Tuesday, September 22, 2009
POLL: 51% Say Congress Should Stop Funding ACORN
Among those who have been following recent news about ACORN, which describes itself as “the nation’s largest grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people,” 80% think all federal funding should be ended.
Eighty-five percent (85%) of Republicans, 73% of voters not affiliated with either major political party, and 44% of Democrats have an unfavorable view of ACORN.
Liberal voters are evenly divided
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NPR: ACORN Hassles Just 'The Problems of Being Poor and Minority in Urban America'
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"It's also important to keep in mind that ACORN's workers are coming from the same low-income neighborhoods the organization serves, with all that entails -- poor schools, high crime and the sorts of social problems that have been documented for decades. So the flaws conservatives are pointing out about ACORN are not so much problems associated with that organization per se but more about the problems of being poor and minority in urban America."
'Ya got that? "Being poor and minority in urban America" means ... enabling illegal immigration and child prostitution? Breaking tax laws? And since this is "just part" of being poor and minority in urban America, we should therefore continue to throw taxpayer money at the organization?
Can you imagine the MSM outcry if a conservative had made such an ... insinuation as to why ACORN acted as it did on the sting videos? Then it would be the "most virulent form of racial stereotyping" in which people can possibly engage.
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Revisionist History of ACORN
In a column today, Salon’s Joe Conason drastically downplays the history of illegality that characterizes the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. In his revisionist history of the organization, Conason tries to show that ACORN may commit voter registration fraud, intimidate its employees to prevent them from unionizing, and willingly assist in the trafficking of underage sex slaves, but by and large it is a force for good.
"For many years the combined forces of the far right and the Republican Party have sought to ruin ACORN, the largest organization of poor and working families in America."
Ah yes, ACORN is supposedly battling for the rights of the working class.
But in 1995, the organization sued the State of California for an exemption to the high minimum wage laws in that state on the grounds that higher wages would mean they would have to employ fewer people.
Incidentally, this is the exact same argument that every opponent of minimum wage laws employs, and ACORN has always battled for a higher minimum wage.
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ACORN drops tarnished name and moves to silence critics
Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) leaders are using the threat of a law suit to silence and intimidate critics, according to current and former members of the liberal activist group.
ACORN executives have also changed their organization’s name, which was tarnished by investigations in at least 14 states of allegations of voter registration fraud during the 2008 presidential campaign, and charges by current and former members of financial mismanagement and misrepresentation.
Wade Rathke, who founded the organization, announced on his blog that ACORN International has officially changed its name to “Community Organizations International”...
[The sad part is that, with the help of a duplicitous legacy media, it'll work.]
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Acorn Who?
Only one of the five television networks that interviewed President Obama for their Sunday shows bothered to ask him about Acorn, the left-wing community organizing group whose federal funding was cut off last week by an overwhelming vote in Congress.
Mr. Obama took great pains to act as if he barely knew about Acorn. In fact, his association goes back almost 20 years...
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POLL: Most Disagree With Decision To Halt Anti-Missile Shield
Most voters think that President Obama's decision to stop the missle shield will hurt America’s relationship with its European allies.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that while 31% of voters agree with the decision to stop the shield, 38% disagree.
Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Republicans oppose the president’s decision, a view shared by the plurality (43%) of voters not affiliated with either major political party - but only 15% of Democrats.
Among all voters, just 23% think the decision not to deploy the ground-based system will help America’s relationship with European countries. Forty-three percent (43%) say it will hurt that relationship.
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McCain: Nixing of Missile Shield 'Victory' for Putin
Sen. John McCain has called the Obama administration's cancellation of a planned missile shield in Eastern Europe a "victory" for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The administration's "decision calls into question the security and diplomatic commitments the United States has made to Poland and the Czech Republic and has the potential to undermine the perceived American leadership in Eastern Europe," McCain said in a statement.
"Given the serious and growing threats posed by Iran's missile and nuclear programs, now is the time when we should look to strengthen our defenses, and those of our allies."
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Russia general says missile plan not shelved
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Zurich - Russia's top general said on Monday that plans to deploy missiles in an enclave next to Poland had not been shelved, despite a decision by the United States to rethink plans for missile defense in Europe.
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President Barack Obama is beginning to look out of his depth
The Telegraph [UK]
It is lovely to feature in other people's dreams.
Regimes in Moscow, Pyongyang and Tehran simply pocket his concessions and carry on as before. The picture emerging from the White House is a disturbing one, of timidity, clumsiness and short-term calculation.
Some say he is the weakest president since Jimmy Carter...
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Did America betray us?
[Polish article at http://europa21.pl/ translated into English]
It was the worst thing that the American government could do. This decision was announced on 17 September, when Poland was commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Invasion Day, when the Soviet Union stabbed our country in the back.
