Crossposted from Flopping Aces

He joins Castro and Chavez in criticizing the overthrow of looming dictatorship in Honduras!

And yet, Obama, who refuses to meddle when people in Iran are dying in the streets is peddle to the meddle to join some of the worst violators of human rights in the Western hemisphere in condemning Honduras.

The cartoon above says it all. And this also, by way of Gateway Pundit:

Gingrich: Obama sides with Castro and Chavez on Honduras
by Michael O’Brien
The Hill
June 30, 2009

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accused President Obama of siding with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez when it comes to the recent coup in Honduras.

Gingrich blasted Obama for opposing the coup in Honduras, which the former GOP leader insisted would have left in place a “leftist dictatorship.”

Gingrich tweeted Tuesday:

Sadly the obama administration has joined castro and chavez attacking honduran supreme court and congress for defending their constitution

Having castro call for defending democracy should convince any reasonable person that honduras was on the edge of a leftist dictatorship.

Honduras: Ousted President Caught in “Naked Power Grab”

Nothing so shocking about this coup
BY GLENN GARVIN
Miami Herald
June 30, 2009

…For weeks, Zelaya — an erratic leftist who styles himself after his good pal Hugo Chávez of Venezuela — has been engaged in a naked and illegal power grab, trying to rewrite the Honduran constitution to allow him to run for reelection in November.

First Zelaya scheduled a national vote on a constitutional convention. After the Honduran supreme court ruled that only the country’s congress could call such an election, Zelaya ordered the army to help him stage it anyway. (It would be ‘’non-binding,'’ he said.) When the head of the armed forces, acting on orders from the supreme court, refused, Zelaya fired him, then led a mob to break into a military base where the ballots were stored.

His actions have been repudiated by the country’s supreme court, its congress, its attorney-general, its chief human-rights advocate, all its major churches, its main business association, his own political party (which recently began debating an inquiry into Zelaya’s sanity) and most Hondurans: Recent polls have shown his approval rating down below 30 percent.

In fact, about the only people who didn’t condemn Zelaya’s political gangsterism were the foreign leaders and diplomats who now primly lecture Hondurans about the importance of constitutional law. They’re also strangely silent about the vicious stream of threats against Honduras spewing from Chávez since Zelaya was deposed.

Just another example of Obama cozying up to America’s sworn enemies while dissing our friends and the ideals of American exceptionalism!

Also:

Promises, Promises….

Obama announces his position on taxing health benefits is “evolving.”Those making $250,000 or less are about to see their taxes go up… AGAIN!

Throughout the campaign, then Senator Obama delivered a variation of this pledge:

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.” –Barack Obama

I’ve been watching a historical drama of the years Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain led Britain to the threshold of disaster in the late 1930’s. At one point, Neville is pressed on a pledge he made to repair Britain’s defenses. He responds: “A pledge doesn’t mean it’s forever.”

Months ago, most of us learned that the promises Barack Obama made as a candidate were never intended as solemn vows. More like campaign slogans that can be discarded as readily as an American flag at an Obama rally. At the beginning of April President Obama signed the bill which was the single largest increase in tobacco taxes in history. That tax mostly impacted the poor and black Americans who are more likely to smoke.

Obama often signals his intention to abandon another campaign pledge by suggesting his stance on an issue is evolving. That language is being used again in the discussion over taxing health care benefits and also mandating same style health plans for everyone (something candidate Obama opposed).

At Wednesday’s Obama campaign rally Town Hall meeting on health care, Obama managed to skewer both promises in a single answer. A new personal best!

Read carefully:

Q: Rob on Twitter said, “Does it really make sense, Mr. President, to tax me on my health care coverage?”

OBAMA: let me describe for you how this argument has evolved and where I’ve stood on it in the past and what’s being debated in Congress.
(more…)

Dear Senators Mikulski and Cardin and Congressman Cummings,

The primary purpose of this letter is to ask that you vote to defeat the various health Care proposals which include a so called “government option.”

Another purpose of this letter is to request that you explain to me and your other constituents the effect of the various proposals on the health care plans which cover members of Congress.

I ask that you divulge to us whether or not it is proposed that the health care benefits accruing to Senators and Congress persons be taxed or will those be exempted as proposed for labour union members.

I ask that you strive to insure that whatever proposals you support require the full participation and involvement of all Senators, Congress persons and their staffs.

I, like many citizens, believe that if members of the Senate and House of Representatives were required to participate in the monumentally mismanaged and misguided Social Security System, the problems of that monstrosity would have been resolved long ago.
(more…)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come out tomorrow to support the Baltimore Tea Party!

What: A SECOND BALTIMORE TAX DAY TEA PARTY
Where: Baltimore Inner Harbor Amphitheater
When: July 2, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM
Who: All taxpaying citizens concerned with excessive government waste.

Join us at the Baltimore Tea Party as Marylanders begin their Independence Day celebrations. Bring your homemade signs and bring your family and friends.

Learn more on Facebook through Baltimore Conservatives. Come out and support this national movement to restore fiscal responsibility to government.

From Red Maryland

From the Presser: (Italicized Comments Mine)

GOVERNOR MARTIN O’MALLEY DELIVERS KEYNOTE ADDRESS BEFORE THE MARYLAND MUNICIPAL LEAGUE

O’Malley highlights Maryland’s progress as product of choice, not chance

Ocean City, MD June 30, 2009 - Governor Martin O’Malley delivered the keynote address tonight before the Maryland Municipal League, a membership association of city and town governments through the State. During his address, the Governor highlighted Maryland’s progress, even during difficult economic times, and the choices that produced such progress.

“Maryland is once again that center State, leading the way in times of great adversity, better positioned than other states to pick ourselves up from off the mat, and power through this recession,” said Governor O’Malley. “I would submit to you that this is no accident. Our progress together is a product not of chance, but of choice. We’ve made tough choices to protect the hardworking families of our State – choices that are allowing us to make our government work again for every family in Maryland.”

