Sussex County Delaware News

Daily Constitution Reading 6-5-2009

2009-06-05T08:56:00.000-04:00

Article 1 Section 8.1

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

Obama Stirs Israel

2009-06-03T16:06:00.002-04:00

With President Obama set to deliver a high-profile speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, Egypt, tensions are flaring in neighboring Israel over the U.S. president's latest demands on the Jewish state.

Top Israeli officials continue to rebuff Obama's call for the country to freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank. Obama's demand, which he reiterated strongly in an interview with National Public Radio ahead of his trip, is seen as a far tougher stance than that taken by his predecessor in the White House.

Whereas prior administrations generally opposed settlement construction, they allowed for "natural growth" of existing settlements.

But speaking to NPR, Obama said he has told the Israelis "both privately and publicly" that their obligation includes a freeze on settlements, "including natural growth."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have rejected that demand. And Israeli media have fixed on the spat as the U.S. president tours Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and later France and Germany, while skipping Israel.

The Israeli newspapers on Wednesday were packed with stories on what they called a "settlement row," a "public spat" and the United States' "hard-line" stance.

"Israeli-American relations are entering their most serious tailspin in a decade," newspaper Ha'aretz said in its analysis of what it called Obama's "tough love" on Wednesday.

"There's no denying the disturbing change in tone emanating from Washington, which is elevating the settlement issue to an importance which is disproportionate," declared The Jerusalem Post in a recent editorial, accusing Obama of "coddling" the Palestinians while getting tough on Israel.

The editorial said Israel needs to dismantle illegal outposts but suggested that freezing all settlement growth would do little to advance peace with the Palestinians.

Obama met Tuesday, before flying out, with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He reportedly reiterated his settlement position. With Obama now overseas, Vice President Joe Biden was following up in a meeting with Barak Wednesday in Washington.

Meanwhile, Israel's Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters at the United Nations Tuesday that "natural growth is needed ... and that's something that should be understood."

Shalom said Israel has committed to halting construction of new settlements, but that natural population growth requires the continued construction of facilities like classrooms and doctors' offices.

Ha'aretz reported that Obama intends to give Netanyahu four to six weeks to give an "updated position" on West Bank settlements and the goal of a two-state solution.

Obama told NPR that the he still believes the United States has a "special relationship" with Israel, but that the "status quo is unsustainable" and that movement toward a Palestinian state is critical to Israeli security.

"The current trajectory in the region is profoundly negative," Obama said. "Not only for Israeli interests but also U.S. interests."

Some analysts see potential progress in Obama's demands, since it could prompt Arab nations to work more earnestly toward peace with Israel.

Nathan Brown, a political scientist at George Washington University, said Obama's demand that Israel freeze settlements will make Arab leaders pay close attention to his speech this week.

"His predecessor, who did talk two-state solution, was not taken seriously because there was no change on the ground," he said, explaining that Muslims want to see something concrete go along with the platitudes.

Israeli politician Haim Oron told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday that Obama's stance is "correct" and in Israel's best interest. He dismissed the concerns of what he called the "Israeli Right."

Courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Daily Constitution Reading 6-3-2009

2009-06-03T16:03:00.000-04:00

Article 1 Section 8.3

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Daily Constitution Readin 6-2-2009

2009-06-02T15:52:00.000-04:00

Article 1 Section 9.2

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Sad End To A Sad Life

2009-06-01T16:31:00.001-04:00

Leaders of the anti-abortion movement gathered in front of the Supreme Court Monday morning to denounce the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller, who was gunned down Sunday while attending church in Wichita, Kan.

The pro-life activists also used the platform to blast President Obama's abortion policies and strongly question the beliefs of his Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor.

"It is immoral and it is unchristian," Rev. Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council said of Tiller's murder. He said the reaction to it "becomes a greater setback to the pro-life movement than anything the so-called pro-choice movement could do."

"We call on President Obama and the [congressional leaders] not to use this tragedy for political gain," added Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalitions.

Tiller was one of few American doctors who specialized in late-term abortions, and the eighth U.S. abortion provider murdered since 1977, according to the National Abortion Federation. Seventeen others had been targeted with attempted murder.

Tiller, who was cleared in March of 17 misdemeanor charges relating to his practice, had been the target of repeated protests and harassment for many years; he was wounded in both arms when an anti-abortion activist shot him in 1993.

The suspect in Sunday's shooting was identified by a law enforcement agent as Scott Roeder. Roeder, 51, was taken into custody about three hours after and 170 miles away from the shooting at Reformation Lutheran Church.

Police said Sunday that all early indications showed the shooter acted alone. Operation Rescue, a group that closely tracked Tiller's work and legal troubles, condemned the killing as vigilantism and "a cowardly act."

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, told The New York Times that Roeder was "not a friend, not a contributor, not a volunteer," even though a 2007 post on the group's Web site was written by a man identifying himself as Scott Roeder who asked if anyone had thought of attending Tiller's church to ask the doctor and other worshippers about his work.

Operation Rescue's Web site was down on Monday.

The group's former president, Randall Terry, said that, despite Tiller's murder, abortion opponents must not retreat from calling him a "mass murderer."

"The pro-life movement must not be browbeaten by Obama or the child-killers into surrendering our best rhetoric, actions and images. We hold absolutely no responsibility for his death," Terry said in a written statement.

Separately on Monday, Mahoney said it would be a "double tragedy" if politicians or pro-choice groups painted organizations like his with the "broad brush of extremism and violence."

He also used the occasion to attack Obama's abortion policies as "extreme" and said there was no doubt, based on the president's record, that Sotomayor will be a vote for abortion rights if she is confirmed to the Supreme Court.

"Be honest with us," Mahoney said when talking about White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' comments last week that Sotomayor was never asked or explicitly stated her abortion views during the vetting process.

Mahoney took issue with the "code words" coming from the White House about Sotomayor and abortion. But he acknowledged that Sotomayor's record as a federal judge reflects something far different than someone pushing a pro-choice agenda. He conceded that in three known abortion cases before her, Sotomayor supported the position he advocated. None of those cases, however, directly challenged the controversial law.

FOX News' Lee Ross contributed to this report.

Kim Jong Ill Is At It Again, Or I Mean Still

2009-06-01T09:49:00.001-04:00

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has transported its most advanced missile, believed to be capable of reaching Alaska, to a site where it could be ready for launch in a week or two, news reports said Monday.

The reclusive communist country was also reportedly strengthening its defenses and conducting amphibious assault exercises along its western shore, near disputed waters where deadly naval clashes with South Korea have occurred in the past.

With the launch, Pyongyang could also thumb its nose at U.N. Security Council attempts to rein it in after last week's nuclear test and a series of short-range missile launches.

South Korean media have speculated that the North wants to time the launch for around June 16, when South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has a summit in Washington with President Barack Obama.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the missile had been sent by train to the newly completed missile facility of Dongchang-ni, about 40 miles from the Chinese border.

Yonhap, quoting government sources, said the missile could be ready to launch in a week or two. South Korean defense and intelligence officials refused to comment.

U.S Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking at a news conference in the Philippines, said North Korea appears to be working on a long-range missile, but it's not clear yet what they plan to do with it.

Lee, hosting a conference of Southeast Asian leaders, warned the North against any provocation.

"If North Korea turns its back on dialogue and peace and dares to carry out military threats and provocations, the Republic of Korea will never tolerate that," Lee said in his regular radio address.

Adding to tensions this week, the trial starts Thursday in Pyongyang of two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, accused of entering the country illegally and engaging in "hostile acts."

North Korea faced strong international criticism after its last long-range missile launch, on April 5. The North said the launch was of a rocket intended to put a satellite in orbit. That modified version of the Taepodong-2 rocket flew about 2,000 miles, crossing over Japan before crashing into the Pacific Ocean.

Continue reading the story here.

Daily Constitution Reading 6-1-2009

2009-06-01T09:47:00.000-04:00

Article 7 Section 1

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

The Word, "the," being interlined between the seventh and eighth Lines of the first Page, the Word "Thirty" being partly written on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page, The Words "is tried" being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lines of the first Page and the Word "the" being interlined between the forty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page.

Attest William Jackson Secretary

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

Daily Constitution Reading 5-30-2009

2009-05-30T06:03:00.000-04:00

Article 5 Section 1

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

Bush Defends His Decision To Allow Harsh Interrogations

2009-05-29T09:01:00.000-04:00

Former President George W. Bush on Thursday defended his decision to allow harsh interrogations on the terror mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, saying he did what was necessary to prevent what his advisers believed was another imminent attack.

Describing the decision to use waterboarding on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after his capture in March 2003, Bush said the idea was first cleared with his lawyers in order to "take whatever steps that were necessary to protect" the American public.

"The first thing you do is ask, what's legal? What do the lawyers say is possible?" he said. "I made the decision, within the law, to get information so I can say to myself, 'I've done what it takes to do my duty to protect the American people.' I can tell you that the information we got saved lives."

In an apparent reference to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has recently spoken out against the Obama administration's decision to end the use of harsh interrogations, Bush cautioned, "Nothing I am saying is meant to criticize my successor. There are plenty of people who have weighed in. Trust me, having seen it firsthand. I didn't like it when a former president criticized me, so therefore I am not going to criticize my successor. I wish him all the best."

The often-tearful meetings he had with relatives of fallen soldiers were "in some ways... very hard and in some ways, it was very uplifting," the Texas Republican said in a speech to The Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan at Lake Michigan College.

Bush, the nation's 43rd president, spoke to 2,500 people about "the fog of war" that followed the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the economic downturn and his return to life as a regular citizen.

"It was a roller coaster of emotions, it really was," Bush said of the terror attacks. "I think about it now at times but I definitely thought about it every day as president."

He talked about the economy, blaming "a lack of responsible regulation" in the lending industry for the recession and said that the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., or Freddie Mac, shouldn't have engaged in certain financial practices.

"I don't want to sound like a self-serving guy, but we did try to rein them in," Bush said.

He also said he believes he was right to depose Iraq president Saddam Hussein and that it may lead to the spread of democracy throughout the Middle East.

The audience, which gave Bush a warm welcome at his arrival, cheered when he said he wanted to be remembered as a president who "showed up in office with a set of principles and he was unwilling to sacrifice his soul for the sake of popularity."

The Associated Press and www.foxnews.com contributed to this report.

Charges Against 'New Black Panthers' Dropped

2009-05-29T08:40:00.002-04:00

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. The current President sat in a very radical church for 20 years listening to such things as "god damn America", "US of KKKA", and referring to the 9-11 attacks "Americas chickens are coming home to roost". So when the Obama Justice Department dropped charges on 3 members of The New Black Panther Movement, an organization more ignorant and racist than the KKK, for voter intimidation it was no surprise to me. We knew the kind of person Obama was before he was elected. We know his wife is an American hating racist just like his preacher. So this should not even be a story. This is a given, Obama is "hooking up" the people that hooked him up.

Charges brought against three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense under the Bush administration have been dropped by the Obama Justice Department, FOX News has learned.

The charges stemmed from an incident at a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day 2008 when three members of the party were accused of trying to threaten voters and block poll and campaign workers by the threat of force -- one even brandishing what prosecutors call a deadly weapon.

The three black panthers, Minister King Samir Shabazz, Malik Zulu Shabazz and Jerry Jackson were charged in a civil complaint in the final days of the Bush administration with violating the voter rights act by using coercion, threats and intimidation. Shabazz allegedly held a nightstick or baton that prosecutors said he pointed at people and menacingly tapped it. Prosecutors also say he "supports racially motivated violence against non-blacks and Jews."

Continue reading the story on www.foxnews.com

Battle Over Supreme Court Nominee Heats Up

2009-05-28T09:15:00.001-04:00

Both parties braced for a summertime confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, with the White House gathering a team to push her through, and conservative critics sharpening attacks on her past speeches and writings.

In the first wave of TV ads about the nomination, one paid for by a liberal group called Judge Sotomayor, nominated for a Supreme Court seat by President Barrack Obama on Tuesday, a "tough prosecutor" and faithful to the Constitution, while a conservative spot on the Internet questioned whether she would deliver equal justice.

Conservatives are focusing on a speech Ms. Sotomayor delivered at the University of California at Berkeley law school, where she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

"Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a Latina woman.' Wouldn't they have to withdraw?" asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on his Web site. "New racism is no better than old racism."

White House aides said the comment was being taken out of context, and predicted it wouldn't put the nomination off course. Indeed, the White House believes the president is operating from a position of strength, and officials emphasized that a pitched confirmation fight isn't inevitable.

"We're all extremely pleased at how the first 24 hours went," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), who has been assigned to chaperon the Bronx-born judge through her confirmation. Judge Sotomayor spent Wednesday at the White House, phoning key senators and preparing for her meet-and-greet tour of Capitol Hill next week.

Nonetheless, the administration is staffing up. Stephanie Cutter, who ran strategy for Senate Democrats on George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominees, moved this week to the West Wing from the Treasury Department.

Continue reading at the Wall Street Journal

Daily Constitution Reading 5-28-2009

2009-05-28T08:15:00.003-04:00

For the last few days the site I get the daily constitution reading material from has been down. To my surprise it was back up this morning so you folks can get your dose of the constitution again.

Article 4 Section 3

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

N. Korea On The War Path

2009-05-27T07:02:00.002-04:00

Obama has decided peace through strength is not the motto he will run his administration by. So here we are 130 days into his administration and N. Korea has flexed their muscles and is not threatening to attack South Korea. Dear Leader Obama, I am afraid your chicken shit diplomacy is not working. I recommend you move an entire battle group off the coast of South Korea and if the mad man known as Kim Jong-il makes another provocative move I recommend you level his cities until he comes to the table on an aircraft carrier begging to be spared, similar to the way Japan did during WWII.

This is your first and most critical test, the way you react to this will set the stage for the way other mad men around the globe will act.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched a tirade Wednesday against world powers threatening to punish it for conducting its second nuclear test, saying it is not afraid of sanctions and calling South Korea's decision to join an operation to prevent the spread of weapons a declaration of war.

The North also has reportedly restarted its weapons-grade nuclear plant. It staged a rally in its capital, Pyongyang, on Tuesday to celebrate the test.

The isolated communist regime said through its official news agency that it would respond with military action if South Korea tries to stop or search any of its ships as part of the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative.

"Those who provoke (North Korea) once will not be able to escape its unimaginable and merciless punishment," the North's official news agency said.

South Korea decided to join the anti-proliferation initiative on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, South Korea's mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Wednesday that U.S. spy satellites detected signs of steam at the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex, an indication that it may have started reprocessing nuclear fuel.

The report, which could not be confirmed, quoted an unidentified government official. South Korea's Yonhap news agency also had a similar report.

The move would be a major setback for efforts aimed at getting North Korea to disarm.

North Korea had stopped reprocessing fuel rods as part of an international deal. In 2007, it agreed to disable the Yongbyon reactor in exchange for aid and demolished a cooling tower at the complex.

The North has about 8,000 spent fuel rods which, if reprocessed, could allow it to harvest 13 to 18 pounds (six to eight kilograms) of plutonium — enough to make at least one nuclear bomb, experts said. North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least a half dozen atomic bombs.

Further ratcheting up tensions, North Korea has test-fired five short-range missiles over the past two days, South Korean officials confirmed.

North Korea suggested that more missile tests could be planned, telling ships to stay away from waters off its west coast through Wednesday, according to South Korea's coast guard.

Story continued HERE.

Great Saying

2009-05-27T07:01:00.001-04:00

"Suppose you were an idiot ... And suppose you were a
member of Congress... But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain

Daily Constitution Reading 5-22-2009

2009-05-22T10:14:00.000-04:00

Article 2 Section 4

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Air Quality Improved During Bush Administration

2009-05-21T10:55:00.002-04:00

All we hear is how the evil Republicans do not care about the environment and how big evil capitalist only care about their profits and could care less about the environment. What do you know, a report from the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research as release a report that says levels of numerous gases linked to air pollution have fallen off since 2001.

Among the findings: Carbon monoxide decreased by 39 percent, ozone by 6 percent, and sulfur dioxide by 32 percent.

"Pick any category you want and pollution levels are generally lower than they were seven years ago," said Steven Hayward, the policy analyst who authored the report, titled "Index of Leading Environmental Indicators," for the conservative think tank.

"(Environmental groups) said air pollution was out of control, but this was always more about politics than it was fact," Hayward said.

Environmental groups agree that tremendous progress has been made since the 1980s, when cities like Houston and Los Angeles were thick with smog and acid rain devastated lakes and forests across the U.S.

