North Korea Says it Won't Warn South Korea Before an Attack

Photo Credit: AP

By Jethro Mullen. North Korea is raising the temperature on its neighbors, saying in its latest threat that it would not give any advance warning before any attack on South Korea.

“Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now,” Pyongyang said in a statement published Tuesday by its official news agency, KCNA.

North Korea said it was responding to what it called insults from the “puppet authorities” in the South, claiming that there had been a rally against North Korea in Seoul — a rally it called a “monstrous criminal act.”

The renewed menacing rhetoric came a day after North Koreans celebrated the birthday of their country’s founder, Kim Il Sung, who launched the Korean War.

Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, said the latest threat from the North was regrettable. Read more from this story HERE.

North Korea, Marking Leader’s Birthday, Shows More Ire

By Eric Talmadge. After a day of festivities to mark the 101st birthday of its first leader, North Korea on Tuesday offered new prickly rhetoric against the United States and South Korea, which are watching closely for signs whether it will conduct a medium-range missile test in defiance of international concerns.

State media said the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army issued an ultimatum demanding an apology from South Korea for “hostile acts” and threatening that unspecified retaliatory actions would happen at any time.

The statement, relayed through the KCNA state media agency, came after a day of festivities in North Korea’s capital that featured art performances, public dances and crowds thronging to giant bronze statues to pay homage to the late leader Kim Il Sung,

The renewed rhetoric was sparked by a protest in downtown Seoul, where effigies of Kim Il Sung and his son and successor, late leader Kim Jong Il, were burned. Such protests are not unusual in South Korea and this one likely gave the North a pretext to react negatively to calls for joining in dialogue with its neighbors than an actual cause for retaliation.

The North’s statement said it would refuse any offers of talks with the South until it apologized for the “monstrous criminal act.” North Korea often denounces such protests, but rarely in the name of the Supreme Command, which is headed by Kim Il Sung’s grandson and North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong Un. Read more from this story HERE.

China points finger at U.S. over Asia-Pacific tensions

By Ben Blanchard. China’s defense ministry made a thinly veiled attack on the United States on Tuesday for increasing tensions in the Asia-Pacific by ramping up its military presence and alliances in the region, days after the top U.S. diplomat visited Beijing.

China is uneasy with what the United States has called the “rebalancing” of forces as Washington winds down the war in Afghanistan and renews its attention further east.

China says the policy has emboldened Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam in longstanding territorial disputes with Beijing.

China faces “multiple and complicated security threats” despite its growing influence, the Ministry of Defense said in its annual white paper, adding that the U.S. strategy meant “profound changes” for Asia.

“There are some countries which are strengthening their Asia Pacific military alliances, expanding their military presence in the region and frequently make the situation there tenser,” the ministry said in the 40-page document, in a clear reference to the United States. Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Lawmakers Introduce bill to Help Obama, Buffett Voluntarily Pay More Taxes

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise and South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune introduced legislation on Tax Day that would make it easier for wealthy Americans like President Barack Obama and billionaire Warren Buffett to voluntarily pay more in taxes.

White House press secretary Jay Carney recently made it clear the president wishes he paid more in taxes, and Buffett has also advocated for tax hikes on the rich.

“If Warren Buffett and others truly feel like they’re still not paying enough in taxes, they can use this Buffett Rule to put their money where their mouth is and voluntarily send in more to pay down the national debt, rather than raising taxes on hard-working Americans,” Scalise said.

“Liberals in Congress and the White House continue to call for more revenue. Here is their chance, but the only prerequisite is that donations that come from the Buffett Rule Act are strictly voluntary and are used to pay down our massive debt, not to fund more irresponsible spending,” he added.

Americans can already donate more money to the Treasury. Scalise’s and Thune’s legislation, however, would add a box to IRS filing forms to make the process even easier.

Read more from this story HERE.

Federal Judge Tells Mississippi that it Can't Shut Down State's Only Abortion Mill

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A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Mississippi from revoking the license of the state’s only abortion clinic. U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III extended an injunction he issued several months ago, which blocks the state from closing the clinic while it tries to fulfill a 2012 state law.

The law requires all OB-GYNs who do abortions at Jackson Women’s Health Organization to have privileges to admit patients to a local hospital.

Jordan’s ruling comes three days before the state Department of Health was scheduled to hold a license revocation hearing for the clinic over its acknowledged inability to get the admitting privileges. Now the administrative hearing won’t be held, said health department spokeswoman Liz Sharlot.