(Excuse Me, but if we are picking ourselves off the mat, why do we need so many Federal dollars to survive?)

Noting the challenging economic times that all local leaders must navigate their respective jurisdictions through, the Governor acknowledged that “the hardworking families of our State need and deserve a government that works for them. I would arguer that never have they needed us more. In these times, when we face both great challenges and great opportunities, the stakes are too high to leave our future up to chance.”

(Do they need a government that works for them, or do they need to work for the government? It seems only the latter will have any jobs. More self-importance of big-government being needed. Instead of leaving recovery up to chance, how about leaving it up to the free market, bud?!)
(more…)

By Dick Morris

President George H.W. Bush lost the presidency because he broke his 1988 campaign pledge: “read my lips: no new taxes.” Now President Obama is as blatantly poised to disregard his most fundamental campaign promise: “if you make less than $250,000 your taxes will not go up. Not one dime.”

In our new book Catastrophe, we write about the breadth of Obama’s planned tax hikes and the heights to which he will drive taxes. To pay for his health care catastrophe, Obama will likely make all health insurance premiums, paid by employers, taxable to the employees.

So if your income is $50,000 and your employer pays $10,000 in health insurance premiums for you, your taxable income will be $50,000. In effect, this means that most taxpayers will have to pay more than a third of their incomes to the federal government.

And Obama’s “cap and trade” legislation is the exact same as Al Gore’s BTU tax which was the centerpiece of Clinton’s 1993 tax program. Eventually, Clinton replaced it with a flat 5 cent gasoline tax. But the idea of taxing utility bills to drive down electricity use is as old as the Clinton Administration. But Obama can’t call it a tax because that would break his pledge. So he calls it cap and trade instead.

Finally, it is obvious that Obama will be unable to restore financial solvency to Social Security and Medicare without big hikes in the payroll tax, coming in 2011! (more…)

by Regina Sztajer

Promises were made by President Barack Obama during the elections but after only five months he has failed us. He and his wife MIchelle have no problem spending taxpayer money on shopping trips to Paris, a night-on- the-town in New York or $100 a pound steak dinners in the White House. Obama thinks nothing of jumping on Airforce One for a quick trip to do a little politicking. Speaking of Michelle, the tabloids are beginning to feature her on their covers as being a terror in the White House to those she dislikes.

The public is growing doubtful about his promises of not to raising taxes. The stimulus, rushed through Congress, is corrupt and not working. Europe is considering less taxation to get their economies working out of a deep recession while Obama is the opposite.

With unemployment at a new high Obama has pushed an energy bill barely through the House of Representatives but faces an obstacle in the Senate. The Senate actually was formed on the example of the ancient Roman Senate. The name is derived from the senatus, Latin for council of elders. It was composed of Romans who distinguished themselves politically and served as elected officials. The Senators were elders who were polished in politics and deserved such an important role in government.

In modern times a Senator in America is trusted and considered a stable person. So how is it that the Minnesota Supreme Court has named Al Franken (D) to be the next Senator from their state? The former comedian and author managed to end a protracted election recount battle against Norm Coleman (R) who served one term as Senator. How? Coleman insisted thousands of absentee ballots had been excluded from the recount. Franken’s lawyers pulled the win off for him. His jokes are corny so don’t expect much!!!

Deficits are pilling up while Obama’s health plan is on shaky ground. It may take not months but years to see the economy improve. We have unprecedented borrowing from China and aren’t they really not exactly our friends? Obama wants a health care for every American at a huge cost. He sees the need for taxation to pay for a national health insurance plan. We don’t want socialized health care because it doesn’t work.
(more…)

I will return tomorrow

Sorry, but I am feeling a bit under the weather. I hope to return tomorrow. I will leave you with another example from Flopping Aces of Obama’s stupidity. As a reader on the site asked: Why is it okay to meddle with a nation who removes their President via every legal channel, but it’s not okay to meddle with a despotic regime in Iran flagrantly ignoring fair elections and committing human rights abuses on their population? Read the whole thing to see why.

Obama admin meddles, demanding “full restoration of democratic order” in Hondurass

What a difference a day makes. “Meddling” by the Obama admin is now in vogue when it supports extreme leftist leaders, as I posted on Sunday. But the Obama admin is not confining themselves merely to “words”, but is evidently working behind the scenes to get ousted President, Manuel Zelaya, reinstated.

Honduras’ newly appointed leader vowed Monday to resist pressure from across the Americas to reinstate the president ousted in a military coup, as protesters burned tires outside the occupied presidential palace.

Leaders from Hugo Chavez to Barack Obama called for the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya, who was arrested in his pajamas Sunday morning by soldiers who stormed his residence and flew him into exile. Eight leftist countries pulled their ambassadors from Honduras.

