Saturday, September 28, 2013

RAIN OR SHINE! This year’s annual Republican Picnic:
Sunday, September 29 in Fortuna


This year’s annual Republican Picnic will be held Sunday, September 29 at Rohner Park, Fortuna. It is sponsored by Humboldt Republican Women and the Republican County Central Committee.

There is no charge to attend the picnic which will feature hamburgers and hot dogs,
but be “pot luck” for salads and desserts. Those whose last name begins with N-Z are asked to bring a salad; those with A-M, a dessert.

Featured speakers will be Supervisor Ryan Sundberg and Eureka Mayor Frank Jager. Everyone is invited to cast a ballot in the Major Issues straw poll. There will also be an auction and raffle.

Hours are 12N-4 p.m.

Watch Neil Cavuto Slam President in Best Obamacare Monologue EVER



full transcript at the link - IJ Review

...Fox News didn’t push more of those firms to hire part-time workers.
Your healthcare law did.
Fox News didn’t incentivize fast food restaurants to scale back their benefits.
Your healthcare law did.
Fox News didn’t make doctors want to opt out.
Your healthcare law did.
Fox News didn’t make insurance premiums sky rocket.
Your healthcare law did.
Just like Fox News didn’t grant hundreds of exemptions to companies that needed them.
You did.
And Fox News didn’t delay one key provision after another, including online enrollment for those small business exchanges.
You did.

Just like it wasn’t Fox News that said we had to pass this to see what was in this.
You did.
Or was that Nancy Pelosi? Sometimes I’m confused.
But of this I am not. Fox News didn’t re-do basic math.
Sir, you did.
Fox News didn’t say you can cover 30 million more Americans and not see a hit in premiums.
You did.
Fox News didn’t say you could throw in those with pre-existing conditions and not have to pay for it.
You did.
Fox News didn’t all but say you could get something for nothing.
You did.
Fox News didn’t come back years later and say, oh yea, we did raise some taxes.
You did....

IGNORING VETO THREAT, HOUSE VOTES TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AND DELAY OBAMACARE A YEAR: permanently repeals tax on medical devices

John Boehner: "Keep the gov’t open. Stop as much of ObamaCare as possible. Pay our troops no matter what. This is what the House amendments to the Senate’s continuing resolution will do. Now it’s the Senate’s job to pass them, and avert a government shutdown."

Republicans moved onto the House floor Saturday evening to attempt to pass a bill that funds the government for three months, delays Obamacare for one and permanently repeals a tax on medical devices. - Politico

The House Republican Conference appeared, for once, unified behind the measure, and was expected to vote late into Saturday night. House Republicans also intend to advance a bill to pay U.S. troops in the case of a government shutdown.

...The move puts Senate Democrats and the White House at loggerheads with House Republicans, a standoff that could lead to the first government shutdown since 1995.

...“We’ve had enough of the disunity in our party,” Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told the meeting of House Republicans Saturday afternoon. “The headlines are Republicans fighting Republicans. This will unite us. This protects the people who sent us here from Obamacare.”

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said it would be the “fastest whip check in history,” as every member raised their hand, saying they would support the bill.

Pelosi absent for vote - Politico
Harry Reid said the Senate would not accept a House measure repealing a tax on medical devices imposed by the new health law. - Wall St. Journal
Obama Will Veto - AP
'SHUTDOWN' LOOMS - McClatchy

The Senate is not scheduled to return to session until Monday afternoon, 10 hours before the fiscal year ends. Democrats who control the Senate said they wouldn’t negotiate or consider the House proposal, leaving no apparent path to compromise on either side in the waning hours before money runs out for many parts of the government not on automatic spending such as Social Security or considered essential such as the military.

The White House threatened a veto of the Republican plan, and Press Secretary Jay Carney worked to pin the blame for a shutdown on Republicans. “Any member of the Republican Party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown,” he said. “It’s time for the House to listen to the American people and act, as the Senate has, in a reasonable way to pass a bill that keeps the government running and move on.”

#ifgovernmentshutsdown: Twitterverse takes on government shutdown - Daily Caller
WHAT #IFGOVERNMENTSHUTSDOWN? - Illinois Review

There's a whole hashtag on Twitter now #IfGovernmentShutsDown, and here's some things people are saying:

RT @iowahawkblog: #IfGovernmentShutsDown bands of anarchists will roam the streets, selling incandescent lightbulbs and high capacity

#IfGovernmentShutsDown we all may need to find our own way to waste half our money.



Essential: Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis (9-28-2008) - Trevor Loudon/New Zeal
Budget Battle: Reid Says My Way Or Highway As House GOP Votes Today On Stopgap Bill - Gateway Pundit
House Adds Yearlong Obamacare Delay, Repeal of Medical Device Tax to CR - Bridget Johnson/PJ Media
Glenn Reynolds asks, ‘Why is Obama shutting down government?’ - Twitchy

Much as the White House — with the help of NPR — did its best to re-brand President Obama’s sequestration cuts as a Republican creation, the administration and media are hard at work trying to push the idea of an uncompromising GOP taking the economy hostage. The real question: why won’t Obama and the Democrats negotiate? Harry Reid earlier today said the vote was a “meaningless” gesture of extortion by Tea Party “anarchists.” White House spokesman Jay Carney issued a statement accusing the GOP of moving to shut down the government, complete with talk of “sabotage.”







Medical device amendment passed Y: 248, N: 174 h/t: Kerry Picket
Obamacare Delay Amd PASSED Y: 231, N: 192
Embassy Security Authorization passed Y: 384 , N: 37
Passage of Pay Our Military Act passed Y: 423 , N: 0
No congressman voted against the pay the military act

Richard Grenell: ‏Liberals shocked to see the House bill has bipartisan support. MSM isn't telling them.

'House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and GOP Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) released the following joint statement:

“The American people don’t want a government shut down and they don’t want ObamaCare. That’s why later today, the House will vote on two amendments to the Senate-passed continuing resolution that will keep the government open and stop as much of the president’s health care law as possible.

“The first amendment delays the president’s health care law by one year. And the second permanently repeals ObamaCare’s medical device tax that is sending jobs overseas.

“Both of these amendments will change the date of the Senate CR to December 15th. We will also vote on a measure that ensures our troops get paid, no matter what.

“We will do our job and send this bill over, and then it’s up to the Senate to pass it and stop a government shutdown.”'

◼ More: http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/house-will-vote-plan-keep-government-open-stop-obamacare

This is how the Iranian government officially deals with gays by law.



That's who @BarackObama is negotiating with.

Back then, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News Channel was a year from its debut, Andrew Breitbart was a lowly assistant at E! Online, and The Drudge Report was an obscure gossip and news digest sent by e-mail — to the lucky few who had e-mail.

Thanks to the Digital Revolution, a Conservative Uprising Can Rally Its Troops - New York Times

But today, a fervent group of conservatives — bloggers, pundits, activists and even members of Congress — is harnessing the power of the Internet, determined to tell the story of the current budget showdown on its terms.

Even if their version of events does not help change popular perceptions enough to give Republicans the upper hand when it comes to public opinion, their efforts are, at a minimum, helping to stoke energy on the right that is invigorating the party’s base....