The complete story can be found HERE on www.foxnews.com

2 Death Row Inmates Executed In Texas/Missouri

2009-05-20T10:31:00.001-04:00

Two death row inmates spent some of their last moments apologizing for their crimes before they were put to death six hours apart in Texas and Missouri, which executed its first convict in four years.

In a lengthy, written final statement, Dennis Skillicorn expressed sorrow for the 1994 murder of a Richard Drummond, who stopped to offer help after a car carrying Skillicorn and two other men stalled along Interstate 70.

"The last 15 years I've lived daily with the remorse of my actions," Skillicorn wrote. "And I am deeply sorry for all the Drummond family has been forced to endure."

Early Wednesday, Skillicorn mouthed words to his wife and two spiritual advisers as the first drug was administered to him. Soon, he appeared unconscious. He was pronounced dead at 12:34 a.m., 11 minutes after the procedure began.

His execution was the first in Missouri since Marlin Gray was put to death in October 2005.

Story courtesy of ABC News and can be found HERE.

Daily Constitution Reading 5-20-2009

2009-05-20T09:35:00.001-04:00

Article 2 Section 2

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Happiness?

2009-05-19T16:26:00.002-04:00

Below is a link to a Fox News story that details the results of a Pew Research Study, that among other things, finds Republicans are happier than Democrats.

Story can be found HERE.

Senate Dems Deny Obama Gitmo Closing Funds

2009-05-19T13:19:00.002-04:00

Senate Democrats pulled $80 million from the Obama war spending bill. The $80 million was going to be spent to close Guantanamo Bay. The administration has no plan for closing the prison where many of the nastiest of the nasty terrorist are housed. Obama has considered allowing the prisoners to be put in US prisons with US rights. Thankfully there are Democrats that do not want the terrorist in their districts so they have refused to provide Obama with the monies he needs to close the prison.

Senate Democrats have decided to pull $80 million from the $91 billion war spending request -- money President Obama had requested to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by Jan. 22, 2010.

A senior Democratic Senate aide told FOX News the caucus will pull the money and await a plan for closing Guantanamo before putting forward any funding. The caucus pulled back after it was hit hard in recent weeks by criticism from Republicans about the lack of a plan for closing the prison.

Originally, the Senate bill -- which is different from the House version -- fenced off $50 million from the Pentagon, pending a plan, while giving $30 million to the Department of Justice for its part of the closure, as well as for an investigation into Bush-era interrogation policy.

The House withholds all funding in its supplemental bill.

The issue will be the central fight on the war spending bill, as rarely-unified Republicans attempt to capitalize further on what they see as a popular issue with the American people, keeping the remaining detainees from placing a foot on American soil.

Congressional Democrats, lacking clarity from the Obama Administration, were at odds over how to move forward.

Last week the House passed legislation requiring the details of such a plan by Oct. 1. Both chambers are refusing to allow detainees to be relocated to the United States this year.

Republicans, led by GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who has given 14 Senate floor speeches already this year on the topic, have hammered the decision to set a date certain for closure, Jan. 22, 2010, by executive order, and this week will introduce an amendment that will ban any future federal funds from being used to move Gitmo prisoners onto U.S. soil.

This will be an exceedingly difficult vote for Democrats, illustrated by the about-face this weekend by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.

Webb, a former Navy secretary, told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that while he praised the president's timeline in January, he had studied the issue with his staff and changed his mind. The senator also lauded the detention center's unique set up, its isolated location thwarting listening devices and its secure courtrooms for sensitive military commissions.

"We shouldn't be creating artificial timelines," Webb said.

Gitmo should be closed eventually, he added, but only after all of its inmates are processed, a problem because some prisoners of war are expected to be held indefinitely. Webb also stipulated that no prisoners should be brought to the United States.

This issue is not new to the Senate or to some members of Obama's administration.

As senators in July 2007, now-Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voted to block detainees from being placed on U.S. soil.

The amendment to a college funding bill, sponsored by McConnell, stated, "It is safer for American citizens if captured members of Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are not housed on American soil where they could more easily carry out their mission to kill innocent civilians."

The nonbinding amendment went on to say that "detainees housed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including senior members of Al Qaeda, should not be released into American society, nor should they be transferred stateside into facilities in American communities and neighborhoods."

Then-Sen. Obama was not present for the vote.

On Monday, McConnell asked "What's changed?"

"America is still at war against terror networks around the world. The detainees held at Guantanamo are still some of the most dangerous terrorists alive -- indeed, over the past two years, the inmates there have been winnowed down to an even higher percentage of committed killers than before. And Americans still don't want these men in their neighborhoods."

Indeed, in a new FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll, just over half of Americans, 55 percent, oppose transferring detainees to prison facilities in the United States. But they are divided on whether bringing the detainees to the United States will put the country at risk. While some 43 percent think transferring the detainees to U.S. prison facilities would make the country less safe, about the same number -- 45 percent -- think it would not make much of a difference. Few -- 8 percent -- think it would make the United States safer.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., was one of few in his party to challenge the GOP argument publicly. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has taken a wait-and-see approach. Reid has said he is waiting for the outcome of a commission study due out in July.

Echoing the words of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in a case in which the Bush administration's detention policies were rebuffed, Durbin said, "A state of war is not a blank check for the president."

Durbin noted that no Republican objected when the previous administration announced it was closing Gitmo, and said, "Guantanamo became an international embarrassment for the United States and, sadly, tragically, a recruiting tool for terrorists like Al Qaeda."

Some Republicans agree.

"Guantanamo is a serious blot on our reputation," former Secretary of State James Baker, a widely respected diplomat and member of the George H.W. Bush administration, has said..

This perception argument has split some in the Republican Party. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who just returned from Gitmo, praised the facility but acknowledged the "perception problem" overseas, and said the facility should be closed though not by a date certain.

Still, others, like McConnell and Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who has traveled to the island facility three times, have said there's no better place than Guantanamo for the prisoners and it should remain in service.

"I can't imagine what would happen if they close this place," Inhofe said in a video posted on YouTube during his February visit to the prison. "If they close this place, then you're going to have to find other places. They've identified 17 other places, including my home state of Oklahoma. That would be a terrible risk to us and to all of Oklahoma, and the same would be true of any and all other states."

Click here to watch the Inhofe video.

Webb, on Sunday, appeared to hold out hope that Obama would relax his stand, as he has done on a number of other issues

"They've said a lot of things and taken a look and said some other things. So let's process these people in a very careful way and then take care of it," he said.

Story continues HERE.

GPS System Could Fail

2009-05-19T12:37:00.001-04:00

Mismanagement and underinvestment by the U.S. Air Force could possibly lead to the failure and blackout of the Global Positioning System (GPS), a federal watchdog agency says.

The risk of failure starts in 2010, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report quoted by PC World.

The failure would impact not only military operations, but also the millions of people and businesses who rely on the satellite-based navigation systems built into cars, boats and cell phones.

"If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to," the GAO report states.

The report says the Air Force has struggled to build successful GPS satellites within cost and on schedule.

• Click here to read more on this story from PC World.

Angery Atheist In Texas?

2009-05-19T12:28:00.001-04:00

Some parents in Frisco, Texas, are fuming because their public school district allowed Christian evangelists to provide Bibles to students on school grounds, which administrators say was done to stop even more proselytizing outside the schools.

Frisco Independent Schools allowed Gideons International to display Bibles on tabletops in all 13 of the district's middle and high schools last week. Officials say it didn't violate the law, but some parents say school is not the place to be offering the Good Book.

"I was never notified by the schools that they were going to allow this. I was a little shocked," said Debbie Lutz, a mother with three children who attend schools in Frisco, about 20 miles north of Dallas.

Michael Baier, who has a son at Frisco's Lakeland High School, said that religious groups should not be allowed to offer their teachings on campus.

"If they're God-fearing Christians ... they should be giving those items wherever they worship. School is a place to learn, not a place to worship," Baier told FOXNews.com.

Lutz said she wants the freedom to raise her children as she sees fit — and without the interference of religious groups. She told FOXNews.com she worried that allowing one group to offer Bibles in the school would open the floodgates to any groups who want to reach students on school grounds.

"It does open the door for other people to have the right to hand out other stuff. And I think that's not a good door to open."

School administrators say that door was opened because the Gideons used to stand on public sidewalks near the schools and distribute Bibles to students as they went home.

That raised some alarms for parents, some of whom even contacted the police about their children's safety. And it stymied the school system, which says it has "no control over what takes place on the public sidewalks."

The Gideons are now taking advantage of a school policy that allows them to leave Bibles on a tabletop in the schools' front offices, though they're barred from interacting with students or remaining there during school hours.

A spokeswoman for the school district said that a number of materials are made available to students this way, including newspapers, camp brochures and tutoring pamphlets. College and military recruitment information is available all year long. The Gideon Bibles were made available for just one day.

"We have to handle this request in the same manner as other requests to distribute non-school literature — in a viewpoint neutral manner," Shana Wortham, director of communications for the district, wrote in an e-mail to FOXNews.com.

Wortham said that the schools did not solicit or invite the Gideons in, and when one of the evangelists tried to speak to students, administrators quickly stepped in to address the violation.

Gideons International had no comment on their in-school offerings when contacted by phone Tuesday.

Adult representatives for the Gideons have been barred by federal circuit courts from offering Bibles inside classrooms, but they continue to offer to provide them at many schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and elsewhere. The group, founded in 1907, has distributed about 1.5 billion Bibles in the last century, mostly in hotel rooms.

Some parents weren't troubled by the presence of the Gideons or their Bibles.

Holly McCall, president of the parent-teacher association at Roach Middle School in Frisco, said she was at the school when the Gideons dropped the books off, and they didn't disturb anyone.

"I didn't feel like [the Bible] was being pushed upon" students at the school, she told FOXNews.com. She said she didn't expect to be notified every time books or pamphlets are on offer in the office at Roach Middle. That would be like an advertisement for the Bible, she said.

School officials told FOXNews.com they would continue to review their policies, but they stressed that they had followed the letter of the law.

But for some parents looking for a neutral education in the public school system, that wasn't enough.

Lutz, whose children go to schools in the district, said she wants the freedom to raise her children as she sees fit — and without the interference of other religious groups.

"I am not atheist — I believe in God," she told FOXNews.com. "But I just don't want any religion forced on my child at school. That's why my child goes to a public school."

Story courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Teachers Unhappy With Markell

2009-05-19T09:21:00.002-04:00

Teachers statewide are not very happy with Governor Markell. The governor is proposing an 8% pay cut for teachers and forcing them to take 3 furlough days that were previously paid days off. I find all of this humorous because these are the same teachers that campaigned for Markell. They were running around telling teachers if Bill Lee was elected as governor they would have to take pay cuts and be forced to take furlough days. Now their beloved Democrat is doing exactly what they said the mean nasty Republican would do.

I have a friend who's wife works for the state of Maryland. She has long been a flaming liberal. She was all excited when O'Malley was elected governor of the great state of Maryland. Now that he has forced all state workers to take a mess of furlough days she has changed her tune and now says she thinks she is really a Republican. Its amazing how your bleeding heart gets all capitalistic when its your pocket book that is affected.

Wake up people. We in Delaware need to get our heads screwed on straight and start voting for the people that are going to build our economy. Markell has to deal with the last 8 years of the Miner administration. No matter what Obama says money does not grow on trees. Markell has to make up for the tax and spend habits of Miner and someone has to take some cuts. This time its the teachers unions that have long been democratic supports.

I always say you get what you ask for. You people asked for Markell and you got him.

Enjoy!

Social studies teacher Dave Bradley usually gets to Mount Pleasant High School around 7 a.m. and leaves after 5 p.m., using the time on either side of the actual school day to give students extra help, grade papers and make lesson plans.

But this week, as a way to show how many extra hours teachers put in, Bradley will work only what his contract requires him to -- 7:15 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

In every school district across the state except Delmar, teachers and other school employees are participating in a "Bell to Bell" demonstration to protest Gov. Jack Markell's proposed 8 percent salary cut for all state employees.

"We're really unhappy with Markell's proposal. Cutting salaries isn't the way to go," said Bradley, president of the Brandywine Education Association. "Honestly, I feel betrayed. We worked hard to put [Markell] in office."

Instead of the salary cuts, Bradley thinks the governor should consider raising the state income or the corporate franchise tax.

"We aren't saying that we shouldn't be affected by this recession because clearly we should, but we want it to be fair and equitable," he said.

In addition to the 8 percent salary cuts, Markell has proposed raising state employees' health premiums by 50 percent as part of his plan to tackle the state's $800 million budget deficit.

Since the state pays only 70 percent of teachers' salaries and districts pay the other 30 percent, the reduction in the state portion will result in a net salary reduction of just over 5 percent. Three days that were previously paid teacher in-service days will be converted to unpaid -- or furlough -- days for all teachers, which will bring their total reduction to 8 percent, like that for other state employees.

Many teachers don't know how they are going to get by next year.

Barbara Raught, an English teacher at Mount Pleasant and a single mom, is worried about her mortgage payments once her pay is cut.

"I bought a house last year, and I bought it based on my salary at the time," she said. "I honestly don't know how I'm going to make ends meet."

Diane Donohue, president of the Delaware State Education Association, said the Bell-to-Bell demonstrations are meant to show the public and lawmakers how much time school employees put in beyond the normal school day.
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"The amount of work that is done beyond contract hours is absolutely incredible, and to ask them to take an 8 percent cut when we're already not competitive with other states' salaries will not help the education profession in Delaware," she said.

Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland all pay their teachers higher salaries, Donohue said.

"I'm afraid that if an 8 percent salary cut is implemented in Delaware, many of our teachers and public school employees might choose to go across the line because, while they might be driving farther to get to work, they are going to be compensated better," she said.

As part of his education reform plan, Markell has said he wants to attract high-quality teachers, but Bradley doesn't understand how he plans to do that when he's cutting their pay.

"If I was a [young] teacher, I would leave Delaware," said Bradley, who has taught in Brandywine for 32 years.

Vicki Seifred, a social studies teacher at Stanton Middle School in the Red Clay Consolidated School District, has had her pay frozen several times in her 29-year teaching career but never had a pay cut. Seifred said she would rather see teachers take more unpaid leave than face a salary reduction.

For Kim Eroh, a physical education teacher at Mount Pleasant, the 8 percent pay cut will reduce her salary to what it was 10 years ago. Eroh and her husband, David, who is a science teacher at Brandywine High School, have started to cut back because they both will face pay cuts. They're trying to refinance their Wilmington home. They've purchased a rental property to make up for some of the lost income, and they're cutting back expenditures such as on summer camps for their two children .

"We're just not going to be able to do as much," she said.

The story above is courtesy of www.delawareonline.com and can be found HERE.

Some Cool Animal Pictures

2009-05-18T09:42:00.004-04:00

Every now and then we all need a break from politics. Last Saturday I went to Six Flags New Jersey. They have a safari that you drive through. I decided to go up very early and get to the safari at 9am when they opened so I could enjoy it before the park opened. I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Obama and Netanyahu Meeting, Iran Major Concern

2009-05-18T09:37:00.001-04:00

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is signaling he may resist President Barack Obama's pressure to support Palestinian statehood as the two leaders try on Monday to tackle an array of Mideast issues on which they disagree.

A senior aide to Netanyahu, national security adviser Uzi Arad, suggested the Israeli leader might not yield to pressure from Obama for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. He also seemed to hint that Israel might consider military action against Iran when he said there was a "sense of urgency" in Israel over the Iranian nuclear threat.

Such rhetoric suggests diplomatic high stakes as the two men hold their first White House meeting against a backdrop of disagreement over several key issues: U.S. overtures to once-shunned Iran and Syria and pressure on Israel to support a Palestinian state.

The Obama administration is trying to promote dialogue with Iran and Syria, Israel's arch foes. Israel fears such efforts could lead to greater tolerance for Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Before his Feb. 10 election, Netanyahu derided the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which stalled late last year, as a waste of time.

While not opposing the Obama administration's efforts to promote dialogue with Iran and Syria, Israel is skeptical.

Like Washington, it dismisses Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is peaceful and fears the U.S. outreach could lead to greater tolerance for Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Israelis are also worried by the recent diplomatic shuttles to Syria for fear they reward Damascus even as it maintains close ties to Tehran and harbors Iranian proxies that have warred with Israel, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Gaza's Hamas.

Still, there have been mixed signals from the Israelis on the Mideast peace process ahead of the Obama-Netanyahu meeting.