Jordan’s ruling says the state cannot close the clinic while it still has a federal lawsuit pending to challenge the 2012 law. A trial date has not been set.

The Department of Health notified Jackson Women’s Health Organization in late January that it intended to revoke the clinic’s license. The clinic was allowed to stay open as it awaited this week’s hearing.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama's Proposed Budget NEVER Balances

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the federal income tax. Since its inception in 1913, the income tax has continued to grow in scope and complexity. A century later, hardworking American taxpayers will send the federal government $2.7 trillion this year alone.

While Americans across the country file their returns and open their checkbooks to pay their taxes today, the President and his liberal lieutenants in the Senate continue to call for another trillion dollars in higher job-killing taxes over the next ten years. It’s hard for President Obama to make the case that you don’t pay enough in taxes when this year’s $2.7 trillion marks the all-time record for the most money the federal government has ever taken in! Even after adjusting for inflation, this year’s revenue has only been eclipsed four times in our nation’s history. Washington clearly has a serious spending problem, and you can only solve it by controlling Washington spending rather than President Obama’s scheme to have the IRS take more of your hard-earned money through even higher taxes.

Obama Finally Presents Budget

Last week the President sent Congress a budget, that includes over $1 trillion in new taxes, over $8 trillion in new debt, and yet NEVER balances.

While our national debt is approaching $17 trillion, our President and his liberal lieutenants continue to ask for additional taxes so they can keep spending more and living beyond their means. The President got the higher taxes he wanted in the “fiscal cliff” deal, but yet he still refuses to agree to any spending cuts. More wasteful Washington spending, radical regulations, and costly duplication are not what the American people want or deserve, and that failed agenda is still holding the American economy back.

The Obama administration refuses to take common-sense steps to rein in Washington spending, while continuing to grow failed welfare programs that jeopardize the future of our country. Republicans have passed a plan that would balance our nation’s budget in ten years by growing the economy with no tax increases, while the President’s budget raises taxes, increases radical regulations, and never achieves balance. This is truly a choice of two completely different directions for our country.

Read more from this story HERE.

Raw Footage of Terror Attack on Boston Marathon that Killed 12, Injured Dozens; Saudi Nat'l in Custody

Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers in the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts.

A federal law-enforcement source confirmed to The Post there are at least 12 dead and 50 injured in the apparent terror attack. Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 10 people with amputated limbs and all operating rooms were on hold earlier today, sources said.

Law enforcement sources confirmed to The Post that authorities have a identified a suspect, a Saudi national, who is currently being guarded in a Boston hospital with shrapnel wounds.

CBS reported that an individual is in custody. He is reportedly cooperative and denies involvement in the attack.

A White House official told Bloomberg news, “Any event with multiple explosive devices – as this appears to be – is clearly an act of terror.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Why I Am Considering a 2014 US Senate Run

Serious times call for bold measures. With the re-election of Barack Obama, our very way of self-government is in peril. The Constitution is under attack, the value of human life degraded, religious liberties are threatened, the Second Amendment is increasingly in jeopardy, and the right to protection from unlawful search and seizure is giving way to a virtual surveillance State.

In 2010, I was one of the first candidates to warn of a looming debt crisis and predict the coming downgrade of America’s credit rating. My campaign championed the prerogatives of State governments under the 10th Amendment, and pointed out the massive threat to our individual liberties coming out of Washington.

In October of 2010, I predicted that regardless of who represented Alaska in DC, “the era of earmarks is dead.” And we were ahead of the curve on entitlement reform.

Though I was labeled an “extremist” by the likes of Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich for telling the truth, both of our sitting senators now routinely engage in such “extremist” rhetoric with respect to federal overreach, government spending, and entitlement reform. Yet they are still unwilling to tackle the tough issues.

Much of what was so shocking to the sensibilities of Alaskans who had grown accustomed to federal largesse has now been assimilated as conventional wisdom. We all know that one can only borrow against the future for so long. Yesterday’s “extremes” are today’s realities.

The choice before Alaskans in 2014 will be stark. Voters must choose between the easy lies of an insider politician and the hard truth of a reformer.

As of the writing of this article, I am unaware of another potential candidate who has demonstrated a willingness to challenge the status quo, and confront the culture of corruption that reaches to the highest levels of American government.

We need a candidate in 2014 who will join reformers like Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz to confront President Obama, not one who will cut a deal to negotiate the terms of our surrender to his radical socialist agenda.

I have been a Republican for most of my adult life. But I am under no illusions about the Republican Establishment’s failure to confront the problems facing the country. The status quo is not a viable option.

