If There Is a Way, There Is a Will : Elected
officials from both sides of the aisle, like US Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA), use
foundations to accept corporate donations from businesses that benefit from the
officials elected duties, some say legally skirting campaign finance laws.
Congressional Charities Are Pulling
In Corporate Cash Source: The New York Times
Representative Joe Baca has achieved near celebrity status in his suburban Los
Angeles district, as much for his record of giveaways — Thanksgiving turkeys,
college scholarships, spare boots for firefighters — as for anything he has done
in Congress. That generosity is made possible by the Joe Baca Foundation, a
charity his family set up three years ago to aid local organizations. It
provides another benefit, too: helping the Democratic congressman run something
akin to a permanent political campaign. Joe Baca T-shirts and caps are given out
at the charity’s events, where banners display his name. Local newspapers
mention the charity’s donations, and cable stations show appearances by Mr. Baca
and his family at functions his foundation supports. But unlike most private
foundations, Mr. Baca’s gets little of its money from its founders’ pockets.
Instead, local companies and major corporations that have often turned to Mr.
Baca’s Washington office for help, and usually succeed in getting it, are the
chief donors. A review by The New York Times of federal tax records and House
and Senate disclosure reports found at least two dozen charities that lawmakers
or their families helped create or run that routinely accept donations from
businesses seeking to influence them.
Culture
Wars Muslim Cleric
Calls for Beheading of Dutch Politician
A well-known Australian Muslim cleric has called for the beheading of Dutch
anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders, a newspaper said on Friday. Feiz
Muhammad, a Sydney-born Islamist cleric, has gained notoriety for, among other
things, calling on young children to be radicalized and blaming rape victims for
their own attacks. In an audio clip, Muhammad refers to Wilders as "this Satan,
this devil, this politician in Holland" and explains that anyone who talks about
Islam like Wilders does should be executed by beheading.
Islamist
Terrorism
Hamburg Islamist Speaks of Threat of Attacks in Germany
Federal authorities in Germany are moving quickly to investigate claims by a
German Islamist based in Afghanistan that militant jihadists may be planning
attacks in Germany. American security forces detained Ahmad S. in Kabul at the
beginning of July on suspicion of terrorism. The 36-year-old, who comes from
Hamburg, Germany, has since been interrogated at the US military prison in
Baghram. He is reported to have spoken extensively about attack scenarios in
Germany and neighboring European countries.
International Iran Pays
$1,000 for Each US Soldier
Killed by Taliban
Iran is paying Taliban fighters $1,000 for each US soldier they kill in
Afghanistan, according to a report in a British newspaper. The Sunday Times of
London described how a man it said was a "Taliban treasurer" had gone to collect
$18,000 from an Iranian firm in Kabul, a reward it said was for an attack in
July which killed several Afghan government troops and destroyed an American
armored vehicle.
Government
& Politics
States Join Legal Brief Supporting Arizona Immigration Law
Nearly a dozen states have filed a legal brief in support of Arizona's
controversial immigration law. A "friend of the court" brief filed with the San
Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday argues that a federal
judge was wrong to block implementation of key provisions of the law. The brief
submitted by Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox argues that the judge used
the wrong legal standard to rule on the US Justice Department's request for a
preliminary injunction. Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia joined in the
filing.
National
& Local Gulf Coast
Communities Investigate Oily
Sea Mist
Workers in Orange Beach, AL, noticed recently that when the wind came in strong
from the south, over a foamy, churned-up Gulf, it was carrying something new
onto the beach. Just as seaspray might leave a film on a person's sunglasses, a
greasier material was detected by beach workers. "You could actually feel it in
your hair and stuff," says beach worker Matt Cole. And when the crew started to
take down the umbrellas, they were slippery. "You could rub your finger along
the shaft of the aluminum pole on the umbrella, and it was kind of an oily brown
substance," Cole adds. Scarritt doesn't believe what BP and federal officials
say about most of the oil being gone.
