Saturday, October 24, 2009

$2 Billion For Oil Drilling in Brazil - Oil Give Away To Russia

(Analyst's note:  Absolutely must read.  Please be sure you're sitting down.  I don't often find one that I don't know how to highlight, but this is certainly one such letter.)


Source:  A friend


I put out an article on this several weeks back.  We are getting closer to the U.S. lending $2B to Brazil to drill for oil that they will sell back to us at much higher prices.  Why can't we drill our own oil, not pay Brazil for their oil, and use the profit to help pay off our national debt?  Carbon produced by Brazil and sold to China and oil drilling in Alaska, the foot of the Rockies, and off shore will make the same amount of carbon.  Looks like someone just wants to keep us in debt forever, it serves the administrations needs to keep us poor and them in charge.  Here is the original article. 

I happened to hear on my car radio -- don't know what station -- that President Obama is giving $2 billion to Brazil so they can drill for oil. Furthermore, the company Brazil has selected is owned by George Soros.  Mr. Soros is one of the world's richest men and a major supporter of Democrat candidates, including the President. The first question that comes to mind is how is this possible? It's my understanding that Congress holds the purse strings. Have they voted on this?  And by the way, guess who in Brazil owns the oil company and will be selling it back to the U.S.? You guessed it Obiwan's long time friend and confident, George Soros.  Sound a little fishy to you - it should.  Is it legal?  Ethical? No way.  Friends doing friends favors - more like it. 

Part II:

I received a letter from the Department of State regarding a survey on the State Department Alaska Giveaway.

Right now,  even as I write to you, unelected State Department bureaucrats are negotiating to give away thousands of square miles of sovereign U.S. territory to the thugs that now run Russia - the same kind of thugs who ran the Communist Soviet Union -- and they are doing it right under the nose of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 
 
These bureaucrats are giving away eight strategically and economically vital Alaska Islands that contain billions of barrels of oil, millions of tons of fish, and other seafood.  As well as more million of tons of valuable minerals and ores. 

The Russians then get to sell the U.S. back billions of barrels of our own oil, and add to the $50 million a day we already send to them for oil.  What a horrendous scandal.

If Secretary of State Clinton doesn't immediately move to stop these out of control bureaucrats, Wrangell Island, Herald Island, Bennett Island, Jannette Island, Henrietta Island, Copper Isand, Sea Lion Rock and Sea Otter Rock, with all of their riches - including oil that is worth billions of dollars will soon be part of Russia, not America.

And our only hope to stop this giveaway is to convince Secretary Clinton that we will never allow this illegal and immoral giveaway.  Please find a way to write to Hilliary and tell her she cannot let this happen. 

My Note: Again we see the current administration giving away oil and resources that we could use to buy down our debt.  But they see fit to give it away and keep us poor.  They use the excuse that  we are going away from oil.  I can tell you that China, Russia and many other nations are not going away from oil.  They are working very hard to bury this country into even more debt and cause a total collapse.  You must write to your representatives on these matters. 

By the way, this is nothing that can be blamed on GWB.  It is all happening in the current administration and being done on purpose to keep us down, and keep us from recovering and boosting the U.S. dollar. 

The gangsters are working hard to drive us to socialism and ruination.

If anyone has a rational reason why we are giving all this oil up for free to be sold back to the U.S. at higher prices I will like to hear from you.  Until I find a rational explanation it is a plain and simple matter of purposely ruining the country for unethical, illegal, long-range political gains.

Tony

Swine flu emergency! What does that mean? Is president's proclamation formality, or institution of Obama martial law?

(Analyst's note:  We all will be watching what is possibly a troubling development.) 


By Drew Zahn

President Obama announced today that he has a declared a "national emergency" over the H1N1 virus, a phrase with an ominous sound, but with little explanation offered by the mainstream media.