At the same day, 70 years later, Obama bowed to the Kremlin. It was something that created great turmoil in all of Poland. What is even worse -- people here feel that they were betrayed. It's not only about the anti-missile shield. It's about the Polish attitude towards the USA. The United States was [past tense] seen as the great defender of freedom and democracy all around the world... [snip]
After 9/11, Poles expressed solidarity with the USA without any hesitation, despite the fact that we were risking alienation from some of our European partners. And after we joined the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism, we were verbally attacked by Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Shroeder -- leaders of two major European powers, but our position was clear and firm: we would stay with the USA and fight against common enemies -- enemies who attacked our ally and the whole free world.
Now it all belongs to the past. It's not only about this incident, but it was something that created great outrage here. It's impossible to remain so positive towards the U.S. now - people are reacting emotionally. Even the most pro-U.S. media and journalists comment that our close relations with the USA were a mistake. That we were wrong, and we should focus on our closer neighbours, like France or Germany.
But, some people understand -- as I do, that this is a wrong reaction. Wrong, because people don't recognize that "America" (United States) is only a country with a current policy that is set out by the current government. All I can say is that Obama is undermining previously strong support for U.S. foreign policy, not only in Poland and the Czech Republic, but also in the whole region. And this betrayal means that this process cannot be reversed under his government... [snip]
But the U.S. won't lose Poland as an ally because many people realize this simple fact: that we can't blame the U.S., but we can only blame Obama's administration. And Obama is not the United States. What is more, Obama's foreign policy hurts U.S. interests all around the world, and the USA is the country that would lose the most from his policies. So, we should understand it here, in Europe, that the major victim is not Poland, but the U.S.
The saddest thing is just seeing the anti-American groups in Europe, the same groups that some years ago shouted about American imperialism, have their moment of triumph. They also point out Poland, saying with satisfaction, "Look, the U.S. is pulling back - you and your policy lost".
Yes, it's their time now. But, we believe that in the future everything could change. Because the U.S. deserves a change now...
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A drive to create 'Israeli war crimes'
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It's September — prime time for Israel-bashing as world leaders and dignitar ies convene at the United Nations. This year, Israel's antagonists have intensified their efforts to smear the Jewish state over its operations against Hamas terrorists in Gaza in December and January.
The Obama administration is doing nothing to combat that campaign — even though it could wind up facilitating international "war crimes" prosecutions of American troops...
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Brezinski fantasizes about US shooting down Israeli planes
Michael Goldfarb of The Weekly Standard found the quote buried in an interview Brezinksi did with the Daily Beast:
DB: What if they fly over anyway?
Brzezinski: Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren't just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not...
Contrary to Brezinski's half-hearted disclaimer that no one wishes for such an outcome, there are plenty on the left who would delight in a pitched battle between the United States and Israel. Hostility to Israel among the rank and file is very real on the left -- and among "realists."
So conjure the image -- the Obama administration sending U.S. aircraft up to protect Iran's airspace and it's nuclear installations from an attack by a democracy that is one of America's closest allies.
Unfortunately, this may not be so hard to imagine in Israel, where the number of people who believe Obama is pro-Israel is at just 4 percent -- and falling. Given Obama's (literally) submissive posture to the Saudis, his indulgence of the Iranians, and his simultaneously hard-line approach to Israel, it seems even some of Obama's supporters can savor the possibility.
One more point; I think this makes an Israeli strike on Iran even more probable. The more Obama tries to isolate Israel, the more the Israelis are made aware that they cannot depend on America anymore and must act without regard to American interests in the region.
It takes a special kind of incompetence to anger your allies, appease your enemies, and leave the rest of the world looking at you with contempt. But confronting your 'allies' while protecting your 'enemies' accomplishes the trick nicely.
Congratulations, Mr. President.
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Deputy FM: Israel still has military option against Iran
Israel has not given up the option of a military response to Tehran's nuclear program, Israel's deputy foreign minister said Monday, after Russia's president said his Israeli counterpart had assured him the country would not attack Iran.
''It is certainly not a guarantee,'' ... ''I don't think that, with all due respect, the Russian president is authorized to speak for Israel and certainly we have not taken any option off the table.''
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Biden: Iran Not a Threat
Vice President Joe Biden said he was “deeply involved” in President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap the U.S. missile defense shield over Eastern Europe because he is “less concerned” now about Iran’s long-range nuclear threat, CNN reports.
"I think we are fully capable and secure dealing with any present or future potential Iranian threat," ... "I am less concerned — much less concerned — about the Iranian potential. They have no potential at this moment; they have no capacity to launch a missile at the United States of America.”
[And Israel? Poland? Hormuz Straight {through which all our mid-eastern oil travels}?
Lord is this man really that stupid?]
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Americans More Likely to Say Government Doing Too Much
Americans are more likely today than in the recent past to believe that government is taking on too much responsibility for solving the nation's problems and is over-regulating business. New Gallup data show that 57% of Americans say the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to businesses and individuals, and 45% say there is too much government regulation of business.
