This one doesn’t surprise me at all. From Breitbart
“Breitbart Newsreportedlast week that Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) passed an amendment in the House Armed Services Committee protecting religious speech of service members in the military. President Barack Obama has now threatened to veto the bill if it passes the full House and Senate.
The White House released a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) on H.R. 1960, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014. Among other items, the SAP includes as an objection to the bill:
Expansion and Implementation of Protection of Rights of Conscience of Members of the Armed Forces and Chaplains of Such Members: The Administration strongly objects to section 530, which would require the Armed Forces to accommodate, except in cases of military necessity, “actions and speech” reflecting the “conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the member.” By limiting the discretion of commanders to address potentially problematic speech and actions within their units, this provision would have a significant adverse effect on good order, discipline, morale, and mission accomplishment.
The SAP includes a veto threat: “…if the bill is presented to the President for approval in its current form, the President’s senior advisers would recommend that the President veto the bill.””
This next one also isn’t. But the playing of the race card is really getting old. The post-racial President and his buddy Holder are up to more nonsense. From TheWallStJournal
“Federal regulators Tuesday accused two large employers of improperly using criminal-background checks in hiring, the latest salvo in a contentious debate over whether such screening amounts to discrimination against black applicants.
In complaints filed in federal courts in Illinois and South Carolina, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said two companies discount retailer Dollar General Corp. and a U.S. unit of German auto maker BMW AG generally barred potential employees based on the criminal checks, when they should have reviewed each applicant. The commission said the policies had the effect of discriminating against black applicants.
The suits underscore increasing government scrutiny of criminal and credit checks, which are widely used to screen job applicants. Some 92% of employers use criminal-background checks for some or all job openings, according to a 2010 survey by the Society of Human Resource Management.”
So they’ve basically taken the Jesse Jackson extortion of corporations racket and put the full force of govt. behind it. They’ve already done it to Pepsi and others as well.
“The Obama administration will try to revive its push for tighter restrictions on firearms, almost two months after legislation seen as the best hope for gun control went down to defeat in the Senate.
The effort got an extra boost on Wednesday as families of children and educators killed at Newtown returned to Capitol Hill ahead of the six-month anniversary of the shootings to plead with lawmakers not to forget their loved ones.”
“The administration’s renewed effort will be fought on several fronts: at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and in key states and congressional districts throughout the country.
The families also met today with House GOP leaders, whose discretion will be key in determining whether any gun proposal even comes up for a vote in the House, should a bill make it out of the Senate.”
We also have an attempt by a Trayvon Martin advocate to get on the jury and try to influence it. From TheNYDailyNews
“A member of a pro-Travyon Martin group was unmasked Wednesday as he tried to get on the Florida jury in George Zimmerman’s trial for shooting the unarmed teen.
A white male potential juror identified on his Facebook page as Jerry Counelis gave long, rambling answers about his impartiality when asked basic questions by attorneys.”
“According to its Facebook page, the Coffee Party Progressives is a group “dedicated to seeking justice for Trayvon Martin.””
“There were several other incendiary remarks about Zimmerman and police in Sanford, Fla., where Martin was shot.”
The Southern Baptist Convention is calling for the removal of some of the leadership of the BSA for it’s recent decision on homosexuals. And a little FYI, if you aren’t a fan of hate, stay away from the comment section. Liberals are acting as you would guess they would. From NBCNews
“The Southern Baptist Convention on Wednesday called for the removal of some of the Boy Scouts’ leadership after the organization voted to allow gay youth to join, but did not ask its affiliated churches to pull their sponsorship of Scouting.”
“The convention approved the call in a resolution crafted by a committee at the group’s annual meeting in Houston. It comes three weeks after the Boy Scouts of America voted in an historic ballot to allow gay youth to join after the issue of LGBT membership had roiled the youth organization for years.
“Bapists didn’t put this on the agenda. The Boy Scouts of America put this on the agenda. This was something to which we had to respond,” said Russell Moore, president of the convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee.