The Associated Press, for example, merely stated that the declaration removes "bureaucratic roadblocks" and enables officials to "bypass federal rules." Other news outlets were even vaguer, saying the declaration waived federal requirements, but not saying what those requirements govern.

In the void of information, Internet rumors were quick to flame, centering on concerns over how the Obama administration might use the declared emergency to suddenly expand government power.

"Obama
just declared H1N1 a national emergency," wrote a WND reader in an email, "Here we go with martial law."

An article by Kurt Nimmo of InfoWars took the worry a step further, wondering if the White House's declaration engaged certain measures of the National Emergencies Act:
"In the weeks ahead," Nimmo writes, "we may witness a move toward martial law, forced vaccination and internment of those who refuse."


But even if there really is a plot to manipulate the H1N1 virus scare into enforcing a sweeping expansion of federal power, today's "national emergency" falls far short of martial law.

In fact, the laws enacted by the president's proclamation do little more than clear administrative hurdles for quicker processing of Medicare payments, and the very provisions of the National Emergencies Act that the president cited in his proclamation actually limit the power his administration can take. 

I, Barack Obama
, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including sections 201 and 301 of the National Emergencies Act … do hereby find and proclaim that, given that the rapid increase in illness across the nation may overburden health care resources and that the temporary waiver of certain standard federal requirements may be warranted in order to enable U.S. health care facilities to implement emergency operations plans, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States constitutes a national emergency.

Section 201 of the National Emergencies Act, however, simply requires the president to inform Congress in writing when a national emergency is declared – which he did today, after signing the declaration last night.

Section 301 forbids the president from taking up any powers of the National Emergencies Act save those he lists in the proclamation of emergency, requiring him to "specify the provisions of law under which he proposes that he, or other officers will act."
And what powers did Obama specify?

"I hereby declare," the proclamation states, "that the secretary [of Health and Human Services] may exercise the authority under section 1135 of the [Social Security Act]."Section 1135, in turn, allows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, to review on a case-by-case basis applications from health care providers who wish certain restrictions be waived.

According to an explanation prepared by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, those restrictions that can be waived include:
  • Certification requirements for some doctors to be paid by Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP programs
  • Pre-approval requirements for some services
  • Requirements that doctors be licensed in the same state they're practicing in order to get federal payments
  • Sanctions against moving patients to alternate facilities
  • A handful of other requirements governing how medical providers are paid.
In fact, the most ominous provision of a Section 1135 waiver may be alterations to HIPAA privacy regulations.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services explains that under a declared emergency, facilities granted a Section 1135 waiver no longer need to obtain a patient's agreement to speak with family members or friends involved in the patient's care, no longer need to distribute a notice of their privacy practices and no longer need to honor the patient's right to request privacy restrictions or confidential communications.

"For example," an HHS document on HIPAA explains, "an individual may request that her health care provider call her at her office, rather than her home. A health care provider must accommodate an individual's reasonable request for such confidential communications."
With a Section 1135 waiver granted by the CMS in a declared emergency, however, the provider need not accommodate the request in the example of calling the patient at her office.President Obama justified the national emergency proclamation with the following words:
By rapidly identifying the virus, implementing public health measures, providing guidance for health professionals and the general public, and developing an effective vaccine, we have taken proactive steps to reduce the impact of the pandemic and protect the health of our citizens. As a nation, we have prepared at all levels of government, and as individuals and communities, taking unprecedented steps to counter the emerging pandemic.

Nevertheless, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic continues to evolve. The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities.

Thus, in recognition of the continuing progression of the pandemic, and in further preparation as a nation, we are taking additional steps to facilitate our response.



Obama declares swine flu a national emergency

By PHILIP ELLIOTT

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients.

The declaration, signed Friday night and announced Saturday, comes with the disease more prevalent than ever in the country and production delays undercutting the government's initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses of the vaccine could be available by mid-October.