With the help of groups like FreedomWorks and the Tea Party Patriots, Mr. Cruz and Mr. Lee urged their followers to besiege Senate Republicans like Mr. Corker, John McCain of Arizona and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, with phone calls and Twitter messages. “Melt their mention,” was the way FreedomWorks characterized its online assault — a reference to the “mention” feature on Twitter where users can inform one another what has been posted about them.

Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, said she owned a PalmPilot — then a cutting-edge device — during the 1995-96 shutdowns. In those days, she said, conservatives felt more disconnected from one another, their voices more muffled.

Now, “people don’t feel like they’re alone,” she said. “You feel like you’ve got allies with you and your voice isn’t just in the wilderness.”
__________________

It does pay to get on Twitter. Every voice counts. And yes, Twitter is a political battlespace. Get on it. - Michelle Malkin

◼ A GREAT Tutorial if you are thinking of getting your feet wet. Granny’s Guide to Twitter - Dan Collins at Twitchy

Don’t Cheer Yet—Iran’s Civil Society is Still Under Siege

The U.S. and Iran are talking again. But while many hope a diplomatic breakthrough is possible, the Iranian regime’s opposition remains very much under siege. Eli Lake reports. - Daily Beast

The state of Iran’s civil society in 2013 stands in sharp contrast to the hopes many in the West have placed in the hands of the country’s new president, Hassan Rouhani. On Friday, Rouhani became the first Iranian president to speak directly to a U.S. president since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

King Barack Discusses “Affordable” Care Act And “Far Right Republicans” In Weekly Address

Continuing with his normal use of the resources of the White House, owned by The People of the USA, for hyper-partisan campaign style speeches, (NMP) Obama loves him some “Affordable” Care Act for Other People, and whines at Republicans - Gateway Pundit

(video here, if you can stomach it) in his Weekly Address.

He’ll work with the President Of Iran, but not Republicans. He’s added over $6.5 trillion to the debt. Yet, he blames Republicans in Congress for his profligate spending during the years Dems controlled Congress. Where’s his own budget? It is consistently late, and so horrible that even the Democrat controlled Senate won’t vote for it.

WATCH LIVE CPAC 2013

◼ There is a whole bevy of great speakers at CPAC this year, including Sen. Ted Cruz who will deliver the Keynote Address Saturday Night, and you can watch them all at The Right Scoop

Use the CPAC Program Schedule (at the link) as your guide and feel free to say hello in the chat.



Video streaming by Ustream

33 Uncomfortable Questions for Progressives

At IJ Review

Friday, September 27, 2013

The Cruzapalooza had thrown most of Establishment D.C. and nearly all of the Manhattan-Beltway media elite into paroxysms of rage alternating with grief that would have been appropriate in the aftermath of the gassing of the Syrian children but which juxtaposed to Senator Cruz's all-nighter raised doubts not about Cruz but about all of his overwrought critics.

Cruz is re-animating the Reagan Coalition, and though his opponents deny this, Cruz is doing so while keeping Reagan's famed 11th commandment by keeping his criticisms of elites general not specific. He does not speak ill of Senator John McCain, for example, despite the 2008 GOP nominees repeated attacks on Cruz, Paul and other "whacko birds...." - Hugh Hewitt/Townhall

Cruz smiles, takes out the rhetorical rapier, and reduces his interlocutors to sputtering incoherence mixed with hapless outrage. (Google Diane Feinstein and Cruz for a great example of dithering, entitled privilege colliding with forceful argument). He is also building an enormous war chest of data and future contributors while establishing in a way that no one can dispute that he did everything he could to stop the Obamacare nightmare before it engulfed the American health care system in chaos. Nicely done that. Well played Mr. Bond.

Healing: White House Compares Republicans to Terrorists, Kidnappers, Arsonists - Guy Benson/Townhall

If you're surprised by this administration's poisonous rhetoric, you haven't been paying attention. And once again, the self-appointed civility policy are strangely off duty. Go figure.



Cruz to Hannity: "We Need to Stand for Principle and Actually Stand Together"

What Cruz Wrought - Stephen F. Hayes/Weekly Standard

...Everyone is talking about Obamacare. And the more it gets talked about, the clearer its flaws are to an already skeptical public.... Mike Lee told us in mid-July that GOP leaders had offered “nothing” in response to his entreaties and didn’t have a strategy of their own. “There is no plan,” he said.

The prospect of a unified Republican message was gone. So these conservatives launched their outside-in campaign, using grassroots activist groups and the growing conservative angst about the president’s health care law to force it atop the agenda.

A Golden Opportunity for Republicans

With the waning of Obama’s popularity and the impending disaster of Obamacare, the time is ripe for the GOP. - Mona Charen/National Review

The fight to defund Obamacare explained with Braveheart gifs

Explaining the Tea Party fight to defund Obamacare with Braveheart gifs - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner @charlesspiering CLICK TO VIEW
Part 2: The fight to defund Obamacare explained with Braveheart gifs

But in the end Senate Republicans were not united. The vote was 79-19. But the fight goes on ... and the legend grows.

OBAMA TALKS WITH IRANIAN PRESIDENT, DECLARES GOP ‘EXTREMISTS’

President Barack Obama spoke Friday in a accommodating manner about the new leader of Iran and called congressional Republicans “extremists.” - Fred Lucas/The Blaze

Rouhani declines to meet Obama at United Nations General Assembly - Politico 9/24

The White House had offered to have “an encounter” between the two leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, but Iranian officials ultimately declined.

Israel says Iran diverting attention from bomb - France24

76% of GOP now 'conservative,' pick Cruz for 2016 nomination

According to a new PPP poll, which has Sen. Ted Cruz the top choice for the 2016 Republican nomination, those who describe themselves as “very conservative” make up 39 percent of the splintered party. Add in those who consider themselves “somewhat conservative,” and the right-leaning voters comprise 76 percent of the party. - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

Among the conservative voters, Cruz is the leading choice for the GOP nomination. He won 34 percent of that group. But he also shows remarkable crossover as 32 percent of the “very liberal” crowd also prefer him.

Poll: Ted Cruz Is Top Republican Primary Voter Choice For 2016 Prez Race - IJ Review

That Canadian-born Cuban Constitutionalist has filibustered his way into America’s heart. Or at least the hearts of Republican primary voters anyway.

Cruz emerges as GOP leader - PPP

Our numbers also suggest that Cruz is now viewed more broadly as the leader of the Republican Party. When asked whether they trust Cruz or GOP leader Mitch McConnell more, Cruz wins out 49/13. When it comes to who's more trusted between Cruz and Speaker John Boehner, Cruz has a 51/20 advantage. And when it comes to Cruz and 2008 GOP nominee and Senate colleague John McCain, Cruz wins out 52/31. He now has more credibility with the GOP base than the folks who have been leading the party for years.

“The republic’s in trouble, we lie about everything, lying has become the staple”

Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media: Pulitzer Prize winner explains how to fix journalism, saying press should 'fire 90% of editors and promote ones you can't control' - The Guardian

It doesn't take much to fire up Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the 1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist".

He is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth.

Don't even get him started on the New York Times which, he says, spends "so much more time carrying water for Obama than I ever thought they would" – or the death of Osama bin Laden. "Nothing's been done about that story, it's one big lie, not one word of it is true," he says of the dramatic US Navy Seals raid in 2011.

