tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10545528861307656952023-06-15T03:00:52.773-04:00CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN FORUM"Americans first, Conservatives second, Republicans third".SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-55381709950023302462014-01-01T17:26:00.002-05:002014-01-02T09:30:11.977-05:00New Year Begins With Liberal "Civil Discourse" As Expected2014 began with about as much "civil discourse" from liberals as one might expect... Exactly none.<br />
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Case in point, Maryland US House candidate Daniel Bongino - a retired US Secret Service agent, who served on the Personal Protection Details of both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama - was attempting to have a conversation about Obamacare with Twitter user Jack Mack (Twitter handle @JackTheCat11) when he received this very "civil" response:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QhzTPUdVCvw/UsSToxdKzCI/AAAAAAAAAXk/yIdfkMCnHF4/s1600/JackMack+attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QhzTPUdVCvw/UsSToxdKzCI/AAAAAAAAAXk/yIdfkMCnHF4/s400/JackMack+attack.jpg" width="379" /></a></div>
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There was more to the exchange, as you can see <a href="https://twitter.com/jackthecat11/status/418481774902403072" target="_blank">here</a>. This liberal didn't, and probably <i>still</i> doesn't think that he crossed a line with his attack, but many others on Twitter did.</div>
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As Obamacare and other progressive, redistributive schemes continue to crumble this year, it's probably safe to assume that desperate liberals will only intensify their hateful rhetoric.</div>
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This is both bad and good. It's bad, because it's sad that this is the only way that supposedly intelligent people that claim they're the enlightened ones can communicate in civil society. But it's good, in that it exposes their hypocrisy and their desperation as their ideology is proven - once again - to be an abject failure. </div>
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SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-71847564677304037002013-02-24T13:21:00.003-05:002013-02-24T13:23:57.768-05:00'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME' BLU-RAY REVIEW: PREQUEL MOCKS PRE-9/11 MINDSET<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>My latest posting for Big Hollywood at Breitbart.com</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2haaz-QAgXg/USpZxJVczXI/AAAAAAAAAVw/xAT8W8D4H-U/s1600/Blood+and+Chrome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2haaz-QAgXg/USpZxJVczXI/AAAAAAAAAVw/xAT8W8D4H-U/s320/Blood+and+Chrome.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><em style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome </em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">chronicles the first mission of a young Ensign Bill Adama, his co-pilot “Coker” and their enigmatic civilian passenger Dr. Becca Kelly as they embark on what is supposed to be a “milk run” that turns into a clandestine mission that will allegedly bring the 10-year war between the 12 Colonies and the Cylons to an end.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">If you’re a fan of the updated <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Battlestar Galactica</em> (2004-2009) series that featured Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama), Katee Sackoff (Lt. Kara “Starbuck” Thrace) and Jamie Bamber (Captain Lee “Apollo” Adama), then this is a must-see movie for you.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: black;">Read the rest of this posting at: <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/02/18/battlestar-galactica-blood-chrome" target="_blank">Big Hollywood</a></i></span></div>
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SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-77999175637533552382012-10-07T11:46:00.002-04:002012-10-07T16:45:05.335-04:00'The Hope And The Change' A Game Changer<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Ykx5hi9niM/UHGjrM6md5I/AAAAAAAAAVQ/zBwAiHZ8Trs/s1600/map-of-former-supporters-su.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Ykx5hi9niM/UHGjrM6md5I/AAAAAAAAAVQ/zBwAiHZ8Trs/s320/map-of-former-supporters-su.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The new <a href="http://citizensunited.org/" target="_blank">Citizens United</a> documentary <a href="http://thehopeandthechange.com/" target="_blank">‘The Hope and the Change’</a>
employed former Carter pollster Pat Caddell to make sure that filmmaker Stephen
K. Bannon was talking to Democrats and Independents who had voted for Barack
Obama in 2008 and could ask them questions in terms that would reach them.
Producer Dave Bossie also wanted Caddell to ensure that the questions posed to
these Democrats and Independents that voted for Barack Obama in 2008 were asked
in a way that didn’t speak to conservatives, didn’t speak to Republicans, but
instead, that was trying to get to the heart of why they voted for Barack Obama
in 2008 and what the turning points were that made them lose the hope that
Barack Obama would deliver on the change he had promised.</div>
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The goal of the film was to give those Democratic and
Independent voters that may now have “buyers remorse” permission to not vote
for Obama again. To let them know it’s okay, you’re not alone, you’re not the
only one that feels this way. You’re not a racist if you don’t vote for Barack
Obama for a second term. You don’t even have to vote for Mitt Romney, it’s okay
to just stay home.</div>
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While the 40 people highlighted in this movie are initially
“euphoric” about electing the first black president and describe Obama with
words like: “savior”, “charismatic”, “wondrous”, “a glow about him” and
“idealic”, soon after he is elected and things like the auto bailout and the
$787 billion “stimulus” are unveiled and the new president is presented with
the Nobel Peace Prize, for achieving nothing, they immediately start to
question their decision to vote for him, while still giving him the benefit of
the doubt.</div>
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One of the most powerful sections in the movie is when these
average, hardworking Americans express their profound anger at President Obama
for taking so many lavish vacations to places like Aspen, Martha’s Vineyard and
Hawaii – all on the taxpayer’s dime – when they haven’t had a vacation
themselves in 6 years and are trying to figure out how they’re going to put gas
in their car so they can get to work, if they’re fortunate enough to have a
job, so they can pay their rent and put food on the table for their families.
This is all crystallized when one woman says she doesn’t ever want to hear
“that godforsaken slogan Hope and Change” ever again.</div>
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These folks are not conservatives, they’re not Republicans,
they’re not Tea Party people. But what they are is fiscal conservatives,
whether they know it or not, because they do understand that while they have to
live within their means and can’t print money, the government is not living
within it’s means and that out of control deficit spending is hurting them now
and will cripple their children’s futures.</div>
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For conservatives viewing ‘The Hope and the Change’ it will
be an eye-opening look into why so many people fell for what Barack Obama was
selling in 2008. For “Reagan” Democrats and Independents suffering from buyers
remorse, it will be the permission slip they’ve been seeking to make it okay to
vote against Obama, or just stay home on November 6<sup>th</sup>. Either way,
it’s a must see.<br />
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<i><b>To hear my exclusive interview with Stephen K. Bannon click <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/crfmedia/2012/10/06/stephen-k-bannon-ava-aston-on-crf-radio-wsteve-daria" target="_blank">here</a>.</b></i></div>
SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-62756121628394824472012-09-02T14:36:00.001-04:002012-09-02T20:17:29.485-04:00US Troops in Afghanistan Suffering Atrocious Casualties Due to Politics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UxN7kpf2Psc/UEOf_xHZTdI/AAAAAAAAAU0/qEH2kzHuFpA/s1600/US-Forces-Afghanistan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UxN7kpf2Psc/UEOf_xHZTdI/AAAAAAAAAU0/qEH2kzHuFpA/s320/US-Forces-Afghanistan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Saturday on <a href="http://video.foxnews.com/v/1817650372001/" target="_blank">'Fox and Friends Weekend'</a> Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) revealed that 70% of US forces killed and 84% of US forces wounded in Afghanistan have been under President Obama's watch as Commander-in-Chief.<br />
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During President Bush's time in office 625 American troops were killed, compared with 1474 under President Obama. 2638 American troops were wounded during President Bush's tenure, while under President Obama a staggering 141,817 have been wounded.<br />
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What makes these statistics all the more alarming is the fact that Obama's dead and wounded have occurred in less than 4 years, while those under President Bush occurred in 7 years.<br />
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The reason for these horrifying statistics? Put simply, under President Obama the rules of engagement for US forces have been designed to protect Afghan civilians - and the president's political ass - rather than American soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.<br />
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When US troops come under fire they are not permitted to shoot back if civilians are in the line of fire. The rules for calling in air support are even more restrictive, requiring approval from up the chain of command.<br />
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In addition, the President's decision to announce a date certain for withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan have emboldened the Taliban and made our Afghan "allies" skittish. As a former military officer recently said, "We have the watch, but the Taliban has the time". The Afghans know that once the US leaves their country, the weak and corrupt government in Kabul will fall and those that are seen as collaborating with US and NATO troops will be slaughtered. This has led to increasing "Blue on Green" attacks by Afghans being trained to become police.<br />
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<script src="http://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=1817650372001&w=466&h=263" type="text/javascript"></script><noscript>Watch the latest video at &amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://video.foxnews.com"&amp;amp;amp;gt;video.foxnews.com&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt;</noscript><br />
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The so-called "mainstream" media and anti-war protesters who were so ready to point out every error of the Bush Administration in both Iraq and Afghanistan, are completely silent on these fact under the Obama administration.<br />
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Under current circumstances it seems clear that US casualties will only increase. Either the rules of engagement need be changed and our withdrawal date scrapped, or our forces need to be withdrawn immediately to prevent more needless bloodshed.<br />
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If our goal is to build a stable, democratic Afghanistan then we've already failed. If our goal is to prevent Al-Qaeda from utilizing Afghanistan as a training and staging area we can accomplish that with our Special Forces, intelligence assets and air power. There is no reason to have large numbers of US boots on the ground to be targets for Al-Qaeda terrorists, Taliban insurgents and Afghan infiltrators.<br />
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<br />SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-26067671048574155082012-08-28T20:14:00.001-04:002012-08-28T20:21:31.947-04:00Contraception, Abortion and the "War on Women"Those of you who know me, have read my blog or listened to me speak on <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/crfmedia" target="_blank">CRF Radio</a>, know that I'm a fiscal and constitutional conservative, but that I'm more of a moderate on the social issues. So it should come as no surprise that I've never written about prophylactic-contraception or abortion.<br />
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Frankly, until President Obama made it an issue by putting a mandate in the "Affordable Care Act" (aka Obamacare) that requires hospitals and schools run by religious institutions - as well as private companies run by people of faith - to provide coverage for contraception and the "morning after" pill in their healthcare coverage, it wasn't something I felt a need to address in any great detail.</div>
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I believe that <i>Roe v. Wade</i> was decided incorrectly because it's a Tenth Amendment, State's rights issue. The Supreme Court should have ruled to let each state make their own laws and then Congress should have passed a law protecting a woman that goes to a state that permits abortion from being prosecuted when/if she returned to her home state. If you don't like the laws in your state, you're free to move to another state. As the census showed us, in the last 10 years millions of Americans have left states like New York and California and moved to states like Texas and Florida. So evidently, whatever their reasons, people do and have voted with their feet.</div>
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I want to try to examine both contraception and abortion in terms of the so-called "moral high ground", which somehow Democrats seem to have seized (at least in the media).</div>
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I should note that I have no objection to people using contraception. That is a personal choice. And frankly it's also the personal <i>responsibility</i> of <b>both</b> the man and the woman if they choose to have sex and don't want to have a child. What I do have a problem with is people expecting taxpayers and people of faith that disagree to pay for what happens in their bedrooms.</div>
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I also should make it clear where I personally stand on abortion. I neither want to outlaw all abortions, nor do I think it should be legal to terminate a pregnancy once the fetus is viable outside the womb. Both positions are extreme to me.</div>
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Once the baby can survive outside the mother it is, in my opinion, no longer simply a matter of the woman's choice. There is clearly another person who has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness involved at that point. And six months is more than enough time to decide to have an abortion if you truly don't want to have a baby.</div>
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Hopefully having clarified my own positions, I want to address the way that progressives like Barack Obama, Sandra Fluke and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz talk about these issues and the "moral high ground" they claim to stand on.</div>
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Whether it's contraception or abortion, progressives claim that the issue is a "woman's access to healthcare". This is an intentionally false and deceptive argument.</div>
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After all, what disease does contraception cure? Being fertile is the natural condition for most women. In fact, according to the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsFertilityDrugs/index.html" target="_blank">CDC</a>, approximately 200,000 women a year utilize <i>fertility drugs</i> because they <i>can't get pregnant, even though they would like to conceive.</i></div>
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Again in the case of abortion, becoming pregnant is natural -- it is the means by which we procreate and perpetuate our species. So to claim it's simply a women's health issue is disingenuous at best.</div>
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So why do progressives frame the debate this way? Simple. If they said they wanted to give women the right to kill their unborn child they'd sound like monsters. It's much easier to demonize people of faith and good conscience than to try to debate civilly about an issue that so divides people.</div>
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More recently progressives have doubled-down on their arguments claiming that Republicans are waging a "war on women" due to their moral objection to abortion.</div>
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When Barack Obama said he didn't want his daughters to "be punished with a baby" I believe the left lost any claim to the moral high ground on the issue of abortion.</div>
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I will say that if the circumstance is either rape or incest I can completely understand why a woman <i>might not</i> want carry a baby to term. I don't want the government telling a woman that's been the victim of either of these violent assaults what they have to do about a pregnancy that results from it. It's a personal decision that the woman must make.</div>
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At the same time it's also disturbing to see a "pro-choice" ad featuring a mother essentially saying that she wants her daughter to have the <i style="font-weight: bold;">"right" to terminate her unborn grandchild</i>. Again, unless it's the result of rape or incest, shouldn't the woman have insisted on the use of contraception if she's going to have sex?</div>
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It is also despicable when women that do choose life for their child, i.e. Sarah Palin or Tim Tebow's mother, Pamela, are attacked and ridiculed for that decision. I would think that the maternal instinct would be to choose life, not abortion. I know, what a concept!</div>
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Another disturbing thing is that most who describe themselves as pro-choice and support Planned Parenthood are completely ignorant of the origins of this organization and it's founder <a href="http://blackgenocide.org/sanger.html" target="_blank">Margaret Sanger</a>. Sanger was a eugenicist and a racist. She felt that people of color were "unfit" and that the "procreation of this group should be stopped".</div>