Roberto Micheletti, appointed president by Congress, insisted that Zelaya was legally removed by the courts and Congress for violating Honduras’ constitution — allegedly to extend his rule.

~~~

Micheletti said he was sure that “80 to 90 percent of the Honduran population is happy with what happened.”

True or false, the rest of the world certainly was not, and the president of the U.N. General Assembly invited Zelaya to address the world gathering.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. was working for “full restoration of democratic order in Honduras.”

U.S. diplomats said they are trying to ensure Zelaya’s safety and get him restored as president. Clinton signalled, however, the U.S. wasn’t siding fully with Zelaya, who had rejected several Supreme Court decisions before being overthrown.

“There are certain concerns about orders by independent judicial officials that should be followed,” Clinton said. “But the extraordinary step taken of arresting and expelling the president is our first and foremost concern right now.”

She indicated the State Department has not formally declared Zelaya’s ouster to be a coup because U.S. laws would then require cutting aid to the impoverished country.

“We’re considering the implications of it,” she said.

Removal from office for usurping rule of law in Honduras is an “extraordinary step”?? What I find “extraordinary” is the two-faced US President’s foreign policy, as well as his friends in the international community. Also calling for reinstatement is the Organization of American States. And then, of course, there’s the UN… with Ban Ki-moon parroting the usual “condemns” comment.

UPDATE: Were the post-arrest meddling not enough, Sweetness & Light latched on to more than interesting revelations in a WSJ article today, that documents senior Obama officials admitted they worked feverishly to prevent the law-breaking President’s arrest.

The Obama administration and members of the Organization of American States had worked for weeks to try to avert any moves to overthrow President Zelaya, said senior U.S. officials. Washington’s ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, sought to facilitate a dialogue between the president’s office, the Honduran parliament and the military.

The efforts accelerated over the weekend, as Washington grew increasingly alarmed. “The players decided, in the end, not to listen to our message,” said one U.S. official involved in the diplomacy. On Sunday, the U.S. embassy here tried repeatedly to contact the Honduran military directly, but was rebuffed. Washington called the removal of President Zelaya a coup and said it wouldn’t recognize any other leader.

The U.S. stand was unpopular with Honduran deputies. One congressman, Toribio Aguilera, got prolonged applause from his colleagues when he urged the U.S. ambassador to reconsider. Mr. Aguilera said the U.S. didn’t understand the danger that Mr. Zelaya and his friendships with Mr. Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro posed.

Well… just a slight correction to Mr. Aguilera’s comment: I’d say that many of us understand the dangers posed by such friendships and alliances with the Chavez’s and Castro’s of the world. It’s the leftist patsy occupying the Oval Office that simply doesn’t “get it”, were I to give him the benefit of the doubt of wanting what is best for America as we have known it to be since it’s inception. Perhaps, a more accurate assessment is that Obama *does* get it, and openly lends his support to such leadership and dangerous allies because of his “empathies” that lie strongly with similiar governing ideology. Perhaps, with his popularity with citizenry that seem unconcerned with the US’s march towards the far left, he feels this is his personal mandate in “remaking America”.

END UPDATE

I would so look forward to a viable explanation of why it’s okay to meddle with a nation who removes their President via every legal channel, but it’s not okay to meddle with a despotic regime in Iran flagrantly ignoring fair elections and committing human rights abuses on their population. But I won’t be holding my breath for the big Zero - and his fellow “citizens of the world” - to reconcile their actions…

Then again, how long before the current WH occupant finds himself subject to the same in the US, should his present path to spit on US Constitutional law continue? Eventually someone’s going to have the impetus to haul this arrogant “follower of the free world” before the SCOTUS.

The full story can be found in the Washington Post.

Honduras Defends Its Democracy

Fidel Castro and Hillary Clinton object.

By MARY ANASTASIA O’GRADY

Hugo Chávez’s coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation’s constitution.

It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking.
(more…)

from the AP.

Several thousand protesters — some chanting “Where is my vote?” — clashed with riot police in Tehran on Sunday as Iran detained local employees of the British Embassy, escalating the regime’s standoff with the West and earning it a stinging rebuke from the European Union.

Witnesses said riot police used tear gas and clubs to break up a crowd of up to 3,000 protesters who had gathered near north Tehran’s Ghoba Mosque in the country’s first major post-election unrest in four days.

Some described scenes of brutality, telling The Associated Press that some protesters suffered broken bones and alleging that police beat an elderly woman, prompting a screaming match with young demonstrators who then fought back.

The reports could not be independently verified because of tight restrictions imposed on journalists in Iran.

North Tehran is a base of support for opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has alleged massive fraud in Iran’s disputed June 12 presidential election and insists he — not President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — is the rightful winner.

Sunday’s clashes erupted at a rally that had been planned to coincide with a memorial held each year for Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, who came to be considered a martyr in the Islamic Republic after he was killed in a major anti-regime bombing in 1981.
(more…)

From Red Maryland

Waxman-Markey/cap and trade (to call it by its real name is an affront to the English language) passed the House last night 219-212. Frank Kratovil—who as of Friday afternoon had not read the bill—along with Steny Hoyer, Chris Van Hollen, Dutch Ruppersberger all voted aye, leaving Roscoe Bartlett the only Maryland representative voting against this massive energy tax.

Unfortunately eight Republicans were bought off and crossed over providing the decisive margin. Followers of Maryland state politics are familiar with spineless Republicans. Two examples being: Delegate Marie Antoinette (Page Elmore), who literally sold his vote for cake, and James Milquetoast King, who in his explanation of his vote for slots—enabling Martin O’Malley’s tax increases—tried to tell us two plus two equals five.

Friday afternoon, C-SPAN was actually an interesting channel to watch. Representatives were literally making deals on the House floor, see the video below of a representative asking for “clarification” of exactly what goodies he’s getting in return for his vote.

Should the bill become law, Frank Kratovil just handed Andy Harris the 2010 congressional election.

Why?

Well despite the cooked-book CBO report many Dems waved in the air like canon law, Waxman-Markey in reality would:

·Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $9.6 trillion;
·Destroy 1,105,000 jobs on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 2,479,000 jobs;
·Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation;
·Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent;·Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent;
·Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,500; and
·Increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by 26 percent, or $29,150 additional federal debt per person, again after adjusting for inflation.