Health authorities say more than 1,000 people in the United States, including almost 100 children, have died from the strain of flu known as H1N1, and 46 states have widespread flu activity. So far only 11 million doses have gone out to health departments, doctor's offices and other providers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials.

Administration officials said the declaration was a pre-emptive move designed to make decisions easier when they need to be made. Officials said the move was not in response to any single development.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius now has authority to bypass federal rules when opening alternative care sites, such as offsite hospital centers at schools or community centers if hospitals seek permission.

Some hospitals have opened drive-thrus and drive-up tent clinics to screen and treat swine flu patients. The idea is to keep infectious people out of regular emergency rooms and away from other sick patients.

Hospitals could modify patient rules — for example, requiring them to give less information during a hectic time — to quicken access to treatment, with government approval, under the declaration.
It also addresses a financial question for hospitals — reimbursement for treating people at sites not typically approved. For instance, federal rules do not allow hospitals to put up treatment tents more than 250 yards away from the doors; if the tents are 300 yards or more away, typically federal dollars won't go to pay for treatment.

Administration officials said those rules might not make sense while fighting the swine flu, especially if the best piece of pavement is in the middle of a parking lot and some medical centers already are putting in place parts of their emergency plans.

The national emergency declaration was the second of two steps needed to give Sebelius extraordinary powers during a crisis.

On April 26, the administration declared swine flu a public health emergency, allowing the shipment of roughly 12 million doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile to states in case they eventually needed them. At the time, there were 20 confirmed cases in the U.S. of people recovering easily. There was no vaccine against swine flu, but the CDC had taken the initial step necessary for producing one.

"As a nation, we have prepared at all levels of government, and as individuals and communities, taking unprecedented steps to counter the emerging pandemic," Obama wrote in Saturday's declaration.

He said the pandemic keeps evolving, the rates of illness are rising rapidly in many areas and there's a potential "to overburden health care resources."

The government now hopes to have about 50 million doses of swine flu vaccine out by mid-November and 150 million in December. The flu virus has to be grown in chicken eggs, and the yield hasn't been as high as was initially hoped, officials have said.

"Many millions" of Americans have had swine flu so far, according to an estimate that CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden gave Friday. The government doesn't test everyone to confirm swine flu so it doesn't have an exact count. He also said there have been more than 20,000 hospitalizations.

Obama's plan to stop atomic Iran: Help them enrich their uranium


Iran said Friday it would respond next week to a U.S.-backed plan that would have Tehran send out much of its stockpiled nuclear fuel by the end of this year.
Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, had set Friday as a deadline for Iran's reply.

U.S. officials said they were willing to give Tehran more time but that their patience had limits.
"We can stretch things for a few days," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. "But we're not going to wait forever."

Iran specialists said that divisions within the Tehran government were partly responsible for the delay and that some Iranians were having trouble digesting a proposal that would send out of the country about 2,600 pounds of partly processed uranium - nearly 80 percent of the material it has taken Iran many years to amass.

"It's a gamble for [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad," said Kaveh Afrasiabi, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator now in the United States.

Under the deal, Russia is to further process the uranium and send it back to Iran for use in an old U.S.-supplied research reactor that makes medical isotopes.....

Mass Amnesty to illegal Aliens

By Chris Chmielenski

Two new polls reveal that Americans favor lower immigration numbers, stronger border and interior enforcement, and oppose giving amnesty to the 12-18 million illegal aliens currently living in the United States. While Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) works on a “comprehensive immigration reform” bill that would provide a mass amnesty to illegal aliens and increase America’s overly generous immigration numbers, Americans want a very different solution.

Over the past several months, the Department of Homeland Security has shifted workplace enforcement efforts from illegal workers to the employers that hire them. They’ve also weakened the 287(g) program that allows local and state law enforcement agents to receive federal immigration training so they are able to enforce America’s immigration laws. But Americans disagree with both moves.