Hersh is writing a book about national security and has devoted a chapter to the bin Laden killing. He says a recent report put out by an "independent" Pakistani commission about life in the Abottabad compound in which Bin Laden was holed up would not stand up to scrutiny. "The Pakistanis put out a report, don't get me going on it. Let's put it this way, it was done with considerable American input. It's a bullshit report," he says hinting of revelations to come in his book.

The Obama administration lies systematically, he claims, yet none of the leviathans of American media, the TV networks or big print titles, challenge him.

"It's pathetic, they are more than obsequious, they are afraid to pick on this guy [Obama]," he declares in an interview with the Guardian.

"It used to be when you were in a situation when something very dramatic happened, the president and the minions around the president had control of the narrative, you would pretty much know they would do the best they could to tell the story straight. Now that doesn't happen any more. Now they take advantage of something like that and they work out how to re-elect the president.

Seymour Hersh: Bin Laden Raid “One Big Lie” - aul Joseph Watson/Infowars via Neal Boortz

Senator Ted Cruz just released this statement

Vote Latest Example of Washington Not Listening to the People - VIA GRETAWIRE

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) released the following statement regarding today’s vote in the Senate to invoke cloture on H.J. Res. 59:

“Today’s vote by Sen. Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats to fully fund Obamacare was yet the latest example of Washington not listening to the people.

“Obamacare is a ‘train wreck,’ a ‘nightmare,’ to use the words of its Democratic author and a union leader who previously supported the bill. It is the biggest job killer in America.

“As Teamsters President James Hoffa explained in a letter to Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Obamacare is hurting ‘millions of working men and women … and the families they support,’ and it ‘will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans.’

“Senate Democrats refused to listen.

“President Obama has granted exemptions for big business and Members of Congress, but Senate Democrats refuse to grant the American people the same exemption. Instead, they used political power to maintain their privileged position while doing nothing to respond to the pleas of millions of Americans.

“But this fight continues. Now the bill returns to the House. The House showed remarkable courage voting to defund Obamacare, and I hope and believe that the House will stand by their resolve and continue to lead the effort to stop the Obamacare train wreck.

“Obamacare is killing jobs, forcing people into part-time work, causing health insurance premiums to skyrocket, and threatening the healthcare of millions of Americans.

“Today, far too many Republicans joined Harry Reid in giving the Democrats the ability to fund Obamacare. When the bill comes back to the Senate, when the House yet again stands for principle and fights for the American people, I very much hope that Senate Republicans will rise to the challenge. We are stronger when we are united, and we can defeat Obamacare only if Senate Republicans come together, stand with House Republicans, and champion the millions of Americans being harmed by this disastrous healthcare law.”

###

Ted Cruz

The White Widow´s Lair


The South African safehouse in suburbia where world´s most wanted woman ´lived for months in hiding while working at halal pie factory ahead of Kenyan Mall Massacre - Daily Mail

With green bins dutifully placed out on the street, flowering garden peeking from behind a white gate, and a carefully tended entrance, it looks for all the world like any other suburban family home. But this is believed to be the South African lair where Samantha Lewthwaite - who Interpol last night named the world´s most wanted woman - is believed to have spent months in hiding. The images have emerged amid growing speculation that she masterminded the bloody Nairobi mall massacre which has left at least 72 dead.

'Eyes gouged out, bodies hanging from hooks, and fingers removed with pliers': Horrific claims of torture emerge as soldiers reveal gory Kenyan mall massacre details - Daily Mail WARNING, DISTURBING.

Revealed: American family rescued by hero of attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall - THE TELEGRAPH

Senate defeats Cruz filibuster, passes bill that funds Obamacare

The 79-19 vote saw 25 Republicans join with all Democrats to advance the bill, easily overcoming Mr. Cruz and his allies who had argued this was the key point that would determine whether major parts of President Obama’s health care law take effect next week. - Lucianne
Senate restores ObamaCare funding to budget bill, in challenge to GOP - FOX
Senate defies Cruz, strips language defunding ObamaCare - The Hill

Reuters poll shows Obama at a 39% overall approval rating

Recent polls have shown a rapid decline in Barack Obama’s standing with the American public, but the new Reuters/Ipsos poll is the most dramatic - HotAir

First, let’s take a look at the breakdowns on Obama’s performance. Democrats approve overall 74/22, but only 35% strongly approve, which is an interesting figure among his own party As one might expect, Republicans highly disapprove at 12/88. The score among independents is what’s killing Obama at the moment — a 23/69, which is going to be a huge problem for vulnerable Democrats in next year’s midterms if Obama can’t right the ship before then. Only 10% of independents strongly approve, as opposed to 39% who strongly disapprove. Those kind of numbers may threaten Democrats in some districts and states previously seen as safer, too.

Sen. Ted Cruz gives final speech before cloture vote on House CR that defunds Obamacare #MakeDCListen UPDATE: Cloture is reached, Debate closed



Remember, a vote for cloture is a vote for Obamacare. - The Right Scoop

House Conservatives Warn GOP Senators: Vote for Cloture ‘Same As a Vote for Obamacare Itself’ - CNS News

A group of 21 conservative members of the House of Representatives sent a letter late Thursday to all 46 Senate Republicans warning them that if they voted for cloture on the continuing resolution in the Senate—which would put Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) in a position to reinstate Obamacare funding with just 51 partisan votes--the House conservatives would consider that vote for cloture the same as if these Republican senators had voted for Obamacare itself.
“As you are well aware,” the House conservatives wrote, “it is highly likely that Majority Leader Harry Reid will move to amend the House-passed CR and remove the language from the bill that defunds Obamacare before sending it back to the House.

“As you are also aware,” the conservatives wrote, “such a motion can only proceed if three-fifths of the Senate invokes cloture and allows this amendment process to begin. Simply put, the only chance that Senator Reid has to pursue this course of action is if six or more Republican Senators join the Democrats in voting to invoke cloture.

“Therefore,” the House conservatives said to every Republican senator, “it shall be our policy to regard any cloture vote that gives Senator Reid a green light to reinstate Obamacare into this CR the same as a vote for Obamacare itself.”

Some Nebraskans’ premiums to triple under Obamacare - Nebraska Watch

Laying Out Friday's Senate Vote on Obamacare Funding - Katie Pavlich/Townhall









Hillary, don't run for president

America is weary of limited political choices and dynasties. A second Clinton presidency might culminate in 28 years of Clinton-Bush control. - James Moore/CNN

Running for president because it is expected and seems like an obvious decision are clearly not the right motivations.

Why is “Abortion Barbie” off limits for Wendy Davis?

Among the nicest things the Democratic smear machine called Sarah Palin was “Caribou Barbie.” Just about everything else they called her was much worse.

On August 5, 2013, in the midst of her pro-late term abortion fame-tour, Davis admitted to being completely ignorant of the Kermit Gosnell shop of abortion horrors that was sweeping the news media, as reported by John McCormack of The Weekly Standard:
Davis has become a champion for pro-choice activists, but during her recent whirlwind national media tour, she never commented on late-term abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted of murder in May for killing infants moments after they were born.