Israel's president, Shimon Peres, said Sunday in Jordan that Netanyahu would abide by agreements signed by his predecessors, including the U.S.-backed Mideast peace plan calling for a two-state solution to the conflict with Palestinians. Peres said progress depended on an end to attacks by Hamas militants and greater Palestinian efforts to ensure Israel's security.

Netanyahu has tried to persuade the Americans that Iran, with its nuclear ambitions and anti-Israel proxies in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, must be reined in before peacemaking with the Palestinians can progress. Israel's security services see the Netanyahu-Obama meeting as crucial in this regard, and the military chief of staff, the head of military intelligence and the Mossad chief all held lengthy meetings with the prime minister ahead of the trip, defense officials said.

The meetings focused on what Israel sees as Iran's attempt to develop nuclear weapons and on the effect that would have in strengthening Iran's allies in Hamas and Hezbollah and undermining the stability of Western-allied Arab countries.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings were not made public. There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity surrounding Syria in recent weeks.

An Obama envoy was in Syria to try to repair strained relations and assured the government the U.S. is committed to pursuing a comprehensive Mideast peace.

Courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Daily Constitution Reading 5-18-2009

2009-05-18T08:20:00.001-04:00

Article 2 Section 1.1

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

Joe Bidens Political Blunders

2009-05-17T10:29:00.002-04:00

Biden has long been known as a speaking idiot. He is apt to say anything, and I mean anything. IT should come as no surprise that he would disclose the location of the bunker Vice President Dick Cheney stayed in during and after the attacks of 9-11. The ironic part is its the same bunker Biden, his family, and aides would stay in if we were attacked again.

Being the political genius Obama is I am very puzzled by his choice of VP. Maybe he figured Biden would always say something stupid and it would keep the spotlight off Obamas ignorance?

The link below is Bidens most recent gaff. I have also included a list of Bidens brilliance going back to 2007.

Click HERE for Bidens disclosure of the VP secure bunker.

Vice President Joe Biden has been keeping a low profile these days. But last week he popped into headlines when he clashed with aides to former President George W. Bush after claiming to have rebuked Bush in private meetings. Recalling a conversation during an interview with CNN, Biden said he told Bush in the Oval Office: "'Mr. President, turn and around look behind you. No one is following.'"

Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser in the White House, called the conversation "fictional."

This isn't the first time Biden's comments have made news. From historical blunders and Internet gaffes to offensive jokes, Vice President Joe Biden is never shy a quotable moment.

Here's a list of 14 amusing yet cringe-worthy "Bidenisms" made during the vice president's more recent political career.

-- On March 13, 2009, Biden addressed a former Senate colleague by saying, "An hour late, oh give me a f**king break," after he arrived on Amtrak at Union Station in Washington, D.C. The vice president's expletive was caught on a live microphone.

-- During a Feb. 25, 2009, interview on CBS' "Early Show," Biden encouraged viewers to visit a government-run Web site that tracks stimulus spending. When asked for the site's web address, Biden could not remember the site's "number."

"You know, I'm embarrassed. Do you know the Web site number?" he asked an aide standing out of view. "I should have it in front of me and I don't. I'm actually embarrassed."

-- At a Jan. 30, 2009, swearing-in ceremony of senior White House staff, Biden mocked Chief Justice John Roberts for his presidential oath blunder on Inauguration Day.

"Am I doing this again?" Biden said, after Obama asked him to administer the oath. When Biden was told the swearing-in was for senior staff -- and not cabinet members -- the vice president quipped, "My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts," prompting a stern nudge from Obama.

-- On Inauguration Day, Jan. 20 2009, Biden misspoke when he told a cheering crowd of supporters, "Jill and I had the great honor of standing on that stage, looking across at one of the great justices, Justice Stewart." Justice John Paul Stevens -- not Stewart -- swore Biden in as vice president.

-- When criticizing former GOP nominee John McCain in Athens, Ohio, on Oct. 15, 2008, Biden said, "Look, John's last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs."

-- In a Sept. 22, 2008, CBS interview, Biden misspoke when he said Franklin D. Roosevelt was president when the stock market crashed in 1929.

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened," he said. Herbert Hoover -- not Roosevelt -- was president in 1929, and television had not yet been invented in 1929.

-- During a Sept. 12, 2008, speech in Columbia, Mo., Biden called for Missouri State Sen. Chuck Graham, who is wheelchair-bound, to "stand up."

"Oh, God love ya," Biden said, after realizing his mistake. "What am I talking about?"

-- At a Sept. 10, 2008, town hall meeting in Nashua, N.H., Biden said, "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me."

-- Biden mistakenly referred to Alaska governor Sarah Palin as the "lieutenant governor" of her state during a town hall meeting on Sept. 4, 2008 at George Mason University in Manassas, Va.

"I heard a very, by the way I mean this sincerely, a very strong and a very good political speech from a lieutenant governor of Alaska who I think is going to be very formidable, very formidable not only in the campaign but in the debate," Biden said.

-- Biden said he was running for president -- not vice president -- during a Sept. 1, 2008, roundtable discussion in Scranton, Pa.

"Today is the moment for me as a United States senator running for president to put aside the national politics and focus on what's happening down there," Biden said.

-- Biden referred to John McCain as "George" during his vice presidential acceptance speech on Aug. 27, 2008, at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Co. "Freudian slip, folks, Freudian slip," he explained.

-- Biden confused army brigades with battalions when speaking about Obama's plan for sending troops to Afghanistan.

"Or should we trust Barack Obama, who more than a year ago called for sending two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan?"

-- During his first campaign rally with Obama as his vice presidential running mate on Aug. 23, 2008, Biden introduced Obama by saying, "A man I'm proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States -- Barack America!"

-- On Jan. 31, 2007 -- the day Biden announced his presidential bid -- the Delaware Senator was roundly criticized for calling Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

'Pedophile Protection Act'

2009-05-15T10:56:00.001-04:00

James Dobson, the founder of the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family Christian ministry, warned today that there is "utter evil" coming out of
Washington D.C., these days.

"I want to tell our listeners something has come up that is so shocking and so outrageous, we must make our friends out there aware of it," he said on his daily radio program.

"I'm going to speak very bluntly today because there's no other word for it: the utter evil that's coming out of Congress," he said. "I've been on the air 32 years and I've never seen a time quite like this.

"The radical left controls the executive branch through the president, and the Congress where the Democrats have control of both the House and the Senate," he said, adding the courts are expected to move even further to the left.

The audio of the program is linked here.

The target of his worry is the so-called "hate crimes" bill already approved in the U.S. House and now pending in the Senate.

For a limited time, by special arrangement through WND, for only $10.95 members of the public can send 100 individually addressed letters to each senator by overnight mail. Each letter is individually "signed" by the sender. The letters ask for a written response and call for opposition to the bill, including by filibuster if necessary.

A hearing on the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, already approved by the U.S. House as H.R. 1913 and pending in the Senate as S. 909, is expected in the Senate Judiciary Committee soon. It's been described by Shawn D. Akers, policy analyst with Liberty Counsel, as a bill to create penalties against "victims" who were chosen based on an "actual or perceived ... sexual orientation, gender identity."

Story continues HERE on worldnetdaily.

CIA Denies Cheneys Request

2009-05-15T09:03:00.000-04:00

The CIA has turned down former Vice President Cheney's request to release memos he says would show waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques" produced valuable information that saved lives.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano says an executive order signed by former President Bush forbids the agency from declassifying documents that are the subject of pending litigation. The memos Cheney wants released are the subject of two Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.

"For that reason-and that reason only-CIA did not accept Mr. Cheney's request," Gamigliano said.

Cheney's office told FOX News that the former vice president is preparing his appeal to the denial.

President Obama could overrule the agency, as he did a month ago when he cited "exceptional circumstances" and declassified four memos that detailed waterboarding and other interrogation techniques used on suspected terrorists.

Cheney and others objected to that release, saying it would tell terrorists what to prepare for. A Senate report concluded days later that the harsh techniques were not just used at the CIA's "secret prisons," but also in Iraq, Afghanistan and at the terrorist detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

During an interview on FOX News last month, Cheney criticized the release of the memos and said he was disturbed that "they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort."

Cheney revealed he had made a formal request that two additional memos be declassified and released. He accused the administration of "dismantling" the national security policies that had kept the country safe and said the interrogation techniques potentially saved "hundreds of thousands of lives."

Obama has said the memos Cheney wants released do not prove the harsh techniques are effective. Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, a member of the Intelligence Committee who has seen the memos Cheney wants released, accused the former vice president of "misleading the American people" by indicating that the memos show the harsh interrogation techniques were necessary.

Story can be found HERE.

Obama Weak On Israeli Security?

2009-05-15T08:36:00.002-04:00

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the current administration is not going to do anything to help the Israelis protect themselves. Obama has long been pro Palestine and has never had a harsh word for Hamas. Benjamin Netanyahu has his hands full keeping Obama focused on the primary threat, Iran. If Iran thinks for a single second we are weak on the security of Israel they will attack them as soon as technologically possible.

"FiglePorn" (Hebrew for "May god be with you").

The director of the CIA was recently sent on a secret mission to Israel to warn its leaders not to launch a surprise attack on Iran without notifying the Obama administration, the Times of London reported on Thursday.

FOX News could not immediately confirm the report.

As Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, prepares to visit Washington, it emerged on Thursday that Leon Panetta went to Israel two weeks ago. He sought assurances from Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the defense minister, that their hawkish new government would not attack Iran without alerting Washington.

Concerns have been rising that Netanyahu could launch a strike on Tehran’s atomic program, in the same way that Israel hit Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in 1981. Israel has been preparing for such an eventuality. It has carried out long-distance maneuvers and is due to hold its largest civil defense drills this summer. The country’s leaders reportedly told Panetta that they did not "intend to surprise the U.S. on Iran."

Netanyahu will leave for Washington this weekend, where he will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama, whom he will try to convince of the need for tougher action against Iran.

Obama favors trying to engage Tehran, but his efforts have been received coolly by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Israeli leader is expected to insist that the U.S. stays focused on Iran, rather than tackling stalled talks with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu has held meetings with Arab leaders this week, including President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan. Both Sunni leaders share Israel’s fears of a resurgent Shia Iran.

Click to read the full story from the Times of London.

Pelosi Is Lying, Still

2009-05-15T08:29:00.003-04:00

Republicans said they were stunned Thursday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claim that she was powerless as minority leader to intervene in the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on terrorism suspects.

Earlier in the day, Pelosi told reporters that the CIA misled Congress on its activities, but she protested that she knew that any complaints by her about the use of waterboarding and other harsh tactics would fall on deaf ears.

Pelosi said in her weekly news conference that she supported a letter drafted in February 2003 by Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. -- the new ranking Democrat on the House intelligence panel who attended a briefing that month that included discussions on waterboarding -- and sent to the Bush administration, raising concerns over the program.

Harman was the "appropriate person to register a protest," Pelosi said

"But no letter or anything else is going to stop them from doing what they're going to do," she added.

Not so, said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "As a member of the Gang of Four, if the CIA proposes to do something that we think is wrong, we can do something about it. We've done something about," he said.

The so-called "Gang of Four" refers to the four members of Congress who serve in the chairman and vice chairman spots on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. In 2002, that group included Sens. Bob Graham, D-Fla., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and Reps. Porter Goss, R-Fla, and Pelosi, D-Calif.

Bond said that as minority leader, Pelosi could have used a number of legislative tools to block the program, including using the Constitution's Speech and Debate clause, which protects lawmakers who wish to speak on the House floor on sensitive issues. She could also have insisted that other members be briefed on interrogation techniques; moved to cut CIA funds; insisted Congress go into closed session, like during Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Patriot Act revisions; or sought revisions to the National Security Act to change congressional notification requirements.

"So there's no excuse to say, 'I was powerless,'" Bond said.

Pelosi is under attack for shifting her accounts of what and when she knew about enhanced interrogation techniques. Republicans have charged her with hypocrisy and complicity for seeking to investigate the Bush-era program when she didn't protest earlier.

In fact, in November 2002, two months after Pelosi received her first briefing outlining enhanced interrogation techniques, she stood on the House floor to praise the intelligence community.

"The brave and dedicated men and women of intelligence community perform an invaluable service for our country, and I want them to know how impressed we've all been under frequently dangerous and demanding conditions. They deserve our appreciation," she said as she urged lawmakers to approve funding for intelligence operations.

Story continues HERE

Letter From Dear Leader

2009-05-14T11:27:00.004-04:00

I received the letter below from Dear Leader yesterday. I am not sure why I am surprised because he told us this is exactly what he was going to do. I just hope we can muster enough decent people from both houses to defeat Dear Leaders dreams of controlling every aspect of our lives. You bleeding heart liberals think everyone deserves health care. You do not have a "right" to enslave me to pay for your medical expenses. I work and pay for my families medical insurance and what the insurance does not cover I pay for out of my pocket. Why should it be Warren Buffets responsibility to pay for my childrens health insurance? He shouldn't! If I can not afford to take care of my children, get ready this is a novel concept, I SHOULD NOT HAVE THEM! When I made the decision to have children I accepted the responsibilities that come along with joys of fatherhood.

We are on our way to a 50% +1 society. When we reach 1/2 plus 1 person depending on some sort of government program this country will fail to exist as we know it. The programs and policies of this administration are taking us down a road that we may never be able to recover from.

Good afternoon,

You are receiving this email because you signed up at WhiteHouse.gov. My staff and I plan to use these messages as a way to directly communicate about important issues and opportunities, and today I have some encouraging updates about health care reform.

The Vice President and I just met with leaders from the House of Representatives and received their commitment to pass a comprehensive health care reform bill by July 31.

We also have an unprecedented commitment from health care industry leaders, many of whom opposed health reform in the past. Monday, I met with some of these health care stakeholders, and they pledged to do their part to reduce the health care spending growth rate, saving more than two trillion dollars over the next ten years -- around $2,500 for each American family. Then on Tuesday, leaders from some of America's top companies came to the White House to showcase innovative ways to reduce health care costs by improving the health of their workers.

Now the House and Senate are beginning a critical debate that will determine the health of our nation's economy and its families. This process should be transparent and inclusive and its product must drive down costs, assure quality and affordable health care for everyone, and guarantee all of us a choice of doctors and plans.

Reforming health care should also involve you. Think of other people who may want to stay up to date on health care reform and other national issues and tell them to join us here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/EmailUpdates

Health care reform can't come soon enough. We spend more on health care than any country, but families continue to struggle with skyrocketing premiums and nearly 46 million are without insurance entirely. It is a priority for the American people and a pillar of the new foundation we are seeking to build for our economy.

We'll continue to keep you posted about this and other important issues.

Thank you,
Barack Obama

P.S. If you'd like to get more in-depth information about health reform and how you can participate, be sure to visit http://www.HealthReform.gov.

Obama Considers Detaining Terror Suspects Indefinitely

2009-05-14T10:08:00.002-04:00

Now that the campaign is over and Dear Leader has to be the adult and make real decisions he is starting to change his tune. During the campaign all we heard was how he was going to pull all the troops out of Iraq, close Gitmo, and be the most transparent administration in history. Now that the safety of this country rest on his narrow weak shoulders he is changing his tune. Welcome to the big league Dear Leader.

The Obama administration is weighing plans to detain some terror suspects on U.S. soil -- indefinitely and without trial -- as part of a plan to retool military commission trials that were conducted for prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The proposal being floated with members of Congress is another indication of President Barack Obama's struggles to establish his counter-terrorism policies, balancing security concerns against attempts to alter Bush-administration practices he has harshly criticized.

On Wednesday, the president reversed a recent administration decision to release photos showing purported abuse of prisoners at U.S. military facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Obama cited concern that releasing the pictures could endanger U.S. troops. Mr. Obama ordered government lawyers to pull back an earlier court filing promising to release hundreds of photos by month's end as part a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The decision to block the detainee photos contrasts with the administration's release last month of Bush-era Justice Department memorandums outlining the interrogation tactics used on prisoners by the Central Intelligence Agency. The release of the memos set off a heated political fight, with supporters of the Bush administration accusing the Obama White House of endangering the country and some of the current president's supporters calling for criminal probes of those responsible for the interrogation policies.

The administration's internal deliberations on how to deal with Guantanamo detainees are continuing, as the White House wrestles with how to fulfill the president's promise to shutter the controversial prison. But some elements of the plans are emerging as the administration consults with key members of Congress, as well as with military officials, about what to do with Guantanamo detainees.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who met this week with White House Counsel Greg Craig to discuss the administration's plans, said among the proposals being studied is seeking authority for indefinite detentions, with the imprimatur of some type of national-security court.

