Ex-Pres. of 3rd largest US local union: goal is to “overthrow capitalism, build communism” (+video)

/2 Comments/in , /by

Former Amalgamated Transit Union local 689 president Mike Golash, now an “Occupy” movement organizer, was caught on tape Sunday revealing his political goals: overthrowing capitalism in the United States and instituting a communist government.

“Progressive labor is a revolutionary communist organization,” Golash said during an Occupy DC “People’s Assembly” on August 19.

“Its objective,” he added, “is to make revolution in the United States, overthrow the capitalist system and build communism.”

Golash said he and his comrades are “trying to learn something from the historical revolutions of the past: the Russian revolution, the Chinese revolution, the revolutions in Cuba and Eastern Europe.”

“What can we learn from them so we can build a more successful movement to transform capitalist society?”

Here’s the video:

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama falsely denies that his campaign called Romney a felon

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo credit: Cain & Todd Benson

During a surprise press briefing on Monday in which President Barack Obama took questions from White House reporters for the first time in months, he claimed that “nobody accused Romney of being a felon.”

Obama’s statement was in response to a question about his re-election campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney‘s time at Bain Capital. It appears to directly contradict something his deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said back in July, when she suggested that Romney may have committed a felony.

“Either Mitt Romney, through his own words and his own signature, was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the SEC, which is a felony,” Cutter said on a conference call with reporters back then. “Or he was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the American people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investments.”

The rub came because of Securities and Exchange Commission documents that the Boston Globe claims show Romney worked at Bain until 2002 — despite him having said publicly he left in 1999.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul called that Boston Globe characterization inaccurate because as “Bain Capital has said, as Gov. Romney has said, and as has been confirmed by independent fact checkers multiple times, Gov. Romney left Bain Capital in February of 1999 to run the Olympics and had no input on investments or management of companies after that point.”

Romney backs Ron Paul’s “Audit the Fed” & Bush’s “read my lips” pledge

/5 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: davelawrence8 Creative Commons

Borrowing a key element of the anti-government libertarianism that fueled rival Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, Mitt Romney said Monday that he thinks the Federal Reserve should face an audit:  “Very plain and simple, the answer is yes. The Federal Reserve should be accountable. We should see what they’re doing,” Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said at a town hall in New Hampshire.

Mr. Romney also pushed back against President Obama’s claims that the former Massachusetts governor would raise taxes on the middle class if elected.

“Let me tell you the heart of my tax proposal: I will not raise taxes on the American people, I will not raise taxes on middle-income Americans,” Mr. Romney told supporters at St. Anselm College, where he and running mate Rep. Paul Ryan made a grand entrance to the theme song from the movie “Rudy.”

The visit marked the first joint appearance for Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan in New Hampshire — a state that could prove pivotal come Election Day.

The event gave Mr. Romney a chance to fire back at Mr. Obama, who two days earlier in nearby Windham told voters that Mr. Romney’s tax plan would mean that the wealthy get a tax cut and middle-class families will pay more.

Read more from this story HERE.

Study: Red States give far more to charity than Blue States

/0 Comments/in , /by

Am I my brother’s keeper? Conservatives and churchgoers are far more likely to say “yes,” research shows. A major survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy confirms that residents of states that lean Republican and are most religious donate more of their money to charity, while more secular regions — and areas that tend to vote Democrat — give less.

But researchers caution that churchgoers are no more generous than secular Americans when donations to religious groups are excluded.

The study, which examined Internal Revenue Service information from 2008, the most recent year for which statistics were available, ranked Utahans as the most charitable people in the U.S. Residents of the heavily Mormon state gave 10.6 percent of their discretionary income to philanthropic causes in 2008. Mississippi ranked second, with 7.2 percent going to charity. Three other states in the Bible Belt — Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina — round out the top five.

Each of the top nine states in the Chronicle report voted for John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. The seven least-generous states went for Barack Obama.