“The purpose of this resolution is not to call down fire from heaven on the leadership of the Boy Scouts of America,” he added. “It’s to seek to persuade, to seek to engage in a conversation.””
No, but it did call down the hate from those who disagree with you Mr. Moore.
This one has little chance of passing, and would be vetoed if it was. But I will enjoy seeing Democrats and pro-abortion Repubs try to defend voting against it. From TheDailyCaller
“The House Judiciary Committee approved legislation Wednesday that would ban abortions in the United States after 20 weeks.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, was approved in a vote of 20-12.
“The taking of innocent life is a practice all too common in this nation,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said in a statement. “The recent Gosnell trial reminds us that when newborn babies are cut with scissors, they whimper and cry, and flinch from pain. And unborn babies when harmed also whimper and cry, and flinch from pain. Delivered or not, babies are babies, and it has been shown that they can feel pain at least by 20 weeks.””
““It is time to welcome young children who can feel pain into the human family,” he added. “And this bill, at last, will do just that.””
And Wisconsin is about to require an ultrasound prior to an abortion. And again, the comments are exactly as you think they would be. It’s disturbing how vile they can be in their defense of homosexuality and abortion. From TwinCities.com
“Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday he will sign a measure that’s quickly working its way through the Republican-controlled Legislature that would require women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound.
The Senate debated the measure Tuesday, a week after it was introduced, but Democrats used a procedural move to delay a vote until Wednesday morning. The Assembly hoped to take it up Thursday.
While Democrats were able to temporarily hold up the bill, they don’t have the votes to kill it.”
“Another bill slated be voted on by the Assembly on Thursday would keep certain religious organizations and employers from having to provide health insurance coverage for contraceptives and would prohibit the use of public money to pay for abortion coverage in public employees’ health insurance plans. Yet another would ban abortion for gender selection.”
On this day in 1838 the Iowa Territory was organized.
In 1839 Abner Doubleday created the game of baseball, according to the legend. However, evidence has surfaced that indicates that the game of baseball was played before 1800. So maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. 🙂
In 1897 Carl Elsener patented his penknife, which would later become known as the Swiss Army Knife.
In 1918 the first airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurred on the Western Front in France during World War I.
In 1921 U.S. President Warren Harding urged every young man to attend military training camp.
In 1935 U.S. Senator Huey Long of Louisiana made the longest speech on Senate record. It took 15 1/2 hours and was filled by 150,000 words.
In 1939 The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York. This was exactly one hundred years to the day on which the game was invented by Abner Doubleday. Or not. See above. 🙂
In 1967 state laws which prohibited interracial marriages were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
And in 1987 President Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
Here’s more info on one of the newer scandals to hit the Obama admin. This reflects poorly on Mrs. Clinton big time. This is all under her leadership, or lack of. Our govt. is out of control. Especially self-control. From TheNYPost
“A State Department whistleblower has accused high-ranking staff of a massive coverup — including keeping a lid on findings that members of then-Secretary Hillary Clinton’s security detail and the Belgian ambassador solicited prostitutes.
A chief investigator for the agency’s inspector general wrote a memo outlining eight cases that were derailed by senior officials, including one instance of interference by Clinton’s chief of staff, Cheryl Mills.”
“Among the bombshell findings: * A DS agent was called off a case against US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman over claims that he solicited prostitutes, including minors.”
“* At least seven agents in Clinton’s security detail hired prostitutes while traveling with her in various countries, including Russia and Colombia.”
Investigator say the hiring of prostitutes by Clinton’s security detail was “endemic”.
And if the interference came from her CoS, it came from her.
Next up, did the HHS Secretary violate the Anti-Lobbying Act? From TheAmericanSpectator
“Ever wonder what Kathleen Sebelius does when she isn’t sentencing children to death, shaking down health care providers, or violating campaign finance laws? Well, it seems she spends her spare time, and a lot of taxpayer money, dabbling in illegal lobbying. The Anti-Lobbying Act forbids federal bureaucrats from using money appropriated by Congress to influence “an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose… any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation.” Sebelius evidently didn’t get the memo.