Continue reading at the Wall Street Journal

Daily Constitution Reading 5-14-2009

2009-05-14T08:41:00.001-04:00

Article 1 Section 1

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Pelosi Could Be In Trouble

2009-05-13T14:59:00.000-04:00

The House majority leader reluctantly agreed Tuesday that congressional hearings should investigate Speaker Nancy Pelosi's assertion that she wasn't informed, more than six years ago, that harsh interrogation methods were used on an Al-Qaeda leader.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called Republican challenges to Pelosi's assertion a diversion from the real question of whether the Bush administration tortured terrorist suspects. Nonetheless, he acknowledged the controversy should be resolved.

Democrats will hold a series of hearings on Justice Department memos released last month that justified rough tactics against detainees, including waterboarding -- simulated drowning -- and sleep deprivation.

While Democrats want the hearings to focus on what they call torture, Republicans have tried to turn the issue to their advantage by complaining that Pelosi and other Democrats knew of the tactics but didn't protest. Pelosi was briefed in 2002 while on the House Intelligence Committee.

Hoyer, asked at a news conference whether Democrats were inviting political problems for themselves by holding hearings, said, "I think the facts need to get out.

"I think the Republicans are simply trying to distract the American public with who knew what when. My response to that is, look, the issue is not what was said or what was known; the question and focus ought to be on what was done."

But he added that the controversy over "what was said and when it was said, who said it ... is probably what ought to be on the record as well."

Hoyer also was asked whether he believes Pelosi's support has been undermined among Democrats.

"No, I don't," he said.

A Senate Judiciary subcommittee holds the first hearing on the interrogation policy on Wednesday, but has scheduled testimony unrelated to the Pelosi matter.

A CIA document made public last week shows that Pelosi received a briefing in September 2002 on the tactics used on Abu Zubaydah, an Al Qaeda leader and one of three prisoners subjected to waterboarding. Pelosi said she was told the agency was discussing its legal right to use the tactic in the future.

"We were not -- I repeat -- were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used," said Pelosi, D-Calif.

Courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Constitution Reading Of The Day 5-13-2009

2009-05-13T14:57:00.002-04:00

Preamble

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Daily Constitution Reading 5-12-2009

2009-05-12T17:10:00.000-04:00

Article 1 Section 3.1

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

Wanda Sucks, I Mean Sykes Bashes Rush

2009-05-11T14:50:00.003-04:00

Once again I will repeat myself and say "if this were a Republican administration"........ Blah Blah Blah. I am so sick of saying it. No one is listening and even if they were they are not big enough people to stand up and say anything. People standby and watch the hypocrisy and do nothing about it.

Comedian Wanda Sykes pulled no punches as she skewered conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh at the White House Correspondents' Dinner -- but her morbid cracks set some guests' cringe-meters off the charts.

Sykes accused Limbaugh of treason, compared him to Usama bin Laden and wished for his physical collapse as she roasted the favorite target of liberals Saturday night at the Washington Hilton.

"Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails, so you're saying, 'I hope America fails,' you're like, 'I don't care about people losing their homes, their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq.' He just wants the country to fail. To me, that's treason," Sykes said.

"He's not saying anything differently than what Usama bin Laden is saying," she continued, before addressing the guest of honor, President Obama. "You know, you might want to look into this, sir, because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker. But he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight."

The crowd groaned, Obama smiled and Sykes may have noticed a little discomfort in the room.

"Too much?" she asked.

But then she piled it on:

"Rush Limbaugh, 'I hope the country fails' -- I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? ... He needs a good waterboarding, that's what he needs."

Obama joined the crowd in laughing at the crack about Limbaugh's "kidneys."

But White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested Monday that Sykes' bit was considered in poor taste.

"I don't know how guests get booked," Gibbs told reporters. "I haven't talked to the president (about it), but my guess is there are a lot of topics that are better left for serious reflection, rather than comedy -- no doubt 9/11 is part of that."

After the appearance, conservatives bellowed that Sykes was way over the line. "Mean-spirited," "hateful" and "disgusting" were just a few of the words used by conservative bloggers and commentators to describe the performance.

"This woman comes up and says, 'I hope Rush Limbaugh dies,' and everybody giggles," said Tim Graham, director of media analysis with the Media Research Center.

National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg called it "particularly awful."

Sykes' publicist was not immediately available for comment.

Some critics said there was a double standard employed for conservative and liberal jokesters, pointing out that golf announcer David Feherty apologized over the weekend for his column in which he joked about U.S. troops wanting to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Feherty's line drew heavy attention from the liberal group Media Matters and earned him a "worst person in the world" dubbing by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

Graham said the relatively low-key coverage of Sykes' joke in mainstream media underscores the "slanted take on what's hateful and what's not."

"When a conservative says it, it's an utter outrage. And when a liberal says it, it's a knee-slapper," he said.

An editor with Britain's Daily Telegraph who was at the dinner wrote that liberals will give Sykes a pass, since her target was a right-wing talk show host. And he marveled at Obama's response.

"That's way, way beyond reasoned debate or comedy and Obama's reaction to it was astonishing," wrote Toby Harnden. "Imagine if a comedian 'joked' that Obama was a terrorist who was guilty of treason and should be tortured and allowed to die. There would justifiably be an outcry."

Story courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Man Defends Friends At Party

2009-05-11T13:07:00.005-04:00

This guy deserve an award for taking these scumbags off the earth. He may have saved my family from ever having to endure an act of violence. Thank you.

Two masked gunmen burst into Charles Bailey’s apartment where he was entertaining ten guests, celebrating his birthday. The gunmen started counting bullets, making sure they had "enough," and then separated the men and the women into different rooms to be raped. The gunmen didn’t expect one of Charles’ friends to be packing heat, but he was:

That’s when one student grabbed a gun out of a backpack and shot at the invader who was watching the men. The gunman ran out of the apartment.

The student then ran to the room where the second gunman, identified by police as 23-year-old Calvin Lavant, was holding the women.

“Apparently the guy was getting ready to rape his girlfriend. So he told the girls to get down and he started shooting. The guy jumped out of the window,” said Bailey.

Calvin Lavant was found dead a block away, from a well-deserved gunshot wound to the face, and police say they are close to arresting the second gunman.

This story should illustrate that when things really hit the fan, you are ultimately responsible for protecting yourself and your loved ones. You will probably not have time to wait for help, and most importantly, you will be the one who has to live with the results. You can not count on the police to protect you, and they are not legally obligated to protect you (seriously).

Keep this story in mind as we push for tighter federal gun laws. If that one brave student hadn’t brought his gun to the party (and to be honest, I’m kind of blown away that he did), 10 lives would have been ruined, if not ended. You also might want to ask yourself why no major news outlets have been running this remarkable story, or read John Lott’s excellent essay on the media’s bias against guns.

As for me, my birthday’s not coming up for a while, but I’m asking for a cute little nine-millimeter insurance policy. And if you come to the celebration, feel free to come packin'.

Original story can be found HERE.

Kathleen Sebelius Confirmation

2009-05-11T11:49:00.003-04:00

I received a 2009 Republican Party Precinct Survey over the weekend. They of course wanted money and my "opinion" are a bunch of issues they feel are important to the 2010 election. After reading the questions I decided to take a look and see what if any Republicans voted to confirm Kathleen Sebelius to head up Health and Human Services.

A little background on Kathleen Sebelius is in order.
It was brought to our attention that Sebelius received substantial donations from Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers. But when asked how much she received she say $12,450 between 1994-2001. But in addition to those campaign donations, records reviewed by The Associated Press show that Tiller gave at least $23,000 more from 2000-2002 to a political action committee Sebelius established while insurance commissioner to raise money for fellow Democrats.

Now one would think any senator that has stood on the floor preaching about how he is a devout Catholic and opposes all forms of abortion would appose this woman right? WRONG! Senator Brownback voted to confirm Sebelius. I dont know how Brownback could in good conscience vote to confirm this woman to head anything.

Below is a list of Republican senators that voted to confirm Kathleen Sebelius.
Kansas: Brownback and Roberts
Maine: Collins and Snowe
Missouri: Bond
New Hampshire: Gregg
Ohio: Voinovich

Most of these "Yea" votes did not surprise me. The majority of the people on the list are RINO's but I was really disappointed to see Brownbacks name on that list. Just goes to show it is all about his career. l

National Health Care

2009-05-11T09:38:00.004-04:00

With all the talk about health care I just could not resist the urge to put up my favorite picture of Dear Leader that my good friend Mike Church designed. I am afraid we have started down the road of no return. It has been 100 days of Dear Leaders rule and already the insurance companies are running to the table with deals to prevent their demise. Good Luck people.

In a rare move before the Obama administration has unveiled the details of its own health care overhaul, industry groups are offering to reduce the costs of coverage for all Americans in the hopes of staving off legislation that would restrict their profitability in future years.

Leaders of the health care industry have offered $2 trillion in spending reductions over 10 years. The goal is to make insurance more affordable so the government does not create a system to enroll middle-class workers and their families that directly competes with the health care industry.

Under a government system, drug makers worry that in the future, new medications might have to pass a cost-benefit test before they can win approval. And hospitals and doctors are concerned the government could dictate what they get paid to care for any patient, not only the elderly and the poor.

Representatives of industry and provider groups have been invited to the White House Monday. Many of them were part of a health care summit held at the White House in March.

The groups attending Monday include the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, Pharma, AdvaMed, America's Health Insurance Plans, SEIU, the Greater New York hospital association and the California Hospital association.

"We cannot continue down the same dangerous road we've been traveling for so many years, with costs that are out of control, because reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait," Obama said in prepared remarks the White House released Sunday.

"That is why these groups are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment."

The groups concede that their prices are not going down, they are merely slowing the rate of growth. But economists say the move would create breathing room to help provide health insurance to an estimated 50 million Americans who now go without it.

Story continues HERE.

Daily Constitution Reading 5-11-2009

2009-05-11T07:31:00.001-04:00

Article 1 Section 3.2

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Dissension In The Ranks?

2009-05-11T07:28:00.002-04:00

Members of former Sen. John Edwards' presidential campaign reportedly devised a "doomsday" strategy over his affair with Rielle Hunter in which they would destroy his bid for office.

Several unnamed former campaign officials said they had prepared a plan in which they would sabotage Edwards' campaign if it appeared he would secure the Democratic nomination, ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reported on Sunday.

"They were Democrats first, and if it looked like Edwards was going to become the nominee, they were going to bring down the campaign -- they were going to blow it up," Stephanopoulos said.

The strategy was apparently put together in secret in December 2007 after months of denying rumors that Edwards was having an affair with a woman and had also fathered a child with her.

Story Continues HERE.

Daily Constitution Reading 5-10-2009

2009-05-10T20:27:00.001-04:00

Article 1 Section 5

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Pelosi Remembers Torture Briefings

2009-05-08T20:27:00.002-04:00

Knowing that Democrats are always above board and very honest about everything I was shocked to see Pelosi all the sudden remembered that she was involved in the meetings about "torture". But why did she wait until Friday evening to admit this information? Could it be that she was hoping it would be swept under the rug in a very short weekend news cycle? No way, she is way to ethical for all that nonsense.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Friday that she was briefed only once about the "enhanced" interrogation techniques being used on terrorism suspects and that she was assured by lawyers with the CIA and the Department of Justice that the methods were legal.

Pelosi issued a statement after CIA records released this week showed that Pelosi was briefed in September 2002 on the interrogation methods. The briefings memo appeared to contradict the speaker's claims that she was never told that waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation methods were being used.

"We were not -- I repeat -- were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used," Pelosi said on April 23.

The emphasis seems to be on "were used," even though she conceded in a statement released Friday that she was told they would be used.

"As I said in my statement of December 9, 2007: 'I was briefed on interrogation techniques the (Bush) administration was considering using in the future. The administration advised that legal counsel for both the CIA and the Department of Justice had concluded that the techniques were legal,'" she said.

But even that statement is at odds with the official record of the briefings recorded in the CIA memo dated to Sept. 4, 2002. That memo says Pelosi received a "briefing on EITs (enhanced interrogation techniques), including use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah, background on authorities and a description of particular EITs that had been employed."

Pelosi noted that the media had reported this week that CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote in a cover letter accompanying the briefings memo that "the descriptions provided by the CIA may not be accurate."

Pelosi is fighting back against accusations that she and other Democrats are being motivated by politics in their attempt to establish an independent commission to investigate officials and lawyers involved with the Bush-era interrogation programs.

Pelosi is just one of 65 lawmakers who received 40 briefings dealing with the subject. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., for instance, was repeatedly briefed, as was Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., who took over Pelosi's spot on the House Intelligence Committee.

In addition, from the beginning of the program in 2002 until it became public in the fall of 2006, the House held 13 votes to authorize intelligence funding at which time no one objected or demanded changes to any intelligence programs.

The briefings took place in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. At the time, the CIA was getting actionable intelligence that helped disrupt several terrorist plots.

Lawmakers apparently didn't want to stop that. But when it became public, Pelosi and others shifted gears and started criticizing a program they had known about for years, claimed GOP strategist Brad Blakeman.

"Either the speaker has a veracity problem or an incompetence problem and it could be both," Blakeman told FOX News. "The fact of the matter is she was briefed and she was hoping that the top secret nature of these briefings would shield her from this information coming out."

Blakeman added that he trusts the notes made at the briefings more than Pelosi's memory.

Justice Department officials are not likely to recommend criminal charges against the three Bush administration lawyers who the wrote the memos approving the interrogation methods, but two could face disciplinary action from their state bar associations.

Courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Gay Research On My Dime?

2009-05-08T13:36:00.002-04:00

I do not subscribe to the notion that people are born gay. I think it is a choice people make for whatever reason. If people were born gay the species would fail to exist at some point. The human body is a near perfect specimen that is constantly evolving. Hence the theory of evolution you liberals keep talking about. In order for the species to "evolve" it has to weed out the weak or unhelpful genes. If being gay was a birth defect if more than 1/2 of the population was born gay next generation the species would be on the verge of extinction. We have evolved too much for me to believe that could possibly be the case. People choose to be gay.

The story below is from www.foxnews.com

Government researchers are spending more than $400,000 in taxpayer money to hit the bars in Argentina.

The National Institutes of Health are paying researchers to cruise six bars in Buenos Aires to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior while drunk -- and just what can be done about it.

Doctors and specialists from the New York Psychiatric Institute are using the generous grant from NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to help tailor HIV prevention programs to work at bars and clubs.

Though public health officials say that HIV/AIDS rates are higher in Washington, D.C., than in some parts of West Africa, U.S. government funds are going to help curb dangerous liaisons in Argentina's capital.

The study began in September 2008, according to an online abstract, and has already cost taxpayers $198,776, NIH documents show.

"Targeting public venues in Buenos Aires where men meet, alcohol is consumed and sexual behavior occurs," the project's overview explains, "the goal of this 2-year exploratory study is to understand the various factors that contribute to the creation of a high risk sexual space."

That means NIH researchers will have as many as 730 nights on the town for careful observation and interaction.

"To that end, the study seeks to describe the relative contribution of physical characteristics of the place" -- social scientists call this the "vibe" -- and other factors like "patron characteristics" and "social dynamics" that can lead to risky behavior when mixed with a few parts alcohol.

NIH officials say the study is doing valuable work to address high HIV infection rates among homosexual men in Argentina, and that plans developed there could be translated for use in the United States and elsewhere.

Researchers plan to interview dozens of bar patrons and proprietors to help develop the on-site intervention programs -- and they mean to be exact.

"Venue patrons will also undergo a brief quantitative assessment to gather descriptive data on sexual behavior and substance use among this sample," the study's abstract reads.

In layman's terms, that means they're asking drinkers to keep tabs on their quaffs and their quarry; fortunately for their more modest subjects, it's not a qualitative test too.

Because the study is promoting venue-based prevention programs, researchers will have to be exact about the bars they visit in the city of 13 million, taking special care to describe the them "in terms of their physical characteristics, alcohol availability, patron characteristics and sexual behavior that occurs in the venue."

An NIH official said that funds approved for the project include $275,000 for direct costs and an additional $125,000 in indirect costs, but would not elaborate. Though FOXNews.com could not confirm the median price of cervezas in Buenos Aires, that should leave a lot of money for tips.

More Global Warming BS

2009-05-08T09:29:00.002-04:00

I am amazed that the global warming fools are still able to get traction with the lies they spew. The Obama administration has an opportunity to thrust this country into deeper levels of socialism by allowing the viscous polar bear on the endangered species act.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is approaching a weekend deadline to decide whether it should allow government agencies to cite the federal Endangered Species Act, which protects the bear, for imposing limits on greenhouse gases from power plants, factories and automobiles even if the pollution occurs thousands of miles from where the polar bear lives.

