ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20100105

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

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



"Daily Motivations"

"Old times never come back and I suppose it's just as well. What comes back is a new morning every day in the year, and that's better." -- George Edward Woodberry

"How does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar." -- Trina Paulus



Lead Right

Make sure they have the “tools” they need.

Imagine this scenario: We’re out in the middle of a field. I’m the supervisor and I give you an assignment to dig a trench. After explaining why the trench is necessary, I give you the go-ahead to start digging. You immediately inquire, “Where’s the back hoe?” I respond, “It’s in the shop.” You then ask, “So how am I supposed to dig this trench?” I hand you a shovel, and then I leave. I return two hours later and find that you haven’t made much progress. You’re tired and frustrated … and I’m ticked off.

A far-fetched story? Maybe so! But it does make a simple and important point: it’s tough for people to do a good job – to do their best work – when they don’t have the “tools” (resources) they need. That’s something your team members may be facing more often than you think. And as a leader, you need to do your best to do something about it.

Ask yourself, What do my people need in order to meet or exceed my expectations? Better yet, ASK THEM! Maybe it’s a new piece of equipment – or the fixing/updating of an existing one. Perhaps it’s a new software program, additional training, or an expanded supplies inventory. Or it could be that what they really need is more time, more help, or more information.

Whatever your team needs, get it for them. And if you can’t, tell them why, look for other ways to support their efforts, and appreciate the fact that many of their achievements are happening in spite of how they are equipped rather than because of it.



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. (Romans 5:2)

Faith is essential to the Christian life. But until we realize our faith is in the God who never changes, we will tend to walk by sight.

All of us have natural, everyday faith. This is the faith we exhibit in the ordinary things we do. When we sip a glass of water, we trust that it is pure. When we board an airplane, we have faith that the builders, the air traffic controllers, and the pilot know what they are doing. This type of faith comes from our senses. If the water looks odd or smells funny, we do not drink it. If the pilot reeks of alcohol, we do not board the plane.

But spiritual faith does not depend on our senses. It is based on God's consistent and trustworthy character. As George Mueller, 19th century British social reformer, explained, "Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends."

Although our circumstances may appear hopeless and our feelings may tell us to give up, we must not allow ourselves to be limited by the visible world. Instead, we should place our trust in the God who never changes.

Yet many times our faith extends only as far as we can see. An African impala antelope can jump higher than ten feet and a distance of more than thirty feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure behind a three-foot wall. The reason? The antelope will not jump if it cannot see where its feet will fall. The impala's dependency on its senses robs it of its freedom.

We, also, are often limited by our need to see before we will believe. Instead, we must improve our spiritual vision so that the walls of fear and doubt cannot doom us to a life of spiritual mediocrity.

Your View of God Really Matters …

If you really believed that God never changes, how would that affect the way you trust Him for the things you cannot see, or the circumstances you don't understand?



"The Patriot Post"

"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Washington, 1796

"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -- James Madison



Editorial Exegesis

"The White House thinks it can jawbone banks into lending to people they don't want to lend to. We've been down this road before, and it led all the way to the 2007 financial meltdown. The president on Monday gave a tongue-lashing to the 'fat-cat bankers on Wall Street,' as he called them the day before. He wants them to make more loans to small businesses and consumers to give the economy a boost. But should banks be lending just because a politician tells them to? We tried this before. Indeed, it's the very source of the financial and economic calamity of the past two years. President Obama may think dressing down the top dogs at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and others is good politics. But it's demoralizing and will only lead to more bank write-offs, more bank failures and less lending. ... In this, President Obama is treading the very same ground as President Clinton and President Bush in pushing banks to make risky loans they shouldn't make. And it will have the same dire results.. For those who don't remember, the federal government became more involved than ever in determining how banks make their loans -- and to what customers -- thanks to the creation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of the wreckage of the Great Depression. They were followed by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975, the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 and the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992. Go back to the 1970s and early 1990s you'll see that, just as today, bankers were criticized heavily for their alleged racism and lack of concern for the poor. President after president lambasted them for not lending more to support presidential social policies. By 2000, President Clinton's HUD required half of Fannie Mae's loan originations to go to poor and moderate-income borrowers -- whether they could pay on the loans or not. It marked the triumph of leftist politics over financial common sense. This is how the subprime meltdown, the source of our current financial troubles, came about. Not by 'greedy' banks or by 'deregulation.'" -- Investor's Business Daily


Upright

"Every day that President Obama pushes for the government take over of health care he injures families by the thousands across America. Every day that President Obama contemplates the idea of spending trillions more of yours and my tax dollars, the less the chances of his being able to reduce the non-voluntary unemployment/under-employment rates that are now drastically impacting one out of every five families in America." -- columnist Kevin McCullough