All for a meaningless one nine-hundredth of a degree change in average global temperature.

Memo to Frank Frank Kratovil: Not a good idea to follow the Martin O’Malley energy strategy: Promise lower energy costs, then do everything in your power to increase them.

Oh and don’t bother to ask about the scientific report—suppressed for political reasons by Obama’s EPA—that debunked the EPA’s endangerment finding on carbon dioxide, because you know our leader told us that science no longer takes a back seat to ideology. The only government report Obama wants criticized is the CBO report that laid out the true, staggering price tag of his health care bill.
(more…)

By Barry Rubin

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s big policy speech received global attention. Not so that of his Palestinian counterpart, Salam Fayyad. Fayyad’s June 22 presentation deserves careful analysis.

Fayyad is prime minister for one reason only: to please Western governments and financial donors. Lacking political skill, ideological influence, or strong support base, Fayyad does keep the money flowing since he’s relatively honest, moderate, and professional on economic issues.

But his own people don’t listen to him. Most PA politicians want him out. International pressure keeps him in.

So here’s the Fayyad paradox. If he really represented Palestinian stances and thinking, there’d be some hope for peace. Since he’s so out of tune with colleagues, though, Fayyad sounds sharply different from them. And even he’s highly restricted by what’s permissible in PA politics, limits which ensure the PA’s failure, absence of peace, and non-existence of a Palestinian state.

His first problem is that Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and seeks the PA’s overthrow in the West Bank. Most Fatah and PA leaders prefer peace with Hamas rather than Israel. Make no mistake: this is a mutually exclusive choice. If Hamas merged with the PA the resulting would be far too radical to negotiate a solution, not to mention being en route to becoming dominated by Tehran-allied radical Islamism.

Moreover, to keep the door open for such conciliation, the PA can’t come closer to making a deal with Israel. But that’s not all. In veiled—an appropriate word here–language, Fayyad says Palestinians must avoid “politicizing” the Gaza issue so that any sanctions continue against the Hamas regime there.

By not opposing the suicide bombers, Fayyad follows suicidal policies. By fighting any isolation or sanctions on Hamas, the PA ensures that Hamas tightens its hold on the Gaza Strip and so doesn’t need to accept PA leadership. By supporting Hamas’s ability to attack Israel without costs, the PA ensures its Islamist rival can appear to be the more effective fighter against Israel, thus undermining the appeal of PA leadership or of any peaceful solution. (more…)

By Dick Morris

In our new book, Catastrophe, we spell out clearly how Obama has disarmed us in the war on terror and excoriate him for giving Hamas almost $1 billion in foreign aid funneled through the United Nations relief agency in Gaza that takes orders from Hamas. But now, the Administration’s weakness in supporting human rights in Iran writes a sad chapter in the history of our foreign policy.

For her part, Hillary Clinton is really playing hardball with Iran! Faced with its outrageous conduct in killing its own citizens to cow them into silence, she has disinvited Iranian diplomats from the hot dog festival commemorating July 4th. That’ll show ‘em.

But, in Catastrophe, we propose stronger action. One specific step that could send just the right message to Iran is to cut back its gasoline supplies. Despite having the world’s second largest reserves of oil, Iran must import 40% of its gasoline because of a lack of refining capacity. Most of its refined gasoline comes from the Jamnagar Refinery, operated and owned by Reliance Industries, an Indian company. And guess who has guaranteed a $500 million loan to expand this refinery? You did. The American taxpayer, through the Export-Import Bank provided the loan guarantees as part of a $900 million package to Reliance.

We urge Congress to pass the Sherman-Kirk Amendment, which just cleared a House Appropriation s Subcommittee with bi-partisan support. The amendment, co-sponsored by Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California and Republican Mark Kirk of Illinois, would cutoff Export-Import bank financing for any firm that exports gasoline to Iran or helps it to develop new refining capacity.

Orde Kittre, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies calls Iran’s dependence on imported gasoline its “Achilles’ Heel.” So let’s learn a lesson from OPEC and turn the tables, cutting gasoline imports to Iran.
(more…)

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Vote was 219 For 219 Against (Roll Call). 8 Republicans voted For and 2 Did not vote. Enough to have made the difference.

Republicans who voted For:

• Mary Bono Mack, CA-45
• Mike Castle, DE
• Mark Steven Kirk, IL-10
• Leonard Lance, NJ-7
• Frank LoBiondo, NJ-2
• John McHugh, NY-23
• Dave Reichert, WA-8
• Chris Smit, NJ-4

If you are a constituent of any of the above, you may wish to express your displeasure at their voting for a bill that will do nothing to prevent climate change but will saddle American’s with thousands more in tax increases and job losses. Contact links for each member are available on their web page linked above.

Not Voting were:

• Jeff Flake, AZ-6
• John Sullivan OK-1

Constitutents of Jeff Flake may wish to inquire why he was not able to vote today. Cong. Sullivan was on one month’s leave for treatment of an alcohol addiction. It’s interesting to note that Cong. Patrick Kennedy (D-MA) was taken out of alcohol rehab for the purposes of voting. Dems apparently felt passing this bill was more important, or perhaps more doable, than sobering up a Kennedy.

300 Page Amendment to 1200 Page Bill Added at 3:09AM

House GOP Leader John Boehner (OH) describes the rush Democrats imposed on consideration of this bill so that few would have the chance to read it and object:

Dems had 30 years to write this bill, but left only hours to read it or debate it.

Graphic from House Leader Boehner’s blog shows complexity of Democrat bill:

Also:

Congressional ACORN Corruption Probe Disbanded by “Powers that Be”

If you are a friend of President Obama you need have no fear of a corruption probe!

Here’s another in what is fast becoming a series of moves designed to further shield Obama allies from any accountability before the law:

Conyers backs off probe of ACORN
Says ‘powers that be’ ended plans for hearings on group
By S.A. Miller
Washington Times
June 26, 2009

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. has backed off his plan to investigate purported wrongdoing by the liberal activist group ACORN, saying “powers that be” put the kibosh on the idea.

Mr. Conyers, Michigan Democrat, earlier bucked his party leaders by calling for hearings on accusations the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) has committed crimes ranging from voter fraud to a mob-style “protection” racket.

“The powers that be decided against it,” Mr. Conyers told The Washington Times as he left the House chambers Wednesday.

The chairman declined to elaborate, shrugging off questions about who told him how to run his committee and give the Democrat-allied group a pass.

Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh, whose testimony about ACORN at a March 19 hearing on voting issues prompted Mr. Conyers to call for a probe, said she was perplexed by Mr. Conyers’ explanation for his change of heart.

“If the chair of the Judiciary Committee cannot hold a hearing if he wants to, [then] who are the powers that he is beholden to?” she said. “Is it the leadership, is it the White House, is it contributors? Who is ‘the power’?”
…

Capitol Hill had bristled at the prospect of hearings because it threatened to rekindle criticism of the financial ties and close cooperation between President Obama’s campaign and ACORN and its sister organizations Citizens Services Inc. and Project Vote.

