News/Politics

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News/Politics 6-18-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Here’s a bunch I thought were noteworthy.

First up, something to consider before donating to charities. And as a side note, these people got away with this while the IRS wasted their time on Tea Party and like-minded groups. From HotAir

“Three charities supposedly focused on breast cancer and cancer in children raised $26 million in a single year.  Good news, right?  The bad news is that less than $15,000 of those funds got used to help victims of cancer.  CNN, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Center for Investigative Reporting found that the three charities have a lot in common — their leaders are all related to each other:”

“– The 50 worst charities in America devote less than 4% of donations raised to direct cash aid. Some charities gave even less. Over a decade, one diabetes charity raised nearly $14 million and gave about $10,000 to patients. Six spent no cash at all on their cause.

– Even as they plead for financial support, operators at many of the 50 worst charities have lied to donors about where their money goes, taken multiple salaries, secretly paid themselves consulting fees or arranged fund-raising contracts with friends. One cancer charity paid a company owned by the president’s son nearly $18 million over eight years to solicit funds. A medical charity paid its biggest research grant to its president’s own for-profit company.

– Some nonprofits are little more than fronts for fund-raising companies, which bankroll their startup costs, lock them into exclusive contracts at exorbitant rates and even drive the charities into debt. Florida-based Project Cure has raised more than $65 million since 1998, but every year has wound up owing its fundraiser more than what was raised. According to its latest financial filing, the nonprofit is $3 million in debt.”

Just wrong on so many levels….

And in other IRS news…… From InvestorsBusinessDaily

“While the IRS was hassling any nonprofit group with the word “patriot” in its  name, it was rubber stamping exemptions for “Islamic” groups, even organizations  that violate disclosure laws.

Worse, it was even finding favor with nonprofits tied to terrorism — namely,  the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, which not  coincidentally is yoked to the Democratic Party.

Despite being blackballed by the FBI, which still suspects it’s fronting for Hamas, and despite failing to file annual tax reports as required by federal  law, CAIR apparently has found friends in high places at the nation’s powerful  taxing authority.”

And in the White House and State Dept.

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Next up, a story that should tick you off regardless of your left/right leanings. From TheDailyCaller

“Unionized local employees repeatedly harassed and intimidated non-union  workers of a private disaster cleanup firm that won a government contract to  restore Long Island, New York, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

The vice president of the union even made threats against the wife and kids  of one of the workers. That worker felt it necessary to call the police and  pursue other security measures to protect his family, a source told The Daily  Caller News Foundation.”

“Soon thereafter, representatives of Local 138, a union representing heavy  equipment operators, began visiting construction sites, demanding that the  company hire unionized employees to help with the job.

But LGS was paying its workers — some of whom came from out of state —  market-based wages, rather than union wages, in compliance with federal law  regarding disaster recovery jobs.”

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Next up, a couple of pieces from Pew. Looks like 70% of the country is smarter than our govt. From PewResearchCenter

“Broad majorities continue to oppose the U.S. and its allies sending arms and military supplies to anti-government groups in Syria. Last Thursday’s announcement that the U.S. would aid the rebels has not increased public support for action, and majorities of all partisan groups are opposed.”

“Overall, 70% oppose the U.S. and its allies sending arms and military supplies to anti-government groups in Syria; just 20% favor this. Opinion is little changed from December of last year (24% favor) and support is down slightly from March, 2012 (29% favor).

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted June 12-16 among 1,512 adults, finds a major factor in overall attitudes about Syria is the impression that the U.S. military is already stretched thin. About two-thirds (68%) say the U.S. is too overcommitted to get involved in another conflict, and just 27% disagree. The public also has questions about the opposition groups in Syria: 60% say that they may be no better than the current government.”

And also a study from Pew that seems to state what we already knew. Mostly it’s activism and agenda, not news. From Politico

“News outlets’ coverage of gay marriage tended to be significantly more  favorable than unfavorable, according to a new survey Monday.

Stories focusing on support for same-sex marriage were five times more  frequent than those focused on opposition, the analysis conducted by the Pew Research Center found.

Of the stories Pew focused on, 47 percent concentrated on supportive viewpoints,  while 9 percent concentrated on opposition. Forty-four percent of stories were  neutral or presented a balance of opinions.”

“While the stronger showing of support was seen across the 58 news outlets Pew  analyzed, the range varied outlet to outlet. On cable news, Pew found 64 percent  of MSNBC stories were supportive, to 30 percent mixed and 6 percent opposing.  Fox News’s coverage was 29 percent supportive, 63 percent mixed and 8 percent  against. CNN aired 39 percent favorable stories, with 57 percent neutral and 4  percent opposed.”

