tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86436418727476327342024-02-06T21:51:21.417-08:00The Rise, Cresting and the Looming Eclipse, Decline and Fall of the American EmpireA READER ON THE STATE OF THE POLITICAL DECAY AND IDEOLOGICAL GRIDLOCK BETWEEN ONE GROUP WHO SEEK TO DESTROY THE COUNTRY, AND THOSE WHO WANT TO RESTORE IT.cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.comBlogger4420125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-2217132228191803422012-03-31T23:08:00.002-07:002012-03-31T23:08:27.426-07:00Robert Bales, Trayvon Martin and the Cult of Involuntary Martyrdom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Despite the many uncertainties and ambiguities the case presents, the media has already come to its conclusion: that Martin’s death represented a racial flashpoint for America. Abject stupidity has been the result.</div>
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Over the past few weeks, two stories of untimely deaths – one foreign and one domestic – have dominated the media landscape.</div>
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The first is the shocking tale of Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, who, seemingly at random, snuck away in the dead of night from his base in Afghanistan to wreak havoc among the local population, ultimately murdering 17 civilians in cold blood, including four women and nine children.</div>
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The second is the death of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year old African-American shot to death by a neighborhood watchman in an Orlando suburb. While the fact that Martin was unarmed is not in dispute, almost everything else about the case is – including which of the two men bore responsibility for the physical assault that preceded the shooting.</div>
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Superficially, the stories bear little resemblance to one another. But there is a key similarity in the media’s treatment of both cases. Both Bales and Martin have been conscripted into becoming metaphors for broader ideological battles. And in the process, the uncertainty surrounding both cases has been swept away as an impediment to the narrative.</div>
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In the case of Bales, the press has labored to find a deeper insight into the war in Afghanistan. Last week, the <em>Christian Science Monitor</em> ran a lengthy <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2012/0323/Sgt.-Robert-Bales-and-multiple-tours-of-duty-How-many-is-too-many" style="color: #004a6f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>piece</strong></a> looking at the Bales incident as a possible representation of the stress of repeated deployments. In a <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/03/21/us_troops_as_campaign_props.html" style="color: #004a6f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>column</strong></a> earlier in the week, the usually discerning Ralph Peters wrote, “It appears that the staff sergeant who murdered those Afghan villagers had cracked under the stresses of a war we won’t allow our troops to fight.” Chris Miller,<a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-03-19/news/31211987_1_lone-gunman-war-combat-veterans" style="color: #004a6f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>writing</strong></a> in the <em>New York Daily News</em>, added, “It is true no one made him pull the trigger, so he should bear personal responsibility for his actions…but America shares in the collective responsibility for this incident. If you send young men and women off to war, they will not come back the same.”</div>
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Nonsense, one and all. Bales, by all discernible evidence, simply snapped. Even if his rampage was precipitated, in part or in whole, by post-traumatic stress disorder or the head injury he suffered in combat, it tells us nothing about the broader war effort. But the truth is that we simply don’t know whether those factors – or untold others – were even at play. And those armchair analyses do a disservice to the thousands upon thousands of men and women in uniform who, despite repeated deployments and whatever shortcomings may afflict our Afghanistan strategy, have served with the quiet restraint and duty that we rightly recognize as the hallmark of the United States Military. </div>
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Bales’ crimes defy logical dissection. Even if we are someday able to discern an explanation for them, we will never be able to unearth a justification. In the vacuum created by that nihilism, the media has attempted to graft a broader meaning, facts – or the lack thereof – be damned.</div>
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A similarly cavalier attitude has characterized coverage of Trayvon Martin’s death. What little we know for sure can be summarized as follows: Martin, returning at night from a local convenience store to the home of his father’s girlfriend, caught the attention of a (by most accounts self-appointed) neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman. Zimmerman phoned the police to report a suspicious person, pursued Martin on foot, apparently got into a physical altercation with him, and ended up firing a fatal round into Martin’s chest in what he claims was an act of self-defense.</div>
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In this case, as in Bales’, the available details are scant – and the interpretative possibilities are wide-ranging. Zimmerman’s most ferocious critics allege outright racism, to the point of trying to construe an unintelligible remark from his call to the police as a racial slur (the audio is so badly garbled that it’s virtually impossible to hear what he’s saying). His defenders, meanwhile, have suggested that Martin may have initiated the physical confrontation, dropping Zimmerman to the ground with a punch and repeatedly slamming his head against the sidewalk.</div>
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Yet despite the many uncertainties and ambiguities the case presents, the media has already come to its conclusion: that Martin’s death represented a racial flashpoint for America. Abject stupidity has been the result. MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell compared the incident to the grisly 1955 murder of 14-year old Emmett Till in Mississippi, a crime that was both premeditated and explicitly driven by racial hate. Barack Obama, never missing a chance to propound the belief that we are all just satellites in his orbit, declared in the White House Rose Garden, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” as if the injustice he intuited was compounded because it befell someone fortunate enough to resemble him. Geraldo Rivera speculated on Fox News that the fact that Martin wore a hoodie was “as much responsible for [his] death as George Zimmerman was,” despite the fact that Zimmerman mentioned the item of clothing in his call to police only once and without editorializing – and then only in response to a direct question from the operator about what Martin was wearing.</div>
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It barely merits mentioning that the media has an inherent bias against the quiet, solemn attitudes that these two stories merit. They imagine that by elevating the cases of Robert Bales and Trayvon Martin to metaphors for contentious political issues, they are somehow honoring the dead, and finding meaning where there is otherwise the chaos of ambiguity. In reality, they are diminishing the individual lives lost by subverting them to the needs of an endless news cycle that will forget them as soon as their stories grow stale. The victims of Robert Bales were not metaphors for the futility of the war in Afghanistan and Trayvon Martin was not a martyr for American race relations. They were simply lives cut short for reasons we don’t yet (and may never) understand. If the media has nothing constructive to say about that fact – which it is becoming increasingly apparent is the case – it would be far better for them to remain silent, leaving the deceased to the peace of the grave.</div>
