ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20100226

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

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



"Daily Motivations"

"Men talk as if victory were something fortunate. Work is victory." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent and committed decision. -- Anthony Robbins

"To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while." -- Josh Billings



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

O Sovereign LORD! You have made the heavens and earth by Your great power. Nothing is too hard for You! (Jeremiah 32:17)

With a single utterance, God spoke the universe into being---a universe that astronomers estimate contains more than 100 billion galaxies. But all the power contained with this universe does not equal even a fraction of God's almighty power. He is not restrained or inhibited by any of His created beings. People and nations are powerless when confronted by His might.

For some people, the idea that God is all-powerful is little comfort, because they are skeptical about His willingness to get intimately involved in their affairs. They assume we must live by luck or by good breaks produced by our own hard work and cleverness.

However, when we look at the universe, we see order and design. Everything has its place, its purpose. God's Word confirms that He has a design for this world and for every person in it. That includes you!

Your View of God Really Matters …

What is the most recent event in which you recognized God's power at work?



"The Patriot Post"

"[T]he first transactions of a nation, like those of an individual upon his first entrance into life make the deepest impression, and are to form the leading traits in its character." --George Washington, letter to John Armstrong, 1788

"Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptionable characters." --Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1775

"No nation was ever ruined by trade, even seemingly the most disadvantageous." --Benjamin Franklin and George Whaley, Principles of Trade, 1774



Income Redistribution: The TARP Slush Fund

Apparently Barack Obama found a Chuck E. Cheese game token in his pocket. What else can explain his "Whac-A-Mole" economic policy? Obama called for Congress to provide $30 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds allocated for small business loan funding via community banks with $10 billion or less in assets. Obviously, he thinks (or "feels," since it's obvious that he hasn't engaged in cognition) that banks are just hoarding the money instead of lending to cash-strapped businesses.

Banks lend money on the basis of ability and willingness to repay. At present, small businesses are finding it difficult to determine what they can repay. In fact, Obama's 2008 presidential campaign has also found it hard to repay things, reportedly still owing Springfield, Illinois, a chunk of change.

Furthermore, businesses create jobs to capitalize on economic growth. Public policy can increase or decrease the cost of job creation, but without the base element of economic growth, most jobs will be simply transferred as older workers retire and younger workers enter the workforce.

Another reason we take issue with Obama's plan is that, as we and others warned in 2008, TARP has become a political slush fund. Larger banks were forced to take the money, and they have now repaid it with interest. Of course, this doesn't include Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or GM or Chrysler -- that money is simply lost. Now, instead of returning these repaid taxpayer dollars to their rightful place, Obama plans to pass out more unconstitutional goodies.

As the Heritage Foundation's Andrew Grossman points out, "The administration lacks legal authority" to use TARP fund for anything outside the bill's specific intent. "If the authority is as broad as the administration and some lawmakers say, then it is unconstitutional. Congress cannot pass the buck and give unlimited power to the executive." Investor's Business Daily concludes, "The administration seems to have discovered a new universal law of perpetual motion -- that money once extracted from the taxpayers or borrowed from others can never be returned whence it came. As for the Constitution, we don't need no stinking Constitution."



Culture & Policy - Climate Change This Week: Bin Laden Goes Green

In his latest audiotape message, Osama bin Laden deviated from his typical holy-war rant to offer a different reason to join his jihad: global warming. Yes, the chief terrorist-in-hiding is trying a big-tent approach to destroy the West -- i.e., you may not want to blow yourself up for 72 virgins, but killing the American economy to prevent climate change could be an appealing alternative.

"All of the industrialized countries, and especially the large ones, bear the responsibility for the crisis of the greenhouse effect," bin Laden declared. "Most of them, though, rallied around the Kyoto accords, and agreed to limits on emissions of harmful gases. However, Bush Jr.., and Congress before him, rejected this accord in order to please the large corporations." Isn't it amazing how closely bin Laden continues to echo Democrat talking points? Maybe he's a closet member of the DNC.