Sixty-four percent of respondents want local police officers to conduct raids where illegal aliens routinely gather to find work. Only 19% oppose these raids. Back in March, Rasmussen asked the same question, and 24% of Americans opposed worksite raids. During these tough economic times, though, Americans are realizing the impact of 8 million illegal aliens in the workforce and want something done about it.

When asked if the employers who hire illegal aliens should be arrested too, 71% of Americans thought they should. That’s up from 68% back in March. The survey also asked if Americans believed that U.S. immigration policy encouraged illegal immigration, and 56% thought it did.

A separate poll conducted by CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation revealed that 73% of Americans want to see a decrease in the number of illegal aliens in the United States. CNN has asked the same question since 2006 and this is the largest number of Americans calling for a decrease. In January 2008, only 65% of Americans thought the number should be reduced.

Another question asked respondents if they wanted all illegal aliens deported, and 37% said yes. That, too, was the highest number in the poll's history. According to CNN’s polling director, three of four regions support the deportation of illegal aliens. Only the West had fewer respondents think that deportation was a solution. You can see many more poll results on our website by rolling your mouse over the “Resources” menu and selecting “public opinion polls.” The polls are organized into 11 different categories, which are listed in the left margin on the polls page.

Military Pay

Source:  A friend

(This Cindy  Williams is NOT the "Laverne & Shirley" Cindy Williams.  She
 is a Assistant  Director for national Security in the Congressional  Budget
 Office)

Military  Pay

This is an Airman's response  to Cindy Williams' editorial piece in  the
Washington Times about  MILITARY PAY; it should be printed in  all
newspapers across  America.

Ms. Cindy Williams wrote a  piece for the Washington Times, denouncing  the
pay raise(s) coming service  members' way this year citing that she  stated
13% wage increase was more  than they deserve.

A young airman from Hill AFB  responds to her article below. He ought  to
get a bonus for  this.

Ms  Williams:

I just had the pleasure of  reading your column, "Our GIs earn enough"  and
I am a bit confused.  Frankly, I'm wondering where this  vaunted
overpayment is going,  because as far as I can tell, it disappears  every
month between DFAS (The  Defense Finance and Accounting Service) and  my
bank  account.

Checking my latest earnings  statement I see that I make $1,117.80  before
taxes per month. After  taxes, I take home $874.20. When I run  that
through the calculator, I  come up with an annual salary of  $13,413.60
before taxes, and  $10,490.40, after.

I work in the Air Force  Network Control Center where I am part of  the
team
 responsible  for a 5,000 host computer network. I am involved  with
infrastructure segments,  specifically with Cisco Systems  equipment.

A quick check under jobs For  Network Technicians in the Washington,  D.C.
area reveals a position in  my career field, requiring three years
experience with my job.  Amazingly, this job does NOT pay $13,413.60  a
year.

No, this job is being  offered at $70,000 to $80,000 per  annum............
I'm sure you can draw the  obvious conclusions.

Given the tenor of your  column, I would assume that you NEVER had  the
pleasure of serving your  country in her armed forces.

Before you take it upon  yourself to once more castigate congressional  and
DOD leadership for  attempting to get the families in the  military's
lowest
 pay brackets  off of WIC and food stamps, I suggest that you join a  group
of deploying soldiers headed  for AFGHANISTAN; I leave the choice of
service branch up to  you.

Whatever choice you make,  though, opt for the SIX month rotation: it  will
guarantee you the longest  possible time away from your family and
friends,
 thus giving  you full "deployment experience."

As your group prepares to  board the plane, make sure to note the  spouses
and children who are saying  good-bye to their loved ones. Also take  care
to note that several  families are still unsure of how they'll be able  to
make ends meet while the  primary breadwinner is gone.

Obviously they've been  squandering the "vast" piles of cash  the
government
 has been  giving them.

