I Thought the CIC Was Supposed to Support Our Troops?

To say that Obama and his Administration are not our Armed Forces’ best friends is an understatement.

Foxnews.com has the story:

A veterans group is vowing to get a handwriting expert to determine if the letters sent to parents of Navy SEALs killed in Afghanistan were signed by President Obama himself or an electronic autopen that can replicate his signature.

Karen and Billy Vaughn, whose son Aaron Vaughn was one of 17 SEALs and 13 other Americans killed in a helicopter crash Aug. 6, 2011, raised the issue at a Tea Party rally in Tampa during the Republican National Convention. Karen Vaughn said she compared the signature on her letter, dated Sept. 23, 2011, with those received by other families of SEALs and determined the signature was mechanical.

“We are going to have nationally recognized handwriting experts review the letters given the strong circumstantial evidence which exists in this case.”

– Joel Arends, Veterans for a Strong America

But the White House insists every letter sent out to the families of fallen service members is signed by the hand of the Commander-in-Chief.

“The President signs every such letter personally,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Friday.

An autopen is a machine that can be programmed to duplicate an individual’s John Hancock. Seen as more personal than a stamp but less than a hand-signature, the device was first used in the White House by President Harry Truman. President Obama made history when he became the first chief executive to use the device to sign a bill, authorizing its use to extend key provisions of the Patriot Act last year while he was in France.

Aaron Vaughn was part of a rescue team that was sent to a mountainous area in the Wardak Providence in August of last year to assist an Army Ranger unit that was under heavy fire. The team had completed their mission but their Chinook helicopter was shot down as they were departing. Nearly 40 people perished, marking it one of the deadliest single incident losses in the decade-long war in Afghanistan.

Veterans for a Strong America, a nonpartisan military watchdog group pledged to get to the bottom of the matter.

“After reviewing letters from several families of fallen Navy SEALs it appears that the letters may have been auto-penned, so we are going to have nationally recognized handwriting experts review the letters given the strong circumstantial evidence which exists in this case,” Joel Arends, chairman of Veterans for a Strong America said in a statement to FoxNews.com.

Arends also complained that the mailings are form letters, with only the names of the recipients changed. The White House conceded that point, but noted sending form letters has long been common practice for presidents, especially when war casualties mount.

In 2003, Newsweek reported that condolence letters from President George W. Bush were also form letters, “With the exception of the salutation and a reference to the fallen soldier in the text.”

However, four years later, the Washington Times ran a story claiming that Bush had sent personal letters to more than 4,000 families of soldiers killed in action and 9/11 victims during his presidency which was largely unnoticed by the public.

In a related story, also found on foxnews.com:

The Pentagon’s top lawyer on Thursday informed the former Navy SEAL who wrote a forthcoming book describing details of the raid that killed Usama bin Laden that he violated agreements to not divulge military secrets and that as a result the Pentagon is considering taking legal action against him.

The general counsel of the Defense Department, Jeh Johnson, wrote in a letter transmitted to the author that he had signed two nondisclosure agreements with the Navy in 2007 that obliged him to “never divulge” classified information.

“This commitment remains in force even after you left the active duty Navy,” Johnson wrote. He said the author, Matt Bissonnette, left active duty “on or about April 20, 2012,” which was nearly one year after the May 2011 raid.

By signing the agreements, Bissonnette acknowledged his awareness, Johnson wrote, that “disclosure of classified information constitutes a violation of federal criminal law.” He said it also obliged the author to submit his manuscript for a security review by the government before it was published. The Pentagon has said the manuscript was not submitted for review, although it obtained a copy last week.

Johnson said that after reviewing a copy of the book, “No Easy Day,” the Pentagon concluded that the author is in “material breach and violation” of the agreements.

The book is to be published next week by Penguin Group (USA)’s Dutton imprint. The Associated Press purchased a copy Tuesday.

First, Obama is “too busy” to actually sign letters to the families of our fallen, and now his administration wants to “take legal action” against a Navy Seal, for “divulging” a raid that happened a year ago, which Obama has been taking credit for. I realize that Bissonette committed a serious breach of protocol, but…

Given the treatment of our Armed Forces by their CIC, it is no wonder a Rasmussen Poll, taken in July, showed that

…military veterans prefer Mitt Romney by a wide margin, 59% to 35%. Another 5% prefer a third party candidate; 2% are undecided. This poll has been echoed by Gallup, which put the two at 58-34 back in May. John McCain won some 54% of the veteran vote against Obama.

Romney’s larger lead is a sign that veterans are dissatisfied with Obama, rather than pleased particularly with Romney – Romney, after all, was not a military man while McCain famously was. The poll did not ask military vets about their feelings on the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Despite Obama’s attempts to pander to veterans by offering them larger benefits and suggesting that we build a country “worthy” of our returning vets, America’s military men and women continue to prefer hawkish foreign policy and fiscal responsibility to appeasement-oriented foreign policy and heavy spending.

Perhaps it’s because our Brightest and Best believe in American Exceptionalism and actually love this country.

As opposed to…well…you-know-who.

And, So It Begins…

Last night, Mitt Romney officially accepted the Nomination of the Republican Party as its Candidate for President.

APnews.myway.com has the story:

Mitt Romney launched his fall campaign for the White House in a rousing Republican National Convention finale Thursday night, proclaiming America needs “jobs, lots of jobs” and promising to create 12 million of them in perilous economic times.

“Now is the time to restore the promise of America,” Romney said in excerpts released in advance of his prime-time speech to a nation struggling with 8.3 percent unemployment and the slowest economic recovery in decades.

He muted his criticism in the advance excerpts of President Barack Obama, his quarry in a close and unpredictable race for the White House.

“I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed,” he said. “But his promises gave way to disappointment and division.”

(AP) Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney points to the photographer as he and vice presidential…

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“This isn’t something we have to accept ,” he said, appealing to millions of voters who say they are disappointed in the president yet haven’t yet decided to cast their votes for his Republican challenger.