The groups came under fire during the campaign after probes into suspected voter fraud in a series of presidential battleground states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Mexico and Nevada.

ACORN and its affiliates are currently the target of at least 14 lawsuits related to voter fraud in the 2008 election and a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act complaint filed by former ACORN members.
…

Ms. Heidelbaugh, who spearheaded an unsuccessful lawsuit last year to stop ACORN’s Pennsylvania voter-registration drive, testified in March that the nonprofit group was violating tax, campaign-finance and other laws by, among other things, sharing with the Barack Obama campaign a list of the Democrat’s maxed-out campaign donors so ACORN could use it to solicit them for a get-out-the-vote drive.

ACORN also provided liberal causes with protest-for-hire services and coerced donations from targets of demonstrations through a shakedown it called the “muscle for the money” program, said Ms. Heidelbaugh, a member of the executive board of the Republican National Lawyers Association.

Mr. Conyers, a fierce partisan known for his drive to continue investigating President George W. Bush’s administration, had been an unlikely champion for opponents of ACORN.

The culture of corruption within the Democrat Party is alive and well and there is no check and balance that can stop it!

Finally:

Plus: New bombshell EPA report, doubting science, censored!

Today, we learn that an EPA official with extensive knowledge of the science of global warming was being censored for speaking out.

Here’s the gist of the story:

Source inside EPA confirms claims of science being ignored, suppressed, by top EPA management
By Thomas Fuller
San Francisco Examiner
June 25, 2009
(more…)

Crossposted from Flopping Aces
He Doesn’t Listen
He talked for 45 minutes during ABC’s “Health Care” infomercial!

It’s clear to anyone who has ever dozed through an Obama speech that the man likes the sound of his own voice. He’s known for rambling, long winded speechifying even in press conferences.

ABC’s all Obama all day long extravaganza Wednesday was no different. Obama answered one question from the handpicked crew of supporters attending the Town Hall style event on health care with a vague monologue that went on for four minutes and thirty three seconds. No doubt leaving many viewers scrambling for the remote or praying for a commercial break.

It’s also noteworthy that nowhere in what was billed as a “dialogue” on health care did Obama face any Republican critics. Even critical advertising was banned.

Obama possesses the rare gift of being able to say so much and so little all at the same time. The only question is: when will voters decide they’ve heard too much?

Also:

Obama Health Care Plan Not the Gold Standard He Promised in Campaign?

If not, then why does the current bill exempt Members of Congress?

“If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance Members of Congress get for themselves.”
–Barack Obama, “Closing Argument” speech, Canton, Ohio, October 26, 2008

In a rare moment during last night’s Democrat Party health care infomercial on ABC, President Obama was challenged by Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a neurologist and researcher at the New York University Langone Medical Center. Dr. Devinsky asked if Obama’s wife or one of his daughters was sick and the plan the President proposed limited tests and treatments, would Obama “potentially sacrifice the health of your family for the greater good of insuring millions, or would you do everything you possibly could as a father and husband to get the best health care and outcome for your family?”

The short answer (something that is difficult for Obama) is no. He would do whatever it takes.

But the question itself stems from a faulty premise. Neither Obama, nor members of Congress will have to face the difficult choices of Obama-Care. Page 114, line 22 of the Kennedy-Dodd “Affordable Health Choices Act” bill (PDF) clearly exempts members of congress and federal employees and their families. They will continue to be covered by what many regard as the Gold Standard for health care at your expense.
Will YOUR Member of Congress Join Obama Care?

Thursday, Rush Limbaugh started a new campaign directed at those members of congress pushing health care reform. He invited his listeners to call or write their Representative and Senators and ask “will you be giving up your federal benefit and joining Obama Care?” If not, then why foist this monstrosity on us?

Unions Exempt from Health Care Taxes

Readers may recall how candidate Obama pounced on John McCain in the presidential election wrongly claiming he would tax health care benefits. Well guess what? Obama may soon be taxing health care benefits. But the bill Democrats are working on exempts Unions, whose health care plans are among the most generous of all (otherwise GM and Chrysler would still be making money).
(more…)

From Red Maryland

I usually leave the larger issues of media criticism to Professor Vatz, as his mustache can slay a rabid grizzly bear, or at least a Baltimore Sun editorial page editor. However I felt the need to jump in on one issue in particular.

My friend Ron Smith is an admirer of Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald. I am not.

Ron admires Greenwald’s dogged criticism of the “establishment press,” especially their alleged journalistic failure to hold the Bush administration accountable during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. To be fair, some of Greenwald’s criticism is occasionally on point. However, Greenwald’s modis operandi is to gun his engine into the fifth gear of high dudgeon and shriek like a harpy. Case in point his foot stamping over the Washington Post firing Dan Froomkin. Whatever the merits or demerits of canning Froomkin, the case illustrates Greenwald’s schtick: Preen as a paragon of all that is right and good in the world, lather up spittle-flecked rage chock full of charges of mendacity and/or hypocrisy—without explanation—against those he who he disagrees with. In the end, Greenwald’s posts are essentially long worded variations of “Hulk smash.”

You see, in Greenwald’s world, “dishonest” has no meaning other than a conservative who is winning an argument. See Jonah Goldberg and Jim Henke beat Greenwald like a rented mule on this issue.
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Regina Sztajer

President Barack Obama is a weak kneed excuse for a man who is supposed to be the leader of the free world. Instead of being tough on Iran and North Korea he intimidates his Republican competition with the help of the slobbering liberal media and his Chicago political hooligans who are his comrades in destroying America. Does he really believe we American’s are going to be sheep led to the slaughter while he goes abroad and kisses up to every Muslim who want to destroy us? “Hail Obama ” who has replaced Caesar!!! In five months this man has taken advantage of an economic crisis to take over our banking and the auto industry to mention a few and is on his way to try and ram national health care down our throats.

Beware this man is not wishy washy when it comes to destroying the Constitution and the very fabric of this great nation of ours. True we do need affordable, high -quality health care in America that is responsible. But government control over our health and the treatment we need is not the business of the government. Do we want some government no- nothing to make a decision if we are worth the price of keeping us alive. Beware my fellow senior citizens we will be considered a waste of government money and you best wake up to that reality and speak up before the word grandparent becomes no more.