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Last up, Hollywood just loves to honor the sexual predators and perverts among their stars. From Breitbart

“Disgraced former “Sesame Street” puppeteer and producer Kevin Clash won three Daytime Awards in Los Angeles this weekend.

Clash lent his voice to the fuzzy, red monster Elmo for nearly three decades, but resigned last year after several men came forward and said they had sex with him when they were minors. Although no criminal charges have been brought against Clash, several men are suing him for his alleged abusive behavior.

Clash earned a trio of prizes at the Daytime Entertainment Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony Friday at Westin Bonaventure. In addition to his win for outstanding performer in a children’s series, he shared trophies for outstanding pre-school children’s series and directing in a children’s series for his collaboration with the show’s creative team.”

Again, just wrong on so many levels.

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by

News/Politics 6-17-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

As always, Open Thread.

First up, a woman we were just talking about. And another potential State Dept. scandal. From TheNYPost

“One of the Senate’s most aggressive investigators is probing longtime Hillary Rodham Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s employment status, asking how she got a sweetheart deal to be a private six-figure consultant while still serving as a top State Department official.”

“Abedin, who served as Clinton’s deputy chief of staff when Clinton was secretary of state, later became a “special government employee” who was able to haul in cash as a private contractor.”

“Grassley, the top Judiciary Committee Republican, wrote that he was concerned her status “blurs the line between public- and private-sector employees, especially when employees receive full-time salaries for what appears to be part-time work.””

Rep. Gohmert of Texas pointed out the undue influence people like Huma and her friends have. From Mediaite

“On the House floor on Friday, Texas Representative Louie Gohmert accused various federal agencies of aiding Islamic terrorists organizations such as the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America in their attempts to enact Sharia Law.

“We need to address the political correctness that is blinding our agencies and blinding our military of its ability to see who the enemy is, because it’s getting people killed,” Gohmert said. “When you refuse to acknowledge that the Afghans you’re training, may be willing to turn their guns you’re training them on and kill you…until you recognize that and who our enemy is, and that our enemy can be among us, and that our enemy can be in uniforms that we’re supposed to be friendly with, then more Americans are going to be killed needlessly.”

Gohmert accused the Obama administration of changing policy so that the FBI, State Department, and others had to “partner with” CAIR and ISNA, rather than treat mosques as terrorist recruitment centers.”

While the Obama admin ignores the extremism in mosques, they target and harass peaceful non-extremist churches. From TheExaminer

“On Thursday the Examiner provided an exclusive report indicating that the Obama administration had implemented a covert program beginning in 2009 that was intended to spy on conservative, evangelical Christian churches.”

“That program involved infiltration — sending in government operatives to join churches for the purpose of data collection. The government snoops would keep their eyes and ears open for criticism of the Obama administration, talk of Tea Party participation, conversations about gun ownership, and a number of other issues.”

“But a special report issued today by Fox News indicates that the program went far beyond infiltration and snooping. The IRS was used to harass Christian churches if they were identified as places where large numbers of anti-Obama citizens congregated for worship.

The Obama administration, according to the report, considered any public criticism of administration policies to be political in nature and should therefore impact whether or not these congregations were allowed to gain or keep their tax exempt status.”

What’s wrong with this picture?

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Meanwhile in other State Dept scandal news…  Back to  TheNYPost

“In the latest black eye for the scandal-ridden State Department, a whistleblower claims she was run out of the foreign service after complaining about a consul general’s alleged office trysts with subordinates and hookers.

Kerry Howard says she was bullied, harassed and forced to resign after she exposed US Consul General Donald Moore’s alleged security-threatening shenanigans in the Naples, Italy, office.”

“Howard is just the latest whistleblower to allege that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department allowed sexual misbehavior to continue unchecked.

Last week, The Post reported that Aurelia Fedenisn, an investigator at the department’s inspector-general office, wrote a memo outlining eight cases of supposed sexual misconduct, but that they were removed from an IG report.”

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In other Obama admin scandal news…. From C-Net

“The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls, a participant said.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed on Thursday that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed “simply based on an analyst deciding that.”

If the NSA wants “to listen to the phone,” an analyst’s decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. “I was rather startled,” said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.

Not only does this disclosure shed more light on how the NSA’s formidable eavesdropping apparatus works domestically, it also suggests the Justice Department has secretly interpreted federal surveillance law to permit thousands of low-ranking analysts to eavesdrop on phone calls.”