“Now is the moment when we can stand up and say, ‘I’m an American. I make my destiny. And we deserve better! My children deserve better! My family deserves better! My country deserves better!”

Romney’s remarks came after other speakers filled out a week-long portrait of the GOP nominee as a man of family and faith, savvy and successful in business, savior of the 2002 Winter Olympics, yet careful with a buck. A portion of the convention stage was rebuilt overnight so he would appear surrounded by delegates rather than speaking from a distance, an attempt to soften his image as a sometimes-stiff and distant candidate.

“He shoveled snow and raked leaves for the elderly. He took down tables and swept floors at church dinners,” said Grant Bennett, describing Romney’s volunteer work as an unpaid lay clergy leader in the Mormon church.

Following him to the podium, Ted and Pat Oparowski tenderly recalled how Romney befriended their 14-year-old son David as he was dying of cancer. “We will be ever grateful to Mitt for his love and concern,” she said.

(AP) Michigan delegate Linda Lee Tarver from Lansing wipes away her tears during the Republican National…

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Beyond the heartfelt personal testimonials and political hoopla, the evening marked one of a very few opportunities any presidential challenger is granted to appeal to millions of voters in a single night.

The two-month campaign to come includes other big moments – principally a series of one-on-one debates with Democrat Obama – in a race for the White House that has been close for months. In excess of $500 million has been spent on campaign television commercials so far, almost all of it in the battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada.

Romney holds a fundraising advantage over Obama, and his high command hopes to expand the electoral map soon if post-convention polls in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and perhaps elsewhere indicate it’s worth the investment. In a speech that blended the political and the personal, Romney talked in his excerpts of the importance of the love he felt from his parents and that he and his wife Ann have sought to give their children and grandchildren.

“All the laws and legislation in the world will never heal this world like the loving hearts and arms of mothers and fathers,” he said.

As for Obama, he said, “Many Americans have given up on this president, but they haven’t ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves, Not on each other. And not on America.”

Back in 1980, when Ronald Wilson Reagan accepted the Republican Party’s Nomination, he spoke the following words:

Nearly 150 years after Tom Paine wrote those words, an American president told the generation of the Great Depression that it had a “rendezvous with destiny.” I believe that this generation of Americans today has a rendezvous with destiny.

Tonight, let us dedicate ourselves to renewing the American compact. I ask you not simply to “Trust me,” but to trust your values–our values–and to hold me responsible for living up to them. I ask you to trust that American spirit which knows no ethnic, religious, social, political, regional, or economic boundaries; the spirit that burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of freedom.

Some say that spirit no longer exists. But I have seen it — I have felt it — all across the land; in the big cities, the small towns and in rural America. The American spirit is still there, ready to blaze into life if you and I are willing to do what has to be done; the practical, down-to-earth things that will stimulate our economy, increase productivity and put America back to work. The time is now to resolve that the basis of a firm and principled foreign policy is one that takes the world as it is and seeks to change it by leadership and example; not by harangue, harassment or wishful thinking.

The time is now to say that while we shall seek new friendships and expand and improve others, we shall not do so by breaking our word or casting aside old friends and allies.

And, the time is now to redeem promises once made to the American people by another candidate, in another time and another place. He said, “For three long years I have been going up and down this country preaching that government–federal, state, and local–costs too much. I shall not stop that preaching. As an immediate program of action, we must abolish useless offices. We must eliminate unnecessary functions of government…we must consolidate subdivisions of government and, like the private citizen, give up luxuries which we can no longer afford.”

“I propose to you, my friends, and through you that government of all kinds, big and little be made solvent and that the example be set by the president of the United State and his Cabinet.”

So said Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention in July 1932.

The time is now, my fellow Americans, to recapture our destiny, to take it into our own hands. But, to do this will take many of us, working together. I ask you tonight to volunteer your help in this cause so we can carry our message throughout the land.

Yes, isn’t now the time that we, the people, carried out these unkempt promises? Let us pledge to each other and to all America on this July day 48 years later, we intend to do just that.

I have thought of something that is not part of my speech and I’m worried over whether I should do it.

Can we doubt that only a Divine Providence placed this land, this island of freedom, here as a refuge for all those people in the world who yearn to breathe freely: Jews and Christians enduring persecution behind the Iron Curtain, the boat people of Southeast Asia, of Cuba and Haiti, the victims of drought and famine in Africa, the freedom fighters of Afghanistan and our own countrymen held in savage captivity.

I’ll confess that I’ve been a little afraid to suggest what I’m going to suggest — I’m more afraid not to — that we begin our crusade joined together in a moment of silent prayer. God bless America.

Today…32 years later…I’m making the same suggestion. God bless America.

And, so it begins…

 

From Ryan to Ridiculous

Last night, in Tampa, Florida, at the Republican National Convention, Vice-President Paul Ryan strode to the podium and delivered a solid speech.

Here are some excepts from it, courtesy of weeklystandard.com:

I accept the calling of my generation to give our children the America that was given to us, with opportunity for the young and security for the old – and I know that we are ready. Our nominee is sure ready. His whole life has prepared him for this moment – to meet serious challenges in a serious way, without excuses and idle words. After four years of getting the run-around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is Governor Mitt Romney. …

Obamacare comes to more than two thousand pages of rules, mandates, taxes, fees, and fines that have no place in a free country. The president has declared that the debate over government-controlled health care is over. That will come as news to the millions of Americans who will elect Mitt Romney so we can repeal Obamacare. …

We have a plan for a stronger middle class, with the goal of generating 12 million new jobs over the next four years. …

My Dad used to say to me: ‘Son. You have a choice: You can be part of the problem, or you can be part of the solution.’ The present administration has made its choices. And Mitt Romney and I have made ours: Before the math and the momentum overwhelm us all, we are going to solve this nation’s economic problems. And I’m going to level with you: We don’t have that much time. But if we are serious, and smart, and we lead, we can do this. …

That is how a leader speaks, ladies and gentlemen.