New Hampshire residents gave the least, with 2.5 percent of discretionary income going to charity. It was followed by Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts, whose residents donated 2.8 percent. Residents of Rhode Island, the fifth most frugal state, gave 3.1 percent, according to the study.

Read more from this story HERE.

Campaign 2012: The Return of the Death Panels

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo credit: eleanor ryan

Health care was supposed to be President Obama’s issue in 2012. The 2009 Obamacare law was hailed as his signature legislative achievement, but it’s never been popular. Its most onerous provisions were timed to kick in after the election specifically to avoid damaging the re-election effort. For months, the Obama campaign tried to negate the issue. It spent a great deal of energy seeking to inoculate itself from Mitt Romney’s attacks by claiming the Massachusetts health care law passed when Mr. Romney was governor was “just like Obamacare.”

Some of Mr. Obama’s supporters claimed to be thrilled by Mr. Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. The spin was that Mr. Ryan’s budget plan provided the necessary contrast to Obamacare to enable Democrats to move to the offensive. Pro-Obama commentators resurrected the allegation that the Ryan plan would “end Medicare as we know it,” a charge the nonpartisan fact checkers at Politifact dubbed the “lie of the year” in December 2011. Meanwhile, Republicans highlighted the $716 billion that Obamacare cuts from Medicare, a fact affirmed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. This cut was the talking point that stuck.

The Obama campaign has had to contend with a serious pre-existing condition, namely a lack of support from seniors. According to the latest Gallup data, Mr. Romney enjoys an 11-point advantage among voters age 65 and older. Among the same group, Mr. Obama’s approval rating is 37 percent, the lowest of any age demographic. Medicare is a critical election issue in general. A recent poll by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation found that 73 percent of respondents described Medicare as “very important” or “extremely important” in determining their votes. Mr. Obama now must explain to this skeptical cohort why he chose to cut a very popular program to pay for his very unpopular law.

Death panels also are back. At an appearance in Florida over the weekend, Mr. Ryan criticized the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) established under Obamacare to “contain” Medicare costs. The law “puts a board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of Medicare who are required to cut Medicare in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors,” he said. “We will make sure that this board of bureaucrats will not mess with my mom’s health care or your mom’s health care.”

Obamacare defenders scoff at the idea that the IPAB’s decisions would have fatal consequences for seniors, but the panel has been given an extraordinary and perhaps unconstitutional degree of power. Its proposals automatically become law unless Congress counters it with another plan. Overriding the IPAB requires a three-fifths supermajority in the Senate. The Obamacare law dictates that Congress may not even propose doing away with the IPAB until 2017 and may not actually get rid of it until 2020. This dubious provision undercuts the argument that the IPAB is a harmless advocate for government efficiency.

Read more from this story HERE.

Army morale hits rock bottom due to Obama-loving generals, loss of discipline

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo credit: US Army

Only a quarter of the Army’s officers and enlisted soldiers believe the nation’s largest military branch is headed in the right direction — a survey response that is the lowest on record and reflects what some in the service call a crisis in confidence. The detailed annual survey by a team of independent researchers found that the most common reasons cited for the bleak outlook were “ineffective leaders at senior levels,” a fear of losing the best and the brightest after a decade of war, and the perception, especially among senior enlisted soldiers, that “the Army is too soft” and lacks sufficient discipline.

The study, ordered by the Center for Army Leadership at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, also found that one in four troops serving in Afghanistan rated morale either “low” or “very low,” part of a steady downward trend over the last five years. But the most striking finding is widespread disagreement with the statement that “the Army is headed in the right direction to prepare for the challenges of the next 10 years.” “In 2011, [active duty] agreement to this statement hit an all-time low,” according to the survey results, a copy of which were provided to The Boston Globe. “Belief that the Army is headed in the right direction is positively related to morale.” In 2010, about 33 percent of those surveyed didn’t agree with the statement; the number was 38 percent in 2006.

