Newsflash for cities and states considering boycotting Arizona over its new immigration law, be advised:  68% of Americans say in a recent Rasmussen poll that it’s a bad idea.

Also, according to Rasmussen:  Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters nationwide favor passage of a law like Arizona’s in their own state.  Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters believe a police officer should be required to check the immigration status of anyone stopped for a traffic violation or violation of some other law if he suspects the person might be an illegal immigrant.

One would think that the Obama Administration, the Democrats in Congress, and their advisors would be conscious of these poll numbers.  Nope.  They’re too blinded by the radiance coming from their own glory.

Example of Arrogance #1:  California Congressional District 43  Rep. Joe Baca’s campaign against Arizona’s new anti-immigration law appears to be picking up steam.

As part of his self-serving boycott of Arizona — which includes his silly refusal to fly through Phoenix on his weekly trips to and from Washington — Baca is distributing wristbands inspired by the Lance Armstrong LiveSTRONG craze.

Baca has ordered 2,500 of his version, which will be red, yellow and blue — the colors of Arizona’s flag — to be worn as a show of solidarity against the Illegal Immigration law currently supported by 71 % of Arizona’s population.

You might as well make them red, white, and green, like Mexico’s flag, Joe.  Calderon will be so proud.

So, while he’s waiting for the official rubber wristbands to come in, Baca has given out hundreds of stand-by models made from laminated colored paper.

He passed out hundreds in San Bernardino during a May 1 rally for immigration reform.  Baca encouraged Californians to avoid spending money in the state unless the law is repealed.

In Washington, Baca has gotten House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and most members of the Democratic leadership to wear them, as they did — along with golfing legend Chi Chi Rodriguez (You disappoint me, Chi Chi.) at a recent fundraiser for Baca.  Baca claimed his office was fielding calls from people inquiring how they can get one of the wristbands:

Everyone wants them.  They’re going like hot potatoes.

Baca has approached professional baseball, hoping star players in the sport with increasing numbers of immigrants will wear them. This clueless Liberal has even written a letter to the Major League Baseball Player’s Association asking them to join his cause.

Here’s a tasty tidbit, courtesy of rasmussenreports.com:

Forty-one percent (41%) of voters say that a group of people randomly selected from the phone book would do a better job than the current Congress. Thirty-eight percent (38%) disagree.

Example of arrogance #2:   A top Department of Homeland Security official has said his agency may not process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.

Assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement John Morton, made the comment during a meeting on Wednesday with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune.

Morton said:

I don’t think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are the solution.

The best way to reduce illegal immigration is through a comprehensive federal approach and not a patchwork of state laws.

He probably has not even read it.

The law, which actually springs from a federal law already on the books, is not “good government,” Morton said.

When asked about Morton’s comments, DHS officials said President Obama has ordered the Department of Justice to examine the civil rights and other implications of the law.

DHS spokesman Matt Chandler told Fox News on Friday:

That review will inform the government’s actions going forward

Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said ICE does not have to process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.

ICE has the legal discretion to accept or not to accept persons delivered to it by non-federal personnel.  It also has the discretion to deport or not to deport persons delivered to it by any government agents, even its own.

Morton, per his biography posted on ICE’s website, began his federal service in 1994 and has held numerous positions at the Department of Justice, including as a trial attorney and special assistant to the general counsel in the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and as counsel to the deputy attorney general.

So it’s taken him a while to become this big of a blockhead.

Unfortunately for Americans, he’s not the only member of the Administration that is arrogantly ignorant.  In two separate appearances before Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder and Janet “Big Sis” Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, both came out strongly against the Arizona law.  Then they both were forced to admit that they had never read the 16 page document.

Finally, what would a study of arrogance against Arizona be without hearing from the Aristotle of Arrogance himself, the self-proclaimed smartest person in any room he walks into, The President of the United States, (God protect us.) Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).  Here he is speaking in the Rose Garden this week after his little tete-a-tete with fellow Socialist, Mexican President Felipe Calderon:

Barack Obama and his sycophantic legion are totally ignoring the wishes of the American people.  They truly believe that they are America’s parents and they know what is best for us.  These arrogant imbeciles are going to find out just how brilliant they are in the upcoming 2010 and 2012 election, when they are ridden out-of-town on a rail.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jan Brewer and the people of Arizona have a request for them (Don’t worry.  It’s a clean one.).  Everybody sing along:

Sources:  pe.com, foxnews.com, rasmussenreports.com, youtube.com

On Thursday morning, Mexican President Felipe Calderon chastised America for having the impertinence to pass a law in the state of Arizona  clamping down on illegal immigrants.  The foreign President chastised members of Congress to pass “comprehensive immigration reform.”

As the first foreign national leader  to address Congress this year, Calderon said that the two countries must cooperate to improve security along the often-violent border and control the flow of immigrants into the United States.

While Calderon whined about Arizona’s new law and instructed our lawmakers as to how to fix our immigration system, Republicans jeered and Democrats gave their fellow Socialist a standing ovation.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told Fox News:

I think it’s inappropriate for him to come in and criticize our law.  When we go down to Mexico, we don’t do that to the Mexicans.

The Arizona law is not the problem.  The problem is the growing violence down the border and securing the border and the Obama administration enforcing federal law.