Following her Press Club speech on Monday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD asked Davis to explain the difference between the late-term abortions that the Texas state senator wants to keep legal and the illegal Gosnell killings.

Davis didn’t answer the question. “I don’t know what happened in the Gosnell case,” she told me.
The next day Erick Erickson dubbed Davis “Abortion Barbie” because of her ignorance of the Gosnell case:

5 Ways Obamacare Could Impact You in 5 3 Days

Thursday, September 26, 2013

This is a great chart that shows how the Common Core doubles down on No Child Left Behind.


VIA IOWAGOP

It Begins: DC, Colorado Announce Obamacare Exchanges Won't Be Ready On Time

Don't say you weren't warned, America. The likelihood of cut corners, crashed websites, and delayed enrollment has been coming into focus since the early summer. The Obama administration treated each troublesome admonition as a hiccup or a smear, going so far as to release a taxpayer-funded television ad falsely assuring Americans that everything was right "on schedule." - GUY BENSON/TOWNHALL
White House resets expectations for ObamaCare exchanges in light of embarrassing failures - HOTAIR

George Orwell is spinning in his grave. Small wonder that the White House now wants to lower expectations (and blame Republicans for trying to prevent this disaster from taking place at all). By the way, whatever happened to the promise to lower premiums by $2500 a year?

More Obamacare premium fables - Washington Examiner EDITORIAL
Democrat Manchin Breaks Ranks to Back Mandate Delay - BLOOMBERG
Obamacare's 'Family Glitch' Could Leave 500,000 Children Uninsured - IJ REVIEW
UPDATE: Byron York calls it “a big tactical error” – Harry Reid calls Obamacare medical device tax ‘stupid’ - THE RIGHT SCOOP

Wasn't the Prop. 30 tax hike supposed to be for education, not a $6 million mansion for Janet Napolitano?



◼ Via Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

There once was a time (before the 1980s) when liberals were a powerful force against executive overreach.

Things have changed. - Ted Rall h/t: CD

A "liberal" president and his Democratic congressional and media allies aren't fighting the good fight. They're committing the worst crimes.

And so, following what Chris Hedges called "the death of the liberal class," where the Hellfire missiles fly and in streets that ought to be full of protesters, naught but crickets, here's what's left:

The most liberal politician in America is a right-winger.

The Turning Point - Michael Walsh/PJMedia

Jay Carney Gives Laughable White House Response to Legitimate Question About Health Care Prices



There is a big difference in verbiage: - IJ Review
You will be paying less.
You will be paying less than expected.
Think the White House isn’t misleading America?

Predictably, obama is back on the campaign trail. Can't get anyone but college students to listen to him. Golf. Campaign. Repeat.

99 Giggles: Obama’s rinse-and-repeat Obamacare speech sparks new drinking song? - Twitchy

Predictably, obama is back on the campaign trail. Can't get anyone but college students to listen to him. Golf. Campaign. Repeat.

Haunting reminder of millions of lives lost in war as artists stencil 9,000 bodies onto Normandy beach to mark Peace Day


British led project covered the famous coastline in poignant silhouettes - Aaron Sharp/Daily Mail

A pair of British artists have created this stunning installation of 9,000 silhouettes on a D-Day Landings beach to mark international Peace Day.

The project, named, 'The Fallen' is a tribute to the civilians, German forces and Allies who lost their lives during the Operation Neptune landing on June 6, 1944.

The design was the brainchild of Jamie Wardley, 33, and Andy Moss, 50.

Together with a team of volunteers the pair travelled to Arromanches beach, Normandy, to create the silhouettes, which were individually drawn into the sand.

More people support the Tea Party than consider themselves liberal, and almost 3/4 of the electorate does not oppose the Tea Party.

That’s not the headline you will see, of course. - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

I do not like this Uncle Sam,
I do not like his health care scam.

I do not like this Uncle Sam,
I do not like his health care scam.
I do not like these dirty crooks,
or how they lie and cook the books!!
I do not like when Congress steals,
I do not like their secret deals.
I do not like this speaker, Nan,
I do not like this, 'YES WE CAN'!!
I do not like this spending spree,
I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.
I do not like their smug replies,
when I complain about their lies.
I do not like this kind of hope,
I do not like it, NOPE, NOPE, NOPE!

Tarzana Joe’s “Green Jobs and Spam.” ◼ Via Hugh Hewitt - A MUST READ...

Obamacare is what we need
Obamacare….
Says Harry Reid, “You'd love it if you had the facts
Even with that stupid tax.
You will like it here and there
You will love Obamacare.”

"Would you like it for your lung?
Would you like it for your tongue?”

Not for my lung
Not for my tongue
I do not like it here or there
I do not want Obamacare...

read the rest, at the link

President Obama´s best friend from high school ´brutally beat and raped woman in her apartment´

Keith Kiyoshi Kakugawa, 54, from Eureka, California, was arrested at his home last Sunday and booked into Humboldt County Jail on suspicion of false imprisonment, sexual penetration by force, oral copulation by force and battery. - Daily Mail UK

Arcata Police Department Sgt Keith Altizer said detectives spent most of September 13 collecting evidence from the victim after she was attacked. Kakugawa was arrested later that day.

The victim told police she went to dinner with him and when they went back to her apartment he punched, slapped, sexually assaulted her and held her against her will.

First reported locally September 14th:
Report of Rape in Arcata/Suspect Arrested - Kym Kemp/Lost Coast Outpost
APD put out a new press release below:
On 9/13/13 a press release was sent out stating that Keith Kiyoshi Kakagawa, age 54 from Eureka, was arrested for sexual assault.

The correct spelling of the suspect’s name is Keith Kiyoshi Kakugawa, age 54 from Eureka.
Yesterday, President Obama’s Childhood Friend Arrested for Rape by the APD [MUGSHOT ADDED] - Kym Kemp/Lost Coast Outpost

Yesterday was not a good day for Keith Kakugawa in spite of it being the day after his birthday. The childhood friend of President Obama, written about as “Ray” in the President’s book, Dreams from My Father, was arrested and charged with rape by the Arcata Police Dept....

CRUZ CONTROL SHOULD BE STANDARD ON GOP MODELS

If I could briefly interrupt the Republican firing squad aiming at Ted Cruz, let’s talk about something we all agree on. And by “we all,” I mean a majority of the American people, the Teamsters, many Democrats and every single last Republican. - Anne Coulter/Human Events

Obamacare is an unmitigated disaster.

...Proving that everyone hates it, Congress has now exempted itself from Obamacare’s provisions, having asked for, and received, a waiver from President Obama.

...But instead of attacking Obamacare and the breathtaking hypocrisy of the Democrats over this massively unpopular law, far too many Republicans have been spending their time attacking Ted Cruz.

...Whether or not Cruz succeeds, we wouldn’t be talking about Obamacare this week without his efforts to defund it — at least those of us who are talking about this disastrous law, rather than attacking Cruz.

Cruz Tells Rush: “The Single Biggest Surprise In The US Senate is The Defeatist Attitude Here” (Video) - Nice Deb
Senator Ted Cruz stands up to the liberal Left with real conservative leadership - Nile Gardiner/Telegraph
Chris Matthews Admits: Cruz has 30%...Harry Reid Doesn't Have 30% Behind Him - Elizabeth Sheld/Breitbart

IRS Watchdog: $67 Million Missing from Obamacare Slush Fund...