Nice huh?

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by

News/Politics 6-15-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First up, the fires continue in Colorado, but crews may be making progress. From NBCNews

‘The fight against a massive, deadly wildfire in Colorado faced a new challenge Friday when isolated thunderstorms packing gusting winds and lightning churned into the region — but got a little help from rain that blew in too.

Authorities inched closer to curbing the Black Forest Fire on Friday afternoon, bringing containment to 30 percent. Mandatory evacuation orders for thousands of Colorado Springs residents were lifted, according to NBC station KOAA of Pueblo, Colo.“

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Next up, who would have the motive and capability to hack a reporters computer? A reporter who just happens to be doggedly reporting on the Fast and Furious scandal. The Obama DoJ is the obvious choice. From CBSNews

“CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair said that a cybersecurity firm hired by CBS News “has determined through forensic analysis” that “Attkisson’s computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions in late 2012.”

“Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson’s accounts. While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data. This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion. CBS News is taking steps to identify the responsible party and their method of access.””

More here, from TheWashingtonPost

“Attkisson said she noticed unusual activity in her CBS-issued laptop and her home computer, such as dormant computers spontaneously “waking up” at odd hours. The unusual activity, which also included disruptions on her home phone line, predate the December 2012 breach that CBS confirmed.

She said in an interview Friday that she was “outraged” by the breach, which did not appear to be aimed at extracting personal financial information.”

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Meanwhile a judge has decided the President has exerted unlawful command influence that may have adverse effects on the sentencing of military members convicted of sexual assault. Nice job there Barry. From Politico

“President Obama’s comments condemning military sexual assault and suggesting that those convicted be punished with, among other things, a dishonorable discharge may be backfiring on his efforts to root out the growing problem.

In pretrial hearings in two cases, a Navy judge in Hawaii ruled this week that Obama had exerted “unlawful command influence” as commander-in-chief in outlining the specific “consequences” he saw fit for members of the military convicted of sexual assault.

As a result of Navy Judge Cmdr. Marcus Fulton’s rulings, the defendants in United States v. Johnson and United States v. Fuentes can’t be punitively discharged, even if they’re convicted of sexual assault. Stars and Stripes first reported on the rulings.”

And speaking of  unlawful influence…… From NationalReview

“Details of that testimony are interesting. Representative Tom Graves (R., Ga.) asked, “Have you asked the individuals who ordered them to use this extra scrutiny to punish, or penalize, or postpone, or deny?” George turns around to confer with his assistant. Just the fact that the inspector general had to confer to know the answer to this crucial question is amazing. George’s assistant says something to him that is not recorded, but one can see the assistant shaking his head back and forth. Then George responds publicly to the question, saying, “During our audit, Congressman, we did pose that question and no one would acknowledge who, if anyone, provided that direction.””

“Anyone who knows anything about the rights and responsibilities of an inspector general has to be shaking his head in disbelief at George’s explanation. First, every employee of the government has the responsibility to cooperate with and provide information to an IG concerning his work.”

The same thing they did with the so-called “independent” commission who investigated Benghazi as well. Meanwhile the so-called “investigation” by the FBI of IRS abuses has yet to interview even one conservative group who was targeted. How can you get to the bottom of a crime if you don’t talk to the victims? It’ll be yet another whitewash.

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In other news Democrats who forced ObamaCare on the rest of us now want a pass for themselves. What a dirt bag move. From Forbes

“When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) was being debated, proponents were accused of saddling Americans with inferior and expensive health care while keeping generous coverage for themselves at taxpayer expense. To rebut that allegation and build confidence in the bill, a provision was added mandating that members of Congress – and their staff members – get their coverage through the new exchange system the bill set up. Now that the time to sign up for exchange coverage is nearing, a Democratic member, Rep. John Larson (D., Conn.), is saying that “this is simply not fair” – as key staff members head for the exits to avoid Obamacare.”

Waaa. 😦 Somebody call the wambulance. Now you know how the rest of us feel. Thanks for nothin’.

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And lastly, more rewarding of big campaign contributors by Obama. From TheHill

“The White House said that Obama had named John Emerson as the next  ambassador to Germany. According to the president’s campaign, Emerson raised at  least half a million dollars last year for the president’s reelection effort,  topping the between $100,000 and $200,000 he netted for Obama’s 2008  presidential campaign.

Obama has also nominated Rufus Gifford, a former finance director  for the Democratic National Committee and finance director of his reelection  campaign, as the next ambassador to Denmark. Gifford also served as a major  fundraiser for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign and the chairman of the  president’s inaugural committee.

