HEADLINES

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Morning Bell: You Have To Pass This Amnesty To Find Out What Is In It

The nation's unemployment rate stands at 9.8 percent, a post–World War II record 19th month that unemployment has been over 9 percent. President Barack Obama is the largest tax hike in American history. So what do Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) have Congress voting on today? Amnesty. Specifically, the House and Senate will be voting on the fourth and fifth versions of the DREAM Act, which would legalize anywhere between 300,000 and 2.1 million illegal immigrants.

Supporters of the DREAM Act claim the bill would provide citizenship only to children who go to college or join the military. But all any version of the legislation requires is that an applicant attend any college for just two years. And if President Obama wants to reward non-citizen service members with citizenship, he already has the power to do so. The Secretary of Defense already has the authority under 10 U.S.C. § 504 (b) to enlist illegal immigrants in the military if "such enlistment is vital to the national interest," and 8 U.S.C. § 1440 allows such immigrants to become naturalized U.S. citizens, with their applications handled at accelerated rates. The military component of the DREAM Act is a complete red herring.

Neither of these bills has gone through their respective committees, and only one has been scored by the Congressional Budget Office. As a result, they are chock full of loopholes designed by open border advocates to make an even wider amnesty possible.

One bill would even grant Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano the power to waive the college and military requirements if the illegal immigrant can demonstrate "compelling circumstances" and the immigrant's removal would cause a hardship to the them, their spouse, their parents, or their children. When exactly would removal from this country not cause a hardship? What other loopholes are in these bills? As Speaker Pelosi might say: "You have to pass this amnesty so that you can find out what is in it."

The DREAM Acts are also an invitation for fraud. All of the bills would make it illegal for any information in an amnesty application to be used to initiate removal proceedings against an applicant. Law enforcement agencies would be forced to prove that any information they used to find, detain, and try to remove an illegal immigrant was already in their files before an application was received or was not derived from the application. If an illegal immigrant lies about his age to qualify for the program, and the lie is never detected, he gets amnesty. And if the lie is found out, no worries—law enforcement is forbidden from using that lie against him.

The real goal of the DREAM Act is to make it even harder for our nation's law enforcement agencies to enforce any immigration laws. And Congress is not the only forum where amnesty advocates are working to undermine the rule of law today. Right across the street from the Capitol, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over an Arizona immigration enforcement law. This is not a hearing on the controversial SB 1070 law that passed earlier this year. This case, supported by the usual amnesty suspects (La Raza, the SEIU, the Chamber of Commerce, etc.), challenges Arizona's 2007 E-Verify law, which penalizes employers who do not verify the legal status of their employees. This challenge by amnesty advocates to even common-sense immigration enforcement measures should send a clear measure to anyone wavering on the DREAM Act: Any enforcement mechanisms that DREAM Act supporters agree to today will be immediately challenged in court tomorrow. Enforcement is fickle; amnesty is forever.

Our country does need immigration reform. We need smarter border security, stronger interior enforcement, and a more efficient naturalization system. But amnesty plans like the DREAM Act undermine real reform. The DREAM Act encourages people to ignore our borders, undermines our law enforcement across the country, and makes fools of law-abiding immigrants who play by the rules.

Quick Hits:








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Big Government Still Hiring

If the government doesn't stop spending, it will literally cause the economy to collapse. You don't need a degree in economics to realize that you can't keep spending far more money than you make indefinitely. When the reckoning comes, we will be competing with rats to find something edible in dumpsters. But for now the party continues in Washington. If you aren't enraged yet, check out this federal job opening:

associate-director-for-women-and-minority-inclusion.jpg

Job requirements are: 1) be a woman, 2) be a minority, and 3) be shameless enough to collect as much as $255,000 per year of other people's money to sit on your fat, useless, parasitical rear while you help oversee discrimination policies against men and Caucasians.

If you're like most people, the government could steal every penny you make and it wouldn't pay for a quarter of this new bureaucrat's salary, leave alone her lavish benefits.

Meanwhile, productive jobs are destroyed because employers don't have enough money left to pay employees after being forced to pay people not to work through stratospheric taxes necessitated by indefinitely extended unemployment compensation.

For our current economic status, refer to the US Debt Clock.

Either we stop this insanity immediately, or our country will be utterly destroyed — not in the far off future but soon.

On a tip from Clingtomyguns.