International Clashes in Tehran
Pit Pro-Freedom Movement Against Security Forces
Skirmishes erupted between security forces and anti-government protestors in
Tehran on Friday which marks the state's annual Qods (Jerusalem) Day.
Government-organized marches were held in Tehran and elsewhere. Paramilitary
basiji forces on motorbikes were roaming the streets in an attempt to intimidate
anti-government protestors. A large crowd of opposition supporters gathered at
multiple locations, chanting "death to the dictator" and "Neither Gaza, nor
Lebanon; I give my life for Iran."
Islamist
Terrorism Suicide
Bomber Kills 57 at Shiite
Rally in Pakistan
Anti-terror police were on high alert in Pakistan on Saturday ahead of mass
burials for the victims of a suicide bomber who killed at least 57 people at a
Shiite Muslim rally. The bomber was among a 450-strong crowd marching through
the southwestern city of Quetta on Friday and blew himself up as the procession
reached the main square. Chaotic scenes followed, with an angry mob starting
fires and shooting into the air while others fled or lay on the ground to avoid
the gunfire.
The
Fifth Column Justice
Dept. Sues Arizona Sheriff in
Civil Rights Probe
The US Justice Department sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday, saying the
Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an
investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.
The lawsuit calls Arpaio and his office's defiance "unprecedented." Arpaio's
office said it has fully cooperated in the jail inquiry but won't hand over
additional documents into the examination of the alleged unconstitutional
searches because federal authorities haven't said exactly what they were
investigating.
National
& Local Unemployment
Hits
9.6%; Private Sector Adds 67,000
Job losses continued to mount in the US economy last month, though at a more
modest pace than expected, putting further pressure on policy makers to take
action to spur growth and employment.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 54,000 last month, matching the level of revised losses
recorded the previous month, the US Labor Department said Friday. The revision
in July layoffs to 54,000 followed an original estimate of a 131,000 drop in
payrolls. The US economy has shed jobs for three straight months.
National
& Local Employees
Shoulder Cost Increases in Healthcare
As health care costs continue their relentless climb, companies are increasingly
passing on higher premium costs to workers. The shift is occurring, policy
analysts and others say, as employers feel more pressure from the weak economy
and the threat of even more expensive coverage under the new health care law.
Companies chose this year to keep their costs the same by passing the entire
increase in premiums for family coverage onto their workers. Workers' share of
the cost of a family policy jumped an average of 14 percent, an increase of
about $500 a year. The cost of a policy rose just 3 percent, to an average of
$13,770.
Russian Intelligence
Chief Killed in Dagestan
The chief of the Russian Federal Security Services, the intelligence agency that
grew out of the KGB, in the Tsumandi District of Dagestan in the Northern
Caucasus, was killed when assassins blew up his official car outside his home.
This comes on the heels of another high-profile loss of life incident involving
a high ranking Russian, former deputy chief of the Russian Military Intelligence
Service Yuri Ivanov, found dead on the shore of the Mediterranean on August 16.
The general had last been deployed to review Russian military installations in
Syria.
Gaza Islamists Vow Wave of Attacks Against Israel
Militant groups in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday they had joined forces to
step up attacks against Israel, possibly including suicide bombings.
The statement was made as Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed in Washington
to a series of direct talks, seeking to forge the framework for a US-backed
peace deal within a year and end a conflict that has boiled for six decades.
A spokesman for Hamas said 13 militant groups would work together to launch "more effective
attacks" against Israel, including suicide bombings.
Hillary
Clinton for President Ad Airs in New Orleans
We've still got two months left until the 2010 midterm elections, but we now
have our first television commercial of the 2012 presidential campaign. And the
ad advocates for Hillary Clinton, who says she has no intention of running for
the White House. The commercial was paid for by a Chicago dentist named William
DeJean, who, when asked why he put the ad up, said, "I'm a dentist and I don't
think this country is headed in the right direction...I think she is the most
qualified."