The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today. - Americans For Tax Reform

The report also found several other abuses of taxpayer funds, including:
Travel abuse: The report states, “Specifically, we identified 38 IRS employees in two judgmentally selected business units whose travel was charged to the HIRIF in FY 2012, but no portion of their salary and related benefits was charged to the HIRIF.” In short, the IRS was not making sure that employee travel reimbursements had anything to do with the purpose of the fund. This is not the first time that IRS employee travel has created a scandal for the agency.

1,272 IRS Obamacare enforcement agents: The report estimates that total slush fund spending cost taxpayers the equivalent of 1,272 new full time IRS agents.

Obamacare’s ‘Cool Calculator,’ Part 2: The ‘Wedding Tax’

Better off divorced and shacking up. - Tom Blumer/PJMedia

In a September 13 email, Erin Hannigan of Organizing for Action’s “Truth Team” bragged about a “cool calculator from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation” showing how Obamacare’s “tax credits” work, and encouraged everyone to “share it on Facebook or Twitter.”

Obamacare’s opponents, especially those who advocate defunding it before it goes live, need to follow Hannigan’s suggestion, and even embed it on their websites and blogs. That’s because what Kaiser’s “cool calculator” really does is expose the statist health care regime’s three ugliest financial elements...

The third tragic outcome of Obamacare is what it will do to marriages and families. In January 2010, two months before Obamacare’s passage, the estimable Robert Rector at the Heritage Foundation gave the impact a name: the “wedding tax.”

...The “easiest” solution would be to avoid the “wedding tax” entirely by getting divorced while still living together. Here’s what would happen if they make that choice:


Click here for the full article

21 Lines From Cruz's 21-Hour Speech

4. "All it takes for us to do the right thing is for us to listen to the American people." - Katie Pavlich/Townhall
9. "I believe that if Obamacare doesn't apply to everyone, then it shouldn't apply to anyone."
DEFUNDING OBAMACARE DEBATE A WIN FOR GOP, TEA PARTY - Mike Flynn/Breitbart
How is it bad for the GOP to have a big national debate on getting rid of ObamaCare on the eve of its implementation, just as the public is again paying attention to the issue? It benefits the party to remind voters that Republicans will go to almost any length to defund a law who's unpopularity is likely to grow. It also benefits the party to remind voters that Democrats will go to almost any length to preserve the law.
Kristol: Ted Cruz Has Picked The Right Fight -- Mostly (podcast) - Weekly Standard
WHAT BIAS? A look at the headlines between the Wendy Davis and Ted Cruz filibusters - The Right Scoop (TODAY'S MUST READ)
At HuffPo, Wendy Davis Was 'Filibuster Heard 'Round the World'; Now It's 'Cruz 'Hijacks Senate' - Newsbusters

The left tries to portray HuffPo as some kind of great source for reliable news. What rubbish — both the claim and the web site.

DEMOCRATS ARE THE KNOW-NOTHINGS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION - Human Events

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said on Saturday that if Republicans abandon conservatives, conservatives may have to consider leaving the Republican Party.

Palin was responding on Fox News to a question from a viewer, Josh Painter, who asked if she and conservative talk radio host Mark Levin would be willing to form a "Freedom Party" if the GOP continues to let down conservatives. - Tony Lee/Breitbart

"I love the name of that party," Palin said on Fox News on Saturday. "If the GOP continues to back away from the planks in our platform, from the principles that built this party of Lincoln and of Reagan, then, yeah, more and more of us are going to start saying, 'You know, what's wrong with being independent?'"

Palin said that if Republicans vote for things like amnesty, "there will be a lot of us who start saying, 'GOP, if you abandon us, we have nowhere else to go except to become more independent and not enlisted in one or the other private majority parties that rule in our nation.'"

More Than 21 Hours Later, Ted Cruz Has Been Cut Off

The Texas Republican rose in opposition to Obamacare Tuesday afternoon. He spoke for almost a full day. Here's what happened. - Matt Berman, Matt Vasilogambros and Dustin Volz/National Journal

By Wednesday morning, Cruz and some of his colleagues were still standing. He was cut off by a new day of Senate business at noon by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

It was not a filibuster. But it was a very, very long speech from the Texas senator who has been the center of attention in D.C.'s budget fight, and the Senate leader in a doomed-to-fail movement to strip funding for Obamacare out of any resolution that Congress passes to fund the government. If Congress fails to come to an agreement, the government will shutdown at the end of September.

Ted Cruz stood up to "make D.C. listen," he said repeatedly. "Washington depends on the American people not paying attention."

But what we heard during the duration of Sen. Cruz's speech was his view of how to be successful in modern American politics. And, in the reactions to his speech from members of his own party, we may get a sense of just how successful the ambitious senator can be.

TED CRUZ’S LONG SPEECH - Powerline
"Love him, hate him, doubt his strategy, embrace his strategy, you have to admire how he's going the distance for what he believes in." - Discussion at Lucianne

UP ALL NIGHT: Cruz Eviscerates Obamacare...

WATCH LIVE:



Ted Cruz vows to speak 'until he can no longer stand' as he passes 15th 16th 20TH + HOUR of unlikely attempt to save legislation defunding Obamacare - Daily Mail UK
Takes aim at fellow Republicans...
New Guard joins effort: Paul, Rubio, Lee...
'THIS IS LIFE AND DEATH'...
'Time to Make DC Listen' - Politico
Reads Green Eggs & Ham on Senate Floor...
Obama: 'Unprecedented effort' to scare...
Internal Senate email warns lawmakers not to sign up yet...
C-SPAN LIVE...
Americans Turn on Washington; 68% Say Wrong Track in Poll...
HOUSE MAY DEMAND DELAY OF INDIVIDUAL MANDATE...
Would Save $35.4 Billion of Federal Budget...

What the Administration Didn’t Tell You About Obamacare Exchange Plans - Chris Jacobs/Heritage
500,000 kids could lose health coverage because of ObamaCare - JASON PYE/UNITED LIBERTY

ObamaCare supporters have been touting the provisions of the law that give taxpayer-funded subsidies to help the uninsured pay for health coverage. But one little known part of the law, known at the “family glitch,” could actually cause up to 500,000 children to lose health insurance coverage

Obama’s $3,000 Health-Law Premiums Test Limits of Affordability - Bloomberg
The release of the data by the Obama administration comes just six days before the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges open for enrollment, and a day after Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, took the floor of the U.S. Senate to oppose the law.
Prices Set for New Health-Care Exchanges, Younger Buyers May Face Higher Insurance Premiums - Wall St. Journal
Double Down: Obamacare Will Increase Avg. Individual-Market Insurance Premiums By 99% For Men, 62% For Women - Forbes
Tennessee: Obamacare will triple men's premiums, double women's - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

BREAKING NEWS: Secretary of State John Kerry signs controversial U.N. treaty on arms regulation, as U.S. lawmakers vow Senate will not ratify agreement

link - Gretawire

Kerry signs UN arms treaty, senators threaten to block it - FOX



CORKER WARNS OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AGAINST ANY ACTION TO IMPLEMENT U.N. ARMS TRADE TREATY WITHOUT SENATE ADVICE AND CONSENT - foreign.senate.gov/press

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Cruz vows filibuster ‘until I am no longer able to stand’

Watch Live: Ted Cruz Filibusters Obamacare - Real Clear Politics



Live streaming video by Ustream

“I rise today to speak for 26 million Texans and 300 million Americans” - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times

He began at 2:41, and can talk up until noon tomorrow, when under the Senate rules he would have to stop and the Senate would proceed to vote on ending debate and bringing the spending bill to the floor.
The bill right now includes provisions to defund Obamacare, which Mr. Cruz supports, but under the rules Democrats can strip those provisions out with a majority vote. So Mr. Cruz is trying to block the entire bill — including the parts he supports — in protest.