 The ranking member on the Judiciary Committee’s immigration, refugees and border Security subcommittee,Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, blasted Calderon saying  it was “inappropriate” for the Mexican President  to “lecture Americans on our own state and federal laws.”

Arizona’s immigration law has been amended to make clear it does not authorize racial profiling by law enforcement.

 Calderon also said he is “convinced comprehensive immigration reform is crucial to securing our border.” 

But I strongly disagree with the recently adopted law in Arizona.  It’s a law that not only ignores reality, but also introduces racial profiling as a basis for law enforcement.

Calderon tried to cover himself by saying that his “government does not favor the breaking of the rules” and that he respects the right of any country to “enact and enforce its own laws.”

But what we need today is to fix a broken and inefficient system. We favor the establishment of laws that work and work well for all.

Calderon also claimed that more than 80% of the 75,000 guns and assault weapons that came across the border in the last three years were a result of America lifting the assault weapon ban in 2004, further saying that:

Today these weapons are aimed by the criminals not only at rival gangs but also at Mexican civilians and authorities.[There are] more than 7,000 gun shops along the border with Mexico where anyone can purchase powerful weapons. 

Shortly after this presumptious foreign leader instructed Congress as to how to handle our problem with illegal immigrants, border violence, and drug trafficking brought in to America from his country, the small Memphis, TN suburb of West Memphis, Arkansas  possibly experienced the reality of the situation firsthand.

It all began innocently enough, as West Memphis Police Officers Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans made a routine traffic stop on Airport Road, near the I-40 bridge across the mighty Mississippi River.  Two men opened fired on the officers, riddling their car and these two brave men in a hail of high powered gunfire from assault rifles.  Officers and Sheriff deputies arrived on the scene to find Officer Paudert, 39-year-old son of West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert, dead and Officer Evans critical.  Officials immediately shut down both the I-40 and I-55 bridges over the Mississippi River between West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, TN.  Officer Evans soon died as a result of his injuries.  The suspects, in a White Dodge Caravan with Ohio plates, were cornered by law enforcement officers in a Walmart parking lot.  The officers sideswiped the van and surrounded the suspects.   Sheriff Dick Busby of Crittendon County and his Chief of Patrol W.A. Wren were injured by gunfire in the subsequent shootout.  The murderers were killed.  They will not take another life. 

Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans were members of the  Drug Interdiction Team.  They were cousins.  They were husbands.  They were Fathers.

The FBI has sealed off any information concerning the two murderers.  The White, actually Plymouth, Caravan has been traced by WMC-TV 5, the NBC affiliate in Memphis, to a church in East Vienna, Ohio.  The only problem is, the church was a front for a White Supremacist operation that was infiltrated and closed down by the FBI 10 years ago.  Locals say that they have not seen anyone around the church since. 

I-40 is a notorious route taken by drug runners.  If these murderers were just your average run-of-the-mill drug-running scum, their names would probably have been released by now.  This silence leads me to speculate that the reason that the FBI has dropped the Cone of Silence over this case is one of two possibilities:  the killers are former members of the group they busted in Ohio or they are drug runners from our neighbor to the South, who either bought the van for cash or stole it.

You see, what you’re not hearing around the country is this:  In the original police radio call after Paudert and Evans were gunned down in cold blood, officers were advised to be on the lookout for two Hispanics in a White Dodge Caravan. 

As of 7:40 a.m., May 21, 2010, the killers’ identities have not yet been released.  I will keep you updated as I get further information.  If I am wrong about my theory, I apologize now.  But, my instincts are usually pretty good.

UPDATE: Per WMC-TV5 Memphis, TN:

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) – The suspects in a double shooting Thursday that left two West Memphis police officers dead have been identified by relatives as Jerry Kane, 45, and his son Joseph, 16, both of Ohio.

Despite the their van’s connection to New Vienna, Ohio, the Kanes were traveling to Florida – most likely the St. Petersburg or Clearwater area – where Kane’s widow, Donna Lee, lives.

Kane and his son toured the country, holding seminars on debt consolidation and foreclosure rescue that were heavy on anti-government sentiment.

In a video posted to YouTube, Jerry and Joe Kane can been seen at one of their seminars.  They would teach that all debt contracts are the responsibility of the U.S. government, not the debt-holders because, they teach, American currency really doesn’t exist.

Web sites touting the two Kanes reinforce their teaching that only debt exists, and the U.S. government is responsible for it because it really holds all gold and property.

In fact, at one seminar posted on YouTube, Kane says a driver’s license is a debt contract with the federal government.

“It’s a promise to pay,” Kane says in the video. “It’s a bond…You’ve committed, uh, you’ve already guaranteed, uh, confessed guilt on anything they want to charge you with.”

Last month, Kane was pulled over in New Mexico for driving without a license.  Tonight on Action News 5 at 5pm and 6pm, learn more about a radio broadcast where Kane details the arrest and talks about the arresting officers.

Why did they open fire?  What was in that van that they had AK-47s to protect it with?  How did they wind up with the van?  So many questions to be asked and so many answers remain to be discovered.

Sources:  foxnews.com, usatoday.com, wmctv.com

Yesterday, the President of the United States of America sided with the President of Mexico against the wishes of the American people.