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Muslim Convert Arrested In Military Recruiting Center Bomb Plot

A Muslim convert was arrested in Baltimore for plotting to blow up a military center. The individual will appear in court Wednesday afternoon.
Chron Watch reported:

Authorities say a person has been arrested in the Baltimore area for plotting to blow up a military recruitment center.

Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore, tells The Associated Press the person will appear in court Wednesday afternoon. An FBI spokesman also confirmed the arrest. They did not provide any more details.

An official who was briefed on the arrest told AP on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information that the person was given a phony bomb and was arrested after trying to detonate it.

UPDATE: WBAL TV reported the convert is a US national of Nicaraguan descent.

11 News I-Team reporter Jayne Miller said that, according to a source familiar with the investigation, the man arrested is a U.S. national of Nicaraguan descent who is a recent convert to Islam.

"There was no actual danger to the public as the explosives were inert and the suspect had been carefully monitored by law enforcement for months."

- Marcia Murphy, U.S. Attorney's Office

UPDATE II: Fox News is reporting  the suspect's name as Antonio Martinez, a Muslim convert who called himself Muhammed Hussain, was arrested and will appear in federal court on Wednesday.

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Hope & Change… 14% of Americans Now on Food Stamps

How's this for hope and change?
42.9 million Americans are now on food stamps. That's up 1.2% from the prior month and 16.2% higher than the same time a year ago.
The Wall Street Journal Reported:

More people tapped food stamps to pay for groceries in September as the recession and lackluster recovery have prompted more Americans to turn to government safety net programs to make ends meet.

Some 42.9 million people collected food stamps last month, up 1.2% from the prior month and 16.2% higher than the same time a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Nationwide 14% of the population relied on food stamps as of September but in some states the percentage was much higher. In Washington, D.C., Mississippi and Tennessee – the states with the largest share of citizens receiving benefits – more than a fifth of the population in each was collecting food stamps.








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Sen. Mary Landrieu: Allowing Wealthy Americans to Keep Their Money Is “Almost Morally Corrupt”

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) went on a tangent yesterday after Barack Obama announced he would extend the current tax rates. The true democrat told reporters that the agreement between Obama and Republican leaders to keep the current tax rates was "almost morally corrupt."


Note: This is the same democrat who defended her decision to work out a $100 million Louisiana Purchase deal for her Obamacare vote and told Republicans to shut up about it.

Landreiu believes it is "almost morally corrupt" for wealthy Americans to keep their money.
The Huffington Post reported:

"It's what I'm calling the Obama-McConnell plan. We're going to borrow $46 billion from the poor, from the middle class, from businesses of all sizes basically to give a tax cut to families in America today, that despite the recession, are making over a million dollars. I mean, this is unprecedented. Unprecedented. I want to repeat that," she said. Landrieu added, however, that she had yet to make a decision on the final package.

Her argument doesn't even make sense. How does extending a tax cut "borrow" money from the poor and middle class?… And if a tax rate is already in place, how is it "unprecedented"?








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95-Year-Old St. Nicholas Church at Ground Zero Sues for Right to Rebuild While Bloomberg lobbies for

Stnic
Photo provided by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Archbishop Demetrios, right, leads a vigil on the eve of the Feast Day of St. Nicholas to pray for the rebuilding of St. Nicholas Church (NY Daily News)

While Mayor Bloomberg wets himself in anxious haste to build the offensive Ground Zero mosque, the iconic St. Nicholas Greek Church, built in 1916 and destroyed by the destruction of the World Trade towers by Muslim terrorists, remains vanquished, unable to rebuild. Bloomberg is lobbying for 911 taxpayer funds for Islamic supremacist grifters behind the Ground Zero mosque, but the St. Nicholas church is in purgatory, ten years after the worst day in modern American history.

PROTEST THE DEEPLY OFFENSIVE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE --

JOIN US AT 1PM DECEMBER 14TH AT 250 BROADWAY

Oh hypocrisy, thy name is Bloomberg. Nothing happens in this feudal city without the Mayor. All roads lead to City Hall. Why not tie up the Ground Zero mega mosque in this red tape morass?

St. Nicholas Church sues Port Authority, claims that agency is blocking church's reconstruction NY Daily News

A notice of claim was filed Monday on behalf of St. Nicholas Church and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, declaring their intention to sue.

"This claim arises out of the arrogance, bad faith and fraudulent conduct of the Port Authority in preventing St. Nicholas from re-building its church at Ground Zero," the church says in its legal filings.

