ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20090914

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

Promoting "God's Holy Values and American Freedoms"!



"Pulpit Freedom Sunday"

Help us put more "God" back into the political process! - oyh

Please Pass This Along To All Pastors and Other Judeo-Christian Leaders!

Pulpit Freedom Sunday, September 27, 2009

There is great news about recent efforts to free pastors and pulpits from the threat of government interference, especially from the IRS. (No government restrictions were placed on the pulpit until 1954, when freshman U. S. Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson added a one-line provision to a Senate bill limiting the right of non-profits to engage in what had always previously been free speech.)

Last year, Alliance Defense Fund, a premier national legal group that defends the constitutional rights of Christians, organized a concerted effort to push back against this unconstitutional government intrusion. On September 28, 2008, numerous pastors participated in "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" by preaching a sermon specifically addressing the candidates running for president in light of Scriptural truths.

For example, during the presidential primaries in May 2008, the Rev. Gus Booth of Warroad Community Church in Minnesota told his congregation:

"If you are a Christian, you cannot support a candidate like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for president....They both support abortion and homosexual marriage, and the Scripture vehemently opposes both."

Months later, Pastor Booth preached a sermon addressing the 2008 presidential election. He then turned himself in to the IRS, sending them a copy of both sermons. The IRS has just notified Pastor Booth that it has closed the investigation against him, with no action taken! This is another of several recent cases where the IRS has closed the investigation without taking action against the church or pastor.

This year, the Alliance Defense Fund is encouraging pastors to participate in "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" on September 27, 2009. According to ADF:

(1) ADF will encourage churches and pastors to exercise their right to comment on current government officials and the issues they espouse. Every church should feel very safe in commenting on the moral strengths and weaknesses of sitting politicians and the issues they promote without endangering their tax-exempt status.

(2) Some pastors may choose to exercise their full range of constitutional rights in preaching from the pulpit in ways that may bring them into conflict with the vague standards contained in the Johnson Amendment. ADF continues to believe that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional as applied to prohibit any part of a pastor's speech from the pulpit. (By the way, ADF represents pastors and churches without charge should any challenge be filed against them.)

Your church can help make Pulpit Freedom Sunday a great success. Now more than ever, the church must be heard on all the vital issues of the day. Pastors should not fear the IRS when they boldly confront the moral and social questions of the day in the realm of politics. Call ADF today (800-TELL-ADF) or visit their website (www.telladf.org/church) and let them know of your church's willingness to participate in Pulpit Freedom Sunday. ADF attorneys stand ready to answer your questions.

We hope you will be among hundreds of pastors who will sign up to participate in "Pulpit Freedom Sunday." Some will be addressing elections in their state or locality (e.g., Virginia, New Jersey, etc.), and others will be addressing policies being enacted by sitting politicians. Whatever the case, we strongly encourage your church to contact ADF and let them know that you will participate.

Daniel Webster rightly noted: "God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and defend it," and the freedom of the American pulpit is a liberty worth defending. On behalf of this effort, I agree with the prayer offered by signer of the Declaration Francis Hopkinson who, when contemplating America's struggle against its oppressors, fervently uttered: "And may Heaven prosper their virtuous undertaking!"
God Bless!

David Barton



"My Comments"

Obama & Holder, Investigate ACORN

Again! Again! & Again! ACORN has been found with their hands in the cookie jar, so to speak. ACORN’s continuing alleged illegal activity is more serious than just having their hands in the cookie jar. ACORN, a so-called community organization; an organization which President Obama served as their legal counsel, and may have been instrumental in founding this group, has been found for coaching the violations of, yet another law.

It appears ACORN may be nothing less than a totally rotten fraudulent organization, intended to support Obama and any other radical activity. ACORN is funded by President Obama’s own campaign and (y)our taxes.

When will President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and the majority Democrats demand a special prosecutor to investigate ACORN? President Obama may claim he know nothing as to any wrongful activity, just as he knew nothing wrongful about his Pastor Wright, Van Jones, or any more of the radical left-wingers whom Obama has appointed and encircled himself with. Does President Obama and his appointees represent the change you voted for? Do not expect President Obama and/or Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint and/or demand an independent investigation of ACORN. -oyh



"Daily Motivations"

If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never truly be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. -- Lao Tzu



A Leadership Lesson from ... GEESE!

