation in order to “remove all remaining doubt about this situation.” “Ultimately, Anthony and his constituents will make a judgment about his future,” Israel said in a statement.

Hugh Hewitt Interviews Breitbart On Weinergate: Organized Left Sought To Destroy Messenger, Give Credit To Dana Bash At CNN For Pursuing Story

Andrew Breitbart Warns Left About Attacking Weinergate Whistle Blower: "Don’t Go There"

Craiglist Chris Lee vs. Twitter Anthony Weiner: Double Standard?

Married NY Republican Congressman sends one shirtless photo of himself to one woman and immediately resigns in shame. Married NY Democratic Congressman sends multiple photos of his crotch, chest, and others too lewd for release, to multiple women, lies through his teeth to the press for over a week, finally comes clean only when no longer possible to lie, but still refuses to resign. Double standard, anyone?

It appears there is no rhyme or reason in how this occurs. It's not always a partisan outcome as well, but comparing these two incidents immediately comes to mind because the Congressmen were both from New York and both had very similar scandals relatively close in time, distinguished mainly by their different responses and outcomes, and of course political parties, that I find curious.

And watching some in the media buying Weiner's BS stories when most rational people thought it was far more likely he was lying, giving him quite the benefit of the doubt that would not have disappeared had Breitbart not forced Weiner's hand, and then on MSNBC I even saw them there praising him for his press conference immediately afterward today. There is sometimes evidently partisan crap in these sex scandal reporting that is so transparent it's bizarre and nauseating at the same time.

I would like it if there was some uniform standard in terms of repercussions and how the media covers these sorts of scandals.

Here is a recap just looking at resignations though:

RECENT SEX-RELATED SCANDALS WITH RESIGNATION:
Elliot Spitzer (D)
Jim McGreevey (D)
John Ensign (R)
Mark Sanford (R)
Mark Foley (R)
Chris Lee (R)

RECENT SEX-RELATED SCANDALS WITHOUT RESIGNATION:
Bill Clinton (D)
Anthony Weiner (D)
David Vitter (R), ran for reelection and won
Larry Craig (R), did not immediately resign, but did not run for reelection

How Dumb Are The Liberal Talkers And TV Hosts For Not Realizing Weiner Was Lying And Instead Covering For Him?

As but one example, look at Rachel Maddow covering for Anthony Weiner by going into a bunch convoluted conspiracies to make Weiner's claim of being hacked seem possible:


On MSNBC the liberals were all so quick to buy this load of crap from Anthony Weiner about being "hacked" that every person remotely rational realized was more likely a cover-up. Now they immediately are praising him for coming clean and doing it so gracefully. What utter nonsense, a complete disgrace. This is such transparent partisan baloney that it is nauseating.

Full Video Of Andrew Breitbart Commandeering Anthony Weiner's Press Conference

Before Anthony Weiner came out to admit he was a liar, Andrew Breitbart took the very same podium to answer questions from the press:

Congressman Anthony Weiner: I Lied, I Sent Lewd Photos

Andrew Breitbart Takes Podium Before Anthony Weiner: I'm Withholding Weiner's More Lewd Photos "To Save His Family"

Is Washington Creating Our Jobs Crisis?

Barbara Walters Tries Defending Anthony Weiner By Saying The Pictures Were For His Wife, And Takes A Cheap Shot At Sarah Palin

Walters of course said this before Andrew Breitbart completely exposed Anthony Weiner as a complete liar this afternoon. When even Joy Behar had to find the idiotic cheap shot taken at Sarah Palin by the bozo Barbara Walters completely ridiculous, you know that Walters was way off her rocker:

Weinergate Bombshell: Woman Comes Forward With Cache Of Intimate Photos And Online Communications With Beleaguered Congressman Anthony Weiner

Dennis Prager Interviews "Force Of Nature" Andrew Breitbart

Arab Christian Group Largely Wins Lawsuit Over Anti-Leafleting Rule At Arab International Festival on Dearborn City Property