"As the Democrats inexorably slog toward the finish line, lugging and wrenching their malformed health care bill, the most passionate debate has been on contentious issues like abortion, the public option, and Medicare cuts. Yet the overriding danger of the Senate bill and its House counterpart is the massive government bureaucracies that will emerge as the legislation takes effect. The Democrats' colossal experiment threatens to unleash forces that will ultimately overwhelm the doctor-patient relationship, ration our health care, and stifle innovation and excellence in the medical field. A massive government bureaucracy soon acquires a life of its own, with dominion over its constituency that no politician dares attempt to rein in." -- columnist Joseph Smith

"The more the government grabs and spends, the less chance there is that jobs will be created." -- Human Events editor Jed Babbin

"From now on, when you hear Obama speak, try replacing 'let me be clear' with 'let me lie to you,' and see if it makes more sense." -- columnist Jacob Sullum

"I assume we're supposed to be too dense to remember that [Obama's] stimulus spending to date hasn't created jobs and that most of it hasn't even been used for that purpose. So when this administration says its first priority is reducing debt, understand we are being played -- by consummate cynics." -- columnist David Limbaugh

"[I]t just so happens that with the exception of nuclear power -- which most greens still won't support -- global warming fuels nearly every progressive ambition. Wealth transfers from rich to poor nations: Check. The rise of 'global governance' and the decline of American sovereignty: Check. A secular fatwa not only to erode capitalism but to intrude on every aspect of our lives (Greenpeace offers a guide to carbon-neutral sex): Check. Weaning us off of oil (which, don't let the Goregonauts fool you, was a priority back when we were still worried about global cooling): Check. The checks go on for as far as the eye can see, and we will be writing them for years to come." -- columnist Jonah Goldberg

"Right now, if you don't like the local grade school, you move to the next town. If you're sick of Massachusetts taxes, you move to New Hampshire. Where do you move to if you don't like 'global governance'? What polling station do you go to to vote it out?" -- columnist Mark Steyn



The Demo-gogues

Completely delusional: "Good, solid B-plus. B-plus because of the things that are undone. ... Health care is not yet signed. If I get health care passed, we tip into A-minus." -- Barack Obama grading himself on nearly one year of destroying the country

The truth comes out: "We would do almost anything to pass a health care bill." -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

How reassuring: "I would say to the senator from Arizona [McCain] that I am in the dark almost as much as he is, and I am in the leadership. Most of us know the fundamentals, but we don't know the important details." -- Senate Whip Dick Durbin, the #2 Democrat, on the mystery contents of Harry Reid's health care bill

"Let's be clear" means a lie is coming: "Let's be clear here. Seven presidents have tried to reform a health care system that everyone acknowledges is broken. Seven presidents have failed up until this point. We are now that close to having a bill that does all the things that I said and most experts said needed to be done when we started this process. It is not only deficit neutral, but will actually bring down the deficit according to the Congressional Budget Office." -- Barack Obama

Wolf in sheep's clothing? "I'm going to be in a position where I can say what I've wanted to say all along: that I'm ready to vote for health care reform." -- Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who wants the public option and Medicare expansion out of the bill

Looking in the mirror? "[O]ne of the mistakes that was made over the last eight years is for us to have a triumphant sense about war. There was a tendency to say, 'We can go in. We can kick some tail. This is some glorious exercise.' When in fact, this is a tough business." -- Barack Obama, hitting the military in what sounds like a criticism of himself

He ran to take over Wall Street: "I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of, you know, fat cat bankers on Wall Street." -- Barack Obama


Village Idiots

Who cares about climate facts: "It is said that the science around climate change is not as certain as its proponents allege. It doesn't need to be. What is beyond debate, however, is that there is a huge amount of scientific support for the view that the climate is changing and as a result of human activity. Therefore, even purely as a matter of precaution, given the seriousness of the consequences if such a view is correct, and the time it will take for action to take effect, we should act. Not to do so would be grossly irresponsible." -- former British Prime Minister Tony Blair

"Some of the models suggest that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap during some of the summer months will be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years." -- Al Bore, citing a scientist who later said he didn't know where Gore got that information

Consensus? "[E]verybody agrees that the recession is over." -- White House economic adviser Larry Summers

But is it really? "Of course not. For the people on Main Street and throughout this country, they are still suffering, the unemployment rate is still 10 percent." -- White House economic adviser Christina Romer

Confessions: "At 71, my mind is so old, I can't remember if I have Alzheimer's, or ... what's the other one?" -- CNN founder Ted Turner

Hollywonks: "[Greed and imperialism (read: capitalism)] tends to destroy the environment and so on. And here they are doing the same thing on another pristine planet that we've done here on earth. So it's a way, sort of looking back at ourselves from this other world and seeing what we're doing here." -- director James Cameron on his epic sci-fi flick "Avatar" due out Friday



"The Web"

UpTimeAmerica

http://www.uptimeamerica.com/video.asp



Best of 2009: Daniel Hannan’s viral European parliament speech

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/12/31/best-of-2009-daniel-hannans-viral-european-parliament-speech/



Go to http://conservativechristianvoice.blogspot.com for Alan Jackson's "I Come To The Garden Alone"

I Come To The Garden Alone

One of my all time favorite hymns this song "In The Garden" has
touched my heart for years. I've not always nor even now really know all the words but these key lines have stuck with me always. "I come to the garden alone While the dew is still on the roses" and "And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known."

Today I made a realization - wow, Faith had another one of those eye
openers, which does happen occasionally. For as long as I can remember some of my most special, most peaceful times of my life have been spent "In the Garden". And even more so "While the dew is still on the roses" early in the morning while most everyone else is still sleeping "alone" - I am a morning person. But, was I alone? No, some of my closest talks with Our Father have been right there, setting in the dirt, pulling weeds or digging plants to move to a new location, planting seeds in hopes and dreams of what would grow from them. Even during the long years of my life when I wasn't living for God - He was there in the garden with me. I was never "alone".

There are some very important scriptures in the bible connected with gardens. Of course most everyone, believer and non-believers know the "story" of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:8-10 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden;

We also most all know what happened after that - Adam and Eve messed up! Result of which God had created the most beautiful of gardens but we humans didn't listen and ended up where we are now. Most believers are or should be if not already, trying to get back to that garden.

Now, I may be off the mark here but seems to me that "The Garden"
must have been pretty important to God. He did all that work the first 6 days, rested on the 7th and sometime in there He planted a garden to put man in… Sounds important to me! The word "garden" alone is in the King James Version of the bible 59 times, (if you don't believe me click here, I've listed them for you or you can do your own search) lot of stuff going on in "gardens" in those days. Just a little side note here, the word "satan" is only mentioned 49 times won't bother listing those as he's not important if your living for God you have power over him.
(ok, I know he is mentioned by other names but working the numbers here for effect and sure there are
many "gardens" that although mentioned are not pulled up by the word "garden").

Some very very interesting information I learned today though is even
though it doesn't say "garden" in the scripture one of the most touching times in history happened in a garden, Gethsemane.

*Gethsemane (an oil press), garden across the Kidron Valley on the Mount of Olives (Hebrew Har ha-Zetim), a mile-long ridge paralleling the eastern part of Jerusalem, where Jesus is said to have prayed on the night of his arrest before his Crucifixion. The name Gethsemane (Hebrew gat shemanim, "oil press") suggests that the garden was a grove of olive trees in which was located an oil press. Encyclopædia Britannica



Matthew 26

36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.
44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
47 And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.

Not once but three times, less than 24 hours before His "Death" Jesus
prayed to Our Father, His Father in a garden. Is it important that Jesus choose a garden to do this? Most likely not, but one of those questions to ask when we meet Him for sure. But then maybe it is. Jesus asked His disciples to "watch with" Him. Yet they fell asleep. Now, if they were in a more "uncomfortable" spot might they not have fallen asleep? "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." He didn't say just if your uncomfortable watch and pray, He said do it in this garden.

Jesus is asking His Father to not let what is about to happen (His Death)
but at the same time is prepared to do Our Father's will. But even in those final hours He is giving "us" a chance, all we had to do was "watch and pray". Just as in the Garden of Eden we failed again. Jesus went to His death on The Cross-for us, not himself, not for Our Father God but for us. Are we in the garden alone now? Are we watching and praying as He asked? I love my time in the garden with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. My lowest times in my life have been when I couldn't for some reason be in the garden. My highest times have been while in the garden, listening and talking with Our Father. Is this coincidence? Or is it God speaking to me - we are to be like Jesus! Jesus did choose a garden to spend some of his last hours on earth, in earthly form, in a garden. I think it's pretty cool and look forward even more to spring when I can once again be in the garden,
not alone but with Our Father.

John 20:15-17

Jesus saith unto her,
Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?
She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him,
Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou
hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary.
She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni;
which is to say, Master.
Jesus saith unto her,
Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.



Doesn't say "garden" but if Mary thought Jesus was a gardener then would lead me to believe they were in a garden again - ummm He pops in to deliever one more message before ascending to Heaven.

song playing:
IN THE GARDEN
Words & Music: C. Austin Miles

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

Refrain

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Refrain

My prayer for all who read this and all who don't. May Our Father bless us all with the glory of His love, may He never leave us alone in the garden, may He walk with us and talk with us for eternity. May satan know he has no chance as we have the power of the Lord. May Our Lord Jesus Christ show us the paths to take and guide our steps along the cobblestones. Blessed Father thank you for all you have done for us, thank you for giving us the chance to share time in the garden with You, thank you for being Our Father. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.

