Blue Collar Republican

Bring Soldiers Too!

A good reason to teach your kids to use 911..

Christians Killed In Pakistan

Why attack and kill those devoted to helping the hungry?

Gunmen stormed the offices of a US-based Christian charity in Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 6 workers in an attack blamed on insurgents.

Gunmen burst into the World Vision office in Oghi village in Mansehra district, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Islamabad, at about 9 a.m. (0400 GMT), police and a witness said.

Just a reminder that following Christ often has a cost.

Rock On Massa #tcot #teaparty

Rep. Massa on the offensive. One of the few Democrats who get it and they have him on the Obama Express out-of-town.

People need to watch and listen to this video VERY attentatively. In it, Al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn calls on American muslims to rise up and emulate the Fort Hood shooter, attacking not only military, but civilian targets as well.

Pakistani authorities are reporting that they have arrested Gadahn, but this reporting has yet to be confirmed. However, what is important for us to understand is that Gadahn is a product of a California North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) mosque. So is the Fort Hood shooter, who attended a mosque in the DC area also frequented by some of the 9/11 hijackers. Also, as recently learned, Carlos Bledsoe, the Little Rock shooter was also associated with an NAIT mosque here in Memphis.

The NAIT also runs a publishing service, publishing a book titled “Milestones” by Sayyid Qutbs, a Muslim Brotherhood cleric. Qutbs argues the same proposition…

Any place where the Islamic Shari’ah is not enforced and where Islam is not dominant becomes the Home of Hostility (Dar-ul-Harb) … A Muslim will remain prepared to fight against it, whether it be his birthplace or a place where his relatives reside or where his property or any other material interest are located.

As I discovered recently, the NAIS operations here in Memphis are significant, extending beyond a simple mosque and community center. They continue in “jail house” conversions to Islam, but the question remains to what purpose? Was Gadahn’s call to action just that, or just more Al Qaeda “wishful thinking”?

Vigilance is called for my friends….the “religion of peace” is talking tough again.

In Theory….

Bossier Parish, LA sheriff, Larry Deen, has set-up a 200 citizen strong group he calls “Operation Exodus.” This group has been organized to help in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. The way our government is going these folks will be busy. Sheriff Deen does not want his new group referred to as a militia. Deen goes on to state “we run from that word.” I am not sure why he or anyone else would run from that word when per Merriam-Webster its definition is 1 a : a part of the organized armed forces of a country liable to call only in emergency b : a body of citizens organized for military service
2 : the whole body of able-bodied male citizens declared by law as being subject to call to military service. Nothing ominous sounding there.

So far I am OK with Deen and Operation Exodus. It seems to be just the kind of group that our founding fathers would have approved of in case of emergencies. My only concern is that they are not used against other citizens of the United States under false pretenses. The concerns of the author of this story are more related to PC garbage which is typical for the liberal media. Knowles, the author write that there are only 5 blacks and no women in this group. I wonder what bearing that has on anything. The one thing David did not tell us was how many blacks and women signed up and what was the majority of those that were cut from the original 300. We have go to get away from placing people in positions for any reason other than qualification. Sex or race should have ZERO influence on whether or not someone gets a job.

I will keep an eye on this to see how it works out in the future. I can imagine if this is a success then there will be others to follow around the country. I do wish them success and to remain scandal free.

Austin

Texas Fred Gets It Right #tcot #teaparty

Texas Fred is one of my favorite bloggers (second only to Kate), although I don’t necessarily agree with him on some things, I like his style. However, he (and Kate) have picked up on a rather ominous trend in the news media.

Many on the left are trying desperately to link the TEA Party to various anti-American groups, they are trying to convince the innocent viewer that the TEA Party is anti-government.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Please read the CORE VALUES and Mission Statement of The Rowlett TEA Party, then make your own decision. We are NOT anti-American anything, we’re not a part of the 9-11 Truther movement and we don’t support the enemies of America.

