ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20100203

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

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



"My Comments" - Ronald Reagan Week

http://www.ndgop.org/Roots/83574f27-640c-4551-88d8-b5099cd39e78/SiteImages/Reagan.jpg



Ronald Reagan
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/ronaldreagan

At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore "the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism."

On February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. He attended high school in nearby Dixon and then worked his way through Eureka College. There, he studied economics and sociology, played on the football team, and acted in school plays. Upon graduation, he became a radio sports announcer. A screen test in 1937 won him a contract in Hollywood. During the next two decades he appeared in 53 films.

From his first marriage to actress Jane Wyman, he had two children, Maureen and Michael. Maureen passed away in 2001. In 1952 he married Nancy Davis, who was also an actress, and they had two children, Patricia Ann and Ronald Prescott.

As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan became embroiled in disputes over the issue of Communism in the film industry; his political views shifted from liberal to conservative. He toured the country as a television host, becoming a spokesman for conservatism. In 1966 he was elected Governor of California by a margin of a million votes; he was re-elected in 1970.

Ronald Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter.

On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.

Dealing skillfully with Congress, Reagan obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. He embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and Government expenditures, refusing to deviate from it when the strengthening of defense forces led to a large deficit.

A renewal of national self-confidence by 1984 helped Reagan and Bush win a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes. Their victory turned away Democratic challengers Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro.

In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression.

In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve "peace through strength." During his two terms he increased defense spending 35 percent, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Reagan declared war against international terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub.

By ordering naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave support to anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa.

Overall, the Reagan years saw a restoration of prosperity, and the goal of peace through strength seemed to be within grasp.



"Daily Motivations"

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. -- George S. Patton

"One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything." -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

"The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started." -- Dawson Trotman



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

When You open Your hand, You satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. (Psalm 145:16)

Sometimes when I am sharing about God's love and forgiveness with an individual, he will have a questioning look on his face and ask, "But is God real?"

I kindly reply, "Oh, definitely. God is real - very real - and He has made it possible for us to know Him. But this special relationship with God requires a response from us." I often share what Jesus says in John 3:16: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." The only way we can have a relationship with our great Creator is through His Son, Jesus Christ. Knowing Jesus is the first step to knowing God.

Have you made a decision to turn to God by trusting Jesus as your Savior and Lord? If not, I urge you to do so today.

Another essential step to growing in our relationship with God is listening to His Spirit. Jesus promises, "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth." (John 16:13) God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us in our relationship with Him. A third response we make as we begin to know and appreciate our marvelous God is to seek Him wholeheartedly. Because of David's desire to seek God wholeheartedly, God called him "a man after My own heart."

I urge you to consider what might be keeping you from hungering after God. Ask God to help you resolve any issues and turn away from anything that would prevent you from having an intimate relationship with Him.

Embark on an adventure to intimacy with God by looking at God's attributes.

Your View of God Really Matters …

Take a pen and piece of paper. List anything in your life that might prevent you from hungering after God with all your heart. Then confess it to the Lord according to 1 John 1:9. Receive your forgiveness and begin an exciting new quest!



"The Patriot Post"

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.
Ronald Reagan

All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.
Ronald Reagan

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.
Ronald Reagan



The Gipper

"In 1968 Martin Luther King was gunned down by a brutal assassin, his life cut short at the age of 39. But those 39 short years had changed America forever. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had guaranteed all Americans equal use of public accommodations, equal access to programs financed by federal funds, and the right to compete for employment on the sole basis of individual merit. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had made certain that from then on black Americans would get to vote. But most important, there was not just a change of law; there was a change of heart. The conscience of America had been touched. Across the land, people had begun to treat each other not as blacks and whites, but as fellow Americans. ... Now our nation has decided to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by setting aside a day each year to remember him and the just cause he stood for. We've made historic strides since Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus. As a democratic people, we can take pride in the knowledge that we Americans recognized a grave injustice and took action to correct it. And we should remember that in far too many countries, people like Dr. King never have the opportunity to speak out at all." -- Ronald Reagan



Character: Lee and Jackson

"Let each man resolve to be victorious, and that the right of self-government, liberty, and peace shall find him a defender." -- Robert E. Lee

"[M]y religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave." -- Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

Today we take a moment to remember the birth anniversaries of Robert E. Lee (Jan. 19) and Stonewall Jackson (Jan. 21), two of the greatest military commanders in American history. They also were great men of faith who gave their all (Jackson his life) for the cause of liberty and states' rights, which we at The Patriot hold so dear. Some may question our decision to honor men of the Confederate States of America, but we encourage those readers to consider our correction of the record. The honor we give these men has its roots in the founding of this great nation.

Mark Alexander notes in his essay,"Lincoln's Legacy at 200," that "the causal case for states' rights is most aptly demonstrated by the words and actions of Gen. Lee, who detested slavery and opposed secession. In 1860, however, Gen. Lee declined Lincoln's request that he take command of the Army of the Potomac, saying that his first allegiance was to his home state of Virginia: 'I have, therefore, resigned my commission in the army, and save in defense of my native state... I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword.' He would, soon thereafter, take command of the Army of Northern Virginia, rallying his officers with these words: 'Let each man resolve to be victorious, and that the right of self-government, liberty, and peace shall find him a defender.'"



Re: The Left

"[W]hen you look back over the surges of enthusiasm in the politics of the last two years, you see something like this: The Obama enthusiasts who dominated so much of the 2008 campaign cycle were motivated by style. The tea party protesters who dominated so much of 2009 were motivated by substance. Remember those rapturous crowds that swooned at Barack Obama's rhetoric. 'We are the change we are seeking,' he proclaimed. 'We will be able to look back and tell our children' that 'this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.' A lot of style there, but not very much substance. ... In retrospect, the Obama enthusiasts seem to have been motivated by a yearning for a rapturous, nuanced leader. Send that terrible tyrant with his tortured sentences and moral certitude back to Texas and install The One in the White House, and all would be well. The Obama enthusiasts have achieved that goal, and perhaps it's not surprising that, as polls show, they're not much engaged in the details of the health care bills or cap-and-trade legislation or looming tax increases and the like. They, or at least most of them, were never much interested in those things anyway. In contrast, the tea party protesters .... are interested in substantive political issues. They decry the dangers of expanding the national debt, increasing government spending and putting government in command of the health care sector. Their concerns have basis in fact.. The national debt is on a trajectory to double as a percentage of the economy over 10 years, and the Democrats' health care bills threaten to bend the cost curve up. Higher taxes could choke off economic recovery and keep unemployment up near double-digit rates for years. Last year's stimulus bill surreptitiously raised the budget baseline for many domestic spending programs and sent money to state and local governments -- a payoff to the public employee unions who spent more than $100 million to elect Democrats in 2008. Agree with the tea party folk or not, these are substantive public policy issues of fundamental importance." -- political analyst Michael Barone



For the Record

"The word 'capitalism' is used in two contradictory ways. Sometimes it's used to mean the free market, or laissez faire. Other times it's used to mean today's government-guided economy. Logically, 'capitalism' can't be both things. Either markets are free or government controls them. We can't have it both ways. The truth is that we don't have a free market -- government regulation and management are pervasive -- so it's misleading to say that 'capitalism' caused today's problems. The free market is innocent. But it's fair to say that crony capitalism created the economic mess. ... What is crony capitalism? It's the economic system in which the marketplace is substantially shaped by a cozy relationship among government, big business and big labor. Under crony capitalism, government bestows a variety of privileges that are simply unattainable in the free market, including import restrictions, bailouts, subsidies and loan guarantees. .... Crony capitalism, better know as government bailouts, saved General Motors and Chrysler from extinction, with Barack Obama cronies the United Auto Workers getting preferential treatment over other creditors and generous stock holdings (especially outrageous considering that the union helped bankrupt the companies in the first place with fat pensions and wasteful work rules). Banks and insurance companies (like AIG) are bailed out because they are deemed too big to fail. Favored farmers get crop subsidies. If free-market capitalism is a private profit-and-loss system, crony capitalism is a private-profit and public-loss system. Companies keep their profits when they succeed but use government to stick the taxpayer with the losses when they fail. Nice work if you can get it. ... It's time we acknowledged the difference between the free market, which is based on freedom and competition, and crony capitalism, which is based on privilege." -- columnist John Stossel



Government

"[Last Wednesday], President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and nine other lawmakers met face-to-face for seven hours to resolve differences between the House and Senate health care bills. At the same time these talks were going on, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger met with other Obama administration officials in a separate room in the White House. This all comes after these same labor leaders met personally with Speaker Pelosi yesterday, and after they met face-to-face with President Obama in the White House on Monday. Despite then-candidate Barack Obama's explicit promises to the American people, absolutely none of these meetings were open to the public or televised on C-SPAN. In fact, Politico reports: 'Those involved in the talks sought to keep details of their progress under wraps.' And just what deals were Big Labor, the leftist majorities in Congress and the Obama administration making behind closed doors? How to pay for President Obama's likely $1 trillion health care plan without raising taxes on one of the President's most loyal constituencies: labor unions. Specifically, Big Labor reportedly has struck a deal with health care negotiators to exempt union members from the 40% excise tax on high-priced health insurance premiums. By some estimates, the tax would hit one in four union members. Now Big Labor will get all of the big government health care spending they always wanted, but they will not have to pay for it. ... So where does the White House and Congress propose to regain the revenue lost from exempting unions from the health care excise tax? The people who fund job creation: investors. The Obama administration wants to apply the Medicare payroll tax not just to wages but to capital gains, and for the first time ever, to dividends and other forms of investment income." -- The Heritage Foundation's Morning Bell



Liberty

"Although Democrats think their health care legislation faces smooth sailing to implementation, there is a rock dead ahead -- a constitutional challenge to the legislation's core. Democrats who assume it is constitutional to make it mandatory for Americans to purchase health insurance should answer some questions: Would it be constitutional for the government to legislate compulsory calisthenics for all Americans? If not, why not? If it would be, in what sense does the nation still have constitutional, meaning limited, government? Supporters of the mandate say Congress can impose it under the enumerated power to regulate interstate commerce. Since the New Deal, courts have made this power capacious enough to include regulating intrastate activity that 'substantially affects' interstate commerce.. Hence Congress could constitutionally ban racial discrimination in 'public accommodations' -- restaurants, motels, etc. -- as an impediment to interstate commercial activity. Opponents of the mandate say: Unless the Commerce Clause is infinitely elastic -- in which case, Congress can do anything -- it does not authorize Congress to forbid the inactivity of not making a commercial transaction, of not purchasing a product (health insurance) from a private provider. ... [I]f any activity, or inactivity, can be declared to have economic consequences, then anything can be regulated -- or required. Furthermore, judicial review, and the Constitution itself, is largely nullified by a doctrine of virtually unlimited judicial deference to Congress' estimates of what is 'necessary and proper' for the regulation of commerce. If Congress does something beyond its constitutional powers, that something does not become constitutional merely by Congress saying it is necessary for this or that. ... [G]overnment's primary purpose is not to organize the fulfillment of majority preferences but to protect pre-existing rights of the individual -- basically, liberty." -- columnist George Will



The Last Word

"I've been out of the country for a couple of days, so let me see if I've got this right: America's preparing to celebrate the first anniversary of Good King Barack the Hopeychanger's reign by electing a Republican? In Massachusetts? In what the tin-eared plonkers of the Democrat machine still insist on calling 'Ted Kennedy's seat'? Remember the good old days when the glossy magazine covers competed for the most worshipful image of the new global colossus? If you were at the Hopeychange inaugural ball on Jan. 20, 2009, when Barney Frank dived into the mosh pit, and you chanced to be underneath when he landed, and you've spent the past year in a coma, until suddenly coming to in time for the poll showing some unexotically monikered nobody called Scott Brown, whose only glossy magazine appearance was a Cosmopolitan pictorial 30 years ago (true), four points ahead in Kennedy country, you must surely wonder if you've woken up in an alternative universe. The last thing you remember before Barney came flying down is Harry Reid waltzing you round the floor while murmuring sweet nothings about America being ready for a light-skinned brown man with no trace of a Negro dialect. And now you're in some dystopian nightmare where Massachusetts is ready for a nude-skinned Brown man with no trace of a Kennedy dialect. How can this be happening?" -- columnist Mark Steyn



http://texan2driver.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/government-flow-chart.jpg



"The Web"

And Then It's Winter

http://members.shaw.ca/faithshannon/and-then-its-winter.html#



Dog Tricks - Just type it in and click "Submit"

http://www.idodogtricks.com/index_flash.html



Muslim group irked by 'Christian' comment

Associated Press

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=880072

LANCASTER, CA - The mayor of Lancaster, California, is being criticized for telling residents that their town is a growing Christian community and they should be proud of that.