Questions
Raised About Rauf's Nonexistent Mosque
The federal government considers the Muslim group founded by Ground Zero Mosque
leader Feisal Abdul Rauf to be a tax-exempt church. But federal records show the
group obtained that status by claiming to hold prayer services for up to 500
people in a Manhattan apartment building that has no space to hold that many
people. However, a review of the building and real estate records indicates
there is nowhere in the building to house that many congregants. ASMA lists its
office address as 201 W. 85th St., Apt. 10E on the tax form, while it cites only
the building address as its location for prayer services.
Top Economist: Passing
Union-Backed Bills Creates a ‘Ponzi Scheme’
An economist at the nonpartisan Hudson Institute says that if House and Senate
Democrats pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) -- known as the “card check
bill” -- in this Congress, it would create a “ponzi scheme” environment.
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a former chief economist at the US Department of Labor,
said on Tuesday that implementing card check would allow unions to swell their
ranks with new members who would have to be signed up and pay money into failing
union pension plans.
“It shouldn’t be allowed,” she said. “It’s a Ponzi scheme as bad as Bernie
Madoff.”
Iranian
'Adulterer' Subjected to a Mock Execution
An Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning was subjected to a mock execution
by hanging. In preparation for her death, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani wrote her
will and embraced her cellmates in Tabriz prison. But the mother-of-two, who was
acquitted of murdering her husband but found guilty of adultery, was not led to
the gallows. The latest development comes after prison authorities denied family
and legal visits, falsely telling them Ashtiani was unwilling to see them. In
turn, she was told no one had come to see her.
NMJ Radio
Is
Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Practicing Affirmative
Action Justice? The events surrounding the abandonment of the
voter intimidation case against three members of the New Black Panther Party for
actions taken at a Philadelphia polling place during the 2008 General Election
have left many puzzled as to why the most egregious violation of the Voter
Rights Act since the days of the KKK was dropped by Eric Holder's Justice
Department. We also address the nomination of Elena Kagan in an interview with
Chuck Wilder and we re-visit the Demonization of the Tea Party.
NMJ-TV Three Things About Islam A group calling themselves "White Roses"
created a video to inform non-Muslims about Islam. White Roses, headquartered in
Sweden, produced several versions in different languages. This first version is
in English. The name "White Roses" (German: die Weiße Rose) was a
non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of
students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group
became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until
February 1943, that called for active opposition to dictator Adolf Hitler's
regime. The six core members of the group were arrested by the Gestapo and they
were executed by decapitation in 1943. In this straight-forward and educational
video -- well produced and presented -- White Roses covers the topics of the
Quran, Sharia law and taqiyya.
Eternal Principle
by Nancy Salvato Marcus Tullius
Cicero, who was born in 105 B.C. and was beheaded by Antony's soldiers in 43 B.C,
writes in "On the Laws," “Law was neither a thing to be
contrived by the genius of man, nor established by any decree of the people, but
a certain eternal principle, which governs the entire universe, wisely
commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong.” In the Declaration of
Independence, Thomas Jefferson echoes this eternal truth when he explains that
the function of government is to secure God-given rights. How do we know about
these rights? Cicero explains that the supreme law is “the mind of God” and that
from the moment of our existence, through our power of reason, God incites us to
do good and deters us from evil. It is clear that Jefferson and
the founders understood and believed in the eternal principle and Cicero’s
interpretation.
More Editorials...
Disillusionment by Ari Bussel
One of the most memorable slogans of the 2009 parliament elections in Israel was
Avigdor Liberman’s “I Speak Arabic.” Liberman holds such sufficient pressure on
the Prime Minister, due to the number of mandates he controls, that one must
hope he is currently practicing his “Arabic.” However, Israelis do not like
Liberman, his methods or rhetoric. Even members of his party serve at his will.
Who then does respect the Israeli Foreign Minister? The Arabs, who first refused
to even meet him, are now his followers and advocates. Liberman apparently
clearly understands the neighborhood in which he lives.