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No wonder so many Planned Parenthood clinics are located in African-American neighborhoods. It's really pretty shocking that some of the biggest defenders of Planned Parenthood are black politicians. Of course this is one of the reasons that the left has so dominated our public education system and curtailed the history that our children are taught. An ignorant population can be led to the slaughter much more easily than an informed one. But I digress.</div>
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One other thing that rarely gets talked about when discussing abortion is the man. What about the rights of the <b>man</b> in all of this? As things currently stand the woman gets to decide whether or not to keep the baby. The man has absolutely no say in most cases. However, if the woman decides to have the child the man is usually expected and often <i style="font-weight: bold;">required</i> to foot all or some of the costs of raising that child. So much for the "war on women".</div>
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The issues of prophylactic-contraception and abortion are not going to be solved here, or likely anytime soon in our political debates. But it would be nice if the debate were on the actual issues involved, rather than on disingenuous attacks on people of faith and good conscience.</div>
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SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-83794173914978589752012-07-07T23:43:00.000-04:002012-07-08T13:12:42.041-04:00A Sad Day For Conservatives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EwRAHhzzv30/T_kBeNb_I3I/AAAAAAAAAUg/AzFmVvGT-h4/s1600/McCotter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EwRAHhzzv30/T_kBeNb_I3I/AAAAAAAAAUg/AzFmVvGT-h4/s320/McCotter.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-Livonia, MI) retired this week from his post in the United States House of Representatives. It is a sad day for the conservative movement and conservatives, whether they know it or not.<br />
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Many of us first became aware of Thad McCotter from his appearances on Fox News' <i><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/redeye" target="_blank">Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld</a></i>. This obscure congressman's dry sense of humor and keen intellect were on full display at 3am ET and we loved it and him.<br />
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But beyond his humor - which I've described as "The Bob Newhart of the House" - Rep. McCotter is also a talented musician and a great conservative statesman.<br />
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I've had the pleasure of interviewing the congressman several times on <i><a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/crfmedia" target="_blank">CRFRadio</a>,</i> and even had the occasion to wake him up as he dozed in a chair between sessions at the David Horowitz Restoration Weekend, in a hallway at the Breakers resort on Palm Beach Island. He always answered our questions directly and fully. And even when our questions sometimes challenged his positions, he remained a gentleman.<br />
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A great song by <i>The Army You Have</i> they wrote for McCotter's presidential campaign.
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<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=2134013298/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" style="display: block; height: 100px; position: relative; width: 400px;" width="400">&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://thearmyyouhave.bandcamp.com/track/his-names-thaddeus"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;His Name's Thaddeus by The Army You Have&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;</iframe><br />
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I believe his foray into the GOP Presidential Primaries was his undoing (as it may end up being for Michele Bachmann). He spent time and money in an ill-conceived bid for President of the United States and took his eye off his newly redrawn congressional district and his campaign. Ultimately he was undone by allegedly fraudulent signatures on his petitions. The Michigan Attorney General is investigating.<br />
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In any case, the United States House of Representatives and the conservative movement are diminished by the resignation of Congressman Thaddeus McCotter. He will be missed.SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-62478495261298980842012-05-02T12:43:00.001-04:002012-05-02T13:01:37.278-04:00Is Mitt Romney Conservative? Who Cares?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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During the height of the GOP Presidential Primaries a popular argument among grassroots, conservative, activists was: <i>"Is Mitt Romney actually a conservative?"</i><br />
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Regardless of who you were supporting at that moment in the primary season, if you weren't already in the Romney camp, the answer to that question was probably <b><i>"no"</i></b>.<br />
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There is no shortage of evidence to support the claim that Mitt Romney is not a conservative. Governor Romney has actually described himself as <a href="http://youtu.be/dMcjJEXt9To?t=42s" target="_blank">"a PROGRESSIVE-Republican"</a>, back before he described himself as <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/10/romney-at-cpac-my-record-is-severely-conservative/" target="_blank">"SEVERELY-conservative"</a> at this year's CPAC gathering.<br />
<br />
From his <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/14-bald-faced-mitt-romney-flip-flops-that-were-dug-up-by-john-mccain-2012-1#1-on-immigration-for-a-path-to-citizenship-then-against-1" target="_blank">changes in position on issues</a> important to social conservatives like same-sex marriage and abortion, to his embrace of "man-caused" climate change, to Romneycare, Mitt Romney has not been modestly, much less "severely", conservative.<br />
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During the primaries his conservative credentials, or lack thereof, was a valid and pertinent question to ask and debate. But now that Governor Mitt Romney is the presumptive - and yes inevitable - Republican nominee there seems to be little point in worrying about how conservative, moderate, or heaven help us, progressive he is.<br />
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Conservatives need not try to convince themselves, or anyone else, that Mitt Romney is the conservative candidate we had hoped for. For the purposes of the general election what is important is that Barack Obama is the worst U.S. President of modern times (arguably second to Jimmy Carter) and must not get a second term. If he does, he will be completely free to enact his radical agenda without any concerns about reelection.<br />
<br />
President Obama has already diminished the stature of the United States in the world, by going on his apology tours, leading from behind and missing opportunities to support true freedom movements like the Green Movement in Iran, while quickly supporting Islamist "freedom" movements during the so-called "Arab Spring".<br />
<br />
He has emboldened our adversaries and enemies - i.e. China, Russia, North Korea and Venezuela - while leaving our traditional allies - i.e. England and Israel - wondering if they can count on the United States to support them.<br />
<br />
President Obama has increased the polarization of the American public, not just along party lines, but among economic and racial lines as well. The post-racial President has turned out to be anything but, inserting himself in every racially charged controversy without all the facts. He has inspired the "Occupiers" by stoking class-envy and demonized private citizens for the "crime" of being successful.<br />
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And of course those are just a couple of his greatest hits. Let's not forget the trillion dollar "Stimulus", Obamacare, allowing his Justice Department to sue Arizona over SB1070 and the scandals of Solyndra and Fast and Furious.<br />
<br />
The question is no longer, <i>"Is Mitt Romney actually a conservative?"</i> Now the question is, <i><b>"What will America look like after 4 more years of Barack Obama if we allow Mitt Romney to lose?" '</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i><br />
<b>Let's not find out!</b>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-15149663885450804692012-05-02T11:24:00.000-04:002012-05-02T17:04:53.789-04:00It's Been A While...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-epUsowQurwU/T6FRU168caI/AAAAAAAAASc/LaFHDMADEOY/s1600/CRF_wSteve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-epUsowQurwU/T6FRU168caI/AAAAAAAAASc/LaFHDMADEOY/s200/CRF_wSteve.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
It's been a while since my last posting, almost 3 months. My personal life has been in turmoil and it's been tough to get motivated to write about politics. However, things are starting to look up - at least slightly, so hopefully I'll be getting back to regular postings.<br />
<br />
Thanks for your patience and support! Keep checking back for new articles and listen to <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/crfmedia" target="_blank">CRF Radio</a> w/Steven Rosenblum & <a href="http://www.dariadigiovanni.com/" target="_blank">Daria DiGiovanni</a> every Saturday evening from 6:00-7:30pm ET.SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-82994308715065759572012-01-15T18:43:00.000-05:002012-01-15T18:43:10.927-05:00Is Santorum A Threat To Romney In Florida?This ad started running in South Florida today.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oi6JL8JlLKM" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
If Rick Santorum is no threat then why is <a href="http://restoreourfuture.com/" target="_blank">Restore Our Future PAC</a>, a pro-Romney PAC, running this attack ad against him? It costs a pretty penny to run television ads (especially during NFL playoff games) in Florida. They must feel Santorum poses some threat in terms of dissatisfied conservative-Republican voters if they're going to this expense.<br />
<br />
<i>Early voting for the Florida GOP Primary opens on Saturday, January 21st.</i>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-56105843230948281012012-01-07T12:45:00.002-05:002012-01-08T03:23:07.731-05:00GOP “McCained” (Redux)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfnHCKbO1JE/TwiE9o_VF6I/AAAAAAAAAPc/FpCR9PidkNk/s1600/McCain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VfnHCKbO1JE/TwiE9o_VF6I/AAAAAAAAAPc/FpCR9PidkNk/s200/McCain.jpg" width="146" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John McCain gave the '08<br />
election away to Barack Obama.<br />
Now he wants to tell us who to<br />
nominate to defeat Obama?</td></tr>
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In the 2008 primaries Republican voters allowed the liberal, “mainstream media” and establishment, moderate, inside The Beltway “Republicans” to choose our nominee.</div>
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The result was a fatally flawed GOP presidential candidate, who generated only the merest modicum of enthusiasm for his candidacy with the grassroots when he selected a little-known, plainspoken Alaska governor by the name of Sarah Palin to be his running mate.</div>
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The base of the Republican Party was <strong><em>"McCained"</em></strong>.</div>
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McCain was the media’s GOP darling during the primaries of the 2008 cycle. They helped to resurrect his struggling campaign several times, which should have been a red flag to Republicans.</div>
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After he won the nomination John McCain infuriated conservatives and GOP activists when he didn't challenge then Senator Obama on his associations (Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers anyone?), his voting record (is “present” really a vote?) and his public policy statements (“energy prices will necessarily skyrocket”).</div>
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If that wasn’t bad enough, McCain then proceeded to temporarily “suspend” his campaign so he could return to Washington, DC to participate in creating what would become known as TARP along with President Bush and Senator Barack Obama.</div>
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Candidate McCain even botched the handling of his vice presidential selection. He failed to unleash Governor Palin and he also failed to defend her with passion from media attacks or to reign in or fire his staff when they spoke ill of Palin.</div>
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After the devastating losses of 2008 – led by the inept McCain campaign -- GOP and conservative activists resolved to learn from the experience and never again allow the media and Washington insiders to choose our nominees. The early signs were good that the grassroots were taking back the nomination process.</div>
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For instance, when then Republican Governor Charlie Crist (FL) announced that he was running for the US Senate seat vacated by Mel Martinez and temporarily filled by George LeMieux, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) immediately endorsed him. This was extremely problematic since there were other more conservative GOP candidates vying for the nomination who had all entered the race earlier than Crist.</div>
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The Republican Party of Florida’s then-Chairman Jim Greer (a Crist appointee and confidante) even tried to invoke RNC “Rule 11” which would have allowed the Party to support Governor Crist in the primary. This move was blocked by State Committeewoman and RNC Treasurer Sharon Day (who is now the RNC Vice-Chair).</div>
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In particular, the former-Speaker of the Florida House, Marco Rubio, was very popular with many grassroots Florida Republicans and <strong><em>they</em></strong> wanted to choose <strong><em>their</em></strong> nominee via the <strong><em>primary process</em></strong>.</div>
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The result of all these establishment shenanigans was a grassroots revolt. The polls began to turn against Crist. The NRSC was forced to withdraw its support of Charlie Crist, after he broke a pledge and decided to run as an independent, when it became clear that Rubio would win the nomination.</div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">There are other examples of grassroots candidates beating out establishment, “moderates” in primaries. Candidates like Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell and</span> <a data-mce-href="http://paul.senate.gov" href="http://paul.senate.gov/">Rand Paul</a> <span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">all defeated “RINOs” with grassroots/Tea Party support, though only Paul was successful in his general election campaign.</span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">Fast forward to today’s GOP presidential primary field and we find Mitt Romney as the “presumed front-runner” with around 25% of GOP support nationally. Romney only enjoys the support of a quarter of the Republican base after running for president for more than 5 years. So why is he the presumed front-runner? And why are “conservatives” defending the record of a man that is in his own words <em>“a progressive-Republican”</em>?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_BS8uZ_bsJE/TwiFShbqHBI/AAAAAAAAAPk/JXOCwpLhbtw/s1600/Romney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_BS8uZ_bsJE/TwiFShbqHBI/AAAAAAAAAPk/JXOCwpLhbtw/s320/Romney.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">"Romney is a taller, less heroric, younger John McCain,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;">with better hair and business experience".</span></i></td></tr>
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">Worse still for the conservative base of the Republican Party is the fact that arguably the best candidates to uphold conservative principles and defeat Barack Obama in the general election are now out of the race. Both Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann would arguably have been the best standard bearers as truly conservative-Republican candidates.</span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;"><br /></span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">Unfortunately both Cain and Bachmann put themselves out of the running. Though they certainly had help from the liberal media, the demise of both of their campaigns was largely due to self-inflicted wounds and unforced errors on the part of both the candidates and their national campaign staff.</span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;"><br /></span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">So we come back to our “presumed nominee” in the person of Mitt Romney. He is the former governor of one of the bluest states in the union, “Taxachussetts”. He is a northeast “moderate” Republican (who called himself a “progressive-Republican”) who created the template for Obamacare with his healthcare reform in Massachusetts.</span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;"><br /></span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">He has changed positions on major issues -- like abortion and gay marriage -- that are important to social conservatives. In addition Romney supported TARP and says he believes in man-made climate change.</span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;"><br /></span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">Romney has been endorsed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (who doesn’t believe Sharia Law is a danger to the US and has scolded conservatives who disagree), he's also got the thumbs up from Meghan McCain (the useful idiot that thinks she represents young Republicans on MSNBC) and of course now by Senator John McCain himself – who tells crowd on the campaign trail what a great candidate Romney would be (as if he’d know a good candidate). To put it simply, Romney is a taller, less heroic, younger John McCain, with better hair and business experience.</span><br />
<br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">Thank you to</span> <a data-mce-href="http://www.therightscoop.com" href="http://www.therightscoop.com/">The Right Scoop</a> <span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">for catching this gem</span>.
