CPAC and the ‘Gay Conservatives’

Photo Credit: AmericanSolutions

The term “gay conservative” is being used by some news outlets in connection with the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and whether certain homosexual groups should be invited to appear. There is no such thing as a “gay conservative,” unless the term “conservative” has lost all meaning. But there is a homosexual movement that has its roots in Marxism and is characterized by anti-Americanism and hatred of Christian values.

Two of this movement’s members, Bradley Manning and Floyd Corkins, have recently been in the news. Manning betrayed his country in the WikiLeaks scandal, while Corkins has pleaded guilty to trying to kill conservative officials of the Christian Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.

Rather than debate whether “gay conservatives” exist or ought to have prominent speaking roles, CPAC should be sponsoring a panel on the dangers of the homosexual movement and why some of its members seem prone to violence, terror, and treason.

Since I started out in Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) in high school, I know something about the conservative movement. It seems clear that the homosexuals are trying to make inroads in the Republican Party through the conservative movement. No one can seriously dispute this. That is partly what the CPAC controversy is all about. But the fate of a political party is not only what is in jeopardy. Historian Paul Johnson knows something about why nations fail, and he says one reason is the acceptance of homosexuality.

Johnson’s book, The Quest for God, laments that Western society made a huge mistake by decriminalizing homosexuality and thinking that acceptance of the lifestyle on a basic level would satisfy its practitioners. He wrote, “Decriminalization made it possible for homosexuals to organize openly into a powerful lobby, and it thus became a mere platform from which further demands were launched.” It became, he says, a “monster in our midst, powerful and clamoring, flexing its muscles, threatening, vengeful and vindictive towards anyone who challenges its outrageous claims, and bent on making fundamental—and to most of us horrifying—changes to civilized patterns of sexual behavior.”

Read more from this story HERE.

U.S. to Let Spy Agencies Scour Americans’ Private Financial Records

Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey

The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country, according to a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters.

The proposed plan represents a major step by U.S. intelligence agencies to spot and track down terrorist networks and crime syndicates by bringing together financial databanks, criminal records and military intelligence. The plan, which legal experts say is permissible under U.S. law, is nonetheless likely to trigger intense criticism from privacy advocates.

Financial institutions that operate in the United States are required by law to file reports of “suspicious customer activity,” such as large money transfers or unusually structured bank accounts, to Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The Federal Bureau of Investigation already has full access to the database. However, intelligence agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, currently have to make case-by-case requests for information to FinCEN.

The Treasury plan would give spy agencies the ability to analyze more raw financial data than they have ever had before, helping them look for patterns that could reveal attack plots or criminal schemes.

The planning document, dated March 4, shows that the proposal is still in its early stages of development, and it is not known when implementation might begin.

Read more from this story HERE.

Finally, Some Good News: US Household Debt Burden Hits Record Low

A measure of the burden of U.S. household debt sank to a record low in the fourth quarter, offering more evidence of improving household finances that should lend support to consumer spending and the economy.
The household debt-service ratio – an estimate of the share of debt payments to disposable personal income – fell to 10.38 percent, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

That was the lowest since the series started in 1980. In comparison, the ratio, which takes into account outstanding mortgage and consumer debt, was 10.56 percent in the third quarter. It peaked in the third quarter of 2007, shortly before the U.S. economy fell into recession.

“Household balance sheets are improving and that lays the foundation for more spending, which in turn can lead to a virtuous cycle of more business investment and hopefully more jobs,” said Dana Saporta, director of U.S. economics research at Credit Suisse in New York.

U.S. households built up a massive debt load as the housing bubble expanded. Efforts to pay down those debts have been a restraint on spending and the economy’s recovery.

Now, it appears that process of deleveraging may have run its course. Data from the Fed last week showed household debt rose at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the fastest since early 2008, while a report last month from the New York Federal Reserve Bank said consumer debt rose in the last three months of 2012 for the first time in four years.

Read more from this story HERE.

