Saturday, January 21, 2012

1/2 of American high school students believe newspapers should not be able to publish stories without government approval! ; My lates Boyne City Gazette article - Who needs Congress - part 4

The Petoskey News Review recently reported that a University of Connecticut Department of Public Policy poll in 2005 found that 1/3 of Americans now say they have too much freedom, and half of American high schoolers said they think newspapers should not be able to publish stories without government approval! The newspaper was appropriately worried about our rights to free speech. [This certainly highlights the outcome of our progressive education agenda.  Hello, Occupy groups!  We should all be astounded and quite disturbed by this belief!  As to our freedom of religion, the Constitution declares only that the government shall not establish an official religion.  Liberals are redefining "separation" to suit their own desires.  I am sure this group of people have no problem, then, with Barack Obama's unconstitutional, dictatorial actions as President.]
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In part 4 of my expose: Who Needs Congress, I quote Barack Obama: "I've told my administration, we're going to look every single day to figure out what we can do without Congress,"  “We can't wait for Congress to do its job."  Obama and his administration have passed the following laws and regulations:

1. The recent law signed by Obama confers the right of our government to indefinitely detain any terrorism suspect without trial.   Michigan Senator Carl Levin states that Obama asked for the language protecting American citizens to be removed from the bill.  To Congress’ shame, the bill   passed.  While believing no one should be detained or water-boarded at Gitmo, Obama nevertheless decided to kill an American citizen, terrorist though he was, via drone – al-Awlaki.
2. A relaxation on oversight of the FBI’s intelligence gathering activities - meaning our trash can be gone through and law enforcement data bases can be accessed without an investigation being opened.

3. The Department of Justice now has the legal right to tell outright lies about what documents it does and doesn’t have.  Government can hide from us just what it is doing.
4. The National Labor Relations Board is charged with judging private sector labor law cases and interpreting labor statutes. It is proposing sweeping rule changes favorable to unions.
5.  President Obama recently declared during congressional hearings into the disappearance of $1.2 billion that he can preempt the law whenever its enforcement might irritate a foreign government.
6. President Obama argues that he has the unilateral power to nullify Arizona’s Immigration law by saying that it implicates the president’s power over foreign affairs, trumping any state’s immigration-related actions when another nation has a complaint.
7. Our Department of Justice rejected South Carolina’s voter ID law, saying no evidence of fraud had been provided.  This standard was rejected by the Supreme Court but is ignored by Obama.  The Supreme Court also previously stated that the “burden to travel to an elections office with proof of ID is no more a burden than traveling to the polling place to vote.  Voter turnout has actually increased in states that require voter ID.  In Chicago, photo ID is required for purchasing Draino, but not for voting.
8. Obama’s EEOC has just declared that requiring a high school education in order to apply for a job goes against the Americans for Disability Act.  This not only is a ploy to get more votes, it creates a reason for more students to drop out of high school and it further dumbs-down our populace, all in one fell swoop!  Attorneys will be fully employed prosecuting lawsuits.
9.  President Obama recently named a new cabinet-level Office of Manufacturing Policy, along with two new czars who will guide his manufacturing policies.  This comes after he signed the budget compromise wherein the czars overseeing health care, climate change, the auto industry and urban affairs were eliminated.  Following his signing it into law, he declared he would ignore the part about the czars.

10. Obama is collecting information by asking supporters to ‘have a little fun at the expense of a Republican in your life’ by signing them up to get an email from the Obama campaign ribbing them for having ‘inspired’ the supporter to donate. In the process, Obama gets the conservatives’ email addresses.  If the supporter also provides the home address and purchases an Obama store item, Obama will even send the gift to Republicans.  This follows his flag@whitehouse program and “Attack Watch”, the program of snitching to the Obama website on any person who might have said “something fishy” about Obamacare or anything else.
11) Obama’s Cybersecurity Coordinator is moving to give the Commerce Department the authority to create an Internet ID for all Americans, an “identity ecosystem” for the internet.
12) Americans staying at home caring for disabled family members are now forced to join a union and pay union dues.  SEIU receives about $30 of each family’s Medicaid subsidy as union dues.
14) President Obama in early January made three recess appointments of those whom Congress failed to approve.  The problem is that Congress was not in recess, making this a flagrant abuse of the law.
Conservativecorner-karen.blogspot.com

Friday, January 20, 2012

Democrats propose windfall profits tax on gas profits THEY deem to be too high; Newt at his fiery best; Dems received more political contributions from Bain Capital; College students too often graduate with majors which don't position them for jobs; Fort Hood is "workplace violence", so no Purple Hearts; Obama disenfranchises union with his acdeptance speech venue; Army looking for Internment/Resettlement Specialists; Iowa Republicans disenfranchised voters; Fact-checking Obama's oil and gas figures; N.Y. voter fraud revealed; Obama awards weapons contract to Brazilian company with ties to Iran

Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits.
The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit. 
The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding "a reasonable profit." It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress. http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/205085-dems-propose-reasonable-profits-board-to-regulate-oil-company-profits
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CNN reveals: Here is the video clip of the opening question at last night's debate, concerning Newt Gingrich's ex-wife.  Newt's answer received a standing ovation and a smack-down of the liberal media.  His final words were, "I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking the Republicans."  It was Newt at his best.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/politics/gop-debate/index.html
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The Hill reports: Democrats have accepted more political donations than Republicans from executives at Bain Capital, complicating the left’s plan to attack Mitt Romney for his record at the private equity firm.
During the last three election cycles, Bain employees have given Democratic candidates and party committees more than $1.2 million. The vast majority of that sum came from senior executives.
Republican candidates and party committees raised over $480,000 from senior Bain executives during that time period. http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/205025-dems-receive-more-bain-dollars-than-gop
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The great Thomas Sowell writes: When institutions of higher learning turn out highly qualified doctors, scientists, engineers and others with skills that can raise the standard of living of a whole society and make possible a better and longer life, the benefits are obvious.
What is not so obvious, but is painfully true nonetheless, is that colleges and universities can also turn out vast numbers of people with credentials, but with no marketable skills with which to fulfill their expectations.A decade after graduation, people whose degrees were in a hard field like engineering earned twice as much as people whose degrees were in the ultimate soft field, education. Nor is a degree from a prestigious institution a guarantee of a big pay-off, especially not for those who failed to specialize in subjects that would give them skills valued in the real world.
But that is not even half the story. In countries around the world, people with credentials but no marketable skills have been a major source of political turmoil, social polarization and ideologically driven violence, sometimes escalating into civil war.
People with degrees in soft subjects, which impart neither skills nor a realistic understanding of the world, have been the driving forces behind many extremist movements with disastrous consequences.
 It was much the same story of soft-subject "educated" but unsuccessful young men who promoted pro-fascist and anti-Semitic movements in Romania in the 1930s.
The targets have been different in different countries but the basic story has been much the same. Those who cannot compete in the marketplace, despite their degrees, not only resent those who have succeeded where they have failed, but push demands for preferential treatment, in order to negate the "unfair" advantages that others have.
  The semi-literate sloganizing of our own Occupy Wall Street mobs recalls the distinction that Milton Friedman often made between those who are educated and those who have simply been in schools. Generating more such people, in the name of expanding education, may serve the interests of the Obama administration but hardly the interests of America.
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2012/01/18/an_ignored_disparity_part_ii/page/full/
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Israel Matzav writes: Echoing a Defense Department determination that called the Fort Hood massacre 'workplace violence,' President Obama has denied purple hearts to the soldiers who were murdered there by an Islamic terrorist. I received the following email from the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Dear DHFC Supporter,

Barack Obama has just done something truly disgraceful! He's declared the 2009 Fort Hood massacre - where a radical Islamic terrorist killed 13 American soldiers and wounded 29 more - "work place violence," not a terrorist attack. http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2012/01/obama-declares-fort-hood-work-accident.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Red State writes: Nearly a year ago, the Democratic National Committee opened a wound with union bosses, the Democratic party’s biggest financial backers, by choosing Charlotte, NC as the host-city for its 2012 convention. While the circumstances that led to the decision to choose one of the least unionized states in the nation may have been a union turf war, the DNC convention planners have tried to make up for it by discriminating against union-free vendors.
Nevertheless, the AFL-CIO’s Building & Construction Trades Division has chosen to boycott the convention entirely and, now, DNC convention planners may just have added more salt to union bosses’ wound by choosing the venue for Obama to make his acceptance speech at Charlotte’s Bank of America stadiuma stadium built by non-union labor. http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2012/01/17/dnc-planners-provide-stark-contrast-with-choice-of-union-free-stadium/
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Go Army posts this: Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialists provide rehabilitative, health, welfare, and security to U.S. military prisoners within a confinement or correctional facility; conduct inspections; prepare written reports; and coordinate activities of prisoners/internees and staff personnel. [If our glorious president had not declared that he needed a civilian "army" larger and just as powerful as the military; if Congress had not just passed a law permitting the internment of American citizens without a trial, this would not feel so ominous.] http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-categories/legal-and-law-enforcement/internment-resettlement-specialist.html
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Washington Times reports: In a stunning turn of events, Rick Santorum now appears to have won the Iowa caucuses, though the state’s Republican Party says there are too many holes in the results for them to ever be able to say for certain.
The party, which runs the caucuses, has done a recount since the Jan. 3 voting, and told the Des Moines Register the tally now shows Mr. Santorum up by 34 votes. On caucus night the party said Mitt Romney had won by eight votes.
The deadline for final certification of the results was Wednesday. Party officials said eight precincts failed to follow the rules and fill out the official forms on caucus night, meaning those results can never be certified, while other precincts turned in forms that didn’t meet the legal requirements.
[I can't begin to express my disgust that the Republicans cannot get the job done rightWhat chance do we have?  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/19/recount-gives-santorum-edge-iowa-caucuses/
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Heritage.org reports: Under Obama, Oil and Gas Production on Federal Lands Is Down 40%

House Natural Resources Committee noted these figures:

  • Under the Obama administration, 2010 had the lowest number of onshore leases issued since 1984.
Despite the Obama administration’s restrictive policies for oil and gas production on federal lands, overall production still increased thanks to the pro-energy policies in states like North Dakota.