If everyone will recall, when “Tiller the Baby Killer” was shot at his Church, the news media was all over it as a prime example of the threat from “right wing extremists”. Then we had a Hitler-worshiper walk into the Holocaust Museum and shoot the place up shortly afterwards. The media was trying hard to associate both with the pro-Life and tea party movements. They really went nuts when some started showing up at town hall meetings and areas near President Obama’s visits with “assault rifles” and guns strapped to their waist. I guess it did not matter that the reason they did so was because SEIU and ACORN operatives had begun to physically attack tea party activists at such functions. So when they found out that the Pentagon was more of a “left wing” nut case than a “right wing” one, the story just pretty much died on the vine.

An AP reporter contacted me this morning and wanted to meet with me. He is doing a story about the impact of the tea party movement on elections this year. He left it to me to come up with the venue for the meeting, so I invited him to meet at Range USA. It seemed appropriate since on March 9th of last year, a number of local activists met to discuss getting the local tea party effort off-the-ground in one of their meeting rooms. As I arrived, I saw the “UN-free Zone” sign at the entrance and two plasma TV’s, one on FOX News and the other with NASCAR running. I sat down with the reporter inside the 1776 Grill with the Declaration of Independence, vintage flags (including the Gadsden flag) and portraits of the founding fathers draping the walls around us. Of course there were lots of guns scattered around too, on racks, in peoples hands, strapped to their sides, etc. The venue itself gave me much in the way of visual aids with which to make my arguments.

He did ask about the efforts by some to portray those in the tea party movement in a negative light, and I mentioned briefly the latest SPLC report. It is all about marginalizing those trying to regain control over the elective and legislative process, you know, that “Government for the People, by the People” thing? We are certainly NOT anti-government and I’ve heard no real calls for violent action by anyone, although many of us do retain “it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security” as an option outlined by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. However, at this point the tea party movement is more akin to the Jeffersonian Revolution of 1800 than to the Boston Tea Party.

The Federal government has simply over-stepped the boundaries laid upon it by the U.S. Constitution. The Tenth Amendment has for the most part just been thrown into the trash bin by those in Washington and ignored. There is no authority in the Constitution for the federal government to take over the health care system, only authority to insure that commerce between the States remains unhindered. So if we are anti-anything, we are anti-law breakers, which many of our elected officials have become. Yes, this is supposed to be a nation of laws and the foundation of our law is the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Federalist papers which expounded the principles and terminology used in those documents. There is NO ambiguity in what the documents say and/or mean. Yet for decades now, revisionists have twisted the meanings of key words such as “general Welfare” beyond the context in which it was used.

Some, who have not denied the necessity of the power of taxation, have grounded a very fierce attack against the Constitution, on the language in which it is defined. It has been urged and echoed, that the power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States,” amounts to an unlimited commission to exercise every power which may be alleged to be necessary for the common defense or general welfare. No stronger proof could be given of the distress under which these writers labor for objections, than their stooping to such a misconstruction.

Had no other enumeration or definition of the powers of the Congress been found in the Constitution, than the general expressions just cited, the authors of the objection might have had some color for it; though it would have been difficult to find a reason for so awkward a form of describing an authority to legislate in all possible cases. A power to destroy the freedom of the press, the trial by jury, or even to regulate the course of descents, or the forms of conveyances, must be very singularly expressed by the terms “to raise money for the general welfare.”

But what color can the objection have, when a specification of the objects alluded to by these general terms immediately follows, and is not even separated by a longer pause than a semicolon? If the different parts of the same instrument ought to be so expounded, as to give meaning to every part which will bear it, shall one part of the same sentence be excluded altogether from a share in the meaning; and shall the more doubtful and indefinite terms be retained in their full extent, and the clear and precise expressions be denied any signification whatsoever? For what purpose could the enumeration of particular powers be inserted, if these and all others were meant to be included in the preceding general power? Nothing is more natural nor common than first to use a general phrase, and then to explain and qualify it by a recital of particulars. But the idea of an enumeration of particulars which neither explain nor qualify the general meaning, and can have no other effect than to confound and mislead, is an absurdity, which, as we are reduced to the dilemma of charging either on the authors of the objection or on the authors of the Constitution, we must take the liberty of supposing, had not its origin with the latter.