Intelligence Director: Surprise! ‘Arab Spring’ Has Benefited Islamists

Photo Credit: AP

The “Arab spring” has benefited Islamists rather than democracy advocates, while political transitions and unrest in the region have provided opportunities for terrorists to mount attacks against U.S. interests, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told lawmakers Tuesday.

Delivering the intelligence community’s annual report on threats facing the United States, Clapper gave what amounted to a downbeat assessment of the upheavals that many initially viewed as a promising movement towards greater democracy in a region dominated by long-ruling autocrats.

“Islamist actors have been the chief electoral beneficiaries of the political openings, and Islamist parties in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco will likely solidify their influence in the coming year,” he told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in a written statement.

“Although some countries have made progress towards democratic rule, most are experiencing uncertainty, violence, and political backsliding. The toppling of leaders and weakening of regimes have also unleashed destabilizing ethnic and sectarian rivalries.”

Clapper said the transitions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen, and unrest in Syria and Mali had offered opportunities for terrorists to target American interests.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cruz: Let’s See if Obama’s Willing to Shutdown Gov’t to Fund Obamacare

Photo Credit: AP

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced an amendment on Wednesday that would cut off all funds for Obamacare, a step he said Republicans should support and, if it were to pass in the House as well, could be sent to President Barack Obama to see if he’s “willing to try to shut the government down” over funding of the Affordable Care Act.

“I think it’s the right position for Republicans to be taking,” Cruz told CNSNews.com. “And I think it would be exactly the right decision to then send it back to Harry Reid and President Obama and ask if Harry Reid and President Obama are willing to try to shut the government down in order to insist that Obamacare be fully funded now, even though it could well push us into a recession.”

“I think that is an important stand for principle that makes a difference in the lives of those who are struggling the most,” said the senator.

On Wednesday, Cruz introduced his de-fund Obamacare amendment to the continuing resolution (CR), which is a massive “must-pass” bill to keep the government funded for the rest of this fiscal year, from late March through the end of September.

Last week, the Republican-controlled House passed a $982-billion CR, but the GOP leadership set the rule and did not allow the must-pass CR to include language prohibiting funding for Obamacare or for de-funding the controversial Obamacare mandate that requires nearly all health plans to offer contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs without co-payments.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rep. Bridenstine on Obamacare: ‘Just Because The Supreme Court Rules On Something Doesn’t Necessarily Mean That That’s Constitutional’

Photo Credit: TheDC Video

After just over two months in office, Republican Rep. Jim Bridenstine has already set the tone for his first two-year term in Congress as a leader who cares more about principle than party.

For instance, the 37-year-old native of Tulsa, Okla. did not vote for John Boehner to be Speaker of the House and tried last week to get the House to vote to defund Obamacare despite push back from House leadership.

Before coming to Congress, Bridenstine served his country by flying combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He never ran for public office before deciding with his friends in his living room to challenge Republican Rep. John Sullivan, who had voted to increase the debt limit. Bridenstine surprised many by defeating Sullivan in the primary before cruising to victory in the general election last November.

Bridenstine says Obamacare “is a government takeover” and says Chief Justice John Roberts is “incorrect” on the Affordable Care Act being a tax. He says he wants “Congress to take back its constitutional authority.”

“Just because the Supreme Court rules on something doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s constitutional,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

“Catholic” Joe Biden To Lead U.S. Delegation To Greet Staunchly Pro-Life Pope Francis

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Never mind that Vice President Joe Biden has been rebuked by his own bishop over his pro-abortion views, he will lead the U.S. delegation to the installation of Pope Francis, the White House said today.

Biden is the first Catholic to serve as vice president and he will represent the United States at the installation Mass for Pope Francis on March 19, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Tom Rosica confirmed today.

Biden’s own bishop has had to correct the pro-abortion politician on his misstating the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church.

In the interview with the Delaware News Journal, Biden continued to misrepresent the position of the Catholic Church on abortion in a way that has gotten him in trouble.