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/01/18/under-obama-oil-and-gas-production-on-federal-lands-is-down-40/

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Fox News reports: Michael LoPorto arrived at the Rensselaer County Courthouse in Troy, N.Y. on Tuesday for his trial, which accuses him of being part of a “massive” voter fraud scheme.
The former Democratic city councilman and popular local restaurant owner appeared jaunty and relaxed as he answered a series of questions from Fox News -- despite facing felony allegations that could send him to prison for seven years.
Voters told Fox News they never filled out absentee ballot applications for the 2009 Working Families Party primary, and were later stunned to learn the applications were, in fact, turned in to the Board of Elections, with ballots cast in their names. Democratic candidates routinely try to secure the Working Families electoral line to obtain more votes in the general election. The party was associated with the now-defunct community group ACORN.
"Jackals prey upon the weakest member of the herd. That's what happened here," LoPorto's attorney Michael Feit said of the guilty pleas in which former officials admitted forging ballot applications and submitting them as legitimate votes.
Two veteran Democratic political operatives in Troy said voter fraud is an accepted way of winning elections, and faking absentee ballots was commonplace.
Anthony DeFiglio, a Democratic Committeeman who pleaded guilty to falsifying business records, told state police investigators that such fraud is actually "an ongoing scheme and it occurs on both sides of the aisle. The people who are targeted live in low-income housing and there is a sense that they are a lot less likely to ask any questions... What appears as a huge conspiracy to nonpolitical persons is really a normal political tactic."
Anthony Renna, another longtime Democratic operative and party committeeman, admitted to forging an absentee ballot application. He said the process of handing in forged ballots and fake votes ensures that "ballots are voted correctly."
"I knew that the actual voters had not voted the ballots or signed the envelopes, but that did not concern me. I am not the ballot police," Renna said in a statement to police. "I have been present when 'ballots were voted correctly' by party operatives. Voted correctly is a term used for a forged application or ballot."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/17/voter-fraud-normal-political-tactic-in-upstate-ny-city/?test=latestnews#ixzz1juu6LFPj
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Fellowship of Minds writes: Obama, who just cares so much for the American worker, just awarded a big weapons contract to a foreign company described by the Financial Times as  just “venturing into the defense industry,” instead of the U.S. company Hawker Beechcraft. If the contract had been awarded to Hawker Beechcraft, it would lead to the employment of as many as 1,400 new workers across 20 states.
Then to make this story even better, the foreign company is a Brazilian company with ties to Iran! — the same Iran whose navy is threatening to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, which will skyrocket our gas prices.
Ben Howe reports for Red State that on Nov. 17, 2011, Hawker Beechcraft was informed by the U.S. Air Force that they were not going to be allowed to compete for an American military aircraft contract to build a light attack aircraft, a contract worth nearly $1 billion.
Hawker Beechcraft had been working with the Air Force for two years and spent over $100 million to ensure its Beechcraft AT-6 complied with all requirements for the plane.  http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/obama-awards-weapons-contract-to-brazilian-company
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Thursday, January 19, 2012

House rejects debt ceiling hike; Obama denies call for direct talks with Iran via secret letter; Natural gas in abundance; China wants Obama to be reelected; NY, St. Louis and N.J. schools invade privacy of students; Jan. 26 hearing on Obama eligibility; Treasury dips into federal pension funds; Newsweek calls Obama detractors "dumb"; Obama blames Republicans; Hillary Clinton to testify on pipeline; Pelosi no longer supporting "Occupy"; ABC to run hit piece on Gingrich; Our Divisive President

The Hill reports: The House on Wednesday evening approved a resolution disapproving of President Obama's request to increase the federal debt ceiling by another $1.2 trillion, sending it to a Senate that is expected to reject it.
The House approved the resolution in a 239-176 vote in which just one Republican voted against it, and six Democrats voted for it. But the vote fell far short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed for passage if Obama were to veto the resolution. http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/204927-house-approves-resolution-opposing-obamas-debt-limit-hike
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The UK Daily Mail reports: The White House has denied calling for direct talks with Iran in a 'secret letter' to the country's supreme leader.
A conservative Iranian lawmaker had claimed that Barack Obama was trying to open back-channel negotiations with the leadership of the Islamic Republic.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088431/U-S-threatens-Iran-crucial-global-oil-route-blocked.html#ixzz1juSeiMuk
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Chicago Tribune writes: The price of natural gas is plummeting at a pace that has caught even the experts off guard.  A 35 percent collapse in the futures price over the past year has been a boon to homeowners who use natural gas for heat and appliances and to manufacturers who power their factories and make chemicals and materials with it.

The country is flush with natural gas as a result of new drilling techniques that have enabled energy companies to tap vast supplies that were out of reach not so long ago. The country's natural gas surplus has been growing even as the country burns record amounts. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-natural-gas-plunge,0,7715256.story
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Personal Liberty writes: Good news: You don’t need to fret about global war, the economy or even the future value of outstanding U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds, at least if China has any say. It is not going to do a single thing to rock America’s boat. In fact, Beijing hopes that things stay smooth as glass, because it holds more than $1.1 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt. And with the direction America is going, the country would love nothing better than to see Barack Obama re-elected.
China’s leaders are not stupid. To them, Obama is the best thing to come along since one-minute rice.
One prominent Republican agrees. Last month, self-promoter extraordinaire Donald Trump wrote an open letter to the President. Trump took issue with Obama regarding the advantages in trade that China is being given, writing: “How little respect the Chinese government has for you.”  http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/keep-china-happy-vote-obama/?eiid=
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personal Liberty writes: A group of Bay Shore, N.Y., school students will soon be wearing a watch-like device that allows school officials to track how active they are, officials say.
The devices are called Polar Active monitors and they count heartbeats, detect motion and even track students’ sleeping habits in an effort to combat obesity, the New York Post reported Sunday.
“It’s a great reinforcement in fighting the obesity epidemic. It tells kids, in real time, ‘Am I active? Am I not active?’ We want to give kids the opportunity to become active,” said Bay Shore athletics chairman Ted Nagengast.
The devices are called Polar Active monitors and they count heartbeats, detect motion and even track students’ sleeping habits in an effort to combat obesity, the New York Post reported Sunday.
The monitors are distributed by Polar Electro, of Lake Success, the U.S. division of a Finland firm. They cost $90 each.
School districts in St. Louis and South Orange, N.J., already use the devices, which has raised some privacy concerns, according to the Post. [Where are the parents to say, "Make me" put this "watch" on my child!  What an invasion of privacy!]    http://www.personalliberty.com/news/schools-to-monitor-obesity-in-students/?eiid=
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Expose Obama writes: A hearing has been set for January 26,2012,for the purpose of hearing the complaint of David Weldon,a citizen living in Georgia,where he questioned the Constitutionality of President Obama being allowed on the Georgia presidential ballot.
The hearing here in Atlanta will be on January 26th at 9 a.m. Since this is a public hearing,the public can attend. The location is the Justice Center Building,160 Pryor St,Atlanta,GA – Courtroom G40 on the ground floor.