In asking anew for an immigration overhaul, Obama showed solidarity with his guest of honor, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who called Arizona’s law discriminatory and warned Mexico would reject any effort to “criminalize migration.”( It’s not migration, idiota’. Your countrymen are invading our country illegally.)

In Obama ‘s ongoing quest to apologize to every other world leader for his own country, Scooter said that fixing the problem would require solving border security, employment and citizenship issues all at once, the kind of effort that failed in Congress three years ago.

The world’s president has a lot working against him in this election year.  He needs help from Republican critics. Other states, like Arizona, are fed up with federal inaction.  His Liberal base expects him to actually keep his campaign promise of immigration reform.  And Americans have reached the boiling point in regards to this issue.

The Arizona law states that  police can question people about their immigration status if there’s reason to suspect they’re in the country illegally, and it makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally. People may be only be questioned about their status if they’ve been stopped by police who are in the process of enforcing another law.

The law will take effect July 29 unless legal challenges prevail. Almost twice as many people are in favor of it as opposed to don’t, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll this month.  42 percent favored it, 24 percent opposed it and another 29 percent said they were neutral.

Standing alongside Calderon in the Rose Garden, Obama called the Arizona law “a misdirected expression of frustration.” He said that he expects to announce soon what action his government may take about it, once the Justice Department finishes reviewing whether the law violates civil rights. (Don’t they have to read it first?)

Per our President:

In the United States of America, no law-abiding person – be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico – should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like.

Calderon added:

Many of them, despite their significant contribution to the economy and to the society of the United States, still live in the shadows, and occasionally, as in Arizona, they even face discrimination.

It’s not about discrimination, stupid.  It’s about upholding America’s laws.

Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn said that Obama was meddling, because state law “is not within his purview.”

Cornyn blasted Calderon for being out of line by coming to the White House and airing such complaints, which are widespread in Mexico:

I just think it’s inappropriate to be a visitor in the United States or to another country, and to go in and criticize the domestic laws of that country.

Violence is so widespread in Mexico that more than 23,000 people have been killed since Calderon ordered soldiers to Ciudad Juarez and other cities more than three years ago to battle the drug cartels. According to Cornyn, the ongoing violence “has made it harder” for Congress to tackle immigration reform.  The Senator also blamed Obama for showing “insufficient commitment” to securing the border and failing to invest much effort into immigration reform despite campaign promises to enact reform within a year.

In a related story, yesterday, a second-grader told Michelle Obama that her mother was here illegally.  It happened during Michelle Obama’s visit to a Silver Spring, Md. school, right in front of Mexico’s first lady.

Margarita Zavala just happened to accompany Mrs. Obama on a visit to New Hampshire Estates Elementary School Wednesday.

During a question-and-answer session, one girl ratted out her mom, innocently proclaiming that:

Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn’t have papers.

The first lady consoled her, assuring her that they have to make sure people living in the United States have the proper citizenship papers.

I question the timing.  Can you say “plant”, boys and girls? 

So, there you have it.  We have a President and his Administration who believe that they are smarter than the people that they are actually supposed to be working for, not against.

This Anti-American President and his minions are shrouding their true motives behind a false mantra of civil rights and social justice.  Please indulge me by allowing me the opportunity to wrap up today’s blog with the answer I gave yesterday to “Benito”, who submitted a rather lengthy comment filled with this same camouflage of noble intentions:

Benito, I approved your comment to ask you a few questions. First, you write very well. Next, a few questions. What part of the word “illegal” do you not understand? What makes the current influx of illegal immigrants exempt from the rules and regulations that every other generation of immigrants to this country had to abide by in order to become legal citizens of the greatest nation in the world? By being here illegally, you are not entitled to the same rights as natural-born or naturalized American citizens. You are no better than someone who breaks into someone’s home, does their dishes, cuts their yard, cleans their house, and then helps themselves to their food and drives their car without asking. This is in no way a human rights issue. Freedom is God-given. And with freedom comes responsibility. With citizenship comes responsibility, like paying taxes and making your own way. Illegal immigration reminds me of the amorous boyfriend who wants everything a young woman will give him, but will leave her at the first mention of marriage. I wish you no ill, amigo, but understand this: This is not a civil rights issue. Illegals do not have the same rights as American Citizens. With our rights, come the responsibilities of being an American citizen. The Mexican flag, by protocol, will always be flown in a subordinate position to the American Flag in this country. And, the American Dialect of the English language is the language spoken in this country.

Vaya con Dios.

Sources:  drudgereport.com, mywaynews.com, nbcwashington.com, dentonrc.com, cbsnews.com

President Obama’s crackberry is buzzing off the nightstand this morning as legions of frantic Democrat incumbents react to the outcome of the Primary Elections held last night. 

In Pennsylvania, 81 yr old former Republican, then Democrat, now unemployed, Snarlin’ Arlen Specter was defeated by Joe Sestak (54% – 46%).  Sestak will face Republican Pat Toomey in November’s Election for Senate.  Toomey garnered 81% of the total vote in his race against Peg Luksik.

In Kentucky, Rand Paul, son of perennial Presidential also-ran Ron Paul, trounced Trey Grayson in the Republican Primary, 59% – 35%.  He will face Democrat Jack Conway, who squeaked out a victory over Daniel Mongiardo, 44%-43%.