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POLL: 53% Oppose More Regulation of U.S. Financial System
President Obama in a speech on Wall Street this week repeated his call for greater oversight of the U.S. financial system, but opposition to more government regulation in that area of the economy has now risen to 53%.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only 33% of Americans favor more government regulation of the financial system, while 14% are not sure.
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The left still doesn't get it
The lefties' only work experience has been organizing protests, crafting slogans and manipulating the media. But regular Americans, in addition to their day jobs in building America and making it work have now also learned the stagecraft of protesting, sloganeering and leveraging the alternative media, while upstaging the mainstream media.
Unlike regular Americans, lefties have never produced anything that works -- neither in the private nor public sector. They have no frame of reference to assess whether their new world order will work; they haven't participated in building what works today. Nor have they ever built any sort of successful competing socio-economic model on any scale to show the rest of us that their future state on a larger scale could work.
More frightening, lefties don't care. Their only interest is to exercise the power of overthrow and erasure. David Horowitz, erstwhile lefty , now turned socio-political critic of the left, reminded Glenn Beck in a recent interview that the end game of Obama's radical movement is simply power.
Power has been the goal of the leftist movement for nearly a hundred years, most fervently in America since the late 1950s, today more than ever as they finally have critical mass to achieve their centennial ambition...
[I disagree the Left doesn't get it - I think it gets it too well: they know that if they succeed in establishing laws and, even better, institutions (frequently government entities themselves) to pursue leftist ideals they're virtually impossible to undo - hence the steady, if occasionally stagger-stepped, march toward big-government socialism.
Without awareness and active rejection it's inevitable - it requires eternal vigilance to keep at bay. Et tu?]
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Fed Rejects Geithner Request for Study of Governance, Structure
The Federal Reserve Board has rejected a request by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a public review of the central bank’s structure and governance, three people familiar with the matter said.
[Who in their right mind ever believed that our central banking overlords, who charge this country for its own currency, would ever let the American people see how it really runs simply because we've granted it a monopoly to print {and so inflate/devalue} our money as it sees fit?
JFK was right: we need abolish this criminal enterprise and issue US Treasury notes - only.]
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'Nightly News' Focuses on Greenland Melt, Ignores Antarctic Ice Expansion
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It's no secret General Electric (NYSE:GE) has a LOT to gain from the regulation of greenhouse gases, so is it a coincidence NBC, a GE product, offered more anecdotal evidence that global warming is putting the planet in danger?
"NBC Nightly News" provided yet another report on Sept. 20 agonizing about anthropogenic climate change melting ice in Greenland.
"There are new concerns tonight about the effects of global warming. A new study warns rapidly melting ice in Greenland could result in a colossal rise in ocean levels."
But for every report "Nightly News" has shown over the years claiming the ice melt as evidence climate change is occurring, there is much contrary evidence that the network ignores.
For example, ice in Antarctica is expanding according to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, which The Australian reported on in April 2009 - but has gone completely unreported by NBC...
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California to set TV energy efficiency standards
The California Energy Commission on Friday published a proposal to set efficiency standards for televisions.
The regulations mandate that retailers carry TVs with 33 percent lower energy consumption ratings starting in 2011, followed by more stringent levels in 2013.
[It won't stop until stopped.]
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Obama: Legalize Illegals to Get Them Healthcare
President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.
Republicans said that amounts to an amnesty, calling it a backdoor effort to make sure current illegal immigrants get health care.
"If the American people do not want to provide government health care for illegal immigrants, why would they support giving them citizenship, the highest honor America can bestow?"
Mr. Obama said legalizing illegal immigrants is a way to 'take the sting' out of the entire issue. But Republicans said by pushing to legalize illegal immigrants, Mr. Obama is signaling that those here illegally eventually will get access to taxpayer-funded benefits.
Still, the push to pass amnesty legalization is beginning to gain steam again...
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Assessment of Educational Progress
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Source: Andrew J. Coulson at Cato@Liberty , compiled from National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data. (The vertical scale on left is inflation-adjusted dollars per student in public elementary and secondary schools.)
[I.e., the government's own graph]
Distribution of sources of revenue for public elementary and secondary schools in 1929-30: 0.4% federal, 16.9% state, 82.7% local.
Distribution of sources of revenue for public elementary and secondary schools in 2005-06: 9.1% federal, 46.5% state, 44.4% local.
[How many more generations are we going to sacrifice before we return the job of educations to parents where it belongs through vouchers?]
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GOP Congressmen Say Science ‘Czar’ Should Explain His Views
White House science adviser John Holdren should return to Congress to explain his views, including his notion that a baby that has already been born might ''ultimately'' become a human being if given the proper resources.
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) told CNSNews.com that the ''science czar'' should ''absolutely'' come back to explain his views, and more than a dozen other GOP congressmen nodded in agreement...
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