On January 3,2012,Judge Malihi denied the request from Mr. Obama’s attorneys to dismiss the case accusing him of not being qualified to be on the ballot;and therefore,ineligible to run for President this year in Georgia. They contend that since both of his parents were not citizens,that makes him ineligible. http://www.exposeobama.com/2012/01/17/the-public-can-attend-the-hearing-over-obamas-eligibility-set-in-georgia/
----------------------------------------------------- In this Feb. 27, 2008 file photo, a Vietnamese woman works at a fish market in Nha Trang, Vietnam. It might have surprised you to learn in recent news that Brazil tops Florida as the world's largest orange juice producer. You probably also didn’t know most of our apple juice comes from China. What about the fact that 85 percent of the fish Americans eat is imported, too? Photo: Chitose Suzuki / AP For instance, while 85 percent of the apple juice we drink is imported, only about 7 percent of the apples we eat are. Andy Jerardo, an economist at the USDA, says that's because the juice often comes from China, which produces apples that are inferior for snacking but good for drinking. http://www.chron.com/news/article/Apple-juice-made-in-America-Think-again-2527591.php
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Yahoo writes: The Treasury on Tuesday started dipping into federal pension funds in order to give the Obama administration more credit to pay government bills.
"I will be unable to invest fully" the federal employees retirement system fund beginning Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a letter to Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Wednesday on the Obama administration's request to raise the country's legal debt limit to $16.394 trillion. http://news.yahoo.com/treasury-dips-pension-funds-avoid-debt-limit-202850021.html
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The Blaze reports: The “Newsweek” magazine cover from the latest issue has done its job — it’s created quite the controversy and gotten plenty of people talking. If you haven’t seen it, it’s below, along with the cover story headline of “Why are Obama’s critics so dumb?” http://www.theblaze.com/stories/megyn-kelly-blasts-newsweek-author-andrew-sullivan-over-cover-hes-not-an-actual-journalist/

Megyn Kelly Segment on Andrew Sullivan and Newsweek | Sullivan 
Responds 
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National Journal reports: In a decision sure to re-ignite a fierce energy debate, the Obama administration was announcing on Wednesday its rejection of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline because the 60-day deadline imposed by Republicans did not allow adequate time to review an alternate route through critical wetlands in the Midwest. http://nationaljournal.com/congress/obama-rejecting-pipeline-pokes-back-at-gop-20120118?mrefid=subhplead_1
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House Republicans have called Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify as early as next week on the Obama administration’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

A bill from Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) to give FERC control over the pipeline’s fate instead of the White House and State Department is “first in line,” Upton said. “Terry has a very good bill,” he said. “But again all options are on the table.”
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) has a draft bill to allow Congress to approve the pipeline, giving Nebraska officials time to find an alternative route.
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Big Government opines: Of course, when the #Occupy movement first arose, Pelosi and and other members of the Leftist Elite gushed with enthusiasm about the protests:
House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she supports the growing nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, which began on the streets of downtown New York City in mid-September.
“I support the message to the establishment, whether it’s Wall Street or the political establishment and the rest, that change has to happen,” said Pelosi in an exclusive interview with ABC News “This Week” anchor Christiane Amanpour. “We cannot continue in a way this is not relevant to their lives.”
For good measure, President Obama added:
The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side.
So, what happened? 
Or, maybe the news that the #Occupy kids had illegally taken over the home of a struggling single dad for their own use proved too much for Dame Pelosi. It’s a nice attempt at a pivot, but make no mistake, the Dems own the #Occupy movement. [At a recent Politico event, Miss Nancy actually said, "Well, we don't really have much of a connection to the Occupy".] http://biggovernment.com/mikeflynn/2012/01/17/dead-movement-walking-pelosi-tries-to-distance-herself-dems-from-occupy-movement/
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Drudge Reports: Marianne Gingrich has said she could end her ex-husband's career with a single interview.
  She spoke to ABCNEWS reporter Brian Ross for two hours, and her explosive revelations are set to rock the trail.