Let’s be honest. The partisan frame of reference is outmoded. We now live under a duopoly which serves corporate and special interests, rather than the interests of the individual citizen. It’s the insiders versus the outsiders.

While many in my party prattle on and on about their desperate desire to “defeat Mark Begich,” that is not my singular object. Yes, Mark Begich is part of the problem in Washington. But for me, the 2014 election is not merely about beating Mark Begich. It’s about saving the country!

I have the same dreams and desires in my heart as most Alaskans have. And, we’re asking the same questions about the America we love: will our children inherit a country where life is valued, individual liberty cherished, and private property respected? Will they ever have the opportunity to engage in free enterprise and build a future for themselves and for their children? Will they be free to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience?

The choice before us is clear: liberty or tyranny?

There are three questions that I still need to answer:

(1) Are grassroots conservatives willing to step up and join us in the fight for freedom?
(2) Can we raise the necessary funds to spread our message of liberty and successfully compete?
(3) Can our message of liberty and grassroots support propel us to electoral victory?

Thank you for your prayers and support as we launch our exploratory committee for a campaign for the United States Senate. We will continue to update you as we move forward.

Not so fast Washington: Americans want Bills on Guns and Immigration Read Before You Vote on Them

Photo Credit: IrishCentral

Last time there was a headlong rush to pass legislation in Washington, Obamacare was birthed. 2,500 pages of excruciating small print, plopped on legislators desks just days before they were expected to vote on it. 2,500 pages purchased with “sweeteners,” “arm twisting” and coercion. Almost all of it done behind closed doors.

Speaker of the House at that time, Nancy Pelosi, brazenly told Congress and the American people, that we could get to know what was in Obamacare after they passed Obamacare,….egregiously misnamed “The Affordable Healthcare Act.”

Pelosi was right, Obamacare has proven to be full of surprises as the 2,500 pages of “Frankenstinian” details and regulations get exposed to the reality of actually trying to implement the law. Hidden taxes and fees, miles of red tape and special dispensation to Obama supporters are just some of the “surprises.”

The new immigration bill is reportedly 1,500 pages long already and it too has been negotiated in secret behind closed doors, by the gang of 8 bi partisan Senators.

How much devil is hidden in these details? No one in the media has seen it to report on the good, bad or ugly that lies within.

Reportedly it will be sprung on the Senate Tuesday and leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, has uncharacteristically promised a swift vote.

Why? What’s the rush Harry? Shouldn’t the public and the Senate have plenty of time to read through and debate these 1,500 pages of proposed legislation? This legislation can profoundly affect the very make up of our country.

Under Reid’s leadership the Senate has turned into a very “deliberative body,” remember it took 4 years to produce one budget.

The same can be said for gun control legislation. The knee jerk response from the politicians is to attack America’s 2nd Amendment rights, in order to look like they are doing something. When in reality, they are really just putting a band aid on an arterial wound.

The root cause of violence is too difficult for them to tackle because it will affect their base of support in big cities and Hollywood. So instead, they go after the guns and not the mental health issues, the street violence and violence in films.

Ask the Obama Justice Dept why it isn’t enforcing the laws already on the books? Out of 15,700 fugitives and felons who tried to illegally purchase a firearm, the Obama Justice Department prosecuted only 44. Perhaps if they just enforced the existing laws, there would be far less violence.

The American people don’t want anymore surprises sprung on them hidden within benign sounding legislation.

___________________________________________

Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Left-wing Democrats Push Norquist-Style No-Cuts Budget Pledge

Photo Credit: Getty

Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist has been skewered by the media and the left for his Taxpayer Protection Pledge, but now some Democrats seem to be imitating him with a budget pledge of their own.

Left-wing Democratic Reps. Alan Grayson of Florida and Mark Takano of California are circulating a letter addressed to President Obama for members of Congress to sign. Signers of the letter pledge to vote against any substantive changes to America’s entitlement programs, including President Barack Obama’s proposal to use a different formula for Social Security cost of living increases.

“We will vote against any and every cut to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits — including raising the retirement age or cutting the cost of living adjustments that our constituents earned and need,” the letter reads, in part.

The letter, which was drafted in February, is backed by liberal groups such as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America and MoveOn, among others. Thirty Members of Congress have signed onto it as of April 9, according to the latest update on Grayson’s website.

Read more from this story HERE.