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</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-16617067906492969112012-03-31T23:06:00.000-07:002012-03-31T23:06:00.147-07:00Health Care Should Be an Ordinary Market<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="createdate" style="color: #666666; font-size: 10px; line-height: 12px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" valign="top">BY <a $50="" (new="" (r-la)="" 1986="" 1990s="" 1991="" 1996,="" a="" acclaimed="" actual="" administration.="" affairs="" against="" alabama.="" an="" and="" appointed="" appropriations="" as="" at="" awards="" balanced="" billion="" board="" bob="" budget="" by="" campaigns,="" cfif").="" cfif,="" chairman="" coalition="" coastal="" columnist="" combat="" committee="" conservative="" cum="" cut="" david="" decades.="" discretionary="" dollars="" domestic="" dozens="" duke.="" early="" editorial="" editorialist="" federal="" fellow="" first="" for="" formed="" former="" founding="" from="" georgetown="" graduate="" group="" has="" he="" hillyer="" house="" href="http://cfif.org/v/index.php/about-cfif/about-cfif-staff/12-cfif-staff/12-quin-hillyer" in="" institute="" internationally="" is="" joining="" journalism="" just="" klan="" klux="" ku="" laude="" leader="" leadership="" leading="" levels.="" livingston="" local,="" louisiana="" loyola="" mainstream="" married="" member="" mobile."="" more="" mr.="" national="" nazism,="" of="" office="" originally="" orleans)="" political="" politics="" president="" press="" prior="" public="" racism="" reagan="" regional="" rise="" robinson,="" ronald="" secretary="" senior="" served="" spending="" state,="" style="color: #004a6f; text-decoration: none;" successfully="" than="" that="" the="" therese="" three="" times,="" title="Quin Hillyer is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom (" to="" two="" university="" veteran="" veterans="" was="" washington="" way="" when="" where="" won="" worked="" writer.="" years,="" years="">QUIN HILLYER</a> <br />THURSDAY, MARCH 29 2012</td></tr>
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There is no reason, except in relatively rare 'life-or-death' situations, why the same laws governing other contracts can’t govern medical care.</div>
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As good a job as ObamaCare’s opponents did in pleading their case before the Supreme Court this week, they failed (except very obliquely) to use one of the best available arguments, of a practical rather than purely legal nature, to refute the administration’s central thesis.</div>
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They could have made a stronger case that there is nothing special about the health-care market.</div>
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Especially after the oral arguments have been made, it is clear that one assumption underpins the entire case, weak as it is, in favor of the constitutionality of ObamaCare. That argument is the health-care market is unique, and thus uniquely subject to “regulatory” authority of a sort that might otherwise be seen as beyond Congress’ usual powers. To turn the ObamaCare opponents’ argument on its head, the law’s supporters say that the health-care/insurance market is <em>not </em>similar to the markets for broccoli, or cell phones or even burial services – so even if a congressional mandate to purchase those goods or services would be unconstitutional, a mandate to purchase health insurance <em>is</em> perfectly legitimate.</div>
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The argument is that there is really no such thing as “inactivity” in the health-care market – there is <em>no</em>choice to avoid participation in the long run. Therefore, supposedly, it is the same thing to regulate a choice to disdain health insurance as to regulate the action of buying it.</div>
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Just to reach that point, the proponents argue in effect that the health-<em>care</em> market is effectively co-extensive with the health-<em>insurance</em> market. The lawyers challenging the law did not strongly enough explain why that contention is completely bogus.</div>
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The purported problem is with so-called “free riders” – those who theoretically can afford to purchase health insurance, but don’t, and then accept free care when they do get sick or injured. Paul Clement, representing the 26 states challenging ObamaCare’s “individual mandate,” agreed that one solution would be to require such people to sign up for a “high-risk pool” when and if they do choose to seek medical attention.</div>
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Yet even that suggestion gives away part of the argument. Better, he should have explained, no reason exists to require <em>insurance</em> at all, even at the point of purchase; instead, all that is needed is to require<em>payment</em>, whether via insurance or by the traditional means of paying for anything else, namely cash or credit card. There is no reason, except in relatively rare “life-or-death” situations, why the same laws governing other contracts can’t govern medical care.</div>
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Michael Carvin, lawyer for the National Federation of Independent Business, very briefly touched on this point, but let it go. The problem, he told Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, isn’t necessarily one of people without insurance – because some people without insurance, indeed most, <em>will </em>pay their bills – but of those who just won’t pay. “Those are people who default on their health-care payments,” he said. “That is an entirely different [and smaller] group of people, an entirely different activity than being uninsured.”</div>
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It should be noted, first, that the problem is far smaller than advertised. Writing at the online magazine of the American Enterprise Institute on March 28, Duke University/George Mason University scholar Christopher Conover <a href="http://blog.american.com/2012/03/scalias-correct-the-slippery-slope-towards-compulsory-exercise/" style="color: #004a6f; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>noted</strong></a> that the problem with non-payment which ObamaCare aims to solve has been exaggerated by a factor of 12. He says it amounts to a $70 annual additional burden on those who do pay for insurance and end up unknowingly covering the costs for shirkers. This is just two-fifths of the costs borne by the same insurance holders for the unhealthy habits of people who drive up insurance costs by failing to exercise. (This factoid, by the way, serves precisely to support the absolutely appropriate assertion by Justice Antonin Scalia that there is no relevant distinction, legally or practically, between an argument for compulsory insurance and an argument for compulsory exercise – or, by extension, other health-related behaviors such as eating broccoli.)</div>
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The legal argument of the ObamaCare supporters actually is a sleight-of-hand, saying that something which is otherwise unconstitutional becomes allowable due to real-life, practical considerations. The counter-analyses of Mr. Conover and Justice Scalia show even those real-life assumptions to be invalid.</div>
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There are numerous other ways, without insurance, to handle the free riders at issue. Ordinary contract law allows plenty of means for providers of any good or service to recover unpaid bills, including access to courts. In other instances, governments have no problem forcing those who can afford to pay to do so – as they do, for instance, by garnishing wages of non-custodial parents who renege on child-support requirements. In fact, Massachusetts then-Gov. Mitt Romney’s original draft of his state’s health-care law actually included a provision (rejected by state lawmakers) allowing wage garnishment from non-impoverished health-care free riders.</div>
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“The distinction between ‘personal responsibility’ and ‘individual mandate,’” Heritage Foundation senior research fellow Edmund Haislmaier told me, “is that the former is about ensuring that people who can pay their own bills, do so, while the latter is about forcing people to buy insurance that pays someone else's bills.” ObamaCare does the latter, for no good constitutional reason. Indeed, even apart from constitutional considerations, the individual mandate is a solution in search of a problem.</div>