In Arkansas, Democrat Senator Blanche Lincoln will be fighting for her political life for the next three weeks as she has been forced into a run-off election with Bill Halter.  Lincoln came in with 45% of the vote and Halter had 43%.   The winner of that run-off will face John Boozman, who won the Republican Primary over 7 other candidates with 53% of the vote.  The closest one to him was JIm Holt with 17 %.

In Oregon, all the incumbent Democrats won their primaries.

Sestak’s victory was definitely the crown jewel for anti-incumbent forces last night.  I’m sure it got under the skin of the Dems who gleefully officially welcomed Specter into their fold last year.

However, Snarlin’ Arlen found out last night, that, if your ship is sinking, Obama and his minions will jump into the life boats and cast off without you.

In Kentucky, Rand Paul ran as a representative of the Tea Party Movement.  He overwhelmingly defeated Trey Grayson, the 38-year-old Kentucky secretary of state and the anointed pick of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Rand Paul said during his victory speech last night:

The Tea Party movement is huge.  The mandate of our victory tonight is huge. What you have done and what we are doing can transform America.

People are already saying, now you need to weave and dodge.  Now you need to switch. Now you need to give up your conservative message. You need to become a moderate. You need to give up the Tea Party. You need to distance yourself.

The crowd yelled “No!”

In Arkansas, Senator Blanche Lincoln finds herself in a run-ff with challenger Bill Halter.

Lincoln complained Tuesday night about all the negative campaigning in the race:

I want to call on Bill Halter to end all of his negative ads, and I will too.  This should be a race about the issues, and not all of this mudslinging. We also need to call on every one of these outside groups to take their negative ads down and go home.

Halter said Lincoln was the one who was negative:

You haven’t seen my campaign send negative mailers about her.

Lincoln, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, claimed that she was a centrist during the campaign. However, she caught a lot of heat from both the right and left, especially over health care reform. Halter is a former Clinton administration official who has been both a  deputy commissioner and acting commissioner of the federal Social Security Administration.

So what do these elections mean?  According to a senior Obama aide:

I think a lot of it is going to be hand-to-hand combat.  It’s a weird environment. The real divide isn’t between Republicans and Democrats. It’s America and Washington. This is a continuation of the last election. But as the party in power, we are more vulnerable.

Per Jay Cost of realclearpolitics.com, the White House is going to be pushing the following narrative:

This isn’t about dissatisfaction with the performance of the 44th President. Oh no. This is about demanding change in Washington – the very same change, by gum, that Barack Obama has been working so hard to bring about!

Bwahahahahahaha…I can’t breathe!…hahahahahahahaha…

The only Republican in severe trouble is Joseph Cao of New Orleans.  There are actually around 4 Republicans and 50 Democrats who are in real danger of losing their political positions in November.

Obama and his spokespeople are going to be looking for anything in the upcoming days to deflect questions about this election which provided a glimpse into  average Americans’ true feelings about this Socialist Administration, the ego-centric individual at its’ helm, and the out-of-touch, corrupt,  political machine which spawned him.

A top Democratic strategist  has acknowledged:

If the election were held today we’d lose both. Thank goodness it’s not being held today – but we still might lose the House.

Indeed.  Obama and the Democrats overplayed their hand.  When the majority of Americans stood up on their hind legs (Southern expression) and protested Obamacare, the Regime and their lackeys proclaimed that they knew what was best for the country and passed it anyway. 

Currently the majority of Americans support Arizona and the new law it has put in place to deal with illegal immigration.  Is the imperious Federal Government going to respect the will of the people?  Nope.  They have  come out  against the bill, making jokes about it and threatening to file a lawsuit against it.  At the same time, claiming to have never read it.  (Huh?)

November will be a symbolic Marie Antoinette moment in American History.  There are going to be a bunch of Beltway Elitists who are going to get their heads handed to them.

Sources:  nydailynews.com, foxnews.com, nytimes.com, yahoo.com, realclearpolitics.com

Sunday night, during the Miss USA competition, Oscar Nunez, star of the televison series “The Office”, asked Miss Oklahoma Morgan Elizabeth Woolard about Arizona’s recently passed immigration law.

Nunez began:  

Arizona’s new immigration statute authorizes law enforcement authorities to check the citizenship of anyone they believe to be in the country illegally  

 He stopped abruptly to speak to the audience:

Listen to the question before you boo. 

Continuing the question, he asked:

Critics say this may amount to racial profiling.  Do you think that this should be mandated by the state or by the federal government? 

In a straight-forward manner, Ms. Woolard responded that she’s a “huge believer in state’s rights,” and added that she thinks that’s “what’s so wonderful about America.”

 She continued:

So I think it’s perfectly fine for Arizona to create that law, and I’m against illegal immigration but I’m also against racial profiling so I see both sides in this issue.

The crowd’s reaction was a mixture of supportive cheers and self-righteous boos.  She wound up as runner-up behind a beautiful young lady of Lebanese descent from Dearborn, Michigan who tripped on her evening gown and stated that birth control should be supplied by the government because it’s “expensive” and “a controlled substance”.  Spare me.