How often do you hear people speak with envy about companies with “real heart”? Companies like Nordstrom, FedEx, Ben and Jerry’s, Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, and The Container Store to name a few. Outsiders are constantly looking for their “secrets” to success. Fact is, the secret lies in the hearts of their employees. These companies create connected teams and, as a result, build dominant businesses by acting like geese. Like geese? Yes, like GEESE!

If you ever happen to see (or hear about) geese heading south for the winter – flying along in “V” formation – you might consider what science has discovered about why they fly that way. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in “V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew by itself. Any goose that falls out of formation suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back into position to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back in the set and another goose moves up to fly point. And the geese in the back honk to encourage those in front to keep up their speed. Finally, when a goose gets sick or is wounded and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen teammate until it is able to fly or it dies. Only then do they launch out on their own – or with another formation – to catch back up with their group.

The lesson: Like geese, people who share a common direction and sense of community, who take turns doing demanding jobs, and who watch out for one another, can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the thrust of their teammates. Geese are defined by how they stay connected with one another. Successful teams – and excellent leaders – are defined the same way.



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

"I have told you this so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!" (John 15:11)

Shoichi Yokoi was a Japanese soldier who fought in the Second World War. That war, of course, ended in 1945---but nobody told Shoichi.

This Japanese soldier sensed the change in the war in 1944, when the Allied forces began to get the upper hand in South Pacific combat. He sought refuge in a cave on the island of Guam. He was afraid that if captured, he would immediately be executed by the American commandos.

Twenty-eight years later Shoichi Yokoi was still living in that cave from which he emerged only in the dark of night. His diet consisted of creatures such as frogs and rats, along with nuts and mangoes. By this time he had figured out that the war must be over. He had seen leaflets scattered through the jungle. Yet still, he feared for his life and continued to hide.

Finally he was found by two hunters who convinced the Japanese soldier he was safe, and they helped him emerge from hiding. Soon he was free with better clothes to wear, a much more varied and appealing diet, and the comforts of home and friends---all advantages he might have enjoyed for most of the last three decades.

Sadly, too many Christians live like that old soldier, hiding in the darkness when they can live in the joy and abundance of all that Christ offers us. A new kind of life really is available for those who wholeheartedly seek to know God.



"The Patriot Post"

"Public affairs go on pretty much as usual: perpetual chicanery and rather more personal abuse than there used to be..." -- John Adams



INSIGHT

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. ... We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" -- George Orwell, "1984"



FAITH AND FAMILY

"I only want the best for everyone. My beliefs in the Bible, and freedom and capitalism are only ideals that bless people. And, they worked real good from 1776 to 2008 ... with a hitch in the 60s where immorality, free love, the pill, drugs, divorce, and the breakup of the family started the thread of morality unraveling. You can't have a great country without the spirit of The Ten Commandments hovering in the hearts of its citizens. ... Our house was always immaculate and our front yard always had freshly mown grass. My father took us to church 3 times a week. ... My father taught me how to read when I was 5, so that when I started first grade I was the best reader. I skipped second grade. My father played the piano every night and taught us show tunes, and how to harmonize. My father taught us how to water ski. ... My father made us feel safe. He gave us confidence and a history and a future. ... Obama didn't have a father. Maybe that's why he sees the government as Daddy." -- Big Hollywood blogger Victoria Jackson



RE: THE LEFT

"Ultimately, the Left's 'scaled back' version of health-care reform will sprout other ominous features. For starters, we'll need armies of federal bureaucrats to draw up and enforce thousands of pages of new insurance regulations. And then we'll need some government muscle to enforce the individual and employer mandates -- everything from penalties, fees, and fines to the use of collection agencies and garnishment of wages. As candidate Obama himself said: 'Without an enforcement mechanism, there is no mandate. It's just a political talking point.' So there we have it: the slippery slope of health reform." -- Heritage Foundation vice president Michael G. Franc