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That the President and Congress would try to solve this rather negligible “problem” by trampling on traditional notions of liberty, and by expanding federal power to an extent never before allowed, is an affront to right reason and to the entire American tradition.</div>
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</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-61570077183173634522012-03-31T22:46:00.003-07:002012-03-31T22:46:26.288-07:00House passes Republican budget, rejects Obama plan 414-0 - HUMAN EVENTS<a href="http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=50534">House passes Republican budget, rejects Obama plan 414-0 - HUMAN EVENTS</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-54583627250571580942012-03-31T22:46:00.001-07:002012-03-31T22:46:25.930-07:00House passes Republican budget, rejects Obama plan 414-0 - HUMAN EVENTS<a href="http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=50534">House passes Republican budget, rejects Obama plan 414-0 - HUMAN EVENTS</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-48461119581595859132012-03-31T22:38:00.002-07:002012-03-31T22:38:09.313-07:00Highlights Of House GOP Budget<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
From USJF:<br /><br />
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Highlights Of House GOP Budget</h2>
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Highlights of the Republican budget passed by the House on Thursday:</div>
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—Envisions discretionary and mandatory spending of about $40 trillion over the next decade, $7 trillion less than spending projected in President Barack Obama’s budget proposal. It cuts taxes by $2 trillion from what Obama proposed over that period, and cuts spending by $5.3 trillion from what the president sought.</div>
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—Would bring the annual federal deficit, now more than $1 trillion, down to about $287 billion in 2022. The president’s budget sees the deficit falling to about $704 billion in 2022.</div>
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—Sets the ceiling for discretionary spending next year at $1.028 trillion. That’s $19 billion under the ceiling set in the budget deal Congress reached with the White House last year.</div>
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—Extends the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts. It repeals the alternative minimum tax and reduces tax brackets from the current six to two, at 10 percent and 25 percent. The top corporate tax rate is set at 25 percent. The measure calls for ending tax loopholes but does not specify which ones.</div>
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</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-21150779055524097862012-03-31T22:37:00.000-07:002012-03-31T22:37:03.466-07:00Take Obama Off His Teleprompter And He’s Void Of Originality And Honesty<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Take Obama Off His Teleprompter And He’s Void Of Originality And Honesty</h2>
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When this video was posted by TruthSeeker 2012, he said: “Take this man off his teleprompter and he’s void of originality and honesty!” No truer words have been said. When you watch this video of Obama with various heads of state, you see just how lame and uncreative he is. He is truly the teleprompter king. Without it, he is worse than a zero.</div>
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</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-92116425399745739722012-03-31T22:33:00.002-07:002012-03-31T22:33:43.854-07:00New Developments from Japan Show the Left Is Wrong on Two Big Fiscal Issues<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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New Developments from Japan Show the Left Is Wrong on Two Big Fiscal Issues</h2>
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There are several semi-permanent fiscal policy fights in Washington, most of which somehow are related to the big issue of whether government should be bigger or smaller.</div>
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Today, I want to focus on two of those battles, and point to developments in Japan to make the case that the left is wrong.</div>
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First, let’s look at a couple of sentences from a Wall Street Journal story about Japanese fiscal policy.</div>
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Top officials from Japan’s government and ruling party formally endorsed a revised bill to double the country’s sales tax, despite strong objections from other party members, in a sign of their determination to rein in the nation’s soaring public debt. …The legislation will double the current 5% sales tax in two stages by 2015 as a way to help pay for the nation’s growing social welfare costs as the population ages.</div>
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I realize I’m a strange person and I look at everything through a libertarian lens, but I think this story provides strong support for my viewpoint on two important issues.</div>
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1. Higher taxes lead to higher spending – Just like in the United States, politicians in Japan claim that they have to raise taxes to deal with deficits and debt. Indeed, the excerpt above includes that assertion, reporting that the VAT increase would be “to rein in the nation’s soaring debt.”</div>
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<a href="http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/new-developments-from-japan-show-the-left-is-wrong-on-two-big-fiscal-issues/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #004276; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Read More By Dan Mitchell</a></div>
</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-43598160176304657352012-03-31T22:32:00.002-07:002012-03-31T22:32:33.406-07:00Video: Obama A Hypocrite When It Comes To ‘Civility’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
From USJF:<br />
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Video: Obama A Hypocrite When It Comes To ‘Civility’</h2>
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Barack Obama deems speech ‘uncivil public discourse’ when it suits him politically. When the ‘public discourse’ comes from Rush Limbaugh, who scathingly attacks Obama on a daily basis, Obama offers an excoriating attack of him. When the ‘uncivil public discourse’ comes from the New Black Panther Party, calling for Treyvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman to be brought in ‘Dead or Alive,’ or Spike Lee tweets the home address of Zimmerman, or a Twitter account is set up called @KillZimmerman, Obama is strangely silent.</div>
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</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-67159230884769264502012-03-31T22:31:00.002-07:002012-03-31T22:31:14.548-07:00Liberals Prepare To Vilify The Supreme Court If They Don’t Get Their Way<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Liberals Prepare To Vilify The Supreme Court If They Don’t Get Their Way</h2>
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Despite their earlier confident pronouncements that Obamacare was on extremely sound legal footing, liberals are starting to finally realize that the medical system law which Democrats shoved through the Congress in a purely partisan fashion has a very good chance of being thrown out by the Supreme Court. That realization is giving birth to a new plan, attacking anyone who disagrees.</div>
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If the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate in Obamacare, the result will be higher insurance premiums and, “we’ll just blame Republicans for it,” says Democratic strategist Bob Beckel, appearing on the Wednesday edition of Fox News’ The Five.</div>
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Beckel’s statement hints at the blame-game Democrats will play if part or all of Obamacare is struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Another Democratic strategist, James Carville, has said pretty much the same thing, asserting that Republicans will “own” healthcare over the next few years if the court strikes down the individual mandate or even the whole Obamacare law, and will pay a political price for rising premiums.</div>