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<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">The GOP may take back the White House with Mitt Romney as its nominee (depending on his VP choice). But a Romney candidacy is unlikely to generate enough enthusiasm from the base to make it a resounding victory.</span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;"><br /></span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">If Governor Romney were going to generate broad and enthusiastic support within the Republican Party for himself and his candidacy -- he would have done it by now -- after more than 5 years of running for president. But as it stands Romney is stuck at around 25% support. Or to put it in starker terms: <strong><em>75% of the Republican Party would prefer someone other than Mitt Romney as their nominee</em></strong>.</span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;"><br /></span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">Apparently all the lessons of the 2008 elections have been forgotten (or ignored). The remaining crop of Republican candidates leaves conservatives with a few unpleasant choices:</span><br />
<ol>
<li>“Settle” for the most “electable” candidate – who just happens to be the next in line – the “progressive-Republican”, <a href="http://www.mittromney.com/" target="_blank">Mitt Romney</a>.</li>
<li>Select a candidate like <a data-mce-href="http://www.ricksantorum.com" href="http://www.ricksantorum.com/"><span data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="color: blue;">Rick Santorum</span></a> who is a former-senator that lost his reelection bid in 2008, endorsed Arlen Spector and is as willing to legislate his far-right social agenda as Pelosi is to legislate her far-left social agenda.</li>
<li>Opt for <a data-mce-href="http://www.newt.org" href="http://www.newt.org/">Newt Gingrich</a> who sat on a couch, bought and paid for by Al Gore, with Nancy Pelosi to support “Climate Change” legislation and is a Washington insider with ties to Freddie Mac.</li>
<li>Choose <a data-mce-href="http://www.ronpaul2012.com" href="http://www.ronpaul2012.com/">Ron Paul</a> who is a libertarian, not a Republican (much less a conservative), is anti-Israel and who is to the left of Obama on foreign policy.</li>
</ol>
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">Without a strong candidate and running mate at the top of the ticket -- and a decisive popular vote victory -- there will be no coat tails down-ticket to ensure that the GOP increases its numbers in the House of Representatives and retakes the Senate with the <strong><em>filibuster-proof majority</em></strong> that will be required to repeal Obamacare and reverse all the damage done by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.</span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;"><br /></span><br />
<span data-mce-style="color: #000000;">Looking at the surviving Republican candidates does not inspire confidence or enthusiasm that any of them can defeat Barack Obama (at least not resoundingly). The GOP will more than likely go into the general election led by a “moderate” and the conservative base of the Republican Party will have been <strong><em>“McCained”</em></strong> again. In fact, we already have been.</span><br />
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<br />SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-45295333260475854852012-01-06T20:10:00.002-05:002012-01-06T20:13:40.123-05:00<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XHn-El04P3w/TweaGaKmQ6I/AAAAAAAAAPM/KZT33ByfYCs/s1600/MikeBaker3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XHn-El04P3w/TweaGaKmQ6I/AAAAAAAAAPM/KZT33ByfYCs/s200/MikeBaker3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Tomorrow evening </span><strong style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><em></em></strong><strong style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><em><a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stevenrrepub/2012/01/07/mike-baker-on-crf-wsteven-rosenblum-daria-digiovanni" target="_blank">Conservative Republican Forum</a></em></strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> kicks off its 2012 season with a returning guest and friend of the show.</span><br />
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Former CIA operative and president of Diligence LLC, <strong><a data-mce-href="http://www.twitter.com/mbcompanyman" href="http://www.twitter.com/mbcompanyman">Mike Baker</a></strong> joins host <strong>Steven Rosenblum</strong> and cohost <strong>Daria DiGiovanni</strong> to talk about a variety of intelligence and national defense topics, including but not limited to: The so-called "peace negotiations" between the US and the Taliban, the succession of power in North Korea, Iranian nukes, missiles & blockade threats and the "Arab Winter" in Egypt.</div>
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Listeners are welcome to call <strong>347-637-1121</strong> with comments and questions.</div>
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<strong><em><a data-mce-href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stevenrrepub" href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stevenrrepub">Conservative Republican Forum</a></em></strong> airs Saturday evenings on <a data-mce-href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com" href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/">BlogTalkRadio</a> from 6:00-7:30pm ET.</div>
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The show is also rebroadcast on the <strong><a data-mce-href="http://www.redstatetalkradio.com" href="http://www.redstatetalkradio.com/">Red State Talk Radio</a></strong> and <strong><a data-mce-href="http://www.usaradionetwork.com" href="http://www.usaradionetwork.com/">USA Talk Radio</a></strong> networks.</div>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-87240777995695278892011-12-06T13:36:00.001-05:002011-12-06T13:46:58.102-05:002012 Could Be a Train Wreck<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_NsfiGWwW_A/Tt5g98THKKI/AAAAAAAAAPA/DPijV92LOJc/s1600/train_wreck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_NsfiGWwW_A/Tt5g98THKKI/AAAAAAAAAPA/DPijV92LOJc/s320/train_wreck.jpg" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Is the Cain Train just the first derailment of 2012?</i></td></tr>
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The meteoric rise and catastrophic derailment of Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain should be a cautionary tale for all grassroots conservative/Republican activists and for the leadership at the NRCC, NRSC and RNC.</div>
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Herman Cain’s ascent in the polls and popularity with “tea party” activists came about due to the candidate’s approachability, his straight-talking style and his common sense approach to solving the problems that confront our nation.</div>
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His embrace of his outsider status and his quick-witted answer when his political inexperience was brought up as an issue also won Cain scores of supporters.</div>
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When asked about his lack of elected experience he would simply remind people that we’ve been sending people to Washington, DC who have political experience and then simply ask, <em>“How’s that working for you? How about sending a problem solver to the White House?”</em></div>
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Unfortunately some of the very things that made Herman Cain such an attractive candidate to many, also led to his ultimate demise.</div>
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Cain talked a lot about <em>“making sure we are working on the right problem”</em> and<em>“surrounding yourself with the right people”</em>. On both counts his campaign, and therefore he, failed miserably.</div>
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Herman Cain’s biggest problem, other than his inexcusable lack of understanding of foreign policy and national defense issues, as well as, his apparent inability to learn – despite allegedly discussing the topics with distinguished experts like KT McFarland and John Bolton – was his senior national campaign staff.</div>
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Cain’s national campaign chairman, Mark Block, has his own <a data-mce-href="http://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-filings/entry/crew-fec-complaint-against-herman-cain-campaign-prosperity-usa" href="http://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-filings/entry/crew-fec-complaint-against-herman-cain-campaign-prosperity-usa">FEC scanda</a>l smoldering in the background. He is a man that was <a data-mce-href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/28/cains-cigarette-puffing-aide-has-checkered-past/" href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/28/cains-cigarette-puffing-aide-has-checkered-past/">barred</a> from involvement in elected politics for 3 years and he obviously lacked the knowledge and experience to deal with the firestorm of controversy and allegations that inundated their operation after the first Politico article was published.</div>
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JD Gordon, Cain’s communications director/foreign policy advisor, was completely incompetent in dealing with the Politico story despite having 10 days advanced notice that it was coming. He infamously <a data-mce-href="http://www.dailycaller.com/2011/10/31/cain-spox-calls-geraldo-show-about-smear-campaign-but-wont-deny-politico-allegations/" href="http://www.dailycaller.com/2011/10/31/cain-spox-calls-geraldo-show-about-smear-campaign-but-wont-deny-politico-allegations/">called</a> Geraldo Rivera’s cell phone while Rivera was on the air and gave an amateurish interview that was heard through Geraldo’s lapel microphone.</div>
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Additionally, each time candidate Cain made yet another unforced error – whether it was not knowing the Taliban isn’t in Libya, his tortured answer about negotiating with Al-Qaeda to get a captured soldier back:</div>
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Or not being able to clearly articulate his own position on abortion:</div>
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– Gordon inevitably came out with a statement that tried to explain each gaffe away by blaming a lack of sleep, the media and/or the public for being unable to understand Cain’s answers.</div>
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You can read JD Gordon’s biography <a data-mce-href="http://www.jdgordoncommunications.com/page/about.html" href="http://www.jdgordoncommunications.com/page/about.html">here</a>. I’ve read it several times and based on the bio, his performance and my personal interaction with him, I’ve come to two conclusions: 1) Based on his resume Gordon should have done a much better job at both damage control and interacting with the media. 2) He lacks the expertise to call himself a “foreign policy advisor”.</div>
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For a couple of weeks I implored Herman Cain on Twitter, on my radio show and anywhere else I could to fire Mark Block and JD Gordon and get his campaign back on track and back on message. Unfortunately he did not heed my advice and the emergence of a woman accusing the candidate of engaging in a 13-year extra-marital affair became the preverbal last straw.</div>
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The “Cain Train” was the best vehicle for the GOP to reach the White House in 2012. With the train derailed some activists find themselves taking another look at Newt Gingrich or one of the other remaining candidates. But unfortunately none of them have the combination of qualities that attracted voters to Cain.</div>
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Gingrich is the biggest Washington insider of the group, with the possible exception of Ron Paul. Yet he seems, at least for the moment, to be convincing some voters that he is the consistent conservative they’re looking for.</div>
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Despite having a firm grasps on the economic, monetary and other domestic policies, Paul’s foreign policy stances make him a non-starter for most GOP primary voters.</div>
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Jon Huntsman is a Republican In Name Only and would actually get more traction as a Democratic challenger to Barack Obama.</div>
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Rick Santorum’s best arguments for his candidacy are his accomplishments as a US Senator. Not the best position to be in when the electorate is looking for outsiders.</div>
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Rick Perry’s accumulated gaffes and flubs have pretty much eliminated him from consideration by many grassroots activists.</div>
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It seems only fair to have an obligatory mention of Gary Johnson and Buddy Roemer. Done.</div>
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Michele Bachmann surged early, especially in Iowa, then lost some of her luster – and a lot of her traction -- due to unforced errors on the part of both her national campaign staff and herself. She was widely seen as behaving like a “diva” on the campaign trail. One of the chief complaints from people on the ground was that when booked at an event (Lincoln Day dinner, etc.) she would arrive late and leave early – sometimes not even eating at the dinner – annoying event planners.</div>
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Bachmann also had a bout of campaign-threatening foot-in-mouth decease where she said things that were factually untrue, and/or absurd, or she would make a great point in a debate only to blow her momentum by taking her argument just a little too far (see Gardasil).</div>
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Perhaps her most grievous error though may have been co-opting the Tea Party label and movement for her personal political gain, which makes her look like a “typical politician”.</div>
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Founding and chairing the House Tea Party Caucus might have been a great idea, if Bachmann were staying in Congress and continuing to fight for lower taxes, less spending and smaller, more constitutionally centered government. Not so much when she appears to have done it only for political benefit.</div>
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So now Republican primary voters have a choice to make and less time to make it than many average voters may realize. The first in the nation caucuses will take place in just over 3 weeks – less considering Christmas and New Years – and the current crop of GOP presidential hopefuls is not generating excitement within the base. It’s down to Romney or “Not Romney” and that’s not going to generate enthusiasm (think John McCain in 2008).</div>