ABCNEWS suits determined it would be "unethical" to run the Marianne Gingrich interview so close to the South Carolina Primary.
A decision was tentatively made to air the interview next Monday, after all votes have been counted.
Gingrich canceled a press conference on Wednesday to deal with the matter.
UPDATE: The AP reports ABC is now likely to air the segment Thursday on NIGHTLINE.
http://drudgereport.com/flash2.htm

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American Thinker opines: Democrat professionals Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen this July pleaded with Obama in a Wall Street Journal column, "Our Divisive President," not to run for a second term.  They describe his leadership as toxically divisive to our country.  According to Gallup, Obama's approval gap after one year was the most polarized in history, with an average approval of 88% among his own party and 23% among Republicans. 
Obama's disdain and hostility to opponents has been quite visible.  He dissed the Supreme Court to their faces, dismissed Congressman Ryan's efforts to work together on the deficit with a "you lost, we won" crack, and told Republicans to shut up and go to the back of the bus.  He rammed through the biggest changes to health care in history by chicanery, to avoid having to make compromises with Republicans through the normal conference process.  He ignored the recommendations of his own bipartisan commission on controlling debt and deficit.  His favorite activity (next to golf) is class warfare.  Obama is indeed the great divider, and the country shows it. 
What else do we know?  To the surprise of many, we now know that Obama does not pay attention to the black community -- he doesn't visit them, talk to them, encourage them, propose policies to benefit them.  He hasn't helped this suffering community, and when he does go to speechify, this is what he says:
Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'.  We are going to press on. We have work to do.
We now see the lazy student, the charmer in the White House, busy at what he likes best: golf, basketball, vacations, parties, speeches, and raising money.  He has not been the policy wonk Democrats dreamed of, President Clinton redux.  Obama doesn't do hard work.  He farmed out his health reform to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, showing no interest or capability in formulating the details of the policy or even working the politics to get it through Congress.  He famously didn't lift the phone to call Capitol Hill and get his signature policy passed.  Obama's only contribution was nonstop speeches, which failed to win over the country.  He doesn't seem interested in or capable of formulating an intelligent economic policy or foreign policy.  He doesn't care enough to even try.
Progressives saw Obama as worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize, before even taking office.  Republicans warned that Obama was a psychologically troubled man who deified his anti-colonial father, resented American power abroad, and had a troubling history of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel relationships (think Reverend Wright and Rashid Khalidi), never outgrowing an adolescent idolization of Castro and Che Guevara.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/m-now_we_know_who_was_right_about_obama.html
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Glorious leader to give acceptance speech in [the evil] Bank of America stadium; Obama's Jobs Council calls for all-in approach; Private Facebook messages to be analyzed by government; Recess appointments challenged in court; Eric Holder's prosecution on pro-life educator dropped by judge; Wikipedia shuts down for 24 hr. in protest; Occupy DC throws smoke bombs on White House lawn; Foreign internet voting company has purchased the USA's election results reporting company; What about Obama's college transcripts?; Occupy DC rats cannot be killed; Occupy running out of money; Smoke bombs on White House lawn;

Daily Caller reports [on the glorious Obama.  I wonder if there will be Greek columns again, just to make him look even more important?  There is a chance I will be there to see for myself.]

Glorious leader seizes Bank of America stadium for the proletariat

Or: Obama Occupies Bank of America.
If there’s one bit of valuable knowledge we can take away from the last few months, it’s that bankers are evil and must be destroyed. And what better way to undermine them than to take over their symbols of wealth and power, using them for a 99% higher purpose?
The Charlotte Observer:
On the final night of this fall’s Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama will deliver his acceptance speech at Bank of America stadium, party sources told the Observer on Monday night…
The move, which would open the speech to the public, is designed to help mobilize voters in North Carolina, a key swing state. It could also serve as a perk to donors, who could be rewarded with skybox seats…
That’s right! He’s standing up to Wall Street by using one of its most prominent symbols to raise funds. But they’re good funds, because they’re going to him, unlike the bad funds that go to Republicans and other vermin. He’s fighting the system from within and stuff. Right?
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The Hill reports: President Obama’s jobs council called Tuesday for an “all-in approach” to energy policy that includes expanded oil-and-gas drilling as well as expediting energy projects like pipelines.