Try to deploy over a major  holiday; Christmas and Thanksgiving are
perennial favorites. And  when you're actually over there, sitting in  a
foxhole, shivering against  the cold desert night; and the flight  sergeant
tells you that there aren't  enough people on shift to relieve you  for
chow, remember this: trade  whatever MRE (meal-ready-to-eat) you manage  to
get for the tuna noodle  casserole or cheese tortellini, and add  Tabasco
to
 everything.  This gives some flavor.

Talk to your loved ones as  often as you are permitted; it won't nearly  be
long enough or often enough,  but take what you can get and be  thankful
for
 it. You may  have picked up on the fact that I disagree with most of  the
points you present in your  opened piece.

But, tomorrow from KABUL, I  will defend to the death your right to  say
it.

You see, I am an American  fighting man, a guarantor of your First
Amendment rights and every  other right you cherish. On a daily basis,  my
brother and sister soldiers  worldwide ensure that you and people like  you
can thumb your collective  nose at us, all on a salary that is  nothing
short of pitiful and under  conditions that would make most people  cringe.
We hemorrhage our best and  brightest into the private sector because  we
can't offer the stability  and pay of civilian companies.

And you, Ms. Williams, have  the gall to say that we make more than  we
deserve? Rubbish & ...!

A1C Michael Bragg Hill AFB  AFNCC


IF YOU AGREE, PLEASE PASS  THIS ALONG TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE  AND
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT OF THE  AMERICAN FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN.

THANK  YOU

Obama offers multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations

by Robert Spencer


Surely this will end the jihad, eh? Unfortunately, Obama (like everyone else in Washington) never seems to consider the possibility that the jihad rages against the West for reasons that arise from Islamic theology, not because of anything we can correct by showering goodies upon Muslim nations -- goodies that may well end up being used against the United States. "Obama offers millions in Muslim technology fund," from AFP, October 23 (thanks to Pamela):
WASHINGTON -- The White House Friday highlighted a new multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations, following a pledge made by President Barack Obama in his landmark speech to the Islamic world.

The White House said the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) had issued a call for proposals for the fund, which will provide financing of between 25 and 150 million dollars for selected projects and funds.

The Global Technology and Innovation Fund will "catalyze and facilitate private sector investments" throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa, the White House said in a statement.
Eligible projects would advance economic opportunity and create jobs in areas like technology, education, telecoms, media, business services and clean technology, the White House said.
OPIC said sample projects could help foster the development of new computer technology or telecommunications businesses, or widen access to broadband Internet services....

Report identifies top thieves of U.S. secrets Judicial Watch said Justice Department docs cite Iran, China

from WorldNetDaily

Counterespionage agents for the United States government are reporting that the nations cited most often as stealing – or trying to steal – U.S. military equipment and technology are China and Iran.
The report comes from Judicial Watch, the Washington public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption.

The organization says it filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Justice Department records concerning incidents of theft of sensitive U.S. military equipment and technology.

The documents from the Justice Department's National Security Division included a report titled "Significant Export Control Cases Since September 2001" which was written by the Counter Espionage Section and lists a series of cases. ....

FCC not only agency seeking media regulation Obama chief Sunstein drew up 'New Deal Fairness Doctrine'

By Aaron Klein

The Federal Communications Commission's unanimous support yesterday for a rule that would open the door to government regulation of the Internet has raised the concern of free speech advocates, but there are other members of the Obama administration who support similar measures.

The president's newly confirmed regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein, drew up a "First Amendment New Deal," a new "fairness doctrine" that would include the establishment of a panel of "nonpartisan experts" to ensure "diversity of view" on the airwaves.

Sunstein compared the need for the government to regulate broadcasting to the moral obligation of the U.S. to impose new rules that outlawed segregation.

Sunstein's radical proposal, set forth in his 1993 book "The Partial Constitution," received no news media attention and little scrutiny.

In the book – obtained and reviewed by WND – Sunstein outwardly favors and promotes the "fairness doctrine," the abolished FCC policy that required holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance in a manner the government deemed was "equitable and balanced." ....