In a seemingly unrelated story, the United States and China played verbal ping pong last week, during only their second round of talks about human rights since 2002.
 
The Obama administration wants to nudge Beijing into treating its citizens like human beings instead of like cattle, but, at the same time,  it also needs Chinese support on Iranian and North Korean nuclear standoffs, climate change and other difficult issues.  

Trying to reach a shared vision, Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner voluntarily brought up the  new immigration law in Arizona that requires police to ask about a person’s immigration status if there is suspicion the person is in the country illegally.
This brilliant diplomat said that they did not want to whitewash the American record.
 
Jon Huntsman, U.S. ambassador to China who was in Washington, explained to reporters earlier Friday that the rights talks are a useful way to get results on tough issues.
 
Huntsman said:

We’re talking about issues that are uncomfortable, quite frankly, but it is a sign of maturity that we can talk about specific cases.

 
Excuse me?  Apologizing for the laws of our country to our country’s enemies is not mature.  It’s treason, sedition, and stupidity, all rolled up into one pseudo-intellectual, Progressive little package. 

Speaking of illegal immigrants, it was also announced yesterday that a U.S. immigration court had granted asylum to President Barack Obama’s Aunt Zeituni.

The decision comes three months after Kenya native Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama’s late father, testified at a closed hearing in Boston, arriving in a wheelchair accompanied by two doctors who testified in support of her case.

The public has not been, and probably never will be, told the basis for her asylum request. People who seek asylum in America must show that they face persecution in their homeland on the basis of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group.

Aunt Zeituni’s lawyer, Margaret Wong, claimed last year that Onyango first applied for asylum “due to violence in Kenya.”  In a November interview with The Associated Press, Onyango said she was disabled and was learning to walk again after being paralyzed from Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disorder.

Onyango arrived in the United States in 2000. Her first asylum request was rejected, and she was ordered deported in 2004.  She ignored that order and continued to live in public housing in Boston.

Gosh.  She must have relatives in high places.

For over 2 hundred years, people from foreign lands have arrived on the shores of America, seeking freedom and the opportunity to better their lives.  They were drawn to the limitless future that America promised, as symbolized by Lady Liberty herself, greeting them as they arrived in the New World.  They saw the light from her torch reflected from that shining city on the hill.  They wanted to be legal citizens of the United States and rightfully claim their share of the American Dream.

Now, however, it’s a different story.  There are strangers in our house.  They did not ask permission to come in our front door.  They sneaked in through the back door.  They have embraced all the priviledges of American life, while accepting none of the responsibilities.  They expect us to learn their language and want us to fly our flag in a subordinate position to theirs.

All the while, our Federal Government is condoning this breaking and entering.  Then, when a state passes a law to protect their citizens, after a good man gets murdered by one of these intruders, the government not only condemns the state  and makes fun of it, they apologize to our enemies for the action .

We truly are dealing with an Un-American Administration.  Blatant illegality by foreign nationals is embraced as a civil rights issue and a murderous Communist Regime is bowed and apologized to.

Pass the Tylenol.  

I leave you now with a final thought from the great Ray Stevens:

Sources:   foxnews.com, cbsnews.com, youtube.com

Today, in a ceremony covered by the White House Press pool, President Obama will sign the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act into law, joined by six members and three generations of the slain journalist’s family.

Named in honor of the Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped and decapitated by Islamic extremists in Pakistan in 2002, this act gives the  U.S. State Department more latitude to examine worldwide press freedom in its’ annual human rights report. 

Pearl’s father, Judea, said before leaving Los Angeles for Washington:

Violators of press freedom throughout the world now know that they will be closely watched.   This is something our son Danny fought for all his life.

Also present for the White House ceremony will be Pearl’s widow, Mariane, and their son, Adam Daniel, who will mark his eighth birthday on May 28; his mother, Ruth; and sisters Michelle and Tamara.

Adam was born three months after the killing of his father, killed by cowardly al-Qaida Terrorists while pursuing an investigative story on their financial network.

The State Department will have the authority to identify countries in which there are violations of press freedom, determine the extent of that government’s involvement, and report whatever actions these governments have taken to protect the media and make sure those who attack or murder journalists are prosecuted.

The point man on the bill was U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), according to Judea Pearl, an Israel-born UCLA professor emeritus in computer science who is recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts in artificial intelligence.  Additional key sponsors were Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) in the House and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) in the Senate, who said the following:

In many parts of the world, the freedom of the press is the last – or even the only – safeguard against the complete erosion of all human rights.  With this bill, we pay tribute to Daniel’s life and his work by shedding a bright light on this repression, and hope to prevent this sort of tragedy from ever happening again.

So, today Obama is signing a bill to combat repression of the Media in other countries?  How about in America?  Remember last week?

On May 11th, the White House posted on its website a video featuring Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan speaking “in her own words” about her personal history and perspective.

At “Baghdad Bob” Gibb’s White House Press Conference on the 12th, a reporter asked the following:

It appears that Solicitor General Kagan did an interview yesterday right after the president’s announcement.   You’ve now posted that on the White House Web site. Who did the interview? And can I have one?

I think it’s — I think it’s on the website if you want to see it, stammered Gibbs.

The reporter responded, quite torqued off:

So a White House staffer is interviewing her.

