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«Updated Daily« |
Thursday May 23, 2013
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Made in the USA since 1998
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The emerging threat posed by self-styled radicals hatching these low-tech, unsophisticated plots appears to be the next wave. Perhaps that's the price US voters should expect to pay for vaunting crafty attorneys to high office.
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Analysis: Terror on the London Street
Karen Hathaway Pittman
Whatever last night's talking points on US cable news, this morning officials here in London are describing yesterday's barbaric beheading of a British solider on the workaday streets of Woolwich as an act of "terror." Almost as soon as the news broke, they were dubbing it thus. Speaking from Paris, Prime Minister David Cameron wasted no time in denouncing the gratuitous strike as a "terrorist incident," and London mayor Boris Johnson, in admitting somberly, "This is terror of a type we've seen before," was captured nodding over his shoulder at the ghosts of Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg. And why not? The as-yet-unidentified off-duty 20-year-old soldier who was walking along minding his own business in the vicinity of the Second Battalion of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment's barracks in Southeast London--the city's largest such installation, situated just yards away from a grammar school--was apparently targeted for summary execution by the machete-wielding duo of militants for the capital crime of sporting a "Help for Heroes" t-shirt. Shouting "Allahu akbar," they mowed him down with their car before hacking him to bits with their steely implements. Clearly, these "brothers" were cruising the area, due east of Greenwich, looking for fresh meat--of the Grade-A military kind. |
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If There Was Ever a Golden Opportunity
Frank Salvato
The recent “scandals” plaguing the Obama Administration serve to illustrate that nothing lasts forever. The honeymoon with the mainstream media has ended after a record run and their steamroller approach to Washington politics has hit a “bump in the road,” and one they cannot circumvent. This moment in time presents some golden opportunities for those of us who identify it as one of vulnerability for those who quest to “fundamentally transform the United States of America.” But in every golden opportunity exists some danger. And while we of the constitutional and conservative bent never cease to protest this truth, it is a truth nevertheless. We could be winning a baseball game by 15 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and find a way to lose by 3. While all the so-called “Republican strategists” and conservative pundits debate the depth of the Obama Administration’s “evil deeds,” and while everyone in the conservative blogosphere is screeching “impeachment” at the top of their cyber-lungs, we who possess level heads; who deal in facts and realism instead of emotion and appearance, understand that the probability of impeachment is next to zero.
Editor’s Notes
Frank Salvato
The Weekly Standard reports of a concentrated gathering of identifiably Liberal (read Progressive) media operatives streaming into the White House West Wing May 21st, 2013. One DC insider notes that this parade of liberal propagandists (people who would have been known as hybrids of muckrakers and “four minute men” back in the days or Wilson) coincided with the IRS Determinations Unit Chief Lois Lerner’s oddly-worded Fifth Amendment right execution at a Congressional hearing focused on that agency’s targeting of Conservative groups. The list of propagandists includes Jonathan Capehart, Josh Marshall, Ezra Klein and others. My questions are these: Who summoned them and for what purpose? Why were these “friendly” reporters summoned and no one included who may be contrarian to the administration? How does this square with transparency? And, if Valerie Jarrett is so critically important to Mr. Obama, so much so that he goes nowhere without her, how come the press never covers what her influences are on POTUS and administrative decisions?
The Obama Crony in Charge
of Your Medical Records
Michelle Malkin
Who is Judy Faulkner? Chances are, you don't know her -- but her politically connected, taxpayer-subsidized electronic medical records company may very well know you. Top Obama donor and billionaire Faulkner is founder and CEO of Epic Systems, which will soon store almost half of all Americans' health information. If the crony odor and the potential for abuse that this "epic" arrangement poses don't chill your bones, you ain't paying attention. As I first noted last year before the IRS witch hunts and DoJ journalist snooping scandals broke out, Obama's federal electronic medical records (EMR) mandate is government malpractice at work. The stimulus law provided a whopping $19 billion in "incentives" (read: subsidies) to force hospitals and medical professionals into converting from paper to electronic record-keeping systems. Penalties kick in next year for any provider who fails to comply with the one-size-fits-all edict. Obamacare bureaucrats claimed the government's EMR mandate would save money and modernize health care. As of December 2012, $4 billion had already gone out to 82,535 professionals and 1,474 hospitals; a total of $6 billion will be doled out by 2016.
Going Rogue in the Wrong Direction
Sarah Palin
As more information about the IRS scandal trickles out daily, the White House's involvement is becoming clearer. Those of us who've been warning about the demise of freedom with Barack Obama's efforts to "fundamentally transform" our great nation are about to witness some sad vindication. Will awakened Americans finally join us in saying "enough is enough"? The president would like us to believe that he only learned about the IRS corruption from watching the news. But we recently learned that the White House was actively working with the IRS on how to roll out the story of this scandal. So, Mr. President, how can you have your staff work on the roll out of the biggest controversy since Watergate, and yet claim that you only heard about it by watching the news with the rest of us? For the president to deny any knowledge of what was brewing and to claim to know nothing about the Benghazi cover-up or anything about anything White House-related lately, he's either a liar or a hugely incompetent CEO. You decide.
Be Afraid…Be Very Afraid
Alan Caruba
From its earliest days, even before the Revolution, Americans valued their newspapers and understood they played a crucial role in the issues and events of the times in which they lived. It would take a while, however, before newspapers evolved from highly partisan advocates of the early political factions to their role as watchdogs of government. A literate population depended on them for news that revealed the increasing futility of dealing with a British monarchy and parliament that found new ways to tax the essentially independent colonies. Newspapers became the glue of the new nation, eagerly read in every state, providing news of Congress and the presidency. By contrast, authoritarian governments understood the need to keep a tight control over the news and none more than the Third Reich of the Nazi Party and in the Soviet Union. On May 21st, Kirsten Powers, writing in the Daily Beast.com, borrowed from words of pastor Martin Niemoller, a German who witnessed their rise to power and who framed the manner in which the Nazis targeted, jailed and killed all those they deemed enemies of the state.
We Are the Idiots
Walter E. Williams
Dr. Henry Miller, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Gregory Conko, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, in their Forbes article "Rachel Carson's Deadly Fantasies" (9/5/2012), wrote that her 1962 book, "Silent Spring," led to a world ban on DDT use. The DDT ban was responsible for the loss of "tens of millions of human lives -- mostly children in poor, tropical countries -- have been traded for the possibility of slightly improved fertility in raptors (birds). This remains one of the monumental human tragedies of the last century." DDT presents no harm to humans and, when used properly, poses no environmental threat. In 1970, a committee of the National Academy of Sciences wrote: "To only a few chemicals does man owe as great a debt as to DDT...In a little more than two decades, DDT has prevented 500 million human deaths, due to malaria, that otherwise would have been inevitable." Prior to the DDT ban, malaria was on the verge of extinction in some countries.
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▪ Analysis: Terror on the London Street
▪ Analysis: The London ‘Beheading’ Is Straight Out of al-Qaeda’s Handbook
▪ Sweden Stunned by Third Night of Rioting
▪ WH Chief Counsel Met with Radical Treasury Lawyer in 2012
▪ Analysis: If the President Doesn’t Run the Government, Who Does?
▪ Obama’s New Energy Chief: Climate Change ‘Not Debatable’
▪ New NASA Report Debunks Climate Change Theories in Total
▪ Progressive Center for American Progress Slammed for Hypocrisy
▪ British Soldier Beheaded in London Machete Attack
▪ TEA Party Targeting IRS Official Pleads the Fifth
▪ Obama Oblivious, Inner-Circle Plotted How to Manage IRS Scandal
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Sweden Stunned by 3rd Night of Rioting
NBC News/Reuters
Hundreds of youths set fire to cars and attacked police and rescue services in suburbs of Stockholm Tuesday night in Sweden's worst disorder in years. A police station in the Jakobsberg area in the northwest of the city was attacked, two schools were damaged and an arts and crafts center was set ablaze, despite a call for calm from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. It was the third night of unrest, mainly in suburbs where many immigrants live. The riots, in one of Europe's richest capitals, have shocked a country that prides itself on a reputation for social justice, and fueled a debate about how Sweden is coping with both youth unemployment and an influx of immigrants. "We've had around 30 cars set on fire last night, fires that we connect to youth gangs and criminals," Kjell Lindgren, spokesman for Stockholm police, said on Wednesday.
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New NASA Report Debunks Climate Change Theories in Total
NaturalNews.com
Practically everything you have been told by the mainstream scientific community and the media about greenhouse gases, and particularly CO2, appears to be false, according to new data compiled by NASA's Langley Research Center. As it turns out, all those greenhouse gases blamed for overheating our planet are actually cooling it. As reported by Principia Scientific International, Martin Mlynczak and his NASA colleagues tracked infrared emissions from the earth's upper atmosphere during and following a March solar storm. What they found was that the vast majority of energy released from the sun during this immense coronal mass ejection was reflected back into space rather than deposited into earth's lower atmosphere, resulting in an overall cooling effect, completely contradicts claims made by NASA's own climatology division about the cause of global warming.
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Analysis: The London 'Beheading' - Straight Out of al-Qaeda's Handbook
The London Telegraph
The horrific killing in Woolwich, where a man believed to be a soldier based at the nearby Woolwich barracks was beheaded by two machete-wielding assailants, has all the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda attack. At the time of writing we are still awaiting confirmation from security officials about the precise nature of the incident. But having just watched some ITV footage, which shows a man with bloodied hands who is carrying a machete saying directly into the camera "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you", it seems pretty clear to me what has happened. For years al-Qaeda activists such as Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric who preached global jihad from his base in Yemen until he was killed by a US drone strike two years ago, have been calling on their followers to launch their own home-grown attacks.
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British Soldier Beheaded in London Machete Attack
Sky News
Two attackers armed with meat cleavers filmed their deadly assault on a man in London, according to Sky sources. A man reported to be a serving soldier died and the two attackers were then shot by the police following the terrorist attack in Woolwich. Senior Whitehall sources said the two attackers, who are in hospital, asked passers-by to film them, and they shouted "Allahu Akbar" (Allah is great). In footage that has emerged, one of the attackers wields a bloodied meat cleaver and says: "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you." The black man, dressed in a gray hooded jacket and black woolly hat, was heard to say: "We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth...I apologies that women have had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe..."
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WH Chief Counsel Met with Radical Treasury Lawyer in 2012
The Daily Caller
Although White House Chief Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler claims to have learned about the IRS audit scandal only last month, she had three unprecedented one-on-one meetings last year with the Treasury Dept's chief lawyer, who has known about the inspector general's investigation of the IRS's targeting of conservative nonprofits since at least June 2012. The Treasury lawyer in turn has a long history of extreme left-wing agitation. Christopher J. Meade, Treasury Chief Counsel, met with Ruemmler on Sept. 27th, Dec. 11th, and Dec. 13th, 2012, according to White House Visitor Records requests. The two had never met one-on-one prior to these meetings. Meade was one of the first members of Pres. Obama's administration to find out about the IRS investigation in June 2012, when he became the Treasury Department's acting general counsel.
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Analysis: If the President Doesn't Run the Government, Who Does?
The Wall Street Journal
Every day brings new revelations about who knew what about the IRS targeting conservative groups during President Obama's re-election campaign, but the overall impression is of a vast federal bureaucracy run amok. While the White House continues to peddle the story of a driverless train wreck, taxpayers are being treated to a demonstration of the dangers of an unwieldy and unaccountable administrative state. Look, Ma, no hands! In his press events, Mr. Obama has said that while he learned about the Cincinnati rogues on the news, he plans to "hold accountable those who have taken these outrageous actions." But the White House began its response by pushing the line that the IRS is an "independent agency," and Mr. Obama has since given the impression that he sits atop a federal government which he does not, and could not possibly, control.
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Texas Drops ‘Anti-American’ CSCOPE Lesson Curriculum
TheNewAmerican.com
A highly controversial school curriculum used in much of Texas known as "CSCOPE," which came under relentless assault from activists and parents who said it was promoting "progressive" anti-American and anti-Christian propaganda, was dealt a major blow by policymakers this week. However, despite media reports and legislators heralding the death of the divisive educational program, major elements remain in place. Still, the news was lauded as a victory for common-sense education. The CSCOPE program was touted online by its developers as a "customizable, online curriculum management system" for Texas schools. Despite being used in more than two thirds of state school districts, the scheme largely flew under the radar, until a broad coalition of concerned parents, teachers, political activists, TEA Party groups, and others eventually cried foul.
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Massive Loss of Life as EF4 Tornado Devastates Moore, OK
AP/FOX News
A massive tornado at least a half mile-wide with 200 mph winds churned through Oklahoma City's suburbs Monday afternoon, killing at least 51 people, including at least 20 children, and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled inside. Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office, said early Tuesday that 51 people were confirmed dead, at least twenty of them children. She said officials could see as many as 40 additional fatalities. Local news reports, citing officials, also say the death toll could top 90. KFOR reports that the current death toll is 91, but that number is not yet confirmed. The storm decimated scores of buildings in Moore, a community of 41,000 people about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City. More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 50 children.