Mayor R. Rex Parris made the remarks at the end of his annual State of the City address last week.

The Greater Los Angeles area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has denounced the comments. The chapter says it plans to file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Justice Department. Executive director Hussam Ayloush says elected officials shouldn't be using their public positions to impose their religious beliefs.

Mayor Parris told the Los Angeles Times that he had no such intentions and says he won't apologize.

Lancaster is about 40 miles northeast of Los Angeles.




City still waiting for reimbursement from Obama's 2008 visit

Barack Obama greets spectators as he makes his entrance during the campaign event held at the Old State Capitol Plaza on Aug. 23, 2008l. Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register

By DEANA POOLE (deana.poole@sj-r.com)

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

http://www.sj-r.com/carousel/x231968722/City-still-waiting-for-reimbursement-from-2008-visit-by-Obama

The city of Springfield still hasn’t been fully repaid for costs associated with hosting then- U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign stop in the fall of 2008.

Obama’s presidential campaign was sent a bill for $68,139, and still owes the city $55,457, according to Ernie Slottag, the city’s spokesman.

The city has been trying — unsuccessfully — to collect payment, Ken Crutcher, the city’s director of office of budget and management told aldermen recently.

“We’ve spoken to a lot of people and have found a lot of circles,” Crutcher said. … “We’ve been kind of bounced from place to place with respect to that particular event.”

Attempts to get a comment for this story from the Obama campaign were unsuccessful. The White House referred comments to the Democratic National Committee. A spokesman at the DNC didn’t respond to questions sent via e-mail.

“Let’s turn them over to a collection agency,” quipped Ward 3 Ald.Frank Kunz.

His remark prompted laughter from aldermen during a recent budget workshop

“I’m serious,” he said. “If you guys are serious about going after him, turn them over to a collection agency.”

While no aldermen jumped on Kunz’s suggestion, it did lead to a broader discussion: Should the city charge individuals and groups for police coverage for special events?

Last summer, at the request of the mayor, the city’s police union submitted a list of 20 revenue-generating and cost-saving measures to help offset the budget deficit. One idea was to seek a fee or 100 percent reimbursement for events where officers’ presence is required.

Mayor Tim Davlin told aldermen the cost of police overtime for city’s three major special events – the LPGA State Farm Classic, the Gus Macker basketball tournament and the Route 66 Mother Road Festival, is repaid through the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Springfield police officers worked at 72 events last year, offering services from security to crowd control, blocking off streets and directing traffic. In all, the events required 498 police officers for a total of 1,339 hours. The estimated total cost was $62,545, according to a list of events the mayor read from.

The events ranged from the Illinois Nurses Association Rally to the Illinois State Fair parade, to the Jingle Bell Run and the Old Capitol Art Fair.

Some of the events probably wouldn’t happen if the city charged for police services, Davlin said.

“I’d be more than happy to take a vote from the city council and charge every person for every dollar we spend for them,” he said.

But no one called for the vote. Davlin said unless he heard otherwise, the city won’t charge groups for such services.

Asked about it on Monday, Kunz said he wouldn’t support charging events for police services.

“That’s like charging people for a burglary call,” he said. “What’s the difference?”

Ward 10 Ald. Tim Griffin said it gets difficult to draw the line between a charity event and a money-generating tourism event.

“Right now, I don’t think there’s a way we could differentiate enough with going along with charging,” he said.

Some of the services provided, Griffin said, should be expected from a police department.

Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen said he doesn’t support charging for the local events.

“If someone were coming in from out of town and it’s going to cause a pretty significant drain on our police, I think we may need to consider doing something for large events,” he said.



Leaked climate change emails scientist 'hid' data flaws

Exclusive: Key study by East Anglia professor Phil Jones was based on suspect figures

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/01/leaked-emails-climate-jones-chinese

Professor Phil Jones, who was director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and a professor of environmental sciences at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. Photograph: University of East Anglia

Phil Jones, the beleaguered British climate scientist at the centre of the leaked emails controversy, is facing fresh claims that he sought to hide problems in key temperature data on which some of his work was based.

A Guardian investigation of thousands of emails and documents apparently hacked from the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit has found evidence that a series of measurements from Chinese weather stations were seriously flawed and that documents relating to them could not be produced.

Jones and a collaborator have been accused by a climate change sceptic and researcher of scientific fraud for attempting to suppress data that could cast doubt on a key 1990 study on the effect of cities on warming – a hotly contested issue.

Today the Guardian reveals how Jones withheld the information requested under freedom of information laws. Subsequently a senior colleague told him he feared that Jones's collaborator, Wei-­Chyung Wang of the University at Albany, had "screwed up".

The revelations on the inadequacies of the 1990 paper do not undermine the case that humans are causing climate change, and other studies have produced similar findings. But they do call into question the probity of some climate change science.

The apparent attempts to cover up problems with temperature data from the Chinese weather stations provide the first link between the email scandal and the UN's embattled climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as a paper based on the measurements was used to bolster IPCC statements about rapid global warming in recent decades.

Wang was cleared of scientific fraud by his university, but new information brought to light today indicates at least one senior colleague had serious concerns about the affair.

It also emerges that documents which Wang claimed would exonerate him and Jones did not exist.

The revelations come at a torrid time for climate science, with the IPPC suffering heavy criticism for its use of information that had not been rigorously checked – in particular a false claim that all Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035 – and UEA having been criticised last week by the deputy information commissioner for refusing valid requests for data under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Guardian has learned that of 105 freedom of information requests to the university concerning the climatic research unit (CRU), which Jones headed up to the end of December, only 10 had been released in full.

The temperature data from the Chinese weather stations measured the warming there over the past half century and appeared in a 1990 paper in the prestigious journal Nature, which was cited by the IPCC's latest report in 2007.

Climate change sceptics asked the UEA, via FOI requests, for location data for the 84 weather stations in eastern China, half of which were urban and half rural.

The history of where the weather stations were sited was crucial to Jones and Wang's 1990 study, as it concluded the rising temperatures recorded in China were the result of global climate changes rather the warming effects of expanding cities.

The IPCC's 2007 report used the study to justify the claim that "any urban-related trend" in global temperatures was small. Jones was one of two "coordinating lead authors" for the relevant chapter.

The leaked emails from the CRU reveal that the former director of the unit, Tom Wigley, harboured grave doubts about the cover-up of the shortcomings in Jones and Wang's work. Wigley was in charge of CRU when the original paper was published. "Were you taking W-CW [Wang] on trust?" he asked Jones. He continued: "Why, why, why did you and W-CW not simply say this right at the start?"

Jones said he was not able to comment on the story.

Wang said: "I have been exonerated by my university on all the charges. When we started on the paper we had all the station location details in order to identify our network, but we cannot find them any more.

"Some of the location changes were probably only a few metres, and where they were more we corrected for them."

In an interview with the Observer on Sunday Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, warned of the danger of a public backlash against mainstream climate science over claims that scientists manipulated data. He declared a "battle" against the "siren voices" who denied global warming was real or caused by humans. "It's right that there's rigour applied to all the reports about climate change, but I think it would be wrong that when a mistake is made it's somehow used to undermine the overwhelming picture that's there," he said.

Last week the Information Commissioner's Office – the body that administers the Freedom of Information Act – said the University of East Anglia had flouted the rules in its handling of an FOI request in May 2008.

Days after receiving the request for information from the British climate change sceptic David Holland, Jones asked Prof Mike Mann of Pennsylvania State University in the United States: "Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith [Briffa] re AR4? Keith will do likewise.

"Can you also email Gene [Eugene Wahl, a paleoclimatologist in Boulder, Colorado] and get him to do the same ... We will be getting Caspar [Ammann, also from Boulder] to do the same."

The University of East Anglia says that no emails were deleted following this exchange.



N.L. Premier Williams set to have heart surgery in U.S.

Kenyon Wallace, National Post

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2510700

Keith Gosse "I can confirm that Premier Williams did leave the province this morning and will be undergoing heart surgery later this week," said Mr. Williams' spokeswoman, Elizabeth Matthews.

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.

Deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday, but would not reveal the location of the operation or how it would be paid for.

"He has gone to a renowned expert in the procedure that he needs to have done," said Ms. Dunderdale, who will become acting premier while Mr. Williams is away for three to 12 weeks.

"In consultation with his own doctors, he's decided to go that route."

Mr. Williams' decision to leave Canada for the surgery has raised eyebrows over his apparent shunning of Canada's health-care system.

"It was never an option offered to him to have this procedure done in this province," said Ms. Dunderdale, refusing to answer whether the procedure could be done elsewhere in Canada.

Mr. Williams, 59, has said nothing of his health in the media.

"The premier has made a commitment that once he's through this procedure and he's well enough, he's going to talk about the whole process and share as much detail with you as he's comfortable to do at that time," she said.

Ms. Dunderdale wouldn't say where in the U.S. Mr. Williams is seeking treatment.

A popular Progressive Conservative premier, Mr. Williams has also seen his share of controversy. During the 2008 federal election, Mr. Williams vehemently opposed the Conservative government, launching his "Anything But Conservative" -- which has been credited with keeping the Tories from winning any seats in the province.

He's also drawn criticism for his support of the seal hunt.



Election 2010: Florida Republican Primary for Senate

Florida GOP Senate: Rubio 49%, Crist 37%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/florida/election_2010_florida_republican_primary_for_senate

Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio has now jumped to a 12-point lead over Governor Charlie Crist in Florida’s Republican Primary race for the U.S. Senate.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters in the state finds Rubio leading Crist 49% to 37%. Three percent (3%) prefer another candidate, and 11% are undecided.

The new numbers mark a stunning turnaround. Crist was the strong favorite when he first announced for the Senate seat, and Rubio was viewed as a long-shot challenger.

But Crist’s support fell from 53% in August to 49% in October. By December, the two men were tied at 43% apiece.

Rubio leads Crist by 17 points among men and by seven among women. He also carries 52% of the conservative GOP vote, while moderates prefer Crist.

Crist’s fortunes appear to be tied in part to national unhappiness over President Obama and his policies. Many conservatives began rebelling against Crist when he became one of the few Republican governors to embrace Obama’s $787-billion economic stimulus plan last year. The national Republican party establishment endorsed Crist early on, but a number of prominent national party conservatives have since announced their support for Rubio. Nationally, the GOP’s Florida Senate race is being watched as a test of the new “Tea Party” mood among many conservative and traditionally Republican voters.