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Short term there seems no doubt it’s Newt Gingrich that benefits from derailment of Herman Cain’s campaign and his departure. With or without Cain’s endorsement, and there is some doubt as to whether it’s forthcoming or even desirable, Newt is already seeing a bump in his poll numbers. But Newt has a long and colorful record for the media, his opponents and his former congressional colleagues to revisit and expose. Can the former-Speaker weather the storm that is inevitably coming his way?</div>
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What has happened thus far in the current primary season leads to questions about the “inevitability” of a Barack Obama defeat in 2012. But beyond that it also raises questions about the GOP retaking the Senate and increasing its majority in the House.</div>
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The coattails of a successful presidential candidate cannot be overstated. Down ticket candidates can be helped or hurt by the enthusiasm and voter turn out generated by a strong top of the ticket candidate.</div>
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Looking around at some of the declared candidates for senate and house seats around the nation, there are some excellent candidates and some not so exceptional candidates. Some of the excellent candidates are in tough races. Some of the not so exceptional candidates are in impossible races.</div>
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Perhaps more troubling is that in some of the house and senate races there are 11 or more candidates vying for the GOP nomination. These fields are as wide as the Grand Canyon and about as deep as a rain gutter. Quality would be more desirable than quantity in defeating entrenched incumbent Democrats. Even in an anti-incumbent atmosphere incumbency is a powerful tool.</div>
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Unless a Republican presidential ticket is chosen that offers a clear alternative to the policies of Barack Obama and generates the passion among the grassroots activists that actually win elections by knocking on doors, making phone calls and getting out the vote, 2012 could be a train wreck.</div>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-18453134472180214772011-10-30T20:28:00.000-04:002011-10-30T20:36:44.486-04:00Israel Will Face Multi-Front War In 6-12 Months<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Middle East</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Fox News Channel’s Senior Military Analyst, retired US Air Force <b>Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney,</b> believes that within the next 6-12 months Israel will face a major war on multiple fronts. The war will be instigated by the Iranian regime and carried out by its proxies in Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That was a major take away from my comprehensive, 30-minute, interview Friday afternoon <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stevenrrepub/2011/10/28/lt-gen-thomas-mcinerney-on-crf-weekdays-wsteven-rosenblum" rel="nofollow" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><i>CRF Weekdays</i></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The interview was largely centered around the fallout from the so-called “Arab Spring”, the rise of <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/28/arab-spring-optimism-gives-way-to-fear-islamic-rise/" rel="nofollow" style="color: blue; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">3 Shariah compliant Islamist governments</a> in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, as well as the increased belligerence of Iran, the destabilization of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and the precipitous withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the end of this year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">All these factors can be tied directly to the naïve and weak handling of foreign policy in the region and the lukewarm “support” the Obama administration has shown for our only democratic ally in the Middle East; Israel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">President Obama in defiance of the warnings of foreign policy experts, has supported questionable groups that have deposed admittedly bad leaders like Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Qaddafi -- without any concern for who or what would replace them. In this respect Obama has repeated the mistakes of President George W. Bush, who had no plan for post combat in Iraq and did not foresee Hamas' rise to power in Gaza when he demanded democratic elections for the Palestinian Authority. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: x-small;">Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, USAF (retired)</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">General McInerney pointed out to me during our interview that he </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>“didn’t like Qaddafi, but one thing was sure, he wasn’t a radical Islamist”</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>.</i> He went on to observe, </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>“ I think we’re in a very precarious position and it should be very worrisome to all of us, in addition to the green light we’re giving to Iran by pulling out all US military [from Iraq] by 31 December”</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">When I asked him whether the outcome of the US withdrawal from Iraq will lead to a military incursion by Iran or a more esoteric and insidious action, the General replied, </span><i>“I think it will be more subtle than that, but it’s going to be giving them a green light. Already today in Basrah the Kuds Force, which is the Iranian special operations force, that force today has an enclave in Basrah they’re flying the Kuds Force flag. They’re speaking Farsi and anybody that comes in and takes pictures; they hold them up, take their cameras and destroy the film”.</i><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So clearly the Iranians are already flexing their muscle in Iraq and are positioned to do even more once US troops are out of Iraq at the end of the year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">General McInerney sees this as another example of the United States winning a military victory, only to have a diplomatic loss. He even compared it to what happened in Vietnam.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Looking at the implications for Israel, I asked General McInerney about the possibility of the US ally facing a war, supported by Iran, coming from multiple fronts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The General replied,<i> </i></span><i>“Well this is going to be very difficult for them [Israel]. First of all what I think the trigger will be, when Bashir Assad in Syria looks like he’s going to fail, the Iranians will tell Hezbollah in Lebanon and in Syria to launch a major attack with their 50,000 missiles and rockets to attack Israel. They’ll simultaneously have the Syrian ground forces; Hezbollah ground forces in Lebanon and Egypt attack - simultaneously the Israelis”.</i><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">He continued,<i> </i></span><i>“The question is now; can the Israeli forces survive this attack with their conventional forces? I think they might be able to, but again we come back to Iraq. The Iranians will be able to reinforce that attack coming through Iraq on the ground as Quds Force as covert force members. And so I’m not sure with the forces that the Iranians can put into the region there, that the Israelis will be able to survive”.</i></div>
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<i>“Now the danger is, if they can’t they’re gonna have to use their nuclear weapons, they’ll have to go nuclear. And that’s something we do not want to happen. It’s in the American interest for stability in the country, just as we did in the ’73 war, to reinforce boldly the Israeli Defense Forces so they can survive with conventional weapons. We do not want to force them, for their own survival, to have to pull the nuclear trigger. And that’s very [a] worrisome issue that’s coming up on this”.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But will the Obama Administration, which has not been helpful in the peace process, and which has – either through incompetence or by design – set the stage for this war against Israel, take decisive action to prevent a nuclear conflagration in the Middle East?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">McInerney’s response? </span><i>“Well I don’t know. That’s the great mystery. If he doesn’t defend them, I believe they’ll be forced to use nuclear weapons”.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s important to note -- as confirmed by General McInerney -- that before the fall of the Mubarak government the Israelis repositioned at least two of their Dolphin Class submarines to the Persian Gulf via the Suez Canal, putting them within striking distance of Iran. This eliminates the need for them to utilize aircraft to strike at Iranian military installations -- or Tehran -- should they find the need to do so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">On the question of what happens with Jordan and Saudi Arabia in the event of an Iranian instigated war against Israel, General McInerney noted: </span><i>“Here’s what is starting to bother me – Jordan -- Prince Abdullah is having to pay more attention to the Muslim Brotherhood, which he does not want because clearly radical Islam is a threat to the king. Saudi Arabia, clearly the Saudis are not interested in the Shiah crescent from Iran that is sweeping across the Arabian Peninsula. They have given the Israelis airbases if they attack using air power that they can land and recover on their way back. One of the advantages of us not being in Iraq is that the Iraqis don’t have an air defense system, so the Israelis could over fly Iraq to get into Iran. But the Saudis clearly do not want this Iranian influence the way it is being projected… They are against that. So we could hopefully count on them – in covert ways – to assist the Israelis”.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">General McInerney puts the odds of this Iranian instigated war against Israel occurring in the next 6 months to a year at about 75%. He says there is a high probability of this happening and it all hinges on the failure of Bashir al-Assad in Syria. The Iranians cannot afford to let lose the Shiah controlled government of Syria. The collapse of that government will trigger events and instigate hostilities against Israel as a way to rally the support of the Arab street against a common enemy.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Congressman Allen West (R) FL-22</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Congressman Allen West (R) FL-22</b>, a retired US Army Lt. Colonel who served in Iraq, agreed with General McInerney's assessment in an interview on Saturday afternoon on <i><a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stevenrrepub/2011/10/29/tony-katz-rep-allen-west-on-crf-wsteve-daria">Conservative Republican Forum</a>. </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Asked if he agreed that what General McInerney was a plausible scenario West replied, <i>"Well of course it's a plausible scenario. If I were Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel right now I'd be very concerned. Because you see what is happening since we deposed Hosni Mubarak, I mean this country asked him to step down, nothing good has happened there. The strongest political force in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood. We know that Hamas controls Gaza. </i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Now that the United States has said that their going to completely pull out of Iraq -- that was one of the concerns that the Prime Minister [of Israel] had when we met with him at the end of August -- was that there would not be a credible United States military force left there in Iraq to somewhat keep Iran at bay. So now Iran has the opportunity to extend their regional hegemonic dominance. Which means across Iraq, where you already have Muqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army -- very strong -- retrained, rearmed, resourced, refitted thanks to Iran".</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">He went on to point out though that, <i>"Turkey is allowing the opposition to Bashir al-Assad to be residing there in Turkey and launch their attacks against him back into Syria".</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Perhaps the most disturbing comment from Congressman West was when he said, <i>"My biggest concern is I think that the killing fields of Pol Pot -- post the withdrawal from Vietnam -- are going to look like Romper Room compared to what's going to happen in that region of the world".</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Congressman joined General McInerney and I in questioning whether the Obama Administration would stand with Israel in this troubling scenario.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The Obama Administration has displayed incompetence, naivety and weakness in its handling of the so-called “Arab Spring”, increased Iranian belligerence and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. They have emboldened the Mullahs in Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the region, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. In doing so they have left Israel in a precarious position it has not been in since 1973.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The tragedy is it didn’t have to come to this and now it’s too late to undo all the harm that has been done. President Obama has opened a powder keg and any spark could ignite a war that will consume the region -- and possibly have far-reaching implications for the United States and our allies. </span></div>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-48402129297145728382011-10-16T16:52:00.000-04:002011-10-16T17:03:00.778-04:00Occupy Wall Street: “The Left’s Tea Party”? Not Even Close<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the Occupy Wall Street protest/slumber party enters its fourth week and spreads to additional cities across the USA, it seems like a good time to examine the OWS phenomenon -- its origin, where it is now and where it’s going.</span></span> <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Occupiers: Anarchists and Marxists</td></tr>