Specifically, it looks like Madam Commissar and her HHS minions have been using federal money to lobby state and local officials to “favor, adopt or oppose” countless initiatives involving everything from local zoning rules to ordinances concerning tobacco use to the imposition of new taxes on soft drinks. The cash they are thus spreading around comes from an obscure Obamacare trove called the “Prevention and Public Health Fund,” which provides Sebelius with what amounts to $12.5 billion in pin money.”
And in the middle of the IRS scandal they are about to begin enforcing ObamaCare, and deciding who gets the religious conscience exemptions from ObamaCare. Let the targeting begin! Again. From TheWeeklyStandard , via LifeSiteNews
“On August 1, the one-year “safe harbor” for religious charities objecting to provisions of Obamacare will end. Starting then, these nonprofit employers will be forced to violate their religious beliefs or pay large fines. In charge of collecting the fines will be our recently newsworthy friends at the Internal Revenue Service.”
“As details of the IRS scandal continue to emerge, it’s evident that religious values were indeed scrutinized by bureaucrats. A growing number of religious groups and charities are coming forward to report delays in their applications for tax-exempt status, including the Catholics United Education Fund, Christian Voices for Life, and Focus on the Family affiliate Family Talk Action. Others, like Samaritan’s Purse, underwent audits or other IRS scrutiny that seemed out of left field. One targeted group, the Coalition for Life of Iowa, was asked by the IRS about the content of its prayers.
What’s more, Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS’s division on tax-exempt organizations who was placed on administrative leave last month after declining to testify before a House committee, was rewarded with that job after a history of harassing religious people in a previous position as head of enforcement at the Federal Election Commission from 1986 to 2001.
Having lost whatever reputation it had for politically neutral enforcement of the tax code, the IRS, come August 1, will nevertheless gain new authority to determine what constitutes religious activity and which religious employers are entitled to conscience rights under Obamacare. If the case for repealing this unjust intrusion on the free exercise of religion was always strong, in recent weeks it’s gotten stronger still.”
Here’s the piece on the “Wacko Birds” I mentioned yesterday. The Birds aren’t popular with Dems or the Old Guard Establishment Republicans. Which is probably why I like them. From TheDailyCaller
“There is rebellion afoot in the United States Senate. A new breed of conservatives and libertarians are loosed, unconcerned with The New York Times, unfettered by back-bench rank and unintimidated by Washington politics.
Elected over the past three years, Republican Sens. Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz have had a meteoric impact in Washington, soaring to grassroots stardom, crashing into the Democratic majority and raining down on the old bulls of the Republican Party.”
“Dubbed “Wacko Birds” by top Republican John McCain, these three wear the senior Arizona senator’s scorn as a badge of honor.”
“The Democrats and Republican leadership are furious. And it isn’t simply because these young upstarts exist — it’s because they’re scoring real points. Using the difficult and arcane rules of the Senate to their advantage, they have several victories under their belts that have earned them the respect and support of the conservative grassroots. And despite the ire of both parties — and both parties’ well-connected allies in the press — the Wacko Birds continue undeterred.”
Obama’s going with the Stand By Your Man act. For now at least. Just give it time, that may change. From CBSNews
“The White House on Tuesday came to the defense of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, after a senator blasted the intelligence official for failing to give “straight answers” on the government surveillance of Americans.”
“Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is really struggling to explain why he told Congress in March (see video above) that the National Security Agency does not intentionally collect any kind of data on millions of Americans. His latest take: It’s an unfair question, he said, like “When are you going to stop beating your wife?” And it seems to depend on the meaning of “collect.”
“I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful, manner by saying ‘no,'” Clapper told NBC News on Sunday.”
Least untruthful? What does that even mean? And did he just pull the ol’ Clinton “depends of what the meaning of is is ” too? 😯 🙄
Here’s another example. It’s not Math, it’s Arithmetic.But I guess that depends on what the meaning of Math is. Or what the meaning of Arithmetic is too. Or isn’t. I’m confused, and he’s acting like Larry the cucumber.