The species law that affords protection for plants, animals and fish that face possible extinction became entangled with the need to reduce pollution linked to global warming more than a year ago. The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species, citing the decline of Arctic sea ice due to global warming.

Fearful that the declaration putting the bear under the federal species law might be used to force regulation of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas from burning fossil fuels, the Bush administration issued a special rule: No action outside of the bear's Arctic habitat could be considered as endangering its survival.

The limitation, hailed by business groups, prompted lawsuits from environmentalists and action by Congress.

In March, federal lawmakers authorized Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to rescind the Bush administration's special rule, thus avoiding any complicated and time-consuming regulatory procedures. The deadline for such action is Saturday, 60 days after Congress acted.

Salazar was said to be weighing the issue. Lobbying on the matter has been heavy, and Salazar has given little hint on whether he will rescind the Bush rule.

Environmentalists complained last week when Salazar failed to address the polar bear rule when he rescinded another Bush regulation involving endangered species consultation -- one Congress also authorized to be scrapped.

"From our perspective the job is half done" without a reversal of the polar bear rule, Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group, said after last week's action.

The special rule "significantly undercuts protections for the polar bear by omitting global warming pollution as a factor in the polar bear's risk of extinction," said Jane Kochersperger, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace, which delivered 80,000 petitions to the Interior Department after they were collected by the two environmental groups.

Environmentalists also circulated a letter to Salazar, signed by 49 law professors, that urges him to reverse the Bush rule, arguing that its restrictions are so broad as to be illegal under the Endangered Species Act.

Business groups have expressed concern about the Endangered Species Act being used to regulate greenhouse gases, especially industrial and power plant emissions.

On Thursday, Rep. Doc Hastings, the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, urged Salazar to keep the Bush rule in place.

Along with the recent ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency that carbon dioxide is a health hazard, "withdrawing this rule would give the federal government vast new climate change power to regulate any federal or federally permitted activity in our country that emits greenhouse gases," said Hastings. "This reaches far beyond the scope of polar bears in the Arctic and could put jobs and economic activity across the entire nation at risk."

From www.foxnews.com

Daily Constitution Reading 5-8-2009

2009-05-08T09:09:00.001-04:00

Article 1 Section 7

All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

John Edwards Love Child?

2009-05-07T14:42:00.003-04:00

Rielle Hunter has decided to break her silence and get her child's father named. Hunter decided to abandon the "cover-up" over the paternity of her daughter after learning about the contents of Elizabeth Edwards' book, in which she reportedly refers to the baby only as "it" and does not name Hunter.

I predict one of two things.
Scenario 1: Hunter will start driving a new Lambo and move into a huge house and decide that the paternity test is too traumatic for her daughter Frances to endure.
Scenario 2: Rielle and Frances disappear. Edwards decides to take a page from Clinton's play book and has the two "disposed" of.

Either scenario is typical of the Democratic party. I am very confident this child was fathered by John Edwards. It is not surprising that he, like many other Dems, has no paternal feelings for this child. Who loses in this fight? Frances. This poor child will grow up either being lied to about who her father is or with the feeling of abandonment because her sperm donor is more interested in his political career than he is her.

In case John didn't know, his political career lasted about as long as making this child did.

The story below is from www.foxnews.com

John Edwards' ex-mistress is reportedly interested in administering a DNA test to determine who is the father of her 1-year-old daughter after Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, sparked fresh questions over whether it might be her husband.

The former North Carolina senator and presidential candidate denied being the father of Frances Quinn Hunter during a television interview in August. But Elizabeth Edwards, in an interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" set to air Thursday afternoon, left open the door on whether her husband was telling the truth.

"I've seen a picture of the baby," she said. "I have no idea. It doesn't look like my children, but I don't have any idea."

On Wednesday, one day after Oprah's production company released excerpts of the interview, The National Enquirer reported that Rielle Hunter, John Edwards' former mistress, is working with a lawyer to seek a paternity test from him.

That's a turnabout from last August, when Hunter's attorney Robert Gordon released a statement saying she "will not participate in DNA testing or any other invasion of her or her daughter's privacy now or in the future."

Edwards said at the time that he would "welcome" a paternity test, and that because of the "timing" of his affair "it's not possible that this child could be mine." But he indicated that his apparent willingness to take the test would lead nowhere unless Hunter consented.

"I'm only one side. I can run only one side of the test, but I'm happy to participate in one," Edwards said at the time.

It's unclear whether Edwards would be as willing to submit to a test if Hunter is on board with the idea. When it was initially reported that Edwards was the love child's father, a former aide to the ex-senator, Andrew Young, claimed paternity.

Gordon, reached by FOXNews.com Thursday, said he did not know whether Hunter was seeking a paternity test and that he no longer represents her.

"I haven't been involved in that in a long time," Gordon said. "I can't speak to anything. I don't know anything."

Pigeon O'Brien, a former close friend of Hunter's who publicly questioned Edwards' account of the affair last year, said in an e-mail to FOXNews.com that she didn't know whether Hunter is seeking a paternity test. But she added: "It all has to do with [Elizabeth Edwards'] book and the resulting chaos."

In her book, "Resilience," due out next week, Elizabeth Edwards calls Hunter's life "pathetic" and writes that she threw up when she learned of her husband's affair.

A source reportedly told the Enquirer that Hunter decided to abandon the "cover-up" over the paternity of her daughter after learning about the contents of Elizabeth Edwards' book, in which she reportedly refers to the baby only as "it" and does not name Hunter.

While Andrew Young, a former Edwards campaign aide, claimed to be the father of Frances Hunter, another former campaign worker told FOXNews.com last summer that he and Hunter had "no relationship." The birth certificate for Frances Quinn Hunter does not list a father.

The question of paternity isn't the only matter still dogging Edwards in the wake of the affair and his subsequent confession. Federal investigators are also looking into how he's managed his campaign funds -- finance questions arose last year after his political action committee paid more than $100,000 to Hunter's company for the production of short videos.

New Louisiana Senator?

2009-05-07T14:32:00.002-04:00

Only in America could a porn star and a joke like Al Frankin could run for a Senate seat. The problem is we have people dumb enough to vote for these fools. Unless something major changes Al Frankin will be the new Senator from the great state of Minnesota. I don't typically pass judgment on people for their career choice but in a country where morals are getting very difficult to find do we really need an ex-porn star as a senator? I would say No!

Stormy Daniels strode onstage at a downtown Baton Rouge restaurant in a tight black blouse with a plunging neckline and a knee-length skirt in the popular purple of Louisiana State University. She introduced herself with a warning.

"For those of you who don't know who I am," she told the lunch crowd at The Roux House, "I'd suggest that you don't Google that until you get home from work."

She's a Louisiana-born porn star who says she is considering a 2010 run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican David Vitter, whose family-values reputation was marred in 2007 when his name was linked to a Washington prostitution ring.

Daniels, 30, insists she's serious. She's spending her own money on a "listening tour" to hear what people have to say as she considers a possible run, and said she isn't just starting a publicity stunt to promote her work or embarrass Vitter. However, she said she hasn't lived in Louisiana for seven years -- she currently resides in Florida -- and would need to re-establish residency to run.

She sprinkled her presentation Tuesday with the occasional joke ("If you get any closer you're going to have to start tipping me," she told a crowd of reporters and photographers) but she kept the topics serious.

Daniels backs some issues common to many candidates, including bringing troops home sooner from Iraq and replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax. Others are closer to her professional background, including pushing to remove child pornography from the Internet and keeping minors from viewing adult material.

She doesn't want to take questions about Vitter. "I think it's about time David Vitter started answering David Vitter questions," she said.

Vitter has steadfastly refused to discuss the "serious sin" he confessed to after his phone number was linked to Deborah Palfrey, the so-called "D.C. Madam" who committed suicide as she faced prison time for running a prostitution ring that catered to the powerful. His office declined to comment Wednesday on Daniels' possible candidacy.

Vitter, 48, kept a low profile in the months after his scandal broke but has emerged as a chief critic of government bailouts and President Barack Obama's spending plans -- popular stands in a state that went solidly for Republican John McCain in last year's presidential election.

He also has been aggressively fundraising, amassing $2.5 million in campaign funds for what will be his first re-election attempt since the Palfrey scandal broke. He won the Senate seat for the first time in 2004, spending more than $7 million to defeat four major opponents for the open position.

Noting Vitter's solid conservative stances and his healthy campaign account, Ed Chervenak, a political science professor at the University of New Orleans, doesn't think a Daniels candidacy would do much damage.

"It's probably going to be fairly easy for him to ignore her," he said.

"What it really shows is the lack of any real credible Democratic challenger," he added.

Pollster and political consultant Bernie Pinsonat agreed. But he said a possible Daniels' candidacy could be a distraction if Vitter is challenged in next year's Republican primary.

"Is she a threat to beat him? No. Is she really going to run? I seriously doubt it," Pinsonat said. "But if I had my druthers and I was running the campaign of David Vitter, I would rather she not be there."

Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne has expressed interest in the GOP primary. Others reportedly considering a run are retired state Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor, a Republican; and state Sen. Eric LaFleur and Shaw Group CEO Jim Bernhard, both Democrats. Nobody has announced.

If nothing else, a Daniels candidacy could bring color to the Senate campaign the way adult film star Mary Carey did as a candidate for governor in California's 2003 recall race, which Arnold Schwarzenegger won. And Daniels could restore the spectacle missing from Louisiana politics since the unabashed gambler, reputed womanizer and now-felon Edwin Edwards left the governor's office in 1996.

Edwards was succeeded by the staid Mike Foster, the grandmotherly Kathleen Blanco and the young policy wonk, Bobby Jindal. All are a far cry from other colorful characters from Louisiana's political past: the windmill-armed Depression-era orator, Huey Long; country-singing Gov. Jimmie Davis, who once rode up the Capitol steps on horseback; or Gov. Earl Long, Huey's brother, who openly cavorted with Bourbon Street stripper Blaze Starr in the 1950s.

Daniels, meanwhile, has not committed to a candidacy -- or a political party.

She decided to explore a possible run after a draft movement started by fans after the Palfrey scandal broke, she said. "I completely ignored the whole thing for a while, and then I just got so much encouragement and feedback that I thought at the very least I owe it to myself and to the people to come out and see what they have to say."

At Mike Serio's Po-Boys & Deli in downtown New Orleans on Wednesday, the crowd was friendly but some seemed more interested in Daniels' film career.

"You look familiar. Not your face, though," said Jody Mathern, 51, a New Orleans man who said he works in the oil industry, drawing laughs from Daniels and a table full of oil patch workers. "She's a whole lot prettier than Vitter. But I still don't know what color her eyes are."

Daily Constitution Reading 5-7-2009

2009-05-07T10:59:00.000-04:00

Article 1 Section 6

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Specter Muscle Most Junior Dem

2009-05-06T12:32:00.002-04:00

Good for him, it could have not happened to a more deserving jerk. Specter muscle admitted he bailed on the party that got him where he is because he was going to lose the primary battle because he is out of touch with primary voters. When people like Specter muscle think they are smarter than the average tax payer and vote to advance their own agenda it is time for them to go. That is exactly was was going to happen to Specter muscle so he decided to show his true cowardly colors and jump ship to the party that is in power. Hey Specter muscle, the dems will not be in power forever and when the Republicans regain control you are not welcome on our side. You ass clown.

Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party has cost him his seniority on Senate committees.

The Senate passed a resolution Tuesday night that made him the most junior Democrat on the committees on which he serves. The resolution was passed after an agreement was reached between leadership in both parties and Specter, said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Manley said the seniority issue will be revisited after the 2010 elections.

Specter, 79, is seeking a sixth term next year in Pennsylvania. He has said he made the decision to end his four-decade relationship with the Republican Party because he was unlikely to win the nomination in a party that has grown increasingly conservative.

Specter serves on the Appropriations, Judiciary, Veterans Affairs, Environment and Public Works, and Special Aging committees.

Specter, a former Philadelphia prosecutor, had been the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, which is preparing for hearings on a Supreme Court nominee to replace the retiring Justice David Souter. When Republicans were in the majority, Specter chaired the confirmation hearings for Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. He now will have to wait in line to question the nominee.

Specter also was the top Republican on the subcommittee that funds the National Institutes of Health. The issue is a personal one for him because he has twice battled cancer.

A message left with Specter's office Wednesday was not immediately returned.

Daily Constitution Reading 5-6-2009

2009-05-06T08:55:00.001-04:00

Article 1 Section 8.2

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

Job Approval Ratings

2009-05-05T13:23:00.002-04:00

I find it humorous that the drive by media is running around talking about what a great president Obama is. They tell us of his soaring approval ratings and that no other president in history has been this loved.

NEWS FLASH!!!!!

After 100 days in office George Bush had the same approval ratings that Dear Leader Obama did. Whats that you say? How is that possible? Obama is the chosen one this could never be. After the first 100 days President Bush enjoyed a job approval rating of 62, Dear leader is sitting at 63.

Murtha Again!

2009-05-05T09:15:00.003-04:00

This is a real shocker. NOT! Another crooked person related to a high profile democrat. Of course this has nothing to do with the fact that Robert C Murtha's uncle ist he chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee.

WASHINGTON -- A company owned by a nephew of Rep. John Murtha received $4 million from the Defense Department last year for engineering and warehouse services, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Murtha, D-Pa., is chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Murtech Inc., based on Glen Burnie, Md., is owned by the congressman's nephew Robert C. Murtha Jr., who told the Post the company provides "necessary logistical support" to Pentagon testing programs, "and that's about as far as I feel comfortable going."

The Post reported that the Pentagon rewarded contracts to Murtech without competition.

Robert Murtha denied using his family ties to land defense contracts and called it "unfortunate" some would assume his company he received federal dollars because of his uncle's influence. In fact, he told the Post, "I've been critiqued all my life, having the last name of Murtha."

"If we're not doing our job well, we wouldn't be doing our job," Murtha told the paper. "I'm successful at the work I do because of the skill sets I have...You don't know how good someone is unless you work with them."

Rep. Murtha has been known for his skill at steering government money to defense contractors in his home state. But the Post said there was no evidence the lawmaker had earmarked funds for Murtech.

Earlier this week, the New York Times reported another nephew of Murtha's was named to a congressional lobbying position, raising eyebrows.

The newspaper said Marine Corps Col. Brian Murtha was appointed to a legislative liaison position with the service, which may bring him into official contact with his uncle, a decorated former Marine.

The Times said the situation doesn't appear to violate any rules or ethics guidelines, but noted other Murtha family members have also benefited from the congressman's position. He reportedly earmarked millions of dollars to an institution in his district, St. Vincent College, while his cousin, the Rev. John F. Murtha, was its president.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Daily Constitution Reading 5-5-2009

2009-05-05T08:43:00.001-04:00

Goodbye Specter Muscle!

2009-05-05T08:33:00.001-04:00

http://www.anotsocapitolidea.com/2009/05/so-long-farewell-auf-wiedersehen-good.html

Conservative Website

2009-05-04T15:28:00.002-04:00

A good friend of the conservative movement writes a blog I visit daily. Below is a link to her blog.

Click HERE to visit www.anotsocapitolidea.com

Change In The Iranian Air?

2009-05-04T15:17:00.002-04:00

Is there finally going to be a more centrist candidate in the presidential office of Iran? Only time will tell but at this point things are not looking good for Ahmadinejad. A new "president" in Iran could spell better relations between Tehran and the US. Ahmadinejad has long denied the Holocaust and the repeated calls to wipe Israel off the map has made it impossible for relations with countries that are not radical.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader publicly rebuked the president over his removal of a top official, a rare show of discontent with the hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by the country's most powerful figure.

The flap centered around control of a body that organizes the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, traditionally part of responsibilities under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's vast powers. Khameini overturned the government's removal of the head of the organization.

The rebuke, issued in the press on Monday, comes at a time when Iranians are watching carefully for any sign as to whether Khamenei's support for Ahmadinejad is weakening as the president faces a tough battle for a second term in June 12 elections. Khameini's backing is important for any presidential candidate to win.

But given Iran's notoriously murky politics, it is hard to gauge where Khameini stands. The supreme leader has overruled Ahmadinejad at times in the past, only to later reaffirm his strong support for the president.

Some have seen other signs of weakening support. In March, the supreme leader said his stance is to support the president in power. But he also said that position was not connected to the elections and that he does not tell anyone who to vote for.