Illegal Alien Propaganda: A Critical Lesson in Terminology and Tactics

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As we once again face the specter of illegal alien amnesty, and the permanent Democratic majority it will guarantee, it is critical to understand how the Left plays. They are unethical to the core, but we are so frequently deluded by their tactical use of language and emotion, that we are unequipped to deal with them effectively. The result: they win. This cannot happen again, unless we are all willing to start calling Obama “President for Life,” and Democrats, the “Commissars.”

Introduction

Changes in public perception happen gradually. This is a natural human survival strategy that mistrusts the unfamiliar. A campaign of public education is necessary to help convince a wary public to accept new ideas or policies that might otherwise take too much time. But there is a difference between education and propaganda.

Our society relies for its security, stability and prosperity, indeed, its survival, on the rule of law. So the idea of giving special privileges to individuals whose very presence is prima facie evidence of lawbreaking, is instinctively rejected. It cannot be otherwise. To grant special privileges to criminals upends and subverts the rule of law on which we depend.

Our nation’s laws constitute a contract that every citizen implicitly agrees to respect. Those who violate it face sanctions of corresponding severity. If certain individuals can avoid sanction and gain special privilege through political power—despite their blatant violations—then the rule of law becomes meaningless, and is replaced by a society based on political power alone. That is called dictatorship. Yet this is what the illegal immigration lobby wants us to accept.

When individuals or organizations attempt to introduce ideas that are self-evidently destructive, like Nazism or communism, for example, a campaign based on propaganda is necessary. Unlike factual information, propaganda manipulates, using fear and instinct in combination with known psychological reactions. It is evident that the illegal alien lobby uses these methods.

Re-setting Definitions

Maryland’s illegal alien advocacy group CASA de Maryland inadvertently provides a good starting point for this discussion. CASA’s resource page references a study by the Equal Rights Center titled “10 Harmful Misconceptions About Immigration.” It is an artful weave of straw man arguments, half-truths and outright lies. Every single “misconception about immigration” is not really a misconception at all. But they are able to argue it as such by revising or re-setting definitions.

Definition of Immigrant

First we have Immigrants:

Any foreign-born individual, including naturalized U.S. citizens, documented immigrants, and undocumented immigrants.

Then we have “Undocumented” Immigrants:

Foreign-born individuals who (1) entered the country illegally, (2) overstayed their visas, or (3) work without authorization

Illegal aliens, in other words. But using their terminology, all of these categories come under the neutral heading “immigrant.” So now they can conflate the two categories without discriminating between legal and illegal immigrants and ascribe the positive characteristics of the one to negative characteristics of the other. Thus we have:

Foreign born scholars, scientists and engineers make this country more prosperous and more secure.

How many illegal aliens are “scholars, scientists and engineers?” Here’s another screecher:

One of every four engineering and technology companies started in the United States between 1995 and 2005 had immigrant founders.

Surely these were all illegals, too?

Overall, the fiscal impact of immigration on public-sector budgets is small and likely to be positive in the long run.

Once again, a large number of highly-trained legal immigrants are taking advantage of the high demand for jobs in technology. They do make a significant positive contribution, as legal immigrants always have.

But illegals are almost entirely low-skilled. The Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector estimates that federal, state and local governments spend three dollars in welfare benefits for every dollar received from low-skilled immigrants. It will get even worse if amnesty is granted to these people because they will have access to even more benefits, but will likely not improve their earning capabilities commensurately.

Rector claims that retirement costs for illegals granted amnesty could run to $2.5 trillion. Providing amnesty for illegals would result in chain migration of as many as 100 million people, he argues. The vast majority of those would have the same profile as illegals currently here with the result of added budgetary, legal and cultural strains.

Regardless, according to the Associated Press and USA Today, among others, illegal aliens must now be referred to as “undocumented immigrants.” Calling them anything else can lead to charges of racism, or worse. Logic and truth are out the window.

Definition of Hispanic

The term “Hispanic” represents a category of people who do not exist in the real world. It became official with congressional enactment of Public Law 94-311 in 1976. As explained in Social Contract:

…the word “Hispanic” is devoid of meaning and legitimacy. It does not denote a racial, ethnic, linguistic, or cultural group. It is an artificial term created to maximize political power for extremist elements within the Spanish-speaking minority.

This law, which was endorsed by several “Hispanic” organizations including the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and La Raza, contained two significant elements: (1) the subject: “Americans of Spanish origin or descent,” and (2) the legal status: “American citizens.” Both qualifiers were soon dropped in an effort to maximize political influence by maximizing numeric size.

In 1977, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) adopted the shorter title of “Hispanic”… Since then, “Hispanic” is defined as “A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.” The new definition sought to further inflate the numerical size of the “Hispanic” community.