“But throughout the church’s history, we’ve argued between whether or not it is wrong in every circumstance and the degree of wrong. Catholics have this notion, it’s almost a gradation,” Biden claimed.

Read more from this story HERE.

Sequester Meat Shortages Months Away, Says USDA Secretary

Photo Credit: AP

The sequester likely won’t cause meat and poultry shortages for a while—thanks, in part, to union negotiations and USDA inspectors’ lack of email access.

Furloughs to Food Safety and Inspection Service inspectors at the U.S. Department of Agriculture could force meat and poultry plants to stop production–with no inspectors to approve products, they can’t be sold—but today Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the House Agriculture Committee that those furloughs probably won’t happen until later this year.

“We are looking at a several-month period, if you will, before a furlough will be imposed,” Vilsack said, depending on negotiations with the inspectors’ union. A drawn-out notification process will prevent the furloughs from happening right away, Vilsack said.

“This week we will send out notices to the union reps that a furlough is possible, and one of the challenges is that not every one of our workers in this particular area has email, so we actually have to hand-deliver a letter or written notification to those employees. That has to be followed up … with oral conferences to take place with any employee who requests an oral confirmation–that will happen at the local level,” Vilsack said. After all employees are notified, Vilsack said, USDA will negotiate with union representatives over how the furloughs will be implemented.

But if furloughs do happen, Vilsack warned their impact could be particularly severe.

Read more from this story HERE.

Doctors Confirm Unborn Babies Feel Abortion Pain At 20 Weeks

Photo Credit: LifeNews

The Texas Pain Bill, which establishes a state interest in protecting the lives of preborn children who feel pain, has predictably been attacked by the anti-Life media, which challenges the scientific evidence.

The Dallas Observer called the evidence “medically questionable,” and cited a “fact” that “there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that fetuses actually feel pain.” The Observer ignores dozens of current peer-reviewed fetal pain studies that confirm the capacity of a 20-week child to feel pain in utero.

Numerous scientific studies and physicians recognize that preborn children feel torturous pain from abortion by twenty weeks gestation, if not earlier. Contrary to The Observer’s ludicrous claim that the reality of fetal pain is based on a study from 1987 that has been “debunked,” ample recent evidence from the scientific community supports the bill.

What we know is the nervous system is developed to a level of maturity where pain can be sensed. We do see physical reaction to stimulation, and not only with respect to movement of the child, but release of stress hormones and other responses such as elevated heart rate. These are all objective responses to pain. And that is superimposed on the knowledge that the circuitry is developed which enables a human to feel and experience pain.

Read more from this story HERE.

Lazy Approach to Public Policy Remains the Status Quo

Senate Bill 26 is terrible public policy that drastically alters the sale, exchange, permitting and use of state lands/water. It passed the House under its sister bill HB77. Obviously, the Governor has this on the fast track. Why?, one might ask.

Approximately 223,205 people (AKDOL, R&A, US Census 2010) – one third of the total state population, live in unorganized places all across the state. How will this legislation impact their lifestyles and/or livelihoods? Has this been studied?

Does city, borough or tribal governments have a role in the appeal process? It doesn’t seem so. Are any decisions throughout the appeal process resolved at the local government level before going to the highest (only) level which is Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner, or in some cases DNR Division Director?

Senate Bill 26 (SB26) gives much too much authority to one person – the Commissioner, Department of Natural Resources. To appeal the Commissioner’s decision is futile. One must appeal to the same Commissioner that wrote the first decision. The Commissioner of DNR is not even required to reply in writing.

SB26 shows an absence of fair appeal, no public impact study, and a minimal public comment opportunity. This combination makes for bad legislation. To add insult to injury, the accompanying fiscal notes say it won’t cost anything. That is unbelievable.

Contact your Senator before it becomes the law of the land. Get the word out. Let elected leaders know we want smarter public policy! We don’t need more sloppy, lazy, legislation.
_____________________________________
Tara Jollie is the former Director of the State of Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs.