Palin supporters! Drink it in. No, nobody is trying in prevent her from speaking. In fact, she's getting non-stop media coverage on every single word she says. Speaking her mind. That's the ultimate gift of the First Amendment. You can say anything you want to and in the case of the governor from Alaska, every-single-word she so much as mumbles under her breath gets all-day media play.
But that's not her complain. Sarah Palin's complaint is that the media has opinions, too, and that they are, quote, "negative", unquote.
Behold the genius of her complaint:
"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his association," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."
This comment by Palin ushers in a whole new understanding of what the right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press means. I'll try and translate:
If Palin, while exercising her freedom speech, says something that a person from the media disagrees with (presumably the media, too, has that same freedom of speech), then a negative response to Palin by the media would be an attack on her freedom of speech.
One must take pause here and consider the concept of open debate in America. Suppose we participants on B.com employed Palin's conception of the First Amendment right of freedom of speech. If so, what need would we have for the controls that permit us to block other subscribers from commenting on our blogs? Nope. Under Palin's conception, any one of us could utter some outrageous and provoking free speech and if anyone had a differing opinion they'd be offending the Palin Rule if they then fired back a rebuttal.
Are you voting on Tuesday? If so, try and remember that this novel conception of First Amendment rights came from the Republican candidate for vice president. Consider what kind of America we would have if this candidate sought to impose her conception of the First Amendment on the press and the citizenry.
Yeah, she's that dumb. Sort of takes your breath away.
Thanks to all who took the time to contact Home Depot. The company has agreed to give Christmas a more prominent place in their promotions.
After a phone conference with AFA, Home Depot spokesman Ron DeFeo emailed the following statement to AFA:
Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. As we discussed, The Home Depot has not censored Christmas. The Home Depot has and will continue to include the word "Christmas" in a variety of communication efforts, including advertising, store banners, our Web site and point of purchase displays near such items as Christmas trees.
We also use the word "holiday" in our outreach to customers, as many of our store displays and other marketing efforts cover more than one holiday from Thanksgiving to New Year’s and stay in place throughout the entire holiday season from November through January.
With that said, we are adjusting our Web site to make “Christmas” more prominent and to make our site more aligned with our advertising and point-of-sale in-store signage. Customers will start seeing the adjustments later this week.
As a point of clarification, AFA mistakenly reported the word "Christmas" was totally absent from Home Depot's website. A few product descriptions did, in fact, contain the word "Christmas." We have apologized to Home Depot for the error.
AFA has thanked Home Depot on your behalf. However, if you wish to thank them personally, please visit their website at www.homedepot.com.
Thank you for caring enough to get involved.
Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon,
Founder and Chairman
American Family Association
"If John McCain had given to white supremacist groups and people said, 'Hey, the majority of funding didn't go to supremacist groups' -- that wouldn't even cut the ice," Kurtz said.
"I feel certain [Obama] knew about these radical groups," Kurtz said. "We know that he read the applications because he made statements about the quality of proposals."
Ghosts, goblins, gargoyles . . . and Sarah Palin hanging by a noose?
That's the latest imagery of the Republican vice presidential candidate and her running mate John McCain on display at a West Hollywood home that has been decorated for Halloween.
The outdoor decor features a mannequin dressed as Palin, wearing a red business suit, eyeglasses and brunette beehive wig, hanging by a noose off the chimney. Right above her, a devilish John McCain emerges from the chimney with paper flames surrounding him.
Some neighbors say it's just wrong to depict a vice presidential candidate that way.
Chad Michael Morisette, who lives in the house, told CBS 2 News that the effigy would be out of bounds at any other time of year, but it's within the spirit of Halloween.
"It should be seen as art, and as within the month of October. It's Halloween, it's time to be scary, it's time to be spooky," Morisette said.
Several locals and tour buses have swung by the house to snap photos of the scene, and some gawkers say it is humorous. Morisette acknowledged to FOX 11 news that had he depicted Barack Obama in the same scene, it would not have gone over as well, because the history of a hanged black man in America is a lot more intense than a hanged white woman.
FOX 11 reported that the scene may also have been a response to a false rumor that recently circulated in the area that drag queens were to be banned from dressing up as Palin for the annual West Hollywood Halloween carnival costume party on Santa Monica Boulevard. The drag race and pageant were held Sunday evening, and no costume was forbidden.
With Election Day fast approaching, Palin effigies aren't the only sign of over-the-top political bitterness.
CBS 2 News also reported that another homeowner in the Los Angeles area had his Obama yard sign vandalized with a racial slur.
"I think the word says more about the person who wrote it than anything," homeowner John McNamara told CBS 2 News.
The FBI and Los Angles Police Department are reportedly investigating the incident.
This is a neutral video..I think Letterman is still butt hurt because McCain ditched his show to go to Washington on the bailout...so he shows his (edit)..however both VP candidates get a nice pat on the back..
HONOLULU, Hawaii – Although the legitimacy of Sen. Barack Obama's birth certificate has become a focus of intense speculation – and even several lawsuits – WND has learned that Hawaii's Gov. Linda Lingle has placed the candidate's birth certificate under seal, and instructed the state's Department of Health to make sure no one in the press obtains access to the original document under any circumstances.
The governor's office officially declined a request made in writing by WND in Hawaii to obtain a copy of the hospital-generated original birth certificate of Barack Obama.
"It does not appear that Dr. Corsi is within any of these categories of persons with a direct and tangible interest in the birth certificate he seeks," wrote Roz Makuala, manager of Constituent Services in the governor's office, in an e-mailed response to a WND request seeking the information.
Those listed as entitled to obtain a copy of an original birth certificate include the person born, or "registrant" according to the legal description from the governor's office, the spouse or parent of the registrant, a descendant of the registrant, a person having a common ancestor with the registrant, a legal guardian of the registrant, or a person or agency acting on behalf of the registrant.
WND was told the official reason for denial of access to Obama's birth certificate would be authority granted pursuant to Section 338-18 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, a provision the anonymous source claimed was designed to prevent identity theft.
Still, the source told WND confidentially the motivation for withholding the original birth certificate was political, although the source refused to disclose whether there was any information on the original birth certificate that would prove politically embarrassing to Obama.
The source also refused to answer WND's question whether the original document on file with the Department of Health was a hospital-generated birth certificate or a registration of birth that may have been filed subsequent to the birth.
The anonymous source made clear the Hawaii Department of Health would immediately release Obama's original birth certificate, provided Obama requested the document be released, but the Department of Heath has received no such request from the senator or from anyone acting officially on his behalf.
WND also found on microfilm in the Honolulu downtown public library a notice published under the "Births, Marriages, Deaths" section of the Honolulu Sunday Advertiser for August 13, 1961, on page B-6, noting: "Mr. and Mrs. Barack II Obama. 6085 Kalanianaole-Hwy, son, Aug. 4."
In searching through the birth notices of the Honolulu Advertiser for 1961, WND found many birth notices were published between one and two weeks after the date of birth listed.
The notice in the Honolulu Advertiser does not list the hospital where the Obama son was born or the doctor who delivered the baby.
In a startling development, Obama's Kenyan grandmother has reportedly alleged she witnessed Obama's birth at the Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya.
Friday, U.S. Federal judge Richard Barclay Surrick, a Clinton appointee, dismissed a lawsuit brought by Pennsylvania attorney Phillip J. Berg who alleged Obama was not a U.S. "natural born" citizen and therefore ineligible for the presidency under the specifications of the U.S. Constitution, under Article II, Section 1.
Berg told WND last week he does not have a copy of a Kenyan birth certificate for Obama that he alleges exists.
In Kenya, WND was told by government authorities that all documents concerning Obama were under seal until after the U.S. presidential election on November 4.
"Fight the Smears" declares, "The truth is, Barack Obama was born in the state of Hawaii in 1961, a native citizen of the United States of America."
Although the Obama campaign could immediately put an end to all the challenges by simply producing the candidate's original birth certificate, it has not done so. And the "Fight the Smears" website offers no explanation as to why Obama has refused to request, and make public, an original hospital-generated birth certificate which the Hawaii Department of Health may possess.
Asheville, N.C. — Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin says Barack Obama is cutting down the nets prematurely.
Palin brought her casual appeal to the Asheville Civic Center, 87 Haywood St., on Sunday night, wearing jeans and singing "Redneck Woman" as she implored voters to hire the ticket to fix the nation's capital.
Palin said the Democratic presidential nominee has been acting as if he's already won the election. She said the Republican ticket isn't assuming anything and is respectfully asking for voters to support them.
"We believe the virtues of freedom are worth fighting for," Palin told the cheering crowd. "And we believe the best of America is not all gathered in Washington, D.C. It is here, it is in the kindness, and the goodness and the courage of everyday, hardworking Americans."
Those attending the "Road to Victory Rally" began gathering at about 9 a.m. Sunday. The facility seats 7,500; but more than 11,000 registered for the event, officials said.
"I am a little nervous about it (the election). But being a small business owner, of course, we are watching our pennies. And we don't want to spread that wealth unless those people are working hard for it," Palin supporter Gretchens Rivers said.
"I am just very worried about Obama getting in there (the White House). What is going to happen to small business owners, such as myself," Palin supporter Palin supporter Will Rivers said.
Palin tried to reassure the small business owners in the audience.
"We will bring tax relief to every American and every business. Because small businesses, you here who own small businesses or work for one in North Carolina, you are the backbone of the state's economy," she said.
Sunday's rally is Palin's third visit to North Carolina in as many weeks. Her most recent appearance came at a rally at Elon University Oct. 16.
Palin's visit to Asheville – and the events that follow – indicate the urgency of winning North Carolina and its 15 electoral votes.
Her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, will follow with "Early Vote for Change" rallies in Greenville and Greensboro Monday. Biden toured three North Carolina cities last week.
Behind the vice presidents will come the two presidential hopefuls.
Republican John McCain will hold a rally in Fayetteville's Crown Center Coliseum Tuesday afternoon. Country-music legend Hank Williams Jr. will appear alongside McCain.
The Associated Press reports that Democrat Barack Obama will appear Wednesday at location that has not been determined. His wife, Michelle, will address the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina in Fayetteville and hold a rally in Rocky Mount the same day.
The heavy focus on North Carolina in the crucial final days of the race indicates just how valuable the state is to both candidates amid an approaching election and tight polls. North Carolina has not voted for a Democrat since 1976, but Obama has moved even in the polls with a heavy investment in the state and the aid of changing demographics and a large bloc of black voters.
A WRAL News poll conducted Thursday showed McCain with a slim two-point lead, within the poll's 4-point margin of error.
The poll indicated that McCain might be getting back trust on economic issues, where Obama had been gaining support: When asked who they trusted to handle the economy 51 percent of voters picked McCain and 46 percent Obama, a change from recent polls where Obama led on that issue.
Both parties have focused much of their time getting supporters to the polls before Election Day. Early voting began Oct. 16, and already more than 1 million people – 18 percent of eligible voters – have cast a ballot at one-stop sites.
Raleigh, N.C. — Republicans brandishing plungers on a march in downtown Raleigh Saturday sought to dramatize what has become a central thematic element of the McCain campaign in the last days before the Nov. 4 election.
John McCain's campaign has played up the answer his Democratic rival, Barack Obama – that he would "spread the wealth around" as president – gave to a tax-policy question from Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher.
While McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have repeatedly hit on the theme in recent speeches on the campaign trail, campaign officials have sought ways to present it in North Carolina.
On Saturday, McCain supporters marched from the State Capitol to campaign headquarters on Hillsborough Street. Marchers carried plungers and signs saying "Don't take Joe's $$$."
McCain spoke to the supporters via a teleconference call in the Hillsborough Street headquarters. The candidate said the crowds at his rallies are getting more and more energized.
Wurzelbacher has turned out to be an imperfect messenger – he is not a licensed plumber and owes $1,200 in back taxes. Obama has repeatedly countered that he would lower taxes for most wage-earners and argued that McCain's tax plan favors wealthy corporations.
But McCain aides believe that Obama's comment exposed himself as an inveterate tax raiser and called into question his oft-stated goal of reducing taxes on families and businesses making less than $250,000 a year.
On Sunday, the campaign on Sunday released the names of more than 75 small-business owners who have agreed to be known as "North Carolina's own 'Joe the Plumbers.'"
Freelance translator Sarah Allen, of Garner, said she returned after living in Germany for five years to take advantage of the "entreprenurial spirit" in the U.S.
"My problem with Senator Obama's plan to spread the wealth is that it no longer encourages people to work hard to earn things for themselves, " Allen said in a release.
Suzanne Germann said that Obama's policy would create "extra taxes" that would cut the funds her Wake Forest business uses to help special-needs children and their families.
"Our company makes good money, but we put a lot of it back into training our therapists, keeping up with the center and donating services and items to families who struggle to make ends meet," Germann said a release.
By: Kenneth R. Timmerman NEWSMAX
A Pennsylvania lawsuit alleging that Barack Obama is not a “natural-born citizen” of the United States took an unusual twist this week, after a federally mandated deadline requiring Obama’s lawyers to produce a “vault” copy of his birth certificate expired with no response from Obama or his lawyers.
The lawsuit, filed by former Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Philip J. Berg — a self-avowed supporter of Hillary Clinton — alleges that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is thus “ineligible” to run for president of the United States. It demands that Obama’s lawyers produce a copy of his original birth certificate to prove that he is a natural-born U.S. citizen.
Berg's suit and allegations have set off a wave of Internet buzz and rumors, though Obama could easily have put the matter to rest by providing the federal court with the basic documentation proving he is eligible to take the oath of a president. But Obama has apparently decided to deny the court and the public that documentation.
The Constitution provides that any U.S. citizen is eligible to become president if the person is 35 years of age or older and is a natural-born citizen; that is, born in the territorial United States.
By failing to respond to the Request for Admissions and Request for the Production of Documents within 30 days, Obama has “admitted” that he was born in Kenya, Berg stated this week in new court filings.
Berg released a long list of “admissions” he submitted to Obama’s lawyers on Sept. 15, and asked that they produce documents relating to Obama’s place of birth and citizenship.
Instead of responding, lawyers for Obama and the DNC asked the court to dismiss the case. But Judge R. Barclay Surrick of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has issued no ruling in the case that would have given Obama’s lawyers more time.
“There are lots of legal ways to stonewall,” a well-placed Republican attorney told Newsmax, who was not authorized to comment officially on the case. “But failing to respond is not one of them.”
“The first thing they teach you in law school,” he added, “is don’t put a complaint like this in a drawer. That’s how a nuisance case can become a problem.”
The 30-day deadline for defendants to comply with a discovery request is set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures.
“It all comes down to the fact that there's nothing from the other side,” Berg said after he filed a motion on Thursday for summary judgment.
“The admissions are there. By not filing the answers or objections, the defense has admitted everything. [Obama] admits he was born in Kenya. He admits he was adopted in Indonesia. He admits that the documentation posted online is a phony. And he admits that he is constitutionally ineligible to serve as president of the United States.”
In a contentious case, lawyers on both sides will haggle over the production of documents, and will frequently go beyond the deadlines, several lawyers told Newsmax.
“The rules are more often complied with in the breech rather than the observance,” a senior trial attorney who has close ties to the Democrat Party, but is not involved in the current case, told Newsmax.
“Lawyers frequently do not return telephone calls or meet discovery deadlines because of sheer inadvertence. Therefore, we do not consider a failure to respond as a ‘violation,’” he said.
Allegations surrounding Obama’s place of birth have been swirling for months. Earlier this year, the Obama campaign sought to put down the rumors by making available a computer-generated Certification of Live Birth, issued in 2007 by the State of Hawaii.
Respected conservative blogger Ed Morrissey called the Berg lawsuit a “conspiracy theory” that had been put to rest by the Obama campaign over the summer but ”has arisen like a zombie yet again to suck the credibility out of the conservative blogosphere.”
However, the 2007 document produced by the Obama campaign omits key information that normally appears on birth certificates in the United States, including the name of the hospital where he was born, the size and weight of the baby, and sometimes the name of the doctor who delivered him.
In addition, the critics of the 2007 document note that Obama's father is described as “African,” a term used today. The formal language in official documents at the time — 1961 — would have identified his race as “Negro” or “Colored.”
The Web site snarkybytes.com has produced a vault copy of a Hawaii Certificate of Live Birth from 1963, issued by the Hawaii Department of Health.
In addition to naming the hospital and more details about the baby, the 1963 vault copy also includes the “usual residence of the mother,” and the “usual occupation” of the father. None of this information appears on the 2007 Live Birth certificate produced by the Obama campaign.
Berg has been a perennial political candidate in Pennsylvania, having run in Democrat primaries for attorney general, lieutenant governor, governor, and other offices without success. He served as deputy attorney general of the State of Pennsylvania from 1972-1980.
His credibility was tarnished by work he did for the far-left “9/11 for the Truth” campaign, which alleged in a federal lawsuit that the collapse of the twin towers in New York was caused by “controlled demolition” ordered by the president of the United States.
Nevertheless, in recent weeks, lawsuits have been filed in seven additional states demanding that Barack Obama produce an original vault copy of his birth certificate, to dispel the rumors that he is not a natural-born United States citizen.
The latest suits have been filed in state and federal courts in Hawaii, Washington, California, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Connecticut to compel Obama to release his birth records.
Lawsuits in Washington and Georgia are seeking state superior courts to force the states’ secretary of state, as the chief state elections officer, to require Obama to produce original birth records from Hawaii, or else decertify him as a candidate for the presidency.
Ironically, Obama mentions his birth certificate in passing on Page 26 of his 1995 memoir, “Dreams of My Father.” “I discovered this article, folded away among my birth certificate and old vaccination forms, when I was in high school,” he wrote.
Lawyers for Obama and the DNC did not return calls for comment on the current status of the case, or explain why the Obama campaign did not simply put to rest the whole controversy by releasing the birth certificate that Obama apparently cherished as a teenager.
In the past, questions about Sen. John McCain's legal status have arisen. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone at a U.S. Army hospital. McCain had legal experts vet his constitutional qualifications, and he also disclosed a copy of his birth certificate.
There is a place on the front page where you can post things you just want people to read and not discuss.. Its called Your Words..
Correct me if Im wrong but arent the blogs designed for people to discuss their topics.. .
Most people are gracious enough to allow YOU the freedom to post on their forums so it only stands to reason that you leave yours open for discussion if some one has a mind too or atleast post it in the proper section. Thank You
Durning the long primary season, what issue did Obama address that pertains to Native Americans? The answer is simple, none.
In the OvDuring the long primary season, what issue did Obama address that pertains to Native Americans? The answer is simple, none.
In the Overall spectrum of the Native American Vote Obama did not win. There are many reasons for this, I am listing some below.erall spectrum of the Native American Vote Obama did not win. There are many reasons for this, I am listing some below
1. Native American Health Care- He said he would bring about universal heath care, however, Obama made no commitment to increase federal funding of our health care facilities. He made no commitment to bring our health care up to national standards. So, this would mean Native Americans health care would be right were it is now, at the very bottom. So, you have to ask yourself , "What Change?"
2. Native American Education- Obama Made no commitment, for federal funds to repair or build Native American schools. Across the country many Native American schools are in shambles because of lack of funding. Some schools are being forced to close due to lack of funds. So, you have to ask yourself, "What Change?".
3. Native American Poverty Rate- Obama again, made no commitment to bring about a National Native American empowerment program dedicated to ending the high rate of unemployment, poverty and lack of financial institutions willing to support Native American Communities on reservations. Thus, developing a self sustaining business infrastructure. Obama is aware that many are being economically starved off thier reservation lands, while the federal goverment sends money to foreign lands, with billions of tax dollars each year, could go to Native American communities. So, you have to ask yourself, "What Change?".
Obama has no plan for "change" for Native Americans. He has NOT shown us, he has the leadership abilities nor personal willingness to fully address or implement a policy of change that would help Native Americans. The More he talks about change, the more Native Americans see "No Change or Commintment", for them.
A VOTE FOR OBAMA IS A VOTE FOR NO REAL CHANGE"
Missing in action votes:
Obama has been missing in action on all these Native American bills.
This is a bill to establish a program for tribal colleges and universities within the Depart. of Health and Human Services. And to amend the Native American Programs Act of 1974 to authorize the grants and cooperative agreements to tribal colleges and universities, and other purposes.
A bill for making approrations for agriculture, rural devleopment, food and drug administration and related agencies for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2008, and other purposes.
A bill making appropreations for military construction, the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, 2008.
A bill to express the policy of the United States, regarding the relationship with Native Hawaiians, and to provide a process for the recognition, by the United States of the Native Hawaiiain governing entity.
A Bill to promote the development of Native American small business concerns, and other purposes.
A bill to amend the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996, to reauthorize the act, and other purposes.
A resolution to designate Friday, November 23, 2007, as "Native American Heritage Day". In honor of the achievements and contributions Of Native Americans to the United States.
Senator Obama, did not show up, to even cast a vote for any of these Native American Issues. How much does he really care? Only enough to get your vote, thats all.
ANDY MARTIN
Executive Editor
ContrarianCommentary.com
"Factually Correct, Not
Politically Correct"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
"OPERATION ALOHA OBAMA" YIELDS UP THE TRUTH ABOUT BARACK OBAMA
PART THREE: BARACK OBAMA IS NOT BARACK OBAMA
"OBAMA'S FATHER WAS FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS. OBAMA IS REALLY FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS, JR.," SAYS ANDY MARTIN
OBAMA'S 'DREAMS FROM [HIS] FATHER] WAS REALLY A BOOK ABOUT HIS REAL FATHER, FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS
OBAMA WAS THE VICTIM OF A HISTORICAL ANOMALY, AND ROBBED OF HIS BIRTHRIGHT AS THE SCION OF CIVIL RIGHTS ROYALTY
OBAMA'S ORIGINAL "VAULT" BIRTH CERTIFICATE IS EITHER INCOMPLETE OR TAMPERED WITH, WHICH IS WHY IT HAS NEVER SURFACED.
MARTIN SAYS OBAMA SHOULD SUBMIT TO DNA TESTING WITH HIS BROTHERS
WAS OBAMA THE "VICTIM" OF A PRO-LIFE MOTHER?
(HONOLULU, HI)(October 22, 2008) Internet powerhouse Andy Martin told a Honolulu news conference today that after an intense international investigation he is convinced that Barack Obama, Junior, the presidential candidate is really the son of Obama's controversial mentor Frank Marshall Davis.
"Mendacious adults 'switched' Obama at birth. That is why he has refused to allow access to the original or 'vault' birth certificate," Martin told a Honolulu news conference. "We believe the original certificate did not list a father. Barack Obama became the father as a result of an agreement between Ann Dunham, Frank Marshall Davis and Barack Obama, Sr.
"Davis was already married to a White Woman. He did not need a nonmarital child by a second one. Ann probably refused to have what was then called a 'back alley' abortion. Davis may have felt that 'Obama' would face less stigma with an 'African' background than a Negro one. The civil rights revolution, of course, turned that gambit upside down. In discovering and understanding what happened we cannot forget we are dealing with events in 1961, not 2008.
"The irony in all of this is that Obama once stated he did not want his daughters to be 'victimized' with a child. And he is alive because his mother took the contrary view.
"Barack Obama has known this since adulthood, and the shock of this discovery still reverberates in his psyche.
"Ironically, what I have to say today dilutes the 'Muslim' theory that has propagated. Davis was not a Muslim. If Obama had told the truth at some point in his life, instead of living endlessly with the lies that were imposed on him by the adults in his life, we would have avoided a great deal of confusion. I, for one, have deep compassion for Mr. Obama. He is not the first person in history to be caught up in this kind of family fraud.
"The disclosure by the two women in his life that he was not the 'son' of his 'father' also explains why he manifests such extreme ambivalence to both his mother and grandmother. He is angry because he was cheated of his real father.
"Obama was robbed of his birthright of being the son of civil rights royalty, and of a father with whom he was completely simpatico. He could have grown up the son of Frank Marshall Davis, civil rights pioneer and activist, cutting-edge journalist, poet and man of letters. Mr. Davis was an extraordinary man in a dark period of this nation's history, the pre-dawn of the civil rights era.
"Obama has probably suspended his campaign and is flying to Honolulu because he is deathly afraid his grandmother may make a 'dying declaration' and blow the whistle on his family fraud. Dying people often blurt out the truth. The true facts of Obama's parentage also reflect why there has been so much tension and alienation, as well as genuine love, in Obama's relationship with his grandmother.
"There has been a great deal of confusion and misconception about Frank Marshall Davis. A brief history lesson is essential to understanding the bizarre facts of Obama's provenance.
"During the 1920's and 30's many Negros (African-Americans) became 'communists' because the Soviet Union and the Communist Party USA promised to end racial segregation and Jim Crow laws in the United States. The Democratic Party, of course, was the powerful force behind segregation and Jim Crow. So it is a twist of fate that the same party that oppressed Blacks has now nominated one for president.
"Madelyn Dunham is the last surviving person who knows the truth about the switch. That is why as we closed in on Dunham, Obama went ballistic, cancelled his campaign and came to Hawai'i to head us off.
"I actually carry an official, certified pocket-sized birth certificate on me at all times [Andy shows a copy to media]. But this is NOT my 'birth certificate.' The original certificate is held in the City Clerk's vault in Middletown, Connecticut. That is what has come to be known as the 'vault copy.'
"Likewise, the document that Obama has plastered over the Internet is NOT his original birth certificate or even a copy of his original certificate. It is a computer generated facsimile of an official record and nothing more. The original certificate was either handwritten or typewritten, not computer-generated in 1961. No one has ever seen that original certificate except the people that are working so hard to keep it hidden from the American people.
"I am asking Judge Ayabe to impound the value certificate and have the court hold it for safekeeping.
"By the time Barack Obama learned who he was, it was too late to change his identity. He was who he was, so he continued the ruse of being the son of an 'African herder,' which was yet another lie. 'Dreams From My Father' bears no connection to dreams from Barack Obama; there were none. It was Frank Marshall Davis who communicated his dreams to his secret son.
"There is a simple way for Obama to resolve this controversy: he can either admit the truth of these facts and order the immediate release of his vault certificate; or he can submit to a DNA test. We can conduct a Maury Povich-style DNA test to determine filiation between Obama and his brothers, one of whom blogs at BarackObama.com.
"In closing, I can only say that we used the fictional 'Hawai'i Five-O' as our dramatic template for this investigative operation. We could have as easily used the great, real-life Hawai'i detective Chang Apana as our polestar. He was featured in yesterday's newspaper.
"As for Mr. Obama, all I can say is 'Book'em Danno." Case solved. Barack Obama the presidential candidate is the son of Frank Marshall Davis." Martin stated.
"I bear Mr. Obama no ill will and no animus. I have only been a faithful servant of the search for truth, and I believe we finally know the secret truths about who Barack Obama really is: the son of Frank Marshall Davis."
A Barack Obama administration would be a “nation killer” if Democrats attain a “supermajority” in the Senate, a leading conservative figure on immigration warned Tuesday.
Obama also has said he wants to make the 12 million illegal aliens in the U.S. citizens as soon as he can — an amnesty program that would make them legally entitled to full government benefits, including Social Security and health care.
William Gheen, president of the Raleigh, N.C.-based Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), says Obama’s plan would make it politically impossible to secure America’s borders. He describes Obama and a new Democratic Congress as a “worst-case scenario” for border and immigration security.
“I would paint that scenario as a nation killer,” Gheen, a former campaign consultant and an outspoken advocate for stronger border control policies, tells Newsmax. “I would expect amnesty to pass within a year. That means in the next presidential election, you will have a new voting bloc of 15 million illegal aliens who turn into voters.
“And that voting bloc,” he says, “especially in the Southwest United States, would be enough to take full control of most city, state, and county governments, thus destroying any future hopes for immigration enforcement or border security.”
Although GOP nominee John McCain has rarely confronted Obama during the campaign over immigration — presumably to avoid alienating Hispanic voters — Obama’s record reflects a clear focus on expanding entitlements to undocumented workers.
As a state senator in Illinois, for example, Obama co-sponsored that state’s version of the DREAM Act, which allowed youngsters in the country illegally to receive in-state tuition. He later supported similar legislation in the U.S. Senate.
During a September campaign swing, Obama told the North Carolina Public Radio station WUNC that the children of illegal immigrants should have an opportunity to attend community colleges.
“For us to deny them access to community college, even though they’ve never lived in Mexico, as least as far as they can tell, is to deny that this is how we’ve always built this country up,” Obama said.
According to the NewsObserver.com, the McCain campaign reacted to Obama’s remark by issuing the statement: “John McCain does not support amnesty or benefits for undocumented immigrants. He has consistently opposed giving amnesty or public benefits to undocumented immigrants.”
Obama, who tends to dismiss discussion of his pro-immigration positions as politically motivated “distractions,” has demonstrated no such reticence to expand entitlements for illegals. Specifically:
Obama’s plan for universal health care would include coverage for illegal immigrants, according to political strategist and Newsmax columnist Dick Morris. Morris has warned that covering illegals “adds dramatically” to the cost of universal health care.
In March, Obama voted to table a Senate amendment that would support the withdrawal of federal assistance “to sanctuary cities that ignore the immigration laws of the United States and create safe havens for illegal aliens and potential terrorists.” McCain did not cast a vote.
Obama supported the McCain-Kennedy immigration reform legislation that was defeated in 2006. Since then, McCain has taken the position that securing the borders must precede immigration reform. Obama continues to support a process to “bring people out of the shadows” and eventually obtain legal status (at which point they would be eligible for the federally mandated benefits available to anyone, such as Social Security). Obama also calls for enhanced border security.
The Democratic candidate for president supports, in principle, providing state-funded welfare benefits to legal immigrants. While a state senator, Obama supported allocating state funds to provide Medicaid coverage to some legal immigrants, according to OnTheIssues.org.
Obama has supported increasing the number of work visas issued each year, such as the H1-B visa, especially for applicants with specialized skills. According to OnTheIssues.org, Obama co-sponsored, along with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, a bill that would provide federal funding to help states provide health care and education to non-U.S. citizens.
Obama strongly supports encouraging American children to become bilingual and, at one point in the campaign, appeared to suggest it should be mandatory. In June, he voted against a Senate provision that would declare English the national language of the United States. McCain voted for it.
Edward I. Nelson, the chairman of the nonprofit U.S. Border Control organization, warns that “Welfare and in-state tuition are powerful inducements to illegal immigration, as are free medical benefits.”
Nelson says his organization has awarded both Obama and McCain an “F” on their immigration and border control policies.
Gheen says Obama and McCain both would ultimately favor amnesty for illegals, albeit differently.
“Obama would give in-state tuition and driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, then make them legal,” Gheen says. “McCain would make them legal, and then give them in-state tuition and driver’s licenses.”
SINGAPORE- Just when gas prices in the U-S were getting back to a more tolerable level, OPEC says it is planning a production cut in an effort to force the price back up.
Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as investors shrugged off a looming OPEC production cut after company forecasts suggested the U.S. may be headed for a severe economic slowdown that crimps crude demand. Light, sweet crude for December delivery dropped $2.73 to $69.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore.
The November contract expired Tuesday and fell $3.36 to settle at $70.89. Last Thursday, that contract had declined as low as $68.57 a barrel, the lowest since June 2007.
Crude investors have followed equity markets this week, looking for signs on how the U.S. economy will weather the current global financial turmoil. On Tuesday, DuPont Co., Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments Inc. reported disappointing earnings and bleak forecasts, sending the Dow Jones industrials average down 2.5 percent.
"Oil is now highly correlated with the stock market," said Clarence Chu, a trader with market maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. "People are looking to the Dow for sentiment on the economy."
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for about 40 percent of global oil supply, has signaled it plans to announce an output quota reduction at an emergency meeting Friday in Vienna.
But investors are skeptical about how much of the cut will be implemented, given the history of OPEC members exceeding their production quotas.
"There should be a short-term boost to prices when they announce a cut on Friday," Chu said. "But OPEC production has always been above their quotas, so there's a credibility problem."
Crude oil is down 52 percent from its peak of $147.27 reached in mid-July.
A stronger dollar this week has also pushed oil prices lower. Investors often buy commodities like crude oil as an inflation hedge when the dollar weakens and sell those investments when the greenback rises.
The euro fell Wednesday to $1.2820 from $1.3005 on Tuesday while the dollar was steady at 100.15 yen.
Investors are also watching for signs of slowing U.S. demand in the weekly oil inventories report to be released Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. The petroleum supply report was expected to show that oil stocks rose 2.9 million barrels last week, according to the average of analysts' estimates in a survey by energy information provider Platts.
The Platts survey also showed that analysts projected gasoline inventories rose 3.0 million barrels and distillates went up 600,000 barrels last week.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 2.68 cents to $2.15 a gallon, while gasoline prices dropped 1.64 cents to $1.68 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery jumped 5.8 cents to $6.90 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, November Brent crude was down $1.48 to $68.24 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies.
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter. 'Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts,you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.'
'No problem, just let me in,' says the man.
'Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.'
'Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in
heaven,' says the senator. 'I'm sorry, but we have our rules.'
And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.
They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises...
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.'Now it's time to visit heaven.'
So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud,playing the harp and singing.They were having a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
'Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another In heaven. Now choose your eternity.'
The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers:'Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.'
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down,down, down to hell.
Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. 'I don't understand,' stammers the senator.
'Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time.Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?'
The devil looks at him, smiles and says, 'Yesterday we were campaigning..
High Noon in Hawaii: Barack Obama and Andy Martin collide in the Aloha State October 21, 2008 by andymartinny Chicago crusader Andy Martin stands on the verge of “taking down” the Obama campaign. Martin says Obama is using his grandmother as a pretext, and that Obama really fears the secret truths about him that are about to be disclosed. Barack Obama and Andy Martin confront each other in Honolulu Andy Martin’s investigative team provokes a “suspension” of Obama’s campaign and a desperate trip to Hawai’i by the presidential candidate The drama builds to a Hollywood “High Noon” confrontation between good...
Did you know that Mohamed Atta, the 9/11 ring leader, had a valid Florida driver’s license?
Did you know 13 of the 19 hijackers had obtained valid driver’s licenses? Armed with these licenses, eight of the hijackers even registered to vote!
Here is the shocking fact: Obama strongly supports giving illegal aliens in America driver’s licenses.
He said as much during two Democratic debates earlier this year.
The head of Homeland Security said such thinking was dangerous for national security.
Even Hillary Clinton backed away from Obama’s radical driver’s license plan.
Obama’s position is not a new one: We discovered that Obama has been a major proponent of driver’s licenses for illegals since his days as an Illinois state senator.
We have no doubt that, as president, Obama will also champion this radical plan.
With Osama bin Laden still at large, with al-Qaida promising “spectacular” attacks on the U.S homeland, with the threat of them using weapons of mass destruction against our cities — biological, chemical, and nuclear — can we risk putting such a man in the Oval Office?
Doesn’t he remember what happened on 9/11? More than 3,000 Americans were murdered.
Doesn’t he want to prevent that from ever happening again?
If he supports driver’s licenses for illegals, the answer is clear.
We need to inform millions of Americans about this man and his risky judgment.
We are days away from our new TV ad exposing Obama’s support for driver’s licenses for illegals.
But we need your help. We’re already preparing our ad budget in key swing states. The more you can donate to us today, the more we can spend in the coming days.
And don’t forget, you can donate a maximum of $5,000. Your spouse can also make a $5,000 donation.
With $5,000 we can saturate a whole city/market in a key swing state for one whole night.
But even $1,000 helps us. With $1,000 we can run 10 TV ads in a key market.
Whatever you can give, $500, $250 or any amount, can make a huge difference.
We at the National Republican Trust PAC appreciate your support and love of our country. We will not fail you. Too much is at stake.
As Barack Obama reaped a stunning $150 million in campaign donations in September, bringing his total to more than $600 million, new questions have arisen about the source of his amazing funding.
By Obama’s own admission, more than half of his contributions have come from small donors giving $200 or less. But unlike John McCain’s campaign, Obama won’t release the names of these donors.
A Newsmax canvass of disclosed Obama campaign donors shows worrisome anomalies, including outright violations of federal election laws.
For example, Obama has numerous donors who have contributed well over the $4,600 federal election limit.
Many of these donors have never been contacted by the Obama campaign to refund the excess amounts to them.
And more than 37,000 Obama donations appear to be conversions of foreign currency.
According to a Newsmax analysis of the Obama campaign data before the latest figures were released, potential foreign currency donations could range anywhere from $12.8 million to a stunning $63 million in all. With the addition of $150 million raised in September, this amount could be much more.
When asked by Newsmax about excess contributions, Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said that contributions already identified as excess had been returned and that those the campaign was just learning about -- either through news accounts or from the Federal Election Commission -- “will be returned.”
“Every campaign faces the challenge of screening and reviewing its contributions,” LaBolt said. “And we have been aggressive about taking every available step to make sure our contributions are appropriate, updating our systems when necessary.”
But many of the donors Newsmax canvassed said they had “never” been contacted by the Obama campaign or seen any refunds, even though their contributions went over the limit months ago.
In all, Newsmax found more than 2,000 donors who had contributed in excess of the $4,600 limit for individuals per election cycle.
Such donations, if not returned within 60 days, are a clear violation of federal campaign finance laws.
Lisa Handley, a stay-at-home mom from Portland, Ore., recalled giving $4,600 to the Obama campaign by credit card, contributions she made because “I love Obama,” she said.
According to FEC records, however, she gave an additional $2,300 to the campaign, putting her over the limit.
The Obama campaign reported that it had “redesignated” the excess money, which could mean that it had contributed it to a separate party committee or a joint fundraising committee, which have higher limits.
But if that happened, it’s news to Handley. “No one ever contacted me to return any of the money or told me they were redesignating some of the money,” she said.
Ronald J. Sharpe Jr., a retired teacher from Rockledge, Fla., appears in the Obama campaign reports as having given a whopping $13,800.
The campaign reported that it returned $4,600 to him, making his net contribution of $9,200 still way over the legal limit.
But there’s one problem with the Obama data: Sharpe doesn’t remember giving that much money to the Obama campaign in the first place, nor does he recall anyone from the campaign ever contacting him to return money.
“At the end, I was making monthly payments,” he told Newsmax. The Obama campaign records do not show any such payments.
Many donors refused to answer questions about the political campaign contributions appearing in their name when they learned that the caller was from a news organization.
John Atkinson, an insurance agent in Burr Ridge, Ill., refused to discuss his contributions, which totaled $8,724.26, before numerous refunds.
Atkinson and others gave in odd amounts: $188.67, $1,542.06, $876.09, $388.67, $282.20, $195.66, $118.15, and one rounded contribution of $2,300.
Sandra Daneshinia, a self-employed caregiver from Los Angeles, made 36 separate contributions, totaling $7,051.12, according to FEC records. Thirteen of them were eventually refunded.
In a bizarre coincidence, those 13 refunded contributions -- for varying amounts such as $223.88 and $201.44 -- added up exactly to $2,300, the amount an individual may give per federal election.
Also giving in odd amounts was Robert Porter, an accountant for the town of Oviedo, Fla. Porter gave a surprising $4,786.02 to the Obama campaign.
In all, Newsmax found an astonishing 37,265 unique donors to the Obama campaign whose contributions were not rounded up to dollar amounts. That amounts to more than 10 percent of the total number of unique donors whose names have been disclosed by the Obama campaign to the public.
Of those, 44,410 contributions came in unrounded amounts of less than $100. FEC regulations only require that campaigns disclose the names of donors who have given a total of $200 or more, so that means that all these contributors were repeat donors.
Another 15,269 contributions gave in unrounded amounts between $101 and $999, while 704 of the unrounded contributions were in amounts of more than $1,000.
Campaign finance experts find the frequent appearance of unrounded contributions suspicious, since contributors almost invariably give in whole dollar amounts.
One expert in campaign finance irregularities offers a possible explanation.
“Of course this is odd. They are obviously converting from local currency to U.S. dollars,” said Ken Boehm, the chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center.
“The overwhelming number of large dollar contributors -- and even small donors -- are in even dollar amounts,” he told Newsmax. “Anyone who doubts that can go to FEC.gov and look through the campaign contribution data bases. You will not find many uneven numbers.”
Boehm said he had rarely seen unrounded contributions in his 30 years as a lawyer doing campaign finance work.
“There’s always the odd cat who wants to round up his checkbook, but they are very rare,” he said.
Richard E. Hug, a veteran Republican fundraiser in Maryland who who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, and spearheaded the successful 2002 gubernatorial race for Bob Ehrlich that brought in a record $10 million, told Newsmax that unrounded contributions were extremely unusual.
“I’ve never seen this in all my years of raising money for political candidates,” he said. “The first thing it suggests is foreign currency transactions -- contributions from foreign donors, which is clearly illegal.”
Top Republican fundraiser Steve Gordon, who has raised $65 million for GOP candidates over the past 30 years, told Newsmax that such contributions in uneven amounts would be “pretty unusual.”
“You might have a rounding process if there was some kind of joint event, but since all appears to be on the Internet, it’s pretty unusual. At the very least, it would need to be explored.”
LaBolt attributed the uneven amounts to the online “Obama store,” which sells T-shirts and other campaign items.
“Contributions made to the Obama store often produce totals that are not exact dollar amounts,” he said.
But the campaign has never produced any accounting for proceeds from its online store, which virtually shut down several weeks ago after Newsmax and news organizations revealed that Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and other foreigners had made large purchases there.
The Republican National Committee has filed a complaint against the Obama campaign for “accepting prohibited contributions from foreign nationals and excessive contributions from individuals,” which incorporated reporting from Newsmax and other news organizations.
“Their responses to FEC inquiries have often been inadequate and late,” RNC general counsel Sean Cairncross told Newsmax.
The Obama camp claims to have 2.5 million donors in all. But until now, they have kept secret the names of the overwhelming majority of these money-givers. According to a Newsmax analysis, the Obama campaign finance records contain just 370,448 unique names.
Even accounting for common names such as Robert Taylor or Michael Brown, which can signify multiple donors, Obama’s publicly known donor base is less than 20 percent of the total number of donors the campaign claims to have attracted. But the identity of the other 2 million donors is being kept secret.
As of the end of August, those secret donors have given an incredible $222.7 million to Obama, according to the FEC -- money whose origin remains unknown to anyone other than Obama’s finance team, who won’t take calls from the press.
While no exact figures are available, if the same percentage of potential foreign contributions found in the itemized contribution data is applied to the total $426.9 million the Obama camp says it has taken in from individuals, this could mean that Obama is financing his presidential campaign with anywhere from $13 million to a whopping $63 million from overseas credit cards or foreign currency purchases.
The sum of all unrounded contributions in the itemized FEC filings for the Obama campaigns comes to $6,437,066.07. That is the actual amount of money that appears to have been charged to foreign credit cards that the Obama campaign has disclosed.
If the same ratio applies to the unitemized contributions, which are again as large, then the Obama campaign may have taken as much as $13 million from foreign donors.
However, the donors who made those unrounded contributions gave a total of $31,484,584.27, meaning that as much as $63 million may have come from questionable sources.
Both presidential campaigns are required to submit detailed fundraising reports for September on Monday.
Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay.
The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. They give great classes for anyone who'd like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them place in dog shows.
The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million. Teresa and I adopted a Weimaraner from a Maricopa County shelter two years ago. He was neutered, and current on all shots, in great health, and even had a microchip inserted the day we got him. Cost us $78.
The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day. Most of his budget is for utilities, building maintenance, etc. He pays the prisoners out of the fees collected for adopted animals.
I have long wondered when the rest of the country would take a look at the way he runs the jail system, and copy some of his ideas. He has a huge farm, donated to the county years ago, where inmates can work, and they grow most of their own fresh vegetables and food, doing all the work and harvesting by hand. He has a pretty good sized hog farm, which provides meat, and fertilizer. It fertilizes the Christmas tree nursery, where prisoners work, and you can buy a living Christmas tree for $6 - $8 for the Holidays, and plant it later. We have six trees in our yard from the Prison.
Yup, he was reelected last year with 83% of the vote.
Now he's in trouble with the ACLU again. He painted all his buses and vehicles with a mural, that has a special hotline phone number painted on it, where you can call and report suspected illegal aliens. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement wasn't doing enough in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws, started up his hotline, and bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border. He's kind of a "Git-R Dun" kind of Sheriff.
To Those of you Not Familiar With Joe Arpaio
He is the Maricop Arizona County Sheriff And keeps getting elected over and over – This is one of the reasons why:
Sheriff Joe Arpaio (In Arizona) who created the "Tent City Jail":
He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.
He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. Took away their weights Cut off all but "G" movies.
He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects.
Then He Started Chain Gangs For Women So He Wouldn't Get
Sued For Discrimination.
He took away cable TV Until he found out there was A Federal Court Order that Required Cable TV For Jails So He Hooked Up The Cable TV Again Only Let In The Disney Channel And The Weather Channel.
When asked why the weather channel He Replied, So They Will Know How Hot It's Gonna Be While They Are Working ON My Chain Gangs.
He Cut Off Coffee Since It Has Zero Nutritional Value.
When the inmates complained, he told them, "This Isn't The Ritz/Carlton.....If You Don't Like It, Don't Come Back."
He bought Newt Gingrich's lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails.
When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.
More On The Arizona Sheriff With Temperatures Being Even Hotter Than Usual In Phoenix (116 Degrees Just Set A New Record), the Associated Press Reports:
About 2,000 Inmates Living In A Barbed-Wire-Surrounded Tent Encampment At The Maricopa County Jail Have Been Given Permission To Strip Down To Their Government-Issued Pink Boxer Shorts.
On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 Degrees Inside The Week Before.
Many Were Also Swathed In Wet, Pink Towels As Sweat Collected On Their Chests And Dripped Down To Their PINK SOCKS.
"It Feels Like We Are In A Furnace," Said James Zanzot, An Inmate Who Has Lived In The TENTS for 1 year. "It's Inhumane."
Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: "It's 120 Degrees In Iraq And Our Soldiers Are Living In Tents Too, And They Have To Wear Full Battle Gear, but They Didn't Commit Any Crimes,So Shut Your Damned Mouths!"
Way To Go, Sheriff!
Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders. Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves.
Sheriff Joe was just reelected Sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona
Barack Obama’s patriotic tour has run into a snag. More evidence of communist backing for the candidate has surfaced. The latest to emerge publicly in Obama’s camp is Joelle Fishman, the chairman of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) Political Action Commission. In a column titled, “Big political shifts are underway,” Fishman says that Obama could lead “a landslide defeat of the Republican ultra-right” this November and that he is “ready to listen” to the “left and progressive voters” backing him. Fishman makes it clear that the CPUSA is part of this coalition.
Meanwhile, admitted CPUSA member Alan Maki, writing on the official Barack Obama website, in the “community blogs” section under an “Obama 08” banner, has mentioned the unmentionable. That is the role of CPUSA member Frank Marshall Davis in mentoring Obama during his formative high school years in Hawaii.
Although fine print at the bottom of the page says that “Content on blogs in My.BarackObama represents the opinions of community members and in no way should be interpreted as endorsed or approved by the campaign,” the information provided by Maki is deadly confirmation that a hard-core CPUSA member played a key role in helping raise Obama. It is a story that most media, including some “conservative” news outlets, have shied away from.
Davis, who died in 1987, was a Stalinist who stayed with the CPUSA when others were abandoning it, and he refused, as late as 1956, to deny his membership in the party. He was selected by Obama’s white grandfather to be the future candidate’s role model and father-figure.
Obama showed his gratitude by going to socialist conferences and selecting Marxist professors as his friends in college. Later, of course, he would arrive in Chicago and launch his political career in the arms of communist terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who, according to declassified intelligence information (PDF), were members of a group with connections to the CPUSA, foreign communist regimes, and even the Soviet KGB. The information shows that their close terrorist associate, Kathy Boudin, attended Moscow University and was subsidized by the Soviet government. Her father was a CPUSA member and a registered Cuban agent, documents show.
Praise for the CPUSA Figure
Announcing the “Frank Marshall Davis roundtable for change” on the Obama website, Maki, a Democratic Party activist and casino worker organizer, explained, “Reading Barack Obama’s book I learned about his mentor, Frank Marshall Davis.” He went on, “Of course, as we all know, Frank Marshall Davis was a Communist and he had a very good understanding of the underlying source of problems which all too often goes unstated and unchallenged and remains hidden because of the high fear-factor level in this country; I am referring to capitalism―a thoroughly rotten system. Frank Marshall Davis also understood through his thorough studies of the situation that socialism provided the only workable alternative to capitalism.”
Saying that he has been “active in the Minnesota DFL and the Democratic Party most of my life,” Maki still wants to know about the specifics of the “change” Obama is promising.
Maki goes on to say, “There really isn’t much for us to learn about ‘change’ from Obama, but there is quite a bit to be gleaned from the writings of Frank Marshall Davis and I thank Barack Obama for bringing him to my attention… now I can say that Frank Marshall Davis is in many ways my mentor, too.”
In a telephone conversation, Maki admitted being a CPUSA member and claimed the FBI had thousands of pages on him. A friendly fellow, he maintains more than a dozen blogs. One of them is simply titled, “Communist manifesto.”
For her part, CPUSA official Fishman seems to have more insight into Obama’s notion of change. “In sharp contrast” to John McCain, Fishman writes, “Obama speaks of strengthening government to provide health care and jobs, address global warming and end the war in Iraq.”
Drudge Plays Role of Censor
While Obama’s far-left support seems to be worthy of news and comment, Matt Drudge of Drudge Report fame has just rejected two paid ads submitted by my group America’s Survival, Inc. about the influence that CPUSA member Davis exerted over a young Obama. The ads featured a photo of Davis and a communist hammer and sickle. They asked, “Who is this man?,” and urged viewers to click to “Meet the mysterious Red Mentor” so they could be directed to two reports on the subject. The ads were “too controversial,” Drudge’s representative told me.
A recent article in Politico suggested Drudge was moving into the Obama camp. Matt Drudge, the article said, has been “trumpeting Obama’s victories and shrugging at his scandals.” The rejection of my ads is proof of that.
While Drudge protects Obama to the extent of rejecting paid advertising which draws attention to his Frank Marshall Davis connection, the “progressives” are openly talking about it. A “progressive” blogger named Rita responded to Alan Maki and says she checked out a copy of Davis’s book, Livin’ the Blues, from the library, and has been “reading it every day and sharing this with my kids…Frank Marshall Davis was a journalist and social activist of tremendous courage. I want to point out that Frank Marshall Davis was not only a voice for civil and human rights; his voice was a solid voice for the rights of all working people.”
She reproduces Maki’s email on Davis, which notes that copies were sent to such left-wing luminaries as Rep. Keith Ellison, Carl Pope of the Sierra Club, and Robert Borosage of the Institute for America’s Future and the Campaign for America’s Future. Borosage, who writes for the Huffington Post, is also the founder and chairman of the Progressive Majority Political Action Committee, which “recruits, staffs, and funds progressive candidates for political office.”
If Davis was indeed a “voice for civil and human rights,” why didn’t Barack Obama proudly identify Frank Marshall Davis by his full name in Dreams From My Father? Instead, Obama refers repeatedly to somebody named “Frank” giving him advice on various matters. Obama does note, however, that “Frank” was a contemporary of black poets Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. This is a hint of his real identity. The reference is significant because Wright and Hughes broke with the CPUSA while Davis did not. Indeed, Davis, in Livin’ the Blues (page 243), refers to Wright’s “act of treason” for exposing the CPUSA. Davis favored cooperation between what he called “Reds and blacks.” This demonstrates how much of a committed communist Davis really was. And this may be why Obama didn’t want readers to know his true identity.
A writer for a communist publication, Gerald Horne, first identified the mysterious “Frank” as Frank Marshall Davis. The identity was confirmed by Dr. Kathryn Takara of the University of Hawaii. Now, Alan Maki confirms it as well, saying that “progressives” should be proud of his legacy.
Praising Foreign Reds, Too
In addition to glorifying Davis as a source of sound ideas, the “progressive” Minnesota blog that favorably cites Maki also features a picture of “Raul Reyes…heroic leader of the Columbian resistance.” This is the dead leader of the communist narco-terrorists known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Documents found in Reyes’ computer after his death disclosed that “gringos” representing Barack Obama wanted to meet with the FARC and that they were opposed to U.S. military aid for the Colombian government. Obama had been publicly critical of the Colombia government’s human rights record.
By contrast, the Bush Administration has helped the Colombia government in its war with the FARC. Fortunately, and no thanks to Obama, the FARC has suffered a series of setbacks, the most recent being the spectacular liberation of 15 people, including 3 Americans, held by the group. Just a decade ago, there was speculation that the FARC might be getting so strong as to actually be able to defeat the military forces of the government of Colombia.
The FARC is now in ruins, but their “gringo” friends with communist and “progressive” support might be able to take power in the U.S. The communists and their “progressive” allies appreciate the stakes. It’s too bad that Drudge does not.
SACRAMENTO, CA - Teachers are responding to news that California's largest teacher's union has given another $1 million to defeat a ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage.
The contribution recorded Tuesday makes the California Teachers Association the largest institutional donor to the No on 8 campaign. CTA also gave $250,000 in August to Equality for All, a coalition of gay advocacy and civil rights groups opposing Proposition 8.
Union spokeswoman Sandra Jackson says CTA's 800-member policy body voted overwhelmingly to oppose the gay marriage ban. Jackson says the issue concerns educators because "teachers teach the importance of equal rights for all." She says CTA leaders made the second contribution this week because the No campaign seems to be struggling.
According to fundraising reports filed with the state on October 6, there was a $10 million between the two campaigns. The Yes on 8 campaign had raised $25.4 million and the No on 8 campaign had raised $15.8 million.
"It bothers me to spend my money on something I'm morally opposed to," said Randy Peart, a teacher with the San Juan Unified School District. "Why not put that money into classrooms, into making a better place for these kids?"
Peart said she doesn't have any say about how the CTA spends her membership dues. "What does this cause have to do with education?" she said.
The CTA represents more than 340,000 public school teachers, counselors, psychologists and librarians in California.
I am tired of all the dancing around the subject with respect to Barack Obama’s political, social, and economic views. He’s not a “liberal,” or a “Democrat,” or a “progressive,” or even a “socialist.” Let’s call it what it is, shall we? It’s time to use the “C” word. His policies are communist, pure and simple.
Even without the power of the Presidency, a filibuster-proof Senate, and U.S. Supreme Court appointments under his belt, Obama has already:
* offered questionable “support” for the Second Amendment “right to bear arms” – as long as it isn’t in self-defense;
* proposed his version of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need;” (plumbers – plumbers, for pity’s sake, should pay more taxes???)
Despite concerted efforts by the media to hide this information, Obama’s connections with the Communist Party have been unearthed by independent investigators, journalists and bloggers. And like clockwork, Obama apologists and handlers are trying to assuage the public’s concerns with assurances that Obama is “not that radical;” he knows that “socialism is dead;” he is a pragmatist, not an ideologue.
Uh-huh. Sure. Well, they got the “pragmatist” part right, anyway. Obama’s immersion in the philosophy of Saul Alinsky has made him a master of political pragmatism. Conservatives make another fundamental error when they wonder why Obama is heralding policies like higher taxes that have been proven, time and time again, to fail. Newsflash: You don’t get it. It’s not that Obama is ignorant, or misguided. He knows – as do his Red backers – that the policies he espouses will cause further economic trauma. This is deliberate. Because the worse things get, the more receptive the public will be to Obama’s & Co.’s honey-tongued assurances that the government will step in and “make it all better.” Look at Hurricane Katrina, and the recent financial crisis: how many people were clamoring for the government to “do something”? And that’s nothing compared to what we’re going to face when Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid collapse.
Obama’s colleagues are shrewd; they know that they have little chance of taking over all of private enterprise by force. Instead, they want the public to hand it over to them, bit by bit.
Even the briefest study of Communist Party ideology dating back to the 1930s reveals a concerted campaign to infiltrate and destroy the United States from within, by gaining control of the universities, of the media, of primary and secondary school, of the courts, and ultimately the entire government. Joseph McCarthy’s monumentally bad rap notwithstanding, dozens of former spies have come forward, as have the documents, attesting to the Party’s intentions. When the Soviet Union fell in 1989, those ideas pretty much went the way of the dodo in Russia, but they have been alive and well in this country for 80 years. People like William Ayers are proof.
Communism is – at best – a failed business model. At worst it is a recipe for slaughter. In its initial phases, communism depends upon arrogance, ignorance, deceit, and complicity. Its advocates and standard-bearers are typically messianic ideologues who use economic hardship to deceive well-meaning but woefully ignorant people into agreeing with its basic premises. Once in power, however, the communists themselves are merciless, for two reasons: one, communists have a deistic view of their own righteousness and benevolent intentions. And two, the principles of communism are fundamentally flawed and utterly at odds with human nature. Everyone is only “equal” in the eyes of God; using earthly measures (talent, ability, skills, interests, motivation), humans are as different as can be. Attempts to create equal results, as opposed to equal opportunity, are doomed to failure. Failure, in communists, produces frustration. And frustration, in communists, results in oppression.
Because of principle #2, above, communism has always resulted in economic deprivation – if not outright starvation - on a widespread scale. And so because of principle #1, the opposition – and this becomes a larger and larger segment of the population as time goes on – must be silenced, because they cannot be “converted.” When that is not enough (and it is never enough), they are jailed, sent to forced labor camps, starved, shot, flayed, buried alive, tortured, dismembered and killed in whatever novel and despicable ways the communists can come up with to silence dissent and usher in utopia.
These practices are not the exception. They are the rule. In the pantheon of the Unholy Church of Communism, the patron saints are Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Jong Il, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot. Millions of people have suffered and died at the hands of these butchers – initially hailed as redeemers, visionaries, and liberators but who turned out to be nothing more than elitist bastards cloaked in the guise of “social equality” who thought they knew what was best for everyone else.
Communism has failed everywhere it has been tried. We have nearly 100 years and 100 million corpses as proof. The only people who believe otherwise are certain American liberals – because they are the most ignorant people on the planet, and because they have never had to live under it.
But never have the communists felt closer to achieving their goal than they are now. Make no mistake, they are waiting behind Barack Obama, panting and slavering at the prospect of taking over every branch of government, systematically dismantling the economic system that has provided our country with unprecedented prosperity and dissolving the procedural protections that have insulated us from the oppression, starvation, despair, and death that has accompanied communism and every other form of tyranny.
Americans seem ready to hand over their lives and livelihoods to this bloviating neophyte with associations so unsavory they should render his candidacy a joke. It would be inscrutable even if there were not so much precedent. We’ve all heard people exclaim, when examining incident after historical incident of genocide, or government oppression, “How could that have happened?” In the same breath, they assure themselves that it couldn’t happen here because, “America is different.”
This is breathtakingly ignorant, and it is a dangerous falsehood. There is NOTHING exceptional about Americans as human beings. We are subject to same whims, caprices, fears and lusts for power as every other human beings.
What is exceptional is our economic and political system. If we dismantle the very procedural protections that were put into place to protect us from tyranny (by people who had lived with tyranny and knew it well), then tyranny is what we will get.
And we are being lured into the same noose that has ensnared so many millions of hapless souls, despite reams of pages of history. We express horror at the Hitler Youth in little matching uniforms singing “Hitler will save us, Hitler is our Lord,” but then we smile and laugh as we see grade schoolers in matching blue t-shirts singing, “Obama’s gonna save us.” We are outraged by the army of children in Sudan, but think nothing of American black boys in camouflage pumping their fists and chanting propaganda from Obama’s campaign. We are repulsed by some dictators’ claims that they are gods, but shrug it off as insignificant when Louis Farrakhan – a vicious anti-semite, among other reprehensible things – says “the Messiah is speaking” in a speech referring to Obama.
Still don’t think it can happen here? Well, you’re in good company. Neither did the Russians. Or the Germans. Or the Chinese. Or the North Koreans. Or the Vietnamese. Or the Cubans. Or the Cambodians.
Critics will call this alarmist fear-mongering. So be it. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
By Ross Balano, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices panelist 2008
John McCain finally got the better of Barack Obama in the third and final debate.
Obama was reduced much of the time to speaking in three word phrases being careful not to say the wrong thing or trying to think of exactly what to say.
McCain was assertive by contrast. In fact the best line of the night came from McCain: “Senator Obama, I’m not President Bush! If you wanted to run against President Bush you should have run four years ago.”
When the topic turned to negativity in the campaign, McCain again backed Obama into a corner when he mentioned the charges leveled by John Lewis against McCain. McCain said, “Senator Obama, you didn’t repudiate those remarks.” Indeed, Obama still gave no hint of repudiation of those remarks.
Obama found himself on the defensive when the topic of Bill Ayers came up. “The American people,” McCain said, “deserve to know the truth” when talking about Obama’s relationship with Ayers, and when McCain accused him of being untruthful because Obama had pledged to accept public funding for the campaign and then backed out. “You didn’t keep your word” McCain said.
McCain spoke in favor of increasing and exploring all forms of energy including new drilling off shore while Obama did not agree.
McCain rightly called Obama on his votes against immediate care for infants born alive as a result of a botched abortion. Obama could do nothing but deny (not true, he really did vote against the bill) and then say that there was already a bill like it in force, again not true.
Being behind in the polls allowed McCain to let loose and go for broke. He did and was easily the winner tonight.
One day an old elephant fell down into a
well. The animal cried piteously for hours as a few men from the village tried to figure out what to do.
Finally, they decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the elephant.
They invited all the rest of the village to come over and help. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the elephant realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.
A few shovel loads later, the men finally
looked down the well. They were astonished at what they saw.
With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the elephant was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.
As the village continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal,he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the elephant stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off toward the White House.
(credits) graphic> siouxcityranch moral rewrite> siouxcityranch
CLEVELAND (AP) - Election officials in swing state Ohio's most populous county have asked the prosecutor to investigate alleged voter registration fraud by an advocacy group under fire in other states.
The bipartisan Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland voted unanimously Monday to ask Prosecutor Bill Mason to investigate multiple registrations by four people. They signed forms at the behest of a community organizing group, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform, known as ACORN .
One of the new voters, 19-year-old Freddie Johnson of Cleveland, says he signed 73 voter registration forms over a five-month period. Johnson says he was trying to help paid ACORN solicitors collect signed registrations.
ACORN's state director, Katy Gall, says ACORN is cooperating with the investigation and would fire anyone soliciting duplicate registrations.
SAN FRANCISCO, October 11 In the same week that the No on 8 campaign launched an ad that labeled as "lies" claims that same-sex marriage wouldn't be taught in schools to young children, a first grade class took a school-sponsored trip to a gay wedding. Eighteen first graders traveled to San Francisco City Hall Friday for the wedding of their teacher and her lesbian partner, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The school sponsored the trip for the students, ages 5 and 6, taking them away from their studies for the same-sex wedding. According to the Yes on 8 campaign, the public school field trip demonstrates that the California Supreme Court's decision to legal same-sex marriage has real consequences.
"Taking children out of school for a same-sex wedding is not customary education. This is promoting same-sex marriage and indoctrinating young kids," said Yes on 8—ProtectMarriage.com Campaign Co-Manager Frank Schubert. "I doubt the school has ever taken kids on a field trip to a traditional wedding," Schubert said.
When asked by the Yes on 8 campaign, The San Francisco Chronicle reporter said she did not know if the school had ever sponsored a field trip for students to a traditional wedding. Telling the Chronicle that the field trip was "a teachable moment," the school's principal believes it is perfectly appropriate for first graders to attend a same-sex wedding. Officials in other school districts disagree.
"Prop. 8 protects our children from being taught in public schools that 'same-sex marriage' is the same as traditional marriage," said Santa Ana Unified School District board member Rosemarie "Rosie" Avila. "We should not accept a court decision that results in public schools teaching our kids that gay marriage is okay. That is an issue for parents to discuss with their children according to their own values and beliefs. It shouldn't be forced on us against our will," Avila added.
The lesbian teacher's wedding was officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Newsom is featured in a Yes on 8 television ad, released last week, in which he arrogantly declares of same-sex marriage: "The door's wide open now. It's gonna happen, whether you like it or not."
The Yes on 8 campaign's ads explain that if the voters do not overturn the California Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling, teachers will be required to teach young children that there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage.
"It's totally unreasonable that a first grade field trip would be to a same-sex wedding," said Chip White, Press Secretary for Yes on 8. "This is overt indoctrination of children who are too young to understand it."
The trip underscores the Yes on 8 campaign's message that unless Prop. 8 passes, children will be taught about same-sex marriage in public schools. "Not only can it happen, it has already happened," White said.
Media contacts:
Northern and Central California (Sacramento Press Office):
NEW YORK -- Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown's racing career is over after injuring his right front foot during a workout at Aqueduct on Monday.
Trainer Rick Dutrow said the 3-year-old colt, who was preparing for the Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 25, appeared to kick himself while working on the turf course at Aqueduct with stablemate Kip Deville. Big Brown was able to complete the six-furlong work when Dutrow noticed blood coming out of the foot.
"It looks like he grabbed himself in a bad spot," Dutrow said.
Though the extent of the injury is unknown, Michael Iavarone of IEAH Stables, co-owners of Big Brown, said the horse who captivated the racing world during his Triple Crown bid will not race again.
"It's in the best interest of the horse to let him recover and move on to his breeding career," Iavarone said.
It means there will be no showdown in the BC Classic between Big Brown and 4-year-old star Curlin. The race was expected to be Big Brown's last before retiring to stud at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky.
AP Photo
Big Brown tore off a chunk of his right front foot during a Monday workout.
"This is devastating. He had a great work this morning, and we were very excited about going to Breeders' Cup," Iavarone said. "This is not only devastating to us, but to all of his fans who won't get to see him run in the Classic."
The injury caps a brilliant but somewhat controversial career for Big Brown, who won seven times in eight starts including dominant runs in the Derby and the Preakness.
His bid for the first Triple Crown since 1978 ended during a bizarre Belmont Stakes in which he was eased by jockey Kent Desormeaux at the turn and he trotted across the finish line in last.
The Belmont came after Dutrow admitted he took Big Brown off the anabolic steroid Winstrol, though Dutrow claimed the decision had nothing to do with Big Brown's poor performance. The horse was also dealing with a painful quarter crack in his left front hoof. That injury is unrelated to the injury he sustained Monday.
Big Brown bounced back from the Belmont with wins in the Haskell Invitational and the Monmouth Stakes and was poised for a shot at Curlin, horse racing's all-time leading money winner. Not anymore. Dutrow expressed disappointment but said the horse's health is the highest priority.
"The best case scenario is he lives a real good life," Dutrow said.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been warned that he may need to wait until 10 days after the Nov. 4 presidential election to find out if he has won, if the race is close. In a tight race, votes from Americans abroad could be the deciding factor, and some of those aren't counted until after Election Day.
A memo sent to Obama advises his campaign team to have lawyers on hand to contest the results in key swing states, where expatriate Americans voting abroad may be the difference between moving into the White House, or heading home to Chicago. More than three million Americans living abroad may hold the keys to the White House.
According to the latest polls, Obama has a comfortable lead over Republican John McCain. But in more than a dozen swing states, a shift of just a few percentage points could swing the majority of electoral votes McCain's way.
Ohio, Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania - all important battleground states this election season - won't count overseas ballots until Nov. 14. Other states that count absentee ballots late include California, Iowa, and Texas, although Obama has an edge in California and Iowa, and a win is likely Texas for McCain.
States such as Ohio, however, where Bush won by just 110,000 votes in the last election may not just be relying on the votes of overseas voters. Having mailed absentee ballot registration forms to all registered Ohio voters this year, we may likely see an increase in absentee voters using this method simply for the convenience factor, and not out of necessity. Without the absentee ballots being counted, it's not likely either candidate will concede a state this time around until they've been counted. Disputes over voter fraud, and other complications which may arise also threaten to delay the results. Therefore, it seems even more likely that in a very close race, Nov. 14 might be the day that we know the true winner of the 2008 presidential race.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States recorded its largest drop ever as consumer demand continued to wane and oil prices slid, a prominent industry analyst said on Sunday.
The national average price for self-serve, regular unleaded gas fell 35.03 cents to $3.3079 a gallon on October 10 from $3.6582 two weeks earlier, according to the nationwide Lundberg Survey.
It was the lowest national average price since March 21, 2008. Since peaking at $4.1124 on July 11, the average cost of a gallon of gas has receded by 80.45 cents. Diesel fuel fell 21 cents to $3.95 a gallon, the first time since March that it has been below $4.00 a gallon.
"Plummeting oil prices and caving gasoline demand have combined to bring the biggest retail gasoline price cut in the history of the market," Trilby Lundberg, who compiles the survey, said in an interview. "We've been doing this 58 years. This is truly the biggest price drop."
On Friday, fears of a global recession helped drive down U.S. crude oil futures prices more than 10 percent to the lowest settlement since September 2007. U.S. crude for November delivery settled on Friday at $77.70 a barrel, down $8.89, or 10.27 percent, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Meanwhile, travel on all U.S. roads fell 3.6 percent, or nearly 10 billion vehicle miles in July, compared with the same period last year, according to the most recent figures provided by the Transportation Department. It was the ninth straight month of declining driving activity.
HOW LOW CAN THEY GO?
Lundberg said the average gasoline price could fall below $3.00 a gallon as early as December.
"If crude oil prices don't spike, we can expect further price cutting for two reasons," Lundberg said. "Gasoline demand will continue to shrink in our weak economic condition, and retailers, who have been receiving deep buying price cuts, will be anxious to pass through any further price cuts they receive quickly. They need the sales."
According to the Lundberg survey, drivers in Honolulu paid an average of $3.91 a gallon for unleaded gas, the highest price in the nation. The Wichita, Kansas, region had the lowest average price, at $2.79 a gallon.
The Lundberg survey evaluates prices at about 5,000 gas stations
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated:
'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'
In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash........
twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.
I love the next one!!!
7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off.
sorry if you have read it before...its for those who haven't
MARION COUNTY, Fla. -- It's a tragedy that state veterinarians have never seen before. At least 100 horses died in just a week and a half at a Marion County farm.
No one was more devastated when death came to the 87-acre horse farm than the owner.
"It was a surprise to everyone. It was an isolated incident. It's very sad. We rescued those horses to be surrogate mothers," said Francis Ramirez of Equitransfer.
In all, 100 mares suddenly experienced seizures, suffering spasms and twitching muscles, before they fell to the ground. Ramirez euthanized many of the animals.
Veterinarians in Marion County said they've never seen such a mass outbreak. The feeling is that it's not contagious and may have come from the horses' food.
"My best guess is that it was botulism and that's probably the most common food contaminant," said Dr. Carol Clark, veterinarian.
Veterinarians that Eyewitness News spoke with said the killer illness may have come from hay bails left out in the wet weather where mold spores and bacteria that horses are sensitive to, can thrive.
Green, semi-fermented hay called haylage is intended for cattle because of its higher protein content. The suspect haylage was destroyed and the owners say it came from a source that grows haylage specifically for their operation.
Other horse owners Eyewitness News talked with said they never feed haylage to their prized animals because of the risk of toxins.
"Why were you feeding the horses haylage and not dry hay in the first place?" WFTV reporter Robert Maxwell asked Ramirez.
"They're fed multiple types of hay," she said.
The owners at Equitransfer estimate the loss in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The state of Florida does not regulate hay or haylage, only processed animal feed, so it is not investigating the horse deaths.
The owners sent samples from the suspect hay and two of the dead horses to toxicology labs in the northeast.xxxxxxxxxxxxx
morale of story..dont feed your horses anything but good quality hay..I've witnessed people do this when I advised them not too..thats why I posted this.
Republicans don't need to dress up for Halloween this year. They're scaring the pants off Barack Obama's followers by their mere presence. Anything they say, wear or do provokes instant cries of "RAAAAACISM!" Wink, blink or think critical thoughts about Obama? You're a bigot!
How many racial bogeymen have Obama operatives and sympathetic journalists discovered lurking in "coded language" and attire? Let us count the ways:
-- During Tuesday's presidential debate, John McCain referred to Obama as "that one." Official Obama press agitator Bill Burton sent off an e-mail blast to reporters: "Did John McCain just refer to Obama as 'that one'?" Horrors. Taking their cue from Burton, spooked Obama supporters hyperventilated like teenagers on the film set of "The Blair Witch Project." "The racial undertones were subtle but unmistakable," declared Maya Wiley of the leftist Center for Social Inclusion. "McCain was tapping into a current of superiority among white voters. It was an attempt to 'otherize' Obama."
"Otherize"? Sounds like something you do to your car tires to prepare for winter.
UC Berkeley linguistics professor George Lakoff was also haunted by "That One": "The phrase was meant to say, 'You and I are in the same area, but he's the outsider.'"
Memo to McCain: Next time, call him "The One."
-- Obama supporters on the heavily trafficked Democratic Underground website (where such mainstream Democrats as Elizabeth Edwards hang out) saw the ghost of the Ku Klux Klan in Sarah Palin's white suit jacket. Yes, white clothes equal racism.
"Palin is wearing white again, inciting the racist crowds. She should just drop all pretense and put on her white hood and light up a cross. She is a despicable human being," fumed a DU poster. "Grand Princess of the KKK," proclaimed another. They're "trying to send subtle signals to their rabid base," declared yet another member of Obama's rabid base.
My racial decoder ring must be on the fritz. I'm not getting the signal. If she wears white stockings, drinks a vanilla milkshake and refers to budgetary black holes, are those incitements, too? And what about her gorgeous white teeth? Perhaps she should drink more coffee -- hold the white cream! -- to avoid emitting further racial radiation.
-- Such paranoia is not limited to the fever swamps of the Internet. Earlier this week, the Associated Press disseminated an "analysis" accusing Palin of injecting a "racial tinge" into the campaign because she criticized Obama for his longtime relationship with Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers. Palin's comments were completely unobjectionable: "This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America."
I saw a vice presidential candidate drawing stark philosophical differences between two tickets. The AP saw Freddy Krueger with lipstick and a noose.
"Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as 'not like us' is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American," the AP piece frothed.
Obama is half-black. Ayers is white. One of the Weather Underground's victims was black police officer Waverly Brown of Nyack, N.Y. Where do I buy a pair of the super X-ray glasses that can detect the racism in Palin's remarks about the Obama-Ayers alliance?
-- I'll have to borrow those hysterical-colored spectacles from Time's Karen Tumulty, who spotted racist goblins in the recent McCain ad criticizing Obama for seeking advice from Fannie Mae corruptocrat Franklin Raines. "Sinister images of two black men, followed by one of a vulnerable-looking elderly white woman," Tumulty balked in a blog post titled "McCain plays the race card."
Um, "sinister"? The ad's photos of Obama and Raines were standard shots -- some with dour expressions, others smiling. The fact that Tumulty perceived them as "sinister" suggests that she should perform a self-racism exam before diagnosing anyone else.
-- A parade of congressional witch hunters for Obama also detects the specter of George Wallace behind every policy bush. Democratic New York Gov. David Paterson says conservative criticism of Obama's community organizing days is code for "black." Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks complained to the New York Observer: "They are trying to throw out these codes." In the same piece, Democratic Rep. Yvette Clark divined segregationist intent in Palin's references to Joe Six-Pack and hockey moms. "It leaves a lot of people out."
And Democratic Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid echoed Time's Tumulty on the McCain camp's Obama/Raines broadsides: "The only connection that people could bring up about Raines and Barack Obama is that they both are African-American, other than that there is nothing."
The Washington Post reported that Obama's office phoned Raines for housing advice and has stood by its reporting. Is the newspaper part of the McCain/Palin hooded racists' coven, too?
Obama's witch hunters better beware. When there's racism in every hiccup, nobody's air supply is safe.
The slow release of information from the Obama campaign concerning the exact nature of the relationship between Sen. Barack Obama and William Ayers, former head of the domestic terrorist group the Weather Underground continued tonight. This time the source is Obama himself. After a week of denying that he had any knowledge of Ayers' terrorist past, Obama will admit that he did learn of Ayers' role in the 1970's bombing campaign against the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and New York City Police Headquarters, among other targets, but chose to associate himself with Ayers anyway.
Sen. Obama told a Philadelphia talk radio host in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow that he met Ayers while serving on the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a philanthropy that distributed roughly $50 million dollars for education projects in the Chicago area. Obama explained his service with Ayers essentially as a case of bad judgment.
"Ultimately, I ended up learning about the fact that he had engaged in this reprehensible act 40 years ago, but I was eight years old at the time and I assumed that he had been rehabilitated."
This is the first time that Obama will own up to the fact that the two men worked together in a close capacity. Until now, the campaign and Sen. Obama have maintained either that Obama did not know about Ayers' past or that the two were not close.
But Obama's explanation raises still more questions about the Obama-Ayers relationship. Now that he has admitted he thought Ayers' radical past was behind him, Obama will have to answer why he continued to serve with Ayers' on the board of the Woods Fund in late 2001 and 2002. By that time, it should have been clear the Ayers' was unrepentant. Ayers' now infamous New York Times op-ed was published on September 11, 2001. In that article, Ayers said that he did not regret setting bombs, "I wish we had done more," he said. And Ayers was featured on the cover of Chicago Magazine standing on an American flag during the same time frame. Now that Obama has admitted that he did know of Ayers' past, he will have to provide an explanation for continuing to associate with him after it was clear that he had not been "rehabilitated."
Around 1979, Obama started college at Occidental in California. He tried all kinds of drugs and was wasting his time because, he did not apply himself to his studies.
At Occidental, "Barry" (that was the name he used all his life) had two roommates: Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, both from Pakistan. During the summer of 1981,
he made a "round the world" trip.
Stopping to see his mother in Indonesia, next to Hyperabad in India, then on for three weeks to Karachi, Pakistan, where he stayed with his roommate's family, then on to Africa to visit his father's family.
My question - Where did he get the money for this trip?
he enrolled at Columbia University in New York, he decided he should be called Barack - not Barry. what's the tuition at Columbia? not cheap! Where did he get money? Student Loans? After Columbia, he went to Chicago to work as a Community Organizer earning only $12,000 a year. Why Chicago?
By "chance," he met Antoine "Tony" Rezko, who was born in Aleppo Syria, but who was then a real estate developer in Chicago.
Recently, Rezko was convicted of fraud and bribery; but before that, Rezko was named "Entrepreneur of the Decade" by the Arab-American Business and
Professional Association.
About two years after this chance meeting, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School. what's tuition for Harvard Law School? Where did he get the money ? More student loans? After law school, on to Chicago. While Rezko offered him a job, he turned it down. Instead, he took a job with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Guess what? This firm represented "Rezar" which was the name of Rezko's company.
Rezko was one of Obama's first major financial contributors when he decided to run for office in Chicago. In 2003, Rezko threw an early fundraiser for Obama, which Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims was instrumental in providing Obama with "seed money" for U.S. Senate race.
In 2005, Obama purchased a new home in Kenwoood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (which was less than the asking price). With ALL those
Student Loans - Where did he get the money for the property? On the same day Rezko's wife, Rita, purchased the adjoining empty lot for the full asking price of $625,000. The London Times reported that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born Billionaire, had loaned Rezko $3.5 million a mere three weeks before Obama's new home was purchased. Obama met Nadhmi Auchi many times with Rezko.
Now, we have Obama running for President. Valerie Jarrett, was Michele Obama's boss. She is now Obama's chief advisor and he does not make any major decisions without talking to her first. Where was Jarrett born? -- Shiraz, Iran! Do we see a pattern here? Or am I going crazy? On May 10, 2008, The Times reported that Robert Malley advisor to Obama was "sacked" after the press found out he was having regular contacts with "Hamas", which controls Gaza and is connected with Iran. This past week, buried in the back part of the papers, Iraqi newspapers reported that during Obama's visit to Iraq, he asked their leaders to do nothing about the war until after he is elected, and he will "Take care of things".
Oh, and by the way, remember the college roommates that where born in Pakistan? They are in charge of all those "small" Internet campaign contributions for Obama. Where is that money coming from? The poor and middle class living in this country? Or could it be from the Middle East? And the final bit of news. On September 7, 2008, The Washington Times posted a verbal slip that was made on "This Week" with George Stephanapoulos. Obama on talking about his religion said, "My Muslim faith". When questioned, he claimed that he "made a mistake." Some mistake!
If you would like to check it -Wikipedia, encyclopedia, Barack Obama; Tony Rezko; Valerie Jarrett;
Daily Times - Obama visited Pakistan in 1981; The Washington Times - September 7, 2008; The Times May 10, 2008. Now the BIG question -
Why haven't all of our "intelligent" members of the press been reporting this?
"Beware of the enemy from within"!!! Our news media= our Nattion's worst enemy,,,helping marxist and muslims to destroy the USA..
The Anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, he will destroy everything.
By DIONNE WALKER and MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writers
Sat Oct 4, 10:28 AM ET
RICHMOND, Va. - Undaunted by the heat, James Bailey spent his late-summer afternoons walking Virginia's bleakest neighborhoods on the hunt for ex-cons — each a potential voter who might cast the decisive ballot in this hotly contested state.
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Finding them isn't the hard part. It's getting them to admit that a past mistake has kept them from the ballot box.
"People are really, really reluctant to say, 'I lost my rights to vote,'" Bailey said of his quest, which continued in the run-up to Monday's registration deadline in Virginia for the November election.
Nationally, there are roughly 4 million released felons whose convictions have cost them the right to vote at least temporarily, if not permanently. To return to the ballot box, felons must negotiate suffrage laws that vary from state to state, in many cases working with election officials who can be both unfamiliar with the law and hostile to former convicts seeking to register.
Such challenges matter little to Bailey and others trying to return former criminals to voter rolls, an effort they consider crucial in light of the results of the past two presidential elections: A shift of a few hundred votes in Florida in 2000 would have changed the outcome of the presidential race, and the results in 2004 came down to a margin of 119,000 votes in Ohio.
The nonprofit groups and individual activists making the push on felons' behalf agree the effort is broader this year than in previous elections, even if they aren't necessarily making a coordinated push. They expect that effort to benefit Barack Obama more than John McCain, given that the population of former felons is disproportionately black.
Obama has co-sponsored a Senate measure that would allow all ex-felons to vote, but his campaign isn't directly targeting ex-felons for registration. His campaign does include relevant info on its Web site and educates volunteers so they can explain state laws to those who may not realize they have the right to vote, said spokesman Kevin Griffis.
"All we're trying to do is make sure that, if someone is eligible, that they know their rights and that if they want to vote, they can take part," Griffis said Tuesday. "I think there's a lot of misinformation out there. Even people who may have been guilty of a misdemeanor feel like the felony laws apply to them and say they can't vote."
McCain has said states should decide whether felons have voting rights. But he personally believes ex-felons should forfeit certain rights when they commit a serious crime and that the right to vote should be restored only on a case-by-case basis — much like Virginia's process.
Roughly 13 percent of black men nationwide have lost the right to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law, which advocates the reform of felon voting rights. Black ministers, civic leaders and activists believe they are a rich source of votes for Obama.
"Of course I would go with Barack," said Deshawn Tatem, a dreadlocked drug dealer-turned-activist from Chesapeake, Va. But he's never cast a ballot. "Right at 18, I caught the felony."
Tatem has never made the time to fill out an application to restore his voter rights, a request that would have to be approved by the governor. That means there's no way he'll be able to vote in November.
In Florida, where a new rule means more than 115,000 former felons who completed their sentences are now able to vote, civil rights attorney Reggie Mitchell said he's nonpartisan when he calls felons at home to give them information about registering to vote. But he also acknowledges the obvious.
Blacks represent "about 40 percent of the people who've gotten their rights lost and restored," Mitchell said. "With an African-American running, and such a critical mass, this could have a tremendous impact."
Kenneth Glasgow served 14 years on robbery and drug charges in Alabama. Now a pastor, Glasgow launched a voter registration drive inside the prisons in Alabama, where state law allows voting by felons convicted of lesser crimes such as possession of small amounts of drugs, battery or attempted burglary — even while still serving a sentence.
Glasgow, a Democrat, estimates as many as 70,000 felons in Alabama might be eligible to vote but haven't registered. Bringing them to the polls, he said, has the potential to alter the state's political landscape.
"It's not a black-white thing," Glasgow said. "It's that people will see Republicans standing against having people's rights restored while the Democrats aren't."
The state Department of Corrections halted Glasgow's registration drive after two days because of complaints from the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party that registering inmates without adequate monitoring could lead to voter fraud. Fewer than 80 inmates filled out registration forms. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has filed suit challenging the prison commissioner's decision to stop the registration drive.
Only two states — Maine and Vermont — place no limits on voting due to a criminal conviction; even prison inmates can cast a ballot. Kentucky and Virginia are the only two states that permanently bar felons from voting, although the governors of those states can restore voting rights to individuals.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear streamlined the process in March, and has since restored the rights of more than 740 released convicts. Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine promised to fast-track applications for voter restoration that his office received by Aug. 1, adding three people to his staff to process applications before Monday's registration deadline.
Applications in Virginia jumped from 76 for all of July 2007 to 138 in a single week this summer. Kaine, the governor for nearly three years, had restored the rights of 2,633 felons as of Monday, according to his spokesman, Gordon Hickey.
Laws in the other 46 states are varied, some of them a relic of the Jim Crow era, according to the Brennan Center. Eight states permanently bar felons convicted of certain crimes from voting, while the others restore the right after a sentence is completed, including parole, or as soon as an inmate is released from prison.
Faulkner Fox, who leads organizing efforts for the group "Durham for Obama" in North Carolina, said volunteers there frequently explain to shocked ex-felons that they can register to vote.
The confusion isn't limited to felons. Researchers at the Brennan Center and the American Civil Liberties Union interviewed election officials in 23 states from 2003 to this year. In a report released Wednesday, the groups said many officials in those states didn't understand voter eligibility rules for felons or how they can register to vote.
Among the problems: officials telling those convicted of misdemeanors they had lost the right to vote, failing to distinguish between probation and parole, and illegally demanding documentation. The researchers also found election officials who said they wouldn't help a felon register, which concerns civil rights groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
"We still find election officials at the polls in too many cases only ask African-American males if (they) have a felony offense," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP Washington bureau.
The confusion works both ways. In some cases, the researchers found election officials willing to register felons who were not yet eligible to cast a ballot under that state's law — a potential case of criminal voter fraud.
The ACLU, the NAACP and others support a nationwide standard that would restore voting rights to all inmates once they leave prison.
"Once a single local election official misinforms a citizen that he is not eligible to vote because of a past conviction, it is unlikely that citizen will ever follow up or make a second inquiry," the ACLU and Brennan Center report said. "The citizen will mistakenly believe that he is ineligible to vote for years, decades, or maybe the rest of his life."
But getting the information right, and then registering felons, isn't a guarantee of results. Tatem, the former felon from Virginia, isn't sure how much of a difference people like him will make.
"If they got their rights tomorrow, most of them probably still wouldn't vote," he said. "When you've been caged for so long, you can leave that cage open and some folk won't go through."
___
Mike Baker reported from Durham, N.C. Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala., contributed to this report.
USDA officials reject suggestions that the agency's resistance to changing the 1990 map reflects a reluctance to acknowledge the potential impact of climate change. They say the agency wants its next map to reflect a 30-year period that gives a fuller picture of the world's climate than the 16-year examination Kramer conducted for his rejected map.
Nurseries commonly offer money-back guarantees on plants. Analysts say many in the industry are worried that adjusting the climate maps would encourage customers in cooler areas to increasingly buy tender, warm-weather plants unlikely to survive a cold snap.
And growers are worried that their losses won't be sufficiently covered by the Federal Crop Insurance Corp.'s Nursery Crop Insurance Program, which covers them for losses caused by weather-related events such as flooding. If growing zones move north because of warming there is still a possibility of cold snaps, and it's unclear exactly how insurance programs would deal with that risk.
Not long ago I read a joke ... It said all the politicians running for president are promising change to the American people. We send them billions and billions of tax dollars and they send us the change.
Funny?
Not really; there is too much truth in it to be funny.
That got me to thinking ... They all promise change. How about if they run on a promise of restoration rather than change. A restoration that would take us back in time to a place where things ran better, smoother and life was more enjoyable. Change? That, in truth, is what they have been giving us all along.
We used to have a strong dollar ... Politicians changed that.
Life used to be sacred ... Politicians changed that.
Marriage used to be sacred ... Politicians are changing that.
We used to be respected around the world ... Politicians changed that.
We used to have a strong manufacturing economy ... Politicians changed that.
We used to have lower tax structures ... Politicians changed that.
We used to enjoy more freedoms ... Politicians changed that.
We used to be a large exporter of American made goods ... Politicians changed that.
We used to be an openly Christian nation ... Politicians changed that.
We used to teach patriotism in schools ... Politicians changed that.
We used to educate children in schools ... Politicians changed that.
We used to enjoy freedom of speech ... Politicians changed that.
We used to enforce LEGAL citizenship ... Politicians changed that.
We used to have affordable food &gas prices ... Politicians changed that, too. ... and one could go on and on with this list.
What hasn't been changed, politicians are promising to change that as well if you will elect them.
When, oh when, is America going to sit back with open eyes and look at what we once were and where we have come and say, enough is enough?
The trouble is, America's youthful voters today don't know of the great America that existed forty and fifty years ago. They see the world as if it has always existed, as it is now.
When will we wake up? Tomorrow may be too late. When will America realize ... Politicians are what is wrong with America?
Speeches for Palestinian refugees called code for Israel's destruction
"I knew Barack Obama for many years as my state senator – when he used to attend events in the Palestinian community in Chicago all the time," stated Abuminah during an interview last month with Democracy Now!, a nationally syndicated radio and television political program.
"I remember personally introducing [Obama] onstage in 1999, when we had a major community fundraiser for the community center in Deheisha refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. And that's just one example of how Barack Obama used to be very comfortable speaking up for and being associated with Palestinian rights and opposing the Israeli occupation," Abunimah said.
Abunimah also was recently quoted saying that until a few years ago, Obama was "quite frank that the U.S. needed to be more evenhanded, that it leaned too much toward Israel."
Abunimah noted Obama's unusual stance toward Israel, commenting "these were the kind of statements I'd never heard from a U.S. politician who seemed like he was going somewhere, rather than at the end of his career."
LUFKIN — A Lufkin woman received a surprise visit from the Secret Service last week because of a “death threat” comment she reportedly made about Sen. Barack Obama to a campaign volunteer asking for her support of the presidential candidate.
Two federal agents arrived at Jessica Hughes’ home Thursday to ask her if she said, “I will never support Obama and he will wind up dead on a hospital floor.”
Hughes said her words were deliberately twisted by a volunteer who was apparently unhappy Hughes was rude during a phone conversation. The Lufkin mother, a Republican, said she received a call on her cellphone Wednesday from a woman with the Obama Volunteers of Texarkana.
“She asked if I was an Obama supporter, to which I replied, ‘No, I don’t support him. Your guy is a socialist who voted four times in the state Senate to let little babies die in hospital closets; I think you should find something better to do with your time.’ (And then) I hung up.”
Hughes is referring to a “born alive” Illinois bill that did not pass in the Illinois state Senate in 2005 and had previously been opposed by Obama because he said it undermined Roe v. Wade, according to FactCheck.org, a non-partisan organization. A federal version of the bill, which Obama said he would have supported, passed by unanimous consent and was signed into law by President Bush in 2002.
Obama Campaign Communications for Texas director Josh Taylor declined to comment Monday, referring the matter to the Secret Service, which he said is conducting an investigation. A message left with a Secret Service agent in Houston was not immediately returned.
Hughes said she was surprised to see two Secret Service agents at her door, and upset to learn that the conversation she had with the volunteer apparently had not been recorded.
“I find it hard to believe that (campaign volunteers) don’t tape these calls. They call people unsolicited and they aren’t monitoring the calls or recording them? I think that is absolutely ridiculous,” she said. “I mean, how often must this happen - that someone is rude to a volunteer that they don’t want to talk to?”
Hughes said she wants to file a countercomplaint against the volunteer.
“She has made a charge that will follow me the rest of my life,” she said. “I find that repugnant and violating - that some person who got her undies in a bundle because she didn’t like what I had to say.”
The moment when Sarah Palin knew she was winning last night's debate with her vice presidential opponent Joe Biden came after the subject had turned to nuclear weapons. Palin had talked about nukes as a deterrent and said it was important to keep them out of the hands of dictators who are enemies of America. Then she turned to moderator Gwen Ifill and asked, "Can we talk about Afghanistan real quick?"
Afghanistan? The impression Palin had left in television interviews with ABC's Charles Gibson and CBS's Katie Couric was that she was ill-equipped to discuss issues like that. She just didn't know enough to talk about foreign policy and other weighty matters with even a minimal level of comfort. And this meant she simply wasn't up to being vice president should John McCain win the presidency.
But by that point in the debate--two-thirds the way through--Palin was brimming with self-confidence. She knew she could handle any issue likely to be thrown at her by Ifill. She knew Biden would not outmatch her. So she purposely tackled an issue on which he was expected to have an advantage.
He didn't. She insisted the "surge principles" that had proved effective in Iraq would work in Afghanistan. Biden claimed the commanding general in Afghanistan disagreed. Then Palin said, no, the general didn't disagree, and she spelled out how "the counterinsurgency strategy" favored by McCain (and her) would work.
If that episode didn't demoralize Biden, a senator from Delaware for 35 years, it should have. For it showed she had passed the biggest test any vice presidential candidate faces--a test the media was ready to declare she'd failed. Was she capable of being vice president? Based on her debate performance, the answer was yes.
Not that she came close to matching Biden's experience or extensive knowledge of issues, especially foreign policy issues. But she was conversant with every issue, domestic and foreign, that came up in the 90-minute debate and talked with seeming confidence about them.
She may have passed two other tests as well. Did she once more energize the conservative base of the Republican party as she had when McCain picked her a month ago? Probably. And was her performance strong enough to change the direction of a campaign that has seen Barack Obama widening a lead over McCain in recent weeks? Maybe.
For sure, she did one remarkable thing aside from handling Biden with ease. She undid the negative impression that had been created by her avoidance of most of the media and hardened when the two TV interviews went poorly. Her image was that of someone unqualified to be vice president and uninformed on major issues.
Changing an image overnight is difficult. Ronald Reagan managed it when he debated President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and blew away the widespread notion that he was a warmonger. But I can't think of other examples of this, at least in presidential or veep debates.
Two more things. Palin appeared to be in a good mood during the debate, just as she was when delivering her acceptance speech at the Republican convention four weeks ago. That made her more appealing than Biden, who came off, at times anyway, as less cheerful than he normally is.
And Palin wrote her own closing statement, or so I was told. It included what seemed like an invitation to Biden to have more debates. "I would like more opportunity for this," she said. I suspect Biden wouldn't.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD
The Obama campaign has shattered all fund-raising records, raking in $458 million so far, with about half the bounty coming from donors who contribute $200 or less. Aides say that's an illustration of a truly democratic campaign. To critics, though, it can be an invitation for fraud and illegal foreign cash because donors giving individual sums of $200 or less don't have to be publicly reported. Consider the cases of Obama donors "Doodad Pro" of Nunda, N.Y., who gave $17,130, and "Good Will" of Austin, Texas, who gave more than $11,000—both in excess of the $2,300-per-person federal limit. In two recent letters to the Obama campaign, Federal Election Commission auditors flagged those (and other) donors and informed the campaign that the sums had to be returned. Neither name had ever been publicly reported because both individuals made online donations in $10 and $25 increments. "Good Will" listed his employer as "Loving" and his occupation as "You," while supplying as his address 1015 Norwood Park Boulevard, which is shared by the Austin nonprofit Goodwill Industries. Suzanha Burmeister, marketing director for Goodwill, said the group had "no clue" who the donor was. She added, however, that the group had received five puzzling thank-you letters from the Obama campaign this year, prompting it to send the campaign an e-mail in September pointing out the apparent fraudulent use of its name.
"Doodad Pro" listed no occupation or employer; the contributor's listed address is shared by Lloyd and Lynn's Liquor Store in Nunda. "I have never heard of such an individual," says Diane Beardsley, who works at the store and is the mother of one of the owners. "Nobody at this store has that much money to contribute." (She added that a Doodad's Boutique, located next door, had closed a year ago, before the donations were made.)
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said the campaign has no idea who the individuals are and has returned all the donations, using the credit-card numbers they gave to the campaign. (In a similar case earlier this year, the campaign returned $33,000 to two Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip who had bought T shirts in bulk from the campaign's online store. They had listed their address as "Ga.," which the campaign took to mean Georgia rather than Gaza.) "While no organization is completely protected from Internet fraud, we will continue to review our fund-raising procedures," LaBolt said. Some critics say the campaign hasn't done enough. This summer, watchdog groups asked both campaigns to share more information about its small donors. The McCain campaign agreed; the Obama campaign did not. "They could've done themselves a service" by heeding the suggestions, said Massie Ritsch of the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Republican National Committee plans to file a complaint on Monday against Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign raising questions about the legitimacy of its small contributions and donations from overseas.