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“You know what the Democrats are going to say — and it is completely justified: ‘We tried, we did something, go see a 5-4 Supreme Court majority,’” Carville said on CNN Tuesday. “The public has these guys figured out. Our polls show that half think this whole thing is political. Just as a professional Democrat, there’s nothing better to me than overturning this thing 5-4 and then the Republican Party will own the health care system for the foreseeable future. And I really believe that. That is not spin.”</div>
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Carville’s statements edge closer to how the Left is preparing to respond if the court strikes down Obamacare. They will not stop at blaming Republicans for higher insurance premiums. They are going to try to demonize the Supreme Court itself as simply a tool of the heartless Right.</div>
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<a href="http://cnsnews.com/blog/matthew-sheffield/liberals-prepare-vilify-supreme-court-if-they-dont-get-their-way" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #004276; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Read More at CNS News</a></div>
</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-70275697423158774402012-03-31T21:45:00.001-07:002012-03-31T21:45:32.468-07:00Forming Coalitions, Tea Party Continues To Brew<a href="http://www.eurasiareview.com/31032012-forming-coalitions-tea-party-continues-to-brew/#.T3fdZsD1beI.blogger">Forming Coalitions, Tea Party Continues To Brew</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-64595427857082250582012-03-31T21:44:00.001-07:002012-03-31T21:44:47.569-07:00NBC Edits Phone Call To Portray Trayvon Martin’s Killer As Racist?<a href="http://www.eurasiareview.com/31032012-nbc-edits-phone-call-to-portray-trayvon-martins-killer-as-racist/#.T3fdMyZelcI.blogger">NBC Edits Phone Call To Portray Trayvon Martin’s Killer As Racist?</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-21785948144089157662012-03-31T21:20:00.001-07:002012-03-31T21:20:17.833-07:00Talkradio Host Calls for Sharpton’s Arrest and Removal from MSNBC | Vision to America<a href="http://visiontoamerica.org/8992/talkradio-host-calls-for-sharptons-arrest-and-removal-from-msnbc/#.T3fXdxD3d2Y.blogger">Talkradio Host Calls for Sharpton’s Arrest and Removal from MSNBC | Vision to America</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-41821783067161163082012-03-31T17:05:00.001-07:002012-03-31T17:05:39.200-07:00Chris Matthews: “totally unprepared” that ObamaCare might be “ripped”<a href="http://americanvisionnews.com/2659/chris-matthews-totally-unprepared-that-obamacare-might-be-ripped">Chris Matthews: “totally unprepared” that ObamaCare might be “ripped”</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-3000161713207840272012-03-31T17:03:00.002-07:002012-03-31T17:03:56.716-07:00Democrats Slam Scalia for Questioning Obamacare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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From ConsdervativeByte.com:<br />
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<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
Democrats Slam Scalia for Questioning Obamacare</h1>
<div class="entry-meta" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
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Democrats are lashing out at conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for alleged bias during the Obamacare hearing, even though the court’s four liberal justices were generally seen as more effective in pushing for the law than the Obama administration’s own attorney.</div>
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Two comments Scalia made during the mammoth three-day hearing have been picked as showing he has allegedly already made up his mind and will vote to overturn the Affordable Care Act.</div>
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He used the term “Cornhusker Kickback” to refer to a $100 million Medicaid payment to Nebraska proposed to secure moderate Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson’s vote, and then said the justices could not be expected to read through all 2,700 pages of the law as they wrestle with its constitutionality.</div>
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</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-28548375368231996172012-03-31T17:01:00.000-07:002012-03-31T17:01:02.363-07:00Obama Grabs More Executive Power….. AGAIN!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Il Duce</td></tr>
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From ConservativeByte.com:<br />
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<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
Obama Grabs More Executive Power….. AGAIN!</h1>
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on</span> <a href="http://conservativebyte.com/2012/03/obama-grabs-more-executive-power-again/" rel="bookmark" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="8:51 am"><span class="entry-date" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">March 31, 2012</span></a> <span class="meta-sep" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by</span> <span class="author vcard" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://conservativebyte.com/author/jaytaylor/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Conservative Byte">Conservative Byte</a></span></div>
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Despite campaign promises to refrain from using executive powers to bypass Congress, President Barack Obama is increasingly doing just that, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.</div>
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From helping rebels in the Libyan revolution to granting states waivers from the No Child Left Behind education act, Obama is finding it easier to push his agenda without asking for approval from elected senators and representatives, the paper said.</div>
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And that is not sitting well with either Republicans or Democrats who are keen to defend their own turf against what they see as an overreaching executive.</div>
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“When he ran for president, Barack Obama promised to roll back President George W. Bush’s use of executive power, a defining point of the Bush presidency,” Laura Meckler wrote in the Journal piece. “The pledge was part of a broader pitch about Mr. Obama’s governing style, which he said would focus on solving problems in a pragmatic, cooperative way.</div>
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</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-16481221743504331022012-03-31T16:56:00.001-07:002012-03-31T16:56:18.350-07:00Fed Is Buying 61 Percent of U.S. Government Debt<a href="http://www.libertypulse.com/article/fed-is-buying-61-percent-of-u-s-government-debt/">Fed Is Buying 61 Percent of U.S. Government Debt</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-13908401384568707382012-03-31T16:47:00.003-07:002012-03-31T16:47:59.712-07:00Al Sharpton and Moral Values<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
from Accuracy in Media:<br />
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<h3 class="cufon single black" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://www.aim.org/wp-content/themes/liberal-media-bias/images/line_shadow.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 50% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Georgia, Arial, 'helvetica neue', Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 28px; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Al Sharpton and Moral Values</h3>
<div class="post_detail" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-spacing: 1px;">
<span class="byline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Georgia, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cliff Kincaid — January 5, 2005 </span><br />Comment | <a href="http://www.aim.org/media-monitor/al-sharpton-and-moral-values/print/" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #003366; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Printer Friendly</a></div>
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You can also <a href="http://www.aim.org/mp3/2005/01/05.mp3" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #003366; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">download the MP3</a>.</div>