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<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Just as importantly, an examination of the reaction of the media and politicians to these protests is definitely in order, especially as a contrast to their reactions to the Tea Party, the genuine grassroots movement they so desperately want to compare to OWS.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Occupy Wall Street protest that has been taking place for four weeks in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan likely began as a truly grassroots, or bottom-up movement. Those who set out to protest the government bailouts of Wall Street corporations and big banks -- something they viewed as unfair when everyday Americans were left to fend for themselves -- had sincere and legitimate grievances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But as the movement reached
its peak and looked likely to be reaching its end, it was usurped by the usual
left-wing suspects: <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/anarchist-lisa-fithian-national-organizer-for-occupy-wall-street-addresses-zombie-like-minions-in-chicago/">major
labor unions</a>, Organizing for America, the Democratic National Committee,
the Communist Party of America and other far-left, progressive groups. It was
only then that the media, especially the left-leaning, so-called
"mainstream" media began to not just report on the movement (albeit
inaccurately) but cheerlead and romanticize it. This of course in stark contrast
to the way they either ignored or maligned the Tea Party.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Interviews with typical OWS protesters reveal that
most of them have no idea exactly what they’re protesting against, or asking
for. They seem to have more a list of <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/occupyoakland-protester-demands-20-minimum-wage/">demands</a>
-- namely things that the government and taxpayers <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/occupywallstreet-protester-people-should-pay-my-college-tuition-because-thats-what-i-want/">owe
them</a>, than any coherent and unifying list of issues they seek to resolve.</span>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Even when the occupiers can articulate their grievances, they’re a muddled hodgepodge of complaints and accusations. Their proposed solutions range from the anarchists call for an end to all government, to the Marxists demands for an ever-larger and more oppressive one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And it is this lack of a
cohesive message and unifying issue that has led to the demonstrators and their
movement being co-opted by the very sort of people they actually should be
protesting against. They have become pawns, useful idiots and worst of all… <i>expendable</i> to those that want to <a href="http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2011/10/14/crowdsource/this/social/liist-emails-expose-occupywallstreet-conspiracy-to-destablize-global-markets-governments/">collapse
capitalism</a> and democracy for their own ends.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">As evidence of this fact you
can look to AFL-CIO union organizers telling OWS protesters that they need to
be prepared to be arrested to get their point across. You can also look to
featured speakers <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/call-for-violence-at-occupyla-protest-long-live-revolution-long-live-socialism/">denouncing</a>
peaceful and lawful protests (and even Gandhi) and calling for French Revolution
style violence and a return to the guillotine. Or you could look to liberal
media personalities like <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/maddow-maher-advise-occupy-protesters-to-threaten-violence/">Rachel
Maddow and Bill Maher</a> encouraging OWS protesters, <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/occupywallstreet-thugs-begin-marching-to-private-homes/">marching
uptown</a> to the homes of people like NewsCorp chairman Rupert Murdoch to
threaten violence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Most recently you can check
out a video from the progressive propaganda machine that is MSNBC, where <a href="http://www.hotair.com/archives/2011/10/14/msnbc-analyst-the-ows-movement-really-needs-a-kent-state-moment/">Donny
Deutch</a> told Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that what
the Occupy Wall Street movement needs is a “Kent State moment”. That sort of
irresponsible talk from an analyst on a cable news outlet is akin to putting a
match to gasoline.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But it’s also important to
listen, not just to the rhetoric, but the way that it’s delivered and received
by the organizers and participants in these rallies. The cult-like way that the
organizers deliver their messages, known at the <a href="http://youtu.be/3QZlp3eGMNI">“human megaphone”</a>, is disturbing and
somewhat absurd. But the <a href="http://youtu.be/qaVvzTyMcls">hand signals</a>
that the participants use to interject in the conversations their collective
assemblies engage in is quite revealing and really ridiculous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In terms of comparisons between the occupiers in the various cities around the country and Tea Party movement, there really are none.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TEA Party Rally</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Tea Party movement was largely ignored or maligned by the bulk of the media. Occupy Wall Street has been embraced by the media who agree with the anti-capitalist sentiments of the squatters in Zuccatti Park and around the nation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Tea Party groups got permits for their rallies, self-policed their ranks, obeyed police orders to move or disband, paid for their utilities and extra security and left the areas where they rallied cleaner than they found them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">By contrast, the Occupy Wall
Street folks have illegally setup tents, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046586/Occupy-Wall-Street-shocking-photos-protester-deficating-POLICE-CAR.html">defecated
in public</a>, refused to follow police instructions, attacked and provoked
police, stolen power, used drugs and left the areas they’ve occupied in much
worse condition than they found them in. Ironic considering the left is
supposed to care so much about being “green” and protecting the environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Tea Party has a clear and concise reason for existing, namely a desire for constitutionally limited government, lower taxes and a return to founding principles. They love their country and proudly fly the American Flag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Tea Party supporters have a grasp of basic economics and history that leads them to the conclusion that socialism is a failed model that always collapses, but not until after it leads to tyranny and suffering for the people that chose it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">They also realized that in order to achieve their goals they needed to organize beyond protesting and elect constitutional-conservatives to Congress and the White House.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The occupiers want two different remedies to their perceived injustices; depending on which camp they’re from. The Anarchists want there to be no government and to be able to take what they want from those that have more. The Marxists want larger more oppressive government that will take from the wealthy and redistribute it all to them. They don’t want to pay taxes, but they want the “evil” corporations and the rich to pay even more taxes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In both cases left wing professors who have never held a job outside of academia have indoctrinated them. The protesters don’t understand that if they were to be successful in collapsing our democratic-republic and our capitalist system, they would be no better off economically and be far less free to express their discontent.</span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Many of them say they hate capitalism and that the United States is as bad as Al-Qaeda. If they have an American Flag it’s either been desecrated, flown upside down or is being worn like a bandana around their face to conceal their identity. They proudly display signs that say “Socialism in NOT a dirty word” and copies of the Communist Manifesto. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">
In the past two-and-a-half years politicians and the media alike, all without a shred of evidence, have accused the Tea Party of being racists, spitting on black members of Congress and using racial epithets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The OWS crowd has been
caught on video being <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/occupyla-protestor-zionist-jews-who-run-banks-should-be-run-out-this-country/">anti-Semitic</a>,
in <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/youre-a-bum-jew-man-berated-by-occupy-wall-street-protester/">multiple
cities</a> and on <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/crazy-occupywallstreet-guy-protests-jews-fellow-protesters-chant-for-him-to-heal/">multiple
occasions</a>. They’ve been caught using <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/irony-alert-occupycincinatti-protester-hates-hate-speech-then-delivers-vulgar-rant-against-teabaggers/">hate
speech</a> they would excoriate a conservative for using and all these
occurrences have been <a href="http://www.breitbart.tv/peace-activist-to-woman-supporting-marines-you-should-hang/">caught
on video</a> in <b><u>only 4 weeks</u></b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Now the Occupiers are taking
things to a new level. The Occupy DC marchers were heard chanting <a href="http://www.bet.com/news/national/2011/10/15/-no-justice-no-peace-hundreds-march-on-washington.html">“No
justice? No peace”</a> and repeated that call in interviews. Isn’t that the
chant that Al “Resist We Much” Sharpton – MSNBC’s “elder statesman” – led
protesters with immediately before the deadly Crown Heights riots?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">On the same day, occupiers
in Rome <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/dispatch/2011/10/15/rome-hit-by-riots/">rioted</a>,
torching cars and smashing bank windows. Youths wearing hoods clashed with
police all over the historic city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The only real commonality between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street is that both groups oppose taxpayer funded, government bailouts of banks and big business. But even in this similarity there is a fundamental difference. The Tea Party wants that bailout money to go back to the Treasury to pay down the national debt. The OWS crowd wants that money to be redistributed to them in the form of government entitlements and handouts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Occupy Wall Street “the left’s Tea Party”? Not even close.</span></div>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-74326258781170679542011-10-14T02:46:00.002-04:002011-10-14T02:48:21.074-04:00Venom and Intelligence on CRF w/Steve and Daria<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This Saturday, October 15th, on <a data-mce-href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stevenrrepub/2011/10/15/kurt-schlichter-mike-baker-on-crf-wsteve-daria" href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stevenrrepub/2011/10/15/kurt-schlichter-mike-baker-on-crf-wsteve-daria">Conservative Republican Forum (CRF)</a> <strong>Steve Rosenblum & Daria DiGiovanni</strong> are joined by 2 returning guests.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kurt Schlichter<br />Half Hour of Venom</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First up is civil attorney, US Army veteran & contributor to Andrew Breitbart's <a data-mce-href="http://www.breitbart.com" href="http://www.breitbart.com/">"Big" websites</a> and the NY Post, <strong>Kurt Schlichter</strong> for another installment of the <em><b>Half Hour of Venom</b></em>.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mike Baker<br />Former CIA Operative</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the back half of the show former CIA operative, <a data-mce-href="http://www.foxnews.com" href="http://www.foxnews.com/">FoxNews</a> contributor and President of <a data-mce-href="http://www.diligence.com" href="http://www.diligence.com/">Diligence LLC</a>, <strong>Mike Baker</strong> returns to discuss the foiled Iranian attacks on the Saudi & Israeli embassies to the US and the Saudi Ambassador to the US.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Listeners are encouraged to call-in with comments and questions to <strong>347-637-1121</strong>.</span></div>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-83373968089352816522011-09-26T23:24:00.000-04:002011-09-26T23:28:55.936-04:00Adam Hasner Wins CPAC Florida Straw Poll And Addresses The Issues<a href="http://www.parcbench.com/2011/09/25/adam-hasner-wins-cpac-fl-straw-poll-and-addresses-the-issues/adamhasnerpreview/" rel="attachment wp-att-37201" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-37201" src="http://www.parcbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/AdamHasnerPreview.jpg" /></a>On Friday Republican US Senate candidate <strong><a href="http://www.adamhasner.com/">Adam Hasner</a></strong> won the CPAC straw poll, narrowly defeating Mike McCalister by 4%. Hasner got 34%, McCalister 30%, former-Senator George LeMieux (who was appointed by Governor Charlie Crist) got 24% and the newcomer of the group, Craig Miller received 12% of the votes.
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The straw poll followed a day and half of speeches, a debate, lots of one-on-one conversations and handshaking with GOP primary voters and activists at the <a href="http://www.conservative.org/">American Conservative Union's</a> <em>Conservative Political Action Conference</em> and the <a href="http://www.rpof.org/">Republican Party of Florida's</a> <em>Presidency 5</em> events which took place in Orlando.<br />
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On Saturday morning I had the opportunity to ask Hasner, the former-Florida House Majority Leader, a few questions about his candidacy, his record and issues that some grassroots conservatives have expressed reservations about.<br />
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The interview covered his straw poll victory, the differences between running for state house versus statewide office, Cap and Trade, climate change, his strong support of Israel, President Obama's handling of the current Israel/Palestinian situation, the United Nations and more.