Gibbs said yes, and the reporter asked if Kagan would like to do another interview.

She has — she’s not told me that, no, replied Gibbs.

The reporter replied:

Tell her we’re deeply frustrated.

Evidently, even noted Liberal reporter Annnndrea Mitchell NBC News (Thanks, Rush.) was whining.  On Wednesday, she suggested on air that the White House was “crossing a number of lines here” with the Kagan video.   

The decision to post an interview with Kagan conducted by a government employee, Jesse Lee, Online Programs Director for President Barack Obama,  not a journalist, is in line with his administration’s policy of regularly using new media tools to go around traditional media. 

 This is called propaganda.

Lee began perfecting his skill in disseminiating Liberal Propaganda by running a popular Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) blog in 2003. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) hired him  in 2006 to run The Gavel, the representative’s YouTube generation-friendly blog. In the months leading up to the 2008 presidential campaign, he was the head of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) rapid-response team., getting the Campaign’s Talking Points out to the Far Left base, in Internet Cafes and parents’ basements across the nation.

When the petulant man-child was elected President of the United States by the bamboozled 52 % in 2008, Lee “moved on up” with the rest of the entourage.

Meanwhile, Obama has not held a full-blown solo press conference since last July, when he summoned the sycophantic press corps to the White House to discuss health care. 

He held a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai last Wednesday at which two questions from the U.S. press and two questions from the Afghan press were allowed. He also came to the back of Air Force One last month to talk to the media, and he made an appearance at the daily White House briefing in February. 

Earlier this month, Baghdad Bob made fun of a reporter who complained that none of those qualify as a traditional press conference. Gibbs weakly responded that Obama took eight questions at the Nuclear Security Summit on April 13. 

When asked earlier in the year about the lack of press conferences, Gibbs fired back that Obama had previously been accused of being “overexposed.” 

Bob, those were all photo ops.  There’s a big difference. 

Please, don’t get me wrong.  It was a horrible act of cowardice that ended the young life of Daniel Pearl.  Something should be done to help protect the lives of American Journalists.  But, a bunch of numbers on an official White House Report is not going to accomplish anything, except give everyone involved a warm, fuzzy feeling. 

Given his practice of bypassing the same sycophantic Main Stream Media who were co-conspirators in the duping of the gullible voters who put him in office, I would offer the opinion that if he wants to honor the legacy of brave journalists like Daniel Pearl, he and his Administration should engage in the transparency they promised when Obama was elected President.

I am not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

Sources:  jta.org, cbsnews.com, whorunsgov.com (from the Washington Post), fox news.com

Plans were announced this week to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center on the site of a four-story building that was a Burlington Coat Factory retail store until 9/11, when part of a plane’s landing gear crashed through the roof.   The building, currently housing a mosque, will be torn down.

The organization behind this project is the Cordoba Initiative and its leader is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

Despite the fact that the Cordoba Initiative’s website calls part of the $100 million-plus project a mosque, Imam Rauf says the project is not a mosque (Liar, liar, burqa on fire.) but will include a community center for all faiths that will include recreational facilities, a prayer space and a 500-seat theater that can be a part of the neighborhood’s trendy (attended by pseudo-intellectual Liberals) Tribeca Film Festival. 

According to the Imam:

We’ve approached the community because we want this to be an example of how we are cooperating with the members of the community, not only to provide services but also to build a new discourse on how Muslims and non-Muslims can cooperate together to push back against the voices of extremism.

 Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, views this project with a very skeptical eye:

Even when they have the resources, they are using it for a place of worship, a cultural center for organizations.  They are not using it for a counterterrorism research center.

They are not using it to lead the war like Americans need to see us do and they are wasting our resources, not to mention that being close to the hallowed ground that is so sensitive in the souls of the families of 9/11. I think it is extremely poor judgment.

Dr. Jasser also questions the financing.  I do, too.

The building that occupies the site was purchased last year for $4.85 million in cash by Soho Properties, a real estate company run by Muslims. Imam Rauf, who’s also the founder of American Society for Muslim Advancement, ASMA, was an investor in that transaction.

Rauf says he’s confident  that the balance of the $100-150 million total cost that still needs to be raised, will be.

Dr. Jasser says that there needs to be full disclosure about where the money is coming from.

There should be transparency about who those investors are, whether that money is coming from domestic interest or not, and if it’s coming from foreign interests we need to know, because I think that’s a liability, and it shows that there is another agenda rather than domestic security and tranquility.

Madeline Brooks, a member of the New York chapter of Act! for America, a non-profit organization that “is opposed to the authoritarian values of Islam fascism,” believes the Cordoba Initiative’s agenda is to sublimate the American heroics of 911 and change the narrative into that of a Muslim conquest:

Is it a victory for Islam over non-Muslims?  Is this a feather in his (Rauf’s) cap?

Imam Rauf says that’s not true:

[T]his is where we can amplify the voice of the moderates.  We have been condemning terrorism since 9/11; our voices have not been heard.

What are the motives of  Imam Rauf and ASMA?  Here is some revealing information, from militantislammonitor.org:

The American Society for the Advancement of Muslims proclaims their Islamism by name. ASMA promotes jihad through da’wa and the Islamization of the West by grooming “Muslim Leaders of tomorrow”.   At the Saudi backed 2006 MLT conference in Denmark “moderate”Islamists discussions of how to increase Muslim political and social influence were euphemistically termed “bridge building”.