Gifford joins the relatively small ranks of openly gay men to be appointed a  U.S. ambassador. The president also appointed James Costos, an openly gay  executive at HBO, as the next American representative to Spain. Costos gave  $67,000 to support the president and Democratic National Committee during last  year’s race, according to the Federal Election Commission.”

That’s a twofer there.

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by

News/Politics 6-14-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

I must confess, I had a busy day yesterday, so I’m a little behind. So I’ll give you folks a few, and then you can post whatever you like.

First up, I have to agree with what Zip says, “this isn’t going to end well.” From WeaselZippers

“President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time, U.S. officials said Thursday, after the White House disclosed that the United States has conclusive evidence President Bashar Assad’s government used chemical weapons against opposition forces trying to overthrow him.

Obama has repeatedly said the use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line” triggering greater American intervention in the two-year crisis.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the strongest proponents of U.S. military action in Syria, said he was told Thursday that Obama had decided to “provide arms to the rebels,” a decision confirmed by three U.S. officials. The officials cautioned that no decisions had been made on the specific type of weaponry or when it would reach the Syrian rebels, who are under increasing assault from Assad’s forces.”

Meanwhile in Syria……   From TheWashingtonPost

“When a 14-year-old boy from the Syrian city of Aleppo named Mohammad Qatta was asked to bring one of his customers some coffee, he reportedly refused, saying, “Even if [Prophet] Mohammed comes back to life, I won’t.”

According to a story reported by two grassroots Syrian opposition groups, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Aleppo Media Center, Qatta’s words got him killed. A group of Islamist rebels, driving by in a black car, reportedly heard the exchange. They stopped the car, grabbed the boy and took him away.

Qatta, in refusing to serve a customer coffee – it’s not clear why – had used a phrase that the Islamist rebels took as an insult toward the Prophet Mohammed, the most important figure in Islam. That offhand comment, made by a boy, was apparently enough for these rebels to warrant a grisly execution and public warning.”

And these are also the rebels we’re arming. From USAToday

“A Syrian rebel group’s pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda’s replacement for Osama bin Laden suggests that the terrorist group’s influence is not waning and that it may take a greater role in the Western-backed fight to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The pledge of allegiance by Syrian Jabhat al Nusra Front chief Abou Mohamad al-Joulani to al-Qaeda leader Sheik Ayman al-Zawahri was coupled with an announcement by the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, that it would work with al Nusra as well.

Lebanese Sheik Omar Bakri, a Salafist who says states must be governed by Muslim religious law, says al-Qaeda has  assisted al Nusra for some time.”

We’re arming our enemies.

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And as Rand Paul points out, we’re already funding a war against Christianity. Arming Syrian rebels ensures that will continue. From TheWashingtonPost

“Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday continued his outreach to Christian conservatives, telling a gathering of them that the United States is effectively funding wars on Christianity by sending money to nations like Egypt and Syria.

“It’s clear that American taxpayer dollars are being used in a war against Christianity,” Paul said at a luncheon hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition to kick off the three-day Faith and Freedom Conference.

Paul said the U.S. war in Iraq led Christians to flee a secular country that had otherwise been “a relatively safe place for Christians,” and that Christians are now being hunted in nearby nations.”

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This woman just makes me sick to my stomach. From TheWeeklyStandard

“At a Thursday press conference, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi condemned a bill that would prohibit abortions during the final four months of pregnancy with an exception for when the life and physical health of the mother is at risk.

Asked what the moral difference is between what Dr. Kermit Gosnell did to babies born alive and aborting those same infants moments before birth, Pelosi refused to answer.

“As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this,” Pelosi said. “I don’t think it should have anything to do with politics.”

Pelosi falsely claimed the bill that passed out of committee on Wednesday would ban all abortions, when in fact it’s simply a prohibition on abortion during the final four months of pregnancy (with an exception for when the life and physical health of the mother is at risk), the point at which science indicates babies can feel pain and some babies can survive long-term if born. 

She’s factually challenged on all things abortion because she believes the abortion mill’s rhetoric. She parrots their lies, ignores and denies the truth, and her church’s teachings. That’s the price you pay for willingly making a deal with the devil to get his blood money.  And she’s all too happy to oblige.

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by

New/Politics 6-13-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open Thread, as always.

This one doesn’t surprise me at all. From Breitbart

“Breitbart News reported last 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.””

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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.

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Next up….. They’re baaaack…….  From NBCNews

“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.”

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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.”

What a weasel.

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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.

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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.””