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<br />SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-25356832628473605602011-09-26T23:18:00.002-04:002011-09-26T23:27:45.661-04:00David Bossie of Citizens United Speaks<br />
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On Friday, September 23rd I had the opportunity to get an exclusive interview with <a href="http://www.citizensunited.org/about-david-bossie.aspx">David Bossie</a>, President and Chairman of the Board of <a href="http://www.citizensunited.org/">Citizens United</a> who was speaking at the American Conservative Union's first ever "regional" <a href="http://www.cpacfl.conservative.org/">Conservative Political Action Conference</a> (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida.<br />
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Bossie was also at CPACFL to screen two of Citizens United's movies: <em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqmPm-AfGqg">Fire From The Heartland: The Awakening Of The Conservative Woman</a></em>-Starring Rep. Michele Bachmann and <em>Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny</em>- Hosted by Newt & Callista Gingrinch.SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-44150672311801821922011-09-19T21:50:00.000-04:002011-09-19T21:50:27.028-04:00The Years of Courage<a href="http://www.parcbench.com/2011/09/16/years-of-courage/911_flag_raising/" rel="attachment wp-att-36816" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-36816" height="300" src="http://www.parcbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/911_Flag_Raising-225x300.jpg" width="225" /></a>On Sunday, September 11th – the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks – far left New York Times columnist and blogger Paul Krugman posted a blog on The Opinion Pages titled <em><a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/the-years-of-shame/">“The Years of Shame”</a></em>.<br />
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He posted the entry on his blog, ironically called <em>The Conscience of a Liberal</em>, at 8:41 AM as the remembrance and dedication of the 9/11 Memorial were getting started in downtown Manhattan. On a day when even President Obama and President Bush put politics aside, Krugman could not.<br />
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He started his entry by asking, <em>“Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?”</em> He then, strangely enough, answered his own questions: <em>“Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.”</em><br />
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I’m not really sure why Krugman asks and answers these questions. Who would expect the commemoration and remembrance of the most deadly terrorist attack on American soil, one that resulted in more than 3,000 deaths, to be anything but “subdued” and solemn?<br />
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This is where a strange but innocuous posting takes a turn into the insulting, derisive and shameful. The liberal turd continues his poorly written entry thusly:
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<em>“What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.</em></div>
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<em>A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?</em></div>
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<em>The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.”</em></div>
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To begin with, what happened after 9/11 was that the American people – for the most part – realized that terrorism by Al Qaeda and other Jihadist groups was not a criminal or law enforcement issue, but an act of war. President George W. Bush to his credit addressed the attacks as such. The fact is that Osama Bin Laden had declared war on the United States in 1993 when he ordered the first attack on the World Trade Center.<br />
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It was not “shameful” and at least initially was a unifying event. Did it eventually become a wedge issue? Yes, it did. But why did 9/11 become a wedge issue? For the most part because Democrats wanted to use the creation of the Department of Homeland Security as an excuse to build up the ranks of their union base.<br />
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Many Republicans, myself included, questioned whether creating another huge government bureaucracy full of union employees with collective bargaining rights would make us safer.<br />
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Democrats in turn accused Republicans of not being strong on terrorism and national security. In the end a compromise was reached and the Department of Homeland Security was created and has unfortunately lived up to GOP expectations.<br />
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Now let’s address the “fake heroes” remark. Bernie Kerik and Rudy Giuliani acted with courage and distinction on 9/11, putting themselves in danger, leading New York City’s response to the attacks and keeping both the first responders and the civilian population calm by maintaining their composure throughout the crisis.<br />
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George W. Bush likewise both calmed and rallied the American people. At the same time he was among the first to tell all Americans not to lash out at Muslim Americans. Bush, who was in Florida when the attacks began, wanted to return to Washington, DC immediately but heeded the advice of the Secret Service and his senior advisors to stay away since the Pentagon had been attacked and there was no way to know if more attacks were on the way.<br />
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As far as using the 9/11 attacks to “justify an unrelated war” goes, perhaps Krugman should check his history. Unlike President Obama who committed US forces to attacking Libya without congressional authorization. President Bush got the authorization of Congress and multiple United Nations resolutions before attacking Saddam Hussein and his forces. The Iraq War authorization was bipartisan, with support from then Senator Clinton and Senator Schumer, just to name a few.<br />
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There was no “hijacking of the atrocity” Paul. And the memory of 9/11 has only been “poisoned”, though I hope not “irrevocably” by people like yourself who dishonor the courage of the first responders and ordinary citizens that acted to save lives that day and the members of our military who have and continue to fight to defend us with your false accusations and distortion of history.<br />
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Normally I would have ignored the rantings of one far-left New York Times columnist, blogging in his pajamas on a Sunday morning. Unfortunately Krugman chose to publish his post as the 9/11 Memorial was in the process of being dedicated.
Krugman also inspired an even more despicable defense of his blog by none other than Keith Olbermann on his low-rated Current TV show.<br />
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Ignoring his own pledge to adopt a new tone, which he delivered after the shooting in Tucson, Olbermann took to his “Worst Persons of the Day” segment to defend Krugman and attack former-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney and President Bush for starting a “phony war in Iraq” and using “torture” to get “false information”.<br />
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He also accused them of “spying on Americans”, “fostering Islamophobia”, “spreading panic” and “manipulating counter-terror efforts to advance their own political power”. He then went on to say, “Between 2002 and 2009 the leading terrorist groups in the US were the Republican Party and the presidential administration of George W. Bush”.<br />
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I don’t really give a damn about the “new tone” since it’s something that liberals invented to try to stifle conservatives. Since the left can’t use facts to win arguments they want to silence their opposition. Good luck with that.<br />
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The war in Iraq isn’t phony. As I stated earlier it was authorized, in a bipartisan way, by Congress. The brave men and women of our armed forces, many of whom have been wounded or killed, deserve better than to have their service dishonored by calling the war they’re fighting “phony”.<br />
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The waterboarding that the CIA used on 3 high value detainees is not torture. It is in fact used as a training technique on our own special forces to prepare them for possible interrogation. Do we torture our own soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines?<br />
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The information we garnered using enhanced interrogation techniques wasn’t “false”. Kalid Sheik Mohamed gave his interrogators information that prevented terror attacks on the US and eventually helped our intelligence forces to find Osama Bin Laden.<br />
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There is no evidence that Americans have been spied on, none. "Islamophobia" is word that was made up by CAIR, an unindicted coconspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, to intimidate anyone that might accuse a Muslim of being involved in terrorism and Jihad.<br />
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Rather than “spreading panic” President Bush and his administration endeavored to keep the public calm and going about their business, while keeping us safe from terrorism since 9/11.<br />
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The accusation that, “Between 2002 and 2009 the leading terrorist groups in the US were the Republican Party and the presidential administration of George W. Bush” is not based in fact and only exposes Olbermann’s blame America first attitude that is so prevalent among the far-left. It also diminishes the danger of actual terrorist groups and ignores the attacks on London, Madrid and Bali, as well as the attack on Fort Hood and the attempts by the "Shoe Bomber", the "Underwear Bomber" and the "Times Square Bomber".<br />
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Let me tell Keith Olbermann to take the advice that he so disrespectfully gave to then President Bush: Keith “SHUT THE HELL UP!”<br />
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The previous two liberal screeds were followed up by the disgusting, America-hating Michael Moore telling Elisabeth Hasselbeck that we are no longer at war with Al Qaeda and radical Islam and that the United States made a mistake by not giving Osama Bin Laden a trial.
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Anyone that doubts the United States remains at war is delusional. Unfortunately when the delusional person gets network airtime to spread his insane lies, he has to be addressed.<br />
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The United States is and will remain at war with Al Qaeda and other associated Shariah compliant Islamic groups. They declared war on us. They follow a 7<sup>th</sup> Century religious and political ideology that says anyone that is not a follower of Islam is an infidel. Infidels must be converted, subjugated or killed… Period.<br />
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Taken individually, none of these America-hating, far-left idiots are significant. But when they all come out with essentially the same message the week of the 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, they must be challenged.<br />
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Krugman, Olbermann, Moore and their ilk may think that the years since 9/11 have been “years of shame”. I believe that the 10 years since September 11, 2001 have been years of courage. And unlike Paul Krugman, I won’t block comments on my article.SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-58629140284527700622011-09-19T20:02:00.000-04:002011-09-19T20:02:05.314-04:00From Ground Zero to 9/11 Memorial<div style="text-align: left;">
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This weekend I returned with my family to lower Manhattan, New York City, to the location that Americans have come to know as “Ground Zero”. We went to honor the memory of my brother-in-law Eric M. Sand, who was working for Cantor-Fitzgerald in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and to see his name on the new memorial at the site.
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<a href="http://www.parcbench.com/2011/09/14/from-ground-zero-to-911-memorial/wtc-north-pool/" rel="attachment wp-att-36689" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-36689" height="150" src="http://www.parcbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/WTC-North-Pool-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>The last time I visited that hallowed ground, it was a 7 story deep hole in the ground, a subterranean graveyard on a scale that no picture or description can adequately convey. In the last 10 years the location has been transformed into something quite different.<br />
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While it will always be the place where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks">2,753</a> people lost their lives (2,606 in the WTC, 87 on American 11 and 60 on United 175 – excluding the Jihadist hijackers), the <a href="http://www.911memorial.org/">9/11 Memorial</a> and <a href="http://www.911memorial.org/museum">Memorial Museum</a> have changed the location into a place that honors all the victims (including those at the Pentagon, American Airlines Flight 77, United Airlines Flight 93 and even those that lost their lives in the first WTC bombing in 1993) of the September 11th terrorist attacks and gives their families, friends and coworkers a place to mourn, reflect and remember them.<br />
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<a href="http://www.parcbench.com/2011/09/14/from-ground-zero-to-911-memorial/wtc-pool-closeup/" rel="attachment wp-att-36692" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-36692" height="150" src="http://www.parcbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/WTC-Pool-Closeup-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>Where there was once desolation there now sits a beautiful and inspiring site full of meaning. The focal points of the 9/11 Memorial are the North and South reflecting pools, which are fed by waterfalls that are meant to resemble falling tears. The pools (which feature the largest manmade waterfalls in North America) sit in the footprints of where the World Trade Center Towers once stood.
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The bronze panels edging the two memorial pools have the names of every victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as, the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing.<br />
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<a href="http://www.parcbench.com/2011/09/14/from-ground-zero-to-911-memorial/wtc-pool_tower-base/" rel="attachment wp-att-36695" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-36695" height="150" src="http://www.parcbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/WTC-Pool_Tower-Base-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>The North Pool includes the names of those that perished in Tower One, Flight 11 and the 1993 bombing. The South Pool includes the names of those that perished in Tower Two, the first responders, Flight 175, the Pentagon, Flight 77 and Flight 93.<br />
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The names of the victims are arranged “by affiliation, so that the employees of a company or the crew of flight are together.” The organizers of the 9/11 Memorial took the time and care to accommodate requests from family members to have names of people that knew each other or were affiliated in some other way to have their names adjacent to each other on the memorial.
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<a href="http://www.parcbench.com/2011/09/14/from-ground-zero-to-911-memorial/wtc-s-pool_museum/" rel="attachment wp-att-36690" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-36690" height="150" src="http://www.parcbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/WTC-S-Pool_Museum-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>In addition to the pools there are the swamp white oak <a href="http://www.911memorial.org/selecting-trees">trees</a> that have been painstakingly chosen from locations within a 500-mile radius of the World Trade Center, with additional trees being selected from Pennsylvania and Maryland.
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The final element of the Memorial site is the Memorial Museum, whose mission “is to bear solemn witness to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993.”<br />
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The Memorial Museum is not yet complete, though its entry pavilion’s glass atrium is now standing. Once complete (probably by September 11, 2012) visitors will pass by the “Two Tridents” – remnants of the World Trade Center’s exterior steel skeleton that remained standing after the collapse – and down a ramp to bedrock.<br />
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I look forward to the completion of the museum, which promises to have exhibits that tell the <a href="http://www.911memorial.org/museum-exhibition-design-1">true story of that horrific day </a>without any “politically correct” sugarcoating.<br />
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<a href="http://www.parcbench.com/2011/09/14/from-ground-zero-to-911-memorial/wtc-freedom-tower_museum-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-36702" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-36702" height="150" src="http://www.parcbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/WTC-Freedom-Tower_Museum1-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>While it is not a part of the 9/11 Memorial itself it is impossible to visit the memorial site without seeing the <a href="http://www.nyc-tower.com/">Freedom Tower</a>, aka <a href="http://www.wtc.com/about/freedom-tower">Tower One</a>, rising to replace the Twin Towers.