Wait, what? I’m convinced they just make stuff up as they go along.
I think we need more Wacko Birds and way less of these Cuckoo Birds. 🙂
Oh, and if it doesn’t have a tail, it’s not a monkey. It’s an ape.That’s about all I’m sure of right now.
And Lindsey Graham says the snooping went far deeper into Americans phone records than the Obama admin admits. From YahooNews
And anyone who still thinks this is the same thing Bush did should read this. Maybe it is the same. But the big difference is in the amount. If Bush was bad with the Patriot Act, then Obama is a 1000 times worse. That is a fact.From NBCNews
“The FBI has dramatically increased its use of a controversial provision of the Patriot Act to secretly obtain a vast store of business records of U.S. citizens under President Barack Obama, according to recent Justice Department reports to Congress. The bureau filed 212 requests for such data to a national security court last year – a 1,000-percent increase from the number of such requests four years earlier, the reports show.”
“Taken together, experts say, those revelations show the government has broadly interpreted the Patriot Act provision as enabling it to collect data not just on specific individuals, but on millions of Americans with no suspected terrorist connections. And it shows that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court accepted that broad interpretation of the law.
“That they were using this (provision) to do mass collection of data is definitely the biggest surprise,” said Robert Chesney, a top national security lawyer at the University of Texas Law School. “Most people who followed this closely were not aware they were doing this. We’ve gone from producing records for a particular investigation to the production of all records for a massive pre-collection database. It’s incredibly sweeping.”
On this day in 1770 Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef off of Australia when he ran aground on it. Like many great discoveries, it was completely by accident. 🙂
In 1880 Jeanette Rankin was born. She would later become the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress.
In 1927 Charles A. Lindberg was presented the first Distinguished Flying Cross.
In 1936 the Presbyterian Church of America was formed in Philadelphia, PA.
In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Florida for trying to integrate restaurants.
In 1972 Hank Aaron tied the National League record for 14 grand-slam home runs in a career.
In 1981 the first major league baseball player’s strike began.
And in 1987 Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office.
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
1 O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.
4 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof.
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
13 Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
Well it’s Tuesday, a new day. And a new scandal.Can you say insider trading? Yeah, I knew ya’ could.From TheWashingtonPost
“Hundreds of federal employees were given advance word of a Medicare decision worth billions of dollars to private insurers in the weeks before the official announcement, a period when trading in the shares of those firms spiked.
The surge of trading in Humana’s and other private health insurers’ stock before the April 1 announcement already has prompted the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Wall Street investors had advance access to inside information about the then-confidential Medicare funding plan.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) told The Washington Post late last week that his office reviewed the e-mail records of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services and found that 436 of them had early access to the Medicare decision as much as two weeks before it was made public.”
“Is this scandal number five or number six? There’s Benghazi, the IRS, the DOJ snooping on reporters, Sebelius shaking down health executives for ObamaCare contributions, and now the NSA/PRISM/Snowden story. This new WaPo story makes six. No, wait — seven. Ed just posted on the State Department covering up misconduct. We’re going to need a bigger boat.
Actually, there are two potential scandals here. One is HHS tossing around what was supposed to be sensitive information to a huge swath of employees in-house. The other scandal is who actually leaked it, assuming anyone did. It might not have come from HHS at all but rather from some old-fashioned Beltway congressional/lobbyist incest. As with most of the other Obama scandals, this story is less about O himself than about the foreseeable abuses that result as the federal whale grows. You can have bigger government or you can have more accountable government. The guy who signed ObamaCare into law has made his choice.”