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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.”

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by

News/Politics 6-12-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

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.

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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.”

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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.”

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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.”

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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.”

Clapper has come under fire for the testimony he gave before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March, when Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked him, “Does the [National Security Agency] collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”

“Clapper responded unequivocally, “No, sir. Not wittingly. There are cases where they could, inadvertently perhaps, collect — but not wittingly.”

That contradicts the recent revelations about the NSA’s collection of all of Verizon’s U.S. phone records.”

More from YahooNews

“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? 😯  🙄

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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.

They’ve become cartoon characters.

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Oh, and the ACLU is suing them. From TheHuffingtonPost

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.”

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News/Politics 6-11-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

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.”

More here from HotAir

“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? 🙄

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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.

“The following descriptions are vague due to the use and nature of the items,” it says.”

I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. I can’t think of any, but I’m sure there’s some. 🙄

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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.”

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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.”

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News/Politics 6-10-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

The claims by the President and his admin that the NSA snooping prevented a terror attack appears to be not exactly accurate. Looks like just another inaccurate and ever evolving excuse. From BuzzFeed

“Defenders of the American government’s online spying program known as “PRISM” claimed Friday that the suddenly controversial secret effort had saved New York City’s subways from a 2009 terrorist plot led by a young Afghan-American, Najibullah Zazi.

But British and American legal documents from 2010 and 2011 contradict that claim, which appears to be the latest in a long line of attempts to defend secret programs by making, at best, misleading claims that they were central to stopping terror plots. While the court documents don’t exclude the possibility that PRISM was somehow employed in the Zazi case, the documents show that old-fashioned police work, not data mining, was the tool that led counterterrorism agents to arrest Zazi. The public documents confirm doubts raised by the blogger Marcy Wheeler and the AP’s Adam Goldman, and call into question a defense of PRISM first floated by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, who suggested that PRISM had stopped a key terror plot.

Reuters’s Mark Hosenball advanced the claim Friday, based on anonymous “government sources”:

The NSA leaker has come forward to tell his story. From TheGuardian

“The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.

The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. “I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he said.”

Gee, I wonder if this leaker get’s a pass like this one did? Something tells me no, since it didn’t benefit Obama. From TheNYPost

“Ex-CIA Director Leon Panetta while in office revealed “top secret” details of the Osama bin Laden raid during an event attended by “Zero Dark Thirty” screenwriter Mark Boal, according to a draft of a Pentagon inspector general report.

The report, which was published yesterday by the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, appears to support allegations made two years ago that the Obama administration was leaking information to Hollywood about the raid.

The report shows that Panetta disclosed “top secret” and “classified” information during a speech at a June 2011 award ceremony at the CIA headquarters.”

I doubt Panetta get’s the treatment they’re about to give Snowden. In fact Clapper is already out telling anyone who will listen what a grave danger this is. From WeaselZippers

“Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in an interview that aired Saturday night that the leaks regarding the Obama administration’s surveillance programs are “literally gut-wrenching” and that the administration has requested a criminal investigation into who leaked the information.

“For me, it is literally – not figuratively – literally gut-wrenching to see this happen because of the huge, grave damage it does to our intelligence capabilities,” Clapper told NBC News’s Andrea Mitchell.”

And Greenwald, who broke the story at the Guardian, says save the melodrama, there’s more coming. Should be interesting.

Meanwhile Feinstein and Rogers want an investigation into the leaker. No word when the Penatta investigation will begin though.

Here’s more on it from TheWashingtonTimes

“The National Security  Agency’s collection of phone data from all of Verizon’s  U.S. customers is just the “tip of the iceberg,” says a former NSA official who estimates the agency has data on as many as 20  trillion phone calls and emails by U.S. citizens.

William Binney, an award-winning  mathematician and noted NSA whistleblower, says the collection dates back to when the super-secret  agency began domestic surveillance after the Sept. 11 attacks.”

The author of the Patriot Act wants the abuses stopped. Seems Jim’s a bit late to the party. This is the kind of stuff that people warned about when he wrote it. From TheGuardian

“This abuse of the Patriot Act must end

President Obama falsely claims Congress authorised all NSA surveillance. In fact, our law was designed to protect liberties”

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Conservative counties in Colorado have had enough. Introducing the 51st state? From FoxNews

“Officials in eight northern Colorado counties united in opposition to the  state’s new gun control laws and oil and gas regulations are reportedly  considering forming a 51st U.S. state called North Colorado.

The Denver Post reports that a proposal to separate Weld, Morgan, Logan,  Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties from the rest of  the state was hatched at a meeting of county commissioners last week.