Calling the U.S. and its policies the "true terrorists," bin Laden urged the "[p]eople of the world" to "[b]oycott them [the United States] to save yourselves and your possessions and your children from climate change and to live proud and free." Great advice coming from a guy living in a cave.

In other news, hackers in Europe succeeded in stealing some 250,000 carbon credit permits worth more than $4 million from six companies in an e-mail phishing scheme. The wheels just keep coming off the Global Warming Express.



Judicial Benchmarks: Hate Crimes Law Challenged

The Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center is challenging the constitutionality of the federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, which was attached to defense authorization legislation last fall. The bill adds gender disorientation or identity to the list of protected minorities, which in turn means stiffer penalties for crimes committed against these "special" classes of victims. The plaintiffs are three pastors and the president of the American Family Association of Michigan, who "take a strong public stand against the homosexual agenda, which seeks to normalize disordered sexual behavior that is contrary to Biblical teaching," the Law Center said in a news release.

According to CNS News, "The lawsuit alleges that the new law violates the plaintiffs' rights to freedom of speech, expressive association, and free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment, and it violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment. The lawsuit also alleges that Congress lacked authority to enact the legislation under the Tenth Amendment and the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution."



Village Academic Curriculum: 'No Child Left Behind' Overhaul

The Obama administration is planning a major revamping of the No Child Left Behind education policy. The New York Times article that attacked NCLB, which became law under President George W. Bush, neglected to mention that the author of this law was the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. That's natural because, while this law, which lays out the interaction between the federal government and the states concerning education, was championed by congressional Republicans and Democrats alike, the blame for its failure is being laid firmly and exclusively at the former president's feet.

The proposed changes are aimed at several aspects of the law which have been criticized by "educators" for years. They begin with the elimination of the 2014 deadline, at which time all children would have been "academically proficient," replacing it with a goal of all children being "college or career ready" at high school graduation. In addition, the doling of federal funds will be based not on student population size, as is the case now, but on academic progress. This is designed to address the perceived lack of motivation for failing schools to improve. In this way, it's similar to the administration's "Race to the Top" program, in which states compete for $4 billion in education monies pulled from the stimulus bill.

The merits of the new program, which will be created with input from Congress, have yet to be determined. One thing is certain, however: It will cost yet more money. Obama is calling for a 9 percent increase in educational spending in his new budget.



Faith and Family: Say, Abstinence Does Work

A new study has many people eating their words, including a few journalists. Just days after The Washington Post's Rob Stein wrote a derogatory article about abstinence-only programs, a new study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine shows that such programs can in fact delay the onset of sexual activity in teens. Stein then scrambled to write a second article stating that these programs "may work."

The University of Pennsylvania studied 662 students from four public middle schools between 2001 and 2004. Students were randomly selected to attend one of the following eight-hour classes: a) abstinence only; b) safe-sex; c) a combination of the two, or d) a class with a concentration in general healthy living. The results were shocking to the liberal elites who had long disparaged abstinence. Only 33 percent of the students who had taken the abstinence-only class had engaged in sexual activity within the next two years, as opposed to the 52 percent who had attended the safe-sex class.

For its part, the Obama administration cut $170 million in abstinence education funding, while spending $114 million on other forms of pregnancy prevention education; he wants to increase that amount to $183 million. Of course, if the point is to prevent either pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease, abstinence works every time it's tried.



To Keep and Bear Arms

A homeowner in Brevard County, Florida, took on four intruders last Sunday in a shootout at his home. He may have been prepared for it, however, as his house was burglarized the night before. After seeing the four men jump over the fence, the homeowner began shooting. Barbara Matthews of the Cocoa Police Department said, "He challenged them. He told them to get off his property. They continued toward him and shots were fired." All five victims of the incident were reportedly taken to a hospital listed in serious condition. The homeowner also suffered a gunshot wound. According to police, the two cases do appear to be related.



And Last...