Our Congress is going to vote on a public plan for health care on a government- run system and were is the public outcry? In Canada and Europe they have long lines and rationed care that are a failure. Canadians come to America to get life saving treatment. If Obama has his way where will American’s go to save their lives? Obama wants 119 million Americans with private insurances pushed into a government run-plan. The American Medical Association opposes Obama’s plan that will destroy our freedoms and health at what cost?

Dire threats are being made against America by rogue nations and what is Obama doing, appointing Tsars. Russia got rid of their Tsars because they were tyrants. Give the president a history book!!! The Russians must be having a laugh a day on us. If he thinks it could help him politically he send out the troops but otherwise international affairs to Obama is just another chance to make a speech. His use of power in foreign affairs is an area where he seems to be governing alone but he can’t do that in domestic policy. He has set a picture of his personality as a wimp by waiting days before speaking up about the false elections in Iran that has put a dictator back into power. (more…)

By Barry Rubin

The Iranian crisis is being fought out on three fronts.

The first, and the one properly receiving the most attention, is inside Iran itself. Commentators have now found the perfect phrase for describing the outcome there: As a result of the stolen election, demonstrations, and repression, Iran will be changed forever.

OK. But changed how? If the regime puts down the demonstrations, it will be ruling lots of deeply dissatisfied citizens. Yet overall, not much will change within the country. Presumably, there will periodically other such upheavals until the day the regime is overthrown altogether. But how long will that take? None can say.

More can be said about the other two fronts. The one changing the least is the regional aspect. Events in Iran will not change minds in the Middle East.

On one side are the radical Islamists. These include pro-Iranian forces–Hamas and Hizballah; the Syrian regime, and many in Iraq–won’t have their minds changed by the post-election upheaval. They will go on being radical Islamists and believe that these demonstrations are creations of American intelligence (whether President Obama praises them or not will have no effect) and that the marches represent only a tiny minority of malcontents.

The same conclusion, however, will be reached by the anti-Iran Islamists, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, and the much smaller base of al-Qaida. They and their supporters will go on seeking Islamist regimes in their countries, notably Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia. They won’t be affected either.

But there is another factor regarding the Islamist side. In thirty years I have literally never heard an Islamist say—in contrast to how Communists used to speak about the USSR, or China, or Cuba—that they want an Islamist state modeled on Iran. Obviously, Sunni Islamists (including Hamas) want to downplay any such desire to clone Iran because its Shia republic is alien to their traditions. (more…)

Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Photo from the International Space Station!

One giant belch likely emitting more CO2 into the atmosphere than all the cars on earth do in one year!

More photos and full story here.

Also:

Western media abandons Iranian revolt news as widespread violence decreases, and regime steps up oppression

The fickle and tunnel-visioned western media apparently has had it’s fill. For days the nation watched mesmerized as Iranian demonstrators, under physical and police assault, smuggled out news via the New Age Internet media even professional journalists couldn’t match.

Yesterday and today… sans any shocking bloody videos to show… US news has turned it’s eye away from Iran and the citizens fight for fair elections and the right of free speech.

Just because the media’s eye isn’t focused, doesn’t mean Iran is quiet and banking on the Ayatollah’s five day election review extension. In fact, since they certified Ahmadinejad as the winner and vowed no retreat only the day before. They are set to swear him into office early August… which means, of course, that the five day complaint review of the election is merely for show.

Yet despite the media’s distracted eye elsewhere, Iran was not without it’s clashes in the yesterday, or today.

Hundreds of protesters clashed with waves of riot police and paramilitary militia in Tehran on Wednesday, witnesses said, as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted that the authorities would not yield to pressure from opponents demanding a new election following allegations of electoral fraud.

It was impossible to confirm the extent of the new violence in the capital because of draconian new press restrictions on coverage of the post-election mayhem. But the witnesses reached by telephone said the confrontation, in the streets near the national Parliament building, was bloody, with police using live ammunition.

Defying government warnings, hundreds, if not thousands of protesters, had attempted to gather in front of the parliament on Baharestan Square, witnesses said. They were met with riot police and paramilitary militia, who struck at them with truncheons, tear gas and guns. One witness said he saw a 19-year-old woman shot in the neck. Others said the police had shot in the air, not directly at demonstrators.

WaPo also has more in street clashes today, along with more on a defiant Ayatollah.

Iran’s supreme leader told a group of lawmakers Wednesday that “neither the system nor the people will submit to bullying” over the results of the disputed presidential election, and riot police backed by militiamen later forcibly broke up a demonstration at the parliament building in support of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

“Everyone should respect the law. Once lawlessness becomes a norm, things will be complicated and the interests of people will be undermined,” said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has ultimate authority over political and religious life in Iran. “We will not step an inch beyond the law: our law, our country’s law, the Islamic Republic’s law.”

Hours later, witnesses said, large numbers of security forces, some riding motorcycles, used baton charges, beatings, tear gas and arrests to disperse several thousand demonstrators protesting the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The demonstrators were trying to gather in front of the parliament building to show support for Mousavi, who says that massive fraud in the June 12 election cheated him of victory.

Security forces — including regular police from all over Tehran, helmeted riot police officers and members of a force known as “Robocops” for their full body armor and special equipment — converged on Baharestan Square to prevent a demonstration from taking shape. They were supported by members of the pro-government Basij militia and plainclothes agents who infiltrated the protesters, witnesses said.

“Robocops” riding motorcycles fired large handguns into the air as they charged up and down Republic Street and other nearby avenues, one witness said. A helicopter circled overhead. Some of the police carried paintball guns, which have been used in recent demonstrations to mark protesters for arrest.

“When people started to gather, the [security forces] chased them into alleys and arrested anybody they could,” he said. In one alley, police caught up with three men and started beating them, then attacked bystanders who tried to intervene, he said.

In one confrontation between protesters and Basij members, a middle-aged woman wearing a light-blue headscarf and a black coat angrily refused orders to leave. “I’m going to stay here and see how many people you kill today,” she told the Basij. A plainclothes agent emerged from the crowd, swore at the woman and took out a pair of handcuffs to arrest her. Other people tried to stop the agent, but Basij members rushed them and beat them with clubs, the witness said.