In Florida's Senate general election contest, Crist and Rubio both hold a double-digit lead over their likely Democratic opponent, Congressman Kendrick Meek, in the latest Rasmussen Reports polling of likely voters in the state.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of GOP Primary voters have a favorable view of Crist while 37% regard the governor unfavorably. Those figures include 19% with a very favorable opinion and 11% who have a very unfavorable view of him.

Rubio is viewed favorably by 67% of primary voters and unfavorably by only14%. These numbers include 35% with a very favorable opinion of the Cuban-American candidate versus four percent (4%) with a very unfavorable view.

Perhaps more telling for Crist is that just 56% of Republican Primary voters approve of the job he is now doing as governor. Forty-three percent (43%) disapprove of his job performance.

Both men are vying to be the Republican nominee in next year’s race to fill the seat vacated by retiring GOP Senator Mel Martinez. In August, Crist as governor named his chief of staff, George LeMiuex, to serve the remainder of Martinez’s term, but LeMieux is not running for a full term next year. Florida’s Republican Primary is scheduled for August 24.



Saudi girl, 13, sentenced to 90 lashes after she took a mobile phone to school
By Mail Foreign Service

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1244689/Saudi-girl-13--sentenced-90-lashes-took-mobile-phone-school.html

A 13-year-old Saudi schoolgirl is to be given 90 lashes in front of her classmates after she was caught with a mobile camera phone.

The girl, who has not been named, was also sentenced to two months in jail by a court in the eastern city of Jubail.

She had assaulted her headmistress after being caught with the gadget which is banned in girl schools, said Al-Watan, a Saudi newspaper. The kingdom's use of such punishments has been widely condemned by human rights organisations.

Brutal: public floggings, such as in this archive picture, are a common punishment handed down by religious courts in Saudi Arabia

Three years ago 16 schoolchildren, aged between 12 and 18, were each sentenced to between 300 and 500 lashes for being aggressive to a teacher.

Under Saudi's Sharia or Islamic law, flogging is mandatory for a number of moral offences such as adultery or being alone in the company of an unrelated person of the opposite sex. But it can also be used at the discretion of judges as an alternative or in addition to other punishments.

Al-Watan said a court in the northeastern Gulf port of Jubail had sentenced the girl to 90 lashes inside her school, followed by two months' detention.

The punishment is harsher than tha dished out to some robbers and looters.

Saudi Arabia, a leading US ally in the Middle East, is an absolute monarchy controlled by the Al-Saud ruling tribe, and lacks any legal code.

Absolute monarchy: King Abdullah, ruler of the oil-rich state, meeting Gordon Brown on a 2007 visit to Downing Street

King Abdullah has promoted some social reforms since taking the throne in 2005 but diplomats say he is held back by religious clerics and princes.

Cinemas and music concerts are banned, while many restaurants and even some shopping centres cater to families only, especially on holidays.

Religious police roam streets to make sure no unrelated men and women mix.

The Saudi court system is exclusively controlled Wahahbi/Salafi clerics, and bans the employment of non-Salafi citizens, especially as judges.

Saudi Arabia is the world's leading country in the use of torture-by-flogging, public beheadings and publically crucifying condemned prisoners.

The country crucified two people in 2009, including one in the capital Riyadh during President Barak Obama’s visit last April.

In September, 20 Saudi teenagers who ransacked shops and restaurants were publicly flogged.

Newspapers reported that the teenagers received at least 30 lashes each in a public square.

Most of the hijackers in the September 11 attacks in 2001 came from Saudi Arabia.

Oil wealth: a refinery in Jubail, where a court ordered a girl of 13 to be flogged



"The e-mail Bag"

Redneck Jokes

How can you tell if a redneck is married?
There is tobacco spit stains on both sides of his pickup truck.



What's the difference between Virginia and West Virginia?
In Virginia, Moosehead is a beer. In West Virginia it's a misdemeanor.



What is a Redneck's defense in court?
"Honest your Honor, I was just helping the sheep over the fence."

ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20100202

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

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



"My Comments" - Ronald Reagan Week

http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/large/c30228.jpg



http://www.foundersofamerica.com/Reagan_p03.htm



"Daily Motivations"

"We are like tea bags -- we don't know our own strength until we're in hot water." -- Sister Busche

We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things. Our curiosity keeps taking us down new paths. -- Walt Disney

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right!" -- Oprah Winfrey



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

The LORD your God is a devouring fire... (Deuteronomy 4:24)

They were called the Great Fires of 1988. That year, wildfires swept through 1.4 million acres of Yellowstone National Park. The park was like a huge lumberyard filled with millions of wooden poles. Winds as powerful as a tornado whipped the flames through the forest with the sound of a freight train, reducing trees to piles of white ashes and small charred spears on the blackened earth.

But months later, the forest grew with new vigor. The heat from the fires split open the hulls of the pine cones, releasing their seeds and yielding a forest of little saplings sprouting everywhere. The dead underbrush had been burned away. New spears of grass turned the hillsides to spring green, and a bumper crop of wildflowers carpeted the meadows.

Anyone who has been near a fire of such magnitude understands its tremendous power. When it roars through an area, everything is changed. Ancient trees turn into cinders. Buildings are reduced to ashes. Nothing can withstand its fury. But in their wake, wildfires also bring new growth and regeneration.

God's holiness has even greater power. The fire of God can burn away sin and rebellion, but it also brings new life.

Of all God's attributes, nothing compares to the splendor and beauty of His holiness. It is chief among His attributes. That means His character is perfect in every way. He is totally pure. His moral excellence is the absolute standard of integrity and ethical purity. God's supreme holiness infinitely sets Him apart from His creation.

Your View of God Really Matters …

How has the fire of God's holiness worked in your own life? Has He burned away things that were displeasing to Him and hurting you? Today, thank God for His holiness and absolute purity, which brings you new life.



"The Patriot Post"

A people free to choose will always choose peace.
Ronald Reagan

A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at?
Ronald Reagan

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.
Ronald Reagan



National Security

Department of Military Correctness: SEAL Trial Moved to Iraq

The Courts Martial of Navy SEAL Petty Officers Matthew McCabe, Jonathan Keefe and Julio Huertas continues apace with two of the three heroes being forced to move their trial to Iraq in order to avail themselves of their constitutional right to confront their accuser in open court.. This rare, if not unprecedented, move should be viewed with extreme caution and we hope defense counsel has taken appropriate measures to protect fully the rights of the accused.

For them to enter the sovereign territory of Iraq, even under the auspices of a military court, may place them in peril both physically and legally. What's to prevent the Iraqi government from bringing additional trumped up criminal charges and ordering their arrest? How will the U.S. military protect them from such arrest should such action take place?

One possible alternative would be to insist they hold the trial aboard a U.S. naval vessel in international waters off the Iraqi coast. Failing that, the U.S. Embassy is a second logical alternative.

In a related question, there is an interesting legal position we may be forced to confront in light of the criminal trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City. If, as this administration insists, KSM (and others) are just "criminals," then under what legal authority has this administration justified the continued Predator attacks on these civilian "criminals"? We know this administration fully supports a double standard in tax cases and racism allegations, and we certainly don't expect anything different in this case.



This Week's 'Alpha Jackass' Award

"Most of the domestic groups that we pay attention to here are white supremacist groups. They're anti-government, in most cases anti-abortion, they are usually survivalist type in nature, identity oriented.. ... Those groups are groups that claim to be extremely anti-government and Christian identity oriented." -- TSA nominee Erroll Southers

Meanwhile, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the radical Muslim who actually tried to bomb a U.S. airliner, pleaded "not guilty" in federal court last Friday.



China's Successful Missile Interceptor Test

As China's economic might continues to grow, with its auto and banking industries overtaking the U.S. in world dominance, the Red Dragon's military might also is advancing ominously. This week, China's official Xinhua news agency reported that China tested "ground-based midcourse missile interception technology." Xinhua also said, "The test has achieved the expected objective. The test is defensive in nature and is not targeted at any country." The U.S. military confirmed the test did take place and apparently was successful. Pentagon spokeswoman Major Maureen Schumann said, "We detected two geographically separated missile launch events with an exo-atmospheric collision also being observed by space-based sensors."

China's successful anti-ballistic missile test comes just days after Beijing complained about U.S. weapon sales to Taiwan, including Patriot PAC-3 air defense missiles, which are themselves capable of intercepting short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and could be used against Red Chinese missiles deployed along China's coast and aimed at Taiwan. Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Pentagon said they did not consider China's test to be related to these Taiwanese arms sales. While that may be technically true, since it typically takes many days or weeks to prepare such a missile test, there is little doubt that Beijing intended to send Washington a message -- that message being, "Taiwan is ours, stay away.. And if you don't stay away, you will have to contend with our rapidly growing military technology." Just one more rattling saber that our waffling Dear Leader will have to deal with, or ignore at our country's peril.



Iranian Bombing and Nuclear Talks

Iranian nuclear scientist Masoud Ali Mohammadi was killed Tuesday when a nearby motorbike exploded as he left his house in Tehran. The blast was powerful enough to blow several doors and windows out of surrounding buildings. Ali Mohammadi was a particle physicist and reportedly an ardent supporter of the Iranian revolution. Initial speculation was that this was the work of one of the world's premier intelligence services -- perhaps Israel's Mossad -- who have conducted many similar operations over the past decade. Indeed, as sure as the sun rose in the east, Iranian officials leapt to blame Israel for the attack.

However, Ali Mohammadi was not exactly a top-level figure. He was an academic who played an apparently marginal role in nuclear activities, which seems to indicate that it wasn't Mossad.

Even still, the attack will do nothing to improve Iran's attitude toward the UN Security Council or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as negotiations proceed over Iran's nuclear program. In fact, the Iranian regime itself could have perpetrated the assassination to bolster its case at home.

The U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China, which, together with Germany, represent the P-5+1 (the five permanent Security Council member states plus Germany) are scheduled to meet Saturday in New York to discuss Iran's continued failure to meet its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and five UNSC resolutions going back to 2006. Iran is likely to become more defiant as that process advances.

Meanwhile, China made it known on Thursday that they could not attend the P-5+1 meetings after all, as Foreign Minister He Yafei "has a busy schedule." How nice of China, which currently occupies the UNSC presidency, to do all they can to keep pressure on Iran. Fortunately, China's one-month presidency of the UNSC is followed in February by France, which has been tougher on Iran over the last year than anyone, including the United States.



Obama's Magical Mystery Jobs Tour

Barack Obama and congressional Democrats promised the $787 billion stimulus package would spur 3.5 million new jobs over two years.. Nearly one year later, the tally is approaching four million -- jobs lost, that is. December's report revealed 85,000 jobs lost and unemployment at 10 percent (though real unemployment -- including those who have simply stopped looking for a job -- is over 17 percent). The president's solution? Why, another stimulus, of course.

Philosophizing that "the road to recovery is never straight," Obama claims that the $75 billion "Jobs for Main Street Act" currently before the Senate will continue the smashing success of the first stimulus. Success? Oh yes, to manipulate the numbers in its favor, the administration has designed its own job-tracking formula that gives new meaning to the term "fuzzy math." The administration has dropped the ridiculous jobs "saved or created" mantra, opting instead for the stat of jobs "funded" by the stimulus. Under this convenient formula, Obama claims to have created two million jobs to date. Miracles never cease.