Insider reveals secrets of North America plot No 'conspiracy theory,' scheme hatched by CFR was sold to Bush, now Obama

By Jerome R. Corsi
 





NEW YORK – The integration of the United States with Canada and Mexico, long deemed by many as little more than a fanciful "conspiracy theory," was actually an idea promoted by the Council on Foreign Relations and sold to President Bush as a means of increasing commerce and business interests throughout North America, according to a top Canadian businessman.

Thomas d’Aquino, CEO and president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives – the Canadian counterpart to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – confirmed in an interview recently published in Canada the accuracy of what WND first reported over three years ago: namely, that the Council on Foreign Relations was the prime mover in establishing the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP.

Published by the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel Oct. 4, the d’Aquino interview verifies that the creation of the SPP was not a "conspiracy theory" but a well-thought-out North American integration plan launched by his organization, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, along with the Council on Foreign Relations in the United States. 

According to d'Aquino, President Obama wants to continue North American integration under the renamed North American Leaders Summit, provided the North American Competitiveness Council can be recast to include more environmentalists and union leaders.   ....

How news media protect Muslim Mafia Coverage of lawmakers' charges ignores terror ties

By Art Moore




MSNBC's Rachel Maddow mocks Republican House members who concerned about the influence of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Capitol Hill
 Is the Council on American-Islamic Relations merely a civil rights organization exercising its constitutional right to lobby on Capitol Hill like hundreds of other non-profit organizations?

That's the way Politico and other mainstream news outlets have portrayed CAIR – despite the FBI's decision this year to cut off ties to the Muslim group after its designation by the Department of Justice as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the largest terrorist-finance case in U.S. history.

In its coverage of a press conference on Capitol Hill in which four Republican House members presented an internal CAIR document revealed in the new WND Books release "Muslim Mafia" that shows the group sought to place interns in the intelligence, homeland security and judiciary committees, Politico characterized the document as a "fairly straightforward public relations and lobbying strategy."

There was no mention of the undisputed fact that along with CAIR's designation as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, many of its leaders and prominent supporters have been convicted in terrorism-related cases.

FBI officials have testified CAIR's parent group, the Islamic Association for Palestine, was founded as a front group for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. And evidence from the FBI presented at the Holy Land trial showed CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad and founder Omar Awad participated in a three-day summit in 1993 of U.S.-based Hamas members and supporters.

Wiretaps revealed Ahmad argued for using Muslims as an "entry point" to "pressure Congress and the decision makers in America" to change U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York – who has described CAIR as an organization "which we know has ties to terrorism" – formally supported the FBI's divorce with CAIR in a letter to the agency's director signed with Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

In 2007, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California withdrew an award to the head of CAIR's Sacramento chapter, citing "concerns" about the group's associations. She explained her office had not thoroughly researched CAIR.

Internal e-mails, according to "Muslim Mafia," show CAIR debated going "all out against" Boxer in a smear campaign but decided against it because she's a popular Democrat, and CAIR didn't think it could make an attack "hurt her enough."

The Politico story, despite its lack of any reference to the controversy surrounding CAIR, apparently has become a template for some media.  ....

Anita Dunn's Husband Emerging as Top Contender to Replace White House Counsel

Bob Bauer, the top lawyer for the Democratic National Committee and husband of White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, is under serious consideration to replace Greg Craig.

Ex-FBI director Freeh granted Italian citizenship

(Associated Press) Louis Freeh, the former head of the FBI, is now an Italian citizen. An announcement on the embassy's Web site says Freeh was granted citizenship based on his close work with Italian authorities in fighting organized crime ...

Many Americans now plan to work past 67

(Time) About two-thirds of American workers now believe they'll have to delay their retirement by at least one year, with 27% expecting to work at least five years longer than planned ...