T H E G A R D E N - Come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses...



Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2009

Washington, DC

http://www..judicialwatch.org/news/2009/dec/judicial-watch-announces-list-washington-s-ten-most-wanted-corrupt-politicians-2009

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians." The list, in alphabetical order, includes:

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT): This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 "Ten Most Corrupt" list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him. In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat. In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against Dodd for undervaluing a property he owns in Ireland on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms. Judicial Watch's complaint forced Dodd to amend the forms. However, press reports suggest the property to this day remains undervalued. Judicial Watch also alleges in the complaint that Dodd obtained a sweetheart deal for the property in exchange for his assistance in obtaining a presidential pardon (during the Clinton administration) and other favors for a long-time friend and business associate. The false financial disclosure forms were part of the cover-up. Dodd remains the head the Senate Banking Committee.

Senator John Ensign (R-NV): A number of scandals popped up in 2009 involving public officials who conducted illicit affairs, and then attempted to cover them up with hush payments and favors, an obvious abuse of power. The year's worst offender might just be Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign. Ensign admitted in June to an extramarital affair with the wife of one of his staff members, who then allegedly obtained special favors from the Nevada Republican in exchange for his silence. According to The New York Times: "The Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide…" The former staffer, Douglas Hampton, began to lobby Mr. Ensign's office immediately upon leaving his congressional job, despite the fact that he was subject to a one-year lobbying ban. Ensign seems to have ignored the law and allowed Hampton lobbying access to his office as a payment for his silence about the affair. (These are potentially criminal offenses.) It looks as if Ensign misused his public office (and taxpayer resources) to cover up his sexual shenanigans.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): Judicial Watch is investigating a $12 million TARP cash injection provided to the Boston-based OneUnited Bank at the urging of Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank. As reported in the January 22, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department indicated it would only provide funds to healthy banks to jump-start lending. Not only was OneUnited Bank in massive financial turmoil, but it was also "under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives' use." Rep. Frank admitted he spoke to a "federal regulator," and Treasury granted the funds. (The bank continues to flounder despite Frank's intervention for federal dollars.) Moreover, Judicial Watch uncovered documents in 2009 that showed that members of Congress for years were aware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were playing fast and loose with accounting issues, risk assessment issues and executive compensation issues, even as liberals led by Rep. Frank continued to block attempts to rein in the two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). For example, during a hearing on September 10, 2003, before the House Committee on Financial Services considering a Bush administration proposal to further regulate Fannie and Freddie, Rep. Frank stated: "I want to begin by saying that I am glad to consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis. That is, in my view, the two Government Sponsored Enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate. I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury." Frank received $42,350 in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between 1989 and 2008. Frank also engaged in a relationship with a Fannie Mae Executive while serving on the House Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner: In 2009, Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted that he failed to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes from 2001-2004 on his lucrative salary at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization with 185 member countries that oversees the global financial system. (Did we mention Geithner now runs the IRS?) It wasn't until President Obama tapped Geithner to head the Treasury Department that he paid back most of the money, although the IRS kindly waived the hefty penalties. In March 2009, Geithner also came under fire for his handling of the AIG bonus scandal, where the company used $165 million of its bailout funds to pay out executive bonuses, resulting in a massive public backlash. Of course as head of the New York Federal Reserve, Geithner helped craft the AIG deal in September 2008. However, when the AIG scandal broke, Geithner claimed he knew nothing of the bonuses until March 10, 2009. The timing is important. According to CNN: "Although Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told congressional leaders on Tuesday that he learned of AIG's impending $160 million bonus payments to members of its troubled financial-products unit on March 10, sources tell TIME that the New York Federal Reserve informed Treasury staff that the payments were imminent on Feb. 28. That is ten days before Treasury staffers say they first learned 'full details' of the bonus plan, and three days before the [Obama] Administration launched a new $30 billion infusion of cash for AIG." Throw in another embarrassing disclosure in 2009 that Geithner employed "household help" ineligible to work in the United States, and it becomes clear why the Treasury Secretary has earned a spot on the "Ten Most Corrupt Politicians in Washington" list.