Church files claim against WTC owner WSJ

NEW YORK — A Greek Orthodox church destroyed on Sept. 11 is taking legal action against the agency that owns ground zero, saying it's reneged on a promise to rebuild the church.'

The Wall Street Journal reports that St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church filed a notice of claim against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Monday. The papers seeks to compel the agency to live up to what it says is a "binding preliminary agreement."

The two sides spent years negotiating a deal that would let the church rebuild on land south of its original site in exchange for financial help. Negotiations broke down in March.

Greek Orthodox parish sues for right to build near Ground Zero site Catholic Culture

Greek Orthodox parish in New York, claiming that local officials are illegally blocking plans to rebuild a church that was destroy in the terrorist attack of 9/11, is filing suit.

Officials of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church claim that they had reached an agreement with the Port Authority for the rebuilding of the church. They argue that the officials have filed to fulfill their responsibilities under the terms of a preliminary agreement reached in 2008.

The building of houses of worship near the site where the World Trade Center once stood has become controversial because of a separate plan to construct a mosque nearby.

No, building houses of worship is not controversial. A mega mosque on the hallowed ground, the cemetery is.

St. Nicholas Church as it stood, prior to 9/11Located in what is today New York City's financial district, Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church traces its roots back to 1916, when it was founded by Greek immigrants. Serving the spiritual needs of the early immigrant community, the church also achieved prominence as a religious and cultural center for Greek shipping magnates passing through New York. Services began at the current site in 1922, though the building was constructed in the early nineteenth century. Measuring 22ft. wide, 56ft. long and 35ft. tall, the church was bound on three sides by a parking lot.

Good Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas, known in the West as Santa Claus, is the patron saint of sailors, bankers, and bakers. He is revered for feeding the hungry and clothing needy children. Born in 270 A.D. in what is now Turkey, his parents died at an early age and left him with considerable wealth which he began to give away. After becoming a priest, he was later promoted to Bishop of Myra and took part in the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. In 1087 his remains were transported by the Crusaders to their current home in Bari, Italy.

Parishioner lighting a candleFather John Romas conducting servicesParishioner lighting a candle

September 11th

On September 11th, the entire weight of World Trade Center Tower 2 came down on St. Nicholas Church, completely destroying the building and its contents. Only a handful of damaged icons and religious items were found amongst the rubble.

Mayor Bloomberg's contact information is ou may contact me directly by writing, calling, faxing or e-mailing:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC)

FAX (212) 312-0700

E-MAIL: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

Call the LMDC every day and ask the status of our taxpayer dollars going to fund this mosquestrosity.

Contact the LMDC – phone = 212 962 2300, fax = 212 962 2431 or 33
 
Ask them to send you a copy of the application that Park 51 nee Cordoba House submitted and the criteria they have for granting taxpayer dollars to those who apply for funding. Also, ask them if there are any other applications pending or that were funded for mosques to create cultural entities, and get those applications, award letters with all restrictions and the criteria they have for making such grants.

Ask them to be present when the committee meets to decide. It's our money -- politely demand an open forum.

Contact the LMDC directly. Below is their contact information, along with a listing of the present board members. Let them know about the Rauf's slum in recievership, Gamal's two bank defaults, non-payment of taxes, and eviction. These are crooks.


Lower Manhattan Development Corporation

One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor
New York, NY 10006
Phone: (212) 962-2300
Fax: (212) 962-2431 / 33
LMDC Board of Directors

Avi Schick, Chairman
John C. Whitehead, Founding Chairman
Lawrence T. Babbio, Jr.
Amanda M. Burden
Robert Douglass
Peter Davidson
Timothy Gilchrist
Robert M. Harding
Caswell Holloway
Thomas S. Johnson
Kate D. Levin
Robert K. Steel
Julie Menin - Chairwoman.
Kevin M. Rampe
William C. Rudin
Carl Weisbrod
John Zuccotti "








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Video: Obama likens Republicans to terrorists for resisting tax increases

More violent eliminationist rhetoric from The One:
More eliminationist rhetoric from our post-partisan community organizer-in-chief, that includes these tidbits from the past:
"A Republican majority in Congress would mean "hand-to-hand combat" on Capitol Hill for the next two years, threatening policies Democrats have enacted to stabilize the economy," Obama, October 6, 2010
"If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun," Obama in July 2008
"Here's the problem: It's almost like they've got -- they've got a bomb strapped to them and they've got their hand on the trigger. You don't want them to blow up. But you've got to kind of talk them, ease that finger off the trigger." Obama on banks, March 2009
"I want you to argue with them and get in their face!" Barack Obama, September 2008
Barack the uniter... NOT!
"We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us." Obama to Latinos, October 2010
"I don't want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I'm angry!" Obama on ACORN Mobs, March 2010
"We talk to these folks… so I know whose ass to kick." Obama on the private sector, June 2010
Even the state-run AP picked up Obama's painting the GOP as terrorists: Democrats demand changes in Obama-GOP tax deal
At one point, he appeared to liken Republican lawmakers insisting on tax cuts for the wealthy to terrorists.