Straightening out the pretzel of the ‘defund Obamacare’ effort in the Senate - Red Alert Politics
Harry Reid says Ted Cruz isn't doing a real filibuster - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner @joelmentum
The Hypocrisy Of Congress's Gold-Plated Health Care - Wall St. Journal
WSJ Growls at Heritage Over Cruz - Jeffrey Lord/American Spectator
Ted Cruz seizes Senate floor in failing quest - Politico
WaPo Reporter: ´Interesting´ Cruz Feels Accountable to Grassroots, Not GOP Leadership - Tony Lee/Breitbart´s Big Journalism
Mike Lee explains strategy: Would filibuster Harry Reid tactics, not House bill defunding Obamacare - Daily Caller

This Fight Is for You - Jim DeMint/heritage, The Foundry

We’re fighting for the grandmother who is counting on her trusted physician to guide her through the challenges of aging. Because Obamacare means you can’t necessarily keep your doctor if you like him, and it’s cutting down on the health care choices available to seniors.

We’re fighting for the couple who’s raising their own children while wondering how they’re going to care for their aging parents. Their premiums are going up and they’re wondering how they’ll afford it.

We’re fighting for the waiter who’s going to school and working full-time. Obamacare is causing many employers to cut back on workers’ hours so that they don’t have to provide them with health insurance. For many people, that means losing income and losing health insurance at the same time.

We’re fighting for the single mom who needs a steady job to support her kids. Obamacare is making jobs tougher to find, because a lot of businesses are saying they just can’t hire anyone new. The burden of the law’s mandates and regulations is making it too costly.

Every one of you is working hard to support your family, stay healthy, and make the best choices you can make. Obamacare is only getting in the way.

So no matter what anyone says, we’re going to keep fighting. Harry Reid is threatening to use all sorts of procedural gimmicks to keep Obamacare going. But Americans are catching on that this law is the reason their spouses don’t have health insurance any more, or their kids’ doctor isn’t in their network any more. They’re seeing how unfair and harmful it is.

And we can’t just sit by and let Obamacare take away the health plans we like, the doctors we like, and the freedom to make our own health care choices.

We won’t stop fighting. You can count on it.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) directed his state’s Education Board on Monday to pull out of the consortium of states that is developing the new online tests that will be aligned to the Common Core State Standards

FLORIDA'S GOV. RICK SCOTT SAYS 'NO' TO COMMON CORE TESTING - Dr. Susan Berry/Breitbart

According to Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post, Scott sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan informing him that Florida was ending its association with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), one of the two consortia preparing the new Common Core standardized tests. The consortia have been supported in their test development endeavor by about $350 million from the federal government.

Florida was a leading state in the PARCC consortium and had been acting as its “fiscal agent.’

In the assertive letter to Duncan, Scott accused him of meddling in state education affairs:
Unfortunately, PARCC has become a primary entry point for the involvement of the federal government into many of these state and local decisions. The federal government, however, has no constitutional authority to involve itself in the state-level decisions on academic standards and assessments or the curriculum and instruction decisions of our local school boards.

As a result, I intend to ask that the State Board of Education direct the Commissioner of Education to end Florida’s fiscal agent relationship with PARCC and to issue a competitive solicitation to select Florida’s next state assessment…as the federal government continues to maintain its unwarranted involvement in PARCC, it is important that we examine other alternatives to select an assessment that best meets the needs of Florida students, parents and teachers, not the needs of the federal government or other states.

Like so many well-intentioned ideas, the luster of this one quickly fades upon closer scrutiny. - Rep. Debbie Mayfield (R)/Sunshine State News

Any state that adopts this national standard willingly cedes a portion of its educational authority; shifting authority and control from the state to this national scheme. And what does the state get in return?
Common Core proponents argue the benefit is increased educational standards and the expectation of improved student achievement. When I looked into this claim I found it lacking. In fact, after thoroughly analyzing the standards contained in Common Core it is clear to me that Florida gives up much more than it gains by adopting these national standards.

OBAMACARE: Not the plan president sold America...

Millions of low-income Americans won’t receive coverage. Many workers at small businesses won’t get a choice of insurance plans right away. Large employers won’t need to provide insurance for another year. Far more states than expected won’t run their own insurance marketplaces. And a growing number of workers won’t get to keep their employer-provided coverage. - Politico
Horror stories emerge: Family's health care premiums triple... - FOX
"When I saw the letter when I came home from work," Andy said, describing the large red wording on the envelope from his insurance carrier, "(it said) 'your action required, benefit changes, act now.' Of course I opened it immediately."

It had stunning news. Insurance for the Mangiones and their two boys,which they bought on the individual market, was going to almost triple in 2014 --- from $333 a month to $965.

The insurance carrier made it clear the increase was in order to be compliant with the new health care law.
Doctors Brace for Health Law’s Surge of Ailing Patients - Bloomberg
Frustration Mounts... Ala. Residents Won’t Get Any Details About ‘Obamacare’ Plans Before Insurance Options Go Online Oct. 1 - CBS DC
One week away, Obamacare’s small business insurance exchanges not all ready for launch - Washington Post
link
Obama Needs Bill to Explain . . . Again - Keith Koffler/White House Dossier

Branco Cartoon – Robin Hood


link - A.F.Branco/Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
Note: You may reprint this cartoon provided you link back to this source. To see more Legal Insurrection Branco cartoons, ◼ click here. Branco’s page is Cartoonist ◼ A.F.Branco

Monday, September 23, 2013

Ted Cruz speech on floor of Senate today



Ted Cruz was on the floor of the Senate today making the case about defunding Obamacare and keeping the government open. - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion

...The Senate rules are byzantine, resulting in the need for counter-intuitive maneuvering. Coupled with the lack of will in the Senate Republicans, those rules likely doom Cruz to failure this time. But it’s a failure of the will at many levels.

The reason Cruz is called foolish is that Democrats are willing to play a game of chicken over shutting down the government, and Republicans are not. That is the complete opposite of the media narrative willingly adopted by Cruz’s Republican opponents.

Obamacare Shutdown Showdown: 2013 Is Not 1995, and Cruz Can Win - Bryan Preston/PJMedia
Monday Defund Recap: Cruz Takes High Road, Levin Slams Treacherous Republicans, Obama Plans Brazen Assault on Constitution… - Nice Deb
Mark Levin: Mitch McConnell just STABBED Ted Cruz and Mike Lee IN THE BACK - Audio at the link - The Right Scoop
EXCLUSIVE–SOURCE: MCCONNELL, CORNYN WHIPPING VOTES AGAINST TED CRUZ - Matthew Boyle/Breitbart

Taking his hypocrisy to a new extreme, Obama, with the full throated support of media, declares that any Republican who balks at raising the debt ceiling is keen on bankrupting America.