“[W]e should allow more access to oil, natural gas and coal opportunities on federal lands,” states the year-end report released Tuesday by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/204621-obamas-jobs-council-calls-for-expanded-drilling
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All Things D reports: Most notably, the Facebook-Politico data set will include Facebook users’ private status messages and comments. While that may alarm some people, Facebook and Politico say the entire process is automated and no Facebook employees read the posts.
Rather, every post and comment — both public and private — by a U.S. user that mentions a presidential candidate’s name will be fed through a sentiment analysis tool that spits out anonymized measures of the general U.S. Facebook population.
This is similar to the way Google offers reports on search trends based on its users’ aggregate search activities. http://allthingsd.com/20120112/facebook-gives-politico-deep-access-to-users-political-sentiments/
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Bloomberg reports: President Barack Obama’s recess appointment of three members to the National Labor Relations Board was challenged in court by the National Federation of Independent Business, which claims a constitutional violation.
The filing yesterday may be the first legal action targeting the White House appointments made without Senate confirmation on Jan. 4 during a brief congressional break. It was made as part of an existing lawsuit in federal court in Washington over a new NLRB rule that requires employers to notify workers of their rights to form a union.
Without a legal quorum, the board has no authority to enforce the rule, the NFIB, which was joined by four other groups and companies in the filing, argued.
“The grounds for the motion are that very significant events have transpired since the filing of the complaints in this case, particularly within the last ten days,” according to the filing. “The president purported to appoint the new members without the advice and consent of the Senate.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-14/obama-recess-appointments-challenged-by-trade-groups-in-lawsuit.html
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Green Mountain Scribes reports: A federal judge has ended Attorney General Eric Holder’s two-year political prosecution of pro-life educator Mary Susan Pine. Holder accused Pine of obstructing the entrance to an abortion clinic, in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (“FACE”). Holder sought thousands of dollars in fines against Pine, as well as a permanent injunction banning her from counseling women on the public sidewalk outside the Presidential Women’s Center (“PWC”) abortion clinic, where she has faithfully ministered for over 20 years. Liberty Counsel in granting summary judgment, Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp concluded that “the evidence could not lead a rational jury to find that Ms. Pine’s conduct [i.e., having peaceful conversations with clinic visitors on a public sidewalk] constituted a physical obstruction within the meaning of FACE.” He also concluded that the government lacked evidence to prove not just one, but “all three elements of its FACE claim.” Judge Ryskamp chastised Holder for seeking to apply federal law in a clearly unconstitutional manner: “Stretching the terms of FACE to apply to this case … so that a desire to provide people with information about alternatives to abortion constitutes an unlawful motive, would unjustifiably impinge on Ms. Pine’s First Amendment rights.”
The Government’s decision to prosecute Pine despite having no evidence of wrongdoing prompted Judge Ryskamp to suspect a conspiracy at the highest level of the Obama Administration: “The Court can only wonder whether this action was the product of a concerted effort between the Government and the PWC, which began well before the date of the incident at issue, to quell Ms. Pine’s activities rather than to vindicate the rights of those allegedly aggrieved by Ms. Pine’s conduct.” http://greenmountainscribes.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/eric-holders-political-prosecution-of-pro-life-educator-thrown-out-of-court/#more-3484
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The NY Times reports: With a Web-wide protest on Wednesday that includes a 24-hour shutdown of the English-language Wikipedia, the legislative battle over two Internet piracy bills has reached an extraordinary moment — a political coming of age for a relatively young and disorganized industry that has largely steered clear of lobbying and other political games in Washington.
But the tech industry fears that, among other things, they will give media companies too much power to shut down sites that they say are abusing copyrights.
The legislation has jolted technology leaders, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, who are not accustomed to having their free-wheeling online world come under attack. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/technology/web-wide-protest-over-two-antipiracy-bills.html?_r=1&hp
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Yahoo News reports: Several hundred protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement converged on the West Lawn of the Capitol Tuesday to decry the influence of corporate money in politics and voice myriad other grievances.
Organizers had touted the rally, known as Occupy Congress, as the largest national gathering of Occupy protesters to date and secured a permit that would have allowed up to 10,000 people to participate. By mid-afternoon, the protest appeared to have fallen far short of those goals.  [One wonders if Democrat National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz thinks this is a peaceful protest?]
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Drudge Report reveals: In a major step towards global centralization of election processes, the world's dominant Internet voting company has purchased the USA's dominant election results reporting company. 
These two independent sources, however, will now be merged into one single source: an Internet voting system controlled by SCYTL, with a results reporting system also controlled by SCYTL.

With SCYTL internet voting, there will be no ballots. No physical evidence. No chain of custody. No way for the public to authenticate who actually cast the votes, chain of custody, or the count.  http://drudgereport.com/flash1.htm

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Real Clear Politics: Ed Henry, FOX News: "I don't know how many years, maybe you do, George Romney released of his college transcripts, but Republicans like to complain that the President has not released his college transcripts. What is the stated reason for that?"
Jay Carney, White House: "I would refer you to the campaign. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/01/17/carney_dodges_question_about_obamas_college_transcripts_i_would_refer_you_to_the_campaign.html
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CBS News reports: Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says he is worried that a new District of Columbia law that governs how pest control operators must handle rats may result in entire rodent “families” being relocated across the Potomac River into Virginia by D.C. pest control personnel. Lately, there have been reports of growing rat infestations around the Occupy DC protests at Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square.
Cuccinelli said D.C.'s new rat law--the Wildlife Protection Act of 2010 (Wildlife Protection Act of 2010.pdf) --is “crazier than fiction” because it requires that rats and other vermin not be killed but captured, preferably in families; no glue or snap traps can be utilized; the rodents must be relocated from where they are captured; and some of these animals may need to be transferred to a “wildlife rehabilitator” as part of their relocation process.
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Wall St. Journal reports: Occupy Wall Street—the movement built on protesting corporate greed and income inequality—is running out of money.
After raising more than $700,000 last fall, protesters who keep track of money for Occupy Wall Street reported this week that the group has about $170,000 in its bank account. Very few donations are coming in, they said.
"If we keep spending at the rate at which we have been doing, we will probably go broke in a month," said Haywood Carey, 28 years old, a member of the movement's accounting group. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204468004577165423192946892.html
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National Review reports: On Michelle’s birthday no less.

The Secret Service was responding Tuesday night to an escalating protest that may have involved one or more smoke bombs being thrown over the White House fence.
An estimated 1,000 protesters have gathered. No arrests have been made, but authorities are on alert.