As opposed our present CIC, as reported at Gateway Pundit, by Jim Hoft:

On August 6, 2011, 30 US service members were killed when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter they were being transported in crashed in Wardak province, Afghanistan. It was the deadliest single loss for U.S. forces in the decade-long war in Afghanistan. 17 members of the elite Navy SEALs were killed in the crash.

Yesterday, Karen and Billy Vaughn, parents of Aaron Carson Vaughn, spoke at the Defending the Defenders forum sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots outside the RNC Convention in Tampa. Karen brought a copy of the form letter they were sent following their son’s death.

It’s a form letter.

It was signed by an electric pen.

That’s not all.

Karen Vaughn reached out to the parents of the other SEALs killed in that crash.

Their letters were all the same.

Form letters – signed by an electric pen.

…After the deadliest single loss of US forces in Afghanistan, Barack Obama sent out form letters to the parents.

Pitiful.

However, just so you won’t think that I’m one -sided,  I am pleased to announce that an anonymous source has sent me an copy of the advance schedule for the Democratic National Convention.

Read this and you might become verklept (Yiddish for being overcome by emotion).

2012 Democratic Convention Schedule – Charlotte, NC

4:00 PM – Opening Flag Burning Ceremony – sponsored by CNN

4:05 PM – Singing of “God Damn America” led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright

4:10 PM – Pledge of Allegiance to Obama – led by Whoopie Goldberg

4:15 PM – Tribute to George Soros for his help in creating and financing the Democratic Platform – Nancy Pelosi

4:30 PM – Reading of the Democratic Platform – Nancy Pelosi XXXX Canceled. Will be passed without reading.

4:30 PM – Tribute to the Occupy Wall Street movement for all that they have accomplished to unify the country, improve employment, and boost the economy. – Harry Reid

4:45 PM – Jobs seminar “How to have a successful career without having a job.” – Al Sharpton / Jesse Jackson

5:00 PM – Travel Seminar; “Great Vacations I’ve Taken on the Taxpayer’s Dime” – Michelle Obama.

5:30 PM – “Family Values” Seminar – Eliot Spitzer (via Satellite)

5:35 PM – Real Estate Bargains Seminar – Tony Rezko

6:00 PM – Home Mortgage Seminar – Barney Frank

6:10 PM – Pledge of Allegiance to Obama – led by George Clooney

6:15 PM – Airing of Grievances by the Clintons

6:30 pm – Kinder, Gentler Bombing Techniques – Bill Ayers

6:45 PM – Paying Your Fair Share – Timothy Geitner

7:00 PM – Free Gov. Blagovich rally

7:15 PM – Tribute Film to Brave Freedom Fighters incarcerated at GITMO – Michael Moore

7:30 PM – Dramatized film re-enactment of Obama’s single handed capture of Osama Bin Laden – Michael Moore

7:45 PM – Personal Finance Seminar – Charlie Rangle

7:50 PM – Commitment to US border security – Atty Gen Holder

8:10 PM – Pledge of Allegiance to Obama – led by David Letterman

8:15 PM – Media Seminar “Bias in Media – How we can make it work for you” – sponsored by CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times

9:00 PM – Denunciation of Bitter Gun Owners and Bible readers – Dem Natl Cmte Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

9:15 PM – Energy Plan Symposium / Tire Gauge Demonstration / Profiting with Green Investments – Al Gore

10:00 PM – Ceremonial Waving of White Flag for IRAQ , & Afghanistan

10:10 PM – Pledge of Allegiance to Obama – led by Barbra Streisand

10:15 PM – Obama Accepts Oscar, Tony and Latin Grammy Awards

10:20 PM – Obama accepts Congressional Medal of Honor for Bin Laden capture

10:25 PM – Obama accepts Greenpeace Hero Medal for instant cleanup of Gulf oil spill, and blocking of Keystone Pipeline

10:30 PM – Official Nomination of Obama by Bill Maher and Chris “He sends a thrill up my leg” Matthews

10:45 PM – *** Break for installation of additional teleprompters ***

11:00 PM – Obama Accepts Nomination as Lord and Savior

11:45 PM – Feeding of the Delegates with 5 Loaves and 2 Fish – Obama Presiding

12:00 AM – Celestial Choirs Sing (Food stamps distributed to all delegates as they leave.)

1:00 AM – Convention Hall cleared and cleaned

3:00 AM – Biden Delivers Acceptance Speech

Gotcha.

 

RNC 2012: A Star is Born

Last night, a fresh ray of sunshine reflected off the podium at the Republican National Convention

The sunshine’s name is Mia Love.

Here is her official biography:

Mia was born in Brooklyn, New York and eventually moved to Connecticut. Mia recalls both parents working hard to earn a living, her father at times taking on second jobs cleaning toilets to pay for school for their three children. On the day of Mia’s college orientation, her father said something to her that would become the ethos for her life:

“Mia, your mother and I never took a handout.

You will not be a burden to society. You will give back.”

Mia graduated from the University of Hartford with a degree in fine arts. She found faith. Then she found Jason. And then she found herself in Utah ready to give back. Mia served two terms on the city council of Saratoga Springs, one of Utah’s fastest growing cities. As City Councilwoman and eventually Mayor, Mia led the city through a period of 1700% population growth in a decade. Under her leadership, the city was able to successfully navigate the drastic transition from agricultural fields to a booming residential community. When the citizen growth necessitated fire and police services, Mia fought to make sure the city’s first ever residential tax implementation would only pay for those essential services, and she structured it in such a way that the tax decreased as a percentage of property value.

Toward the end of her last term as city councilwoman, America experienced one of the deepest economic downturns in decades. Mia Love and her fellow council members were faced with making a drastic 30% budget cut, as much as 67% in some areas. Laid off employees were people she would see at church and at the grocery store. Nevertheless, Mia made the tough decisions to roll back government and cut spending where it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Mia’s leadership and principled decision making during the challenging times her city faced resulted in her election as Mayor in 2009 by an overwhelming majority. One of her first acts as mayor was to reduce the residential property tax. These acts were the basis for Saratoga Springs receiving the highest Standard & Poors municipal rating available to a city of its class, at a time when many cities were being downgraded.