America is headed for disaster. We have lost our way and are engaged in self-delusion on a massive scale. - Larry Johnson/No Quarter

...These are just four recent items that reveal a willingness on the part of our political class to ignore hypocrisy and pretend that a pile of fetid feces is really a tasty bowl of chocolate pudding. But you can’t, no matter how hard you try, shine shit. All you end up doing is smearing it around.

We cannot continue such delusional policies without endangering our nation’s security and economic stability.

Clearly, the White Widow has a taste for blood. It remains to be seen whether she will live long enough to kill again....


Why the White Widow is prime suspect: Kenyan anti-terror police believe British woman, 29, may be behind mall massacre - Daily Mail

Has British 'White Widow' been killed in final assault on Kenyan shopping mall? Body of white woman terrorist is found at scene - Daily Mail

'White widow' Samantha Lewthwaite may have been killed during the Nairobi siege.
As attempts to flush the remaining militants out of a Kenyan shopping centre continued, officials said three Islamist extremists had died during attempts to free their hostages.

Insiders said one was a white woman – adding weight to the theory that Lewthwaite, the fugitive widow of 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, was behind the attack that has left 62 dead and 170 injured....

Lewthwaite, whose family say they have not spoken to her in years, was seven months pregnant when (her husband) Lindsay blew himself up on a Tube train in 2005, killing 26.

She is known to her followers as ‘Dada Mzungu’ – Swahilli for white sister – and has occasionally taken to Twitter to rail against the ‘infidels of the West’.

She is understood to have avoided arrest so far by wearing a full-face veil while flitting between Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania.

Al Shabab Hysteria and Assault Rifles in Kenya - Larry Johnson/No Quarter

Then there is the matter of the horror of Islam. While I do not blame the vast majority of muslims for this madness, they must acknowledge that their religion-more so than any other faith–encourages and rewards those who engage in murder and hatred. If Islam wants to be taken seriously as a great religion then it is incumbent on the imams of various mosques to condemn as one this type of insanity.... Going forward over the next few months I think we can expect to see an upsurge of military strikes into Somalia directed at camps and training facilities linked to Al Shabab. There is no negotiating here. We must kill them. It is that simple.

REID BLOCKS CRUZ, KEEPS SHUTDOWN, DEFAULT ON TABLE

On Monday afternoon, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz asked for unanimous consent to immediately consider the House Continuing Resolution to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. The legislation would also take steps to avoid a default on government debt while Congress debates a raising of the debt ceiling. Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid was on hand to block the request. - Mike Flynn/Breitbart

After Reid's block, Cruz noted in remarks that the move keeps open the possibility of a government shutdown next week and a default on the national debt later in October. "He is willing to risk a government shutdown," Cruz said about Reid. "He is willing to force a government shutdown," to continue funding ObamaCare.
Cruz noted that if the Senate passed the House CR all the talk about a shutdown or government default "would just go away. Those count-down clocks that are showing up on TV, would disappear."

Colleen Hedrick R.I.P.

This site is inspired by, and dedicated to, Colleen Hedrick, whose tireless work, perennial good cheer, and fighting spirit was a model for us all.

Possible ObamaCare compromise: Let’s force government employees to fend for themselves on the exchanges

Remember how, a few months ago, members of Congress were panicked that their staffers would start quitting en masse this fall thanks to an O-Care rule that Chuck Grassley inserted into the final bill in 2010? - Allahpundit/HotAir

...Our leader, knowing that he could ill afford any more discontent on the Hill over his pet boondoggle and confident that he can suspend or ignore whichever ObamaCare provisions he chooses, got the Office of Personnel and Management to issue a new regulation stating that subsidies would continue for federal staffers even after they bought a new health-care plan on the exchange. Crisis averted!

Or is it? Here’s Paul suggesting that, in lieu of defunding, one of the things the GOP could insist on in a compromise is making sure all federal employees have to live with O-Care, warts and all....The issue may be too small-ball for most defunders’ liking given their ambitions to stop the entire law cold (which won’t happen anyway), but the politics of it would be excruciating for Democrats.

This year’s annual Republican Picnic:
Sunday, September 29 in Fortuna


This year’s annual Republican Picnic will be held Sunday, September 29 at Rohner Park, Fortuna. It is sponsored by Humboldt Republican Women and the Republican County Central Committee.

There is no charge to attend the picnic which will feature hamburgers and hot dogs,
but be “pot luck” for salads and desserts. Those whose last name begins with N-Z are asked to bring a salad; those with A-M, a dessert.

Featured speakers will be Supervisor Ryan Sundberg and Eureka Mayor Frank Jager. Everyone is invited to cast a ballot in the Major Issues straw poll. There will also be an auction and raffle.

Hours are 12N-4 p.m.

Last week, as a parting gift to its chairwoman, Ann Ravel (who is slated to be confirmed to the Federal Election Commission), the California Fair Political Practices Commission enacted a sweeping proposal to regulate online political communication

The FPPC’s New Role: The Internet Cop - Steven Maviglio/Fox&Hounds

In last year’s political cycle, voters turned to the Internet like never before. Californians were tweeting and posting political news to their Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit and other social media accounts in record numbers, with millions of postings during the recent GOP and Democratic conventions alone.

Advances we couldn’t even envision a couple years ago appeared last cycle: More than 200,000 voters signed up for an app that allowed them to be the first to know who Mitt Romney would name as vice president; Obama supporters were able to contribute up to $50 to the president’s re-election campaign via their mobile phone by texting “Give.”

These innovations are the result of armies of social media campaigners — now a mainstay of statewide races and ballot initiatives — who are engaging voters in new and interesting ways. But that creativity will now be stifled by a regulation that requires each post outside of a campaign’s own platform to be ID’d and reported to state government. That’s tough enough for a well-funded campaign, never mind ashoestring campaigns, that will add an onerous new layer of regulation that will result in less online communication.

The FPPC doesn’t have the resources – nor the need – to become the Internet police. It should stick to its knitting and work on enforcing the voluminous campaign reporting rules already on the books, instead of attempting to slow the revolution of online communication that is revolutionizing California politics.

Lois Lerner out at IRS...

Lois Lerner out at IRS...
Paid leave since May...
REPORT: Internal investigation found Lerner 'neglect of duties'...

Obamacare Will Increase Health Spending By $7,450 For A Typical Family of Four

FORBES: Obamacare Will Increase Health Spending By $7,450 For A Typical Family of Four - Forbes

...Obamacare will not save Americans one penny now or in the future. Perhaps the next time voters encounter a politician making such grandiose claims, they will learn to watch their wallet. Until then, let’s spare strapped Americans from having to find $657 in spare change between their couch cushions next year. Let’s delay this law for a year so that policymakers have time to fix the poorly designed Rube Goldberg device known as Obamacare. For a nation with the most complicated and expensive health system on the planet, making it even more complicated and even more expensive never was a good idea.