Weld County commissioners Sean Conway, Mike Freeman and Doug Rademacher said  they will conduct public meetings and decide whether to draft a ballot measure  by Aug. 1., according to a report in The Greeley Tribune.”

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This one is going to cause a lot of hand wringing from one side of the aisle. From TheDailyMail

“Strain’s northwest Houston  community of Oak Forest is the  first neighborhood in the country being trained  and equipped by the Armed  Citizen Project, a Houston nonprofit that is giving  away free shotguns to single  women and residents of neighborhoods with high  crime rates.

While many cities have  tried gun buy-backs and other tactics  in the ongoing national debate on gun  control, the nonprofit and its supporters  say gun giveaways to responsible  owners are actually a better way to deter  crime. The organization, which plans  to offer training classes in Dallas, San  Antonio, and Tucson, Ariz., in the  next few weeks, is working to expand its  giveaways to 15 cities by the end of  the year, including Chicago and New  York.”

“It costs the organization  about $300 to arm and train an  individual and about $20,000 for an entire  neighborhood. All costs are paid  through donations, said Coplen, though he  declined to say how much his  organization has raised so far.

While some residents in  the neighborhood are supportive,  several officials have mixed feelings about  it.”

Oh I bet they do. Better make sure Feinstein is sitting when they break it to her. 🙂

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Here’s a story that’s interesting from New Mexico. Nixon would be so proud. From HotAir

“Hoo boy… Moe Lane at Red State has come across a nasty little piece of business coming out of New Mexico this past week. If the story plays out as early reporting indicates, there are a number of people – including prominent Democrats and a potential gubernatorial candidate – who will have some ‘splaining to do. The story begins in the campaign offices of Governor Susana Martinez, one of the rising stars of the GOP who has already been mentioned as possible POTUS or VPOTUS material in the future. Moe gives us the top line:

Executive summary: Jamie Estrada, former campaign manager for Susana Martinez (now the Republican governor of New Mexico), is accused of stealing* emails from her campaign account and passing them along to Democratic operative (and accused pedophile[**]) Jason Loera. Loera is likewise accused of passing along selected emails to Democratic state chair Sam Bregman, who then used those emails in at least one court case. Loera and Bregman are linked – the former consulted for the latter – and at this point, well. The whole thing is getting quite close to New Mexico Attorney General (and Democrat) Gary King.”

Here’s  a news report with the sordid details.

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by

News/Politics 6-8-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

The hits just keep coming.  The DoJ is fighting the release of a court opinion that found the surveillance programs activities unconstitutional. From MotherJones

“In the midst of revelations that the government has conducted extensive top-secret surveillance operations to collect domestic phone records and internet communications, the Justice Department was due to file a court motion Friday in its effort to keep secret an 86-page court opinion that determined that the government had violated the spirit of federal surveillance laws and engaged in unconstitutional spying.”

“For those who follow the secret and often complex world of high-tech government spying, this was an aha moment. The FISA court Wyden referred to oversees the surveillance programs run by the government, authorizing requests for various surveillance activities related to national security, and it does this behind a thick cloak of secrecy. Wyden’s statements led to an obvious conclusion: He had seen a secret FISA court opinion that ruled that one surveillance program was unconstitutional and violated the spirit of the law. But, yet again, Wyden could not publicly identify this program.”

More cover-up.

Not millions…. billions. From Bloomberg

“Collect telephone numbers for billions of U.S. calls, load the information into super-fast computers and you can start building a map of connections revealing patterns or oddities to help spot a terrorist.”

“The U.S. government’s primary electronic surveillance arm, the National Security Agency, is doing just that — vacuuming up U.S. phone records and, at least in certain circumstances, analyzing them to develop leads that authorities can pursue to identify and stop terror plots.”

Some of those hits are friendly fire too. From TheHill

“Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday disputed a claim President Obama made at a  press conference only moments earlier, when the president said that every member  of Congress had been briefed on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) domestic  phone surveillance program.”

““I knew about the program because I specifically sought it out,” Merkley said on  MSNBC. “It’s not something that’s briefed outside the Intelligence Committee. I  had to get special permission to find out about the program. It raised concerns  for me. … When I saw what was being done, I felt it was so out of sync with the  plain language of the law and that it merited full public examination, and  that’s why I called for the declassification.”

There went the blame Bush meme too.

Even NBCNews?