~~~

In Twitter feeds, people who said they witnessed the crackdown described protesters with broken limbs and cracked heads, saying there was “blood everywhere” from the beatings. One said many people had been arrested. Another said people were being beaten “like animals.”

As the numbers in the streets, up for facing another day or mortality with the regimes policy bullies, declined, the oppressive crackdown, randoms searches and raids, arrests increased. NY’s International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has names of at least 240 detainees, but say that number may be as high as 2000 via some human rights activists in Iran. The Iraninian state media reports 645 arrests.

Among them are people arrested in a Monday night raid of a campaign office for Mr. Moussavi in Tehran, Press TV, state television’s English-language satellite broadcaster, reported Wednesday. The government said the office was being used as “a headquarters for psychological war against the country’s security,” and claimed that evidence had been found of “the role of foreign elements in planning post-election unrest.”

Also detained are 102 political figures, 23 journalists, 79 university students and 7 university faculty, the human rights organization said. By official reckonings, at least 17 demonstrators have been killed.

Wapo’s article yesterday outlines how the Ayatollah plans to make an example of the demonstrators, including setting up a separate court just “make an example” of the protestors, while making more arrests and launching a campaign to publicly vilify those calling for a new election.

On a day of relative calm after security forces broke up protests Monday, the government vowed to make an example of detained “rioters” and teach them a lesson. Hundreds of Iranians have been arrested in the past 10 days since the Interior Ministry declared that Ahmadinejad outpolled his nearest rival, former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, by nearly 2 to 1. Mousavi has vowed to continue protesting despite a government ban on demonstrations and a public warning from Khamenei.

~~~

A senior official of Iran’s judiciary, which is controlled by the ruling Shiite Muslim clerics, said Tuesday that a special court would try detained protesters, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.

“Those arrested in recent events will be dealt with in a way that will teach them a lesson,” the official, Ibrahim Raisi, was quoted as saying. “The rioters should be dealt with in an exemplary way, and the judiciary will do that.” Raisi did not elaborate.

Iran Updates at the Tehran Bureau does continue to publish comments of the opposition, documenting ways to continue their dissent via strikes, and noting the government’s assault on communication, and arrests of those carrying laptops, cell phones and cameras.

From Tehran, 24 June 2009

Just to let you all know, R. was arrested last night in Tehran; I’m not sure where and why. I got a call from his phone by the police who wanted me to confirm details. I had to tell them how long we’d lived in [here], how we met, what he and I do for work, where I work, my nationality, about his family and also where I live. He was carrying his laptop, external HD and camera so I’m guessing he’s having that looked though. They told me he’d be released any minute now last night. I doubt that.

Tehran resident, 23 June 2009

[Translated] I access Facebook through Yahoo! Mexico. But everyone says that’s a trap set by authorities to identify us!!!!!

[X] quarrels with me all the time. He keeps imploring me not to go on the internet. They even say the phones are monitored!!!

I’m so frightened I changed my [online] name today.

I don’t know why. Other than vote for Mousavi I’ve never engaged in a political activity in my entire life. But this is no comfort because [X]’s poor colleague was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet while driving through Vanak Square. After two operations, he’s blind in one eye!!!!!!!!

They picked up someone else too. Two days after his disappearance they released him near Shahreh Rey with his eyes blindfolded and his mouth gagged.

Neither guy attended demonstrations! Plus, they say those who come to these protests are MKO members [terrorists]!!!!! Not to mention 100 other insults!

What had this poor woman Neda done that they wouldn’t allow any mosque to hold ceremonies for her — come on, wasn’t she Muslim?

Anyway, things here are REALLY bad here. We’re all scared to death.

Something has to change. We can’t go living like this.

The most recent comment update on the site addresses their confusion of Obama’s press conference. This relates specifically to Huffpo’s proxy question by Nico Pitney that I posted on yesterday. That question was:

Under which conditions would you accept the election of Ahmadinejad? And if you do accept it without any significant changes in the conditions there, isn’t that a betrayal of what the demonstrators there are working towards.

I caught Pitney on Charlie Rose last night. While he, like other liberals, believe Obama is handling this “just right”, he also stated that Obama “dodged” the question.

The commenter’s post, as translated from Farsi, reiterated the same confusion at his tepid support for the demonstrators, and their adamance that any recognition of Ahmadinejad was indeed, a betrayal.

From Tehran, 24 June 2009 [10 am Eastern US]

[Translated from Farsi] What kind of speech was that from Obama? Why did he talk like that?

“What should he do?” I ask.

The only thing Obama can do is refuse to recognize this man as the president of Iran. The big issue for the hard-liners here, the thing they keep telling everyone here is that they are the ones who can solve our issues with the United States. They want to be in complete power — at any cost — when negotiations take place. So Ahmadinejad likes to maintain that he is the man who can get the job done [he can deliver Washington].

Right from the beginning of this, Ahmadinejad said that he was going to the UN to speak. He said in his speech that he was going to go to the United Nations to defend the rights of the Iranian people — you know along the lines of all the inane things he says. The United States cannot aid him in this respect by recognizing this man, by putting a seal of approval on this charade by giving him a visa to come to New York.