The objection here is the more extraordinary, as it appears that the language used by the convention is a copy from the articles of Confederation. The objects of the Union among the States, as described in article third, are “their common defense, security of their liberties, and mutual and general welfare.” The terms of article eighth are still more identical: “All charges of war and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury,” etc. A similar language again occurs in article ninth. Construe either of these articles by the rules which would justify the construction put on the new Constitution, and they vest in the existing Congress a power to legislate in all cases whatsoever. But what would have been thought of that assembly, if, attaching themselves to these general expressions, and disregarding the specifications which ascertain and limit their import, they had exercised an unlimited power of providing for the common defense and general welfare? I appeal to the objectors themselves, whether they would in that case have employed the same reasoning in justification of Congress as they now make use of against the convention. How difficult it is for error to escape its own condemnation! – James Madison, Federalist #41

Madison penned the document and certainly knows quite well what was intended when he put pen to paper giving form to the consensus of debate at the Constitutional Convention. So the tea party movement is calling our elected officials to task for violating those restrictions also enumerated in the Constitution. The charge is that the federal government is in violation of the compact with the people upon which it has the authority to govern, and all three branches stand guilty in that regard.

However, just so it is not misunderstood, the States are the entities which entered into the compact on behalf of their people. I as a citizen have no right what-so-ever to take up arms against the federal government on my own accord or with others. In my case, I am a Tennessean by birth and privilege. It is the State of Tennessee which must act on my behalf against the federal government. In Texas Fred’s case, it is the State of Texas which must act on his behalf. Governor Perry of Texas has been a strong advocate in defense of Texas and its people against the federal government and as a result just won his primary for re-election quite decisively.

We are not anti-government. Quite the contrary, we all love the founding compact and our country. This is why people need to pay just as much attention to the Tennessee elections this year as the national ones. It is our governor and legislature in Nashville that ultimately will have to draw the line against the federal government if one is to be drawn. This past year I have been very proud of Nashville in this area and I hope to see even more attention paid to the issue next year. For that reason I will be looking very closely at the Tennessee State Representative District 93 (my representative) race, because it is important. I would suggest that everyone else do likewise.

Yes, many of us own and carry our firearms proudly. However, we do so as responsible citizens who believe in the rule-of-law. If I ever turn my gun against the federal government, I will do so under the Tennessee state flag. Or, if Texas decides to start a ruckus, then I might have to pull a Davy Crockett and run off to Texas to help ole’ Fred out. I would remind readers that the Minutemen who fired those first shots at Lexington did so to defend their elected leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock and to insure their escape from British forces sent to arrest them.

WHEN King George heard of the Boston Tea Party his anger knew no bounds. This rebellious colony should be punished, and that right soundly.

The Boston port was closed to all trade until the destroyed tea should be paid for. And General Gage, with several regiments, was sent to govern the people of Massachusetts.

“We are outraged,” declared the colonists. “Such things are not to be endured.”

So they organized a new government quite independent of General Gage, with John Hancock and Samuel Adams at its head.

Nor was this all. Massachusetts decided to have an army of her own to defend her rights. “Minute men,” the soldiers were called, because they agreed to be ready to fight at a minute’s notice. Arms and ammunition were collected, and stored in Concord.

Before long, news of this hiding place reached General Gage. He determined to send a secret expedition to take the stores. Nothing seemed easier. Moreover, he knew that John Hancock and Samuel Adams were visiting in a town called Lexington. Why not kill two birds with one stone and direct his soldiers to march to Concord by way of Lexington? Thus they could seize not only the soldiers’ arms, but also their rebel leaders.

However, no sane person wants to see such a scenario develop or play out. The last time it happened it took more American lives than all of our other wars combined. Let’s just concentrate on a good ole Jeffersonian-style revolution this go around, at the ballot box, not the bullet box.

Not Jihad, But A 9/11 Truther #tcot

Fortunately this time the shooter picked the wrong targets …

WASHINGTON — Resentment of the U.S. government and suspicions over the 9/11 attacks have surfaced in writings by the Californian identified as the gunman who shot two Pentagon police officers before he was mortally wounded in a hail of return fire.

The two officers are okay, but the suspect, John Patrick Bedell is dead. He just walked up, pulled out a gun and started shooting at the officers. Apparently he was seeking revenge for the government perpetrated 9/11 attacks and other bizarre paranoid schemes. He is friends with Daniel Hopsicker, a 911 conspiracy author, on his Facebook page, although I must note that since I pulled his [Bedell] page an hour ago, it is no longer comes up in the FB search. The photo above was take from his Facebook profile page earlier.

Here is his 2006 “pot” arrest record.

So not jihadist’s this time, only a terrorist sympathizer.

Update:

I figured I had better do a screenshot before FB deleted his information altogether.

How Do You Like Your Change Now? #tcot

I Beg To Differ

It looks as though Obamacare will be shoved down our throats no matter what the people want. Obama has gone so far as to say “What will happen with the polls? I will leave it to others to sift through the politics, because that’s not what this is about. That’s not why we’re here.” We are here, he said, “to lead.” He dismissed any potential political consequences with a simple “I know it’s right.” He finished with an ad-lib: “Let’s get it done.” I will have to disagree with President Obama. Our elected officials are elected to “represent” and “serve” the people. Our government is for the people, by the people. We determine what we want and they carry out our wishes. The President does have a leadership role, but not at the expense of what the majority of people desire.

Adding to the arrogance of Obama we also have his liberal lover, Nancy Pelosi telling us what we need. How does someone like Pelosi think she knows what I need? I have no problem with or paying for the insurance I have now. I am sure my insurance could be better, but what I have pays what I need it to pay. Pelosi is calling for her minions to vote against the American public to vote for health care. How in God’s name could any of us think we know what is best for us? Looking at the finance issues with California, I do not think I would take the advice from any elected official from that state. I wonder if Nevada, Oregon and Mexico will split California up when it goes bankrupt.

Austin

Busted

I guess some folks just don’t appreciate ‘art’. But seriously folks, you see more when you undress a Barbie doll.

Radical Islam – The Memphis Connection

Before this post can be understood as relevant to most readers, a brief overview of the origins of the Al Qaeda network is required. As most people are aware, Osama bin Laden is a Saudi national and a strict adherent of Wahhabism. What many don’t understand is that although Saudi Arabia is ruled by a monarchy, the monarchy draws its political power from the religious order of Wahhabi.

Although the region in which the country stands today has an ancient history, the emergence of the Saudi dynasty began in central Arabia in 1744. That year, Muhammad ibn Saud, the ruler of the town of Ad-Dir’iyyah near Riyadh, joined forces with a cleric, Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, to create a new political entity. This alliance formed in the 18th century remains the basis of Saudi Arabian dynastic rule today.

There is a reason why the majority of the 9/11 hijackers originated from the same region of Saudi Arabia where Wahhabism is deeply rooted. Further, when the Taliban gained dominance in Afghanistan, it was the Saudi ‘religious police’ who directly mentored them on how to organize an Islamic State. Most of us just know the sound-bites and propaganda fed to us by the nightly news and fail to understand that our current conflict is with forces given birth to with the aid of our ‘friend’ Saudi Arabia.

Al Qaeda is actually a union of the adherents of Wahhabi and those of the Egyptian (Islamic Jihad) Muslim Brotherhood (headed by Al Qaeda’s #2, Ayman al-Zawahiri). The Egyptian head of the snake first appeared in the first WTC bombing in 1993 with the religious leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Omar Abdel-Rahman. Sheik Rahman’s followers in the U.S. enlisted the aid of Ramzi Yousef, a Baulchi with ties to Iraqi Intelligence and trained in bomb-making in Saudi funded training camps in Pakistan. It was Yousef who would later develop the plan that his uncle, Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) would bring into completion with the assistance of Bin Laden after Yousef’s arrest, now known as the 9/11 attacks.

With that very limited background, it is important to understand that when dealing with Saudi Arabia, we are dealing with two, but very much linked, entities, the monarchy and the Wahhabi sect of Islam. The Wahhabi’s are also a sub-sect of the Sunni sect of Islam and connections can be made to a wide range of different radical groups, including those involved in the liberation of Palestine. The key is that political Jihad has its modern origins and support base with the Wahhabi’s.

In the United States, the activities of Wahhabism is conducted by the North American Islamic Trust.

The North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) is a waqf, the historical Islamic equivalent of an American trust or endowment, serving Muslims in the United States and their institutions. NAIT facilitates the realization of American Muslims’ desire for a virtuous and happy life in a Shari’ah-compliant way.

In 2007, NAIT was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator along with CAIR in case involving support and financing of terrorist organizations. They own the deed to around 27% of the mosques within the United States. So, when I read the interview with a cleric associated with a NAIT mosque done by WND, I became concerned about some of the connections they had established with the Muslim Brotherhood.

However, current NAIT Chairman Muzammil Siddiqi appears in secret Brotherhood documents as a high-ranking member of its shura council in America, according to documents cited in “Muslim Mafia.”

“Within the organizational structure of NAIT, there have been numerous groups and individuals identified as being part of a covert network of revolutionaries,” the FBI warned in a previously classified internal memo about the Muslim Brotherhood.

“This faction of Muslims have [sic] declared war on the United States, Israel, and any other country they deem as an enemy of Islam,” the memo continues, as quoted in “Muslim Mafia.” “The common bond between these various organizations is both religious and political, with the underlying common goal being to further the holy war (Islamic jihad).”

Justice recently declassified a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood manifesto that lists ICC’s owner NAIT among Brotherhood front groups participating in a seditious conspiracy of “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within” through a “grand jihad,” with the ultimate goal of making Islam “victorious over all religions.”

The secret manifesto was found in a terrorist suspect’s home in Northern Virginia and entered as evidence in the Holy Land Foundation trial.

According to “Muslim Mafia,” NAIT was founded in 1973 with massive funding from the Saudis. It was formed as an investment vehicle for the Muslim Brotherhood in North America, acquiring title to more than 300 mosques and Islamic schools in the U.S.

As readers may recall, last year I did some background work on the Muslim Society of Memphis located on Stratford Road here in Memphis. On June 1, 2009, Carlos Leon Bledsoe a native of Memphis, shot two soldiers outside a recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas, killing one and seriously wounding the other. I located the mosque attended by Bledsoe in Memphis at the Muslim Society of Memphis and attempted to speak with the Imam there with limited success. I was able to locate a member of the mosque who was active online with a Yahoo group known as American Muslim Struggles. I joined the group and found links to a video done by Anwar Al-Awlaki, a Yemeni cleric with direct links to the 9/11 hijackers and a known recruiter for Al Qaeda. Later, this same cleric was learned to be associated with the Fort Hood shooter. Yusuf Sneed is the name a reformed Memphis gang member, Joseph Sneed, took after his ‘jail-house’ conversion to Islam. He protested my earlier posts, so I sent him an email notifying him that I was working another story on the center and gave him the opportunity to respond. He has not responded to the email.

I checked the Shelby County Tax Assessor’s website to see if NAIT held any properties here in Memphis. Low and behold, the Muslim Society of Memphis is on property owned by NAIT. In all, NAIT owns 10 properties, 7 of which are associated with the Muslim Society.

Two of the properties are associated with the Mosque and community center on Stratford Road. The largest parcel (1065 Stratford) was purchased in 1980 and a smaller (1055 Stratford) purchased later in 1996. To the south of the mosque are two smaller properties, one a parking lot (1015 Stratford) purchased in 2001 and a residence (1023 Stratford) bought at the same time. Around the corner from the mosque on McCrory are three small homes also owned by NAIT. One (4615 McCrory) was purchased in 1994, another (4605 McCrory) in 1995, and the third (4619 McCrory) in 1987.

When I visited the area this week, I noted that the homes on McCrory are located next door to one another. They appear to be poorly maintained, but people do live in them as evidenced by cars in the driveway(s). What I did find odd was that some of the windows appeared to be covered with black, or very dark material on the interior. The McCrory properties are also ‘connected’ to the Stratford mosque property via a walkway as shown in the Google Earth imagery below.

The Stratford Road ‘complex’ is obviously quite a bit more than just a mosque.

Another property to my surprise was the mosque located near the U of M campus (3529 Mynders Ave) purchased in 1985. I personally know an Egyptian and Jordanian who worship there and was invited one year to join them at the mosque for a Rhamadan service. So nothing in this post should be construed as an indictment against those who worship at these mosques. Nothing that I have uncovered so far indicates active radical activities by either the worshipers or Imams associated with them (other than Bledsoe and the other individual noted).

The remaining property is an 11 1/4 acre tract of land located 4038 East Shelby Drive (un-developed) purchased in 2002.

What is clear however, is that the tentacles of radical Islam are not limited to some far-away land. Al-Awlaki is still recruiting via YouTube and his followers here in Memphis are still promoting his version of Jihad (note: Yusuf took down his link to Al-Awlaki’s video after we exposed it here at BCR). Local converts to Islam are taking trips to Yemen and other areas under the influence of Al Qaeda and returning with agenda’s unknown. Last year, one of them acted out their version of Jihad on two soldiers in Little Rock.

I should note that all of the anti-American photographs and links to Jihad material have been removed from American Muslim Struggles. Does this mean that those sentiments are no longer felt by the person who originally posted them, or does it simply mean they are going to be more careful about posting such material in the future? I suspect the later since the photographs remained posted until I notified Sneed that I was writing another post on the mosque (they were posted as recent as a few weeks ago when I checked the group).

Memphis death tied to terror? – Investigation into phony driver’s license scheme, 9-11 ties

Tennessee license examiner Katherine Smith’s burned body was found Sunday in the wreckage of a car that appears to have been torched, say authorities. She was to testify the next day before a federal magistrate judge for a detention hearing on a charge of conspiracy to obtain fraudulent identification documents.

Smith and five co-defendants were arrested Feb. 5 after they left a state driver testing station. Prosecutors said Smith had processed four driver’s license applications that morning based on false information provided by co-defendant Khaled Odtllah, 31, of Shelby County.

At Monday’s hearing, federal prosecutor Tim DiScenza described Smith’s death as “most unusual and suspicious.” He also said two of her co-defendants had “connections” to the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

More…

Smith was one of six people charged last week by federal officials with conspiracy to get Tennessee driver’s licenses under false pretenses.

Also charged were Khaled Odtllah, 31, of Shelby County; Sakhera Hammad, 24, of New York City; and Mohammed Fares, Mostafa Said Abou-Shahin and Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad. Authorities didn’t provide ages for the last three and said they admitted being in the country illegally.

At a federal court hearing Monday for Odtllah and Hammad, FBI agent J. Suzanne Nash testified that when Smith was arrested last week she had told authorities she was buying an Acura Legend from Odtllah.

Nash said authorities were trying to determined what caused the car to burn. The gas tank did not explode and the car was only slightly dented from the crash, she said.

Nash also said when Sakhera Hammad was arrested, investigators found a visitor’s pass for the World Trade Center, dated Sept. 5, 2001, in his wallet.

Sakhera Hammad told authorities he was a plumber and worked on the center’s sprinkler system. He said Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad was a cousin who worked with him, Nash said.

Nash said federal authorities also learned that Odtllah had drive to Memphis from New York City on Sept. 11.

Muslim student in Memphis arrested; pilot impersonation materials found in apartment

When FBI agents walked into Mahmoud Maawad’s spartan apartment at 3557 Mynders # 5 on Sept. 9, they found a desk, chair, computer and a Koran.