Researcher Lorianne Updike Toler stumbled on a surprise while working at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania: a draft of the U.S. Constitution scribbled by Founder James Wilson in 1787. "This was the kind of moment historians dream about," said Toler, a lawyer and founding president of the Constitutional Sources Project, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that promotes an understanding of and access to U.S. Constitution documents. Toler actually paid tribute to our founding document, saying, "This was national scripture, a piece of our Constitution's history." But given the current penchant for a "living constitution" in Washington, she might fare better by putting the dead-white-guy relic up for sale on eBay.



"ACLJ"

The Obama Administration and Congressional leaders are doing everything they can, using any means possible, to throw a disastrous health care program your way ... a bill that allows massive federal funding of abortion.

Most Americans have repeatedly said they DO NOT WANT FEDERAL DOLLARS TO BE USED TO FUND ABORTIONS.

But the facts are clear: The plan put forth by President Obama embraces much of what the Senate-approved, citizen-rejected, health care plan does- including an INCREASE in federal funding for abortion- from $7 billion to a monstrous $11 billion.

Most Americans understand that health care reform should not be jammed through Congress with a legislative scheme called 'reconciliation'- a budget maneuver that was never designed to be used on such a massive legislative package like health care reform.

But Congressional leaders have vowed to utilize this one-sided, partisan-controlled legislative maneuver to get the votes they so desperately need.

We've launched an urgently important nationwide petition campaign to make sure your voice is heard by the President and Congress. We're working with Congressional Members on Capitol Hill to start over on health care -

We need your financial support to defeat reconciliation, oppose this exorbitant health care measure, and protect life.

God bless you for your support!



The Web"

Media Defend Obama's 'Revamped' Health Care Takeover Plan

By Julia A. Seymour

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/julia-seymour/2010/02/25/media-defend-obamas-revamped-health-care-takeover-plan

President Obama released his own plan for health care reform Feb. 22, just days ahead of his Feb. 25 "bipartisan" summit about health care reform. NBC's Chuck Todd was thrilled the president "finally" weighed in.

Republican leadership quickly condemned the plan, which relies heavily on the current Senate bill, as the same government takeover that had already been proposed. House GOP Leader John Boehner said the plan "crippled the credibility" of the upcoming summit.

In more than thirty stories the cable and network news media reacted by defending the White House against Boehner's claim by saying the plan was merely an "opening bid," consulting liberal politicians and outside groups like Brookings Institution, The Nation and Huffington Post, and by pushing Republicans to compromise and accept a bipartisan solution.

MSNBC invited Ryan Grim of the liberal blog Huffington Post to comment on the president's plan Feb. 22. He told Tamron Hall and Savannah Guthrie that Republicans "almost have to show up" to the summit in order to avoid looking like obstructionists.

CNN's Rick Sanchez was confused by Republican criticism of the summit which he categorized as "fear of a trap." "I don't understand the argument, period," Sanchez declared.

CNN's Dan Lothian offered the analogy of Democrats being on the on the 100th floor of a building and Republicans on the ground floor. Sanchez called for a compromise: "I think somehow they all need to get to the 50th floor."

Several reports uncritically repeated White House claims about the cost of Obama's plan ($950 billion) and The Nation's Chris Hayes, a liberal MSNBC guest, wrongly claimed that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the bill is paid for. No one on "Morning Joe" with Hayes called him out for his inaccurate assertion.

The fact is that the CBO "cannot provide a cost estimate for the proposal without additional detail." A mere two cable reports admitted that the CBO is unable to score this particular plan yet. No network reports mentioned this important detail.

Since Feb. 22 conservatives have criticized Obama's plan for violating his tax pledge, for doing nothing to control rising costs of health care and for ignoring the consequences of price controls. But the network and cable news programs have done a terrible job of representing those concerns.

Journalists often ignored public opposition to overreaching health care reforms and defended the administration in the rare cases it was mentioned. NBC's Chuck Todd and David Shuster downplayed opposition to the plan Feb. 22 blaming it on a "communications" problem. MSNBC and CNN segments also argued that the American public favors a public option and interviewed guests who supported passing a bill with public option using reconciliation procedure.