FOR THE RECORD

"Ever notice how Henry Waxman's cherubic face pops up so often? Most recently, he's been in the news with his letter to 52 health insurance executives demanding that they cough up mountains of data about their compensation, expense accounts, retirement benefits, travel schedules, and shoe sizes. Okay, not that last item, but you get the drift here. Recipients of the Waxman letter -- which was co-signed by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-MI -- have no choice but to comply. So if Waxman -- who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee -- finds even the faintest whiff of scandal in the furthest corner of the health insurance industry, expect to be treated to the hollow spectacle of yet another congressional show trial. Soft tyranny is never so happy as when its beaming countenance is brightened by possession of a federal subpoena and the prospect of jail it poses for those who defy the order from on high to produce whatever is demanded." -- Washington Examiner editorial page editor Mark Tapscott



LIBERTY

"There is now just one group of people exempt from President Obama's worldwide ban on torture: the men and women of the CIA. By authorizing Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to determine whether a full criminal investigation of CIA employees and contractors is warranted for the manner in which they interrogated captured terrorists, the President has thrown his power and support behind those far-left ideologues -- in Congress and elsewhere -- who believe that the CIA is a bigger threat to our country than al Qaeda. ... Look hard at everything President Obama has said and done -- [last] week's attack on the CIA, his banishment of the phrase 'Global War on Terrorism' and its replacement with the milquetoast 'overseas contingency operations,' his apologetic Cairo speech, his seeming indifference to the recent bombings in Iraq, his unwillingness to seize the opportunity of the students' uprising in Iran to knock over that dangerous regime, his trashing of our special relationship with Israel, and all the rest including his longtime personal relationships with vicious America-haters like Bill Ayers and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright -- and the conclusion is inescapable: President Obama is throwing the switch from offense back to defense, and returning the US to its September 10 mindset." --author and former Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence (Reagan administration) Herbert E. Meyer



THE GIPPER

"Now more than ever it is vital that the United States not back down from its efforts to develop and deploy strategic defenses. It is technologically feasible, strategically necessary and morally imperative. For if our nation and our precious freedoms are worth defending with the threat of annihilation, we are surely worth defending by defensive means that ensure our survival." --Ronald Reagan



"The Web"

There, But for the Grace of God Go I

by texan2driver

Have you ever had one of those moments of reflection when someone gets hurt at a location you just left, or where you were about to go, and thought “That would have been me if I hadn’t taken the long way today,” or “…if I hadn’t stopped for gas,” or whatever your circumstance? You may dismiss it as a coincidence. But was it REALLY?

Click on: Where_God_Wants_Me

Thanks, Jim.


Fox to recommend reforms in chicken coop

Remember the story of having "the fox to watch the chicken coop"? This is another true and actual assignment within the Obama administration. President Obama has directed Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius to work on "tort reform". Sebelius served as Director of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association from 1978-1986

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/s/kathleen_sebelius/index.html.

Trial lawyers, suing the medical industry by using junk science, are the major problems on increasing Healthcare cost, just to cover the judicial judgments. Where is any of President Obama's sound common-sense judgment, or is there any? Whose side do you think she is on? Just how dumb does Obama think you and I are? See for yourself. - oyh

Rosslyn Smith

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/fox_to_recommend_reforms_in_ch.html

It has been estimated that the need to practice defensive medicine to protect care givers from malpractice claims may cost Americans as much as $200 billion a year in extra tests and unnecessary procedures. The absence of Tort Reform from Obamacare is one reason so many Americans are skeptical of any claims of future cost savings. Last night Obama stated

"I am directing my Secretary of Health and Human Services to move forward on this initiative today,"

Stephen F. Hayes at the Weekly Standard notes
That would be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, whose resume includes eight years as director of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association.

So Obama has chosen a former industry lobbyist to run run tort reform.



Obama speech 'a litany of lies'

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow

A conservative media watchdog organization is demanding that the media reports President Obama's "lies, distortions, and exaggerations" delivered in his speech on healthcare reform Wednesday night.

The Media Research Center http://mrc.org/press/releases/2009/20090910103910.aspx says President Barack Obama will not stop committing what it calls "serial dishonesty with the American people until the media expose his false figures and bogus exaggerations for what they are: fraudulent scare tactics." The group describes the president's Wednesday night speech about healthcare as "a litany of lies."

Rich Noyes, director of research at the MRC, says The Associated Press did do a fact check http://www.onenewsnow.com/Headlines/Default.aspx?id=677460 on his speech.