The bull under the bailout

(Washington Examiner) One year later, a little-noted report by the GAO questions whether the bailout saved anything other than the jobs of greedy Wall Street executives and the political hides of their protectors ...

Obama: Policy 'czars' won't testify before Congress

(Washington Times) Senators said it goes against the president's promises of transparency and openness and treads on Congress' constitutional mandate to investigate the administration's actions ...

Video: MSNBC’s Matthews Compares Religious Right to Taliban -- Frank Gaffney and Ron Reagan Spar





Video: Cheaters overlooked in Obama's homebuyer credit program



V

Will Our Government Ever Secure Our Borders and Shore Up the Immigration System?

by Michael Cutler

What is being lost in the debate on immigration is the reason that our nation has immigration laws in the first place.  ....

Exclusive: Al Qaeda's North African Connection (Part Three of Three)

by Adrian Morgan

In a pattern that has continued through to this year, the group has killed foreigners in brutal manners resembling the actions of the early GIA (Groupe Islamique Armé). ....

When Ideology Masks Ignorance

by Frank Salvato

Our mainstream informational outlets have failed in their duties to inform and to cultivate critical thinking skills. Recent examples of pervasive ignorance among the electorate prove the point. ....

After giving a talk to a group of family values minded Freeport, Illinois area residents addressing three major threats facing the United States – which I term “The Perfect Storm,” and a solution to a problem that safeguards the US Constitution, I found myself personally and ideologically assailed by a letter-writer to a local newspaper, a Ms. Patricia Wemstrom. I take issue with her critique not only because she mischaracterized each and every point that I made at the event, but also because she wasn't even in attendance.
 
The critique was caustic and hateful in nature:
 
“I am surprised by the hatred, bigotry and lack of knowledge expressed by Frank Salvato in the front page story of Oct. 18. (“Speaker Warns of Threats”) It seems to me the danger to this country rest not so much in ‘Radical Islam,' but in people like Salvato.”
 
Such explosive rhetoric emanating from a person who wasn't in attendance and who never attempted to contact me for any clarification leads me to believe – through the context of experience – that Ms. Wemstrom is not only of the Progressive or Liberal political ideology but, also, either uneducated on the issues, disingenuous and partisan in her approach, or both.
 
Although out of order of presentation I will attempt to clarify the misinformation presented by Ms. Wemstrom...in the interest of truth and education.
 
On a personal note, if Ms. Wemstrom would have bothered to research anything about me or my past at all she would have understood that I spent years as a professional jazz and blues musician having studied and performed with people of every race, ideology and gender. If I were to be racist – which Ms. Wemstrom supposes without proof – I contend I would have been the only “racist” to have been hired to play with Black jazz greats...but I digress from the subject at hand.
 
Ms. Wemstrom goes on to allege that I incited:
 
“...hatred of an ethnic group, almost all of whom are loyal Americans and law-abiding citizens...Salvato seems to want to stir up hatred against Muslims, even to the point of having us worry about their birth rate.”
 
Interesting.
 
In discussing the threat of radical Islam and encroaching fundamentalist Islam I discussed the actions and desires of those who adhere to the Wahabbist ideology, those who have pledged allegiance to jihadist terror organizations that have vowed to violently attack the United States and those who would embrace the implementation of Sharia Law into the American culture.
 
In discussing these topics I stressed – in no uncertain terms – that the solution to this violent and totalitarian strain of Islam should and must come from within the Muslim community, perhaps in the form of religious reformation in which the violent tenets of Islam are expunged from the dogma. I stressed that the idea of dictating a solution for this international epidemic to the Islamic community would be in error because it conveys disrespect and, in Islamic culture, great insult. Of course, anyone in attendance would have understood this.
 
In expressing the idea of cultural demographics with regard to reproduction I expressed that the birthrate among Europeans (1.5) and Westerners (2.1) is significantly less than that among Muslims (4.4). This is a fact that cannot be disputed. Because radical and fundamentalist Islamists represent 10% to 20% of the Islamist population, this information is significant. It is also significant in the face of the cultural conflicts currently facing individual nations in Europe.
 