Mayor Love is best known for her conservative positions on limited government, increased citizen liberties and limited restraints on business. She believes the best thing she can do as mayor is stay out of the way of business and out of the lives of citizens. She advocates a return to the personal responsibility and reduced government dependency engendered by her father. Nearly a decade of weekly policy decisions reflecting these ideals makes her exceptionally experienced and qualified to do what needs to be done in Washington, DC–cut programs, cut spending, cut taxes and empower business and citizens to thrive and profit.

Mia is a wife and mother of 3 children. In her spare time Mia is an avid runner, tread trainer, and accomplished singer and dancer.

Last night, she gave the following speech at the RNC:

Let me tell you about the America I know. My parents immigrated to the U.S. believing that the America they had heard about really did exist. When times got tough they did not look to Washington, they looked within. So, the America I came to know was centered in personal responsibility and filled with the American dream.

The America I know is grounded in the determination found in patriots and pioneers, in small business owners with big ideas, in the farmers who work in the beauty of our landscapes, in our heroic military, and our inspiring Olympians. It is in every child who looks at the seemingly impossible and says, “I can do that.” That is the America I know!

President Obama’s version of America is a divided one, often pitting us against each other based on our income level, gender, and social status. His policies have failed. We are not better off than we were four years ago and no rhetoric, bumper sticker, or Hollywood ad campaign can change that.

Mr. President I am here to tell you – we are not buying what you are selling in 2012.

Why? Because we know that the American dream is not just my story, and it is not just your story, it is our story. It is a story of human struggle – of standing up and striving for more. It’s been told for over 200 years with small steps and giant leaps: from a woman on a bus to a man with a dream; from the bravery of the greatest generation to the entrepreneurs of today. This is our story – this is the America we know because we built it.

With Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan we can revive the American story we know and love. The world will know it, our children will tell it, and our grandchildren will possess it for years to come!

After all of the unpleasantness and downright political chicanery of yesterday’s marginalization of Conservatives by the GOP Elite…Mrs. Love was a breath of fresh air.

This young lady is destined to accomplish great things in the service of her state and her country.

The War Against Christianity: Battleground Memphis, TN

Last fall, I told you about the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s war against Prayer before High School Football Games in DeSoto County, Mississippi, where I presently reside.

Well, now this little group of Athiests is attacking my hometown.

WREG.com reports:

The Freedom from Religion Foundation believes Memphis is one of the worst offenders in the nation, when it comes to the separation of church and state in which the group believes.

The Memphis City Council has opened their meetings with a prayer since 1968.

Some council members say they’ve received complaints from the public about the prayers, but the majority of people in Memphis support it.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation says it doesn’t care how many people support the prayers, they believe it’s in violation of the constitution.

Others however point out the phrase never appears in the Constitution.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation says they get complains about prayer at government meetings from around the country, but they consider Memphis City Council to be one of the worst.

“Exclusively Christian prayers, goody bags to the ministers, giving them all kinds of attention at the meetings, turning it into kind of religious ritual,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor with the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

The Foundation believes some people are made to think they must pray also, or council won’t consider their requests.

Council Member Myron Lowery disagrees, “That has no effect at all on any of the decision we make or the deliberations we make. We accept things based on their merit.

Lowery says he thinks the Memphis City Council is a target, because it’s been doing it for so long.

He also says members promote diversity through the prayers and invite priests, rabbis and Islamic leaders to take part.

Regardless, the allegations could cost the city.

Lowery says he hopes the city’s attorneys will handle the case, but if they have to bring in outside attorneys to fight the suit, it could cost tax payer money.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation says they have not filed the lawsuit against the city yet, but they expect to very soon.

So, who are these people?

Discoverthenetworks.com tells us about them in great detail:

Founded in 1978, the nonprofit, tax-exempt Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) consists of more than 13,000 members and calls itself “the largest association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) in the United States.” Its mission is “to promote free thought and to keep state and church separate.”

According to FFRF, religion invariably has been a negative force in human societies. “The history of Western civilization shows us that most social and moral progress has been brought about by persons free from religion,” the organization says. “… In modern times, the first to speak out for prison reform, for humane treatment of the mentally ill, for abolition of capital punishment, for women’s right to vote, for death with dignity for the terminally ill, and for the right to choose contraception, sterilization and abortion have been freethinkers [i.e., atheists and agnostics], just as they were the first to call for an end to slavery.”

FFRF promotes its message through a variety of vehicles, including a weekly national radio program; a newspaper titled Freethought Today; a “freethought billboard campaign”; scholarships “for freethinking students”; high-school and college “freethought essay competitions” with cash awards; annual national conventions honoring a “Freethinker of the Year” for state/church activism; and the sale of educational products, bumper-stickers, music CDs, winter solstice greeting cards, and books promoting “freethought.” The Foundation also provides speakers for events and debates on subjects related to religion, and has established a “freethought book collection” at the University of Wisconsin Memorial Library.

Most significantly, FFRF initiates lawsuits that center around issues involving religion in the public square. As of mid-2009, the Foundation had filed nearly 30 First Amendment lawsuits over the course of its history. It also “keeps several Establishment law challenges in the courts at all times.”

…In a 1996 lawsuit, FFRF argued that Wisconsin’s observance of Good Friday as a legal holiday violated the First Amendment by “favoring Christianity over other religions or no religion.”

In 2002 the Foundation challenged in court the government’s funding of Faith Works, a Milwaukee organization dedicated to bringing “homeless addicts to Christ.”

In 2005 FFRF filed a federal lawsuit challenging a state-funded fundamentalist Christian prison-ministry program in New Mexico.

In 2006 the Foundation filed yet another federal suit calling for the discontinuance of faith-based prison programs at the Federal Bureau of Prisons. That same year, FFRF charged that “the pervasive integration of ‘spirituality’ into health care by the Department of Veteran Affairs … unconstitutionally promotes, advances and endorses religion.”

Other noteworthy FFRF lawsuits have challenged: the display of a manger scene at the entrance of a city-government building; the inclusion of the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance; a chaplaincy designed to bring “faith into the workplace” for state workers in Indiana; the display of a shrine to Jesus in a public park in Wisconsin; the presence of playground equipment resembling a biblical Noah’s Ark in another public park; the public financing of nativity pageants and Easter services; public subsidies to religious schools; and the recital of commencement prayers at a major university.

FFRF’s total revenues for 2007 were $2,408,730; its net assets at that time totaled $5,573,153.

The Foundation is led by its co-presidents, Dan Barker and his wife, Annie Laurie Gaylor. Barker was a Christian preacher for 19 years before renouncing his faith in 1984. Gaylor, who earned a journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1980, co-founded FFRC with her mother and the late John Sontarck in 1978. She is author of the books Woe to the Women: The Bible Tells Me So (1981), and Betrayal of Trust: Clergy Abuse of Children (1988). She also edited the 1997 anthology Women Without Superstition: No Gods, No Masters. Today she edits FFRF’s newspaper, Freethought Today, which is published ten times annually.

So, a measly little organization of 13,000 people wants to take away the rights of the 92% of Americans, who believe in God, and  wish to exercise their Freedom of Religion?

Truly a case of, as I’ve labelled it before, “The Tyranny of the Minority”.

A Convention of Moderate Excitement

Did the Romney Campaign attempt to be , shall we say, a wee bit cheeky, during a Rules Committee Meeting for upcoming Conventions, last Friday?

Businessinsider.com has the report:

The GOP convention doesn’t officially start until Monday, but trouble is already brewing between presumptive nominee Mitt Romney and Republicans who are concerned by his campaign making an aggressive power play to control the party.

The drama Friday centered around a contentious meeting of the powerful Rules Committee, where Romney’s campaign lieutenants, led by his legal counsel Ben Ginsberg, pushed through several changes that would give Romney broad authority over the Republican nominating process.

According to one source who was at the meeting, the saga ended with former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu, the committee chair, hightailing it out of the building before committee members could submit dissenting minority opinions, or “minority reports.”

In an interview with Business Insider Friday night, Maine’s newly-elected state committeewoman Ashley Ryan, said that committee members opposed to Romney’s plan drafted two minority reports immediately after the meeting, stating their position against the changes. Republican Party rules stipulate that people have one hour to submit a minority report after a meeting of the Rules Committee, and that it must have the support of at least 25 percent of the committee.

“The rules say that you have an hour after the meeting, but within 15 minutes, we couldn’t find [Chairman Sununu] anywhere,” Ryan, a Ron Paul supporter and member of Maine’s delegation, said. “Finally, we asked an RNC official if they had seen former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu. He said, ‘John Sununu! Everyone’s looking for him! But he left the building.'”

The details around Sununu’s Friday dip are still foggy, and it’s unclear if he ended up receiving the minority reports after all. Convention officials have not yet responded to our email asking for comment.

Earlier on Friday, Ginsberg and other Romney loyalists tried to neuter the threat of a minority report by raising the threshold of support to 40 percent.

BuzzFeed’s Zeke Miller reports that the attempt was forcefully shot down as overreach, even by committee members who voted for Ginsberg’s other proposals, including one that would force states to select delegates based on the results of their primary or caucus, and one that would allow the Republican National Committee to change the rules established at the convention.

“It’s important to make the rules four years in advance, before we know who the favorites are,” Ryan said. “If the national party can just change the rules, what’s the point of having a Rules Committee at all?

Indeed. On top of that, even though we all know that America has to fire our Manchurian President, a lot of us are still not all that thrilled over the GOP Establishment’s choice, as foxnews.com explains:

No matter when the Republican National Convention officially starts, it still marks perhaps the best chance for party leaders to ratchet up what has until now been bridled enthusiasm for Mitt Romney — as he and President Obama compete for the last of the undecided voters in a very tight race.

The balloons and confetti are set to cascade inside the Tampa Times Forum when Romney accepts the nomination, as planned. And party leaders have assembled Romney’s most ardent and passionate supporters to make their case on stage about why Romney is the best choice in November to lead the country.

“This is a huge opportunity to capture the attention of the American public and keep them focused for several nights,” said Juleanna Glover, a Republican strategist and co-founder of the Washington-based Ashcroft Group.

The biggest threat to that undivided attention will almost certainly be Tropical Storm Isaac, which has already postponed the election start from Monday to Tuesday and is projected to make landfall later this week along the northern Gulf Coast states.

Glover suggested the challenge for the Romney team will be to refrain from trying to re-invent the candidate or going over the top, instead generating enthusiasm through trying to reinforce that Romney is a leader, a church-goer and a family man.

Their biggest challenge may well be in convincing Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and private-equity manager who through the entire election cycle has argued his mission is to fix the economy not win a popularity contest.

The mantra even wore off on some of the Republican Party’s most influential leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner, who in July said: “The American people probably aren’t going to fall in love with Mitt Romney.”

Boehner also said Romney, who founded the Bain Capital private equity firm, “was going to do a great job even if you don’t fall in love with him.” But the perception was already largely in place and has, at times, remained there.

Just last week, Romney vowed in The Wall Street Journal that he won’t be part of the celebrity-style culture often favored by politicians.

Voters, Romney suggested, are most interested in hiring a fix-it specialist for an ailing economy. And when he appeared before crowds at campaign stops, he doesn’t think, “What can I do here to portray myself in a way that would be appealing to the public?” Romney told the paper.

Romney’s favorability rating is now at 46 percent, according to an averaging of polls by the Real Clear Politics website. It was as low as 21 percent according to a CBS-New York Times poll in January and as high as 50 percent according to a CNN-Opinion Research poll this month.

If  Romney would act more like the fella appearing in front of his hometown crowd on Friday, cracking a joke about his birth certificate, and embrace Reagan Conservatives, instead of marginalizing us, that would certainly help his popularity numbers.