"I think it's tempting not to negotiate with hostage takers, unless the hostage gets harmed. In this case the hostage is the American people and I was not willing to see them get harmed," he said.
Nice...







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Libyan Threats Led To British Release of Lockerbie Bomber

It was the worst terrorist attack in Britain's history, the deadliest assault on U.S. civilians until 9/11 and a political powder keg that roiled governments around the world. And via the latest WikiLeaks release we are finding out the real reason why the only man convicted for the attack was freed from a Scottish Prison sixteen months ago.

On Dec. 21, 1988, a bomb exploded in the forward cargo hold of Pan Am Flight 103, a jetliner flying from London to New York. Within less than a minute, the Boeing 747 splintered into thousands of pieces and fell 31,000 feet, smashing down in the village of Lockerbie, Scotland. The impact killed 11 villagers and destroyed 21 homes. None of the 259 people on board the aircraft survived.

On August 21, 2009 Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the terrorist attack, was released from the Prison where he had been serving a life sentence. Because he supposedly had less than three months to live, he had been sent home to Libya to die. Under pressure from Great Britain, Scottish courts were forced to show more mercy to al-Megrahi than he showed to the 270 people he killed.



Almost a year and a half later, the mass murderer is still alive,  according to the doctor who originally said he had three months to live the Lockerbie murderer may be around for up to ten more years and we are finally finding out the real reason the al-Megrahi was released.

According to State Department cables released by WikiLeaks, Great Britain released the mass murderer because of threats to its interests around the world, by the Libyan government, and despite all of the objections Obama made after the monster was sent back to Libya the United States knew exactly what was going on.


A cable sent in October 2008 said that Britain at the time was "in an awkward position" and "between a rock and a hard place". The London charge d'affaires, Richard LeBaron, wrote, "The Libyans have told HMG [Her Majesty's Government] flat out that there will be 'enormous repercussions' for the UK-Libya bilateral relationship if Megrahi's early release is not handled properly."

Another cable written in January, shows that the United States knew that British citizens would be in danger if al-Megrahi wasn't released.


They do not anticipate that GOL [Government of Libya] officials will pursue another application for bail, and said they had no information from the FCO to suggest that al-Megrahi's application for compassionate release, which was denied in November, would be re-submitted in light of his deteriorating medical condition. U.K. Emboffs began consulting with us in December about deliberations concerning their security posture and tripwires for action should al-Megrahi die in Scottish prison. Consistent with information reported reftel, GOL officials have warned U.K. Emboffs in demarches here that the consequences for the U.K.-Libya bilateral relationship would be "dire" were al-Megrahi to die in Scottish prison. Specific threats have included the immediate cessation of all U.K. commercial activity in Libya, a diminishment or severing of political ties and demonstrations against official U.K. facilities. GOL officials also implied, but did not directly state, that the welfare of U.K. diplomats and citizens in Libya would be at risk.
Later in the same cable it says:
The failure of Switzerland and Libya to resolve the dispute prompted by the arrest of Muammar al-Qadhafi's son, Hannibal, last July has convinced U.K. Emboffs that the consequences if al-Megrahi were to die in prison or if the transfer under the PTA were denied would be harsh, immediate and not easily remedied
It also shows that the nascent Obama administration decided to stay quiet about the eventual release.