The apparent lack of confidence poses a new set of challenges to the Army as it undergoes budget cuts and shrinks its ranks. The Army’s top officer, General Raymond T. Odierno, says he is taking the findings to heart. “It is very important for us to be introspective, and we are committed to continual self-assessment,” Odierno told the Army Times newspaper in a statement. A major concern that the survey identified was whether the Army would be able to keep top-notch leaders as it cuts its ranks, as well as fears it would be stretched too thin to meet unforeseen demands. Junior officers were particularly concerned about retaining good leaders.

The active-duty Army, which is currently about 570,000 strong, is preparing to reduce its ranks by about 90,000 soldiers in the coming years, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down and the Pentagon budget is subject to a government-wide belt-tightening. “Comments on downsizing the force reflected concerns by leaders that troop reductions would significantly impact the Army’s ability to respond to future conflicts,” the study’s authors wrote.

The Army has historically surveyed attitudes within the ranks to improve professional education and training. But since 2005 it has undertaken the empirically based Army Leader Development Survey each year in an effort to identify trends and leading indicators for leadership problems and signs of dissatisfaction.

Read more from this story HERE.

Facebook-posting Marine vet in psych ward: FBI admits questioning, denies arrest

/21 Comments/in , /by

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported today that Brandon Raub, the Marine veteran whose mother claims was arrested because of his patriotic Facebook postings, was not actually arrested but was instead placed in a psychiatric ward “in a local hospital after being picked up by federal and local law enforcement officials concerned about threatening Internet postings.”

In a telephone interview with the Times-Dispatch, Raub stated that, “I’m currently in John Randolph in the psychiatric ward being held against my will.”

Raub, a marine sergeant in the combat engineers with service time in both Afghanistan and Iraq, said that the FBI and local law enforcement were “concerned about me calling for the arrest of government officials.”

In the Times-Dispatch interview, Raub affirmed that during his 20 or 30 minute interview with the Secret Service, he was “very cooperative and answered everything honestly. I really love America, and I think that idea that you can be detained and sent somewhere without due process and a lawyer … is crazy.”

A spokeswoman for the Richmond FBI office affirmed that the FBI had received reports about Raub’s Facebook posts and suggest that that was the reason that the FBI interviewed Raub in the presence of the local police officers. The agency also denied arresting Raub. Beyond that, the FBI refused to comment.

Although the Secret Service was allegedly present during the arrest, the Washington, D.C. office stated that it had not arrested or charged Raub.

Since his discharge, Raub had been running a silver coin business out of his home.

See Mr. Raub being taken into custody HERE, his mother’s interview HERE, and the Facebook postings HERE.

Obamacare: free sterilization for your 15 year old without your consent?

/12 Comments/in , /by

Americans outraged over the Obama administration’s requirement that health insurance policies cover contraception and sterilization at no charge are about to get even hotter under the collar. According to CNSNews.com, depending on state law, girls as young as 15 could well be eligible for free surgical sterilizations — even without their parents’ consent.

The ObamaCare regulation, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this year, states: “Non-grandfathered plans and issuers are required to provide coverage without cost sharing consistent with these guidelines in the first plan year … that begins on or after August 1, 2012.” The guidelines call for insurers to cover “all Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity.”

While the guidelines do not define “all women with reproductive capacity,” they are based on the recommendations of an Institute of Medicine report that defines it as “from the time of menarche” — the onset of menstruation, which occurs around age 12 — “to the time of menopause.” Thus it would appear that HHS is requiring all new insurance plans to cover legal sterilizations for girls age 12 and older.

Of course, in most states women must be considerably older than 12 to be sterilized, and teenagers desiring to be sterilized must obtain their parents’ consent. In Oregon, however, girls 15 and older need not obtain parental consent to be sterilized. All they must do is sign a form stating that they are making an informed decision to be sterilized — a procedure that “must be considered permanent and not reversible” — voluntarily and with the understanding that “my decision will not affect my right to future care or treatment.” For girls unable to understand English, the state helpfully permits an interpreter to sign the form for them.