Misreporting and Underreporting the Facts

The cable and network cheerleading wasn't the only flaw in health care reform stories Feb. 22 and 23. In some cases, the news media actually managed to misreport the facts.

Reporters relied on the use of White House cost estimates that had not been confirmed by the CBO due to the lack of detail in Obama's plan. In one case, an MSNBC guest said the CBO had done the math and his inaccuracy went unchallenged.

But NBC's "Today," MSNBC's "Morning Joe" and "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," CNN "Newsroom" and other programs also misreported the removal of the special Medicaid deal with Nebraska.

In December the media reported that Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., had worked out a "sweet deal" in exchange for his support of the Senate health care reform bill. According to Politico, the deal was to have the federal government pay most of the bill for Nebraska's new Medicaid recipients forever.

NBC's "Today" reported that Obama's plan "scraps" the Nebraska deal. ABC's "Good Morning America" used the word removal and other broadcasts also incorrectly said the deal was "gone."

But according to The Heritage Foundation, the president's plan doesn't eliminate the "cornhusker kickback" that infuriated people on both sides of the aisle -- instead it extended it to all 50 states.

"Now all new Medicaid spending through 2017 and 90 percent after 2020 will be picked up by the feds," Heritage's Conn Carroll wrote.

Borrowing from the White House playbook, ABC's George Stephanopoulos portrayed Republicans as a "do-nothing" party in an interview with Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., on Feb. 23.

Stephanopoulos parroted the White House question (which Robert Gibbs and other administration officials pushed on Feb. 22 and 23): "Will the Republicans post their health care plan and when?" and followed up "so will you take them up on that?"

Cantor told Stephanopoulos that the House GOP "had a plan posted since the vote in July." The ABC host argued back saying Republicans don't have a "comprehensive bill." Cantor said they did.

Heritage Foundation called that White House "gamesmanship," but supported Cantor's position saying "Not only do House Republicans already have their own health care plan, not only is it already available online, but the White House's own website already links to it!"

Ignoring Conservative Worries

While many network and cable reports about Obama's health care plan noted Republican opposition to the plan, journalists rarely delved into specific economic concerns from conservatives.

MSNBC's Hall seemed to agree with Obama's plan to block insurance premium hikes saying, "Many are saying that's the insurance reform that was needed, perhaps in the very beginning, to make sure that people were not spending so much money, so much of their income just trying to keep up with their insurance premiums."

Neither Hall nor Guthrie explored the potential impact of such price controls on insurance premiums.

Just one day after Obama introduced a plan that would include a board of overseers who could block "extreme" rate hikes, ABC's Diane Sawyer saw a need for limiting insurance premiums on Feb. 23. She introduced an attack on private insurers by asking "will Republicans or will Democrats keep insurance companies from jacking up premiums while making huge profits?"

Cato Institute's director of health policy studies Michael F. Cannon, wrote about the price controls that "helped kill the Clinton health plan" in the 1990s and criticized Obama's intent to do the same thing.

"Artificially limiting premium growth allows the government to curtail spending while leaving the dirty work of withholding medical care to private insurers," Cannon explained.

Cannon also quoted a 1994 paper by Progressive Policy Institute's David Kendall that examined the effects of health care price controls. Kendall wrote that "government price regulation will always fail because it does not change the underlying economic forces driving up prices. If we are serious about slowing the growth of health care costs, we have to change the ways we consume and provide medical care."

CNN's Ali Velshi was one of the few reporters who admitted that Obama's plan "doesn't bring down the cost" of health care."

Another conservative group, Americans for Tax Reform, found that the bill would raise taxes by $748 billion over the next 10 years. ATR's Ryan Ellis, director of policy, also pointed out in detail the ways in which Obama's plan violates his pledge not to tax any families making less than $250,000 a year.

Ellis concluded that the plan raises taxes on such families by $136 billion.