Ahmadinejad faces a strong challenge in the elections from reformists, who call for greater freedoms at home and better relations with the West. At the same time, Ahmadinejad's popularity has fallen among some in his conservative base, mainly because of the country's economic woes. His critics also accuse him of hurting Iran by his insistence on pursuing a nuclear program the West suspects is aimed at producing weapons and by denying the Holocaust.

Khamenei holds ultimate power in Iran, at the top of the Muslim clerical hierarchy above elected figures such as the president. If his support for Ahmadinejad is clear, then it would likely rally conservatives behind the president. If not, conservatives could take it as a signal to back an alternative candidate.

Specter Is A True Democrat

2009-05-04T14:31:00.003-04:00

Specter decided he would follow in the footsteps of democrats like Joe Biden, Obama, and Kerry and say something really stupid on national TV. I think it is a requirement to be in the Democratic party. If you are unable to stay stupid stuff you are not allowed! Now if Specter were still a RINO he would have been blasted by everyone in the media.

Jack Kemp would still be alive if the federal government had done a better job funding cancer research, Sen. Arlen Specter said Sunday, one day after Kemp, the 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee and former congressman, died of cancer.

The Pennsylvania senator, who last week switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, made the claim on two Sunday shows.

On CBS' "Face the Nation," Specter suggested that one of the reasons he left the GOP was because it did not share his interest in funding medical research.

"Frankly, I was disappointed that the Republican Party didn't want me as their candidate. But as a matter of principle, I'm becoming much more comfortable with the Democrats' approach," Specter said. "And one of the items that I'm working on ... is funding for medical research. I've been the spear carrier to increase medical research."

Specter added: "If we had pursued what President Nixon declared in 1970 as the war on cancer, we would have cured many strains. I think Jack Kemp would be alive today. And that research has saved or prolonged many lives, including mine."

Specter has been treated for Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system. Through his Web site, specterforthecure.com, the senator has called for more federal resources and funding to be directed toward medical research.

Specter on Sunday touted his record of increasing funding for research for the National Institutes of Health. His Web site details the strides he's made -- "doubling the nation's health research budget" and helping include funding for the NIH in the stimulus bill.

But his claims about Nixon's "war on cancer" and Kemp, the former Buffalo Bills MVP who died of an undisclosed cancer after a lengthy illness, raised eyebrows -- since the government has devoted billions to cancer research since Nixon's call in 1971 for a campaign to find a cancer cure.

The National Cancer Institute had a $4.8 billion budget in fiscal 2008. Since the early '70s, the National Cancer Institute's budgets have totaled more than $80 billion, according to historical budget statistics.

"We are spending more money on cancer research -- public and private -- than President Nixon ever dreamed," said one column critical of Specter's comments on The American Thinker blog.

In a statement to FOXNews.com, the American Cancer Society's chief medical officer said there's "room for more progress" but noted the achievements researchers have made in past decades in the areas of cancer prevention and treatment.

Courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Letter From Senator Kaufman

2009-05-04T14:22:00.002-04:00

May 4, 2009

I was unfortunate enough to receive another form letter from Senator Kaufman. This is evident that he does not read the letters that are sent in because in my letter to him I insisted he either send me a self crafted response or no response at all. I will be doing everything I can to ensure this clown does not get elected the first time he runs because unfortunately the peoples of Delaware did not have the option to voice their opinion on Kaufman being a senator.

Dear Mr. James:

Thank you for writing me in regard to the Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2010. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

Our federal budget is a general statement of priorities. Every budget, whether that of a family or of the United States government, reflects difficult choices and this year's choices are made more difficult because of the economic situation that the country is in today.

This budget reflects two realities. We must first deal with the deep, inherited troubles of the current crisis and then lay the groundwork for our future success. This budget responds to the severe economic circumstances with emergency action and makes strategic investments to build a stronger future.

As you may already know, the Congress recently passed its budget with my support. I was proud to support this crucial blueprint because it provides for tax cuts to the middle class and putting people back to work. It will allow us to make college more affordable, health care more accessible, and fund research and development of domestic renewable energy sources which will create new industries, jobs, products, and improve our energy independence and security.

At this stage in the formulation of the budget, dollar amounts involved are assigned to broad categories that will become more specific through later legislation. You can be sure that I welcome your input as the Senate continues to work through this crucial process.

Thank you, again, for contacting me. I hope you continue to keep in touch on matters of importance to you.

Sincerely,

Edward E. Kaufman

United States Senator

Daily Constitution Reading 5-4-2009

2009-05-04T08:06:00.001-04:00

Article 1 Section 9.1

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-30-2009

2009-04-30T08:53:00.000-04:00

Article 6 Section 1

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Delmarva Sign

2009-04-29T15:00:00.002-04:00

This picture was taken on Delmarva. I doctored it up a little to protect the identity of the business that posted it. They are not ashamed of it but it is not my place to put their name out there.

Hate Crime Prevention Act 2009

2009-04-29T13:21:00.002-04:00

Here goes our buddy Congressman Castle again off on a liberal tangent. It is when he does things like this that I hope he resigns his house seat and runs for Bidens seat, and loses. Castle has a very "Specteress" voting record. You never really know where he is going to come down. The GOP in Delaware is just so happy to have a "Republican" as out lone congressman because the state is so ridiculously blue they allow him to do as he pleases without any resistance. Personally I would rather have an admitted Democrat in that seat so we could run a strong conservative against him.

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 has just passed its first test to becoming law. The Act has added sexual orientation to it's protection. Meaning it could be understood to place pastors in violation of the law and arrested if they preach or teach the Bible on Romans 1 or other related texts. Delaware Congressman Mike Castle is one of the sponsors of this bill. Has anyone heard anything different on this Congressional Bill and Castle's support?

Family Research Counsel

http://www.frc.org/
Hate Crimes legislation in the House
The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to mark-up the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. The enactment of so-called "hate crimes" legislation is a long stated objective of the homosexual agenda. The act, H.R. 1913, would establish a new FEDERAL offense for so-called "hate crimes" and add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as protected classes. It will mandate a separate federal criminal prosecution for state offenses. Adding "sexual orientation" to thought crimes legislation gives one set of crime victims a higher level of protection than it gives to others. All people deserve to be protected from crime, and equal protection under the law means equal protection for ALL. In a hearing on this legislation last Congress, Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) admitted that under the legislation pastors could be arrested for hate crimes based on what they teach and preach, which is certainly a violation of free speech and an example of unfair treatment under the law.

See the bill HERE

Sheriff Joe Arapio's Letter To Al Sharpton

2009-04-29T11:38:00.000-04:00

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-29-2009

2009-04-29T08:48:00.000-04:00

Marines Reaction To Two Different Presidents

2009-04-28T15:41:00.002-04:00

This is utterly amazing. I knew how the service men and women felt about Bush and assumed they were much less "friendly" to Obama but this is staggering.

Specter Admits Hes A Liberal

2009-04-28T13:38:00.002-04:00

Well not exactly but he has decided to run as a Democrat in the upcoming primary. I personally am happy to see him go. This is the coward thing to do but wish he would have done it long ago. No matter what party he decides to associate with he is going to loose.

Republican voters had sent him to the Senate five times. But faced with the prospect of a strong challenge from conservative Pat Toomey in the GOP primary and the state trending Democratic, Specter jumped ship.

The switch puts Democrats within one vote of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Democrats currently hold 56 seats in the Senate, and two independents typically vote with the party. Republicans have 41 seats, and there is one vacancy.

Democrats will reach the magical number of 60 if Al Franken, who has been entangled in a protracted court battle with incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, is seated in Minnesota.

Specter was facing a tough primary challenge from Pat Toomey, head of the conservative Club for Growth, who almost defeated Specter in a 2004 GOP primary.

Reaction from Republicans was swift and harsh.

"I regret his decision," Sen. John McCain said.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said some Republicans are happy about this, but he isn't.

"Let's be honest -- Sen. Specter didn't leave the GOP based on principles of any kind," he said in a statement. "He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record.

"Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told FOX News that Specter's decision puts a lot of red state Democrats, who campaigned on conservative credentials, under a lot of pressure to step up.

"They may be the only thing that can stop this radical liberal agenda," he said. "The big loser could be the red state Democrats."

Graham added, "Everyone switches parties when you know you're going to lose."

Good riddance you liberal piece of garbage. The great people of Pennsylvania will vote your sorry self out and the American people will be better for it.

White House Apologizes For NYC Scare

2009-04-28T09:03:00.002-04:00

Once again this arrogant administration has done something stupid. Yesterday the plane that bares the call sign "Air Force One" when the president is on board did a low fly over, with an F-16 in trail, of New York City.

The White House said they often update photos of Air Force One over national landmarks. They also said the FAA was notified.

"I'm annoyed -- furious is a better word -- that I wasn't told," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a news conference. A junior aide in the mayors office was informed of the flyover the night before but was told to keep it quiet by the FAA.

The stunt caused panic among many residents and workers. Buildings were evacuated and people were seen running down the street screaming. Fearing the worst, thousands of people streamed out of the skyscrapers and into the streets. Some buildings ordered evacuations. "Oh God, it was mayhem in here, just mayhem," says Rubin Shimon, manager of Styling Haircutters, a barbershop near Ground Zero. Many people took shelter in the shop to call loved ones on their cellphones.

The administration should be ashamed of themselves. This is one of the most insensitive things an administration could do. The residents of NYC that were present during the events of 9-11 have reason to be furious and scared.

SHAMEFUL!

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-28-2009

2009-04-28T09:02:00.000-04:00

Article 4 Section 4

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.

Second Amendment Supporters

2009-04-27T11:43:00.002-04:00

I was browsing the web this morning and ran across the document below. It just goes to show not all republicans are interested in preserving your second amendment rights.

Click HERE for the document.

Trophy Rock Fish Season

2009-04-27T09:14:00.005-04:00

I know this is supposed to be a political blog but this time of the year I spend a lot of time on the water fishing for trophy rock fish. The season has been open for a week and after many hours spent on the water catching nothing I finally was able to land a couple of trophy's.

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-27-2009

2009-04-27T09:12:00.001-04:00

Article 4 Section 3

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Obama Is Not Playing Nice?

2009-04-24T12:39:00.003-04:00

There are not really people that are surprised this president, the most radical liberal ever to be elected, would not honor his promise of bipartisanship is there? The Republicans that have voted with the Democrats since this radical took office should be voted out of office as soon as their current term expires.

Mark your calendar: April 21, 2009. That's when the Era of Bipartisanship died.

That's what some Republicans suggested after President Obama opened the possibility of a congressional investigation and prosecution of Justice Department lawyers who authorized "enhanced" interrogation techniques on terror suspects during the Bush administration.

If the coffin needs a final nail, it will come if Democrats decide to fast-track Obama's legislative priorities through a budget maneuver known as "reconciliation."

Democrats in the House and Senate agreed Friday on a budget framework that would protect Obama's health care plan from a Republican filibuster using the tactic.

Republicans and some Democrats oppose reconciliation because it would prevent a long debate on what they consider complex issues.

Bipartisanship was already on life support after Republicans largely opposed the president's economic policies, and it took a turn for the worse on Tuesday when Obama said it would be up to his attorney general to determine whether "those who formulated those legal decisions" behind the interrogation methods should be prosecuted.

Those methods, described in Bush-era memos Obama released last week, included tactics such as slamming detainees against walls and subjecting them to a simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding.

Obama acknowledged the complexities involved with prosecuting Bush officials.

"As a general deal, I think that we should be looking forward and not backwards," he said. "I do worry about this getting so politicized that we cannot function effectively, and it hampers our ability to carry out national security operations."

He suggested that Congress might set up a bipartisan review, outside its typical hearings, if it wants a "further accounting" of what happened during the period when the interrogation methods were authorized. His press secretary later said the independent Sept. 11 Commission, which investigated and then reported on the terror attacks of 2001, might be a model.

But at a closed-door bipartisan meeting with congressional leaders Thursday, Obama reportedly resisted pressure from Democrats to probe Bush officials. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told Obama she wants a "Truth Commission" to investigate the interrogation policies -- an option that several congressional Democrats support.

But Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., apparently didn't embrace the idea.

Obama also addressed the "reconciliation" procedure at the meeting, saying it may be used as "a last resort" on health care reform legislation.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned the president that "reconciliation" would cause serious problems and hamper bipartisan cooperation, GOP aides told FOX News.

But some Republican leaders haven't given up on achieving bipartisanship.

House GOP leaders wrote Obama a letter dated April 22, detailing the policy proposals they wish to work with him on, including tax cuts for businesses and families and tax breaks for homeowners and potential homebuyers.

"We believe that if Washington can put aside petty politics and unite for the good of the American people, we can accomplish great things," the letter read. "Unfortunately, there has been a sad lack of bipartisanship. This lack of bipartisanship has been a major detriment to your stated desire to change the way that Washington works."

Republicans blamed Democrats for the lack of bipartisanship.

"Democratic leaders in Congress have so far ignored your call for a new era of bipartisanship in Washington," they wrote, claiming Democrats have not engaged in dialogue with them on legislation. "However the next 100 days can be different."

FOX News' Carl Cameron and Trish Turner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pelosi Is A LIAR!

2009-04-24T12:27:00.004-04:00

Pelosi is a liar! I don't typically start a story with such harsh allegations but this creature is will say anything to get reelected and get the heat off her back. She knew of the interrogation techniques and anyone who does not believe she does is an idiot. I hope the citizens of her district wake up and vote this crazy ding bat out of office. I hope whoever runs against her plasters the television and newspapers with the story of her husband and American Samoa. She is a crook right along with Feinstein.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she was never told during a congressional briefing in 2002 that waterboarding or other "enhanced" interrogation techniques were being used on terrorism suspects.

But in a story published in the Washington Post in December 2007, two officials were quoted saying that the California Democrat and three other lawmakers had received an hour-long secret briefing on the interrogation tactics, including waterboarding, and that they raised no objections at the time.

The clash of accounts has stirred Republican claims that Democrats have selective and politically motivated amnesia when it comes to who knew what, and when, about the Bush-era interrogation programs.

"I saw a partial list of the number of members of the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, who were briefed on these interrogation methods, and not a word was raised at the time, not one word," House Minority Leader John Boehner said Thursday.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., is seeking a detailed list of all lawmakers who were briefed on the tactics. Republicans are drawing attention to the briefings to challenge Democrats who now say they are open to investigating, and possibly prosecuting, officials and lawyers involved in the drafting of the harsh interrogation techniques.

Pelosi is among those lawmakers who want an independent commission established to probe the evolution of the policies -- but it's still unclear what she knew early on in the Bush administration.

Asked about the briefings on Thursday, Pelosi said: "We were not -- I repeat -- were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used."

But she also did not explicitly say that waterboarding was not part of the conversation. She indicated instead that any discussion they may have had was hypothetical.

"What they did tell us is that they had some legislative counsel ... opinions, that they could be used, but not that they would," she said.

Pelosi indicated the briefings could have been incomplete, saying: "We only know what they choose to tell us, and the manner and timing which they tell us."

The Post article noted that strict rules during the secret briefings prohibit lawmakers from taking notes or consulting with legal experts, hindering the lawmakers' ability to challenge what they are being told -- in this case, about interrogation tactics.

But that doesn't mean they can't ask critical questions.

Pelosi indicated Thursday she's being hamstrung from fully addressing the briefing, and publicly questioning the tactics described in it, because it was secret.

"It's very interesting that people are talking so freely," Pelosi said.

Story courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-24-2009

2009-04-24T10:49:00.000-04:00

Article 3 Section 3

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Napolitano Is A Joke And A Clown

2009-04-23T15:49:00.002-04:00

This lady is an idiot. Once again I will say if she were a Republican she would have been out of a job when the report was released. As if that were not enough she decided to blame our neighbors to the north for the 9-11 attacks. It is time for this lady to go back to New Mexico and lets get a competent person to fill the job.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is under fire for what critics see as a string of gaffes, with a small but vocal group of conservatives calling for her to step down.

The outrage continues to build over a report from her department that warned of the danger of right-wing "extremists," and singled out returning war veterans as susceptible to recruitment.

Napolitano expressed regret for the reference to veterans -- but she raised eyebrows again this week when she suggested that the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the United States through Canada, even though the 9/11 Commission determined they came to the United States from overseas.

"I don't know that the secretary understands the depth of the disruption that she's caused," Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, told FOX News on Thursday, referring to the report on extremist threats. "I think the appropriate thing to do is for her to step down and let's move on."

Conservatives made a stern call for her ouster Wednesday night on the House floor.