Attorney General Eric Holder: Tim Geithner can be sure he won't be hounded about his tax-dodging by his colleague Eric Holder, US Attorney General. Judicial Watch strongly opposed Holder because of his terrible ethics record, which includes: obstructing an FBI investigation of the theft of nuclear secrets from Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory; rejecting multiple requests for an independent counsel to investigate alleged fundraising abuses by then-Vice President Al Gore in the Clinton White House; undermining the criminal investigation of President Clinton by Kenneth Starr in the midst of the Lewinsky investigation; and planning the violent raid to seize then-six-year-old Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint in order to return him to Castro's Cuba. Moreover, there is his soft record on terrorism. Holder bypassed Justice Department procedures to push through Bill Clinton's scandalous presidential pardons and commutations, including for 16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican terrorist group that orchestrated approximately 120 bombings in the United States, killing at least six people and permanently maiming dozens of others, including law enforcement officers. His record in the current administration is no better. As he did during the Clinton administration, Holder continues to ignore serious incidents of corruption that could impact his political bosses at the White House. For example, Holder has refused to investigate charges that the Obama political machine traded VIP access to the White House in exchange for campaign contributions – a scheme eerily similar to one hatched by Holder's former boss, Bill Clinton in the 1990s. The Holder Justice Department also came under fire for dropping a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party. On Election Day 2008, Black Panthers dressed in paramilitary garb threatened voters as they approached polling stations. Holder has also failed to initiate a comprehensive Justice investigation of the notorious organization ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which is closely tied to President Obama. There were allegedly more than 400,000 fraudulent ACORN voter registrations in the 2008 campaign. And then there were the journalist videos catching ACORN Housing workers advising undercover reporters on how to evade tax, immigration, and child prostitution laws. Holder's controversial decisions on new rights for terrorists and his attacks on previous efforts to combat terrorism remind many of the fact that his former law firm has provided and continues to provide pro bono representation to terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. Holder's politicization of the Justice Department makes one long for the days of Alberto Gonzales.

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)/ Senator Roland Burris (D-IL): One of the most serious scandals of 2009 involved a scheme by former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to sell President Obama's then-vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. Two men caught smack dab in the middle of the scandal: Senator Roland Burris, who ultimately got the job, and Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, emissaries for Jesse Jackson Jr., named "Senate Candidate A" in the Blagojevich indictment, reportedly offered $1.5 million to Blagojevich during a fundraiser if he named Jackson Jr. to Obama's seat. Three days later federal authorities arrested Blagojevich. Burris, for his part, apparently lied about his contacts with Blagojevich, who was arrested in December 2008 for trying to sell Obama's Senate seat. According to Reuters: "Roland Burris came under fresh scrutiny…after disclosing he tried to raise money for the disgraced former Illinois governor who named him to the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama…In the latest of those admissions, Burris said he looked into mounting a fundraiser for Rod Blagojevich -- later charged with trying to sell Obama's Senate seat -- at the same time he was expressing interest to the then-governor's aides about his desire to be appointed." Burris changed his story five times regarding his contacts with Blagojevich prior to the Illinois governor appointing him to the U.S. Senate. Three of those changing explanations came under oath.

President Barack Obama: During his presidential campaign, President Obama promised to run an ethical and transparent administration. However, in his first year in office, the President has delivered corruption and secrecy, bringing Chicago-style political corruption to the White House. Consider just a few Obama administration "lowlights" from year one: Even before President Obama was sworn into office, he was interviewed by the FBI for a criminal investigation of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's scheme to sell the President's former Senate seat to the highest bidder. (Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and slumlord Valerie Jarrett, both from Chicago, are also tangled up in the Blagojevich scandal.) Moreover, the Obama administration made the startling claim that the Privacy Act does not apply to the White House. The Obama White House believes it can violate the privacy rights of American citizens without any legal consequences or accountability. President Obama boldly proclaimed that "transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," but his administration is addicted to secrecy, stonewalling far too many of Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act requests and is refusing to make public White House visitor logs as federal law requires. The Obama administration turned the National Endowment of the Arts (as well as the agency that runs the AmeriCorps program) into propaganda machines, using tax dollars to persuade "artists" to promote the Obama agenda. According to documents uncovered by Judicial Watch, the idea emerged as a direct result of the Obama campaign and enjoyed White House approval and participation. President Obama has installed a record number of "czars" in positions of power. Too many of these individuals are leftist radicals who answer to no one but the president. And too many of the czars are not subject to Senate confirmation (which raises serious constitutional questions). Under the President's bailout schemes, the federal government continues to appropriate or control -- through fiat and threats -- large sectors of the private economy, prompting conservative columnist George Will to write: "The administration's central activity -- the political allocation of wealth and opportunity -- is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption." Government-run healthcare and car companies, White House coercion, uninvestigated ACORN corruption, debasing his office to help Chicago cronies, attacks on conservative media and the private sector, unprecedented and dangerous new rights for terrorists, perks for campaign donors – this is Obama's "ethics" record -- and we haven't even gotten through the first year of his presidency.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): At the heart of the corruption problem in Washington is a sense of entitlement. Politicians believe laws and rules (even the U.S. Constitution) apply to the rest of us but not to them. Case in point: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her excessive and boorish demands for military travel. Judicial Watch obtained documents from the Pentagon in 2008 that suggest Pelosi has been treating the Air Force like her own personal airline. These documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, include internal Pentagon email correspondence detailing attempts by Pentagon staff to accommodate Pelosi's numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker's 11th hour cancellations and changes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also came under fire in April 2009, when she claimed she was never briefed about the CIA's use of the waterboarding technique during terrorism investigations. The CIA produced a report documenting a briefing with Pelosi on September 4, 2002, that suggests otherwise. Judicial Watch also obtained documents, including a CIA Inspector General report, which further confirmed that Congress was fully briefed on the enhanced interrogation techniques. Aside from her own personal transgressions, Nancy Pelosi has ignored serious incidents of corruption within her own party, including many of the individuals on this list. (See Rangel, Murtha, Jesse Jackson, Jr., etc.)