They also found an airline pilot’s uniform, a chart of Memphis International Airport, and instructional DVDs, including one called “How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act.”

Please note that in this story, Maawad lived just a few doors down from the mosque owned by NAIT at 3539 Mynders.

I certainly hope the FBI is not being so politically correct that they are not keeping a close eye on these operations. They are without a doubt converting some Memphians to Islam with jail house programs. At some point, these same converts are being introduced to radical forms of Islam (Bledsoe a case in point). I think Homeland Security would spend their time more wisely worrying about NAIT and CAIR than with tea party protesters.

Who Needs Rules Anyways? #tcot #teaparty

Those not familiar with the Constitution may not be aware that each House of Congress “may determine the Rules of its Proceedings” as provided for in Article I, Section 5. The basis of these rules are more rooted in tradition than in Constitutional provision. Such is the case for requiring 60 votes to end debate on a Bill and move it forward for an “up-or-down” vote. That is what has up until now served to block ObamaCare.

A string of electoral defeats and the great unpopularity of ObamaCare can’t stop Democrats from their self-appointed rendezvous with liberal destiny—ramming a bill through Congress on a narrow partisan vote. What we are about to witness is an extraordinary abuse of traditional Senate rules to pass a bill merely because they think it’s good for the rest of us, and because they fear their chance to build a European welfare state may never come again. – WSJ

The President and Congress have lost the debate on health care. They are unable to get it through the Senate, even after bribing and paying off a number of Republican Senators. So now, they will simply change the process to suit their needs and ram it through anyways. They have even conceded that it is not what the American people want.

“They know that this will take courage,” Nancy Pelosi said in an interview over the weekend, speaking of the Members she’ll try to strong-arm. “It took courage to pass Social Security. It took courage to pass Medicare,” the Speaker continued. “But the American people need it, why are we here? We’re not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress.”

Personally, I think it is the peak of arrogance for Nancy Pelosi and Congress to tell me what I need, against my objections. A free people do not elect representation to tell them what they need. That is pure and simple fascism in its basic form.

Our regular progressive type had this to say about Senator Bunning exercising dissent in a recent unanimous consent vote.

Is there absolutely no level of anti-democratic, anti-representative obstructionism that you wouldn’t approve of, if it ended in the policy result you prefer?

So for one person to express dissent and not support a measure is “anti-democratic, anti-representative obstructionism“? There is no room for dissent or objection? And now when the Congress moves under the direction of the Executive to violate it’s own established traditions and rules to force through legislation the American people don’t want is somehow “representative” or “democratic”? No sir, it is not even close.

SPLC Says Tea Party has “rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism” #teaparty

Stolen shamelessly from the Ol’ Broad

Move over Austin and James Edwards, the SPLC character assassinations continue…

The anger seething across the American political landscape — over racial changes in the population, soaring public debt and the terrible economy, the bailouts of bankers and other elites, and an array of initiatives by the relatively liberal Obama Administration that are seen as “socialist” or even “fascist” — goes beyond the radical right. The “tea parties” and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups, but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism.

Yes sir, “rich veins of radical ideas” (such as Liberty), “conspiracy theories” (break out yer tin foil hats) and “racism” is exactly what I have encountered at the tea party events I have gone too. When left-wing bloggers photo-shopped pictures of President Bush as the Joker, I did not hear the SPLC screaming “racism”, but let someone dare do the same with President Obama’s picture and we are all racists. Carry around posters of President Bush as Hitler, no problem, paint a mustache on Obama and add a swastika to his shirt sleeve and it is a crime worthy of immersion into a vat of hot oil.

Last year also experienced levels of cross-pollination between different sectors of the radical right not seen in years. Nativist activists increasingly adopted the ideas of the Patriots; racist rants against Obama and others coursed through the Patriot movement; and conspiracy theories involving the government appeared in all kinds of right-wing venues. A good example is the upcoming Second Amendment March in Washington, D.C. The website promoting the march is topped by a picture of a colonial militiaman, and key supporters include Larry Pratt, a long-time militia enthusiast with connections to white supremacists, and Richard Mack, a conspiracy-mongering former sheriff associated with the Patriot group Oath Keepers.