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The Reverend Al Sharpton participated in the Tawana Brawley hoax, back in 1987, in which a black girl made false and damaging charges of rape against a group of white men. Sharpton was found guilty of defamation and ordered to pay a financial fine in that case. None of that, of course, stopped him from becoming a media darling of sorts during the recent presidential campaign, when he ran for the Democratic nomination. He is usually labeled a “colorful character” and his past is forgotten and forgiven because he says quotable things. He even appeared on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, where he sang and danced.</div>
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On November 28, he was back, this time appearing with a group of religious leaders on NBC’s Meet the Press to talk about moral values. Sharpton said that we shouldn’t “impose what we believe on people that may disagree with us.” Unknown perhaps to Russert and the others on the show, Sharpton had allegedly imposed his own moral values–or lack thereof–on his wife and family, leading to an alleged extramarital affair and a messy divorce. The Village Voice said that, “While it is virtually impossible to establish that an intimate relationship existed without confirmation from a party, a compelling case can be made that Sharpton appeared to engage in one with Marjorie Harris (also known as Marjorie Fields-Harris), the executive director of his National Action Network and the woman named in two Daily News gossip pieces.”</div>
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Sharpton has denied having an affair, but black columnist Errol Louis of the New York Daily News notes that “both split from their spouses around the same time and traveled around the country together during Sharpton’s presidential campaign. Louis was intrigued by the report that Harris “lives in a swanky Trump Place apartment and sports top-drawer toys like a Mercedes, a mink coat and a $7,000 Rolex.”</div>
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Ironically, the Village Voice claimed that Sharpton revealed in 2001 that Rev. Jesse Jackson was involved in an extramarital affair and had an illegitimate child. Jackson was discredited, at least for a while, enabling Sharpton to emerge as a national black spokesman, with enormous access to the national media.</div>
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Last May, the Federal Election Commission ordered Sharpton to return $100,000 that he had received in federal matching funds for his presidential campaign. The ruling was in response to a complaint filed by the National Legal and Policy Center, which had noted “massive irregularities in the financing of his campaign.”</div>
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Those irregularities apparently continued. The Voice reported that the Democratic National Committee paid Sharpton $86,715 in travel and consulting fees to compensate for his campaigning for John Kerry and other candidates. While most of the money was for travel expenses, Sharpton was paid $35,000 as a “political consulting fee” just 15 days after the election. It looks like he was handsomely paid simply to generate black votes for Kerry. No wonder he doesn’t want to “impose” his values on others. Who would want them? Isn’t it time for the media to follow the lead of the Village Voice and subject this “reverend” to the scrutiny he deserves?</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-67746836940929514462012-03-31T16:38:00.001-07:002012-03-31T16:38:45.016-07:00Fed Is Buying 61 Percent of U.S. Government Debt – Patriot Update<a href="http://patriotupdate.com/20667/fed-is-buying-61-percent-of-u-s-government-debt#.T3eVfdifUUc.blogger">Fed Is Buying 61 Percent of U.S. Government Debt – Patriot Update</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-6623722585372275962012-03-31T16:37:00.001-07:002012-03-31T16:37:55.023-07:00Energy group hits back at DNC over $3.6 million ad buy attacking Obama – Patriot Update<a href="http://patriotupdate.com/20655/energy-group-hits-back-at-dnc-over-3-6-million-ad-buy-attacking-obama#.T3eVS6pwv8I.blogger">Energy group hits back at DNC over $3.6 million ad buy attacking Obama – Patriot Update</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-54601817558486908562012-03-30T23:42:00.000-07:002012-03-30T23:42:05.545-07:00Not-So-Smooth Operator: Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
From The Wall Street Journal:<br />
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<li class="dateStamp" style="border-left-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; float: left; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 0.9em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1.5em; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 1.5em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Updated March 30, 2012, 6:35 p.m. ET</li>
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Not-So-Smooth Operator</h1>
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Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest.</h2>
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By PEGGY NOONAN</h3>
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Something's happening to President Obama's relationship with those who are inclined not to like his policies. They are now inclined not to like him. His supporters would say, "Nothing new there," but actually I think there is. I'm referring to the broad, stable, nonradical, non-birther right. Among them the level of dislike for the president has ratcheted up sharply the past few months.</div>
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It's not due to the election, and it's not because the Republican candidates are so compelling and making such brilliant cases against him. That, actually, isn't happening.</div>
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What is happening is that the president is coming across more and more as a trimmer, as an operator who's not operating in good faith. This is hardening positions and leading to increased political bitterness. And it's his fault, too. As an increase in polarization is a bad thing, it's a big fault.</div>
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The shift started on Jan. 20, with the mandate that agencies of the Catholic Church would have to provide birth-control services the church finds morally repugnant. The public reaction? "You're kidding me. That's not just bad judgment and a lack of civic tact, it's not even constitutional!" Faced with the blowback, the president offered a so-called accommodation that even its supporters recognized as devious. Not ill-advised, devious. Then his operatives flooded the airwaves with dishonest—not wrongheaded, dishonest—charges that those who defend the church's religious liberties are trying to take away your contraceptives.</div>
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What a sour taste this all left. How shocking it was, including for those in the church who'd been in touch with the administration and were murmuring about having been misled.</div>
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Events of just the past 10 days have contributed to the shift. There was the open-mic conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in which Mr. Obama pleaded for "space" and said he will have "more flexibility" in his negotiations once the election is over and those pesky voters have done their thing. On tape it looked so bush-league, so faux-sophisticated. When he knew he'd been caught, the president tried to laugh it off by comically covering a mic in a following meeting. It was all so . . . creepy.</div>
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Next, a boy of 17 is shot and killed under disputed and unclear circumstances. The whole issue is racially charged, emotions are high, and the only memorable words from the president's response were, "If I had a son he'd look like Trayvon." At first it seemed OK—not great, but all right—but as the story continued and suddenly there were death threats and tweeted addresses and congressmen in hoodies, it seemed insufficient to the moment. At the end of the day, the public reaction seemed to be: "Hey buddy, we don't need you to personalize what is already too dramatic, it's not about you."</div>
