Dr. Ben Carson: ‘We Can’t Be Free If We Are Not Brave’

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Photo Credit: APFew people have emerged on the conservative scene in recent years who have become as instantly beloved as Dr. Ben Carson, the renowned pediatric neurosurgeon and Professor Emeritus at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who endeared himself to the Right by speaking on conservative values at the National Prayer Breakfast just inches away from captive audience member Barack Obama.

That was the case again on Saturday, when the good doctor visited the CPAC main stage to deliver his remarks.

Dr. Carson spoke about how America for him is the land of dreams, of his no-excuses mother, and of belief in God. Upon his recent retirement, the doctor imagined he would learn to play the organ and get in some golf, but, “The good Lord had a different plan.”

Since that time, Carson and his wife of 39 years, Lacena, whom he introduced at the top of his remarks, have traveled around the country, visiting states both red and blue. What he found, whatever their political persuasion, was a people that are beaten down. Dr. Carson referenced Saul Alinsky, author of Rules for Radicals, and how one of the so-called rules is to make people believe that there is only one correct way to think, and it is not their way.

Dr. Carson hates political correctness. He talked about it at that legendary prayer breakfast, and he talked about it at CPAC. What is PC today is what is espoused by left wing “ideologues,” but Dr. Carson found his own words catching on as he traversed the country, because people recognized “common sense” when they heard it. The practice of medicine, according to Carson, promotes out-of-the-box thinking as well as familiarity with controversy. It was missed by few that “common sense” falls under the out-of-the-box column and is controversial in a PC world.

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Atheists Want Iconic 17-Foot Steel Beam Cross Removed from 9/11 Museum

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Photo Credit: Jeff Kubina / flickr Atheists are trying to oust the “Miracle Cross” from the 9/11 museum arguing that its inclusion would violate the Constitution’s separation of church and state.

But Eric Baxster of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty told MyFoxNY that the cross is part of the story of 9/11 and that museums don’t censor history.

“They tell history as it happened,” Baxster said.

The 17-foot cross-shaped beam was discovered in the devastation at Ground Zero and became a symbol of comfort and hope after the horrific terrorist attack.

But American Atheists say the cross is a part of religious history and are challenging its inclusion in the new National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum which opens in May.

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Cheney: ‘No Question’ Putin Believes Obama is Weak (+video)

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Photo Credit: Evan Vucci/APFormer Vice-President Dick Cheney said Sunday there is “no question” Russian President Vladimir Putin believes President Obama is weak. In response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, he said, there are steps the U.S. could take to send a “strong signal” to European friends and allies that America honors its commitments.

“I think there’s any – no question he believes he is weak,” Cheney said in response to a question on CBS’ “Face The Nation” about Putin’s assessment of Obama.

“We have created an image around the world, not just for the Russians, of – of weakness and indecisive – the Syrian situation’s a classic. We got all ready to do something, a lot of the allies signed on. At the last minute, Obama backed off.”

Cheney was referring to the state of affairs last fall, when Obama threatened punitive military strikes in Syria in response to a deadly August chemical attack blamed on the Assad regime. Struggling to win congressional support, Obama backed away from the threat after Russia mediated a deal to have Damascus hand over its chemical weapons stockpile for destruction.

Cheney also cited Obama’s “reset policy” with Russia, and his decision to shift course in 2009 on a ballistic missile defense (BMD) program strongly opposed by Moscow.

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Top Democrat Sees Another Train Wreck Coming for Own Party

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Photo Credit: WNDA former high-ranking Clinton administration official and law partner with Hillary Clinton sees potential political disaster for Democrats in 2014 over Obama administration health-care policies.

But it’s not just Obamacare that has Webb Hubbell, former chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court and associate attorney general of the U.S., concerned about the political fortunes of his party. It’s what he calls “tinkering with Medicare, the tried and true social insurance program that so many older Americans rely on – which so many future older Americans will rely on, too.”

“You have to wonder why the administration would hand the Republicans such a gift,” he writes in a commentary piece in WND today.

What concerns Hubbell, who served 21 months in prison in the 1990s after pleading guilty to federal charges of overbilling clients at the Rose Law Firm where he was partnered with Hillary Clinton and Vince Foster, is a proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services to allow insurance companies to limit Medicare coverage for certain classes of drugs, including anti-rejection medications for transplant patients and medications to treat depression and schizophrenia in the elderly.

“The proposal isn’t based on a needs analysis but on an actuarial cost study that has drug companies, patient advocates and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress all up in arms,” says Hubbell. “And when Republicans and Democrats agree on anything, we all stand up and take notice.”