“The National Security Agency has at times mistakenly intercepted the private email messages and phone calls of Americans who had no link to terrorism, requiring Justice Department officials to report the errors to a secret national security court and destroy the data, according to two former U.S. intelligence officials. “

“Another former senior official, who asked not to be identified, confirmed Blair’s recollection and said the incident created serious problems for the Justice Department, which represents the NSA before the federal judges on the secret court.

The judges “were really upset about this,” said the former official. As a result, Attorney General Eric Holder pledged to the judges that the intelligence agencies would take steps to correct the problem as a condition of renewing the NSA’s surveillance program. “

Next up, does the US want to destroy privacy around the world? From BusinessInsider

“”It’s well past time that we have a debate about whether that’s  the kind of country and world in which we want to live,” Greenwald said on CNN.  “We haven’t had that debate because it’s all done in secrecy and the Obama  administration has been very aggressive about bullying and threatening anybody  who thinks about exposing it or writing about it or even doing journalism about  it. It’s well past time that that come to an end.”

The Obama administration and some members of Congress have defended the use of the  programs. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said  the NSA’s collection of phone data has been going on for seven years. Feinstein  said it’s about “protecting America.”

“People like Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss can have press  conferences threatening people for bringing light to what it is they’re doing,  but the only people who are going to be investigated are them,” Greenwald said  in response.”

And it’s starting to look like this isn’t just on foreigners as first claimed. From WeaselZippers

“Anyone can appreciate the need to go after foreign terrorists, even that some information might cross over to some Americans who might be in league with foreign terrorists. Yet the order that allowed this massive NSA grab didn’t even give that as a justification, the order says the following:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, the Custodian of Records shall produce to the National Security Agency (NSA) upon service of this Order, and continue production on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this Order, unless otherwise ordered by the Court, an electronic copy of the following tangible things: all call detail records or “telephony metadata” created by Verizon for communications (i) between the United States and abroad; or (ii) wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls. This Order does not require Verizon to produce telephony metadata.”

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And look what James Rosen found in the Friday Night News Dump. Susan Rice Benghazi documents. From TheGretaWire/FoxInsider

“State Dept does a ‘document dump’ late on a Friday – 97 pages of documents relating to Ambassador Susan Rice’s television appearances”

Hmmmmm……

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ObamaCare Navigators, coming to a red state near you. Or as I like to call it, ACORN Reborn. From WatchDog.org

“In those states where there is a significant level of hostility toward ObamaCare, trained “navigators” will be on the ground to ensure the program is successfully implemented,  senior administration officials said Thursday during a conference call.”

“Another administration official on the call said funding is available through the Department of Health and Human Services for ObamaCare navigators who she described as “trained in-person consumer assistants.” The official also told reporters $150 million is available in supplemental grants for community health centers, which she said are “quite prevalent in Florida and Texas.””

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I’m not a Ravens fan at all. But I like this guy. 🙂  From TheWashingtonExaminer

“Retired Baltimore Ravens center Matt Birk, who won a Super Bowl with the team last year, skipped the team’s visit to the White House due to President Obama’s support for Planned Parenthood.

“I have great respect for the office of the presidency but about five or six weeks ago, our president made a comment in a speech and he said, ‘God bless Planned Parenthood,’” Birk, a former Minnesota Viking, told a local Minnesota sports blog. “I’m very confused by [Obama’s] statement,” he explained. “”For God to bless a place where they’re ending 330,000 lives a year? I just chose not to attend.”

Birk said he’s a pro-life Roman Catholic. “Planned Parenthood performs about 330,000 abortions a year,” he said. “I couldn’t endorse that in any way.”

Nice to see him sticking to his beliefs and principles.

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by

News/Politics 6-7-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

Open thread, so don’t be shy.

If you thought the Obama admin and some kangaroo court giving the OK to snoop in 100 million people’s phone records was bad, you’ll love this one. This one involves internet snooping rather than phones. They say it’s only used on foreigners, but I’d hardly trust them since they seem to have constantly changing stories. We’ll see.

But the scandals just keep coming. Next up, the Prism scandal. From TheGuardian

“Two different versions of the PRISM scandal were emerging on Thursday with Silicon Valley executives denying all knowledge of the top secret program that gives the National Security Agency direct access to the internet giants’ servers.

The eavesdropping program is detailed in the form of PowerPoint slides in a leaked NSA document, seen and authenticated by the Guardian, which states that it is based on “legally-compelled collection” but operates with the “assistance of communications providers in the US.”

Each of the 41 slides in the document displays prominently the corporate logos of the tech companies claimed to be taking part in PRISM. However, senior executives from the internet companies expressed surprise and shock and insisted that no direct access to servers had been offered to any government agency.