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Now this week the Supreme Court arguments on ObamaCare, which have made that law look so hollow, so careless, that it amounts to a characterological indictment of the administration. The constitutional law professor from the University of Chicago didn't notice the centerpiece of his agenda was not constitutional? How did that happen?</div>
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Maybe a stinging decision is coming, maybe not, but in a purely political sense this is how it looks: We were in crisis in 2009—we still are—and instead of doing something strong and pertinent about our economic woes, the president wasted history's time. He wasted time that was precious—the debt clock is still ticking!—by following an imaginary bunny that disappeared down a rabbit hole.</div>
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The high court's hearings gave off an overall air not of political misfeasance but malfeasance.</div>
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All these things have hardened lines of opposition, and left opponents with an aversion that will not go away.</div>
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I am not saying that the president has a terrible relationship with the American people. I'm only saying he's made his relationship with those who oppose him worse.</div>
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In terms of the broad electorate, I'm not sure he really has a relationship. A president only gets a year or two to forge real bonds with the American people. In that time a crucial thing he must establish is that what is on his mind is what is on their mind. This is especially true during a crisis.</div>
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From the day Mr. Obama was sworn in, what was on the mind of the American people was financial calamity—unemployment, declining home values, foreclosures. These issues came within a context of some overarching questions: Can America survive its spending, its taxing, its regulating, is America over, can we turn it around?</div>
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That's what the American people were thinking about.</div>
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But the new president wasn't thinking about that. All the books written about the creation of economic policy within his administration make clear the president and his aides didn't know it was so bad, didn't understand the depth of the crisis, didn't have a sense of how long it would last. They didn't have their mind on what the American people had their mind on.</div>
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The president had his mind on health care. And, to be fair-minded, health care was part of the economic story. But only a part! And not the most urgent part. Not the most frightening, distressing, immediate part. Not the "Is America over?" part.</div>
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And so the relationship the president wanted never really knitted together. Health care was like the birth-control mandate: It came from his hermetically sealed inner circle, which operates with what seems an almost entirely abstract sense of America. They know Chicago, the machine, the ethnic realities. They know Democratic Party politics. They know the books they've read, largely written by people like them—bright, credentialed, intellectually cloistered. But there always seems a lack of lived experience among them, which is why they were so surprised by the town hall uprisings of August 2009 and the 2010 midterm elections.</div>
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More Peggy Noonan</h3>
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<a class="" href="http://online.wsj.com/public/page/peggy-noonan.html" style="color: #093d72; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Read Peggy Noonan's previous columns</a></div>
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<a class="" href="http://astore.amazon.com/wsjbookscom-20/detail/0061735825/104-4447538-0425522" style="color: #093d72; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;" target="_blank">click here to order her book, Patriotic Grace</a></div>
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If you jumped into a time machine to the day after the election, in November, 2012, and saw a headline saying "Obama Loses," do you imagine that would be followed by widespread sadness, pain and a rending of garments? You do not. Even his own supporters will not be that sad. It's hard to imagine people running around in 2014 saying, "If only Obama were president!" Including Mr. Obama, who is said by all who know him to be deeply competitive, but who doesn't seem to like his job that much. As a former president he'd be quiet, detached, aloof. He'd make speeches and write a memoir laced with a certain high-toned bitterness. It was the Republicans' fault. They didn't want to work with him.</div>
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He will likely not see even then that an American president has to make the other side work with him. You think Tip O'Neill liked Ronald Reagan? You think he wanted to give him the gift of compromise? He was a mean, tough partisan who went to work every day to defeat Ronald Reagan. But forced by facts and numbers to deal, he dealt. So did Reagan.</div>
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An American president has to make cooperation happen.</div>
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But we've strayed from the point. Mr. Obama has a largely nonexistent relationship with many, and a worsening relationship with some.</div>
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Really, he cannot win the coming election. But the Republicans, still, can lose it. At this point in the column we usually sigh.</div>
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</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-79600735103771720092012-03-30T23:38:00.001-07:002012-03-30T23:38:24.409-07:00HURT: Brutal week for Obama, the worst of his presidency - Washington Times<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/29/hurt-was-week-was-obama-style/#.T3amVUUhuQk.blogger">HURT: Brutal week for Obama, the worst of his presidency - Washington Times</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-68097822799301527842012-03-30T23:27:00.002-07:002012-03-30T23:27:28.348-07:00Left’s Orwellian Censorship Campaign<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
From Town Hall:<br />
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Left’s Orwellian Censorship Campaign</h1>
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Mar 30, 2012</div>
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Liberal theologian William Ellery Channing once observed, “The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should be hushed. A sentiment more unworthy of a free country could hardly be propagated.”</div>
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War has indeed been declared. Channing’s contemporary liberal counterparts have declared a war for our culture. But while Channing presumably held to the oft-bandied supposition that “dissent is the highest form of patriotism,” today’s secular-progressive has no choice but to endeavor that “all opposition should be hushed.”</div>
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Liberals recognize that when arguing on the merits, they cannot prevail. Not only are their morally relative, redistributionist philosophies untenable and utopian, but they read the same polls demonstrating that reasonable people reject their ideas outright. In fact, Americans identify as conservative over liberal by a<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71385.html" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold;"> two-to-one margin</a>. Even those who call themselves “moderate” lean conservative.</div>
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It makes sense. The “progressive” movement wars against natural law, pushes perpetually failed secular-socialist policies and places — above constitutionally safeguarded individual liberty — thickheaded tenets of postmodern political correctness. Liberal elites demand tolerance for all things perverse and find intolerable all things righteous.</div>
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And so, the final, desperate act of the left-wing, lemon-hocking charlatan is to marginalize, smear and ultimately shut down the competition. As a result, liberals obfuscate, propagandize and strive to silence all dissent. They no longer even try to hide it.</div>