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Obama’s New Energy Chief: Climate Change ‘Not Debatable’
The Hill
New Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz doesn't want to spend his tenure battling over climate science. "Let me make it very clear that there is no ambiguity in terms of the scientific basis calling for a prudent response on climate change," Moniz told Energy Department employees shortly after his swearing-in. "I am not interested in debating what is not debatable," Moniz said at a Tuesday ceremony. "There is plenty to debate as we try and move forward on our climate agenda." The comment was part of much wider-ranging remarks, available here, on Moniz's overall agenda. He also addressed the Energy Department's missions around power grid resilience, oversight of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile, nonproliferation, scientific research and more. Moniz is stepping into the Cabinet job at a time when President Obama has vowed new executive-level actions on climate.
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Progressive Center for American Progress Slammed for Hypocrisy
Washington Free Beacon
The Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that the Obama-allied Center for American Progress has accused of being a corporate shill, slammed the liberal behemoth on Wednesday for its reported hypocrisy. Heartland Institute spokesman Jim Lakely said CAP has failed to live up to the standards it applies to conservative groups. "I find it ironic that the Center for American Progress may now realize how difficult it can be for a controversial nonprofit to have its corporate donors exposed," Lakely said. "Maybe now CAP will tone down its celebration of crimes in the name of 'disclosure' and denunciation of corporate donations to nonprofits--but I have my doubts." Lakely's comments followed on a report Tuesday in the Nation that revealed a partial membership list of CAP's Business Alliance, a secretive collection of businesses that contribute to the liberal think tank.
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Vermont Governor Signs ‘Death With Dignity’ Measure
The Los Angeles Times
With the strokes from three gubernatorial pens, Vermont on Monday became the fourth state in the country to allow doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the measure in a state House ceremony in Montpelier, capping a decade-long effort on the issue in Vermont. Vermont is the first state to pass such a law through the legislative process. Oregon and Washington enacted their laws by referendum; in Montana, it was legalized by the courts. "This historic achievement is a political breakthrough that will boost support for death-with-dignity bills nationwide," said Compassion & Choices President Barbara Coombs Lee. The group describes itself as the nation's leading advocacy group for end-of-life decisions. The law, which went into effect Monday, allows for an end-of-life procedure with the consent of a patient's doctor.
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John Edwards Re-Emerges, Begins Public Comeback
The Washington Times
Disgraced former presidential candidate and North Carolina senator John Edwards is plotting his own comeback. The wealthy lawyer has reactivated his law license and also is hitting the speaking circuit. Mr. Edwards is scheduled to speak at a private retreat in Orlando, FL, on June 6, where he'll address fellow attorneys and marketing gurus. An itinerary for the event says the highly successful trial lawyer will speak as part of a program titled "Historic Trials of the Century." Meanwhile, his law license, dormant for more than a decade, has been resuscitated, AP reported. It's unclear whether he plans to return to the courtroom. Mr. Edwards has remained in the shadows for the past year following his acquittal on one charge of campaign finance fraud in May 2012. Other criminal counts were dismissed after a federal judge declared a mistrial in the case.
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InFocus Obama Finding Ways to Wield Power Without Executive Orders
President Obama could wind up issuing fewer executive orders than any two-term president in a century, records show. Obama has often exerted the power of his office in pursuit of his agenda, drawing charges from Republicans that he is acting like a "monarch" intent on destroying the Constitution's balance of powers. But a review of the historical record shows Obama is on track to issue roughly the same number of executive orders as President George W. Bush, and fewer than President Clinton. Comparing Obama's use of executive power to his predecessors is tricky, however, since presidents can wield their authority in a number of ways. His executive orders tell only part of the story, experts say. "They're not the only measure of presidential assertion of authority," said Kenneth Mayer, a University of Wisconsin political science professor who has studied the presidency extensively. "He's actually been pretty aggressive on a number of fronts."
The Briefing for May 23, 2013
Heading the Israeli negotiating team is Israel's Minister of Justice Livni. Minister Livni was Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs and a leading "hands-on" figure in the negotiations with the Palestinians designed to lead to a complete and permanent settlement of all issues between Israeli and the PA, when several years ago the Palestinian Authority broke-off the talks. At the time the PA walked out of the negotiations, Livni is generally credited with having made significant advances toward an agreement...For its part the Palestinian Authority continues to demand the fulfillment of several conditions precedent to renewing the talks. Included among the PA's multiple demands is that Israel free Palestinians (Fatah members) serving terms in Israeli prisons for acts of terrorism.
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