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The Freedom Tower is still under construction, but has now risen over 1000 feet to begin dominating the lower Manhattan skyline. Once complete the new tower will soar above the city at a patriotic 1,776 feet to reclaim the title of America’s tallest building.<br />
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Since the last time I was there, the transformation from “Ground Zero” -- a site of death, destruction and desolation -- to the 9/11 Memorial is an amazing tribute to the victims of the worst terrorist attack in American history and to American resiliency. It is also a credit to the planners, architects, managers and construction workers that have worked tirelessly to meet tight deadlines and achieve outstanding quality standards.<br />
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The location now respects the tragedy of the past while looking with optimism to the future. I for one will no longer refer to the site as Ground Zero. It is now truly the 9/11 Memorial.SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-89295974581199364992011-09-03T16:58:00.001-04:002011-09-03T23:42:29.569-04:00Al Sharpton Uses The ‘Sauce’<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">On Friday’s edition of Al Sharpton’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Politics Nation</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> on MSNBC, the man MSNBC President Phil Griffin has called an <a href="http://bigjournalism.com/sright/2011/08/08/nbc-news-executive-on-sharpton-hes-an-elder-statesman-black-media-critic-speaks-out-against-hire/">“elder statesman”</a>, addressed the kerfuffle between House Speaker John Boehner and the White House over the scheduling of President Obama’s “much anticipated” jobs speech.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Predictably Sharpton towed the White House line and mangled the English language in the process. Al said that, “The White House is furious with John Boehner and someone on the inside is speaking out,” he continued “according to <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62505.html">Politico</a> a White House </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>‘sauce’</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Bold Italic';"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">(source?), Boehner crossed the line when he forced President Obama to change the date of his jobs speech.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That’s an interesting interpretation of the facts. Al failed to acknowledge that since the speech had not yet been scheduled, Boehner hadn’t “forced” the President to “change” anything. He also ignored the fact that a joint session of Congress is something that every President – even Barack Obama -- has to request from the Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House. That’s because the Executive and Legislative branches are equal. There’s no obligation for Congress to grant a joint session, much less accommodate a specific day and time requested.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; color: #5799DB !important; font-weight: normal !important; height: 13px; text-decoration: none !important;">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; color: #5799DB !important; font-weight: normal !important; height: 13px; text-decoration: none !important;">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; color: #5799DB !important; font-weight: normal !important; height: 13px; text-decoration: none !important;">news about the economy</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">In addition, even the Politico article Sharpton was cherry picking quotes from acknowledged that:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“The White House was well aware the president’s speech would conflict with a <a href="http://www.politico.com/2012-election/reagan-republican-debate/"><b>planned Republican debate</b></a> sponsored by POLITICO and NBC to be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The debate would be broadcast live by MSNBC and live-streamed by POLITICO. CNBC and Telemundo will re-air the broadcast.”</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Arial Italic';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Sharpton went on to characterize John Boehner telling Obama that he could have a joint session on Thursday rather than Wednesday as “a big change in tone.” He began to layout the idea that where once the White House thought the Tea Party Caucus was the “real problem” in Washington, that now “it’s a whole new ball game” and “maybe it is him.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yeah, because the tone coming from the President and House Democrats has been completely apolitical, non-partisan and friendly for the past 2½ years. No false accusations of Republican obstruction while the Democrats controlled the White House, Senate and House of Representatives at all. No Democrats falsely condemning Tea Party activists as “racists”, “terrorists”, “hostage takers”, or a host of other derogatory pejoratives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Once again Al quoted Politico’s White House ‘sauce’ as saying, “what happened this week is a big deal. It shows the House Republicans will do no outreach, nothing.” All this because Boehner asked the President to make a political speech </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Italic';">one day later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Next, Sharpton was joined by the Washington Bureau chief of the Huffington Post, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-grim">Ryan Grimm</a>, to whom he posed the probing, and completely non-leading question, “Has John Boehner been the problem all along?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Grimm agreed that Boehner was certainly one of many problems Obama has. But his real gripe seemed to be that the president wasn’t being tough enough with the Speaker. He suggested that if all the White House was going to do is have anonymous quotes given to the press, that Boehner “will keep rolling and rolling and rolling right over him [Obama].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I would argue that rather than “rolling over” the President, John Boehner actually did Obama a huge favor by rejecting his request to speak Wednesday, immediately before the long scheduled Republican Presidential Debate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Had Boehner allowed Obama to give what is likely to be a highly political speech, containing few details and little of substance in terms of an actual plan to create jobs, that would have allowed the GOP candidates to instantaneously rip the President’s speech apart and attack him for using a joint session of Congress for a political stump speech.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Rather than Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and the rest of the GOP field directing their barbs at the new frontrunner Rick Perry -- which would be to the benefit of Obama -- the address preceding the debate the would have invited, no demanded, that the candidates dissect his speech.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Grimm – with the banner “Double Speaker: Details on White House Reax to Boehner’s Obstruction” on screen as he spoke – then suggested that, “maybe the best way for Obama to start dealing with Boehner is to ask for the opposite of what he wants.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So MSNBC says it’s “obstruction” to ask the president, again, to wait one day to give his speech and at the same time they have a liberal columnist telling Al Sharpton and his audience that President Obama should use reverse psychology on the Speaker of the House to circumvent that alleged obstruction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">At this point Sharpton the </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial Bold Italic';">master linguist</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> (sarcasm mine) laid out what he would have done if he were President (shudder the thought), in a nonsensical diatribe:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“On Thursday night, even though I would have called Boehner’s bluff Wednesday night, let’s play out your scenario. Maybe he goes Thursday night. Lays out a plan. Let Boehner rebuff him and goes to the American public who has shown in every poll that they are more with the President and than what Boehner is saying, and take them to a mat in a way that a lot of people want to see him take him to the mat.”</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Arial Italic';"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Okay, where to start. What bluff is that? Boehner said no, he meant no, and there was absolutely nothing Obama could do about it. Does anyone, even Sharpton, believe that Obama is actually going to layout a plan </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in this speech</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial;">, as opposed to the previous 9 speeches? Has the American public really shown in <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/01/fox-news-poll-60-disapprove-president-obama-on-job-creation/">“every poll”</a> that they have confidence in the President’s handling of jobs and the economy? And just how is the President going to take Boehner “to the mat”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Remarkably Grimm seemed to follow Sharpton’s reasoning and agreed, saying that if Obama would have stood up to Boehner it would have been a “debacle” for Boehner, because making the President speak Thursday instead of Wednesday would some how make it appear that House Republicans “don’t want to hear him.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Sharpton and Grimm continued their incoherent and illogical back and forth, with Sharpton listing some of John Boehner’s supposed slights and failures, some of which he naturally blamed on the Tea Party, and Grimm suggesting that several months ago the House Republican coalition in the House looked like it was fracturing but that Boehner brought it back together by amassing what “is probably one of the most extreme records that a House Speaker has put up in decades.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Of course Al concurred with Grimm’s assessment, accusing Boehner of “being probably the most extreme speaker we’ve seen in a decade.” Really? John Boehner is more extreme than Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker who infamously said of the Obamacare bill, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it”? He’s more extreme than a woman who accused American citizens peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights of being “extremists” and “Astroturf” among other things?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">For good measure these two intellectual giants falsely accused Republicans of not wanting to extend the payroll tax cut and of being “irrational”. Of course Republicans are fine with continuing the payroll tax cut. But they also realize that a limited payroll tax “holiday” has no long-term benefits for the economy and does nothing to encourage employers to hire more people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I’d like to humbly suggest that Al Sharpton and Ryan Grimm lay off the ‘sauce’ and try a sober analysis of Barack Obama’s failed economic policies. They might also want to consider that while the Democrats controlled both the House and Senate, they failed to pass a budget (the Harry Reid led Senate still hasn’t) and the only budget Obama submitted was rejected 97-0 by the Democrat controlled Senate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-34915778299197693092011-09-01T23:42:00.001-04:002011-09-01T23:47:08.529-04:00Allen West Speaks Out Against Incendiary Rhetoric of CBC Members<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://west.house.gov/">Congressman Allen West</a> (R) FL-22 spoke out forcefully this evening, on <i><b><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/oreilly">The O'Reilly Factor</a></b></i>, about the hateful, race baiting rhetoric being used by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. He also repudiated many of the policies that have been inflicted upon black-Americans historically.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In particular Congressman West rejected the incendiary comments of <a href="http://www.mrctv.org/videos/maxine-waters-tea-party-can-go-straight-hell">Maxine Waters</a> (D-CA) who said, "The Tea Party can go straight to hell. And I'm going to help them get there." And <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/31/rep-carson-tea-party-wants-to-see-black-americans-hanging-on-tree/#ixzz1WIJLU0wJ">Andre Carson</a> (D-IN) who said, "Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me ... hanging on a tree." </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition, West also spoke out against specific policies that he says have destroyed the black family. Failed policies that have led to 17% unemployment and high incarceration rates in the black community.</span>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-51737997119059562502011-08-31T15:34:00.000-04:002011-08-31T15:34:40.704-04:00Gary Johnson Makes Media Mistake That Matters<br />
<div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://www.parcbench.com/2011/08/31/gary-johnson-sources-media-matters-for-fbn-interview/johnsonmmfa/" rel="attachment wp-att-36257" style="clear: left; color: #225378; float: left; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-36257" height="150" src="http://www.parcbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/JohnsonMMfA-300x225.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; float: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 7px; margin-top: 0px;" width="200" /></a>As if former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson needed anything else to make him look less viable as a Republican presidential candidate, there’s this.</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">In an official campaign email press release the Gary Johnson 2012 campaign sourced their candidate’s interview with Neil Cavuto on <strong style="font-weight: bold;"><em style="font-style: italic;">Fox Business Network</em></strong> from the <em style="font-style: italic;">Media Matters for America</em> website.</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">He also has the video posted on his official campaign website’s <em style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/cavuto-tells-gary-johnson-the-systems-screwing-you" style="color: #225378; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;">The Truth for a Change Blog</a></em>.</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><object height="240" width="320"><param name='movie' value='http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/flash/pl55.swf'></param><param name='flashvars' value='config=http://mediamatters.org/embed/cfg3?id=201108300026'></param><param name='allowscriptaccess' value='always'></param><param name='allownetworking' value='all'></param><embed src='http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/flash/pl55.swf' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' flashvars='config=http://mediamatters.org/embed/cfg3?id=201108300026' allowscriptaccess='always' allowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='240'></embed></object></div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">I guess Johnson and his team aren’t aware that MMfA’s only purpose for existing is the elimination of Fox News and Fox Business. This ought to really raise his standing with Republican primary voters.</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
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</div>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-56325286187499390192011-08-31T15:25:00.000-04:002011-08-31T15:25:33.652-04:00Politico Isn’t Asking If Rick Perry Is Dumb<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xc4uavZ4bdI/Tl6I0TlM0dI/AAAAAAAAAKo/Kp97-qbq1C4/s1600/RickPerry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xc4uavZ4bdI/Tl6I0TlM0dI/AAAAAAAAAKo/Kp97-qbq1C4/s200/RickPerry.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">In his August 29, 2011 <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62214.html" style="color: #225378; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;">Politico article</a> titled ‘Is Rick Perry Dumb’ Jonathan Martin says, “Rick Perry is confronting an unavoidable question: Is he dumb – or just “misunderestimated”?” But after reading the article you can only come to the conclusion that the longest serving Governor in the history of Texas is a street smart and skilled politician whose opponents underestimate him at his or her own peril.</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">No, Martin isn’t asking “ Is Rick Perry Dumb?” What he’s really asking is, are the voters of Texas dumb. And by extension he is also asking are conservatives and Republicans dumb. After all, Texas is a red state that gave us 2-term President George W. Bush, who most of the liberal elite considers to be less than bright – despite the fact he graduated from Yale.</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">Governor Perry, now in his 3rd term, is not an Ivy League graduate he attended Texas A&M. He’s exactly the sort of no nonsense, retail politician that can grasp the issues that he needs to understand to win elections and govern effectively.</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">Perry is also not the kind of Republican that elitist liberals like. He’s not a “deep thinker” and he’s not an academic or an “intellectual”. Like the old saying goes, <em style="font-style: italic;">“Those who can. do. those who can’t, teach.”</em> Perry is a doer.</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">Martin's Politico article is a swipe at red states like Texas and their conservative voters. And columnists like Martin feel free to take these types of swipes at conservatives, because they feel they’re intellectually superior.</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
<script src="http://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=1134507373001&w=466&h=263" type="text/javascript">
</script><noscript>Watch the latest video at <a href="http://video.foxnews.com">video.foxnews.com</a></noscript></div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">This begs the question, what does it say about liberals that repeatedly vote for a Senator like Edward Kennedy – an intellectual who left an innocent woman to drown to death?</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">Or for a Senator like John Kerry – another intellectual — who came home from serving in Vietnam then proceeded to slander his fellow servicemen in congressional testimony, only to then attempt to use that service again years later to inflate his standing as a presidential candidate?</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">We could also ask, what it says about voters that would reelect a governor like Duval Patrick, who refuses to allow his state to participate in the Department of Homeland Security’s <a href="http://www.ice.com/secure_communities" style="color: #225378; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;">Secure Communities</a> program and stands by that decision even after an illegal immigrant who was arrested for assaulting a police officer, kills an innocent young man in a drunk driving incident?</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">It may say that the voters of Massachusetts are intellectuals, but aren’t particularly street smart. Or it might say that they lack the ability to elect leaders that have a moral compass.</div>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-65274061004621518032011-07-25T12:03:00.000-04:002011-07-25T12:03:24.052-04:00Implications Of The Norwegian Massacres<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4PqOoF8AB7U/Ti2Als0o47I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/n2M358d5MKM/s1600/OsloAttack.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4PqOoF8AB7U/Ti2Als0o47I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/n2M358d5MKM/s200/OsloAttack.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5c5c5c; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;">The slaughter and emotional trauma inflicted on the Norwegian people at their government center and the island youth retreat by 32-year-old suspect Anders Behring Breivik (who apparently has confessed) could have far reaching implications for a nation that has what most Americans would consider a naive perspective on violence, immigration and law enforcement.</span><br />