If you haven't seen these jobs in your town, though, you're not alone. For example, according to an Associated Press analysis, reviewed by independent economists from five universities, $20 billion-plus in transportation spending from the first stimulus has yielded virtually zip in local job growth. Even Thomas Smith, a pro-stimulus Emory University economist who reviewed the analysis, stated, "As a policy tool for creating jobs, this doesn't seem to have much bite."

Despite the Norman Rockwellian title of the Jobs for Main Street Act, Main Street isn't buying it. GDP growth and stock market improvements notwithstanding, small businesses, which propel real economic growth, simply aren't hiring. In the New York Post, Charles Gasparino explains why: "Having weathered the recession, they now fear the administration will choke off the nascent recovery and increase their costs through higher taxes to pay for the myriad of programs President Obama has in store for us, including the hyperexpensive health-care overhaul."

This "damn-the-torpedoes, full-speed-ahead" approach is no mistake. Regardless of recovery rhetoric, the president's aim has been clear from the start: "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody," he said during the campaign. Of course, the 15.3 million Americans who are unemployed might take issue with this.

Yet, as Christina Romer, Chairwoman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, stated, the stimulus "has done exactly what we have anticipated it would do." She was referring to the supposed job growth. But substitute the president's "redistribute the wealth" intent, and Romer's statement is disturbingly true.



Administration Announces New Bank Tax

A regional convenience store has an interesting placard at the cash register informing patrons that the store pays more in debit and credit card transaction charges than it makes in net profits. The placard further invites the customer to sign a petition to tell Congress to limit transaction fees charged by the "evil banks."

Perhaps Barack Obama has been sneaking out of the White House after hours for a slushee because he also has decided that the evil banks are a potential revenue source for the Treasury. It seems that his Treasury Department has looked at the $46 billion earned by the Federal Reserve Bank in 2009 and concluded that the banking industry could support a donation to offset the cost of the TARP spend-a-thon. The terms of the Troubled Asset Relief Program do require the beneficiary to pay interest to the Treasury, but Obama's proposed fee would be an addition to those interest charges.

The Wall Street Journal reports, "If approved by Congress, the new tax -- which the White House calls a 'financial crisis responsibility fee' -- would force about 50 banks, insurance companies and large broker-dealers to collectively pay the federal government roughly $90 billion over 10 years." Furthermore, "Banks that have repaid their TARP money wouldn't escape taxation." GM and Chrysler are exempt, however.

As a socialist, Obama has as much tolerance for profits as Superman does for Kryptonite (our apologies to Superman for the comparison) .... unless those profits are derived from a fictional autobiographical memoir of a 40-year-old man whose accomplishments couldn't fill a 3x5 index card. However, just in case he reads our humble publication, we would like to remind Mr. Obama that profits represent the return for risk. Profits beget retained earnings, beget capital formation, beget expansion -- the one sustainable source of job growth.

Don't get us wrong -- the federal government (read: taxpayers) never should have bailed out banks in the first place. But many of them have already paid back TARP money, or are working to pay it back (some never wanted it in the first place but were forced to take it), and another tax is not exactly the right remedy for a struggling economy. That $90 billion could cost the economy $1 trillion when the lost capital results in less lending. Alas, everything looks like a nail to someone with a hammer.



Second Amendment: Interpol and the Executive Order

There have been disarming reports of late about an Executive Order by Barack Obama concerning the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). According to the NRA-ILA, "President Obama's order amends a 1983 order by President Reagan, in which the U.S. recognized Interpol as an international organization that is entitled to certain legal immunities under the International Organizations Immunities Act (IOIA)." Interpol, founded in 1923 and composed of 188 countries that share information about international criminal investigations, has long been immune from civil lawsuits, so the claim that the immunity comes from Obama is incorrect. Many reports assert that Interpol personnel would be granted diplomatic immunity and would then have the ability to seize firearms, among other violations of U.S. citizens' rights. These fears are likely unfounded.

Diplomatic immunity applies only to diplomats, not agents. The immunity the agents do have is only "relating to acts performed by them in their official capacity." Furthermore, the NRA notes, "Law enforcement officers working with Interpol are detailed from agencies in various countries, such as the FBI or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They have no power of arrest outside their own countries. Therefore, a seizure of an American (or of an Americans' firearms) would likely not fall within the official duties for which Interpol officials would be immune from prosecution."

Granted, we are wary of Obama and other leftists around the world -- particularly when it comes to Second

Amendment rights -- but this appears to be a false alarm.



Faith and Family: Bicoastal Fronts on the Same-Sex Marriage War

From sea to shining sea, Americans are being divided on the moral issue of whether two people of the same gender should have the right to declare themselves married. Californians thought they had settled the question (for the second time) when the ballot issue and constitutional amendment Proposition 8 narrowly passed in 2008. But their verdict was soon called into question and eventually landed in the courtroom of Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, with a trial to overturn the will of the voters starting this week.

In addition, Judge Walker has promised to turn this trial into a three-ring circus by posting delayed video of the proceedings on YouTube, citing a recently approved federal pilot program which allowed telecasting certain non-jury civil trials. Supporters of Proposition 8 objected to this, citing that ongoing harassment by opponents would have a chilling effect on the willingness of witnesses defending Proposition 8 to be filmed. The filming question went before the United States Supreme Court, which has blocked filming the trial indefinitely.

Across the country, the New Jersey Senate denied the bid of activists to make the Garden State the fifth to allow same-sex marriage. While the state has allowed civil unions since 2006, the same-sex marriage bill was voted on hurriedly so outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine could sign it since incoming GOP Governor-elect Chris Christie opposes the bill.

The bill was rejected by a 20-14 vote, falling seven votes short of passage in the 40-member body and never making it to the Assembly. Same-sex marriage supporters vow to make their next move in court.



And Last...

If you haven't had enough Hope 'n' Change lately, Barack Obama, the musical, is set to open in Germany. "Hope -- the Obama Musical Story" will feature 30 singers, actors and dancers in a bilingual mix of English and German, often quoting from Obama's stump speeches from the 2008 campaign. There are also love songs between Barack and Michelle, duets with Hillary Clinton and numbers featuring defeated GOP candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin.

As usually happens with this kind of story, we have our own ideas for songs in this musical. Simply borrowing from "Phantom of the Opera" provides plenty of fodder. Given Obama's narcissism, he could sing "Think of Me" to himself, while the media chorus could croon of Michelle, the "Prima Donna." Joe Biden would be a perfect fit for "All I Ask of You [Is That You Pay Your Taxes]." And there are several numbers for the American people: "Masquerade," "Why Have You Brought Me Here?", "Twisted Every Way," "The Point of No Return," and, perhaps best of all, "Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh."



"The Web"

Getting the Word Out

http://brattygerber.com/blog/2009/11/getting-the-word-out/

“I received this in an email and thought everyone should give a read”

We are speeding towards one world government and the second coming at a rapid pace. I remember reading about the children of Israel who turned from God time and time again, only to realize their mistake and pray for forgiveness. Each time, God would forgive them and they would walk with him for a time. So, I am going to ask you to join me in praying for our nation every day. God is in control!!!

We are speeding towards one world government and the second coming at a rapid pace. I remember reading about the children of Israel who turned from God time and time again, only to realize their mistake and pray for forgiveness. Each time, God would forgive them and they would walk with him for a time. So, I am going to ask you to join me in praying for our nation every day. God is in control!!!

Our president did not encourage participation in the National Day of Prayer. He called it an event. He thinks it should be private prayer instead of Public Prayer.

May God Have Mercy On America & Protect Our Troops

In Texarkana last week, there were signs in people’s yards that said, ” America , prayer our only hope” with 2 Chron. 7:14 underneath. We certainly need God’s help!

I have no idea who started this, but I certainly agree with this e-mail. I heard a preacher on TV tonight who said if we pray for our nation that things will turn around. After a day of contemplation and soul searching, I have decided to reach out to my friends and relatives and ask you to do something that has been troubling me for a long time.

Our nation is/has been on the slippery slope for a long time. If you look around you will find corruption, greed, moral decay, and a steady move away from the things that made us great. The principles upon which this nation was founded are no longer our backbone. However, we can reverse this trend.

2 Chron. 7:14 in God’s word he states, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land..”

I am convinced that we must pray for our nation and its leaders and ask for forgiveness. So I ask you to join me in this plea to our Lord.

Would you please send this to people in your address book (send it to all of them); ask them to pray EVERYDAY… (25 to only the 5th power is 9,765,625 people.) IMAGINE if each person reaches TEN others…or all TWENTY FIVE!

If you do and they comply, we will lift up millions and millions of prayers a day to our Creator. He will hear us and in faith will answer.

Let me just add a quote from Ronald Reagan. “If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” I truly believe this is why the United States of America is in the shape we are in today. Most people have forgotten that we are one nation under God! Let us as Christians stand up and remind people of this!!



OPEN ONLY IF YOU HAVE TIME FOR GOD

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/musgrove/2558.php?action=email&id=36109

God, when I received this e-mail, I thought... I don't have time for this... And, this is really inappropriate during work.

Then..., I realized that this kind of thinking is... Exactly, what has caused lot of the problems in our world today.

We try to keep God in church on Sunday morning... Maybe, Sunday night... And, the unlikely event of a midweek service.

We do like to have Him around during sickness... And, of course, at funerals.

However, we don't have time, or room, for... Him during work or play... Because... That's the part of our lives we think... We can, and should, handle on our own.

May God forgive me for ever thinking... That... there is a time or place where... HE is not to be FIRST in my life.

We should always have time to remember all HE has done for us.

If, You aren't ashamed to do this... Please follow the directions. Jesus said, "If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father."

Not ashamed?

Pass this on ONLY IF YOU MEAN IT!! Yes, I do Love God. HE is my source of existence and Savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Without Him, I will be nothing. Without Him, I am nothing. But, with Christ, HE strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)

This is the simplest test. If You Love God... And, are not ashamed of all the marvelous things HE has done for you...



'Slush'-hush funds in do-zilch charity

By JOE MOLLICA and JEREMY OLSHAN

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/slush_hush_funds_in_do_zilch_charity_PjRXOIguTyqLLnYGytXKVI

A nonprofit founded with help from two New York legislators -- Rep. Gregory Meeks and state Sen. Malcolm Smith -- functions more like a slush fund than a charity, according to an ethics watchdog group, which plans to file a state ethics complaint against Smith this week.

As The Post reported yesterday, New Direction Development Corp., which was created in 2001 with help from the two Queens Democrats, appears to have used its funds to pay for meals, entertainment, consulting fees and IRS penalties.

Some $150,000 in donations, including thousands the community raised to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, remains unaccounted for, according to Ken Boehm, head of the National Legal and Policy Center.

"When you see lots and lots of consulting fees with large amounts flashing around, at some point one wonders if an elected official is trying to sell their office," said Boehm.
"Sen. Smith, with respect to New Direction, violated several provisions of New York state law," he said.

Boehm says his group will lodge a complaint with the state's Public Integrity Commission this week.

When his constituents helped raise close to $15,000 to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, Meeks promised "every dime, every dime" would go to a group of 30 families displaced from New Orleans.

But there is no record the charity he and Smith founded along with their wives ever delivered more than $1,392 of aid.

Between 2001 and 2006, Smith helped funnel at least $56,000 to the charity through earmarks.

Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Smith, said, "Neither he nor his wife have had any involvement in the day to day operations or administration of the organization since he helped found it. As for their accounting of charitable donations separate from state funds, that is the sole purview of the organization and does not involve the senator."