"Mr. President, fire that woman," said Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, complaining that Napolitano's comments on the controversial report were half-hearted. "To go on television and say your apology to be, 'I'm sorry you were offended by this report,' that's no apology."

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., also said Napolitano's resignation is in order, and she should be brought before Congress for a hearing.

Napolitano on Thursday acknowledged the criticism and reiterated that the extremist report was "not well written" and should not have been released in that form. She said she would meet with the leadership of the American Legion on Friday over the reference to returning war veterans.

But she rebuffed those who say an apology is not enough.

"That's what they're going to get," Napolitano said.

She also corrected her statements on Canada, admitting that she falsely suggested Sept. 11 terrorists crossed over from Canada. "I knew the minute it came out of my mouth it was wrong," she said.

Napolitano first clarified her comments in a written statement that said: "I know that the September 11th hijackers did not come through Canada to the United States. There are other instances, however, when suspected terrorists have attempted to enter our country from Canada to the United States."

Her explanation was not so clear during the interview Monday with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that sparked the new controversy.

The secretary was asked to elaborate on comments about giving the Mexican and Canadian borders equal treatment, even though Canada is not experiencing a violent drug war.

"Yes, Canada is not Mexico, it doesn't have a drug war going on," she said. "Nonetheless, to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it's been across the Canadian border. There are real issues there."

Napolitano was asked if she was referring to the Sept. 11 hijackers. She said: "Not just those but others as well."

This angered some Canadian officials, who called such claims an unfortunate "misconception" in media interviews.

The Canadian newspaper The National Post unleashed on Napolitano. One column called the interview a "train wreck." Another questioned how Napolitano could view the Canadian border as a "security threat on par" with Mexico's.

"Ms. Napolitano's brief interview with the CBC this week was confirmation we're dealing with an irrational senior U.S. official who can't differentiate between a secure border linking the world's largest trading partners and one that's a giant sucking sound for jobs going south and what's been described as an 'invasion' of desperate Mexicans illegally sneaking north," the column said.

Such criticism sprung in part from a speech Napolitano delivered last month at the Brookings Institution, in which she said "we shouldn't go light on one (border) and heavy on the other."

"If things are being done on the Mexican border, they should also be done on the Canadian border," she said. "This is one NAFTA, it's one area, it's one continent and there should be some parity there."

She said she intends to "visit myself" the Canadian border this spring or summer.

House Minority Leader John Boehner briefly addressed the criticism over Napolitano on Thursday.

"I think Secretary Napolitano has an awful lot of explaining to do," he said.

FOX News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.

Congressional Dems Knew of "Torture"

2009-04-23T15:46:00.000-04:00

Republicans, hoping to turn the tables on Democrats who are open to prosecuting Bush-era lawyers for justifying "enhanced" interrogation techniques, are seeking to reveal the names of those lawmakers who were briefed on the tactics as much as seven years ago.

FOX News has learned there were more than 30 meetings and briefings with members of Congress on the subject since 2002.

The first such briefing dealt with the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, the Al Qaeda operations chief who ran the training camps in Afghanistan where the Sept. 11 hijackers were trained. Sources said California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, now the speaker of the House, attended the meeting with then-Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla. (who later became CIA director), and she did not raise any objections.

The briefings were given to the chairmen and ranking members of the intelligence committees in the House and Senate until 2006. That could cover Sen. John Rockefeller, W.Va., and Rep. Jane Harman, Calif., both Democrats, as well as Sen. Pat Roberts, Kan., Sen. Lindsey Graham, S.C., Sen. Richard Shelby, Ala., and Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Mich., all Republicans.

Defenders of the interrogation program note that if Congress had wanted to kill the program, all it had to do was withhold funding, which didn't happen.

Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has personally requested from Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair an unclassified list of names of all members of Congress who attended those briefings, complete with dates and locations.

He told FOXNews.com the list will probably show many members were briefed "early and often."

"The purpose of this, of course, is to underscore the fact that people in Congress knew or were aware of the program, its details, and they approved of this program and authorized its funding," said Jamal Ware, spokesman for Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee.

Republicans have criticized President Obama for opening the door to prosecuting Justice Department lawyers who drafted the so-called "torture memos," which authorized harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding. But they've also raised the point that if Democrats pursue charges against the lawyers, they'd be shielding others involved in the interrogation program.

"They can't blame the politicians in Congress who approved these tactics in 2002 because these are their friends," Rep. Lamar Smith, ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said in an e-mail. "So they're placing the blame on Bush administration officials, political appointees."

It's unclear how detailed the briefings with lawmakers on the interrogation programs were.

Pelosi said Thursday that at the briefing she attended, she was not told that waterboarding "or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods" were being used.

"What they did tell us is that they had some legislative council ... opinions that they could be used, but not that they would. And further, the point was that if and when they would be used, they would brief Congress at that time," she said.

Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that he would follow the law with regard to the interrogation program.

A number of Democrats have defended the call for probes. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has been pushing for an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate.

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters Thursday that he will not throw his support behind any independent commission to look into Bush-era interrogation policy until the Senate Intelligence Committee has completed its review late this year.

"I think that's really the direction that I'm going to follow closely. I think the intelligence committee is a bipartisan committee. They will make a public report..And then I think it's appropriate to start talking about what we do with that information. But until we get that information, I think we would all be better off just relaxing, understanding how difficult this is," Reid said. "I think that we must get the information. It's spotty now, and I think that a few months waiting to determine the right way to go about this is certainly not going to hurt us."

While some aides back the idea of an independent, 9/11 Commission-style body to investigate, FOX News has learned that Obama opposes the idea.

Reid offered few details Thursday on the nature of the briefings with lawmakers, and said he doesn't remember specifically when he was briefed.

"Of course there were briefings on different subjects," he said. "I'm not going to get into all of this ... It's pretty clear that any time I had concerns, I raised them."

FOX News' Jim Angle and Trish Turner and FOXNews.com's Judson Berger contributed to this report.

Condoleezza Rice Ok'd Waterboarding

2009-04-23T09:12:00.002-04:00

Not only did Sec Rice OK these techniques, the congress including Pelosi knew of these techniques and even questioned if they were harsh enough. We are headed down a slippery slop here folks. These are tactics of countries like Russia. Never before in US history have an administration threatened to drag the previous administration and their legal council into hearings.

Be warned President Obama and Eric Holder, you will not be in power forever. Some day sooner than later the Republicans will be back in power and turn about is fair play.

As national security adviser to former President George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice verbally approved the CIA's request to subject high-ranking Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah to waterboarding in July 2002, the earliest known decision by a Bush administration official to OK use of the simulated drowning technique.

Rice's role was detailed in a narrative released Wednesday by the Senate Intelligence Committee. It provides the most detailed timeline yet for how the CIA's harsh interrogation program was conceived and approved at the highest levels in the Bush White House.

The new timeline shows that Rice played a greater role than she admitted last fall in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The narrative also shows that dissenting legal views about the severe interrogation methods were brushed aside repeatedly.

The Intelligence Committee's timeline comes a day after the Senate Armed Services Committee released an exhaustive report detailing direct links between the CIA's harsh interrogation program and abuses of prisoners at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in Afghanistan and at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Both revelations follow President Barack Obama's release of internal Bush administration legal memos that justified the use of severe methods by the CIA, a move that kicked up a firestorm from opposing sides of the ideological spectrum.

According to the new narrative, which compiles legal advice provided by the Bush administration to the CIA, Rice personally conveyed the administration's approval for waterboarding of Zubaydah, a so-called high-value detainee, to then-CIA Director George Tenet in July 2002.

Last fall, Rice acknowledged to the Senate Armed Services Committee only that she had attended meetings where the CIA interrogation request was discussed and asked for the attorney general to conduct a legal review. She said she did not recall details. Rice omitted her direct role in approving the program in her written statement to the committee.

A spokesman for Rice declined comment when reached Wednesday.

Days after Rice gave Tenet the nod, the Justice Department approved the use of waterboarding in a top secret Aug. 1 memo. Zubaydah underwent waterboarding at least 83 times in August 2002.

In the years that followed, according to the narrative issued Wednesday, there were numerous internal legal reviews of the program, suggesting government attorneys raised concerns that the harsh methods, particularly waterboarding, might violate federal laws against torture and the U.S. Constitution.

But Bush administration lawyers continued to validate the program. The CIA voluntarily dropped the use of waterboarding, which has a long history as a torture tactic, from its arsenal of techniques after 2005.

According to the two Senate reports, CIA lawyers first presented the plan to waterboard Zubaydah to White House lawyers in April 2002, a few weeks after he was taken into custody in 2002 in a Pakistani safe house.

Tenet wrote in his memoir that CIA officers themselves originated the idea.

In May 2002, Rice, along with then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and White House counsel Alberto Gonzales met at the White House with the CIA to discuss the use of waterboarding.

The Armed Services Committee report says that six months earlier, in December 2001, the Pentagon's legal office already had made inquiries about the use of mock interrogation and detention tactics to a U.S. military training unit that schools armed forces personnel in how to endure harsh treatment. A former intelligence official said Wednesday the CIA officers also based their proposed harsh interrogations on the mock interrogation methods used by the unit.

He declined to be identified because the CIA had not authorized the disclosure of the information.
In July 2002, responding to a follow-up from the Pentagon general counsel's office, officials at the training unit, the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, detailed their methods for the Pentagon. The list included waterboarding.

But the training unit warned that harsh physical techniques could backfire by making prisoners more resistant. They also cautioned about the reliability of information gleaned from the severe methods and warned that the public and political backlash could be "intolerable."

"A subject in extreme pain may provide an answer, any answer or many answers in order to get the pain to stop," the training officials said in their memo.

Less than a week later, the Justice Department issued two legal opinions that sanctioned the CIA's harsh interrogation program. The memos appeared to draw deeply on the survival school data provided to the Pentagon to show that the CIA's methods would not cross the line into torture.

The opinion concluded that the harsh interrogation methods would be acceptable for use on terror detainees because the same techniques did not cause severe physical or mental pain to U.S. military students who were tested in the government's carefully controlled training program.

Several people from the survival program objected to the use of their mock interrogations in battlefield settings. In an October 2002 e-mail, a senior Army psychologist told personnel at Guantanamo Bay that the methods were inherently dangerous and students were sometimes injured, even in a controlled setting.

"The risk with real detainees is increased exponentially," he said.

Nevertheless, for the next two years, the CIA and military officials received interrogation training and direct interrogation support from JPRA trainers.

Last week, the Obama administration's top intelligence official, Dennis Blair, privately told intelligence employees that "high value information" was obtained through the harsh interrogation techniques. However, on Tuesday, in a written statement, Blair said, "The information gained from these techniques was valuable in some instances, but there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means."

Story courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Cruel Summer?

2009-04-23T08:44:00.002-04:00

I have a solution for this, FIRE THE UNION!

DETROIT — Thousands of GM workers could learn as early as Thursday that they will be idle for up to nine weeks this summer as the automaker's plants stop making all but its most popular cars and trucks.

The move is a result of slumping sales and growing inventories of unsold vehicles, but some analysts and dealers fear the plant closings could further scare car buyers already made nervous by talk of a GM bankruptcy.

General Motors Corp. is planning to temporarily close most of its U.S. factories for up to nine weeks, three people briefed on the plan said Wednesday. The exact dates of the closures are not known, but the people said they will occur around the normal two-week shutdown in July when changes are made from one model year to the next. None of the people wanted to be identified because workers have not yet been told of the shutdowns.

GM spokesman Chris Lee would not comment other than to say the company notifies employees before making any production cuts public. But UAW officials will likely raise questions about the move during meetings they have scheduled at several factories Thursday and Friday with plant managers and GM human resource officials to discuss production changes.

Thousands of workers could be laid off but would still get most of their pay because their United Auto Workers union contract requires the company to make up much of the difference between state unemployment benefits and their wages.

One of the people briefed on the plan said details are still being worked out. Some of the closings could be staggered between mid-May and the end of July, but the exact number of plants to be idled has not yet been determined. Another person said a few plants that make more popular models could remain open for part of the shutdown period, but at reduced assembly line speeds.

But the shutdown could be catastrophic to many auto parts suppliers that already are near bankruptcy due to previous production cuts. During the shutdown, suppliers couldn't ship parts to GM and would lose critical revenue.

"It's one of those things we've been dreading for a long time," said Jim Gillette, director of financial services at auto-industry consultant CSM Worldwide in Grand Rapids. "It's as bad as its ever been."

He said that many suppliers are making employee cuts or forcing workers to take furloughs to reduce operating expenditures.

GM is living on $13.4 billion in government loans and faces a June 1 deadline to cut its debt, reduce labor costs and take other restructuring steps. If it doesn't meet the deadline, the company's CEO has said it will enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Treasury Department declined to comment on any effect the plant shutdowns might have on GM's restructuring plans.

Separately Wednesday, GM announced that it may miss a $1 billion bond payment also due June 1 if its debt-for-equity exchange is still in progress by then. GM also could go into bankruptcy protection, which could make the company miss the payment as well.

The company plans to make the exchange offer soon to bondholders, perhaps as early as next week. GM has $28 billion in unsecured bond debt and is under government pressure to reduce that to solidify its balance sheet.

GM's sales were down 49 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, and GM had a 123-day supply of cars and trucks at the end of March, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank. That's down from 162 days worth in January.

But as of March 31, the automaker had a more than six-month supply of several models including the Pontiac G5 compact and Chevrolet Silverado hybrid pickup truck. The lengthy shutdown likely means that GM doesn't see its sales rebounding anytime soon, said Tom Libby, an independent Detroit-area auto industry analyst.

"They must be forecasting a sales level that is low enough between now and the summer that they see their inventories building," he said late Wednesday. "It's sort of an ominous comment on what they see for the industry."

Libby also suggested that the company's sales may be declining because customers are concerned about the automaker possibly filing for bankruptcy protection.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson has said the company would prefer to restructure outside of court, but it is preparing for a prearranged bankruptcy as well as one in which good assets would be separated from underperforming ones.

"Just using the word bankruptcy, their (market) share is down a lot just because of this talk," Libby said. "They may be counting on a further decline."

The plant closures add to the onslaught of bad news coming out of GM, said John Clark, president of Avenue Chevrolet, a dealership in Batavia, Ill., near Chicago.

"Henderson making statements about bankruptcy sure doesn't help his cause, and all of the sudden we have this," he said. "I've been getting calls from customers about warranties. I can't see this as a positive move."

The government has said it would guarantee GM and Chrysler warranties as the companies restructure.

Libby did say GM should be applauded for not building too many vehicles and then having to spend big on rebates and other incentives to move them, something the Detroit Three have been guilty of in the past.

Other GM dealers said a shutdown of up to nine weeks is jarring, but not unexpected given the sales slump.

"Nine weeks seems like an awful long time, but the way business is, not an awful lot of cars are being sold anyway," said George Tasker, fleet manager at Martin Chevrolet in Torrance, Calif.

Tasker said the move wouldn't affect business, as dealers would "get together and trade more easily" to find the exact car a customer wanted.

Nearly all automakers with U.S. factories have closed plants or cut production to deal with the auto sales slump. Earlier this year, GM temporarily closed 20 factories across North America due to weak sales, some for the entire month of January. Chrysler LLC, also subsisting on government loans, closed all 30 of its manufacturing plants for a month in January to counter the auto sales downturn.

Ford Motor Co. also shut down 10 North American assembly plants for an extra week in January, and both Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. have cut production.

Courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-23-2009

2009-04-23T08:40:00.000-04:00

Article 3 Section 2

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;--to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;--to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;--to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;--to Controversies between two or more States;-- between a State and Citizens of another State;--between Citizens of different States;--between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Lettter To Senators Carper and Kaufman

2009-04-22T09:33:00.002-04:00

I wrote this letter yesterday and sent it to both Senator Carper and Kaufman. I am not expecting a positive response but it is important they know their constituents are unhappy with the unethical business that often takes place in both houses of congress.

Senator Carper,
While you and I may not always see eye to eye on political issues I think I can stand tall and say you are a principled person and would not tolerate unethical activities by a fellow senator. That said I am looking to see you stand up to Sen. Feinstein and demand she resign immediately.

On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money (yes that is my money) to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms.

Her intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual. Sen. Feinstein is not a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments - not direct federal dollars.

On Oct. 30 Sen. Feinstein offered to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) - the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman - had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.

These are serious allegations and must be dealt with quickly and decisively. It is unacceptable for a sitting Senator or intervene in matters that will benefit her personally.