I’m just sayin’…

Reagan Conservatism Still Rules

Are Americans more Socially Conservative or Fiscally Conservative?

Gallup reported on an interesting poll, back on May 25th.

Americans are more than twice as likely to identify themselves as conservative rather than liberal on economic issues, 46% to 20%. The gap is narrower on social issues, but conservatives still outnumber liberals, 38% to 28%.

These results are based on Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 3-6. Since 2001, the poll has asked Americans to say whether they are liberal, moderate, or conservative on “economic” and, separately, “social” issues. The interpretation of what qualifies as social or economic issues is left to the respondent, given that the question does not define or provide examples of these types of issues.

In the same poll, on Gallup’s standard measure of ideology — not asked in reference to any set of issues — 41% identified themselves as conservatives, 33% as moderates, and 23% as liberals. Those figures are similar to what Gallup typically finds when it asks people to identify their ideology.

Thus, compared with the standard measure of ideology, slightly more Americans say they are economically conservative and slightly fewer say they are socially conservative. Also, significantly more Americans say they are socially liberal than identify their basic ideology as liberal.

Over the last four years, an average of 48% of Americans have said they are conservative on economic issues, including a high of 51% in May 2010. From 2001-2008, an average of 42% said they were economically conservative. This increase in economic conservatism has been coupled with a decline in the percentage who say they are moderate on economic issues. There has also been a slight increase in the percentage of Americans identifying as economic liberals, to a high of 20% this year.

The changes in self-identified economic conservatism coincide with the economic downturn and President Barack Obama’s time in office. But because the jump occurred between 2008 and 2009, and Americans were already concerned about the economy in 2008, the change in presidential administrations from Bush to Obama may be the bigger factor.

The major shift in Americans’ identification on social issues in recent years has been a decline in the percentage who say they are moderate, from 39% as recently as 2005 to 31% today. There have been roughly equal increases in the percentage of self-identified social liberals (four percentage points) and social conservatives (three points) today compared with 2005.

For the most part, Americans fall on the same ideological side on economic and social issues. Sixty-one percent are conservative, moderate, or liberal on both dimensions, with the largest percentage, 31%, conservative on both. Fifteen percent are liberal on both social and economic issues, and 15% are moderate on both.

The bulk of those who are not consistent say they are economically conservative and socially moderate (11%), or economically moderate and socially liberal (10%). Only 4% are liberal on one dimension and conservative on the other, with most of those being economically conservative and socially liberal.

More Americans identify as economic conservatives than as social conservatives or conservatives in general. And that tendency has increased in the last four years, perhaps due to President Obama’s economic agenda. This suggests that a conservative economic message from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may resonate with voters this year.

Americans are also more likely to say they are conservative than liberal or moderate on social issues, underscoring the conclusion that the conservative label has more appeal in the United States today than either the moderate or the liberal label.

Also, the moderate label seems to be losing some of its appeal in recent years, as Americans have become less likely to say they are moderate on both social and economic issues. The movement away from the moderate label may be another example of the increasing polarization of U.S. politics.

Throughout the Republican Primary and now on the eve on the Convention, there has been a concerted effort by Romney “supporters” on the internet to try to discourage, insult, and downright mock the beliefs of Reagan (Social) Conservatives.

As a matter of fact, if you read what they are still writing on Conservative websites, one would think that we Reagan Conservatives are outnumbered by “Fiscal” Conservatives and Moderates, when, at least according to this survey, that ain’t necessarily so.

The fact that people are becoming more polarized is interesting.  People are taking a stand, one way or another.

Where do you stand?

Do you stand with those who feel no compunction at all about ending an innocent life in its Mother’s womb. while babbling some nonsense about the baby not being human or being some sort of “punishment”?

Do you stand with those who believe that a nanny-state Federal Government can take care of you better than you can take care of yourself and your family?

Do you stand with those who would take away law-abiding citizens’ firearms in the naive belief that somehow an unarmed populace is safer from outlaws and psychos than a populace who is trained in the use of firearms and carrying?

Finally, do you stand with those who believe that the schemes and plans thought up by limited men overrule those created by a limitless God?

You see, what 92% of Americans have already figured out for themselves, is no matter where you go, you can’t run away from the reach of God.

Just ask the RNC what happened to the first day of their Convention.

Romney Started a Joke….

…that started all the Libs whining.

In an unanticipated move from the presumptive Republican Candidate, Mitt Romney actually reeled off a one-liner. …And it was funny!

Of course, the Obama Campaign, the DNC, and the MSM did not think so.

CNN.com has the story:

Mitt Romney denied in an interview Friday that his reference to a highly charged political symbol – a birth certificate – was anything more than simply of homecoming humor.

“No, no, not a swipe,” Romney said in the CBS interview referring to President Obama and the conspiracy theories over whether he was born in the United States. “I’ve said throughout the campaign that and before, there’s no question about where he was born.”

“He was born in the U.S. This was fun about us and coming home, and humor – you know, we’ve got to have a little humor in the campaign as well,” Romney continued.

Of course, humor needs a punch-line or it’s not a joke.

It was a Friday campaign rally in Michigan, the state where Romney was born, where he chose to say, “Ann was born at Henry Ford hospital, I was born at Harper hospital. No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.”

A fringe of conservative Republicans continue to believe that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Those in that movement are referred to as “birthers.”

A certification of live birth released by Obama during the 2008 campaign, and then the long-form certificate released by the White House in the spring of 2011, both stated the president was born in a Hawaii hospital on August 4, 1961. Contemporaneously published newspaper announcements also noted the birth in the Aloha State. Only “natural born” citizens of the United States are eligible to be president.

Romney said in the interview that the comment was some much-needed humor in this fiery campaign.

“Well we’re in Michigan and Ann and I were both born in Detroit, and of course a little humor always goes a long way,” Romney said. “So it was great to be home, to be in a place where Ann and I had grown up and the crowd loved it and got a good laugh.”