In 2005, after Katrina, the nonprofit created New Yorkers Organized to Assist Hurricane Families, relief fund. Donations were asked to be sent to the offices of Meeks, Smith or Assemblywoman Barbara Clark.

A community gospel concert raised $11,210 for the charity, and in her 2005 newsletter Clark is pictured with Meeks holding a giant check.

In 2005, Meeks' campaign donated $10,000 to the Katrina fund, but according to a later filing, was sent back $5,000. Neither Meeks nor the charity offered an explanation.

Two other donors, who according to filings, gave a total of $15,000 to New Direction, told The Post they were under the impression the money had gone to Katrina victims.

From 2002 to 2008, the charity's headquarters were at the law offices of Joan Flowers, who served as campaign treasurer for both Meeks and Smith, plus Gov. Paterson.

The charity was also founded with the help of Smith's former business partner, Darryl Greene, whose company is one of those comprising Aqueduct Entertainment Group, which Paterson recently awarded the $300 million racino contract. Additional reporting by Isabel Vincent



Expense report shows N.C. congressman spent $4,406 at luxury hotel

By David N. Bass

http://www.carolinajournal.com/articles/display_story.html?id=6045

RALEIGH — Taxpayers paid a heavy price for the failed climate-change talks in Denmark last month, according to newly released reports detailing a half-million dollars in travel expenses for lawmakers and experts to attend.

Part of those included $4,406 for North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-1st, for food and lodging at the five-star Copenhagen Marriott Hotel. Butterfield, who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was one of 23 congressmen to attend the summit.

Global warming activists hoped the talks, sponsored by the United Nations, would spur an international agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, world leaders approved a nonbinding declaration on climate change decried by environmentalists as too tame.

In a statement e-mailed to Carolina Journal, Butterfield said that lawmakers weren’t aware of the costs prior to the trip and that House leaders made the travel arrangements.

“Members have since been told that the seemingly high cost of lodging was the result of the hotel requiring a minimum of six nights, totaling $3,960 per room,” Butterfield said. “We have also been told that delegations were assigned to specific hotels by conference organizers, and that delegations from around the world had the same issue with hotel requirements.”

David Williams, vice president of public policy for Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington-based watchdog organization, said in a telephone interview that he could book airfare and lodging in Copenhagen online for much less than House leaders negotiated.

“It’s ludicrous to think that a semi-intelligent person, which I’m assuming members of Congress are, couldn’t pay the same thing,” he said.

Williams added that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should have released more detailed copies of the travel reports. CAGW had the same beef with congressional disbursements for the third quarter published online in November that contained vague line-item descriptions.

“It’s a great start to see the dollar amount, but let’s see the details of the expenditures,” he said.

The documentation provided by Pelosi’s office shows (PDF download) a total of $553,564 in travel expenses for 61 representatives and experts. The list includes Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. In total, the group of two dozen lawmakers spent $101,338 on lodging and dining.

The cost for the entire U.S. delegation to attend, though, was much higher. CBS News found that 59 House and Senate staffers flew commercial to Copenhagen, totaling $408,064.

“Add three military jets — $168,351 just for flight time — and the bill tops $1.1 million — not including all the Obama administration officials who attended: well over 60,” CBS reported.

In his statement, Butterfield indicated that leaders made important progress during the summit. “While the conference fell short of the goal of producing a binding international treaty,” he said, “it did succeed in achieving a framework for curbing greenhouse gases, verifying countries’ emissions, preserving rain forests, shielding vulnerable countries from the impacts of climate change, and for sharing costs.”

But Williams said that attendees didn’t accomplish anything. “You had some staffers who were there 10 or 11 days,” he said. “There was no reason to send these many people, regardless of what you believe about climate change.”



Morning Bell: The Obama Budget: Higher Taxes, Higher Spending and More Debt

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/02/01/morning-bell-the-obama-budget-higher-taxes-higher-spending-and-more-debt/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

President Barack Obama will submit a $3.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2011 to Congress today. One might hope that given last year’s $1.4 trillion budget deficit was an all-time high and the President promised a spending “freeze” in last week’s State of the Union, this budget might signal a change in direction from the White House. No such luck. President Obama’s new budget is full of billions of dollars in new spending for failed government programs, higher taxes on American families and businesses, and deficit spending for as far as the eye can see.

At the very least, the budget document President Obama is submitting today exposes his spending “freeze” promise for the fraud that it is. As outlined last week, the administration would halt spending increases for only a $447 billion sliver of our total budget, with a total of $15 billion to be saved. That is less than half a percent off of last year’s spending. Worse, this isn’t even an across-the-board spending freeze; it is an aggregate one. So “spending cuts” in parts of the budget are immediately channeled to others. For example, even though the federal government does not need any money for the Census next year, President Obama counts the $5 billion spent this year as a “spending cut” that can be immediately spent on other government programs, such as a 16% increase in Department of Education funding, a 6.8% increase in Department of Energy funding, and increases for ineffective Health and Human Services programs like Head Start and sex education.

Given the best case scenario, the most the White House hopes to save from this supposed spending “freeze” is $15 billion. And that is easily dwarfed by just the $100 billion President Obama wants for his Economic Stimulus II plan. Then there are the tax hikes, including higher taxes on families earning more than $250,000 and a brand new tax on financial institutions to pay for the failed automobile union bailout.

And what is the end result of all of President Obama’s new taxes and spending? A record national debt. According to the White House Office of Management and Budget, the United States will post a $1.556 trillion deficit in fiscal 2010, which the Obama administration claims will be reduced to $1.267 trillion in fiscal 2011, thanks to their budget. Given this administration’s budget forecasting record, however, expect that final deficit number to go up. The Obama administration now forecasts $5.08 trillion in debt over the next five years; that is 35% more debt than they forecast just 12 months ago.

A common sense budget would move our country in a much different direction. For starters, the remaining TARP and stimulus funds should both be rescinded. Next, instead of the President’s fungible “aggregate” spending freeze, tough hard spending caps should be enacted. Finally, Congress should disclose the massive unfunded obligations of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; put those programs on long-term budgets; and enact the necessary entitlement and programmatic reforms that can keep government within those limits.



Top Muslim Group Withholds Tax Records From IRS

Terror-linked CAIR still delinquent in filing 2007 returns

© 2010 WorldNetDaily

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=123584

CAIR headquarters in Washington

What is America's most prominent Muslim advocacy group hiding?

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is delinquent in filing its tax returns by nearly two years, the IRS has confirmed, raising new suspicions the embattled nonprofit group is concealing from the American public details about its already shadowy financial activities.

Washington-based CAIR, which receives revenue from Saudi Arabia and other Arab states, is required by federal law to file its tax returns annually with the IRS to maintain its tax-exempt status.

However, it still has not filed its 2007 returns, according to the IRS. Its 2008 tax filing is also late.

Registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CAIR must make its finances public each year by filing IRS Form 990.

Under a new federal law, effective starting for tax years ending on or after Dec. 31, 2007, if an organization fails to file either Form 990-N, Form 990, or Form 990 EZ for three consecutive years, its tax-exempt status will automatically be revoked.

To waive separate IRS penalties, CAIR's national office must prove that "reasonable cause" and not "willful neglect" was behind its lengthy delay in filing its tax records.

Most of CAIR's 30 chapters have filed their 2007 returns, and many have filed their 2008 tax forms. It's not clear why CAIR National has repeatedly failed to meet the original filing deadline and subsequent three-month extensions.

Both CAIR and its outside auditor, Joey Musmar, declined comment.

Critics say they are not surprised CAIR has run afoul of IRS rules. They say it is just a matter of time before the "dirty" organization is forced to open its books to government auditors and other investigators.

"CAIR's days are numbered," said Middle East Forum executive director Daniel Pipes. "It's a dirty institution, founded by Islamic terrorists and with many subsequent ties to terrorists."

Last November, several members of Congress asked the IRS to audit CAIR.

"It has come to our attention that the Council on American-Islamic Relations may be in violation of both the anti-excessive lobbying provision of its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 by their failure to register with Congress as a federal lobbying organization," wrote Sen. Tom Coburn and Reps. Sue Myrick, John Shadegg, Paul Broun, Trent Franks and Patrick McHenry in a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.

The lawmakers cited an internal CAIR memo uncovered by the authors of the bestselling "Muslim Mafia," which shows that in 2005, when Congress met for fewer than 150 days, CAIR by its own admission came to Capitol Hill no fewer than 72 separate occasions to lobby members of Congress to repeal the USA Patriot Act, which was passed overwhelming by Congress after 9/11 to help law enforcement crack down on Islamic terrorists.

"In other words," the lawmakers' pointed out in their letter, "half the days Congress was in session that year, CAIR was on the Hill lobbying against this piece of legislation."

According to "Muslim Mafia," co-authored by investigative journalist Paul Sperry and former federal agent P. David Gaubatz, CAIR is operating in the red as membership dues have plummeted to less than 1 percent of total revenues.

The group's national office reported revenues of more than $2.7 million in 2006, the latest IRS records available. Of that total, just $41,000 came from membership dues. In 2004, by comparison, dues totaled $119,000.

Fundraising dinner donations have also fallen. And in 2006, CAIR reported an overall budget deficit of $161,000, after running a surplus of more than $338,000 in 2004.

Recent terror charges have taken an additional toll on CAIR's membership and fundraising.

Citing new evidence emerging from a 2007 federal terror trial in which CAIR and its founding chairman were named as unindicted terrorist co-conspirators, the FBI cut formal outreach ties to CAIR's headquarters and all its branch offices. The Obama administration has not lifted the ban on the organization, which was founded in 1994.

FBI agent Lara Burns testified at the Holy Land Foundation trial in Texas that CAIR is a "front group" for the Hamas terrorist organization, which has killed at least 17 Americans and injured more than 100 U.S. citizens.

The Justice Department also listed CAIR as a member of the radical Muslim Brotherhood in America – parent of Hamas and al-Qaida, and the subject of the blockbuster "Muslim Mafia."

A federal judge last year denied CAIR's request to remove its criminal co-conspirator designation.

According to a June 2009 ACLU report, "Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity: Chilling Muslim Charitable Giving in the 'War on Terrorism Financing,'" CAIR's Dallas-Fort Worth chapter, for one, has suffered a precipitous drop in contributions since the government's blacklisting of CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator.

The ACLU reports the chapter president, Moufa Nahhas, saying the following:

"Contributions to CAIR have gone down, so we can hire fewer people, can run fewer activities. People are afraid to come to events. Mosques are also hesitant to open the doors to us, to the organization. In Richardson (Texas, the headquarters of the Holy Land Foundation), the mosque doesn't even want the administration of CAIR to come and pray there, because of fear. ...

"People don't want to serve on the board. They say they support us and want to help, but they don't want to be named as a member of the board. People don't want a letter or newsletter from CAIR coming to their house – they don't want their name on the mailings."

CAIR's national office is also struggling financially. In fact, it has had to rent out one of the floors of its headquarters building, located within three blocks of the U.S. Capitol, to an outside tenant, according to "Muslim Mafia."

"There's no way to soften this: We need financial help," pleaded CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad in a desperate appeal for money posted on the group's website last November after its annual fundraising dinner fell short of its goals for donations.

"Now is the time to send in a generous donation, become a CAIR member or renew your membership," CAIR said in an "Action" item sent to Muslims before its October fundraiser, which was held just a week after a congressional press conference announcing an investigation into CAIR's lobbying activities.

Insiders say the negative publicity has scared away some of CAIR's regular donors, including the UAE Embassy – which along with several other Muslim embassies, disappeared from the list of supporters at CAIR's 2009 fundraising banquet in Washington.

