Romney & Birth Control: Flip Flopping Again?

Mitt Romney has said the Obama administration is intruding on religious freedom by moving to require religious–affiliated employers to cover contraception services in their health insurance plans.

When confronted with a similar law as governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Romney didn’t raise objections on religious or moral grounds, say people who worked in his administration or in health care interest groups there.

Rather, he viewed the contraception requirement more in economic terms, as only one of many costly “mandates” that some believed were driving up the price of insurance and suppressing competition, according to these people.

Now a Republican presidential candidate, …

Read more at Wall Street Journal Online HERE.

Holder Finally Speaks Truth and Tells Congress Obama Goal to Ban Guns

Eric Holder, the top law enforcement officer in the nation has a proven track record of lying to Congress and the American people. Some members of Congress have been debating on whether or not to cite the US Attorney General for contempt of Congress for his testimony, or lack thereof, before them on Operation Fast and Furious.

Ever since the botched guns to Mexican drug cartels fiasco was made public, documentation proves that Holder has continuously lied about his knowledge of the operation. Even when presented with irrefutable evidence of his knowledge, he sat before Congress and lied to their faces without batting an eye.

I watched part of Holder’s testimony before Congress and his whole mannerism was that of a pathological liar. One of my close family members is a pathological liar who believes their lies to be the truth once they leave their lips and it is virtually impossible to convince them otherwise. I confronted the family member with a tape recording of their lie and they stood there and denied it was them or the tape was real. I saw that same trait in America’s top cop.

Yet, most likely without realizing it, Holder actually told the truth for once when he admitted to Congress that Obama wants to reinstate a ban on assault weapons,

“This administration has consistently favored the reinstitution of the assault weapons ban. It is something that we think was useful in the past with regard to the reduction that we’ve seen in crime, and certainly would have a positive impact on our relationship and the crime situation in Mexico.”

Chris Cox, Executive Director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, summed up Holder’s statement and actions this way,

“The Obama administration — particularly Eric Holder’s Justice Department — oversaw an epic scandal whereby our own federal government illegally funneled thousands of firearms into the hands of Mexican drug lords. This contributed to the death of one U.S. Border Patrol agent and hundreds of Mexicans.

Read More at Godfather Politics By Da Tagliare, Godfather Politics

Group Forces Congressional Hearing On Big Sis’ Twitter, Drudge Spying

A privacy advocacy group has swayed Congress to hold a hearing next week into the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of monitoring social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as media reports and organizations, including The Drudge Report.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently obtained close to 300 pages of documents, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, detailing the federal agency’s “intelligence gathering” practices on the web.

Among the documents were guidelines from DHS instructing outside contractors to monitor the web for media reports and comments that “reflect adversely” on the agency or the federal government.

As Reuters reported last month, in early 2010 contractors were asked to spend 24 hours monitoring news media coverage on popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks, as well as news sites including the Huffington Post and The Drudge Report.

The contractors were required to provide the DHS with feedback on any potential “threats and hazards”, as well as “any media reports that reflect adversely on the U.S. Government and the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) ability to prevent, protect and respond, to recovery efforts or activities related to any crisis or events which impact National Planning Scenarios.”

Read More at infowars.com By Steve Watson, infowars.com

New World Bank Report Shows Large Public Sectors Reduce Economic Growth

When Ronald Reagan said that big government undermined the economy, some people dismissed his comments because of his philosophical belief in liberty.

And when I discuss my work on the economic impact of government spending, I often get the same reaction.

This is why it’s important that a growing number of establishment outfits are slowly but surely coming around to the same point of view.

The European Central Bank published a study showing “…a significant negative effect of the size of government on growth.”

A study by two Harvard economists found that “large adjustments in fiscal policy, if based on well-targeted spending cuts, have often led to expansions.”

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development noted in recent research that welfare programs are economically destructive because they lure people into dependency because “net disposable income would increase despite putting in fewer hours.”

A study from the International Monetary Fund concluded that “Cuts to pension and health entitlements had the most beneficial effect on economic growth.”

Read More at Big Government By Dan Mitchell, Big Government

Low Turnout and the Big Tune-Out

The Romney campaign is better at dismantling than mantling. They’re better at taking opponents apart than building a compelling candidate of their own. They do not seem capable of deepening his meaning, making his stands and statements more textured and interesting. He comes across like a businessman who studied the data and came up with the formula that will make the deal.