But Obama’s campaign was not laughing.

Throughout this campaign, Governor Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them,” spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement after the campaign stop, but before the interview.

“It’s one thing to give the stage in Tampa to Donald Trump, Sheriff Arpaio, and Kris Kobach. But Governor Romney’s decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America.”

I wonder if that includes Obama’s Literary Agent, also?

I reported the following information back on May 18th, in a post titled, “Obama: Sweet Home Hawaii…or Kenya?”

Once upon a time….within the mythical halls of a fabled ivy-covered Law School named Hahvahd, there dwelt an ambitious young scion known as Barry Soetoro…err…I mean Barack Hussein Obama.  He was known far and wide as the Editor of the Harvard Law Review.

The young “born leader” soon signed with a Literary Agency, for the purpose of marketing an upcoming book.  The Literary Agency, Acton & Dystel, published a brochure in 1991 which included the following short biography of the young liege:

Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii. The son of an American anthropologist and a Kenyan finance minister, he attended Columbia University and worked as a financial journalist and editor for Business International Corporation. He served as project coordinator in Harlem for the New York Public Interest Research Group, and was Executive Director of the Developing Communities Project in Chicago’s South Side. His commitment to social and racial issues will be evident in his first book, Journeys in Black and White.

Mysteriously, in 2007, his birthplace on that biography was changed from Kenya to Hawaii.

An explanation of this curious biography was given yesterday:

Miriam Goderich edited the text of the bio; she is now a partner at the Dystel & Goderich agency, which lists Obama as one of its current clients.

“This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me–an agency assistant at the time,” Goderich wrote in an emailed statement to Yahoo News. “There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. I hope you can communicate to your readers that this was a simple mistake and nothing more.”

A copy of the booklet was published on Breitbart.com, under the headline: ” Obama’s Literary Agent in 1991 Booklet: ‘Born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.’ It was part of the “vetting” of the president the site’s late founder, Andrew Breitbart, had promised.

Buzzfeed.com described yesterday’s crowd’s reaction to Romney’s one-liner:

The line, which prompted laughter and then cheers from the roughly 5,000 people gathered here, was an apparent reference to the long-debunked conspiracy theory that President Obama was born in Africa, and therefore not Constitutionally qualified to be president.

It was fun yesterday, watching all the Liberal heads exploding, sitting here bitterly clinging to my gun and Bible.

I hope Mitt talks about his college transcripts, next.

DNC 2012: “Indians”, Muslims, and Fluke…Oh, My!

Per the Democratic National Committee, here is their official list of Speakers, as of August 22nd:

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin

Former Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth

Sandra Fluke, Georgetown University Student

Denise Juneau, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Montana

Nancy Keenan, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America

Caroline Kennedy

Lilly Ledbetter

Eva Longoria, Obama Campaign Co-Chair

U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, together with the women of the U.S. Senate

Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund

Previously announced speakers include: San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, who will be the first Latino keynote speaker at a Democratic National Convention, President Bill Clinton, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, U.S. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Elizabeth Warren.

The DNCC will unveil additional convention program details and speakers in the coming days. The first two days of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, Tuesday, September 4 and Wednesday, September 5, will be held at Time Warner Cable Arena. President Obama will accept the Democratic nomination for President on Thursday, September 6 at Bank of America Stadium.

Quite a stellar line-up, huh?

Let’s dwell on some of the acts in this circus.

Elizabeth Warren – On May 23rd, George Will wrote:

Blond, blue-eyed Elizabeth Warren, the Senate candidate in Massachusetts and Harvard professor who cites “family lore” that she is 1/32nd Cherokee, was inducted into Oklahoma’s Hall of Fame last year. Her biography on OklahomaHeritage.com says that she “can track both sides of her family in Oklahoma long before statehood” (1907) and “she proudly tells everyone she encounters that she is ‘an Okie to my toes.’ ” It does not mention any Cherokee great-great-great-grandmother. A DVD of the induction ceremony shows that neither Warren nor anyone else mentioned this.

The next week, politico.com reported…

Some 150 people purporting to be “concerned” members and descendants of three Cherokee tribes have put up a new website called “Cherokees Demand Truth From Elizabeth Warren.”

The group is demanding that the Massachusetts Senate candidate come clean about her heritage – a topic that has dominated media coverage of Warren’s bid again incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown ever since it was revealed that the Harvard law professor was previously listed as having ethnic minority status.

“You claim to be Cherokee. You forget, it isn’t who you claim, but instead, who claims you. We don’t claim you!” a banner splashed across the top of the group’s website reads. The group argues that Warren has made “false claims of Cherokee ancestry,” and that it is bothered by those who “fraudulently” claim Cherokee heritage.

White woman speak with forked tongue.

Last night, in a post titled, Jumah at the DNC: No Pork Ribs Allowed, I found the following information:

…the “Grand Imam” for Jumah at the DNC is none other than Siraj Wahhaj. Wahhaj is one of the most sought-after speakers on the Muslim circuit, and has addressed audiences all over the country; in 1991, he even became the first Muslim to give an invocation to the U.S. Congress. After 9/11, his renown as a moderate Muslim grew when he declared: “I now feel responsible to preach, actually to go on a jihad against extremism.” But as with so many other Muslim leaders in the U.S., Siraj Wahhaj is not as moderate as he may appear at first glance.

Wahhaj was several years ago designated a “potential unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He himself has denounced this designation as essentially meaningless, but he didn’t earn it by doing nothing. In the early 1990s he squired the Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdel Rahman, all around New York City and New Jersey, sponsoring talks by him in area mosques. The Blind Sheikh, of course, is now serving a life sentence for his role in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, as well as in jihad plots to blow up the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels.

Hey, America…”Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”

Finally, let’s talk about the far-from-innocent Sandra Fluke.

In a post titled, Just a Fluke?, I blogged

So, to recap, it turns out that the “sweet little co-ed” has turned out to be a 30 year old “Women’s Right’s” (i.e., Abortion) Activist, who entered Georgetown, a Catholic University, with a dual purpose:  to achieve notoriety and advance her political ideology.