Republican officials are demanding the Federal Election Commission conduct a full audit of the Obama campaign’s donations, although it appears that no action would be taken, even if the commission found merit in the complaint, until after the November election.
The Obama campaign has been powered in large part by small-dollar contributions, with donations of $200 or less accounting for more than $220 million of the record-breaking $450 million it has collected so far.
But such donations do not have to be itemized in reporting to the election commission unless the donor’s total contributions exceed $200. The lack of information on such donors has been highlighted by watchdog groups as potentially troublesome. The groups have also praised the campaign of Senator John McCain for offering on its Web site a tool that allows a search of all of its donors, including those who gave less than $200.
The issue is being seized upon by the Republicans against the Obama campaign after an article this month on the conservative Web site Newsmax.com highlighted some obviously questionable contributions Mr. Obama had received that far exceeded the $4,600 an individual can contribute to a candidate’s primary and general election campaigns.
The donations included thousands of dollars in excess donations, made in increments of $25, from someone named Good Will in Austin, Tex., who listed his employer as “Loving” and his occupation as “You.” It also cited another donor named Doodad Pro, from “Nunda, N.Y.,” with the same employer and occupation.
Both donors were flagged by the commission in warning letters sent to the Obama campaign by August. The campaign was supposed to have responded within 30 days. But its campaign finance filing in September showed it had failed to refund more than $10,000 in donations from each, although Obama officials say all of the money has now been returned. A campaign has 60 days from when it receives an excess contribution to address it.
Republican officials asserted that if the Obama campaign had missed such obviously questionable itemized contributions, there could be much more in the form of fraudulent donations in the amounts below $200 that do not have to be reported.
“We believe there is evidence here demonstrating substantial noncompliance,” said Sean Cairncross, a lawyer for the Republican committee in a conference call with reporters on Sunday.
The committee is also raising questions about potential contributions flowing to the Obama campaign from foreign nationals, although Republican officials were hard pressed to provide much by way of definitive proof of this.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign, however, actually raised the issue during the Democratic primary. The Obama campaign only recently began requiring donors from overseas to provide a valid United States passport number. Previously, it only required them to check a box confirming they were citizens.
“We constantly review our donors for any issues,” said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, “and while no organization is completely protected from Internet fraud, we will continue to review our fund-raising procedures to ensure that we are taking every available step to root out improper contributions.”
CHICAGO - A charity being probed after it was handed $100,000 of taxpayers' money by Barack Obama is headed by an "opportunist" whose own family wouldn't trust him with a dime, The Post has learned.
Chicago Better Housing Association boss Kenny Smith is so desperate for cash, he launched a bitter courtroom battle with his 73-year-old disabled mom in an unsuccessful bid to take control of her $1,400-a-month pension and Social Security payouts, according to court papers and relatives.
His family last week told The Post they were amazed that Smith - a former volunteer for Obama who has donated $550 to his various campaigns - was trusted with the hefty state grant to build a botanic garden in his blighted South Side Chicago neighborhood.
Land earmarked for the plan is still overgrown and covered in garbage - eight years after then-state Sen. Obama steered the pork-barrel funds to the program.
The Illinois attorney general last month launched an investigation to find out what the Chicago Better Housing Association did with the cash.
"I wouldn't go as far as saying Kenny's an out-and-out crook, but he's an opportunist," said his brother-in-law, Robert Thomas.
"Nothing that man does would surprise me. Never mind $100,000. I wouldn't give him $10."
The relationship between Smith and Obama dates back to at least 1997, when the then-state pol wrote a letter that Smith used to help his group win city funding for an affordable-housing development next to the garden site, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Even that project failed - only 12 of the planned 50 homes were finished.
The botanic-garden project was unveiled by Obama and Smith in 2000, when Obama promised to "work tirelessly" to raise extra cash it needed.
The Sun-Times reported that Smith signed over $85,000 of the cash to his wife, Karen, who is the charity's treasurer. A spokeswoman for the AG said Obama's actions in giving out the grant were not under investigation
Smith's family hasn't spoken to him since January, when he lost his legal fight to take control of his mother's estate, claiming she was incapable of caring for herself. She fought his claim in court.
In legal papers, he called his mom and his sister prostitutes, claiming his sister was addicted to crack and his stepdad was a sex-crazed drunk.
The papers also accuse Smith of trying to intimidate people by claiming to be a detective.
Repeated efforts to contact Smith and his wife were unsuccessful.
A leading critic of Islam isn't surprised there has been virtually no coverage or action taken against a Muslim group that has been running an illegal "get out the vote" campaign in swing-state mosques.
The group, Muslim Americans for Obama [MAFO], insists that all of its voter registration activity is non-partisan, despite the fact that its mission statement says it was launched in August 2008 "to provide a vehicle for Muslim-American supporters of Barack Obama to organize and mobilize our fellow citizens to get out the vote to elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States."
Continuing, the group's website states: "Although there is only a short period of time until the election..., there is much work to be done for supporters of Barack Obama's candidacy. [MAFO] was formed to offer a vehicle for Muslim-Americans to mobilize quickly and effectively so that our community turns out in great numbers for Barack Obama on Election Day."
Story continues below...
Which of these two groups do you predict will be the first to investigate
if Muslim-led, pro-Obamavoter registrationdrives in mosques
The "get out the vote" events are scheduled at mosques in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Ohio.
Robert Spencer is director of Jihad Watch, a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He argues MAFO may be skirting the law.
"When they are running these voter registration drives at mosques, really it's essentially illegal because they are clearly trying to get people to vote for Obama -- and that's in violation of their tax-exempt status," Spencer charges. "So this is a group that is crossing the line and ought to be disciplined as such."
The Jihad Watch leader, however, figures that is not likely to happen. "...I kind of doubt that they will be [disciplined], given the politically correct atmosphere nowadays," he says. "I wouldn't be the least surprised if no action is taken against them."
Spencer contends that if a group called "Christians for John McCain" claimed to be non-partisan and ran a registration drive in churches, it would be all over the media and create a huge scandal and embarrassment for the McCain campaign.
Ok witters is the first but she gave me an idea..since its halloween how bout everybody go find a halloween avatar and use it until Halloween..hay its my birthday so I get a bit sentimental about this holiday..No response to the blog is necessary..the response will be seeing everyons costume avatar..changing them if you come across a better one is encouraged through out the duration..everything has been so serious over the election and the bailout....its time we had alittle fun..
Sarah Palin, for all the conjecture as to whether she can reel in disaffected Hillary voters, has already achieved her primary mission: She delivered the conservative base to McCain. Hopeful and enthusiastic again, conservatives have been charmed and heartened by the sensational VP pick.
Obama's selection has met with far less success. Joe Biden's Catholic faith was certainly anticipated to draw that demographics to the Democrat's camp - Obama repeatedly cited Biden's Catholicism while introducing the VP selection. However, Biden suffers from the defect common to all Democrats where Catholic sensibilities are concerned - he supports abortion, and like Obama, he supports it to the point of infanticide.
Such views were known and reviled by ardent Catholics prior to Biden's selection to the ticket. However, since that time, Biden has only made things worse. Biden's first clumsy foray into religious terrain was on NBC's Meet the Press, where Biden lied - not about McCain, not about the Republicans - but about the Catholic Church. Revising Christianity to suit his own moral compass, Biden set himself in direct conflict with the Church, prompting dozens of bishops and Christian groups to disclaim his heresy (that is, his willful misrepresentation of Church doctrine).
Biden seems more a renegade enemy of the church than a faithful communicant. Britain's Telegraph today fronted an article entitled, Joe Biden Loses Barack Obama the Catholic Vote. Abortion has become a nation-wide issue, yet again - awakening Catholic moral conscience and further eroding the once-faithfully Democratic voting-block.
With all the turmoil in the market today and the collapse of Lehman
Bros and Acquisition of Merrill Lynch by
Bank of America this might be some good advice. For all of you with any
money left, be aware of the next expected mergers so that you can get in
on the ground floor and make some BIG bucks.
Watch for these consolidations in later this year:
1.) Hale Business Systems, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Fuller Brush, and W R.
Grace Co. Will merge and become: Hale, Mary, Fuller, Grace.
2.) Polygram Records, Warner Bros, and Zesta Crackers join force and
become: Poly, Warner Cracker.
3.) 3M will merge with Goodyear and become: MMMGood.
4.) Zippo Manufacturing, Audi Motors, Dofasco,and Dakota Mining will merge
and become: ZipAudiDoDa ..
5.) FedEx is expected to join its competitor, UPS, and become: FedUP.
6.) Fairchild Electronics and Honeywell Computers will become: Fairwell Honeychild.
7.) Grey Poupon and Docker Pants are expected to become: PouponPants.
8.) Knotts Berry Farm and the National Organization of Women will become:Knott NOW
It's helpful to have a good sense of humor during times like these !
Since I identify with the people who fall into Barrack Obama's elitist description about of people of faith who keep firearms I'm not very happy with Barrack Obama's recent remarks.
He said something to the effect that us rednecks cling to our guns and our religion when we get frustrated and I would like to take umbrage to these remarks. My faith goes much deeper than his superficial explanation and I love my guns even when I'm not frustrated.
And I am not by myself. I was going to church and shooting guns before Mr. Obama was even born and come from a long line of good people who have been doing it for generations.
To me this latest Obama blunder only helps reveal the depth of condescension the far left wing of the Democrat party has for the folks out here in flyover country.
Mr. Obama's remarks are insulting to a lot of folks. It's kind of like Abraham Lincoln said, "God must love the common people because he made so many of them".
His remarks make me think that Obama doesn't know the people of this country very well. I'm sure he knows the jet set and the Hollywood bunch, the limousine liberals and the save the whales, kill the babies crowd, but does he think that the ordinary people don't count? Does he think that they're so stupid that they don't know who he's talking about when he says these things? Does he think their opinions aren't important? Apparently.
How can a man stand in front of America and tell people what he wants to do for them and have so little respect for a whole segment of the population. In fact, a very large segment. Does that mean that he would only represent the high-minded liberal ideals of the far left and ignore the rest of us?
What kind of Commander and Chief would he make if he doesn't respect the very people who make up the lion's share of the armed forces.
You may say I'm over reacting, but I'm getting sick and tired of him making these elitist statements and saying that he had been taken out of context or some other flimsy excuse.
After his wife's remark about not being proud of this country and his pastor's statements calling America the U.S.K.K.K.A. and his own statement about not wanting his daughter punished with a baby, it makes me wonder what kind of a man Obama really is and what kind of a president he'd make.
Would he be an antigun advocate pushing the effort to take the firearms out of innocent citizen's hands? Would he not respect the religious beliefs of America, not taking them into account in his agenda?
I really don't know much about the man and neither does America. He basically came from out of nowhere and as the facts come out little by little, they don't make a particularly confident picture.
I have a great fear that if our military gets broken by another president, this time we're not going to have time to fix it again and what that spells for America, I don't even want to contemplate.
Oh well, I guess I'll grab my gun and go to church.
Election '08: Democrats' reintroduction of militant Michelle Obama in Denver was supposed to show her softer side. But it only highlighted a radical part of her resume: Public Allies.
Barack Obama was a founding member of the board of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife became executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies in 1993. Obama plans to use the nonprofit group, which he features on his campaign Web site, as the model for a national service corps. He calls his Orwellian program, "Universal Voluntary Public Service."
Big Brother had nothing on the Obamas. They plan to herd American youth into government-funded reeducation camps where they'll be brainwashed into thinking America is a racist, oppressive place in need of "social change."
The pitch Public Allies makes on its Web site doesn't seem all that radical. It promises to place young adults (18-30) in paid one-year "community leadership" positions with nonprofit or government agencies. They'll also be required to attend weekly training workshops and three retreats.
In exchange, they'll get a monthly stipend of up to $1,800, plus paid health and child care. They also get a post-service education award of $4,725 that can be used to pay off past student loans or fund future education.
But its real mission is to radicalize American youth and use them to bring about "social change" through threats, pressure, tension and confrontation — the tactics used by the father of community organizing, Saul "The Red" Alinsky.
"Our alumni are more than twice as likely as 18-34 year olds to . . . engage in protest activities," Public Allies boasts in a document found with its tax filings. It has already deployed an army of 2,200 community organizers like Obama to agitate for "justice" and "equality" in his hometown of Chicago and other U.S. cities, including Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Washington. "I get to practice being an activist," and get paid for it, gushed Cincinnati recruit Amy Vincent.
Public Allies promotes "diversity and inclusion," a program paper says. More than 70% of its recruits are "people of color." When they're not protesting, they're staffing AIDS clinics, handing out condoms, bailing criminals out of jail and helping illegal aliens and the homeless obtain food stamps and other welfare.
Public Allies brags that more than 80% of graduates have continued working in nonprofit or government jobs. It's training the "next generation of nonprofit leaders" — future "social entrepreneurs."
The Obamas discourage work in the private sector. "Don't go into corporate America," Michelle has exhorted youth. "Work for the community. Be social workers." Shun the "money culture," Barack added. "Individual salvation depends on collective salvation."
"If you commit to serving your community," he pledged in his Denver acceptance speech, "we will make sure you can afford a college education." So, go through government to go to college, and then go back into government.
Many of today's youth find the pitch attractive. "I may spend the rest of my life trying to create social movement," said Brian Coovert of the Cincinnati chapter. "There is always going to be work to do. Until we have a perfect country, I'll have a job."
Not all the recruits appreciate the PC indoctrination. "It was too touchy-feely," said Nelly Nieblas, 29, of the 2005 Los Angeles class. "It's a lot of talk about race, a lot of talk about sexism, a lot of talk about homophobia, talk about -isms and phobias."
One of those -isms is "heterosexism," which a Public Allies training seminar in Chicago describes as a negative byproduct of "capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and male-dominated privilege."
The government now funds about half of Public Allies' expenses through Clinton's AmeriCorps. Obama wants to fully fund it and expand it into a national program that some see costing $500 billion. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as the military, he said.
The gall of it: The Obamas want to create a boot camp for radicals who hate the military — and stick American taxpayers with the bill.
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Oh, there's MUCH more to know about Sheriff Joe!
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