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NARAL President Says “Anti-Abortion Is Anti-American”

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsEverybody says something stupid and offensive at one time or another. But it takes a special kind of ideologue to turn it into a speech repeated over and over. And that ideologue is NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue.

We missed it the first time she told a crowd that pro-lifers are “un-American.” That was at a Feb. 4 event in Washington, D.C. marking the pro-abortion group’s 45th anniversary (see video below). But Hogue liked it so much she said it again in San Francisco on March 4, at an event featuring Sandra Fluke, America’s most famous birth control user.

And lest anyone miss Hogue’s eloquence, NARAL tweeted it on March 6: “‘That, my friends, is not anti-abortion — what it is is anti-American.’ – @ilyseh on current anti-choice efforts in the US.#NARAL45.” Continues after video.

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Global Debt Exceeds $100 Trillion as Governments Binge

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Photo Credit: APThe amount of debt globally has soared more than 40 percent to $100 trillion since the first signs of the financial crisis as governments borrowed to pull their economies out of recession and companies took advantage of record low interest rates, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

The $30 trillion increase from $70 trillion between mid-2007 and mid-2013 compares with a $3.86 trillion decline in the value of equities to $53.8 trillion in the same period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The jump in debt as measured by the Basel, Switzerland-based BIS in its quarterly review is almost twice the U.S.’s gross domestic product.

Borrowing has soared as central banks suppress benchmark interest rates to spur growth after the U.S. subprime mortgage market collapsed and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy sent the world into its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Yields on all types of bonds, from governments to corporates and mortgages, average about 2 percent, down from more than 4.8 percent in 2007, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market Index.

“Given the significant expansion in government spending in recent years, governments (including central, state and local governments) have been the largest debt issuers,” according to Branimir Gruic, an analyst, and Andreas Schrimpf, an economist at the BIS. The organization is owned by 60 central banks and hosts the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, a group of regulators and central bankers that sets global capital standards.

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Anti-Mushing Group Paints Unfair Portrait of the Iditarod

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Photo Credit: mypubliclands / flickrSled dog mushing as a sport and a recreational activity owes a great deal to the Iditarod. Every aspect of the art and science of sled dog racing has been honed by years of intense competition in this race. Dog harnesses and sleds, training methods and routines, diet and exercise, veterinary care and breeding strategies have all evolved at an unprecedented pace when considering the fact that the partnership between man and sled dog dates back at least 4,000 years.

The Iditarod has evolved as well. Recognizing that preserving the health of the dogs is critical to the sport, the Iditarod’s leadership has sought to provide open access to its athletes, and the veterinary community has responded. These sled dogs are unique in what they do and how they do it, and clinical study after clinical study has been undertaken to advance the science of canine care.

This openness has provided a pathway for animal rights activists. Marjorie Glickman, of Miami, Fla., visited a dog kennel in Alaska and decided to devote her life to ending the Iditarod — and perhaps all dog mushing in Alaska. She founded the Sled Dog Action Coalition (SDAC). Study of this entity, with Ms. Glickman as director, leads to little information aside from the fact that it is based in Miami. No board of directors or staff is noted, nonprofit tax filings are not to be found.

Whether this is an actual organization or merely Ms. Glickman, no national media attention on the Iditarod is safe from comment by the SDAC. If a small-town newspaper in Idaho highlights the adventures of a local musher competing in the Iditarod, the SDAC will most likely cut-and-paste tales of woe into the online comment section and direct readers to the SDAC’s website. And what a website it is.

The SDAC website inundates its visitors with more than 871 bulleted comments designed to create the impression that the Iditarod overflows with inhumane mushers who beat, kick, bite and even eat their dogs. Any aberrant behavior seen in the race’s history is projected onto every current musher. Medical studies that conclude that disease or injury “may” be attributable to the race are headlined stating that the condition “is” attributable to the race. Quotes are taken out of context to further the goal of ending the sport of sled dog racing. Practices of 40 years ago are presented as if they still occur. Even the experiences of mushers not participating in the Iditarod are presented over and over again as if they apply.

What is clearly missing from the SDAC website is perspective. There have been 41,296 individual starts by sled dogs; 852 mushers have completed the Iditarod. Even the sensitive subject of dog deaths needs to be considered against the historical density of sled dogs that have run this race. For illustration, if we assume that all of these dogs average 10 days on the trail, they have spent almost 12 million hours racing. This is hardly scientific, but perhaps it adds context to the claims made by the SDAC.