"[The AP story suggests] that he uttered 'a variety of over simplifications and omissions,'" says Noyes. "He talked about how he would not add a single dime to the deficit, when the studies are showing it would add about a trillion dollars to the deficit over the second year of the plan. He talked about not permitting any illegal immigrant to be covered, when in fact it was Democrats who voted down any attempt to verify immigration status."

"The list of things that he talked about [was] very misleading," the MRC spokesman concludes, "added to the arrogant veneer of him scolding anybody else for taking liberties with the truth as liars, as he did."

Noyes says Obama's speech was about as "audacious" as one could possibly get. He says while the AP did do its fact check, there has been little coverage from the mainstream media on Obama taking liberty with the facts during his speech. Until that happens, says MRC, it gives the president "a green light to lie and cry wolf about whatever he wants, whenever he wants -- and it will aid in the most radical government takeover ever attempted in America."



This “New” ObamaCare Game Is for Suckers, Just Like the Old One

By CFIF Staff

http://cfif.org/v/index.php/commentary/56-health-care/350-this-new-obamacare-game-is-for-suckers-just-like-the-old-one

Your 'NO' of August must be repeated in September, in October, in November, and joined by millions more, until this indecent show is tarred and feathered and run out of this country on a rail.
First, Obama and Company bought off the drug companies. Then the hospitals.

By the time they got to the pitifully inept AMA and the double-dealing AARP, those fast-talking sharpies were easy.

They already owned the Congress, both houses with unassailable majorities stoned out of their empty gourds on the power of first spending the people’s money, then the people’s debt, then the people’s children’s children’s debt.

Only the insurance companies wouldn’t roll over on their own self-destruction, so they became the designated villains.

But a strange thing happened in August to the socialism that was no longer creeping, but running through the streets as with the bulls of Pamplona. The people, we wretched denizens of Ignorance, USA, who just don’t know what is good for us, rose up.

First there were few. Then there were many. Then there were millions. And against the lies and babble of a besotted Washington came the primal scream.

“NO!”

It was a scream resonant with echo, as dissonant as it had to be to be heard.

“Never mind,” said the President, who just wants to bring us all together in our desperate hour of need for His Government to fix all that ails us. “I’ll announce Plan B. I’ll do it in a speech before Congress, haven’t done that in a while.”

And so he did. But Plan B was just an animated restatement of Plan A, dressed up in tough rhetoric to try to hide the deception and the cynical intent.

It was the President as Carnival Barker, trying desperately to get the suckers back in his tent and only his tent. But the show inside is still the same.

There is nothing new to see here. The numbers don’t add up, won’t add up, can’t add up. Medicare cannot be cut, against a growing influx of Baby Boomers, without negative results on recipients, whatever form those negative results take. The private insurance companies cannot survive the hits against them, however those hits are manifested. No waste, fraud and abuse is going to be cut by those who are its principal perpetrators. Offering more for less by adding more than 50 federal government bureaucracies is the stuff of fools or charlatans. Shouting “liar” at critics does not make the President truthful, far from it.

It wasn’t Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck who wrote, immediately after the speech, that “other parts of his speech repeated some of the oversimplified claims that have marked his salesmanship.” No, that was the Associated Press.

The Carnival Barker promises and promises, but Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are the show. That Show. Does Not. Change. Thus, while there is nothing new to see here, folks, you will “just move on along” at your own peril.

Your “NO” of August must be repeated in September, in October, in November, and joined by millions more, until this indecent show is tarred and feathered and run out of this country on a rail.



Hawaii Ending Universal Child Health Care

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/17/health/main4527996.shtml

Citing Budget Shortfalls, Only State With Universal Coverage Eliminates Funding After 7 Months

(AP) Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the United States just seven months after it launched.

Gov. Linda Lingle's administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program.

A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.

"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."

State officials said Thursday they will stop giving health coverage to the 2,000 children enrolled by Nov. 1, but private partner Hawaii Medical Service Association will pay to extend their coverage through the end of the year without government support.

"We're very disappointed in the state's decision, and it came as a complete surprise to us," said Jennifer Diesman, a spokeswoman for HMSA, the state's largest health care provider. "We believe the program is working, and given Hawaii's economic uncertainty, we don't think now is the time to cut all funding for this kind of program."

Hawaii lawmakers approved the health plan in 2007 as a way to ensure every child can get basic medical help. The Keiki (child) Care program aimed to cover every child from birth to 18 years old who didn't already have health insurance - mostly immigrants and members of lower-income families.