"How is CAIR funded?" asked former Pentagon official Frank Gaffney, now president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington. "The Departments of Justice and Treasury know that CAIR has received foreign contributions in the thousands and even millions, since Steve Emerson, Paul Sperry, Joe Kaufman, Andrew Whitehead, the Department of Justice prosecutors, the mainstream U.S. and Arabic press and others have publicized those foreign donations and pledges for over a decade.

"At their website, CAIR encourages foreign embassies to purchase tables at their fundraisers," he added. "Even this foreign support has declined as CAIR's power has faded."

Political support for CAIR even among liberal Democrats also is waning. Between 2006 and 2009, members of Congress attending CAIR's annual fundraiser fell from 23 to four.

And more and more Muslim-Americans are distancing themselves from the group.

According to CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, "CAIR has some 50,000 members," when in fact the organization has precisely 5,133 members – or a tenth of the figure Hooper claims – according to "Muslim Mafia," which cites an internal CAIR report prepared for a June 2007 executive staff meeting.

"Muslim Mafia" also presents evidence that Hooper has misled Washington reporters about the source of most of CAIR's financial support.

Hooper has repeatedly denied that CAIR receives foreign support, insisting it's a "grass-roots" nonprofit organization. In CAIR press releases, he has stated, unequivocally: "We do not support directly or indirectly or receive support from any overseas group or government."

However, smoking-gun video footage obtained during a recent six-month covert investigation of CAIR puts the lie to Hooper's claims.

In a private conversation with undercover researcher Chris Gaubatz, who was posing at the time as a CAIR intern, Hooper boasted that he personally can "bring (in) a half million of overseas money" a year, adding: "If some guy's got a lot of extra money in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), I don't mind taking it."

Hooper made the remarks Aug. 30, 2008, during the Islamic Society of North America's 2008 annual convention in Columbus, Ohio.

A State Department cable citing Hooper by name, moreover, directly contradicts Hooper's denials about foreign support, according to "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," which exposes the secret inner workings of CAIR, among other radical Muslim Brotherhood front groups in America. (The book is based, in part, on voluminous documentary and videotaped evidence gathered by Gaubatz, son of co-author P. David Gaubatz, during his internship at CAIR.)

The sensitive but unclassified communique was written by U.S. Embassy staff in Saudi Arabia, who in June 2006 reported the following after meeting with a CAIR delegation: "One admitted reason for the group's current visit to the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) was to solicit $50 million in governmental and non-governmental contributions."

"(Saudi) King Abdullah knows CAIR very well," the cable added.

Among other things, CAIR said the money would be used to "counter negative stereotypes about Muslims in the U.S." media, a phenomenon described by CAIR as "Islamophobia."

The core delegation, according to the cable, consisted of Hooper, CAIR chief Awad and then-CAIR Chairman Parvez Ahmed. Besides Riyadh, the trio also visited Mecca and Jeddah.

Just three months after the trip, Hooper denied soliciting Saudi government funds.

"To my knowledge, we don't take money from the government of Saudi Arabia," he said in a September 2006 appearance on MSNBC's Tucker Carlson show.

CAIR in January 2007 prepared a secret "strategy" memo launching what the "Muslim Mafia" authors call a hostile influence operation against Congress to undermine homeland security and anti-terror efforts.

Fox News, whose parent company's second-largest stakeholder is a Saudi prince who also bankrolls CAIR, mistakenly reported last October that the CAIR memo stated it would place interns on congressional intelligence committees. The Fox story noted, dismissively, that the intelligence panels do not hire interns.

In fact, the memo – a copy of which was provided to Fox by members of Congress – clearly states that CAIR would try to "influence" the intelligence committees, along with committees dealing with homeland security and justice, while placing interns in "congressional offices."

CAIR has been successful in both endeavors




"The e-mail Bag"

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhiStquLADdCWbQVMsbdyBqHA-XYHLjpCS7dIHjjCNzOHOI4y6E2x7L2qPlsjRXw9Tnv8fVFlsEFCbYrornELvP2HjvOCa8xw0OovXGGUFepmadbr9nfxCfU5TgjdM-PSQwlFzHAxTLNdq/s1600-h/senior+cruise.jpg

Sorry.....the US can't afford your ailments anymore....so your "End of Life Guidance Counselor" has selected you to participate in an all-expense paid cruise! "Hope" you enjoy your cruise!

ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20100201

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

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



"My Comments" - Ronald Reagan Week

http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/large/c30228.jpg


http://www.foundersofamerica.com/Reagan_p03.htm



"Daily Motivations"

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one." -- Elbert Hubbard

The power of kindness is immense. It is nothing less, really, than the power to change the world. -- Daphne Rose Kingma

"We must be ever thankful for small miracles, and ever hopeful for receiving greater ones. " -- Elmer A. Shultz



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. (Galatians 5:25)

The late Charles Spurgeon told of a warrior of towering reputation whose enemies feared him greatly. More than anything else, they feared his sword, whose power had inspired wild rumors and legends. After hearing enough of these wild tales, his king finally demanded an examination of the notorious battle weapon. The warrior had his celebrated sword delivered to the palace by special messenger.

The king examined the weapon closely before finally sending back this message: "I see nothing wonderful in the sword; I cannot understand why any man should be afraid of it."

The warrior replied, "Your Majesty has been pleased to examine the sword, but I did not send the arm that wielded it. If you had examined that, you would have understood the mystery."

None of us, in our own strength, is any more impressive than that sword. But as we submit to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to wield us, we become amazing instruments for God's glory. The Spirit is God's powerful presence within us.

Next to our Lord's crucifixion and resurrection, I believe the arrival of the Spirit at Pentecost was the most earth-shaking event in human history. As the Spirit arrived to transform the followers of Jesus, the cowardly became courageous, and the defeated became victorious. The Roman Empire itself was unable to withstand the Spirit's mighty momentum.

Best of all, I can tell you that the Holy Spirit is still alive and well today. It remains only for us to follow His lead.

Your View of God Really Matters …

Have you been trying your very best to live the Christian life? How's it going? Today, take your focus off yourself and your best efforts and focus on who God is, allowing His Spirit to live through you by His mighty power.



"The Patriot Post"

Facts are stubborn things.
Ronald Reagan

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
Ronald Reagan

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.
Ronald Reagan



Historical Importance of President Ronald Reagan:

http://history1900s.about.com/od/ronaldreagan/p/reagan.htm

Republican Ronald Reagan became the oldest President elected when he took office as the 40th President of the United States. He served two terms as President, from 1981 to 1989.

Dates: February 6, 1911 -- June 5, 2004

Also Known As: Ronald Wilson Reagan, "the Gipper," "the Great Communicator"

Overview of Ronald Reagan:

Ronald Reagan grew up in Illinois. He was born in Tampico then when he was nine, his family moved to Dixon. After graduating from Eureka College in 1932, Reagan worked as a radio sports announcer for WOC radio in Davenport.
While visiting California in 1937 to cover a sports event, Reagan was asked to play a radio announcer in the film Love Is on the Air, which jump started his film career. For a number of years, Reagan worked on as many as four to seven movies a year. By the time he acted in his last film, The Killers in 1964, Reagan had appeared in over 50 films and had become a very famous movie star.

Though Reagan stayed busy during those years with acting, he still had a personal life. On January 26, 1940, Reagan married actress Jane Wyman. They had two children: Maureen (1941) and Michael (1945, adopted).

In December 1941, right after the U.S. entered into World War II, Reagan was drafted into the army. His near-sightedness kept him from the front so he spent three years in the army working for the Motion Picture Army Unit making training and propaganda films.

By 1948, Reagan's marriage to Wyman was having major problems. Some believe it was because Reagan was becoming very active in politics. Others thought perhaps he was too busy with his work as president of the Screen Actors Guild which he was elected to in 1947. Or it could have been the trauma in June 1947 when Wyman gave birth four months prematurely to a baby girl who did not live. Though no one knows the exact reason the marriage went sour, Reagan and Wyman divorced in June 1948.

Nearly four years later, on March 4, 1952, Reagan married the woman he would spend the rest of his life with, actress Nancy Davis. Their love for one another was obvious. Even during Reagan's years as president, he would frequently write her love notes. In October 1952 their daughter Patricia was born and in May 1958 Nancy gave birth to their son Ronald.

By 1954, Reagan's film career had slowed down and he was hired by General Electric to host a television program and to make celebrity appearances at GE plants. He spent eight years doing this job, making speeches and learning about people around the country.

After actively supporting Nixon's campaign for president in 1960, Reagan switched political parties and officially became a Republican in 1962. In 1966, Reagan successfully ran for governor of California and served two consecutive terms.

Though already governor of one of the largest states in the union, Reagan continued to look at the bigger picture. At both the 1968 and 1974 Republican National Conventions, Reagan was considered a potential presidential candidate.

For the 1980 election, Reagan won the Republican nomination and successfully ran against incumbent President Jimmy Carter for president. Reagan also won the 1984 presidential election against Democrat Walter Mondale.

Only two months after taking office as President of the United States, Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981 by John W. Hinckley, Jr. outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. Hinckley was copying a scene from the movie Taxi Driver, strangely believing that this was going to win him actress Jodie Foster's love. The bullet barely missed Reagan's heart. Reagan remains well remembered for his good humor both before and after the surgery to remove the bullet.

Reagan spent his years as President attempting to cut taxes, lessen people's reliance on government, and increase national defense. He did all these things. Plus, Reagan met several times with Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev and made the first major move forward in the Cold War when the two agreed to jointly eliminate some of their nuclear weapons.

In Reagan's second term in office, the Iran-Contra Affair brought scandal to the presidency when it was discovered that the government had traded weapons for hostages. Though Reagan initially denied knowing about it, he later announced that it was "a mistake." It is possible that memory losses from Alzheimer's had already begun.

After serving two terms as President, Reagan retired. However, he was soon officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's and instead of keeping his diagnosis secret, he decided to tell the American people in an open letter to the public on November 5, 1994.

Over the next decade, Reagan's health continued to deteriorate, as did his memory. On June 5, 2004, Reagan passed away at the age of 93.



"The Web"

Mall to Christians: God talk banned!

Rules challenged as violating 'principles of free expression'

By Bob Unruh

WorldNetDaily

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=123535

Roseville, Calif., shopping mall

Arguments have moved to the appellate court level in a California case in which a man talking to two willing strangers in a shopping mall was arrested because the subject of the conversation was God.

The case developed several years ago when a youth pastor was arrested at the Galleria Mall in Roseville, Calif., for having a conversation about religion with two other people.

Matthew Snatchko, who works with youth at his church, was interrupted in the middle of a conversation by a security guard. A second guard joined the confrontation and told Snatchko he was being placed under citizen's arrest for "trespassing."

The pastor said he agreed to leave but instead, the guards grabbed him, roughly shoved him against a storefront window and handcuffed him tightly enough to draw blood. Snatchko later was taken to the police station where he was booked on charges of battery and trespassing.

A short time later the charges were dropped, but officials with the Pacific Justice Institute decided to pursue a case against the mall over the impact of the policy on free speech.

After a Placer County Superior Court judge in 2008 affirmed the mall's regulations, an appeal was launched to the 3rd Appellate District in Sacramento, and the briefs have just now been completed for that court's review.

Get "Back Fired," by William J. Federer, which shows how the faith that gave birth to tolerance is no longer tolerated!