Ms. Glickman and the Sled Dog Action Coalition wish to end the Iditarod. They actively target sponsors and gleefully report every sponsor who buckles under activist pressure. It is a sad irony that they seek to end the best avenue for continuing to improve the lives of sled dogs. Poor dog yard conditions, the rejection of aberrant behavior and deliberate cruelty will best be addressed by a healthy and responsive Iditarod.

Veterinarian Emi Berger was a volunteer veterinarian and was interviewed by Randi Weiner of The Journal News on March 31, 2011. Ms. Glickman picked 13 words out of a 932-word article. Under the headline “Stomach ulcers are common,” Dr. Berger is quoted; “This year, the most common thing I saw was pneumonia and stomach ulcers.”

I will offer a few more words from Dr. Berger’s interview; “The … questions I get asked all the time are ‘Is it cruel?’ and ‘Are they cold?’ ‘Do they like it?’ When that dog is dropped off, they’ll howl. They want to be out (running). That’s all they want,” she said. “It’s like a Labrador wanting to play ball. It’s the ultimate fun thing for them to do.”

Perhaps Marjorie Glickman missed that quote?

Mike Kinville was born in Sitka, spent 24 years in the Alaska Army National Guard and retired in 2007. He works on Fort Wainwright as a contracted supply technician.

This article was published in-full on Restoring Liberty with permission from Author.

Vietnam Says Cannot Find Object from Missing Jet

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Photo Credit: AP / Andy WongBy Associated Press.

Vietnamese searchers on ships worked throughout the night but could not find a rectangle object spotted Sunday afternoon that was thought to be one of the doors of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet that went missing more than two days ago.

Doan Huu Gia, the chief of Vietnam’s search and rescue coordination center, said Monday that four planes and seven ships from Vietnam were searching for the object but nothing had been found.

The Boeing 777 went missing early Saturday morning on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

The plane lost contact with ground controllers somewhere between Malaysia and Vietnam, and searchers in a low-flying plane spotted an object that appeared to be one of the plane’s doors, the state-run Thanh Nien newspaper said, citing the deputy chief of staff of Vietnam’s army, Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan.

The jetliner apparently fell from the sky at cruising altitude in fine weather, and the pilots were either unable or had no time to send a distress signal, adding to the mystery over the final minutes of the flight.

Read more this story HERE.

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Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 mystery: Jet’s door may have been found, officials say

By Fox News.

Vietnamese aircraft spotted what they suspected was one of the doors belonging to the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on Sunday, as troubling questions emerged about how two passengers managed to board the Boeing 777 using stolen passports.

The discovery comes as officials consider the possibility that the plane disintegrated mid-flight, a senior source told Reuters.

The state-run Thanh Nien newspaper cited Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of Vietnam’s army, as saying searchers in a low-flying plane had spotted an object suspected of being a door from the missing jet. It was found in waters about 56 miles south of Tho Chu island, in the same area where oil slicks were spotted Saturday.

“From this object, hopefully (we) will find the missing plane,” Tuan said. Thanh Nien said two ships from the maritime police were heading to the site.

An authority told Reuters that it was too dark to be certain the object was part of the missing plane, and that more aircraft would be dispatched to investigate the site in waters off southern Vietnam in the morning.

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Bill ‘Wild Bill’ Guarnere, of ‘Band of Brothers’ Fame, Dies at 90

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Photo Credit: APWilliam “Wild Bill” Guarnere, one of the World War II veterans whose exploits were dramatized in the TV miniseries “Band of Brothers,” has died. He was 90.

His son, William Guarnere Jr., confirmed Sunday that his father died at Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Guarnere was rushed to the hospital early Saturday and died of a ruptured aneurysm early Saturday night.

The younger Guarnere told FoxNews.com that like so many of his generation, “Wild Bill” didn’t talk about his service, even though he lost his leg in combat.

“All we knew was he lost his leg, and that was it,” William Guarnere Jr. said. “People knew more about (his service) than we did.”

The HBO miniseries, based on a book by Stephen Ambrose, followed the members of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from training in Georgia in 1942 through some of the war’s fiercest European battles through the war’s end in 1945.

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Video: Saturday Night Live: Obama Summons Liam Neeson to Talk Tough to Putin

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Photo Credit: NBCActor Liam Neeson appeared on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend to help Jay Pharoah’s Barack Obama issue a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin over his latest actions in Ukraine.

“Recently I got a very disturbing call,” Neeson said. “Crimea had been taken. I hate it when things are taken.”

The actor then issued a warning to the Russian president.

Read more this story HERE.