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The attacker, after setting off his car bomb which killed seven, made his way to the island where the Labour Party was having a retreat for its youth. He then set about a 90-minute shooting spree that left an additional 86 innocent people dead. Reports indicate that the only security for the retreat was an off-duty police officer who was not armed. In fact most police in Norway don’t carry firearms.<br />
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The Norwegians are not used to this sort of violence in their society and were ill prepared to confront this sort of evil when it reared its head in a most diabolical way. In fact the Norwegian judicial system is not setup to deal with this sort of atrocity. Even if convicted on all counts of premeditated murder Breivik can only face 21-years in prison, not for each count, but in total.<br />
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One must wonder how the Norwegian people will react once the shock and horror of this despicable crime turn to the shock and horror of how ill-prepared their police and judicial systems are to confront it. Will the populous demand that the laws be changed? Will they demand that their police be armed to properly protect the public? Will the Labour Party that was the target of this murderous madman be unseated by a disillusioned electorate, in favor of a more hard line government? Will this be Norway’s “9/11 moment”?<br />
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There is no excuse for mass murder – especially of helpless, innocent children – and the only person responsible for these twin attacks is Anders Behring Breivik. Terrorism analyst Walid Phares who has examined the terrorist’s manifesto has indicated that it borrows from both the liberal-left and the conservative-right, making it a unique and twisted ideology. This makes the attempts here in the United States to blame the “violent” Tea Party or <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/us/25debate.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper" style="color: #225378; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: underline;">conservative bloggers</a> foolish.<br />
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But the policies that inspired his violence and which allowed him to hunt down his victims for 90-minutes without opposition of any kind are likely to be closely scrutinized by the Norwegian people and the their policy makers.<br />
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The multiculturalism that so infuriated the gunman has been renounced by other European leaders like English Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. They have realized that no nation can absorb large numbers of immigrants that refuse to assimilate into the culture or learn the language of their adopted nations. It’s likely that the government of Norway will now have to examine that policy as well.<br />
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More importantly the Norwegian people and government will have to reconsider their security and legal systems which have proven completely inadequate in the wake of these unprecedented attacks. This is a fact as a Norwegian judge has ruled that Breivik, who has warned there a two more cells in his terror group, is to be held in complete isolation for the next four weeks.</div><br />
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</span></span>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1054552886130765695.post-61494059598758454972011-07-22T06:15:00.002-04:002011-07-22T06:15:00.498-04:00An Eye Opening Lesson In Our Criminal Justice System<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EOwc3bH4w4A/Tih-i92hKXI/AAAAAAAAAKM/ge53toALtyQ/s1600/LadyJustice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EOwc3bH4w4A/Tih-i92hKXI/AAAAAAAAAKM/ge53toALtyQ/s1600/LadyJustice.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Just one week after the controversial verdict in the Casey Anthony murder trial had angered the nation and instigated many a debate about our system of jurist prudence, I found myself serving on jury duty. From the voir dire (jury selection) process, to the trial and finally deliberating the verdict, it was truly an eye opening and, at times, troubling experience.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">I arrived at the Palm Beach County courthouse early Monday morning, neither looking forward to, nor dreading doing my civic duty. This was not the first time I had been summoned to serve on jury duty, although I had never actually been chosen to sit on a jury and hear a case.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">I was in the second group of 30 prospective jurors to be taken from the first floor jury assembly room to a courtroom on the 11th floor of the courthouse to be interviewed by the attorneys for the prosecution and the defense for the purpose of selecting six people to hear the case they were preparing to try.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">First the judge introduced himself, the state’s attorneys (a.k.a. the prosecutors) and the defense attorneys, as well as their client (the defendant). The judge then thanked us for sacrificing our time and for our service. He then instructed the state’s attorney to begin interviewing the potential jurors.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">The state’s attorney began by talking to us about the burden of proof. She explained that the defendant was presumed innocent until the state proved him guilty beyond and to the exclusion of any reasonable doubt. She went on to tell us that they had to prove the elements of the crime -- basically that the crime had been committed and that the defendant was the person who had committed it.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Then the prosecutor asked each of us a few questions about our backgrounds and past encounters with police, and if we had close friends or family in law enforcement and whether we had ever served on a jury previously.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">After the prosecutor finished her portion of the interview process there was a brief recess. By that time I had identified a few people I felt confident would not be selected to sit on this jury, including four for whom English was their second language. These people were having difficulty understanding what the prosecutor and the judge were saying, so it only stood to reason they would not be selected. Additionally, there were several potential jurors who'd related negative personal experiences with police and the criminal justice system so I was certain the prosecutors would decline to invite them on the panel.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Then one of the defense attorneys began his portion of the voir dire. This young man, whom I nicknamed “Skippy”, started by asking the first panelist three questions that he would go on to repeat to almost all of the panelists. I’m paraphrasing, but they were something like: 1) <em>Do you think it’s reasonable that a police officer might plant evidence to make someone look guilty?</em> 2) <em>Do you think that a witness can be certain of their testimony but still be inaccurate?</em> And lastly: 3) <em>Do you think a person can be innocent and still be on trial?</em></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><em><br />
</em></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">You’re probably wondering why I nicknamed the defense attorney “Skippy”. First it was because of his age; he looked like he could still be in college. But it was also because he annoyed me. I deduced very quickly that his repeated questions were less about drawing out information from the panelists and more about planting three ideas in the minds of the six of us that would eventually be hearing the case.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Skippy wanted us to be considering the possibility that the police planted the evidence in the case, that the witness testimony would be unreliable and of course that his client was innocent.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">I should mention that Skippy’s questions did reveal the unworthiness of some panelists to serve be on the jury. There were folks who boldly declared that if the defendant didn’t give up his Fifth Amendment rights and testify in his own defense, they would hold that against him.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">There were also panelists that said they didn’t think the presumption of innocence or the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt were good ideas. They apparently believed that an accused person should have to prove their innocence and that it should be easier for the state to prove guilt.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Jury selection took the better part of a day and a half. By Tuesday afternoon six jurors (including me) were selected and sworn in. We then immediately began to hear the case.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">First the prosecution and then the defense made their opening statements. Essentially they laid out the facts of the case as they saw them and what we would see and hear as the case was presented.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">The state’s attorney started to present the prosecution’s case by calling her first witness, the elderly female victim, to testify (the other victim had passed away since the incident). She testified to what had happened on the evening in question and related to us that a black man wearing a dark shirt, red pants – or shorts – and a black cap had accosted her and her companion, in her car, after they had enjoyed dinner at a local restaurant. The assailant had put a gun to her neck and demanded her purse, which she relinquished, and then ordered her friend to hand over his wallet. He then fled on foot.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">The prosecutor then began to ask the victim about what happened after the robbery. She testified that the restaurant’s bartender had dialed 911; the sheriff’s deputies were called and arrived shortly thereafter.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Not too long after the first deputies arrived at the restaurant, a call came across the radio that other deputies had someone in custody that fit the victim’s description. Both victims were taken in a patrol car to where a suspect was in custody for what the police call a “show-up” identification. The “show-up” I.D. consisted of the suspect – dirty, sweating, bleeding and in handcuffs -- being shown to the victims. Not surprisingly the victims said he was the man that had robbed them.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">On cross examination, the defense showed that several things that the victim was testifying to on the stand, differed from what she had said on the night of the crime and in subsequent depositions. Her recollection of things like the color of the gun, whether the suspect was wearing pants or shorts and whether or not he had facial hair had evolved over time. In addition, despite the fact that her attacker’s face had been mere inches from hers, the victim was unable to give any other description of him other than that he was black and he had “steely, cold, unblinking eyes”.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">As the prosecution case proceeded, four Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies were called to testify. As each of the deputies testified, we were confronted with law enforcement officers that admitted they had made many mistakes, in both judgment and procedure, on the night of this incident.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">The lead deputy in the case testified that she had told the victims they had a suspect in custody that met their description and that she needed to see if they could identify him. Instead of using a photo lineup or a physical lineup, the deputy chose to use the show-up I.D (which is very suggestive). She also failed to separate the witnesses, which is standard procedure, to avoid one witness influencing the other.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">One of the other deputies that testified admitted that he had failed to search the suspect before transporting him to the hospital to be treated for bites he received from the K-9 deputy when he was arrested.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Two other deputies testified that they had patted down the suspect, but failed to find a knife and card case and key that belonged to one of the victims in the back pocket of the suspect. They also failed to locate $457.00 in cash in the suspect’s shoe, even though one of the deputies said he was pretty sure they had removed his shoes during one of the searches at the scene of the arrest.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">However, miraculously the lead deputy did discover the knife, the card case and the cash when she searched the suspect before transporting him from the hospital to jail.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">You may have deduced by now that I had some doubts about the defendant’s guilt even at this point in the case. That doubt only increased when we were told that the gun the deputies had discovered in an abandoned house, and allegedly had been used by the defendant, had been swabbed for the suspect’s DNA, but not his fingerprints or the victim’s DNA (even though the gun had been pressed against both victim’s skin). In addition the cash was checked for fingerprints, but despite the fact it was supposedly drenched in the suspect’s perspiration, it was not checked for his DNA. The card case was not swabbed for DNA or fingerprints and disappeared - never having made it into evidence - and the victim’s purse –which was discovered outside the abandoned house - was likewise not checked for either DNA or fingerprints.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Also a hat that was discovered near where the suspect was taken into custody was not checked for DNA to prove it was his.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">I usually give law enforcement the benefit of the doubt, but in listening to them testify as to how they handled the multiple searches of the suspect and the way that evidence was handled, I found myself doubting their credibility and the reliability of the evidence that they had collected.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">The only other witnesses were a crime scene technician and a crime lab scientist, who both testified to not finding fingerprints or DNA. I wasn’t sure why they were even called by the prosecution, as they added nothing to the case.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">After the prosecution rested their case, I was not surprised when the defense also rested without presenting any witnesses or evidence of their own.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">We then heard brief closing arguments from the prosecution and defense, as well as a rebuttal by the prosecution.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">The judge then charged us. He explained the pertinent law and the rules that applied to the case and we retired to the jury deliberation room.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Once in the deliberation room I was selected as the jury foreman and we set about trying to decide the case. I decided to take a preliminary vote to see where the six of us were starting. I had expected that all six of us having heard the same evidence and heard the same testimony would have the same doubts. I was mistaken. Three of us (myself included) felt the defendant was not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The other three felt he was guilty.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">This is where things get disturbing for me. Two of the female panelists felt the defendant was guilty for reasons outside the law. One thought he must be guilty of something because he ran from the deputies. The other thought he was guilty because he failed to testify on his own behalf. Both of the women and the male juror that also voted “guilty” were willing to overlook the inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony, the suggestive show-up I.D. and the fact that although the defendant had been searched 3 times prior, it was only on the fourth search that the cash, knife and card case were discovered on his person.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">I tried to explain that running from the cops didn’t make him guilty and that we could not hold his failure to testify in his defense against him. But in the end we were deadlocked 3 to 3 and the case ended in a hung jury.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">After being dismissed, I went online to research the case a bit further and discovered that what we heard was actually a retrial of the case after an appeals court had ordered a new trial for mistakes made by the judge the first time around.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">I am not sure whether the state’s attorney will choose to retry the case a third time.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">After the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial many people said they believed the jurors in that case were “stupid”. I wrote at that time that the public, having watched the trial on television, did not understand that the jury did not hear and see everything that viewers had, because they were asked to leave the courtroom at times and because they were sequestered and prevented from reading or watching reports about the case.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Having served on a criminal case, I can tell you we were asked to leave the courtroom numerous times so that the attorneys and the judge could discuss whether testimony would be admitted in the case, etc. We were also specifically told not to talk to anyone about the case (or blog, tweet, text, etc.) and not to read or watch anything about the case.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">From the conduct of the sheriff’s deputies, to the behavior of my fellow jurors, my jury service was an eye-opening lesson in our criminal justice system.</div>SteveRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12049298200518108333noreply@blogger.com0