A particular problem is that he betrays little indignation at any of our problems and their causes. He’s always sunny, pleasant, untouched by anger. This leaves people thinking, “Excuse me, but we are in crisis. Financially and culturally we fear our country is going down the drain. This guy doesn’t seem to be feeling it. So why’s he running? Maybe he thinks it’s his personal destiny to be president. But if the animating passion of his candidacy is about him, not us, who needs him?”

Mitt Romney’s aides are making the classic mistake of thinking the voters want maturity, serenity and a jolly spirit. What they want is a man who knows what time it is, who has a passion to reform our country, and who yet holds these qualities within a temperament that is mature, serene and jolly. Newt Gingrich has half the package: He has a passion to reform, but it exists inside a crazy suit. Mitt has no particular passion within an obviously sane suit.

Which leads to Rick Santorum. Nobody in the conservative base hates Rick. Newt is hated by many and Mitt by some. Mr. Santorum is liked. He has real indignation about what’s happened to America, and he brings passion to his ideas about reform. He’s got little money, little organization—there’s no broad assumption he can pull it off. And by the time the Romney campaign is done dismantling him, he may have some people who hate him. But this will only underscore the Romney campaign’s reputation for destroying, not creating. And nobody loves a Death Star.

Newt’s not done and could rise again. I keep thinking of what a sage old pol, a veteran former GOP governor, said two weeks ago. He turned to me in conversation and said, “By the way, don’t call it a brokered convention. That’s what the media and the Democrats will call it because it implies there are brokers. Call it a contested convention because that’s what it will be, contested.” Could it really come to that? The odds, he said, are still way against it. “But they’re probably the best in my lifetime.”

Read More at The Wall Street Journal By Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal

Worried conservatives descend on Washington’s CPAC

Bound by a common desire to deny President Obama a second term, restive activists gathering Thursday for the 39th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington find themselves lacking a clear champion in the suddenly scrambled Republican race to choose an alternative.

CPAC attendees — expected to number more than 6,000 from across the country — pride themselves on maintaining varying degrees of independence from the GOP. The three-day gathering kicks off two days after primaries and caucuses in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri raised doubts once again among conservative voters about presumed GOP front-runner Mitt Romney.

Rick Santorum, a social conservative and the big winner in Tuesday’s vote, “has energized his supporters and the family-issue conservatives coming to CPAC,” said Floyd Brown, president of the Western Center for Journalism, a conservative watchdog group, who works with conservative and tea party activists across the country.

“His victories may be a surprise to the GOP elite in Washington, D.C., but conservatives and tea party activists outside the Beltway are not ready to accept the designated Beltway choice, Mitt Romney,” Mr. Brown said.

Added Donald J. Devine, a conservative author and former Reagan administration official, “The mood of conservatives is disappointment that their candidates for president are so weak. They are probably confident they’ll win the White House even with these candidates, although I am not confident.

Read More at The Washington Times By Ralph Z. Hallow, The Washington Times

Radio Host Unloads on Romney

Right-leaning radio host Mark Levin launched a scathing attack on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney today, labeling the former Massachusetts governor “sleazy” and “poisonous.”

On his Facebook page today, Levin tells Romney, “Conservatives have had enough of your sleazy campaign tactics.”

Levin pointed to a CNN report, which noted that in the wake of Rick Santorum’s three-state sweep yesterday in presidential primaries and caucuses, Romney would be taking a tougher approach with the former Pennsylvania senator, looking to paint him as a Washington insider.

Read More at WND By Joe Kovacs, WorldNetDaily

Who’s really behind atrocities in Syria? News media painting one-sided picture.

The news media yesterday was rife with reports accusing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces of killed at least 67 civilians in the rebel stronghold of Homs.

The reports were the latest claims charging Assad’s soldiers and militiamen engaged in whole scale atrocities against unarmed civilians.

The vast majority of reports rely on claims by local, unnamed activists.

Many English-language news reports of recent events in Syria reviewed by KleinOnline fail to quote the Syrian side, which claims armed terrorists, including Islamists, provoked Syrian forces and drew fire into civilian zones.

Syria also says the terrorists are behind the killing of civilians.

Read More at Klein Online By Aaron Klein