The recent decision is Saieg v. City of Dearborn. The key legal analysis from the majority opinion:

Even though the leafleting restriction is content neutral and might provide ample alternative means of communication, the policy is not a reasonable time, place, and manner restriction. Within the inner perimeter, the restriction does not serve a substantial governmental interest, as evidenced by the defendants’ willingness to permit sidewalk vendors and ordinary pedestrian traffic on the same sidewalks where they prohibited Saieg from leafleting. Within the outer perimeter area, the restriction is not narrowly tailored because the government’s interest in vehicular traffic control is attenuated from concern about pedestrian crowds that pedestrian leafleting might draw....

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Administration Abandons Tax Injunction Act Defense Of Individual Mandate

SCOTUSBlog’s Lyle Denniston explains:

The Anti-Injunction Act, sometimes referred to as the Tax Anti-Injunction Act, is a federal law that dates back to 1867. It is designed to stop federal courts from issuing orders that seek to block the collection of federal taxes. The aim, of course, is to insure that there is no judicial interruption of the flow of federal revenues. If a taxpayer believes that a tax is invalid or wrongly applied, the taxpayer generally has the option of paying under protest, and suing for a refund. . . .

When the first challenges to the new health care law were filed in the federal courts, the Obama Administration argued, among other points, that the Anti-Injunction Act did bar the lawsuits. The penalty, it contended, was, indeed, a penalty in the form of a tax, so its collection could not be barred by a court.

The Administration has since abandoned that position, and its new brief told the Fourth Circuit: “On further reflection, and on consideration of the decisions rendered thus far [in health care law cases], the United States has concluded that the AIA does not foreclose the exercise of jurisdiction in these cases.”

That new brief also spelled out a variety of reasons why at least one of the cases in that court should proceed to a decision on the merits. Among those reasons were that, while the government still insists that the penalty is a tax, it does not come under the specific provisions of the anti-injunction law, Congress treated the penalty in the new law differently from other taxes, and Congress did not want to delay a final court decision on the constitutionality of the mandate until some taxpayer in the future could sue for a refund — something that could not occur before at least 2015, under the terms of the new law.

Robert Gates Tells Marine: You Won't Be Able To Opt-Out Of Enlistment Because Of The Ending Of The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy

Reuters reports:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates bluntly told Marines on Sunday that they won't be able to opt out of their enlistment just because they disagree with a government decision to end a ban on gays serving openly in the military.

Gates, who is on a tour of Afghanistan to bid farewell to the troops before stepping down at the end of the month, was quizzed by a Marine sergeant about the controversial policy during a question and answer session at a base in southwestern Helmand Province.

Congress voted in December to repeal the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which allows gays to serve in the military only so long as they keep their sexual orientation to themselves. The Marine Corps has been one of the services most resistant to the change.

The new policy will not go into force until 60 days after the president, defense secretary and nation's top uniformed military officer certify that it can be implemented without affecting military readiness. The military is currently in the process of training service members about the new policy.

"Sir, we joined the Marine Corps because the Marine Corps has a set of standards and values that is better than that of the civilian sector. And we have gone and changed those values and repealed the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy," the sergeant told Gates during the question and answer session.

"We have not given the Marines a chance to decide whether they wish to continue serving under that. Is there going to be an option for those Marines that no longer wish to serve due to the fact their moral values have not changed?" he asked.

"No," Gates responded. "You'll have to complete your ... enlistment just like everybody else."

"The reality is that you don't all agree with each other on your politics, you don't agree with each other on your religion, you don't agree with each other on a lot of things," he added. "But you still serve together. And you work together. And you look out for each other. And that's all that matters."

Gates said training was underway to prepare the services for the new policy.

"If we do this right, nothing will change," he said. "You will still have to abide by the same rules of behavior, the same discipline, the same respect for each other that has been the case through all the history of the Marine Corps."

Congress acted to repeal the 17-year-old ban in December. Gates backed the move, partly out of concern that legal challenges were on the verge of forcing an overturn of the policy, a move that would have required the Defense Department to implement the changes with little preparation.