Neither conservative group was represented in network or cable broadcasts following Obama's announcement, but representatives from liberal think tank Brookings, progressive publication The Nation and liberal blog Huffington Post along with socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., were all interviewed about the plan.

—Julia A. Seymour is an assistant editor for the Business & Media Institute.



Morning Bell: A Sham of a Summit for a Sham of a Bill

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/02/25/morning-bell-a-sham-of-a-summit-for-a-sham-of-a-bill/?utm_source=Newsletter&tm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Today’s White House-sponsored health care summit is an insult to the intelligence of every honest American. President Barack Obama’s communications minions are still trying sell his plan as an “opening bid” in the health care debate. But as Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus asks: “With whom is he bidding? The public dance is with Republicans, but this is hardly serious. The White House does not enter Thursday’s summit expecting Republicans to make a deal.” In fact, the President’s recently-unveiled plan is specifically designed to be passed without a single Republican vote. That is why the Washington Post reports this morning:

Although Obama is billing the White House gathering as an opportunity for Republicans to air their ideas for reform, Democrats do not expect it to reveal much common ground and are showing little willingness to abandon the basic outline of legislation that the House and Senate have approved.

The real target of today’s summit are the 38 Democrats in the House who voted against Obamacare the first time. While Obamacare passed the House 220-215, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters yesterday she is not sure if she has the votes this time around. The passing of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and the retirements of Reps. Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) have cost her three votes, and the inclusion of taxpayer-funded abortions in the Senate and White House plans will cost the vote of the only Republican to vote for the plan the first time around, Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), as well as Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and 15 to 20 additional pro-life Democrats.

That means the White House must convince a sizeable chunk of conservative Democrats to switch their votes. Brown University political scientist James Monroe says that is the true purpose of today’s event: “House Democrats have told Obama, ‘Move the needle on public opinion,’ and that’s what this is about.” So how does President Obama plan to “move the needle” on the public’s view of his plan? By pushing the same old tired talking points he has been trying to sell them for over a year now. But the public’s opinion of President Obama’s plan has steadily declined as they have learned more about it. That’s for good reason: they intuitively know his claims cannot be true. Specifically, the President says his plan will “make insurance more affordable,” “set up a new competitive health insurance market,” and “put our budget and economy on a more stable path by reducing the deficit.”

But as Heritage fellow Bob Moffit amply details, each of these claims are demonstrably false. The Senate bill actually increases health insurance premiums and raises taxes on the middle class by $629 billion over ten years. It destroys what little there is left of a real competitive health insurance marketplace by instituting new price controls and standard benefit packages that will turn health insurance companies into public utilities. And the plan is so riddled with deceptive budget gimmicks that the White House’s non-CBO scored $950 billion price tag actually comes to $2.5 trillion once an honest accounting has been applied.

The stakes for today’s summit are high. According to a new Gallup poll, if President Obama fails to win any conservative support, Americans by a 49% to 42% margin will oppose rather than support Congress passing a health care bill. And what if President Obama decides to go it alone and pass major social welfare legislation with a bare majority? By an even larger 52% to 39% margin, Americans oppose passage of Obamacare with only 50 Senators in support (Vice President Joe Biden casting the 51st vote). And those opposed are more likely to feel strongly about their opinion than those in favor, 25% to 11%.

Back in 2005, then- Sen. Barack Obama said: “You know, the Founders designed this system, as frustrating it is, to make sure that there’s a broad consensus before the country moves forward.” Let’s hope the President heeds his own advice, and after today’s summit fails, he starts over.



Obama Administration Using Accounting Gimmicks That Would Make Enron ‘Blush,’ Republican Lawmaker Says

By Christopher Neefus

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/61925

Headquarters of the federally chartered mortgage giant, Freddie Mac, in McLean, Va. (AP photo)

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) says the Obama administration is using an accounting “gimmick” in its budget by not including the debt owed by mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“The accounting gimmicks that are used today would make an Enron and WorldCom accountant blush,” Hensarling told reporters. “The American people know that under the policies of this administration—under the policies of this Congress—we are drowning in a sea of red ink.”