Ground Zero Mosque
Is Not About Religious Freedom by Robert E. Meyer
The Ground Zero mosque controversy has been erroneously portrayed by certain
news pundits as being an issue about religious freedom. Of course this is
another red herring designed to demonize those protesting against locating the
mosque at ground zero--as if those opposing it want to deny a segment of
Americans equal access to the First Amendment. Is it not ironic that only a few
years ago we were told that dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Now that
those people are in power we have an Orwellian reversal and dissent is again
unpatriotic, with the added feature of being bigoted and phobic. Muslims are
certainly within their constitutional rights to build a mosque there if they
desire. The question is whether they ought to.
Republicans:
Their Worst Enemy Is Themselves by Thomas D. Segel
As we move closer and closer to Election Day, I really start to worry about the
GOP. It has always been a strange political party that could never really
understand its own strengths and weaknesses. Because of that failing, especially
during good times, it tends to form that old cliché called the Circular Firing
Squad, and shoot itself in places where it really hurts. We saw the Republican
majority vanish, not because it had the wrong ideas about governance, but
because it decided the safest way to hold office was to emulate the actions of
its opponents. It started spending the people’s money like a Sailor or Marine on
a Saturday Night Liberty Call. The main aftermath of such extravagance is that
on Monday morning you suffer for your indigestions. The GOP suffered great
losses from being labeled Democrat-Lite, and they are still having a hard time
shaking loose from that title.
It Feels Like a Depression to Me by Alan Caruba
Between the time that George Washington took the first oath of office as
president and when Barack Obama did—-1789 to 2009, the United States had
borrowed nine trillion dollars. Since Obama took office, it has borrowed
or imposed nearly three trillion more debt. Tell me he is not
deliberately seeking to bankrupt the nation. I was born during the Great
Depression of the 1930s and have lived long enough now to find myself in
a new one. There are similarities between the two, but the first one led
to the creation of a variety of government regulatory entities and
programs that should have avoided or at least were expected put the
brakes on the current one.
The Polling Figures Paint an Astounding Picture...and Not Just for
Democrats by Robert Costa
In Jimmy Carter’s White House, Patrick Caddell was, in the words of
Teddy White, the “house Cassandra” — an all-too-candid pollster whose
prophecies spooked the president’s other advisors. Three decades later,
Caddell again is warning his fellow Democrats about electoral doom. As
he sips an iced tea over lunch in midtown Manhattan, Caddell sighs and
tells me that the lessons of the Carter years appear to be all but
forgotten by the current crop of Democrats in Washington. “President
Obama’s undoing may be his disingenuousness,” Caddell says. After
campaigning for post-partisanship, Obama, he observes, has lurched
without pause to the left. “You can’t get this far from what you
promised.”
The Cordoba House &
The Myth of Cordoban ‘Ecumenism’ by Andrew G. Bostom
Imam Feisal Rauf, “founder and visionary” of the Cordoba Initiative,
apparently sees the construction of a triumphal mosque within the 9/11
World Trade Center attack’s zone of destruction as a fulfillment of his
vision for Islam in America. As Rauf stated in his 2004 "What’s Right
with Islam," a work limited to treacly Islamic propaganda: "For many
centuries, Islam inspired a civilization that was particularly tolerant
and pluralistic...Great philosophers such as Maimonides were free to
create their historic works within the pluralistic culture of Islam."
Rauf envisions this invented past as a model for the future
“Sharia-compliant” America he desires.
Identifying the Links Between
White-collar Crime & Terrorism National White Collar Crime Center
The threat of terrorism has become the principal security concern in the United
States since September 11, 2001. One method of addressing this threat has been
the enactment and modification of laws and rules, such as the USA PATRIOT Act.
These legal vehicles deal with crimes that have been traditionally referred to
as white-collar crimes: money laundering, identity theft, credit card fraud,
insurance fraud, immigration fraud and tax evasion. Reasons behind this approach
include the belief that terrorist activities require funding. The central focus
of the report is a detailed study of cases investigated and prosecuted involving
the terrorist group Jamaat Ul Fuqra.