Senator Carper as your constituent I demand you begin debate that will force Senator Feinstein to resign from the Senate immediately

Obama The Fool?

2009-04-22T08:40:00.003-04:00

HAVANA — Fidel Castro said Tuesday that President Barack Obama "misinterpreted" his brother Raul's sentiments toward the United States and bristled at any suggestion Cuba should free political prisoners or reduce official fees on money sent to the island from the U.S.

Raul Castro touched off a whirlwind of speculation that the U.S. and Cuba could be headed toward a thaw in nearly a half-century of chilly relations last week, when he said Cuban leaders would be willing to sit down with their U.S. counterparts and discuss "everything," including human rights, freedom of the press and expression, and political prisoners on the island.

Obama responded at the Summit of the Americas by saying Washington seeks a new beginning with Cuba, but he also said Sunday that Cuba should release some political prisoners and reduce official taxes on remittances from the U.S. as a sign of good will.

That appeared to enrage Fidel Castro, 82, who wrote in an essay posted on a government Web site that Obama "without a doubt misinterpreted Raul's declarations."

The former president appeared to be throwing a dose of cold water on growing expectations for improved bilateral relations — suggesting Obama had no right to dare suggest that Cuba make even small concessions. He also seemed to suggest too much was being made of Raul's comments about discussing "everything" with U.S. authorities.

"Affirming that the president of Cuba is ready to discuss any topic with the president of the United States expresses that he's not afraid to broach any subject," Fidel Castro wrote of his 77-year-old brother, who succeeded him as president 14 months ago.

"It's a sign of bravery and confidence in the principles of the revolution," he said, referring to the rebel uprising that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista and brought the Castros to power on New Year's Day 1959.

"Nobody should assume that he was talking about pardoning those sentenced in March 2003 and sending all of them to the United States, if the country were willing to liberate the five Cuban anti-terrorist heroes," Castro wrote.

He was referring to 75 leading political opposition leaders who were rounded up and imprisoned six years ago. Some 54 of them remain behind bars, though Raul Castro suggested last year that Cuba would be willing to liberate some political prisoners if U.S. authorities would free five imprisoned Cuban spies.

Story continues HERE

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-22-2009

2009-04-22T08:40:00.001-04:00

Article 3 Section 1

The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Another Crooked Democrat

2009-04-21T10:01:00.003-04:00

If this story were about a Republican he or she would be forced out of the Senate TODAY! No questions asked. Just the appearance of a conflict of interest would be enough to for every single Democrat to throw a fit.

On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms, the Washington Times reported on Tuesday.

Mrs. Feinstein's intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn't a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments - not direct federal dollars.

Documents reviewed by The Washington Times show Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) - the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman - had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.

About the same time of the contract award, Mr. Blum's private investment firm reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it and related affiliates had purchased more than 10 million new shares in CBRE. The shares were purchased for the going price of $3.77; CBRE's stock closed Monday at $5.14.

Spokesmen for the FDIC, Mrs. Feinstein and Mr. Blum's firm told The Times that there was no connection between the legislation and the contract signed Nov. 13, and that the couple didn't even know about CBRE's business with FDIC until after it was awarded.

Senate ethics rules state that members must avoid conflicts of interest as well as "even the appearance of a conflict of interest." Some ethics analysts question whether Mrs. Feinstein ran afoul of the latter provision, creating the appearance that she was rewarding the agency that had just hired her husband's firm.

Story HERE

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-21-2009

2009-04-21T09:58:00.001-04:00

Mr. Jefferson

2009-04-20T14:14:00.001-04:00

This video was put together by a good friend to me and a great conservative. Mike Church really gets it.

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-20-2009

2009-04-20T13:56:00.001-04:00

Article 2 Section 3

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Miss America

2009-04-20T13:49:00.002-04:00

This is a shameful story. It is common knowledge that not everyone believes in gay marriage. It is ok to be pro gay marriage but if you oppose it how dare you. Where is the right to choose? It is take away from those of us who believe in traditional family values. Miss California should be given an award for living in that liberal cesspool and still having the courage to say how she really feels. If she had said she was pro gay marriage she would have been hailed as a hero by the left and may have won the pageant.

Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton was crowned Miss USA on Sunday, but the big story to come out of the normally politics-free telecast was Miss California's comments regarding gay marriage.

When asked by judge Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip blogger, whether she believed in gay marriage, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, said "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."

Keith Lewis, who runs the Miss California competition, tells FOXNews.com that he was "saddened" by Prejean's statement.

"As co-director of the Miss California USA, I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss California believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman," said Lewis in a statement. "I believe all religions should be able to ordain what unions they see fit. I do not believe our government should be able to discriminate against anyone and religious beliefs have no politics in the Miss California family."

Co-director Shanna Moakler told FOXNews.com that she fully supported Lewis' statement.

But Prejean told FOXNews.com that she has "no regrets" and is "happy" with the answer she gave.

Story continues HERE

Giving Credit Where It's Due

2009-04-17T13:57:00.001-04:00

Even though I do not like him I have to give him the credit that is due, Obama is a pirate killing machine!

Welcome To The Big League

2009-04-17T08:42:00.002-04:00

Now that Dear Leader has to make some real decisions he must now know how Bush felt when the left wing kooks were bashing him over "secret prisons" and Guantanamo Bay. These people have now turned on Dear Leader and will attack him for doing his job and keeping us safe.

President Obama signed three executive orders in January that signaled his intent to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, fulfilling a campaign promise popular with liberals and central to his electoral victory.

But three months into the detainee review, Obama finds himself the unexpected target of fresh criticism from liberals over his handling of what they consider the new Guantanamo Bay: the military detention facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

The secretive site is home to 660 detainees, 95 percent of whom were captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan. The rest were mostly captured in North Africa and the Middle East.

In an editorial this week, The New York Times claimed Bagram is "the next Guantanamo" and accused the Obama administration of recycling "extravagant claims of executive power."

That's because the Obama White House has sided with the Bush administration in its belief that the Bagram detainees, who are in a war zone, have no right to a court review despite a ruling last year by the Supreme Court granting Guantanamo detainees those rights.

The Justice Department argues that Bagram is different from Guantanamo because it is in an overseas war zone and the prisoners there are being held as part of an ongoing military action. The government argues that releasing enemy combatants into the Afghan war zone, or even diverting U.S. personnel there to consider their legal cases, could threaten security.

But a federal judge rejected that argument earlier this month, ruling that Bagram detainees can challenge their detention. U.S. District Judge John Bates said they should have access to the courts to prevent the United States from being able to "move detainees physically beyond the reach of the Constitution and detain them indefinitely."

The Justice Department is appealing the ruling and said that an interagency task force is working to finish a report by July that outlines the legal options for handling terror suspects in the future.

Surprisingly, Obama finds himself on the opposite side of liberals in the debate over detainee rights.

"If the U.S. is going to close Guantanamo as President Obama has promised, it would be relatively meaningless if new Guantanamos like Bagram are allowed to continue to operate in the future," said Jonathan Hafetz, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who has represented several detainees. "It'd be like putting a band-aid on a much deeper wound and problem."

But conservatives believe the war on terror will be reduced to a criminal matter if the ACLU and others get their way.

"What do you do when 500 terrorists who were just shooting at you all of a sudden raise their white flag and say, 'I surrender, I want my lawyer. I want my three hots (meals) and a cot and I want my green card to America,'" said Charles "Cully" Stimson, a senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Story can be found HERE.

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-17-2009

2009-04-17T08:35:00.001-04:00

Holder Finally Pulled His Head Out

2009-04-16T18:05:00.005-04:00

of a tea bag! Oh wait that is only funny when Rachel "Meaty Fingers" Maddow makes jokes about tea bagging.

Someone must have finally gotten to Holder and informed him prosecution of Bush Admin officials that under order from Bush water boarded prisoners was a very bad idea. This is like the kooks on the left that wanted to impeach Bush because Clinton purger himself and got his dumb self impeached. If Bush administration people were prosecuted the next Republican administration would prosecute Obama admin people for something they did. It would be a very slippery slope that could lead to nothing good.

WASHINGTON -- Seeking to move beyond what he calls a "a dark and painful chapter in our history," President Barack Obama said Thursday that CIA officials who used harsh interrogation tactics during the Bush administration will not be prosecuted.

The government also released four memos long held secret by the Bush administration in which its lawyers approved in extensive and often graphic detail the tough interrogation methods used against 28 terror suspects, the fullest and now complete government accounting of the techniques. The rough tactics range from waterboarding -- simulated drowning -- to using a plastic neck collar to slam detainees into walls.

Even as they exposed new details of the interrogation program, Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, offered the first definitive assurance that those CIA officials are in the clear, as long as their actions were in line with the legal advice at the time.

Obama said in his statement and a separate letter sent directly to CIA employees that the nation must protect their identity "as vigilantly as they protect our security."

"We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history," the president said. "But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."

Holder told the CIA that the government would provide free legal representation to CIA employees in any legal proceeding or congressional investigation related to the program and would repay any financial judgment.

"It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department," Holder said.

As current CIA Director Leon Panetta put it in a message to employees: "CIA responded, as duty requires."

The CIA has acknowledged using waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning, on three high-level terror detainees in 2002 and 2003, with the permission of the White House and the Justice Department. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said waterboarding has not been used since, but some human rights groups have urged Obama to hold CIA employees accountable for what they, and many Obama officials, say was torture.

Stacy Sullivan of Human Rights Watch said Obama is "dead wrong" to say that nothing would be gained by examining the past for criminal acts.

"Prosecuting violations of the law is not about laying blame for the past, it's about ensuring that those crimes don't happen again," she said.

The memos produced by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in 2002 and 2005 were released to meet a court-approved deadline in a lawsuit against the government in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union.

In addition to detailing individual techniques, one memo also specifically authorized a method for combining multiple methods, a practice human rights advocates argue crosses the line into torture even if any individual methods does not.

The methods authorized in them include keeping detainees naked for long periods, keeping them in a painful standing position for long periods, and depriving them of solid food. Other tactics included using a plastic neck collar to slam detainees into walls, keeping the detainee's cell cold for long periods, and beating and kicking the detainee. Sleep-deprivation, prolonged shackling, and threats to a detainee's family were also used.

Interrogators were told not to allow a prisoner's body temperature or caloric intake to fall below a certain level, because either could cause permanent damage, said senior administration officials. They discussed the memos on condition of anonymity to more fully describe the president's decision-making process.

The Obama administration last month released nine legal memos. It probably will release more as the lawsuit proceeds, the officials said.

The ACLU suit has sought to use the Freedom of Information Act to shed light on the treatment of prisoners -- even though the Bush administration eventually abandoned many of the legal conclusions and the Obama administration has gone further to actively dismantle much of President George W. Bush's anti-terror program.

Obama has ordered the CIA's secret overseas prisons known as "black sites" closed and ended so-called "extraordinary renditions" of terrorism suspects if there is any reason to believe the third country would torture them. He has also restricted CIA questioners to only those interrogation methods and protocols approved for use by the U.S. military until a complete review of the program is conducted.

Also Thursday, Holder formally revoked every legal opinion or memo issued during Bush's presidency that justified interrogation programs.

The documents have been the subject of a long, fierce debate in and outside government over how much officials should say.

The Bush administration held the view that the president had the authority to claim broad powers that could not be checked by Congress or the courts in order to keep Americans safe. Obama and Holder, among others, have said that the use of such unchecked powers has actually made Americans less safe, by increasing anti-U.S. sentiment, endangering American troops when captured and handing terrorists a recruiting tool.

"Enlisting our values in the protection of our people makes us stronger and more secure," Obama said in his statement.

Even so, the officials described the president's process of deciding how much to release in response to the suit as very difficult. Over four weeks, there were intense debates involving the president, Cabinet members, lower-level officials and even former administration officials.

Obama was concerned that releasing the information could endanger ongoing operations, American personnel or U.S. relationships with foreign intelligence services. CIA officials, in particular, needed reassuring, the officials said.

But in the end, the view of the Justice Department prevailed, that the FOIA law required the release and that the government would likely be forced to do so by the court if it didn't do so itself, the officials said.

In his statement, Obama said he was reassured about the potential national security implications by the fact that much of the information contained had already been widely publicized -- including some of it by Bush himself -- and by the fact that the program itself no longer exists.

He said "exceptional circumstances surround these memos and require their release" and does not change his determination to keep other intelligence operations secret and information about them classified.

But, said Obama, "Withholding these memos would only serve to deny facts that have been in the public domain for some time. This could contribute to an inaccurate accounting of the past, and fuel erroneous and inflammatory assumptions about actions taken by the United States."

Those assurances are not likely to inoculate Obama against criticism from conservatives. Last month, Vice President Dick Cheney said, for instance, that Obama's decisions to revoke Bush-era terrorist detainee policies will "raise the risk to the American people of another attack."

Story courtesy of www.foxnews.com

Former CIA Chief Blast Obama Administration

2009-04-16T18:03:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON -- Former CIA Director Michael Hayden says the Obama administration is endangering the country by releasing Justice Department memos that detail the CIA's interrogation techniques authorized by the Bush administration.

Hayden tells The Associated Press the release will give terrorists a precise guide for what to expect in a CIA interrogation if those methods are ever approved for use again.

The Obama administration outlawed the techniques but has a task force reviewing the military's interrogation methods to determine if they are sufficient for CIA use.

Hayden says he worries the revelations will also deter other governments from cooperating with the United States because it shows the U.S. "can't keep anything secret."

Story HERE on www.foxnews.com

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-16-2009

2009-04-16T17:51:00.000-04:00

Article 1 Section 10

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it\'s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Only In Nazifornia

2009-04-15T10:28:00.001-04:00

I mean California!

California, always seeking to be a trendsetter on environmental policy, is weighing a proposal to charge 25 cents for every paper or plastic bag distributed at grocery stores, pharmacies and convenience stores. The money raised would go into a state fund used to clean up trash and prevent litter related to what the bill calls “single-use” bags.

The bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, says 25 cents a bag is high enough to have a real impact on consumer behavior. The fee would be waived for some low-income Californians.

The idea, of course, is to encourage people to bring their own reusable bags to the supermarket. Brownley argues that a similar program in Ireland has been a success, reducing plastic bag litter by more than 90 percent.

The bill’s other aim is to help the state offset the $25 million a year it spends to clean up plastic bag waste. Municipalities spend $300 million, Brownley says.

Chuck DeVore, a Republican assemblyman from Orange County, said the idea is “just one of a sorry series of tax increases that the Democrats are trying to foist on the working people of California.”

DeVore said the bag charge would add $2 to $3 to the bill every time a family goes to the store. And if that family brings along reusable bags, that can be a health hazard.

“If you buy some chicken or some meat, unless you figure a way to wash those bags every time, you will have salmonella in those natural fibers,” DeVore said.

Currently, retailers in California are required to set up in-store recycling programs for used bags. Brownley, however, says preliminary results show there has only been a negligible increase in bag recycling since that law went into effect.

But how realistic is it to push through a bill during a recession that will effectively make consumers pay more at the grocery store? Would such a law prompt you to break out those reusable bags once and for all?

DeVore says he expects the bill to pass the Assembly and land on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk.

Original story on Reuters.

Tax Day Tea Party Update 2

2009-04-15T10:17:00.002-04:00

Word is spreading that the Secret Service has pulled the permit for the Lafayette Park protest and the Treasury Building is wrapped in yellow tape to keep us off the steps.

If the Bush Administration had done this type of thing to a left wing group of protesters they would have cried on CNN and PMSNBC for weeks to come. We however shall not be deterred, we will peacefully show our opposition to this government.

Tax Day Tea Party

2009-04-15T09:29:00.004-04:00

Today is the day, the day when hundreds of thousands of people will organize peacefully to tell our government we have had enough of the ever rising taxes they continue to levee on us.

I am attending the Washington DC tea party. As I type this post I am sitting in the studio live with Mike Church and the famous Mike Church Band. We can be heard on Sirius Patriot 144, live from 9am to 12 noon. After the show we will be heading over to the Treasury Building then off to Lafayette Park. Mike Church is going to be giving a speech at the Treasury Building around 1pm.

Even if you can not get to Washington DC make every attempt to get to your local tea party. Tell this bloated government, not the Bush government or the Obama government, OUR GOVERNMENT you are tired of their tax and spend ways. They are not drunken sailors even though they have been acting as such for many years.

Constitution Reading Of The Day 4-15-2009

2009-04-15T09:26:00.002-04:00

This post is especially important today, the day our fine government forces us to pay an ever rising unconstitutional tax.

Article 1 Section 2.2

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.