The top-secret NSA briefing presentation set out details of the PRISM program, which it said granted access to records such as emails, chat conversations, voice calls, documents and more. The presentation the listed dates when document collection began for each company, and said PRISM enabled “direct access from the servers of these US service providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Paltalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple”.

Executives at the companies are saying if it took place, it was without their knowledge.

More here, from the WallStJournal

And TheWashingtonPost has the leaker saying why he leaked it.

“Firsthand experience with these systems, and horror at their capabilities, is what drove a career intelligence officer to provide PowerPoint slides about PRISM and supporting materials to The Washington Post in order to expose what he believes to be a gross intrusion on privacy. “They quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type,” the officer said.”

When it comes to the phone scandal, Obama has even lost the NYTimes

“Within hours of the disclosure that federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every time President Obama has been caught overreaching in the use of his powers: Terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us to deal with them because we have internal mechanisms (that we are not going to tell you about) to make sure we do not violate your rights.

Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability.

The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers.”

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Another factually challenged member of Team Obama is in trouble. Looks like perjury again. From NationalJournal

“But one person who doesn’t like the idea of the NSA spying on Americans is Oregon senator Ron Wyden. And at a hearing in March, he asked James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, a straightforward question: “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?”

Clapper’s answer? “No, sir … not wittingly.”

Update, 5:13 p.m.: Clapper tells the National Journal, “What I said was, the NSA does not voyeuristically pore through U.S. citizens’ e-mails. I stand by that.” Except … that’s not what he said. ”

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We also have a new player in the IRS scandal. From TheDailyCaller

“A Washington IRS attorney named Carter Hull closely oversaw the targeting of  conservative nonprofit groups and suggested questions that IRS employees could ask  of conservative and Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt nonprofit status,  according to interviews that two IRS employees  gave with congressional investigators.

“I was essentially a front person, because I had no autonomy or no authority  to act on [applications] without Carter Hull’s influence or input,” said  Elizabeth Hofacre, an employee of the  Cincinnati IRS office, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal.”

“IRS attorney Hull sent Hofacre additional information request letters [pdf] that he’d already sent to two tea party  groups and instructed her to use them as a “foundation to prepare and review”  cases and prepare her own letters to new applicants.”

Washington, not Cincinnati. But we already knew that, didn’t we?

Oh, and you’ll love this. Mr. Hull seems to be in the process of retiring. How convenient.  🙄

From NationalReview

“A tax law specialist and attorney who processed tea-party cases in the Internal Revenue Service’s Exempt Organization’s Technical Office is retiring, according to an IRS source. Reached over the phone, the lawyer, Carter Hull, would not confirm or deny the report, saying only, “I cannot verify anything about this entire matter.” Hull’s retirement comes after years of service in the Exempt Organization, where he has served ”for decades,” the source tells National Review Online.”

Another coincidence I’m sure.  🙄

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ObamaCare demands insurers cover Planned Parenthood clinics. That’s called payback. Thank you for the millions you gave me, now here’s yours. From TheWashingtonExaminer

“Most of Planned Parenthood’s 750 health and abortion clinics around the nation will be covered under Obamacare, imposing a new demand on insurers who want to participate in the health care exchanges that will provide insurance coverage to millions of Americans.

While insurers currently cover doctors and health facilities in their networks, Obamacare demands that they also cover at least 20 percent of “essential community providers” in their coverage area, including Planned Parenthood, AIDS clinics, pain management centers and even alternative medicine providers.

“We’ve never covered these sorts of things,” a Wisconsin insurance provider told Secrets. Insurers said that they were just figuring out the new requirement and haven’t decided if it will raise prices. Conservative providers, however, are wary of covering Planned Parenthood.”

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And it looks like the Obama admin finally has something other than pushing abortion to export to other countries. From NewsBusters

“The Agency for International Development was created to provide “economic,  development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the  foreign policy goals of the United States.” Under the Obama administration, that  means spreading “gay rights” activism with our tax dollars. Now that’s really  separating church and state.
The gay Washington  Blade newspaper carried the front-page headline “U.S. Promoting LGBT Rights  Abroad.” Reporter Michael Lavers touted “The first training as part of a  USAID-backed public-private partnership designed to promote LGBT rights around  the world” would happen in Colombia May 30 to June 2.

The  program, which was coordinated by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, was the first to take place as part of the USAID-backed “LGBT Global Development Partnership” that will contribute $11 million over the next four years to advocacy groups in neighboring Ecuador and other developing countries.”

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