Therefore, under ObamaCare a 15-year-old Oregonian girl apparently can get a tubal ligation for free without so much as a by-your-leave from her parents. (This same girl, meanwhile, must wait until she is 16 to drive and 17 to wed and can do neither without parental consent until she is 18.) Parents and other policyholders not wishing to pay for sterilization coverage will be forced to do so since it will now be baked into every policy sold. And taxpayers, whether or not they agree with the practice of sterilizing minors without parental consent, will be forced to subsidize such coverage for those unable to buy insurance on their own — a segment of the population sure to grow as mandates such as this drive up premiums.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Congressman swims nude in Sea of Galilee, FBI investigates

/15 Comments/in , /by

Photo credit: ITIF

U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder of Kansas apologized to his constituents Sunday night after a published report revealed the freshman lawmaker swam nude in the Sea of Galilee during a private fact-finding trip to the Mideast last August.

Politico reported the incident in a story on its website Sunday. The website said the FBI investigated the trip, which included other lawmakers and their spouses, as well as staff members.

“I feel incredibly remorseful that I have caused embarrassment to my constituents and I have caused folks who believe in me to be disappointed,” Yoder told The Star Sunday night.

“The gravity of the situation and the actions I’ve taken are not lost on me, and I feel certainly regret at what has occurred, and I just want to apologize to my constituents for a momentary lapse in judgment.”

It was not immediately clear what the FBI might have examined in relation to the trip. Yoder and his chief of staff, Travis Smith, said neither the Republican congressman nor any members of his staff had talked to the FBI.

Read more from this story HERE.

Border conspiracy: local law manipulates crime stats for feds (+hidden video)

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo credit: Marion Doss

Every year, the federal government doles out roughly a billion taxpayer dollars to local law enforcement agencies in the form of grants. These agencies — city police and constables, state agencies, county sheriffs — apply for the grants through the Department of Justice’s COPS (for Community Oriented Policing Services) program and use them to hire more personnel, purchase vehicles and equipment, and enhance their crime-fighting capabilities.  But do the federal grants actually help fight crime?

Local law enforcement agencies insist that the grant money is vital to fighting crime and even to their departments’ survival. But is there a dark side to federalizing local law enforcement funding? PJ Media has obtained exclusive hidden camera video that shows federal grant money creates an incentive for local law enforcement to falsify their crime statistics. The fake stats tell a story that ends up benefiting the local agencies that clamor for the grants, while helping Washington sell its story that the border is safer than it really is:

 

Case in point: Hidalgo County, Texas. This border county is home to McAllen, one of the fastest-growing cities in the entire United States. Hidalgo County boasts the most border crossings of any county along the Texas-Mexico border. Property values are rising here despite the stagnant U.S. economy. The county is home both to gang-infested barrios and to a posh neighborhood that boasts fountains, manicured lawns, beautiful new custom homes, and many cars bearing Mexican license plates.

Hidalgo County sits across the border from Reynosa, Mexico, one of the most violent and troubled cities in the Mexican drug wars. But according to some local officials, Mexico’s drug war has not spilled over into their bustling Texas community. They say this even though U.S. forces engaged drug cartel members in a firefight at Chimney Park in Hidalgo County in 2011.

Hidalgo County elected Democrat Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño sheriff in 2004 and then re-elected him in 2008, and this spring he reportedly spent more than a half a million dollars to clinch the Democratic nomination for a third term as the county’s sheriff. In this heavily Democratic county, Treviño is a cinch to win that third term. The former Austin police officer claims that Hidalgo County has seen a dramatic reduction of violent crime during his tenure. Sheriff Treviño dismisses the presence and influence of drug cartels in his border county. To hear Sheriff Treviño talk, domestic violence may be a bigger issue in Hidalgo County. But as a local news story that was published August 10, 2012, shows, many residents of Hidalgo County do not feel safe and do not believe that crime is down at all. They also do not believe that Sheriff Treviño’s office is concerned about them.

Read more from this story HERE.