In Britain, fundamentalist Islamists – whose global numbers grow in proportion with the general global Muslim population – are demanding that the British Parliament incorporate Sharia Law into British Law, saying:
 
“We hereby request all Muslims in the United Kingdom...to join us and collectively declare that as submitters to Almighty Allah, we have had enough of democracy and man-made law and the depravity of the British culture. On this day we will call for a complete upheaval of the British ruling system its members and legislature, and demand the full implementation of Shari'ah in Britain.”
 
Further, in communities here in the United States that are predominantly Muslim, there is a push by fundamentalists to create Sharia councils in order to find remedy for cultural issues within their Muslim communities. These councils would take their guidance from...Sharia Law. These requests of local government have taken place in several locations around the United States including Dearborn, Michigan.
 
It needs to be pointed out that under strict Sharia Law, women are considered possessions and are deemed less than a man in worth and ability. The fundamentalist Islamic culture embraces the practice of stoning to punish adultery, which can be as simple as having a conversation with an unrelated man in public. Honor killings, which are publicly decried, are more common than not and are even taking place right here in the United States. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Taliban fundamentalists – radical Islamists or fundamentalist Islamists – routinely set fire to girls' schools and young women who dare to self-educate are often killed. Women who refuse to wear the hijab or burqa are often attacked by men who throw acid into their faces. Many women commit suicide or runaway rather that subject themselves to the brutality inflicted upon them in the name of fundamentalist Islamic “honor.” These facts cannot be disputed but by those who embrace ignorance and/or cowardice to the truth.
 
Further, over the time that I have been advocating for the education of the American public where the religion of Islam is concerned – with an onus on radical and fundamentalist Islam – I have come to know many Arabs, Persians, Muslims and former Muslims whom I admire and consult. From Syrian-born Wafa Sultan, Lebanese-born Brigitte Gabriel and Iranian-born Amil Imani to former Palestinian terrorist Whalid Shoebat, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Dr. Walid Phares and Director of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, I count them all among my professional cohorts and personal friends. To suggest I incite hatred toward the general Muslim population is not only ludicrous it is border-line slanderous. It is certainly an uninformed and ignorant assertion.
 
Ms. Wemstrom goes on to question why I would include groups like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU into a group described as The American Fifth Column, a group associated with the advancement of neo-Marxism in the United States.
 
History provides the facts – and they cannot be denied – that founders of both organizations were Marxists and Socialists and sought to advance neo-Marxism into American society to the detriment to the concepts of liberty and freedom as established by our Founders and Framers as derived from the great Western philosophers the likes of Cicero, Aristotle, Hobbes and Locke, among many others.
 
In the 1930s, Roger Baldwin and the ACLU allied with the Popular Front movement, which was engendered by Stalin to strengthen the Communist Party by allowing it to make common cause with Socialists and other leftist groups. Baldwin himself made two trips to the Soviet Union and in 1928 published a book entitled Liberty Under the Soviets, which contained effusive praise for the USSR.
 
Margaret Sanger, the founder of the American Birth Control League, which later became Planned Parenthood, was an avowed Socialist who blamed what she perceived as the evils of contemporary capitalism for the conditions of young white working-class women. Her very personal views on this issue are well expressed in the last pages of What Every Girl Should Know.
 
That Ms. Wemstrom would cherry-pick statements presented in an 872 word newspaper report of an event that spanned the better part of a two-hour-plus presentation, and then craft an uneducated argument on subjects she clearly knows little about, stands as a monument to knee-jerk reactions everywhere. That people would consider her unqualified and ill-informed diatribe as something to champion presents as proof positive that our mainstream informational outlets and educational institutions have failed in their duties to accurately inform and to cultivate critical thinking skills respectively. In Ms. Wemstrom's case they have failed miserably.



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