Still Waiting for Justice

The USS Cole was attacked in the Yemeni Port of Aden, on October 12, 2000. 17 sailors died and 39 more were injured in the suicide attack. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack and Jamal al-Badawi was detained just days later. His confession to recruiting the other bombers led to several arrests including Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. Since then al-Badawi has escaped from Yemeni prisons twice along with others convicted for the Cole bombing. He last surrendered to Yemeni authorities as part of an agreement with al-Qaeda militants, although he was released in return for a pledge not to engage in any violent or al-Qaeda related activity. Ten years later none of the defendants convicted in Yemen of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole remain in prison.

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School House Mayhem

Dicken Elementary School, Ann Arbor Michigan

Last week, elementary school principal Mike Madison took a group of students to see a rocket scientist. The problem is that he only allowed African American students to attend the trip. Madison wrote a letter home to parents to defend the field trip for black students only as part of his school’s efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students.

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Democrats Declare Health Care A Right

Whether or not the average American realizes it, we are on the brink of an important ideological shift regarding the future of our country.  In clear opposition to America’s Founding Principles of limited government, free enterprise and individual liberty, President Obama and the Democratic Party are fundamentally transforming our nation.  And although Obama ran as a moderate looking to unite during his presidential campaign, he clearly articulated his vision prior to the election.  His goal was simple; to transform America.  A few months after inauguration he outlined his agenda (which was reaffirmed during his first State of the Union Address), and has since worked tirelessly to implement each step he believes will usher in a new era of American life.  An American life unified with leftist values; dependence on big government, and a financial and social system on par with our western European allies.  Call me conservative, a Tea Party member, a right-wing radical or extremist all you want, but the evidence supporting my “theory” of our impending ideological shift by so-called Democratic mandate is overwhelming. 

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The Right Incites Violence

Massive, Violent, Racist, TEA Party Protest

On March 23, President Obama signed his Health Care Bill into law. A day later the news was wall to wall with coverage about the hate filled speech and threats against members of Congress. I know it has been a long year of debating health care but I was still left looking for answers on what was now actually law. I would have liked to hear more about the government taking over the student loan program or the Ready Reserve Corps. Why does that stuff have to be apart of Health Care Reform?

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More Amusement

Score one for Joe Public

A story our website failed to cover extensively was the backroom deals that took place in the Senate to get Obamacare passed. One of the big recipients was Ben Nelson a formerly popular Governor from Nebraska. In return for his vote his state received ‘the cornhusker kickback’, which among other things gave the state a permanent exemption from the state share of Medicaid expansion for Nebraska, meaning federal taxpayers have to kick in an additional $45 million in the first decade. Maybe America is beginning to wake up, the very constituents that benefited from this deal booed and heckled Nelson out of a Pizza Hut. Now he trails by 31 points in a hypothetical match-up with Nebraska’s current governor for the 2012 elections. I commend the citizens of Nebraska for holding their representatives accountable.

While the heat was on Nelson and negotiations were being made, Nelson ran this video to help persuade his fellow constituents.
We found out this week, that it’s not a Ben Nelson campaign ad. You probably can’t make out the disclaimer, but the ad was paid for by the Nebraska Democratic Party. So, not only did Nelson get bought off with Medicaid funding from the federal treasury, it now appears he got TV ads from the NDP. The DNC and Organizing for America have been asking supporters of “real” health care reform for funds and to the tune of about 500,000 dollars that support went to Nelson. The same Nelson that helped kill the public option, medicare buy-in, and insisted on harsh anti abortion language. Funny, that at this very time in Martha Coakley was running some horrendous ads in Massachusetts. Think this money could have been better spent?

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State of the Union Recap: Part II

 

{ED. NOTE: Click here for SOTU Recap, Part I or here for the Republican Response}

  

State of the Union Recap Part II

 

In last year’s unofficial State of the Union, Obama outlined a lofty left-winged agenda composed of three tiers; Education reform, Healthcare reform, and Climate change.  Only a few months after telling Americans that he would transform our country, he actually set out to do so.  Well, things haven’t gone so well thus far.  Most thought the Health Bill was dead in the Senate, and the Climate Bill may be an even bigger bee’s nest that the Senate has steered completely clear from. 

Healthcare: Nevertheless, about 45 minutes into President Obama’s speech, he pivoted back to Healthcare and more specifically “health insurance reform.” 

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State of the Union: GOP Response

{ED. NOTE: Click here for SOTU recap, Part I or here for SOTU recap, Part II}

Newly inaugurated Virginia governor Bob McDonnell gave the Republican response to the State of the Union. Of course we caught a few of the ole Republican talking points, “Top-down, one-size-fits-all decision-making should not replace the personal choices of free people in a free market” “No government program can ever replace the actions of caring Americans freely choosing to help one another.”

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Political Amusement

A bunch of gems over the past week for our general amusement.  First, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) appeared together on a Philly radio station last week for our entertainment. During the town hall meetings last year Specter left with a few gems of video clips. He’s back at it again telling Bachmann to act like a lady. Where is his mind? 1952…

This past weekend White House press secretary Robert Gibbs appeared on “Fox News Sunday”, he defended the decision to read alleged bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights after just 50 minutes of interrogation. He claimed that valuable information was gathered by the experienced investigators. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and not argue the whole Miranda rights issue here. All I want to do is point out that the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair was not even made aware of the decision.

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Special Interests Now Rule Washington?

Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling reversing the McCain-Feingold federal campaign-finance law is a victory for special interest groups and a bigger win for free speech in the United States. The 5-4 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission will stop the government from regulating political speech of corporations.

President Obama quickly responded with a statement claiming, “It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans” Mr. President, we already felt that way, except you can add unions and bureaucracies to that list. On the eve of Obamacare dying, it also amused me that he says “I am instructing my Administration to get to work immediately with Congress on this issue.”

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Results from Copenhagen: The Copenhagen Accords

My summary of the results from Copenhagen’s Climate Change Summit are more than a week late due to the Holiday Break, but to be honest with you, it really doesn’t matter.  For all the hoopla surrounding the fiasco, all the jockeying, pontificating and lugubrious debate had by global delegates for nearly two weeks, they finally agreed on one thing; we need to have more talks.  This brilliant idea is being billed as, “The Copenhagen Accords.”  What a joke. 

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