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The evidence of this calculated assault on free speech is overwhelming, but the most recent and high-profile examples include carefully orchestrated campaigns by three well-funded, interconnected, George Soros-linked organizations: Media Matters for America (MMFA); the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC); and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).</div>
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After years of trying to censor the conservative voice of Rush Limbaugh, for instance, the George Soros-funded Media Matters recently pulled out all the stops to get him booted from the airwaves.</div>
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The pretext was Limbaugh’s unfortunate word choice in describing Georgetown “reproductive justice” radical Sandra Fluke’s attempt to compel the Jesuit university to violate its own Catholic doctrine. Democrats held a mock hearing in the Capitol building wherein Fluke demanded that Georgetown underwrite her admitted fornication practices and fork out free birth control. Limbaugh said this made her sound like a “sl*t” and a “prostitute.”</div>
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The hard-left Media Matters pounced, rolling out a pre-packaged campaign against Limbaugh. It has targeted radio stations with ads and continues a floundering crusade to get Limbaugh’s radio sponsors to drop him. Ironically, this has resulted in a revenue increase for Limbaugh, and his already millions-strong listening audience has grown significantly.</div>
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Another example of this Orwellian censorship crusade involves the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, an outfit that, until recent years, was viewed as a relatively credible civil rights organization. Unfortunately, the SPLC has now cashed in most of its remaining political capital, taking the same cynical path as its fellow travelers over at Media Matters. The SPLC too has become little more than a mouthpiece for left-wing extremism.</div>
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In a “too cute by half” attempt to marginalize those who observe the traditional Judeo-Christian sexual ethic, or who embrace a constitutionalist view of government, the SPLC has moved from monitoring actual hate groups like the KKK and Neo-Nazis, to slandering mainstream Christian and tea party organizations with that very same “SPLC-certified hate group” label. Indeed, in its promotional materials and on its website, the SPLC indiscriminately lumps well-respected, highly influential Christian organizations like the Family Research Council and the American Family Association together with domestic terrorist and white supremacist groups.</div>
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But the SPLC’s transparent guilt-by-false-association ploy has largely backfired. Whereas the strategy was intended to discourage media outlets from engaging these Christian groups, the scheme has, instead, had the unintended effect of significantly marginalizing the SPLC. You can only cry wolf so many times before people ignore you.</div>
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Finally, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has picked up where the SPLC left off. This radical homosexual pressure group recently ramped up its tried-and-true practice of employing the very outrage it purports to oppose: defamation.</div>
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One of the left’s favorite pejoratives is “McCarthyism,” yet liberals employ it — as they mean it — masterfully. In an effort to strong-arm mainstream media outlets — already sympathetic to their cause — into blacklisting, once and for all, conservative and Christian professionals who oppose liberal sexual identity politics, GLAAD has issued an enemies list of 36 top pro-family leaders and luminaries (a list upon which yours truly is most honored and humbled to be included).</div>
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Engaging a scheme eerily reminiscent of the former Soviet Union, GLAAD’s euphemistically and paradoxically tagged “Commentator Accountability Project” enlists fellow progressives to dutifully report on a designated website anytime a pundit identified on the blacklist appears in media.</div>
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Because “hate is not an expert opinion,” GLAAD then takes the reports and browbeats the offending media outlet into disengaging the “inappropriate” conservative pundit.</div>
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As feeble justification for its censorship efforts, GLAAD provides a list of out-of-context, cherry-picked quotes — some accurate, some not — the organization finds offensive. This is paint-by-numbers, Saul Alinsky style: Rule 12, “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it.”</div>
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In their manuscript, “After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the ’90s” (1989, Doubleday/Bantam), Harvard-educated marketing experts Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen meticulously laid out GLAAD’s approach — something they called “jamming.”</div>
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“Jamming” refers to the public smearing of Christians, traditionalists or anyone else who opposes left-wing sexual identity politics. “Jam homo-hatred [i.e., the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic] by linking it to Nazi horror,” wrote Kirk and Madsen (sound familiar, SPLC?). They go on to suggest that activists should try to associate all who oppose homosexuality with images of “Klansmen demanding that gays be slaughtered,” “hysterical backwoods preachers,” “menacing punks” and “Nazi concentration camps where homosexuals were tortured and gassed.’”</div>
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“In any campaign to win over the public, gays must be portrayed as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to adopt the role of protector,” they wrote. “The purpose of victim imagery is to make straights feel very uncomfortable.”</div>
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George Orwell famously said: “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” Today, conservative truth tellers are revolutionaries, fighting a guerilla war against an elitist establishment that blankets free speech with bunker-buster bombs.</div>
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Their motives are disgraceful, their tactics are cowardly and their actions are un-American. But these things rank high among the progressive “book of virtues.”</div>
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Paraphrasing Voltaire, British author Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”</div>
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It’s little wonder that today’s progressives reject this noble sentiment. The success of the left-wing socio-political agenda relies upon deliberate suppression of the reality-based conservative alternative.</div>
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Such is life for the pamphleteer of bad ideas.</div>
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<img alt="Matt Barber" src="http://media.townhall.com/Townhall//ColPics/barber.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; padding-right: 5px; width: 65px;" /><h2 style="color: #001346; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Matt Barber</h2>
Matt Barber is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He is Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action and serves as Associate Dean and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at Liberty University School of law. In addition to his law degree, Matt holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from Regent University.<br /> </div>