"It's surprising that mall owners think they can arrest patrons for engaging in casual conservations," said PJI Staff Attorney Matthew McReynolds. "While a 'don't talk to strangers' rule may be good for kids, enforcing it against adults is absurd, and we think it violates California's free speech guarantees."

The case is being pursued under the state's constitutional provision for free speech, which extends protections to private locations, because the 1st Amendment to the Constitution deals directly with government restrictions.

McReynolds said had the case been argued in federal court, it would have had to focus on the discriminatory nature of the mall's restrictions.

"Singling out religious speech for punishment violates our most basic principles of free expression," said PJI President Brad Dacus. "If anyone can be arrested for wearing a Christian T-shirt or mentioning God in a shopping mall, we have lost not only our freedom, but our sanity as a society."

PJI affiliate attorney Timothy Smith, of the Sacramento firm McKinley & Smith, served pro bono as Snatchko's lead counsel in the trial court and continues to serve as part of the appellate team.

McReynolds told WND the case focuses on the "draconian" limits set by the mall that were used to arrest the youth pastor. While those charges were dropped, the result of that case wasn't a court-adjudicated precedent that could be used to protect others.

He said while reasonable regulations certainly are allowed, such as volume limits, targeting speech for banishment because of its subject is not.

"What they cannot do and did in this case [is target] political and religious speech," he said. "They originally chose to arrest the youth pastor for striking up a casual conversation. Since then, they've dug in their heels and are standing firm in their belief they can do whatever they want."

Oral arguments haven't been scheduled by the court in the case, and there's no time frame available yet for when a decision might be reached, McReynolds said.

But PJI's brief to the court explained the issue.

"The underlying interest of defendants clearly relates to content. While the act of speaking is not generally prohibited, the act of speaking a particular message without a permit is," the brief said. "Defendants argue that if they do not disagree with the message of the speech, and if the applications are accepted on a first come, first selected basis, the regulation is content neutral."

"Even if the defendants determined that the recipients of the speech might be uncomfortable due to the speech, such a basis for restricting plaintiffs speech is not content neutral."

The mall's regulations, besides disallowing commercial speech and speech about religion or politics, also include an exception for those subjects if a speaker knew the other person previously.

"Under the exemption, the plaintiff would have been allowed to have the same conversation in the same exact place if only he had previously met the people with whom he was speaking," the brief challenged.

"The notion that an individual is not allowed to speak with a stranger about a non-commercial topic without first having their speech examined is preposterous, and is truly silencing in every sense of the word," the brief said.

The mall's rules require "a submission of the subject matter of the spoken or written speech," the brief continued. "Defendants' licensing process as a whole has a great deal to do with speakers' message. Not only does the application process require an examination of the subject matter, but plaintiff was actually referred to the licensing application process only after the security guard listened to the content of plaintiff's speech."

Officials with Westfield Group, the corporation that owns the mall, did not respond to a WND message requesting comment.

The company's website says it entered the U.S. market in 1977 by purchasing a single shopping center, and today has 55 centers across the U.S. in key markets such as northern California, Chicago, southern Florida, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York, San Diego and Washington.

"The Westfield Group is the world's largest listed retail property group by equity market capitalization. The Group has interests in and operates a global portfolio of 119 high-quality regional shopping centers in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, valued at more than $62 billion. Westfield works with over 23,600 retailers across more than 10 million square meters of retail space," it boasts.

Pacific Justice said Snatchko originally was confronted during a casual conversation with two other shoppers about faith when a store employee listened to the conversation and alerted mall security guards.

Besides the ban on conversations with strangers about religion or politics, the mall also bans any clothing with religious or political messages.



A GOP bow to the Tea Party movement?

For your reading, yesterday I posted “RNC Commended For Supporting Platform Issue Candidates” on

http://conservativechristianvoice.blogspot.com/

Herbert A. Sample - Associated Press Writer

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=877152

HONOLULU – The Republican National Committee has adopted a rule that will prod GOP leaders to provide financial support to only those candidates who support the party's platform.
The resolution, enacted by voice vote with no opposition at the party's winter meeting here on Friday, is an alternative to a more stringent proposal that would have required GOP candidates to support 10 policy positions if they wanted party help.

That proposal, sponsored by Indiana RNC member James Bopp and backed by the RNC's more conservative members, was strongly opposed by party Chairman Michael Steele and a group of state party chairs.

The alternative, offered by RNC member Bill Crocker of Texas, does not contain a specific litmus test and thus grants party officials more flexibility in how to vet GOP candidates seeking party support.

It urges leaders of local, state and national Republican parties to "carefully screen" the voting record and positions of Republican candidates that want party backing, and determine whether they "wholeheartedly support the core principles and positions" of the party as laid out in its platform.

The platform is adopted every four years at the party's presidential nomination convention.

The new rule will not prevent support for moderate Republican candidates but will bar funding for those judged to be too far to the left, Crocker said.

"No more Scozzafavas, please. No more Specters, please. No more Chafees, please," Crocker said, referring to Dede Scozzafava, a GOP candidate for a U.S. House seat in New York whom conservatives opposed; U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat last year, and former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, a liberal Republican.

Crocker urged the party to "present candidates who will be attractive" to the people who, like those in the Tea Party movement, "are really dissatisfied with our political conduct over the past several years."

Bopp withdrew his proposal and supported the alternative, contending it will be more effective because party leaders will have to consider a broader range of issues than just those cited in his resolution.

His proposal would have barred financial help for GOP candidates who disagreed with three or more of 10 policy positions, including support for "market-based" health care reform and climate change policies, and opposition to gun control, government abortion funding and amnesty for illegal immigrants.

There appeared to be some disagreement over the practical effect of Crocker's resolution. Bopp said it requires party leaders to compare GOP candidate positions to the party platform. But Bob Tiernan, the GOP state chairman in Oregon, insisted it is not binding.

"There's nothing mandatory in it," Tiernan said.



Atheists' 'hate' sign blasted in lawsuit

Illinois candidate claims state 'hostile' to beliefs

By Bob Unruh

© 2010 WorldNetDaily

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=123565

'Solstice' sign

A political candidate in this week's primary election for the office of comptroller in Illinois has filed a lawsuit against the state charging it officially expressed "hate" and "hostility" toward Christianity and other religions that include a belief in God by allowing atheists to post a sign in a state building at Christmas.

That sign, posted by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, said,:

At the time of the winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is just a myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.
It was placed in the Illinois Capitol Building, through which GOP comptroller candidate William J. Kelly, a cable television executive, was required to travel for his responsibilities as a candidate.

"The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, in conjunction with the 14th Amendment, forbids state action that has the effect of disapproving, inhibiting or evincing hostility toward religion," the lawsuit, filed in the Northern District in Illinois, said, "The United States Supreme Court has specifically held, for instance, that the Constitution affirmatively mandates accommodation, not merely tolerance, of all religions, and forbids hostility toward any …"

Kelly named Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who is responsible for enforcing state property regulations, as defendant.

"The language in the sign at issue stating 'Religion is just a myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds' is speech that evidences disapproval and hostility toward religion," the case continues. "Further, that speech is attributable to the defendant by virtue of the defendant approving the sign, despite the Illinois Administrative Code expressly prohibiting the sign, and by its placement of the sign next to the described displays in the Capitol Building."

"We need to stop the hate speech against Christians and all religious people," Kelly said in a statement released along with the announcement about the lawsuit. "It is this attitude of hate that has enabled the stripping of religion, tradition, and history from our holidays, our history books, and our culture in general. Perhaps the atheists need some sensitivity training."

The case seeks declaratory relief and permanent injunction.

"I wouldn't be allowed to go around and make hateful statements about other religions," Kelly told WND.

"The totality of the language of the sign is hostile and inflammatory to all religions, including but not limited to Christianity, Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and others that worship God and/or believe in the concepts heaven and hell," the case claims.

According to a CBS report, it was Kelly who at Christmas was escorted from the Capitol Building for turning the sign around so that it could not be read. He was escorted away by Capitol police and was the subject of an incident report.

Kelly said then the sign was "hate speech," and the lawsuit documents that allegation.

"Kelly turned the sign, so that the sign was face down. Kelly did so, in part, on the basis that the sign constituted hate speech, and because the defendant's approval and placement of the sign in violation of the Constitution and its own governing law violated the Establishment Clause's prohibition against government disapproval of religion," the lawsuit explains.

State officials could not be reached by WND for comment.

But the sign is part of a routine campaign run by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which puts them near nativity displays across the country at Christmas.

Foundation spokesman Dan Barker told CBS at the time that Kelly was escorted away from the Illinois Capitol that he, in fact, was right.

"He's kind of right, because the last couple of sentences do criticize religion, and of course, the beginning is a celebration of the winter solstice. But that kind of speech is protected as well – speech that is critical and speech that is supportive," he said.



Russia flexes military power with 'futuristic' fighter jet

Russia returned to the global stage Friday as a first-rank military and technological power by launching a 'fifth generation' fighter plane, with futuristic characteristics of stealth, sustained supersonic cruise, and integrated weapons.

A new Russian T-50 fighter lands at an airfield of the Sukhoi aircraft manufacturing plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur January 23. The new fighter aircraft is by some seen as Russia's response to U.S. advances in military aviation.

Sukhoi Press Service/Reuters

By Fred Weir Correspondent

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0129/Russia-flexes-military-power-with-futuristic-fighter-jet

Moscow
Vladimir Putin is jubilant, the Russian aviation industry is filled with pride, and even normally skeptical military experts say they're truly impressed by reports Friday that Russia has successfully test-flown the first prototype of a "fifth generation" fighter plane.

They all may have good reasons to cheer. Building such a plane is so expensive, complex, and technologically sophisticated that, until now, only the United States has been able to field an operational version of one: the F-22 Raptor.

According to news reports, Russia's venerable Sukhoi company – maker of many famous Soviet warplanes – sent the V-tailed, swept-wing Sukhoi T-50 on its maiden flight for 47 minutes Friday near Komsomolsk-na-Amur in Russia's far east (see video here) and it exceeded all expectations.

"We started flight tests of the fifth-generation aircraft today," Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan told Russian news agencies. "I am strongly convinced that this project will excel its Western rivals in cost-effectiveness and these planes will constitute the backbone of the Russian Air Force for the next few decades."

A fighter of the "fifth generation" should have futuristic characteristics of stealth, sustained supersonic cruise, multi-role capabilities, integrated weapons and navigation systems that are controlled by artificial intelligence, over-the-horizon radar visibility and other cutting-edge wizardry.

Experts say that the mere fact that Russia can put one into the air announces its return to the global stage as a first-rank military and technological power.

"This is an epic event, because it's the first time in post-Soviet history that [the Russian military industry] has been able to create something brand new," Alexander Khramchikhin, an expert with the independent Institute of Political and Military Analysis in Moscow, says in a telephone interview.

"Everything we produced after the USSR's collapse was based on Soviet designs; nobody thought we could make anything so technologically complicated as this. But now, strange as it may seem, this shows Russia's level is very high."

Kremlin leaders have been promising to build this new aircraft for years as part of a broader effort to re-arm and modernize Russia's crumbling Soviet-era armed forces. Though Russia handily won its brief 2008 war with neighboring Georgia, the conflict revealed massive shortcomings in its military machine, including disastrously poor air support for ground forces and almost nonexistent aerial reconnaissance capability.

Prime Minister Putin praised the T-50's first flight as a "big step" in restoring Russia's traditional place as a global military power, and pledged that the air force will start receiving production models of the plane in about three years.