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and the rest of the PMA Seven: Rep. John Murtha made headlines in 2009 for all the wrong reasons. The Pennsylvania congressman is under federal investigation for his corrupt relationship with the now-defunct defense lobbyist PMA Group. PMA, founded by a former Murtha associate, has been the congressman's largest campaign contributor. Since 2002, Murtha has raised $1.7 million from PMA and its clients. And what did PMA and its clients receive from Murtha in return for their generosity? Earmarks -- tens of millions of dollars in earmarks. In fact, even with all of the attention surrounding his alleged influence peddling, Murtha kept at it. Following an FBI raid of PMA's offices earlier in 2009, Murtha continued to seek congressional earmarks for PMA clients, while also hitting them up for campaign contributions. According to The Hill, in April, "Murtha reported receiving contributions from three former PMA clients for whom he requested earmarks in the pending appropriations bills." When it comes to the PMA scandal, Murtha is not alone. As many as six other Members of Congress are currently under scrutiny according to The Washington Post. They include: Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN.), James P. Moran Jr. (D-VA), Norm Dicks (D-WA.), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), C.W. Bill Young (R-FL.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-KS.). Of course rather than investigate this serious scandal, according to Roll Call House Democrats circled the wagons, "cobbling together a defense to offer political cover to their rank and file." The Washington Post also reported in 2009 that Murtha's nephew received $4 million in Defense Department no-bid contracts: "Newly obtained documents…show Robert Murtha mentioning his influential family connection as leverage in his business dealings and holding unusual power with the military."

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY): Rangel, the man in charge of writing tax policy for the entire country, has yet to adequately explain how he could possibly "forget" to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income he earned from his off-shore rental property. He also faces allegations that he improperly used his influence to maintain ownership of highly coveted rent-controlled apartments in Harlem, and misused his congressional office to fundraise for his private Rangel Center by preserving a tax loophole for an oil drilling company in exchange for funding. On top of all that, Rangel recently amended his financial disclosure reports, which doubled his reported wealth. (He somehow "forgot" about $1 million in assets.) And what did he do when the House Ethics Committee started looking into all of this? He apparently resorted to making "campaign contributions" to dig his way out of trouble. According to WCBS TV, a New York CBS affiliate: "The reigning member of Congress' top tax committee is apparently 'wrangling' other politicos to get him out of his own financial and tax troubles...Since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him." Charlie Rangel should not be allowed to remain in Congress, let alone serve as Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and he knows it. That's why he felt the need to disburse campaign contributions to Ethics Committee members and other congressional colleagues.



The Ethics of Profiling

Terrorists are usually Muslim. Let’s recognize that and act on it.

by Nicholas Guariglia

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-ethics-of-profiling/

In the wake of al-Qaeda’s failed Christmas Day plot to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253, several security discussions, once thought closed, ought to be reopened. Among them: this nation’s aversion to “profiling” our adversaries. Opponents of profiling cite the slippery-slope possibilities. We could slide into discriminatory behavior, they forewarn. We must guard against anti-Muslim sentiment, they insist. These worries, however, are likely misplaced. Profiling our enemies wherever they may be — most imperatively, at the location and moment of attack — is not only logical, but ethical.

This year alone, there was the Long Island convert who took aim at Penn Station. There was the Arkansas convert who attacked a Little Rock military recruitment center, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding another. There was the prison convert from Illinois who tried to blow up a federal building in Springfield. A businessman from Chicago tried to attack a Danish newspaper and was later charged with assisting the gunmen who slaughtered dozens in Mumbai, India. An Afghan national, Mr. Zazi, targeted Manhattan landmarks for destruction. A Jordanian national, Mr. Smadi, tried to bring down a skyscraper in Dallas. Shirwa Ahmed and company traveled from suburban Minneapolis to kill innocents in Somalia. Ramy Zamzam and friends left Washington, D.C., likely to do the same in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Then there was November’s massacre at Ford Hood and December’s near-disaster aboard Flight 253.