The Cordoba Initiative /Islamic Dialogue is led by ASMA and is also headed by the Imam of the New York Masjid Al Farah. Together with his wife Daisy Khan, they are trying to put a yuppie face on Islamism.   ASMA can be viewed as an American version of Hizb ut Tahrir after an “extremist makeover” where the khalifate idea has been couched in kumbaya.  ASMA’s young and contemporary facade makes their radical ideology harder to detect, which poses more of a threat then an overtly aggressive organisation which refers to non Muslims as kuffars. In reality, ASMA members share the same hard line as the radicals and their use of legal and stealth Islamist strategies makes it difficult to thwart their da’wa attempts which are made under the guise of interfaith and tolerance but are actually pushing Islam as the only true religion . An ASMA Q&A reveals the Islamist view that the “perfection” of Judaism and Christianity is found only in Islam and is another example of the concept of all non-Muslims “reverting” back to what is presented as the origins of their religions.

This proposed mosque  would be built just two blocks away from the still-undeveloped site of the worst Terrorist attack on our soil in American History. 

Allowing the building of this mosque, knowing who is behind it , with its opening date set for the 10 anniversary of September 11, 2001,  will show unbelievable disrespect to the 2,819 killed on that horrible morning.  It will desecrate the memory of all the heroes and the bravery they showed that fateful day.

Religious Freedom is an intrinsic right in our country…but not for the purpose of the advancement of a message of hate or the  disrespect of America’s Fallen.

Sources:  foxnews.com, militantislammonitor.org, nymag.com, atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com

As we commemorate Armed Forces Day, a story has been leaked that America’s fighting men and women in Afghanistan may soon be awarded a medal for not waging war, an award to be given for “courageous restraint” in holding fire to save civilian lives.

This proposal has been making the rounds in the Kabul headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force.

Air Force Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis explains:

The idea is consistent with our approach.  Our young men and women display remarkable courage every day, including situations where they refrain from using lethal force, even at risk to themselves, in order to prevent possible harm to civilians. In some situations our forces face in Afghanistan, that restraint is an act of discipline and courage not much different than those seen in combat actions.

Just about all of the highest U.S. military decorations are given  for valor in combat.  Soldiers are often recognized for non-combat achievement with decorations such as their service’s commendation medal.   This politically driven award  in recognition of someone’s conscious effort to avoid a combat action would be something else entirely.

This proposal was first revealed by an Associated Press reporter in Afghanistan.  Sholtis said that if the award were approved,  it doesn’t mean that troops would be pressured to put themselves in harm’s way to  prevent killing civilians. (Uh huh.)

We absolutely support the right of our forces to defend themselves.  Valuing restraint in a potentially dangerous situation is not the same thing as denying troops the right to employ lethal force when they determine that it is necessary.

The idea of using awards as another way to encourage soldiers to avoid civilian casualties came from a team that advises NATO on counterinsurgency, or COIN, doctrine, said an official on the inside. He spoke to The Military Times  in exchange for anonymity.

“We routinely and systematically recognize valor, courage and effectiveness during kinetic combat operations,” said a statement recently posted on the NATO coalition’s website by the group, the Counterinsurgency Advisory and Assistance Team.

Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars said:

The self-protections built into the rules of engagement are clear, and the decision to return fire must be made instantly based on training and the threat.  The enemy already hides among noncombatants, and targets them, too. The creation of such an award will only embolden their actions and put more American and noncombatant lives in jeopardy. Let’s not rush to create something that no one wants to present posthumously.

Per AFP via google.com, posted on February 17, 2010:

About 15,000 Afghan, US and NATO troops are conducting Operation Mushtarak (Together) against about 400 to 1,000 Taliban fighters in what has been billed as the biggest assault since the 2001 US-led invasion.

An Afghan general said this week that Marjah and the Nad Ali district were almost under control, but officers from the battlefield paint a grim picture of Taliban hiding behind civilians and booby-trapping roads and buildings.

“They have taken civilian people hostages,” said General Mohaidin Ghori, the commander of the estimated 4,400 Afghan troops taking part in the operation in the drug-producing heartland of the southern province of Helmand.

“They put women and children on the roofs of homes and are firing from behind them,” he said.

In one case, rebels were seen firing from the window of a house packed with non-combatants, with a terrified crying child forced to stand in front of the compound, said an Afghan military report, a copy of which was seen by AFP.

The United Nations and our spineless Administration are seeking to play political games using America’s Best and Brightest.  We are fighting an enemy who will kill us without hesitation.  They have no qualms about using their own children as human shields or suicide bombers.  Our troops, because of the way they were raised in the greatest country on Earth, buoyed by the training they received from the finest Armed Forces in the world, do all that is humanly possible to  limit civilian casualties already.  

These clueless Professional Bureaucrats from the U.N. and our own Administration would be risking the priceless lives of our American soldiers for an $18 medal and political expediency.

Sources:  navytimes.com, militarytimes.com, afp via google.com

On May 1st, Pakistani Taliban Agent (Yeah, I said it.) Faisal Shahzad attempted to detonate a car bomb in the heart of  one of America’s biggest entertaiment meccas, New York City’s Times Square.  The bomb detonated, but failed to produce an explosion. 