According to Mark Lopez of the Pew Hispanic Center:

[A]bout two-thirds of Hispanic-Americans identify themselves not as belonging to the general Latino culture, but to their specific country of origin or their parents’ homeland.

“The notion of a pan-ethnic identity is actually an American concept,” said Lopez, an American citizen whose grandparents emigrated from Mexico. “If I go to El Salvador and I say I’m Hispanic, they’re going to think I’m from Spain, or they’re not going to know what that means. They don’t see a pan-ethnic identity. They see themselves as Salvadoran.”

Activists can’t even decide if they should use the world “Hispanic” or “Latino.” A study called “Latino or Hispanic Panic” said 75 percent of activists don’t like either term. Of those that do:

In Texas, a Pew Hispanic Center poll found that 45% of Latinos prefer the term Hispanic and 8% prefer Latino. Note this leaves 47% of Latinos in Texas who prefer neither term. In the other four most populous Latino states—California, New Jersey, Florida and New York—the Pew poll found that people are more likely to prefer “Latino.”

Finally, not every Hispanic is a Hispanic! At a Swarthmore College lecture titled, “Is Antonio Banderas Latino?,” Professor Rodolfo Francisco Acuña asserted that being “Latino” is a function of “life experience,” meaning that one had to experience racial or class discrimination to earn the title “Latino.” “No matter what people may think of Banderas as a person, he is European and not part of a class that has historically suffered discrimination.”

So, in other words, you are only a Hispanic/Latino if you are the “right kind;” one who will ascribe to the ideological goals of the Left. What does this mean for all those “economic migrants?”

CASA, however, sees it for the political advantage:

Casa of Maryland, which advocates for immigrant rights, views the Hispanic community as a single bloc “because together they have greater power as a community to address issues that are affecting one particular nationality or all,” advocacy specialist Helen Melton said in an email.

So does one of CASA’s biggest political supporters, Maryland Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez: “Everybody is feeling the need to come together because it’s only larger political forces that are going to be able to change the negative climate we’re facing.”

Smear Tactics

Next comes intimidation. CASA and the other open borders advocates subscribe to the all-too-familiar tactic of painting their opponents as racists. However, these groups have all demonstrated themselves to be distinctly racist in their adamant demands for illegals. They also frequently resort to intimidating hate speech. In their own words:

Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) founder Mario Obledo said: “California is going to be a Hispanic state, and anyone who doesn’t like it should leave. They should go back to Europe.” “Eventually,” he said the following month, “we [Hispanics] will take over all the political institutions of California.”

Former NCLR [National Council of La Raza] President (1974-2004) Raul Yzaguirre called proponents of California proposition 187, which would have denied budget-busting social services to illegals, “racists” and “xenophobes.” Prop 187 won but was blocked by a judge. They got their way and California is now bankrupt.

He also said, “US English is to Hispanics as the Ku Klux Klan is to blacks.” Hillary Clinton appointed Yzaguirre to co-chair her presidential campaign.

When Minutemen volunteers declared they would monitor CASA’s day labor centers for illegals, CASA president Gustavo Torres said: “We are going to target them in a specific way. Then we are going to picket their houses, and the schools of their kids, and go to their work…”

Read more from this story HERE.

Congressmen Push Back Against Michelle Obama's Scrawny Federal School Lunch Program

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Republican Reps. Steve King of Iowa and Tim Huelskamp of Kansas continued their fight against the Agriculture Department’s recent public school meal regulation overhaul on Friday.

The congressmen have argued that the new regulations imposed by the USDA, as required by the Michelle Obama-backed Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act, are overly restrictive for growing and active children, largely due to calorie caps on meals.

“The voluminous menu that’s good enough for the federal bureaucrats’ cafeteria should be good enough for our children’s school lunchroom,” Huelskamp said in a statement Friday. “If USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack thinks the federal government should dictate what local governments put on their school lunchroom menus, why isn’t he leading by example? Secretary Vilsack should impose his ‘Nutrition Nanny’ standards on the USDA buildings’ cafeteria menus before the USDA seizes control of lunchroom menus in 100,000 school districts.”

King and Huelskamp introduced legislation Friday that would repeal the regulation that imposed the meal mandates. Their “No Hungry Kids Act” would eliminate upper calorie restrictions on public school meals.

To see the viral YouTube that Kansas Students made regarding Michelle Obama’s “healthy” school lunch program, click HERE.

Read more from this story HERE.