All these suspects share several common characteristics: 1) they were relatively wealthy; 2) they were highly educated; and 3) they were all Muslim. Stating this aloud does not make one a racist. It proves one to be an empiricist.

Profiling potential threats based upon what someone may believe is not racist. Beliefs, thoughts, and doctrines have nothing to do with “race” — Islam isn’t a race, after all. Our enemies are Arab and Pashtun, African and Asian, brown and sometimes white, men and sometimes women. It is their Islamist fanaticism which binds them together in their epic struggle against the West. They mean what they say and say what they mean. Recognizing this as fact is an essential prerequisite.

A wiser national posture would involve transcending phony multicultural etiquette. On the New York City subway system, there are signs imploring citizens to “remain vigilant” and “report suspicious activity.” This is well and good, but we undermine such vigilance when the federal government itself is beholden to politically correct feel-good nonsense.

But why is our government so hesitant to trust us? Haven’t we proven our tolerance and magnanimity already? After 9/11, was there any sustained retaliatory violence against Muslims? Is there much concrete anti-Muslim backlash today? Did we put Muslims in concentration camps, as Bruce Willis does in The Siege — or as FDR did to Japanese-Americans during World War II? I see Muslims every day. I’ve never seen anyone bother or heckle them. By any historical standard, our national reaction to Islamic terrorism has been tame and prudent.

Americans aren’t asking for a green light to discriminate against Muslims. We simply want security officials to stop asking Grandma to take her clothes off at the airport. The government is willfully violating the privacy and liberties of hundreds of millions of law-abiding citizens, all out of fear of appearing to undercut our own notions of tolerance and diversity — notions our adversaries exploit. Such exploitation makes profiling all the more necessary and morally urgent. Al-Qaeda has been known to use men of varying nationalities — the most recent example, a baby-faced Nigerian — in order to “throw off” our collective suspicions. By profiling suspected terrorists in an intelligent manner, we are simply keeping pace with al-Qaeda’s deadly trickery.

Profiling does not promote bigotry or ignorance either. To the contrary, profiling helps fight ignorance — in that it necessitates greater knowledge about the enemy. Profiling requires Americans to become more learned about Islamic terrorism, which is a good thing, an ethical thing. How many Americans, for instance, could tell the difference between a Sunni jihadist and a Shiite jihadist, or between Arabic and Farsi?

Such knowledge is important, particularly for the civilian who must determine whether or not to act in order to prevent an attack. It’s important for citizens to be able to distinguish between a Hezbollah operative and an al-Qaeda operative, to be able to differentiate between an Abu Sayyaf operative and a Jemmah Islamiyah operative. Americans ought to know what would-be suicide bombers look like on the day of martyrdom (they’re usually clean-shaven and wear Western clothing).

When the government encourages a culture that scorns such profiling, we end up with ignoramuses confusing Sikhism with Salafism, accusing Indian Punjabis of being terrorists because they’re brown, wear turbans, and have beards — and consequently making a mess of it all. In other words, only educated profiling can end racist profiling. It should be encouraged of citizens and institutionalized, in some manner, by the government.



Clinton foundation draws eclectic donor list

By SHARON THEIMER

http://townhall.com/news/business/2010/01/02/clinton_foundation_draws_eclectic_donor_list?page=full&comments=true

Former President Bill Clinton's charity drew an international roster of donors last year, ranging from Norway and Oman to foreign lotteries, businessmen and celebrities, a contributor list released under an ethics promise by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton showed.

A donor rundown disclosed on New Year's Day by the William J. Clinton Foundation shows that in all, Norway has given $10 million to $25 million to the charity since its founding roughly a decade ago. Oman donated $1 million to $5 million over the years. The list gave cumulative donation totals and didn't say how much each contributor gave last year.

The foundation provided The Associated Press with a donor list Friday morning under the heading "William J. Clinton Foundation Publishes Names of 2009 Contributors on Foundation Web site" but later said the disclosure, which included many more foreign governments, covered donors dating back to the charity's inception, and that it wouldn't say who gave in 2009. The foundation changed course Friday afternoon and updated the list to specify 2009 donors.

The Clintons agreed to annually disclose the names of donors to the foundation to address concerns about potential conflicts of interest between the former president's fundraising abroad and his wife's role in helping direct Obama administration foreign policy.

Then-President-elect Barack Obama made the disclosure a condition of his selection of Hillary Rodham Clinton for the post, and the two senior lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, D-Mass., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said when the first list was released in December 2008 that the disclosure "is designed to establish greater transparency and predictability with regard to the activities of the Clinton Foundation in the context of Sen. Clinton's service as secretary of state."