</div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-34882578696954943812012-03-30T23:04:00.001-07:002012-03-30T23:04:48.337-07:00Wis. Gov. Walker Recall: It's On | Common Dreams<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/03/30-3#.T3aeduIJvdE.blogger">Wis. Gov. Walker Recall: It's On | Common Dreams</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-78527320032771549892012-03-30T23:03:00.001-07:002012-03-30T23:03:29.690-07:00Alcee Hastings Ranks No.1 In Nepotism | Judicial Watch<a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2012/03/alcee-hastings-ranks-no-1-in-nepotism/#.T3aeI9NncWQ.blogger">Alcee Hastings Ranks No.1 In Nepotism | Judicial Watch</a>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8643641872747632734.post-9193971281322460932012-03-30T22:58:00.001-07:002012-03-30T22:58:54.457-07:00Judicial Watch Exposes Big Pharma Campaign to Lobby Democratic Governors<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<big id="yui_3_2_0_26_13329883647142883" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Judicial Watch Exposes Big Pharma Campaign to Lobby Democratic Governors</big><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">If you want to see the ugly underbelly of American politics, take a look at <a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/4i/zydi/6b/sx5i/click.emaildirect" rel="nofollow" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px;" target="_blank">the documents</a> we released this week detailing private events involving Democratic governors and Big Pharma. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The events were held during the February 2012 winter meeting of the National Governors Association (NGA) and were widely attended by unions, drug companies, and other health concerns.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">As you'll see, among the most active "pay-to-play" participants in these events was Pfizer, Inc., the "world's largest research based pharmaceutical company." Pfizer sponsored an evening reception and dinner for members of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) chairman's board, which include donors of $100,000 or more to the organization. The reception provided attendees with personal access to the Democratic governors. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">A second, private reception held the following night included donors of $250,000 or more to the DGA, as well as members of the chairman's board. Both events were closed to the press.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">We got hold of these records pursuant to a March 7, 2012, <a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/4i/zydi/5b/cx5i/click.emaildirect" rel="nofollow" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px;" target="_blank">request </a>submitted to the office of Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin under the Vermont Public Records Law. Here's what they show:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br />
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<li>Pharmaceutical companies attending both of the privately held events for major donors to the DGA included Allergan, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, and Pfizer. Amgen, Lilly, and Merck attended only the first event. Bristol-Myers Squibb attended the second reception open to donors of $250,000 and above.</li>
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<li>Donors attending both receptions from the health care industry included Aflac, Amerigroup, Norvo Nordisk, and the United Health Group. American Health Care Association and eHealth attended only the first event. Blue Cross Blue Shield attended the second reception.</li>
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<li>Union organizations and trade associations attending both receptions included International Council of Shopping Centers, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, National Education Association, and the United Food and Commercial Workers.</li>
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Also attending the Pfizer-sponsored dinner and both receptions was former governor of South Carolina, James Hodges, representing MAXIMUS, the for-profit company that provides program management and consulting to local and state governments on health and human services. MAXIMUS has been embroiled over the years in a number of scandals, including a lawsuit brought against it by the United States Government for falsifying Medicare claims adding up to some <a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/4i/zydi/7b/2x5i/click.emaildirect" rel="nofollow" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px;" target="_blank">$30.5 million</a>. MAXIMUS settled the lawsuit.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The documents also show that Steve Janson, Pfizer's VP of public affairs, requested to sit next to Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin at the Chairman's Dinner. The request seemingly was granted.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The stated purpose of the NGA meetings beginning on February 25 and ending with the White House dinner with President and Mrs. Obama on February 27 was to discuss job creation and expanding economic growth. However, the DGA meetings inserted before and during the weekend provided pharmaceutical and health care companies direct access to Democratic governors.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">And this has become a growing problem on both sides of the aisle.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">As reported by </span><a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/4i/zydi/pb/8x5i/click.emaildirect" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">The New York Times</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">, the DGA and Republican Governors Association (RGA) have become major targets of influence for lobbyists: "Operating outside the laws that block federal candidates and party committees from taking money from unions or businesses, the Democratic governors' group - and its Republican counterpart - are case studies in corporate political fund-raising."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">This is a "pay-to-play" system where big companies and unions pump gobs of cash into lavish events in order to persuade politicians to serve their interests.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">It's no wonder Big Pharma did not want the press around while they were busy wining and dining Democratic Governors! How would it look to the American people to see drug companies, unions and health care interests effectively greasing the palms of the nation's Democratic governors? This is especially ironic given Obama's anti-"special interest"/big business rhetoric.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Even the leftist </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic;">Times</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> notes: "At the moment, though, the Democrats' efforts are more noteworthy. Their governors have overcome the national party's antibusiness image to pull closer to the Republicans in corporate fund-raising. And the governors' association's eager courtship of corporate money is at odds with warnings from Congressional Democrats in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision that such spending is a threat to democracy."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span id="yui_3_2_0_26_13329883647142926" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Governor Shumlin's response to our disclosures was incredible. His spokesman told one <a href="http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/4i/zydi/fb/9x5i/click.emaildirect" rel="nofollow" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px;" target="_blank">Vermont paper</a>that the Pfizer rep is a friend of the governor's and that, "No governor in the country has a stronger or more consistent record of standing up to the pharmaceutical industry than Gov. Shumlin," This statement doesn't explain much, but does highlight Governor Shumlin's cynical hypocrisy. As conservatives, we don't think government officials should be "standing up to" (meaning attacking) private corporations, as most leftists support. We're just concerned with politicians misusing their offices to raise money to stay in power. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Thanks to Judicial Watch, this scandal is no longer a well-kept secret. But we're not finished. A separate Judicial Watch investigation into the RGA meetings is now underway.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">In the meantime, Gov. Shumlin is supposed to take over as head of the DGA. So we will have our watchdog work cut out for us. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /></div>cwarrenrobertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120739658751425976noreply@blogger.com0