Hensarling, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, joined a group of House Republicans Tuesday in announcing the introduction of a bill that would require President Obama’s Office of Management and Budget to include the liabilities of Fannie and Freddie in the national debt calculation.

The two companies are defined as government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) whose portfolios include trillions of dollars in American mortgages, many of which are now “under water.” The federal government took control of the mortgage giants in 2008, as they neared financial collapse.

Billions of taxpayer dollars ($61 billion for Fannie Mae and $51 billion for Freddie Mac) has been spent so far to keep the GSEs solvent. Just this week, Freddie Mac reported a $7.8 billion loss in the final three months of 2009, but said it will not require another taxpayer infusion at this time.

Hensarling on Tuesday suggested that the administration is under-reporting the nation’s debt by failing to account for the potential liability incurred if Fannie and Freddie go deeper into the red.

The potential liabilities incurred by Fannie and Freddie, Hensarling said, would amount to “the mother of all bailouts.”

Fannie Mae headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Wikimedia Commons photo)

“When the final chapter is written on the history of our financial debacle, it will show that the cause was the government policies that cajoled, incented (sic) and mandated financial institutions to lend money to people to buy homes that, ultimately, they could not afford,” Hensarling said. “At the epicenter of those federal policies was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and before all the dust settles in the final accounting, they will prove to be the mother of all bailouts.”

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, estimated that the unfunded liabilities of Fannie and Freddie could exceed $5 trillion.

Under Republican’s proposed bill, the White House Office of Management and Budget would have to treat the GSEs’ estimated liabilities as part of the federal debt, and those liabilities along with the rest of the debt would have to remain under the debt ceiling.

Congress recently voted to raise the debt ceiling above $14 trillion dollars for the first time to accommodate other spending.

“The president has often spoken about accountability and transparency,” Hensarling said. “This is an opportunity to engage in the deed as opposed to words to actually achieve that, and I would hope…that this legislation wouldn’t be necessary—that the president would direct the Office of Management and Budget to have honest accounting for the American people about the amount of debt that is attached to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

The bill – the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Accountability and Transparency for Taxpayers Act of 2010 -- specifically directs the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to submit quarterly reports to Congress during the conservatorship of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).

Each report would have to include the dollar amount of the GSEs’ total liabilities, with “a detailed breakdown of the potential level of risk to the Federal Government” and an explanation of how the risk to the federal government has changed from the previous reporting period.

The report also would have to include an explanation of all compensation and bonuses paid to Fannie and Freddie executive officers, among other items.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told the House Budget Committee on Wednesday there’s no need for such reporting requirements: "We do not think it is necessary to consolidate the full obligations of Fannie and Freddie onto the nation's budget,” Geithner said.

In addition to comparing the administration’s budget to the manipulated Enron balance sheet, Hensarling said the United States was heading down the same path as Greece, which now needs financial assistance from other European Union members.

“In fact, if you look at the rules of the E.U., when you look at our debt-to-GDP ratio—our deficit-to-GDP ratio, using our honest accounting, we couldn’t even get into the E.U. Now why are E.U. countries getting into trouble? Because of accounting gimmicks that they used to trick their people.”

H.R. 4581, the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Accountability and Transparency for Taxpayers Act, has been referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. In a Democrat-controlled House, it is not expected to advance.



Myrick has U.S. Muslims wary

ROBERT GIROUX - MCT

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican from Charlotte, speaks to Iranian-American community leaders Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. She contends extremists are infiltrating U.S. Muslim communities.

BY BARBARA BARRETT - Washington Correspondent

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/02/25/356992/myrick-has-us-muslims-wary.html

WASHINGTON -- A year ago, U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick was appointed to the House Intelligence Committee, a prestigious post she had long sought.

There, top-secret briefings unveiled truths about homegrown terrorism she had only suspected. And won't reveal.