There’s supposed to be another gathering today in Baharestaan in from of the Majlis (parliament building). I didn’t go because they murder people at these gatherings.

Obama is an intelligent politician. He keeps harping on the fact that this is a domestic issue. OK, that’s fine. I understand. I accept this from him as long as he then doesn’t turn around and recognize Ahmadinejad as the president of Iran. He’s calling himself president after an election drenched in blood. He wants to say he’s president by staging a coup d’etat. It’s like the United States recognizing the Pinochet government.

They [Iranian officials] played with people here. That’s why we’re so upset. It’s true: leading up to the election they opened things up. A positive environment was created. People were in the streets joyously chanting until 5 in the morning. All that is good and true. I even personally know people who had never voted in their lives who decided to participate for the first time. They of course voted for Mir Hossein Mousavi. Why, because there seemed to be some openness in the air for the first time in Iran. It’s true, whatever the figure is in terms of turnout — 39 million or 42 million people did turn out to vote. But what happened next? This is what got people angry. It’s not because Mousavi lost, but because they believe they were tricked. Sure they’re upset about the fact that Mousavi didn’t win, but that’s not the issue. That’s not why they’re protesting. They’re protesting because the government thought it could make fools of them. All this was a play, it was a movie. It wasn’t real. It was a charade. People are hopeless and depressed because they were played with, not because Mousavi lost.

I also read in one of the various and voluminous updates today that the Ayatollah had decided to bolt town for a personal retreat, but not before issuing orders that the crackdown be intensified, and focus on Americans, Britains. But since I can’t find that paragraph to cite the exact language… take it with some caveats.

Melanie Phillips has an interesting column in The Spectator today with various links as to what is going on behind the scenes in the regime.

The Iran expert Michael Ledeen says he has no idea what’s going to happen. But there are signs that the regime is preparing for an all-out assault; and that they are panicking and the ayatollahs are at odds amongst themselves; and that, most interestingly of all, this:

…that there are cracks in the regime’s edifice, ranging from declarations of small groups of Revolutionary Guards calling on their brothers to defect to “the people,” to a phenomenon that is just beginning to be discussed here and there, mostly on the Net but originally in an Arab newspaper. Steve Schippert posted on it and did a first-class analysis. Steve starts with a report from al Arabiya that says senior ayatollahs have been meeting secretly in Qom to discuss significant changes in the structure of the Iranian state. In addition to the Iranian clerics, there was a foreigner: Jawad al-Shahristani, the supreme representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the foremost Shiite leader in Iraq.

If this is true, it is, as Steve says, huge. Because it means that senior religious leaders in Iran are talking to the representative of an Iraqi Imam who believes, as most Shi’ites did before Khomeini’s heresy, that the proper role of religious leaders is to guide their people from the mosque, not from the political capital. In other words, they are talking about the most serious form of regime change.

What may be interesting to see is if this rift between the religious leaders develops into substantive reform, or if they too can be beaten down by the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad’s military might.

Phillips’ also follow my line of thinking that Obama’s so called leadership is “disgraceful”, and that the demonstrators are well aware he is leaving them on their own.

As Ledeen also says, however, the protesters know they are on their own facing the thugs of the basiji. Despite Obama’s belated condemnation today of the brutality being meted out, his remarks were far too little, far too late and still far too inadequate. As Mladen Andrijasevic notes, his strategy of engaging the regime remains, regardless of how many protesters have been killed, tortured or jailed — and will remain, it would appear, even if worse happens in the days to come. And as Joseph Ashby devastatingly notes :

Obama believes, on some significant level, the propaganda promoted by America’s enemies that the United States is the main instigator and perpetrator of international unrest. So shockingly, amazingly, unbelievably, Obama is saying that Iran may very well use America as a propaganda tool, but at least this time they won’t be right.

What a disgrace that this man is leader of the free world; and at such a point in history. If he had put America stoutly behind the protesters and championed them against the regime, by now they might have toppled it. There are signs today that even the fawning American media is appalled.

That additional “fawning media” to which Phillips refers is Joshua Muravchik at Commentary magazine, who states that Obama has totally abandoned the long-time American tradition of supporting democracy and human rights… the same thing I’ve been saying since I’ve managed to find time to reappear in the blog world since the Iranian revolt.

The most surprising thing about the first half-year of Barack Obama’s presidency, at least in the realm of foreign policy, has been its indifference to the issues of human rights and democracy. No administration has ever made these its primary, much less its exclusive, goals overseas. But ever since Jimmy Carter spoke about human rights in his 1977 inaugural address and created a new infrastructure to give bureaucratic meaning to his words, the advancement of human rights has been one of the consistent objectives of America’s diplomats and an occasional one of its soldiers.

This tradition has been ruptured by the Obama administration. The new president signaled his intent on the eve of his inauguration, when he told editors of the Washington Post that democracy was less important than “freedom from want and freedom from fear. If people aren’t secure, if people are starving, then elections may or may not address those issues, but they are not a perfect overlay.”

Secretary of St