Homeowner Forecloses On Bank

Here is the story:

The couple said they paid cash for the house.

The case went to court and the homeowners were able to prove they didn't owe Bank of America anything on the house. In fact, it was proven that the couple never even had a mortgage bill to pay.

A Collier County Judge agreed and after the hearing, Bank of America was ordered, by the court to pay the legal fees of the homeowners', Maurenn Nyergers and her husband.

The Judge said the bank wrongfully tried to foreclose on the Nyergers' house.

So, how did it end with bank being foreclosed on? After more than 5 months of the judge's ruling, the bank still hadn't paid the legal fees, and the homeowner's attorney did exactly what the bank tried to do to the homeowners. He seized the bank's assets. “They’ve ignored our calls, ignored our letters, legally this is the next step to get my clients compensated, ” attorney Todd Allen told CBS.

Sheriff’s deputies, movers, and the Nyergers’ attorney went to the bank and foreclosed on it. The attorney gave instructions to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and any cash in the teller’s drawers.

After about an hour of being locked out of the bank, the bank manager handed the attorney a check for the legal fees.

Frank Gaffney And General Boykin On Oppression Of Women And Non-Muslims In Islamic Countries, And The Threat Of Shariah To The United States

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Bipartisan Congress Delivers "Stunning Rebuke" To Obama On Libya Mission

The Washington Times reports:

Crossing party lines to deliver a stunning rebuke to the commander in chief, the vast majority of the House voted Friday for resolutions telling President Obama he has broken the constitutional chain of authority by committing U.S. troops to the international military mission in Libya.

In two votes — on competing resolutions that amounted to legislative lectures of Mr. ObamaCongress escalated the brewing constitutional clash over whether he ignored the founding document’s grant of war powers by sending U.S. troops to aid in enforcing a no-fly zone and naval blockade of Libya.

The resolutions were non-binding, and only one of them passed, but taken together, roughly three-quarters of the House voted to put Mr. Obama on notice that he must explain himself or else face future consequences, possibly including having funds for the war cut off.

“He has a chance to get this right. If he doesn’t, Congress will exercise its constitutional authority and make it right,” said House Speaker John A. Boehner, the Ohio Republican who wrote the resolution that passed, 268-145, and sets a two-week deadline for the president to deliver the information the House is seeking....

[M]embers of Congress said the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution require more than alerts about military action — they require congressional approval, which the White House has not sought.

The Constitution gives the power to declare war to Congress, but the power to manage the armed forces to the president. The War Powers Resolution, enacted in 1973, tries to bridge that gap by allowing the president to commit troops for up to 60 days, but requires him to seek congressional approval if he wants to extend the commitment beyond that period...

U.S. military action began March 19, as Mr. Obama committed U.S. forces to take the lead in setting up a no-fly zone to protect Libyan rebels fighting against the government of Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

Wesley J. Smith On The Death Of Dr. Death: "Kevorkian: A Dark Mirror On Society"

The death of Jack Kevorkian by natural causes has a certain irony, but it is not surprising. His driving motive was always obsession with death. Indeed, as he described in his book Prescription Medicide, Kevorkian’s overriding purpose in his assisted-suicide campaign was pure quackery, e.g., to obtain a societal license to engage in what he called “obitiatry,” that is, the right to experiment on the brains and spinal cords of “living human bodies” being euthanized to “pinpoint the exact onset of extinction of an unknown cognitive mechanism that energizes life.”

So, now that he is gone, what is Kevorkian’s legacy? He assisted the suicides of 130 or so people and lethally injected at least two by his own admission (his first and his last); as a consequence of the latter, he served nearly ten years in prison for murder. But I think his more important place in contemporary history was as a dark mirror that reflected how powerful the avoidance of suffering has become as a driving force in society, and indeed, how that excuse seems to justify nearly any excess.




To read the full article at National Review Online click here.

Fareed Zakaria Bemoans Americans Love Of The Founders And Constitution As The Reason We Can't Learn