The William J. Clinton Foundation works in the United States and around the world on such issues as health care, particularly HIV/AIDS; climate change, and economic development. It also runs the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Ark., which includes Clinton's presidential library.

"I am deeply grateful to the many generous contributors who made it possible for my foundation to accomplish so much in 2009, including increasing the number of people on lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment, helping cities reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and inspiring millions of children to lead healthier lives," Bill Clinton said in a written statement.

Several foreign governments that appeared in the foundation's first disclosure in December 2008 didn't give last year, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Brunei.

In releasing the list Friday, the foundation didn't identify individual contributors' employers, nationalities or any other details. It gave only cumulative ranges rather than precise donations, and didn't provide a fundraising total. But it did say that more than 90 percent of the gifts it received last year were in donations of $250 or less. The foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.

The 2009 donors included three who ranked as the foundation's all-time biggest givers, topping $25 million each since Bill Clinton founded the charity: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Canadian mining tycoon and Radcliffe Foundation chief executive Frank Giustra, and UNITAID.

Bill Clinton joined Giustra on a 2005 trip to Kazakhstan; within days after the pair met with Kazakhstan's president, Giustra's business lined up preliminary deals giving it rights to buy into uranium projects controlled by a Kazakhstan state-owned enterprise. Bill

Clinton has said he had nothing to do with that.

In UNITAID's case, almost all of the money simply passed through the foundation to buy commodities, the foundation said.

AUSAID, the Australian government's overseas aid program, was also a 2009 giver. It donated $10 million to $25 million to the foundation over the years.

Those donating last year whose cumulative contributions total $5 million to $10 million include COPRESIDA, a Dominican Republic government agency formed to fight AIDS, whose donation of $5 million to $10 million passed through the foundation for commodity procurement; the Elton John AIDS Foundation; the Netherlands' Nationale Postcode Loterij, and the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative - Canada.

The foundation has attracted at least one seemingly unlikely ally over the years, the list shows. Conservative Richard Scaife, who bankrolled anti-Clinton investigations in the 1990s, gave it $100,000 to $250,001 before 2009. As first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton called the activities of Scaife and others part of "a vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president."

Among the donors last year:

_ Alltel Corp., which has given $1 million to $5 million in all.

_ Saudi Arabian businessman Nasser Al-Rashid and Argentine entrepreneur Gerardo Werthein, head of the Argentine Olympic Committee. Each gave $1 million to $5 million.

_ The Coca-Cola Co. and the Swedish Postcode Lottery, which each donated $1 million to $5 million since the foundation started.

_ The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which gave $250,001 to $500,000 over the years.

_ Gustavo Cisneros and the Venevision entertainment company, whose enterprises include a TV network in Venezuela. They gave $250,001 to $500,000 in all. Cisneros is chief executive of Venevision parent the Cisneros Group; serves on the board of directors of the international Barrick Gold Corp.; and is on the Council on Foreign Relations International Advisory Board.

_ International online retailer Alibaba Group, which gave $100,001 to $250,000 in all.

_ Saudi businessman Hamza B. Al-Kholi, whose companies operate in the Middle East, Europe and United States in such industries as hotels and resorts, real estate development, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, banking, aviation and telecommunications. He gave at least $100,000.

_ Professional golf's PGA Tour Inc., which donated $50,001 to $100,000 overall.

_ Celebrity businessman Donald Trump, who gave $50,001 to $100,000 in all.

_ Automaker Nissan North America Inc. and the Metropolitan National Bank, which each has given $25,000 to $50,000 total.

_ Bug Works Pest Control Co., demonstrating the wide range of donors, gave $1,001 TO $5,000.

The Clinton Family Foundation and Bill Clinton also gave in 2009; the donations total $1 million to $5 million over the years.

The Clintons were under no legal obligation to identify foundation donors. Presidents typically do not disclose the names of those who give to their foundations, even when the givers include foreign governments. Former President George W. Bush hasn't said who is contributing to construction of his presidential library in Texas, for example.

In addition to providing a foundation donor list, the Clintons agreed that new donations from foreign governments would be examined by government ethics officers. An Obama spokesman said at the time that the agreement would meet the incoming president's transparency promise and help to avoid potential conflicts of interest.


The White House had no comment Friday on the new disclosures.



"The e-mail Bag"

Homeland Security

Just wanted to let you know that the New Homeland Security Bill has passed. Things will be different now and Internet surfing as you know it will be tracked by what the FBI calls a 'nointrusive method.' The FBI says you will hardly notice anything different.
For a demonstration, click on the link below:

http://users.chartertn.net/tonytemplin/FBI_eyes/