State health officials argued that most of the children enrolled in the universal child care program previously had private health insurance, indicating that it was helping those who didn't need it.

The U.S. is one of the few western countries that does not have universal health care, although many states have government programs to help parents cover their children.



Palin responds to Obama

Ethel C. Fenig

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/palin_responds_to_obama.html

Former Alaskan governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (R) responded http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=24718773587 graciously, but factually, to President Barack Obama's (D) health care speech with his post partisan gratuitous swipe at her.

As she puts it "so much for civility."

And it's hard to listen to the President lecture us not to use "scare tactics" when in the next breath he says that "more will die" if his proposals do not pass.

In his speech the President directly responded to concerns I've raised about unelected bureaucrats being given power to make decisions affecting life or death health care matters. He called these concerns "bogus," "irresponsible," and "a lie" -- so much for civility. After all the name-calling, though, what he did not do is respond to the arguments we've made, arguments even some of his own supporters have agreed have merit.

In fact, after promising to "make sure that no government bureaucrat .... gets between you and the health care you need," the President repeated his call for an Independent Medicare Advisory Council -- an unelected, largely unaccountable group of bureaucrats charged with containing Medicare costs. He did not disavow his own statement that such a group, working outside of "normal political channels," should guide decisions regarding that "huge driver of cost ... the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives...." He did not disavow the statements of his health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, and continuing to pay his salary with taxpayer dollars proves a commitment to his beliefs. The President can keep making unsupported assertions, but until he directly responds to the arguments I've made, I'm going to call him out too.

And since today is the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks and Obama delivered his speech just two days before this somber anniversary she rightly takes him to task for his cheap Democratic applause statement on the cost of fighting "the man made disaster" which most of us call the war on terror.

Finally, President Obama delivered an offhand applause line tonight about the cost of the War on Terror. As we approach the anniversary of the September 11th attacks and honor those who died that day and those who have died since in the War on Terror, in order to secure our freedoms, we need to remember their sacrifices and not demonize them as having had too high a price tag.

Incidentally, the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has increased since Obama's inauguration and his public denigration of Bush's response to 9/11.



Special report: How Obama cronyism threatens rail security

By Michelle Malkin

http://michellemalkin.com/

New Delhi. Mumbai. Chechnya. Madrid. London. The question isn’t whether America will suffer a jihadi attack on our passenger rail lines, but when. So, why has President Obama neutered the nation’s most highly-trained post-9/11 counterterrorism rail security team?

All signs point to business-as-usual cronyism and pandering to power-grabbing union bosses.

Amtrak’s Office of Security Strategy and Special Operations (OSSSO) grew out of a counterterrorism and intelligence unit developed by the Bush administration in the wake of global jihadi attacks on mass transit systems. The office was staffed with Special Forces veterans, law enforcement officers, railroad specialists, other military personnel, and experts who collectively possessed hundreds of years of experience fighting on the front lines against terrorism. Each member underwent at least 800 hours of rail security-related training, including advanced marksmanship, close quarters, and protective security exercises.

OSSSO’s mobile prevention teams acted as “force multipliers” working with local, state, and federal authorities across the country to detect, deter, and defend against criminal and terrorist attacks on mass transit. They conducted hundreds of show-of-force, uniformed, and rail marshal rides.

OSSSO also provided security services for President Bush, the Pope, the 2008 Democrat and Republican conventions, then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign events, and then-Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden’s Amtrak whistle stop tours. The counterterrorism unit’s push to conduct random passenger and baggage screening earned predictable criticism from civil liberties absolutists, but also garnered bipartisan praise on Capitol Hill. Even Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas hailed the rail security team’s work last year:

“Let me congratulate them for being aware” of the threat to rail passengers, the chairman of a House Homeland Security subcommittee on transportation security, told USA Today in July 2008. “(But) this has to be the new standard for Amtrak.”

How will Congress react to the news that this high standard has been obliterated?

According to multiple government sources who declined to be identified for fear of retribution, OSSSO’s East Coast and West Coast teams have not worked in a counterterrorism capacity since the summer. Their long-arms were put under lock and key after the abrupt departures of Amtrak vice president for security strategy and special operations Bill Rooney and Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold.