...When insurance marketplaces open on Oct. 1, most of those shopping for coverage will be low- and moderate-income people for whom price is paramount. To hold down costs, insurers say, they have created smaller networks of doctors and hospitals than are typically found in commercial insurance. And those health care providers will, in many cases, be paid less than what they have been receiving from commercial insurers.... - New York Times

Some consumer advocates and health care providers are increasingly concerned. Decades of experience with Medicaid, the program for low-income people, show that having an insurance card does not guarantee access to specialists or other providers.

Consumers should be prepared for “much tighter, narrower networks” of doctors and hospitals, said Adam M. Linker, a health policy analyst at the North Carolina Justice Center, a statewide advocacy group.

Revealed: Obama came up with ObamaCare because he needed a throwaway applause line in a campaign speech

Knowing what you know about him, if you had to guess the genesis of his biggest domestic legislative initiative, which would you guess? - HotAir

That he spent years studying the issue, consumed by the intricacies of health-care policy and determined to make a difference if ever placed in a position to do so? Or that he needed a killer line for one of his speeches and couldn’t let pass a golden opportunity to grandstand? QED. Even the transformation of American health care is but a subplot to Hopenchange image-making.

The most important red line of Barack Obama’s presidency was scrawled hastily in January 2007, a few weeks before he even announced he was running for president. - Politico

Soon-to-be-candidate Obama, then an Illinois senator, was thinking about turning down an invitation to speak at a big health care conference sponsored by the progressive group Families USA [in January 2007], when two aides, Robert Gibbs and Jon Favreau, hit on an idea that would make him appear more prepared and committed than he actually was at the moment.

Why not just announce his intention to pass universal health care by the end of his first term?…

“We needed something to say,” recalled one of the advisers involved in the discussion. “I can’t tell you how little thought was given to that thought other than it sounded good. So they just kind of hatched it on their own. It just happened. It wasn’t like a deep strategic conversation.”…

The candidate jumped at it. He probably wasn’t going to get elected anyway, the team concluded. Why not go big?

EGYPT BANS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD GROUP

An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the Muslim Brotherhood to be banned and its assets confiscated in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown by the military-backed government against supporters of the ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. - AP

The ruling opens the door for a wider crackdown on the vast network of the Brotherhood, which includes social organizations that have been key for building the group's grassroots support and helping its election victories. The verdict banned the group itself - including the official association it registered earlier this year - as well as "any institution branching out of it or ... receiving financial support from it," according to the court ruling, made public on Egypt's state official news agency MENA....

In the past, all orders to disband the group have been issued by executive authorities. In 1948, it was outlawed under the monarchy, then once again in 1954 by President Gamal Abdel-Nasser, who imprisoned and executed several of its top leaders.

Still, the group was able to build up its organization, working in semi-shadow. Under Mubarak, the group won nearly 20 percent of parliament seats in mid. 2000s.

...Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi has warned against driving the Brotherhood completely underground, saying monitoring of political parties is a more reasonable alternative.

Defunding Obamacare would defund Obamacare; but NOT funding Obamacare would NOT DEFUND Obamacare

A slew of recent articles explaining (Bloomberg, Washington Post, National Journal) the effort to defund Obamacare have all pointed out an important fact: a government shutdown wouldn't defund Obamacare. - Timothy P. Carney/Washington Examiner @TPCarney

But these articles have all glossed over another important fact: defunding Obamacare would defund Obamacare.

Guess what doesn't require annual appropriations? Almost all of Obamacare. So, yes, B-Berg, NatJo, and WaPo, a government shutdown won't defund Obamacare.

But that's not the whole story. The House passed a CR numbered H.J. Res 59. This House CR, in addition to funding the government at current levels, also contains a defund-Obamacare provision. This provision at least aims to defund Obamacare, and I think it does:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal funds shall be made available to carry out any provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act...
No entitlement to benefits under any provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act... shall remain in effect on and after the date of the enactment of this joint resolution, nor shall any payment be awarded, owed, or made to any State, District, or territory under any such provision.

The Secret American Subculture of Putin-Worshippers


The Russian president has his fans here—who see him as the very epitome of macho manliness. - Marin Cogan/National Journal

Sunday, September 22, 2013

JIHAD IN KENYA: WOMEN AND CHILDREN WERE SLAUGHTERED IF THEY COULD NOT RECITE THE KORAN, JIHADIS CUT THE HANDS OFF THE BODIES OF THEIR VICTIMS AND BURNED THEIR FACES


'These are Islamic fundamentalist nutcases. They just shot and killed anybody. They are horrible' Greg Aldous, witness - Atlas Shrugs

Islamist terror group Al Shabaab claimed it carried out the atrocity in which three Britons were killed and 175 people were left injured.

It said last night on Twitter that Samantha Lewthwaite, the ‘white widow’ of London 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, was ‘in their ranks’ and a ‘brave lady’. Fifteen hostages were still trapped inside the shopping centre after more than 24 hours of carnage in which men, women and children were slaughtered if they could not recite the Koran or name the mother of the Prophet Mohammed.

As well as boasting Lewthwaite was with them, Al Shabaab claimed two British men from London, Liban Adam, 23, and Ahmed Nasir Shirdoon, 24, were among the ‘holy warriors’ in the attack. The group is said to be highly organised, with huge amounts of ammunition as well as night vision equipment. They have destroyed CCTV cameras inside the shopping mall, meaning they cannot be watched.

With horrific cruelty, they have reportedly cut the hands off the bodies of their victims and burned their faces to try to conceal their identities.

Writing on Twitter, the terrorists said: ‘Sherafiyah lewthwaite aka samantha is a vrave [brave] lady! were [we are] happier to have her in our ranks!’ Sherafiyah is the Muslim name now used by Lewthwaite.

Another tweet read: ‘our mujahideen are prepared to die for our cause!’


Terror raid 'led by white widow': Gang mastermind in veil barked orders at gunmen in mall massacre that left three Britons dead - Daily Mail
Kenya mall attack: Military says most hostages freed, death toll at 68 - CNN


Islam Needs an Intervention - Roger L Simon/PJMedia

..such a violent ideology left unchecked could destroy the world. It already infects over a billion Muslims, with painfully rare, though highly laudable, exceptions....

In the Name of Islam - Daniel Greenfield/Front Page Magazine

...“I don’t understand why you would shoot a five-year-old child,” one of the survivors said. But the five-year-old was not a Muslim.

Moments like these put the Clash of Civilizations into bloody context. This isn’t abstract politics. It’s not about economics, the environment or foreign policy. It’s about a worldview in which a five-year-old who can’t recite the Islamic confession of faith deserves to be killed.

The crime is not being a Muslim....

The message of the Koran here is not subtle. Accept Islamic law and Muslim rule or die.

It’s not an artifact of a previous savage era that Muslims have left behind. The dead bodies in Kenya and Nigeria make that all too clear. As do the dead bodies in Syria, Egypt and Pakistan. And those murdered in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Cameron and every Western leader can insist that there is nothing in Islam that justifies violence, but Muslims know better. A quarter of British Muslims were willing to endorse the Al Qaeda 7/7 bombings in the UK where such opinions are all but illegal. What then is the true number?

The true number is much too frightening. That’s why denial is easier....