As Russia's president, Putin launched a sweeping, $200-billion rearmament program that aims to introduce new generations of nuclear submarines, intercontinental missiles, tanks, and aircraft carriers for the armed forces within the next five years.

Experts say the T-50 fighter, which has been developed in partnership with Russia's leading arms client India, will also go far toward restoring the tattered reputation of Russia's military-industrial complex as a leading supplier of weaponry in global markets.

"This is really good advertising; it shows buyers of Russian-made hardware that we can produce the most modern weapons and also improve them," says Vitaly Shlykov, a former Soviet war planner who now works as a civilian adviser to the Russian Defense Ministry.

"We invested a lot in this plane, and the fact that we can fly it has a big psychological impact," he says. "It has a huge symbolic meaning for Russia itself."

But skeptics say we'd best wait for more details about the top-secret plane of which we have seen, so far, only a few superficial images.

"We see the plane has some external characteristics that are new, but we have no way of knowing whether it actually possesses the technological features that would make it a fighter of the fifth generation," says Alexander Golts, military expert for the independent Yezhednevny Zhurnal, an online news magazine.

"It's great that it took off. Hurray. But I want to know a lot more about it."



The Islamic Republic of Torture, Rape, and Murder

By Amil Imani

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/the_islamic_republic_of_tortur.html

Rape in prison is a cruel invasion of a helpless victim. In addition to the physical torment and possible transmission of sexual diseases, rape reduces the victim to subhuman status -- an object for the use of others to be discarded when no longer desired. Most civilized countries sternly guard against rapes and sexual assaults in prison, although with less than complete success. Under the barbaric rule of the mullahcracy in Iran, sexual assaults have become instruments of policy for extracting false confessions, satisfying the boundless sadism and sexual perversions of the jailers, punishing the helpless victim, and leaving him with a sense of dehumanization.

This shockingly repugnant form of violating the human person has regrettably become widespread in the Islamic Republic of Iran's prisons, particularly in dealing with the young men and women arrested for the "crime" of peacefully demonstrating in the streets to demand accountability from the government for a raft of violations it has committed and continues to commit.

For the past 32 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been denying and violating a long-suffering people all of its human rights. They are guilty of beating, torturing, raping, and killing prisoners of conscience -- political, religious, intellectuals, artists, and others.

Women, chronically oppressed and disenfranchised from their basic human and family rights, have been most viciously treated by the Islamic system, its hired plainclothes, and the Basij members. To maintain its suffocating rule, the regime metes out punishments reminiscent of the worst in the annals of human history. Amputation of hands and feet, blinding, hanging, and stoning the victim after the quick formality of a trial in kangaroo courts without legal representation is commonplace under the terror rule of the Islamists.

The Islamic Republic has been violating all norms of international human rights, including very harsh penalties such as beatings for even "victimless crimes" like fornication, public expression, homosexuality, apostasy, and poor hijab (covering of the women).

The Islamic Republic's infamous record is replete with instances of child execution, restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, imprisonment of journalists, discrimination against women in general, and persecution of religious minorities (with a particular systematic program of genocide against the Baha'is and their religion). The regime has ruled over a peaceful people with an iron fist while committing the most heinous crimes against humanity.

After enduring more than three decades of the Islamic regime, the great majority of the Iranian people decided to cast their ballots in the hope of effecting change in the system. The Islamic government, completely accustomed to doing whatever it wishes and ignoring the people, stole the election and declared incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner. The blatant violation of this basic right to vote and choose the official infuriated the long-suffering masses, who poured into the streets by the millions, demanding that their votes be honored. The response of the regime was to beat the demonstrators, arresting many and subjecting a great number to a raft of harsh treatments in prisons.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Rafsanjani in his capacity as head of the Assembly of Experts, Mr. Karroubi, a former speaker of the Majlis (Parliament), demanded an immediate investigation into the reports that a number of detainees had been raped during the illegal incarceration.

Mr. Karroubi wrote, "Some of those arrested [as a result] of the unrest claim that detained girls have been sexually assaulted with ... brutality."

"The young men in detention were also sexually assaulted in such a way that some are now suffering from depression and other physical and psychological problems, and are incapable of even leaving their homes," Karroubi added. "A number of detainees have stated that some female detainees were so severely raped that their genitals were damaged. Others savagely raped young boys so that they suffer from all sorts of depression and serious physical and mental damage."

Human Rights Watch also has documented cases of sexual assault in the Islamic republic prisons on individuals arrested since the fraudulent June 12, 2009 presidential election. In the most recent case, the medical examiner's office confirmed that the injuries suffered in prison by Ebrahim Mehtari, a young activist, resulted from torture and mistreatment consistent with his allegations of sexual abuse. But the Islamic Republic's judiciary authorities refused to conduct further inquiries and instead threatened Mehtari and his family with severe repercussions if they ever open their mouths regarding the sexual abuse.

Mr. Mehtari is living outside of Iran now. After his departure from Iran, the regime's security forces raided his family's house several times and threatened his family members with punishments if their son ever talked about the abuses he has received.

Another young activist, 24-year old Ebrahim Sharifi is a very brave young man who was arrested on June 23, after the fraudulent presidential elections in Iran. He told the Human Rights Watch group that he had been raped in detention while he was handcuffed, blindfolded and his feet were tied, and that he had attempted suicide several times after his release. He said that judiciary officials had refused to accept his complaint and told him that if he spoke out about his case, his family would be in danger.

The third case involves Maryam Sabri, a beautiful 21-year-old girl who was arrested on July 30 during the commemoration of the 40th day after the killing of Neda Agha Sultan -- whose shooting death during a demonstration shocked the entire world. Sabri was arrested after her photo appeared on a website connected to the IRGC, which posted photos of protesters and asked people to identify the people in the pictures so that they could be arrested. Before she was released on August 12, Sabri says, she was raped four times by the jailers.

"On August 9, in a letter published in the Etemad Melli paper, the reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi wrote that some detained individuals stated that some authorities have raped detained women with such force, they have sustained injuries and tears in to their reproductive system."

In another high-profile case, the very pretty 19-year old Taraneh was not shot with a single bullet to her chest, as was the case with Neda Agha Sultan There were no bystanders in the dungeon with a cell phone to capture the prolonged torture, rape, and sodomy of this teenager.

According to reports, as well as testimony on the House floor from the honorable U.S. Congressman McCotter, on June 28, 2009, Taraneh Mousavi, a young Iranian woman, was literally scooped off the streets without any provocation on her part and with no arrest warrant. This young woman was taken to one of the regime's torture chambers, where she was repeatedly brutalized, raped, and sodomized by Ahmadinejad's agents, and with the consent of the "supreme leader," Ali Khamenei.

Near death from repeated beating, raping and sodomizing, the fragile young woman, bleeding profusely from her rectum and womb, was transferred to a hospital in Karaj near Tehran. Eventually, an anonymous person notified Taraneh's family that she had had an "accident" and had been to be taken to the hospital.

The devastated family rushed to the hospital only to find no trace of their beloved daughter. The foot-soldiers of Allah's "divine representative" Ali Khamenei decided to eliminate all traces of their savagery. These vile people decided to remove the dying woman from the hospital before the family's arrival, whereupon they burned her beyond recognition and dumped her charred remains on the side of the road.

Like Neda, another young woman whose chest was ripped by the bullet of a murdering Basij member as she peacefully walked along with a throng of peaceful demonstrators, Taraneh's tragedy gives a glimpse of the true face of Islamic fascism and its brutality. The Taranehs and Nedas of Iran shall remain as eternal testaments to the depravity of the 7th-century primitive system and the horrors it has visited on innocent people. And these young victims of the IRI tyranny are by no means isolated cases. Women are systematically exploited, maltreated, and disenfranchised from their God-given rights.

A regime that subjects its own people to boundless viciousness is showing the world its willingness to commit any crime to intimidate others and to undertake any action that would keep it in power. The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue its reign of devastation and death if not immediately disempowered by all people and nations that value universal human rights. It is timely to bring to mind the warning of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The Islamic Republic of Iran is indeed a miscarriage of justice, a cruel repressive rule, and an imminent threat -- not only to Iranians, but to the world at large.



Obama Using Public Schools To Recruit Agenda Advancing Interns

By Noel Sheppard

http://newsbusters..org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2010/01/31/obamas-recruiting-students-further-agenda-and-reelection

A rather disturbing document surfaced on the Internet Saturday with grave implications concerning how the Obama administration is recruiting interns from public schools to assist in advancing the President's agenda along with his desire to get Democrats including himself elected.

Even scarier, the internship application recommends participants read Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals."

According to Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs, this document was passed out in an eleventh grade class in Massillon, Ohio:

An Atlas reader, Chuck, has a student in the eleventh grade in an Ohio High School. Her government class passed out this propaganda recruiting paper so students could sign up as interns for Obama's Organizing for America.

Here's the scary overview:

In week one, this is the recommended reading list:



Nice. Let's get America's youth to read Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals!"

For those thinking this might be a ruse, the OFA website does indeed address this program. This was posted on January 13 in the site's Community Blogs:

Don't Miss Out: OFA's Spring 2010 National Organizing Internship

Earn credit for school and help change the world!

From his earliest years as an elected official, President Obama has encouraged young Americans to believe that their efforts can change their world for the better. If you are passionate about reviving the economy, making the United States a global leader in clean energy, and want to be on the frontlines of political change, apply for an OFA internship today. No prior experience is necessary. Spring Semester Internships are currently available with Organizing for America - Nevada.

Apply for a Spring 2010 internship before the January 31st deadline by filling out this application.

Learn how grassroots organizing can win an election, impact policy, or change a neighborhood. Take an active role in advancing key legislation including reform in health insurance, energy, education and more.

The online application reads:

Organizing for America-Nevada is currently accepting applicants for our Spring Internship. Interns will work jointly with our Regional Field Directors to build a strong grassroots network across Nevada, and help us to pass President Obama's legislative agenda. Activities will include recruiting and managing volunteers, organizing service and press events, voter contact activities, voter registration, and administrative support work. You need not be a student to apply. Credit is available at most schools, but it is the sole responsibility of the student to make the arrangements. Applications will be accepted through January 31st, 2010 for Spring term. The internship will last until the end of Spring term, and Interns commit to at least 12 hours per week.

The following was posted at Environment Link on January 8:

Organizing for America (OFA) has two priorities: (1) organize support for President Obama’s policy agenda, and (2) build and strengthen the grassroots organization we built during the 2008 campaign by training and empowering people to have an impact in their own communities. The most important thing OFA does is build support for and educate citizens about President Obama’s policies for change.

Our national internship program will connect students all over the country with our organization already on the ground — working to make the change we fought so hard for a reality.

The internship will last from January 11-May 7, but the start and end dates are obviously flexible based on a school’s schedule.

The internship requires a minimum of 12 hours per week, and would be based out of our Seattle office.

Clearly this is a real program recruiting students from coast to coast. Readers are highly encouraged to review all the pages of this application at Atlas Shrugs.

Exit question: Is this something that should be happening at public schools funded with tax dollars, and isn't this a question media members should be asking?

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.



"The e-mail Bag"

Official Pace Car

The Day Obamacare Died

Health Care Plans - state of the nation

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxrLRqwL-UIfc1OgpT_tVvGu6EOZ1KrtTra4YJJ734uafuAzWxVeM9wqm66jGjGvANPv1ti0F2e98nysXw4ltzjC7_W1DKqoQlaW4HhJoLic_7LaVrGyubZyeSTq3QEq7RGm2vK1G_ZZuo/s1600-h/ObamacarePaceCar.jpg