"I can't tell you. I'm not being coy," Myrick said in an interview. "There's a threat out there to our security. ... It's worse than I thought."

Myrick, a Charlotte Republican and former mayor of the city, contends that extremists are working their way into U.S. Muslim communities, infiltrating government institutions and influencing American citizens to attack their own country. Her activism earns plaudits from some conservatives - but criticism from Muslim constituents who fear that her tone endangers a community 3 million strong and deeply imbedded in the nation's fabric. Tonight, months after pledging to do so, Myrick will meet with Charlotte's Muslim community.
Since 9/11, Myrick has worried that the dangers of terrorism on U.S. soil were underestimated and has proposed a multi-pronged approach to fighting Islamic radicalization called "Wake Up America."

It suggested cutting off exchange programs and munitions sales with Saudi Arabia, passing legislation that would make calls for death to American citizens a form of treason, and investigating the selection of Arabic translators working for the Pentagon and FBI. In recent months, Myrick has taken on the Muslim law known as Shariah, suggested universities are being influenced by the austere brand of Islam common to Saudi Arabia known as Wahhabism and warned that Muslims have infiltrated political and military circles.

She also has accused the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, of planting spies by trying to get Muslim interns hired in congressional offices.

Accusation of 'McCarthyism'

The allegations damaged already sore relations with the Muslim community, said Larry Shaw of Fayetteville, national chairman for CAIR and a North Carolina state senator.

"It's looking like she's taking on a tinge of McCarthyism," Shaw said. "She's becoming a hatemonger."

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, Congress' only Muslim member, said he hopes tonight's meeting opens a dialogue.

"Some of the things that Rep. Myrick has said are deeply offensive and upsetting," said Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota.

In 2003, she angered Muslims with a comment during a Heritage Foundation forum about danger within the country.

"You know, and this can be misconstrued, but honest to goodness Ed and I for years, for 20 years, have been saying, 'You know, look at who runs all the convenience stores across the country,'" she said, mentioning her husband. "Every little town you go into, you know?"

Last fall, she wrote the foreword to "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Seeking to Islamize America." The book accuses CAIR of supporting international jihad.

Most Muslims consider CAIR, which has been around since 1994, a respected civil rights group. The day of the book's release, Myrick and three colleagues accused CAIR of infiltrating congressional offices by attempting to place Muslim interns.

U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo of California, the top Democrat on Myrick's Intelligence subcommittee, said broad attacks on Muslims hurt American intelligence efforts.

Myrick cites Fort Hood

Myrick has said her fears about infiltration were realized in November, when Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 13 people at the Fort Hood in Texas. The FBI had been monitoring contact between Hasan and a radical Yemeni-American cleric.

After the shooting, Myrick told Front Page, a conservative Web site:

"We are fighting against radical Islamists who are using political Islam to advance their agenda to create a Caliphate, an Islamic state, and jihadists who use violent means to do the same."

Steven Emerson, author of "Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the U.S.," praised Myrick.

"Anyone who says that it's fear-mongering or that it's not serious is living on a different planet," Emerson said.

Some experts, though, disagree.

A study released last month by Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill researchers found 139 Muslim Americans involved in alleged or confirmed terrorism since 9/11. That compares with a national Muslim American population of more than 3million, said David Schanzer, lead author of the study and director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security.

"You have to look at the credibility of the individuals making those allegations, their motivations," Schanzer said, though he would not criticize Myrick individually.

U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat and chairman of the spending subcommittee that funds the Department of Homeland Security, said that any member of Congress with details about a legitimate threat should take it to the FBI.

"I'm convinced we can do that without profiling, without stigmatizing whole groups," Price said.

Ebrahim Moosa, a Duke University professor of Islamic studies, said many of Myrick's concerns follow similar ignorance about Islam in America and the realistic threats of domestic terrorism.

"These manifestations are linked to more complex sets of issues, which is one thing politicians don't want to hear about," Moosa said. "She needs to make judgments on the facts and not on fictions. Without any evidence, this is just creating anxiety."