America got lucky.

On May 4th, President Barak Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) issued the following proclamation:

This incident is another sobering reminder of the times in which we live. Around the world and here at home, there are those who would attack our citizens and who would slaughter innocent men, women, and children in pursuit of their murderous agenda. They will stop at nothing to kill and disrupt our way of life. But once again, an attempted attack has been—failed.

“has been – failed?”  No, Scooter.  The bomb failed to detonate.  You wanted to take credit for that…but couldn’t.

On Friday, May 7,  the Wall Street Journal reported that General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, had described Shahzad as a “lone wolf.” Adminstration sycophants immediately proclaimed  those comments as proof that the initial views of Obama administration officials regarding Shahzad not having terrorist connections were irrefutably correct..

Thursday morning, May 13th – Federal agents conducted raids in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey in connection with the failed Times Square car bomb and arrested two Pakistani men who allegedly provided money to suspect Faisal Shahzad, per law enforcement officials.

The searches resulted from evidence gathered in the investigation into the May 1 Times Square bomb attempt.  However, according to FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz, there was “no known immediate threat to the public or any active plot against the United States,”   

A top Massachusetts law enforcement official said two Boston-area men had a “direct connection” to Pakistani-American suspect Faisal Shahzad.  They are believed to have been the money men, but investigators weren’t sure whether they were witting accomplices or simply sending him money, a practice common among people from the Middle East and Central Asia who live in the U.S.

Both men were hauled in on the excused of expired visas (the permit, not the credit card).   Hale said a third person was arrested in Maine, though two other law enforcement officials said that arrest was unrelated to the Times Square probe (Yeah, right).

Gee.  I didn’t know lone wolves traveled in packs.

Also Thursday, the ever-vigilant Obama administration cut $53 million from New York City’s terror-fighting budget , a mere dozen days after the botched plot to bomb Times Square.

At the same time, Northwestern University researchers released a study yesterday suggesting New York should get $15 million to $92 million more security money, not less.

The University’s findings were based on how the government allocated homeland security funds to the 10 biggest cities from 2005 through last year – and factored in the likelihood of a terrorist attack.

Being the petulant President he is, President Obama responded to New Yorker’s cries that he shortchanged the city by making an unscheduled stop at 1 Police Plaza, where he vowed to “make sure that you are getting the support you need to protect this great city.” 

Hey, NYC.  If you believe that, I’ve got some beachfront property in Arizona.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was appearing before Congress, making a fool of himself.   In front of our elected officials, Holder proudly announced the arrests made earlier in the day.  However, the United States Attorney General would not say “radical Islam” is a reason Faisal Shahzad tried to blow a hole in Times Square.  According to Holder:

My grandmother came from Russia
A satchel on her knee,
My grandfather had his father’s cap
He brought from Italy.
They’d heard about a country
Where life might let them win,
They paid the fare to America
And there they melted in.Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.

America was founded by the English,
But also by the Germans, Dutch, and French.
The principle still sticks;
Our heritage is mixed.
So any kid could be the president.

You simply melt right in,
It doesn’t matter what your skin.
It doesn’t matter where you’re from,
Or your religion, you jump right in
To the great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.
Ooh, what a stew, red, white, and blue.

America was the New World
And Europe was the Old.
America was the land of hope,
Or so the legend told.
On steamboats by the millions,
In search of honest pay,
Those 19th-century immigrants sailed
To reach the U.S.A.

Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot
The great American melting pot.
What good ingredients,
Liberty and immigrants.

They brought the country’s customs,
Their language and their ways.
They filled the factories, tilled the soil,
Helped build the U.S.A.
Go on and ask your grandma,
Hear what she has to tell
How great to be an American
And something else as well.

Lovely Lady Liberty
With her book of recipes
And the finest one she’s got
Is the great American melting pot
The great American melting pot.

The great American melting pot.
The great American melting pot.

In an effort to secure their re-elections, The City Council voted 13-1 to bar Los Angeles from conducting business with Arizona unless the law is repealed. The vote came after a phony angst-ridden council discussion during which many self-righteous council members noted that their ancestors were U.S. immigrants. (We all were, geniuses.  Unless, you’re of pure American Indian ancestry.)

Councilman Ed Reyes (D) said:

Los Angeles is the second-largest city in this country. An immigrant city, an international city needs to have its voice heard .

 I didn’t hear the citizens of Arizona ask your opinion, Skippy. 

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) already has said he would approve the boycott.

Even though Arizona’s law has been changed, forbidding police from using race to stop people, Liberals say racial profiling is inevitable.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn opines (D): 

We must say stop… this is a law that we think is wrong. It’s going in the wrong direction.

According to a report from the city’s chief legislative analyst, the proposal could affect investments and contracts worth as much as $52 million, including contracts for airport, harbor and trucking services, . This unbelievably biased report recommends the council consider suspending travel, cutting contracts and refraining from making any new ones with Arizona-based companies.

Hahn, who co-authored the resolution (I’m shocked.) said it would be not be practical to cancel most of those deals and only about $7 million to $8 million in city contracts probably would be affected.