The Secret Service also deployed a robot to check out the devices on the North Lawn. No one is currently allowed to leave through the North Gate, but those with the right access can go through the White House and leave through the South Gate.The Obamas were at dinner celebrating Michelle Obama’s birthday, but they have since returned to the White House without difficulty.  http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/288400/remember-when-tea-party-threw-smoke-bombs-white-house-jonah-goldberg
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Gingrich hits a home run on jobs; Australia says immigrants, not Australians, must adapt; Obama to raise debt limit again, while Congress in recess?; Some N. Koreans to labor-training camp; AZ ruling against immigration law probably unconstitutional; Rep. Allen West would consider VP position; Obama's appearance on Illinois primary ballot in question; Occupy to be taken over by Democratic Socialists of America; Occupy DC won't leave park; 84% of us disapprove of Congress actions; A sense of victimhood - or a way to lift us up?; SEIU looking for a community organizer on their payroll

Daily Caller reports: Asked by debate co-moderator Juan Williams whether he could understand why his comments that “black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps” and that “poor kids lack a strong work ethnic” and perhaps should “work as janitors in their schools” were insulting to Americans — especially African-Americans — Gingrich dismissed the notion out of hand.
“No, I don’t see that,” he said bluntly to wild applause.
“New York City pays their janitors an absurd amount of money because of the union. You could take one janitor and hire 30-some kids to work in the school for the price of one janitor, and those 30 kids would be a lot less likely to drop out,” the former House Speaker said.
“They would actually have money in their pocket. They would learn to show up for work. They could do light janitorial duty. They could work in the cafeteria. They could work in the front-office. They could work in the library. They would be getting money which is a good thing if you’re poor. Only the elites despise earning money.”
Williams followed up by asking Gingrich to respond to emails that suggested Gingrich intended to “belittle the poor and racial minorities” with his words.
“Well, first of all, Juan, the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history,” Gingrich responded to more cheers.
“Now, I know among the politically correct you’re not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable. Second, you’re the one who earlier raised a key point: The area that ought to be I-73 was called by Barack Obama a corridor of shame because of unemployment. Has it improved in three years?  No. They haven’t built a road, they haven’t helped the people, they haven’t done anything.”
“So here’s my point,” he concluded. “I believe every American of every background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness. And if that makes liberals unhappy, I am going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn how to get a better job, and learn some day to own the job.”
The crowd again erupted, rewarding what sounded more like a sermon than a debate answer with what pollster Frank Luntz later said was the first standing ovation he had ever witnessed during a presidential debate.
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Silents Speech reports: Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the  government targeted radicals in a bid to head off  potential terror attacks.
Separately, Gillard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying she supported spy agencies monitoring the nation’s mosques.
Quote:   ‘IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT.  Take It Or Leave It.
“I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.  ‘This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom’   We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish,  Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of  our society . Learn the language!’ http://silentsspeech.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/australian-prime-minister-does-it-again/
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Powerline reports: Pursuant to the Budget Control Act, brought to you by the GOP leadership’s sellout, Obama notified Congress yesterday that the federal debt is approaching the statutory ceiling of $15.194 trillion. [The actual total debt is already $15.237 trillion, but a small amount is not subject to the limit.]  As such, he is calling on Congress to grant him another $1.2 trillion in debt, conveniently enough to last him until after the election, with the possibility of saddling his successor with a tough decision over yet another debt limit increase.  It is really more of a notification than a request.  Obama will automatically receive his $1.2 trillion supercharged credit card unless two-thirds of Congress votes to disapprove of the request within 15 days.
In just three years, he has accrued $4.6 trillion in debt, more than Bush amassed during his entire eight-year tenure.  Now he will add another $1.2 trillion by the end of his first term, and, thanks to the horrendous budget deal, which was cheered on by the same outlets that are now fawning over Mitt Romney, there’s nothing we can do about it.
But here’s the question: If Congress is in recess and cannot fulfill its responsibility to advice and consent, as the President has suggested, how can Obama fulfill his obligation of submitting a certification to Congress?