If the USG publicly opposes al-Megrahi's release - or is perceived to be complicit in a decision that results in al-Megrahi remaining in prison - the U.S. Embassy and private Americans in Libya could face similar consequences.
And we also knew that Megrahi was going to live longer than than the publicly stated three months.
A cable said: "Megrahi could have as long as five years to live but the average life expectancy of someone of his age with his condition is 18 months to two years. Doctors are not sure where he is on the time scale."The Libyans have not yet made a formal application for compassionate release … but HMG believes that the Scottish may be inclined to grant the request, when it comes, based on conversations between … Alex Salmond and UK justice secretary Jack Straw. Although the general practice is to grant compassionate release within three months of end of life, this is not codified in the law, so the release, if granted, could occur sooner."
 It seems that the release of the Lockerbie Killer is as much a failure of US policy as it is of British policy.  Great Britain allowed itself to be bullied and threatened into releasing a mass murderer. But the United States knew exactly what was happening, made no attempt to help its British ally withstand the threats from Tripoli and after it all went down, acted with surprise and anger. Perhaps it was the lack of experience of the Obama Administration, or maybe it was the start of Obama's move away from the US's European allies, but either way it does show that the Obama Administration cannot be trusted.
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It begins: Detroit Free Press labels deal not to raise taxes 'stimulus'

Good job state-run media!
Rush Limbaugh was absolutely correct yesterday in opining that the compromise where tax rates wouldn't increase for anyone for 2 years will be billed as a stimulus. The state-run, sycophantic, suck-up Detroit Free Press went full-bore in that direction with an editorial this morning that was full of stimulus this, tax cut that. This is the same paper that regularly and universally advocates for every tax increase possible under the sun. The gas tax, income taxes, yada, yada. Let's just be clear - there are no tax cuts. The compromise is an extension of the current tax rates that have been in effect for the better part of a decade. It's a concept the Detroit Free Press just doesn't understand: Obama strikes imperfect but beneficial tax-stimulus deal
The tax/stimulus agreement struck by President Barack Obama with congressional leaders has many pluses and is the right thing to do at this moment in time. No one will call it perfect, but that's what compromise is all about.

For starters, it protects low- and middle-income earners better than had seemed possible. Not only does it keep the Bush-era tax cuts for those workers, it also retains measures devised as part of Obama's stimulus plan -- expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit and tuition credits, for example -- for those at the lower end of the scale.
Remember when the freep bemoaned the Bush tax cuts back in 2003? That it was a waste of money and only benefited the rich? Looks like those tax cuts were for everyone and benefited those at the bottom of the scale. The freep in that one statement destroyed its own almost 8-year-old stance on the subject. But the freep goes even further. They hail a small one year furlough of the social security tax again as a stimuluative effect in citizens having to pay less in taxes:
And it has a stimulus-style boost for every worker: a one-year suspension of 2 percentage points of the Social Security tax. Given that most workers have taken a pay cut, moved to jobs with lower pay when their old ones disappeared or, at the very least, are paying more toward their health insurance, that's an unexpected and pleasant surprise.
And then the freep goes on to proclaim to speak for all of Michigan in insisting that a tax increase would "drain dollars" from the Michigan economy. Funny how they never paint a tax increase in this way. Until today that is:
...Indeed, the view from Michigan supports everything Obama has striven to protect. It's terrifying to consider what the state's economy might look like if it were drained of the dollars represented by the jobless pay extensions and the tax cuts currently in place. The state with the second highest jobless rate and the deepest plummet in household income cannot stand too many more shocks.
Just in case anyone thinks that the editorial board at the freep woke up today and finally chose to take the red pill, think again. They are simply towing the Obama line. Putting on the Obama kee pads as it were. The death tax, for instance, is coming back but at 35% rather than 55%. The editors call this "generous." They insist that it will lower the deficit, which is utter ignorance of history. As I have pointed out many times before: each $1 in higher taxes results in $1.17 of new spending. Increasing taxes on anyone in any way will make the deficit worse, not better because Congress in whatever the opposite of infinite wisdom is, will simply spend it on new programs.







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Video: Judd Gregg schools Mitchell on “paying for” tax cuts

This is awesome, and goes along the lines I have mentioned many times in this blog (such as here: Paul Krugman: All money is government's money): tax cuts don't get "paid for" because it's not the government's money in the first place. It's ours. Judd Gregg blasts Mitchell for implying that all money is the governments:
via Ed Morrissey. Judge Napolitano hits this mentality straight on in this segment (Video of Judge Napolitano : Who Owns Our Income ? Us Or The Govt ?):
The above is the mindset of the statist believing all wealth to be the government's and anything not confiscated is a giveaway to the earners. So much for the federal government being a limited one, no? That 'cost' of the Bush tax cuts is from someone's imgaination. Matter of fact is that the FY 2007 federal budget - the last one put together by Republicans - was $2.7 trillion. Since Pelosi and Reid took over the federal budget is at $3.8 trillion. The deficit is entirely comprised of new Democrat spending since 2007. We don't have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem.







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