Weiderhold played an instrumental role in creating OSSSO’s predecessor at Amtrak, the Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU). He tapped Rooney to oversee the office. But Rooney was quietly given the “thank you for your service” heave-ho in May and Weiderhold was unexpectedly “retired” a few weeks later — just as the government-subsidized rail service faced mounting complaints about its meddling in financial audits and probes.

As I reported in June, Weiderhold had blown the whistle on intrusion of Amtrak’s Law Department into his financial audits and probes. A damning, 94-page report from an outside legal firm concluded that the “independence and effectiveness” of the Amtrak inspector general’s office were “being substantially impaired” by the Law Department – which happens to be headed by Eleanor Acheson, a close pal of Vice President Biden.

Biden, in turn, is tight with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the powerful union that represents the Amtrak Police Department. According to OSSSO sources, the APD brass have been aggrieved over the non-unionized counterterrorism unit’s existence from its inception. A West Coast OSSSO team member told me that union leaders blocked police credentialing efforts by his office for more than a year. An East Coast OSSSO team member told me that the FOP recently filed a grievance against one of its counterterrorism officers for assisting a train conductor who asked for help in ejecting a ticketless passenger.

Unlike the highly-specialized officers at OSSSO, APD officers possess minimal counterterrorism training. Past studies show alarmingly low pass rates among APD patrolmen who have attended undergone basic special operations classes, according to government sources. The Amtrak FOP continues to squabble over turf with the rival Teamsters Union; its leaders can’t even agree on minimal physical fitness standards for its members that have yet to be implemented. Nevertheless, OSSSO is now under the command and control of the APD — and federal stimulus funding specifically earmarked for the counterterrorism unit has now been absorbed by the police department.

Amtrak did not respond to my questions about OSSSO by my column deadline Thursday afternoon.

Al Qaeda operatives have repeatedly plotted to wreak havoc on our mass transit systems. And they will try, try again. American jihadi Bryant Neal Vinas recently gave the feds details about a plot blow up a Long Island Rail Road commuter train in New York’s Penn Station. As America marks the September 11 anniversary and the “Never forget” mantra echoes, an OSSSO team member told me: “There is no room for internal protectionism, vested interests of unions, or asset-manipulating bureaucracies where the safety of our national passenger railroad is concerned.”

Does anyone else in Washington agree?

***

The RAND Corporation conducted an internal review of the Amtrak Police Department’s deficiencies in counterterrorism training, and made the following observations:

Although APD officers receive police training, they do not receive special counterterrorism training either as part of their initial training or in training activities after they join the APD. The lack of counterterrorism training might explain why every APD officer interviewed indicated that he or she saw no fundamental difference between police and counter-terror work.

(By counterterrorism training, we refer to knowledge and skills to conduct counter-surveillance, special training to respond to chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear threats and familiarization with attack methods that might involve the use of these types of weapons, profiling techniques to identify suspicious behaviors, knowledge about protocols for security information sharing, and awareness of how to work with Federal Government agencies and other entities involved in counterterrorism.)

…Moreover, there are no metrics in the Amtrak Security Threat Level Response Plan against which to monitor compliance or to gauge the effectiveness of prescribed countermeasures. There are no performance metrics for the divisional security coordinators program either. RAND’s review of Amtrak security documents and interview responses also did not find any explicit criteria guiding the selection of additional or alternative countermeasures or shifts in response levels within the system. It was, thus, not clear what would guide the Chief of Amtrak Police’s decisions on these matters. In this connection, it is also not clear how management would know with high confidence that the response posture chosen by APD translates into reduced vulnerability for Amtrak….

***

Major Observations

Recruitment and retention issues severely impede capacity building for security preparedness

Counter-terrorism training for APD officers is inadequate
Deployment options for APD officers are impaired by jurisdictional and work rules issues

Close corporate oversight of APD is lacking



"The e-mail Bag"

How the fight started:



My wife sat down on the sofa next to me as I was flipping channels.
She asked, 'What's on TV?'

I said, 'Dust.'



My wife was hinting about what she wanted for our upcoming anniversary. She said, 'I want something shiny that goes from 0 to 150 in 3 seconds..'

I bought her a bathroom scale.



When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her someplace expensive... so, I took her to a gas station.