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/01/we-must-be-really-really-stupid.php
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Personal Liberty writes: An unidentified source told Daily NK:
The authorities are handing down at least six months in a labor-training camp to anybody who didn’t participate in the organized gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but didn’t cry and didn’t seem genuine.
Immediately after the mourning was allowed to stop, North Korean officials reportedly began conducting “criticism sessions” at all levels of industry, in enterprises and by local people’s units to find out who didn’t mourn enough. http://www.personalliberty.com/news/north-koreans-still-crying/?eiid=
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Examiner.com writes: In a stunning development that could potentially send the nation into a Constitutional crisis, an astute attorney who is well-versed in Constitutional law states that the ruling against the state of Arizona by Judge Susan Bolton concerning its new immigration law is illegal .
"Does anyone read the U.S. Constitution these days? American lawyers don’t read it. Federal Judge Susan R. Bolton apparently has never read it. Same goes for our illustrious Attorney General Eric Holder. But this lawyer has read it and she is going to show you something in Our Constitution which is as plain as the nose on your face.
"Article III, Sec. 2, clause 2 says:
"In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction."
In other words, the Judge in the Arizona case has absolutely no Constitutional jurisdiction over the matter upon which she ruled.  As the Constitution makes abundantly clear, only the U.S. Supreme Court can issue rulings that involve a state.
This means that neither Judge Bolton nor the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, to which the case is being appealed, have any legal standing whatsoever to rule on the issue.
Thus, U.S. Attorney-General Eric Holder filed the federal government's lawsuit against the state of Arizona in a court that has no authority to hear the case.
In a related development, another explosive discovery was made by those who actually take the Constitution seriously.  The Constitution specifically allows an individual state to wage war against a neighboring country in the event of an invasion, should there be a dangerous delay or inaction on the part of the federal government.  This information was cited by United Patriots of America.
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Palm Beach Post reports: No town hall meeting or constituent confab with freshman U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, feels complete until an audience member asks the tea party celebrity if he'd consider being the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee.
"I've always said that that's something I'd have to pray about, I'd have to talk to my family about, make sure we make the right decision," West began. "But if someone asks you to step up and serve your country, I'm not going to turn my back on my country."
West added: "I'm not going to say no, but I doubt that I'm on anyone's list for consideration." http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/u-s-rep-allen-west-wont-turn-my-2103679.html?printArticle=y
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Defend the vote reports: In Illinois we have the craziest election system.  Reputed to be the most corrupt, Illinois does not have any oversight or audit of the early vote.  In the smaller counties using optical scan systems, this is problematic but not as consequential as in Chicago and Cook County. In both election jurisdictions they vote electronically with an electronic ballot system that has never been audited; both in terms of the actual vote count and of the software recording the vote. 18% of the vote in Illinois NEVER sees the light of day. 
Ten days ago we pulled petitions for various presidential and delegate candidates running for office in Illinois.  The original purpose was to investigate voter registration fraud. This investigation continues.
On Friday. January. 2012, I requested 60 petitions of these candidates.  Each petition is placed on a single CD. 59 CD’s were correct.  The one for Barack Obama was blank.  Naturally on Saturday morning, we quickly appealed to the Board of Elections, requesting the petition be sent immediately. 
Upon inspecting the petitions, it was quickly discovered that Mr. Obama’s ballot application had significant errors.  Frankly, we were astounded to see how sloppy it was; missing notary signatures, missing pages, and with slews of unregistered voters.
  As a result, three of us have decided to challenge Mr. Obama's petitions.  What does this mean? It means we do not believe he has the 3000 good signatures required by Illinois law to get on the ballot.  If we prevail, Mr, Obama will not appear on the ballot in the Primary election.  I don't know what the ramifications are for the General election in November.  http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=dc7e34c0cb16d56936e2a2607&id=b77333fb7a&e=3e3215dfa5
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Daily Caller reports: Occupy DC Is Not Leaving McPherson Square, Will Not Cave to Mayor Gray’s Political Posturing
[This is the same park whose signs and tents I photographed while recently in D.C.  The peaceful, organized encampment I saw, I have learned, followed their injury of a police officer, and now they refuse to leave - thinking they alone have the right to make the laws.  I should have known it was too good to be true, their mid-afternoon calm.]
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/16/occupy-dc-wont-be-driven-from-their-filthy-rat-infested-encampments-you-fascists/#ixzz1jilUucqg
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Washington Post reports: A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows a new high — 84 percent of Americans — disapproving of the job Congress is doing, with almost two-thirds saying they “disapprove strongly.” Just 13 percent of Americans approve of how things are going after the 112th Congress’s first year of action, solidifying an unprecedented level of public disgust that has both sides worried about their positions less than 10 months before voters decide their fates. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/84-percent-of-americans-disapprove-of-the-job-congress-is-doing-poll-finds/2012/01/11/gIQAhQVr3P_story.html
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The great Thomas Sowell explains to us: Gross inequalities in skills and achievements have been the rule, not the exception, on every inhabited continent and for centuries on end. Yet our laws and government policies act as if any significant statistical difference between racial or ethnic groups in employment or income can only be a result of their being treated differently by others.
Nor is this simply an opinion. Businesses have been sued by the government when the representation of different groups among their employees differs substantially from their proportions in the population at large. But, no matter how the human race is broken down into its components -- whether by race, sex, geographic region or whatever -- glaring disparities in achievements have been the rule, not the exception.
Higher achieving groups -- whether classes, races or whatever -- are often blamed for the failure of other groups to achieve. Politicians and intellectuals, especially, tend to conceive of social questions in terms that allow them to take on the role of being on the side of the angels against the forces of evil.
This can be a huge disservice to those individuals and groups who are lagging behind, for it leads them to focus on a sense of grievance and victimhood, rather than on how they can lift themselves up instead of trying to pull other people down.
Again, this is a worldwide phenomenon -- a sad commentary on the down side of the brotherhood of man. http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2012/01/17/an_ignored_disparity/page/full/
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Washington Examiner writes: Something questionable is going on when a state chapter of the Service Employees International Union advertises on the SEIU national website a "Lead Internal Organizer/Home Care (LiA)" position paying up to $65,000 a year for somebody with the following qualifications:
• Train and lead members in non-violent civil disobedience, such as occupying state buildings and banks, and peaceful resistance.
• Plan and execute strategic direct action field plans including banner drops, bank takeovers, and capitol occupations with membership, other local unions, and coalition partners.
• Execute field plans for special campaigns including contract campaigns, ballot initiatives, COPE contributions, general membership growth and the broader campaign to fight for a fair economy.
(For those not familiar with SEIU nomenclature, "COPE" stands for Committee on Political Education, which the national union describes as the "300,000 SEIU members, staff and retirees who contribute an average of $7 a month." That at least explains the source of some $25.2 million of SEIU's beaucoup campaign money for Democrats.)
According to the SEIU ad, the person hired for this position would be responsible for leading an eight-member team whose work focuses on building "networks to take action in a variety of campaigns. The LiA team does not handle traditional representational duties, such as contract enforcement or bargaining." In other words, this person will head one of many similar teams doing work that has nothing to do with anything traditionally associated with labor unions like bargaining on behalf of employees.
No, what SEIU is looking for is somebody who has no qualms about joining with other union-trained cadres and like-minded people from other organizations to invade government buildings such as state buildings and private banks --
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2012/01/bored-union-organizing-seiu-gears-thuggery/2102236#ixzz1jirCDL9z
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