Yeah. Welcome to Washington. You didn’t think Congress critters were the only ones doing it did you? 🙄
The govt would like us to believe that we shouldn’t worry about FISA snooping. After all, it’s all overseen by a court. A rubber stamp court, but still, a court. 🙄 Also from TheWashingtonPost
“Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, the government is required to obtain a judicial warrant — similar to those issued in criminal investigations — before federal intelligence agencies can conduct electronic surveillance and gather intelligence within the United States in the interest of national security. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was established by Congress to approve or deny warrant applications related to national security investigations. Read related article.”
34,000 warrant applications. Only 11 have ever been denied. That’s a rubber stamp court if I ever saw one.
And in case you were wondering, this is what hypocrisy looks like.
Meanwhile, the IRS wants in on the whole spying thing too. From CNSNews
“The IRS, currently in the midst of scandals involving the targeting of conservative groups and lavish taxpayer-funded conferences, is ordering surveillance equipment that includes hidden cameras in coffee trays, plants and clock radios.
The IRS wants to secure the surveillance equipment quickly – it posted a solicitation on June 6 and is looking to close the deal by Monday, June 10. The agency already has a company lined up for the order but is not commenting on the details.
“The Internal Revenue Service intends to award a Purchase Order to an undisclosed Corporation,” reads the solicitation.
As the Senate prepares to vote on immigration/amnesty, keep this in mind. It’s all broken promises and they haven’t even passed it yet. They don’t even try to hide the lies anymore. From Senator Sessions, via TheLATimes
“The so-called Gang of Eight immigration plan now being considered by the Senate fails to live up to every major promise made by its sponsors. Far from improving the immigration system, their 1,000-page proposal would exacerbate many of its flaws. It would dangerously undermine future enforcement while imposing substantial burdens on taxpayers and taking jobs and pay from U.S. workers.
Indeed, the two unions representing our nation’s immigration and customs officers and those who process immigration applications have strongly urged opposition.
The sponsors’ promise of enforcement first was broken when lead sponsor Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared: “First, people will be legalized…. Then we’ll make sure the border is secure.” About 11 million immigrants who are here illegally — which includes 4 million who have overstayed their visas — would receive work permits, Social Security numbers and access to state and local benefits within six months of passage. The Department of Homeland Security merely has to submit a border plan, not accomplish that plan. Those legalized will then be free to compete for jobs at a time of low wages and high unemployment. It’s amnesty first, not enforcement first.”
“The sponsors promised that people here illegally would not be eligible for public benefits. But, after the immediate grant of legal status, the legislation confers permanent residency within 10 years after passage (in many cases sooner), guaranteeing eligibility for federal benefits at a staggering long-term cost. In the short term, many would become eligible for state public assistance programs upon receiving the initial amnesty.”
I posted a story on this guy a week ago. Now that we know more, it looks even worse. I understand and support the restrictions placed on soldiers when it comes to the CiC. But this goes well beyond that. What is going on in our military resembles what went on at the IRS. A witch hunt against conservatives and religious folks. This is a man with a spotless 25 year record. From FoxNews
“A member of the U.S. Army Band who said he was reprimanded for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his personal car, serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at a party and reading books written by conservative authors like Sean Hannity is now facing Article 15 charges – which cropped up shortly after he went public with his complaints.”
“The Military District of Washington disputed allegations that Sommers had been reprimanded or disciplined. “The Soldier is not, and never has been, ‘facing retribution and punishment from the military for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his car, reading books written by conservative authors like Mark Levin and David Limbaugh, and serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at his promotion party,’” Public Affairs Director Michelle Roberts told Fox News in a written statement.”
“The MDW spokesman was either uninformed or was being disingenuous,” he said. “The counseling form clearly stated that he was being reminded of his limited ability to disagree with the President’s policies and implied that displaying the bumper stickers could lead to prosecution under the Hatch Act.””
“Sommers also came under fire for reading the works of Mark Levin, Sean Hannity and David Limbaugh. Last summer he was reading Limbaugh’s “The Great Destroyer” backstage at a concert when a superior officer told him that he was causing “unit disruption” and was offending other soldiers. “It wasn’t read aloud,” Sommers told Fox News. “I was just reading privately to myself.”
Wandering Views 