She achieved that notoriety by appearing before Congress demanding that Americans pay for the $3,000 a year she puts out…err…spends on Birth Control.

Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it…

Per Gallup, 19% of Americans are Liberal. An even smaller percentage of Americans subscribe to the teachings of the Far Left.

Judging from the dubious line-up and circus-like atmosphere of this year’s DNC, it would seem that the Democrats, the former “Party of the People”, are pitching an awfully small tent.

Jumah at the DNC: No Pork Ribs Allowed.

Guess what religious group is being featured at Obama’s Democratic National Convention? I give you a clue: it ain’t Christians.

Breitbart.com reports:

The first Muslim to deliver the daily prayer to the U.S. House of Representatives was black convert Siraj Wahaj in 1991. It was an artful prayer, though he would deliver a very different message elsewhere just one year later. His ideas of what he really wanted as regards our federal government were fairly clear, “If we were united and strong, we’d elect our own emir [leader] and give allegiance to him. . . . [T]ake my word, if 6-8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us.”

Later, in 1995, he was a character witness for Omar Abdel Rahman, or blind sheikh, who was found guilty of conspiracy to overthrow the American government. The U.S. attorney for New York even listed Wahaj as an “unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators” in that case.

Yet, none of that seems to matter to Democrats intent on focusing on Islam as part of their party’s upcoming national convention with an event, “Jumah at the 2012 DNC.”

The Democratic National Convention will open with a focus on Islam. 20,000 Muslims are expected to attend according to the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA), the national Muslim American non-profit coordinating the two days of events they claim are non-political.

As noted by M. Zuhdi Jasser here, the leaders of Jumah at the 2012 DNC are Jibril Hough and the same Siraj Wahhaj. “They are radicals,” writes Jasser. “These individuals embrace Islamist supremacy and have demonstrated support for radical ideologies.”

As for Jibril Hough, when not putting on events for the Democrat Party, he’s busy trying to undermine America’s war on terror.

‘Myrick’s latest attempt at fighting terrorism is nothing more than a fear campaign,’ said Jibril Hough, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Charlotte. ‘It is nothing more than a new McCarthyism, or Myrickism. As Muslims, we have become expendable as politicians like Myrick seek political gain.’

Is it fair to say Democrats are embracing radicals at their upcoming national convention? It seems more than fair to say it, based upon the evidence.

But wait…there’s more! As frontpagemag.com reports:

But the most disturbing aspect of the entire “Jumah at the DNC” is not the obvious victimhood-mongering of its agenda, but the people involved. The Democrats are playing host to an unsavory gang of Islamic supremacists with numerous ties to jihad groups. Even this is not surprising, but it should be a matter of concern to any Americans who are more aware of the jihad threat than the average politically correct Democrat pol.

Take, for example, BIMA spokesman Jibril Hough. Hough’s mosque, the Islamic Center of Charlotte, is owned by a Muslim Brotherhood group, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), which was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas terror funding case. When confronted about this on a radio show, Hough first professed not to be aware of the charges against NAIT, and then refused to disavow the organization, saying only that he himself was “not necessarily” a member of NAIT and: “I was not involved in the decision to allow NAIT to be the [title] holder.”

Meanwhile, the “Grand Imam” for Jumah at the DNC is none other than Siraj Wahhaj. Wahhaj is one of the most sought-after speakers on the Muslim circuit, and has addressed audiences all over the country; in 1991, he even became the first Muslim to give an invocation to the U.S. Congress. After 9/11, his renown as a moderate Muslim grew when he declared: “I now feel responsible to preach, actually to go on a jihad against extremism.” But as with so many other Muslim leaders in the U.S., Siraj Wahhaj is not as moderate as he may appear at first glance.

Wahhaj was several years ago designated a “potential unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He himself has denounced this designation as essentially meaningless, but he didn’t earn it by doing nothing. In the early 1990s he squired the Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdel Rahman, all around New York City and New Jersey, sponsoring talks by him in area mosques. The Blind Sheikh, of course, is now serving a life sentence for his role in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, as well as in jihad plots to blow up the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels.

Hold on…there’s even more! Per militantislammonitor.org:

In September 1991, Wahhaj stated the following:

“…And he [Allah] declared ‘Whoever is at war with my friends, I declare war on them.’ Who is a friend of Allah? [He chants a passage in Arabic] Allah. Your true friend is Allah, the messenger, and those who believe. Americans and Canadians. Hear it well. Hear what I’m telling you well. The Americans are not your friends, hear what I’m telling you, hear it well. The Canadians are not your friends, hear what I’m telling you, hear it well. The Europeans are not your friends. Your friend is Allah, the Messenger and those who believe. These people will never be satisfied with you until you follow their religion. They will never be satisfied with you…”

And boy, was he excited when Barack Hussein Obama (peace be upon him) got himself elected. In fact, the Blind Sheikh’s former associate wrote this  prayer, praising Allah:

MIM: A message from Siraj Wahhaj the Amir of MANA.

MANA Congratulates President-elect Barack Hussein Obama

The Muslim Alliance in North America congratulates President-elect Barack Hussein Obama on winning his bid for President of the United States of America. This election was historic in many ways and we know Muslims became actively involved.

We pray that Allah, Most High, will purify Obama’s heart, guide his actions and policies, and protect him and his family as he leads this nation. Furthermore, we encourage American Muslims to engage in forging an agenda and shaping the future of our society.

Let us all strive to be at the forefront of change in America–fighting for truth, justice and peace, and advocating for issues and policies that impact American Muslims and Muslims around the world, insha’Allah. I’m thankful to Allah that this striving is truly what drives the goals and initiatives at MANA.

May Allah, Most High, keep all of us rightly guided and obedient to His will.

Lovely.

So, this is how the 44th President’s Political Party rewards those who hate the fact that Americans are still living ?

 Are there fireworks planned?

God save the Union.