First of many meetings?

Myrick said she wants constituents to understand that her fears aren't about religion. "We live in the United States of America, where we have freedom of religion for everybody," she said.

She paused when asked whether she would have changed anything about her tone in the past year.

"I don't know," she said. "There's always times when you can choose your words better."

"We've got to talk about this," she said. "We can't just have two sides to an issue and not want to talk about it. It's too important to our country."



Obama Administration Did Not Consult Its Own Homeland Security Secretary Before Deciding to Try KSM in NYC

By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=61878

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate Homeland Security committee hearing on Wednesday that she has not been consulted and has not met with Obama administration officials about trying terror suspects on U.S. soil. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

(CNSNews.com) – At a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was not consulted before the decision was made to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terror suspects in U.S. federal court in New York City.

She also said she has not taken part in discussions since that decision was made, including any that may have taken place to discuss whether the trials should be moved to another location.

“Were you consulted about homeland security risks or costs of providing security for the 9/11 terrorist in New York City before the attorney general made that decision?” Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the committee, asked Napolitano.

“Mr. Chairman, we were not consulted before but we have been part of a process to give cost estimates of what the security costs would be after the decision,” said Napolitano, who heads the department that was created after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 to protect the United States from future harm.

“In recent weeks – at least the last couple of weeks – there have been some statements and some rumors that the administration is reconsidering the question of trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 conspirators in New York City,” Lieberman said. He then asked if she had been involved in discussions about homeland security issues as they relate to trying terrorists on U.S. soil.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the committee, asked Napolitano about her involvement in the decision to try 9/11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

“I have not personally participated in any discussions,” Napolitano said.

Napolitano made the remarks at a hearing to discuss the proposed $56.3 billion budget for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for fiscal year 2011. The budget includes $200 million for security for trying Sheikh Mohammed in New York City.

When asked by ranking minority leader Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) why the DHS budget spends money on securing the trials of terrorists in the U.S. while cutting funding for U.S. Coast Guard, Napolitano defended the Obama administration’s stance on the matter.

“Decommissioning part of the Coast Guard’s 13th elite maritime security safety teams that protect waterfront cities makes absolutely no sense given the threats to our ports,” said Collins, adding that she believed the Senate would not fund security for terror trials in the U.S.

“We are going to have terrorist trials in the United States,” Napolitano said. “There will be security costs that accompany those trials.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), ranking member on the committee, said she was shocked that the Obama administration's budget for the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2011 cuts funding for the U.S. Coast Guard while asking for $200 million for security for the Sheikh Mohammed trial.

(CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)
Napolitano failed to show up at a Jan. 27 House Homeland Security hearing focusing on the Christmas Day bombing attempt of a U.S. airliner over Detroit by an Nigerian native trained by al Qaeda. Napolitano met privately on Feb. 4 with Democratic members of the committee and later with ranking Republican member Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.)

After she met with King, CNSNews.com twice asked Napolitano if she had spoken with President Barack Obama on

Christmas Day about the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 that day. She initially answered that she would not discuss her conversations with the presient. The second time she was asked the quesion, she answered that "we" were in contact with "the president's office."

“Yes, we were in contact with the president’s office,” Napolitano said.

A Feb. 3 report by CNSNews.com pointed out that FBI Director Robert Mueller, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and Napolitano all told congressional committees following the Dec. 25 attack that they were not consulted about the decision to Mirandize bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

In her prepared remarks on the DHS budget, Napolitano said DHS has five main missions – to prevent terrorism and enhance security, secure and manage U.S. borders, “enforcing and administrating” immigration laws, “safeguarding and securing cyberspace,” and disaster preparedness and response.



"The e-mail Bag"

Our planet is populated with plenty of bizarre and astonishing creatures. Here are three from the Bat Family ..... without the need for resorting to fiction.

http://mliberalguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/remember-average-response-time-to-911.html

Sucker-footed Bat

Red-Winged Fruit Bat

Left-Winged Ding Bat