What may be most noteworthy about the march, however, is its date — April 19. That is the date of the first shots fired at Lexington in the Revolutionary War. And it is also the anniversary of the fiery end of the government siege in Waco and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Now who is being a conspiracy theorist? I know the SPLC does not get it, but the “first shots fired at Lexington” were only possible because of the citizen militia and is also the reason for the Second Amendment. The dirty little secret is that the second Amendment was adopted so that citizens could secure the institutions of Liberty for themselves against their own government. I reckon those founding fathers were nothing but a bunch of radical, racist conspiracy theorists.

Every movement will attract some percentage of crazy types. The SPLC is simply following Homeland Defense in trying to characterize the entire group as a bunch of Timothy McVeigh’s in-waiting. Their reasoning is to discredit it as a mainstream political force. As I read the SPLC report in full, I realized that whoever wrote the thing sounds rather full of “hate” to me. Perhaps while searching for “hate groups”, the SPLC should start at its own front doorstep.

It All Sounds Bad To Me

No matter who is doing the proposing, government controlled health care is bad news. President Obama looks to be extending the olive branch to the Republican where health care is concerned. Obama has said that four Republican suggestions were worth exploring. The only idea that anyone has that is worth exploring is for the government to get out of the health care business.

Medicare and Medicaid do not work. Susie has discussed the horrors of dealing with the VA and they are just for vets. Imagine how much trouble we will be dealing with if the government increases the scope of their involvement in health care. For those that want to put a religious spin on this all, health care like charity is a church institution and not of the government. When we figure out that our government is too large and we need to cut back governmental influence in our lives we will all prosper as was intended by our founding fathers. We need our elected officials to be the servants the constitution intended.

Austin

No Pay, No Play #tcot

One Senator, Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky has gathered up the gonads to stand alone against the tide.

Washington (CNN) — Embattled Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky, said Tuesday that he is involved in discussions to help end a stalemate over the extension of unemployment benefits for millions of jobless Americans.

…

The Senate adjourned last week without approving extensions of cash and health insurance benefits for the unemployed after Bunning blocked the measure by insisting that Congress first pay for the $10 billion package.

Of course he is retiring this year, so he can make the stand without paying a political cost. None-the-less, he stands alone with even Republicans having this to say.

Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins quickly moved to separate herself from Bunning and side with the Democratic leader, noting that the issue is “so important to senators on both sides of the aisle.”

She later said Bunning’s views “do not represent the majority of the Republican caucus.”

“Ideally, we would offset this” spending bill, she said. “But I would support it either way because the programs are emergency programs. It’s a very short-term [one month] extension.”

One GOP senator who declined to be identified said Republicans are “furious” with Bunning. “This plays right into the Democratic narrative that we’re obstructionist,” the senator said. “We look insensitive.”

“To say Bunning is not beloved is an understatement,” the senator added.

Now this is why I say that the Republican Party is NOT the hope of the American taxpayer. Out of the whole sorry bunch, only one gets it. This is why WE THE PEOPLE are “furious” with not only Democrats, but Republicans as well. Bunning gets it and obviously the rest of the Republican Senators do not.

I have not been able to reach Senator Bob Corker’s office this afternoon for comment because the phone has been busy for hours. I did reach Senator Lamar Alexander’s office and they assured me that Senator Alexander would be backing up Senator Bunning. ANY spending package that meets resistance on Capitol hill will meet the same out-crys of “people are suffering”. You are damn right they are, and they are known as the American taxpayer!

People, we need to get behind Senator Bunning on this one. If you don’t add your voice to his, those idiots in Washington are just not going to get it.

Update:

I reached Senator Corker’s office and his staff said that Senator Corker did join Senator Bunning on the Senate floor Thursday evening in support of his position.