FL Governor Rick Scott stands against the Affordable Care Act

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The Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. It violates the 1st, 4th, 10th and 14th Amendments. It infringes on the religious liberties of Americans and private business who do not wish to provide abortion services or contraception in their healthcare plans. These rights are protected under the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution. The Affordable Care Act forces you to buy product or services in direct violation of the Commerce Clause and in direct violation of your constitutional rights. You cannot be forced to buy anything in this free republic.

Stop living in fear of this administration and many are refusing to comply with the Affordable Care Act.

The weak do nothing Congress refuses to prosecute President Obama for crimes against the Constitution. Here in Florida though Governor Rick Scott stood up to the federal intrusion on our rights.

Florida Governor Rick Scott, does not support the federal health reform law, including the health insurance exchanges. Florida legislators also refused to approve legislation to create an exchange in Florida, they returned a $1 million federal planning grant awarded in 2010.

After the Supreme Court ruling that upheld most of the unconstitutional Act in June 2012, Governor Scott announced that Florida would not establish a state-based health insurance exchange. This was to ensure we followed the constitution and not the mandates coming from the Department of Health and Human Services machine in Washington DC.

Governor Scott continues to fight against the Affordable Care Act and any operation of the illegal federally controlled health insurance marketplace. In September, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) banned navigators from all county public health facilities. Florida DOH officials have said the move is consistent with its policy of blocking outside groups that are not doing state business. The Florida DOH is following the 10th Amendment.

The Florida DOH have also said the ban helps protects consumers from privacy concerns stemming from the collection of personal information for inclusion in a federal database. This database violates the HIPAA Act and your 4th Amendment rights. The Obama administration strongly criticized the ban on navigators, labeling the order “obstructionist” and “plain absurdity.” Of course President Obama did, he is not getting his way in Florida. He’s trying to get a hold of all your personal medical information and centralize it in Washington DC.

ObamaCare_I-WILL-NOT-COMPLY_300x244-01The taxpayer funded federal exchanges may end up competing with Florida Health Choices, which is the state’s own version of an online marketplace. Florida Health Choices was established by 2008 legislation. However, it is still not operational. According to its website, Florida Health Choices will launch early in 2014. We must shut down and defund Florida Health Choices and allow free market insurance companies to manage the health care in Florida. Its not the taxpayers responsibility.

Florida’s own insurance exchange does not comply with the Affordable Care Act. This is fine, we don’t have to comply with any unconstitutional laws coming out of Washington, rather we must ignore them. As originally conceived, Florida Health Choices was only to be available only to small businesses, not individuals. Plans have now evolved to include options for individuals. Florida Health Choice will not subsidize the cost of plans sold through the exchange for low-income individuals or offer tax credits to businesses. Nor does Florida Health Choices require a minimum set of benefits as the ACA exchanges do in the form of essential health benefits.

This is called freedom boys and girls and we are free people in Florida. DO NOT COMPLY with any unconstitutional law especially Obama Care. Do not comply with the IRS when they demand proof of health insurance. This is a violation of your 4th Amendment Rights. This is a violation of your privacy rights. REFUSE their requests for information under the 10th Amendment, the 4th Amendment, the 1st Amendment, the 5th Amendment.

On the federally operated exchange set up illegally in Florida by the Obama administration and Kathleen Sibelius , 10 insurers are selling ACA-compliant health insurance policies. Since when did the federal government determine if any kind of insurance was federally compliant for you ? It your choice to pick your insurance coverage not the government. We don’t live in a Communist controlled country. It boils down to one thing, its all about control over on you?

This Obama Care is illegal and infringes on your rights as Americans. The insurers in Florida that are supposedly approved by those in the White House probably were working within free markets anyway. They are Aetna, Cigna, Coventry Health Care of Florida, Florida Blue (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida), Florida Health Care Plan Health Options, Humana, Molina Healthcare, Simply Healthcare Plan, and Sunshine State Health.

My friends you can either surrender to the forces in Washington DC or you can stand up and refuse to comply and be ready for the battle that lies ahead. You must ensure that you remain a free American in a free country with the freedom to choose whether you wish to purchase any product or service or not without fear of prosecution.

I will not comply with the IRS and I will not permit them to harass, intimidate, threaten, or fine me for non compliance. I am a free man and the current White House leadership is an enemy of this country and our values. We have a right to stand up and defend ourselves from it. And that we must do.

I want legislation drawn up that prohibits doctors, hospitals and medical facilities etc. in the State of Florida from accepting any form of Obama care coverage because it is a constitutional violation infringing on our 1st, 4th and 10th Amendment Rights.

I want all doctors and hospitals and private medical facilities in Florida to refuse to accept Obama care insurance. If you get threatened stare them in the face and tell the government to pack sand. You must take a stand.

Congrats to Phil Robertson, his Family and America!

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Congratulations America, we did it! Thanks to your passionate push back, A&E networks rescinded its suspension of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson. One thing to take away from the Duck Dynasty controversy is that no one knows enough or can predict the future well enough to be a pessimist.

Conservative intellectuals (smart people) read negative political tea leaves which lead them to conclude that all is lost; Obama and his army of liberal socialist/progressives have all the power. They do everything right to further their agenda while we bumbling conservatives do everything wrong.

I simply can not subscribe to negative predictions of the future. No one knows what tomorrow may bring. Secondly, 60 something years of living has taught me to trust God.

For example, who could have predicted that a scruffy bearded duck hunter would inspire mega-millions of Americans to push back and win a major battle in the war against the tyranny of political correctness? Phil’s victory over political correctness zealots reminds me of the scripture that says, “God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.” (1Cor. 1:27) Unquestionably, the arrogant elitist aggressors on the left were blown away by America rallying around Phil.

Another unforeseen gift hidden in the left’s feverish overplayed attack on Phil is that it has opened the eyes of millions of Americans to the truth that the left truly have launched a war on religious faith and traditional family values.

Thanks to Phil holding firm to his beliefs, Americans are organizing to push back against the left’s assaults on not just religious freedom, but liberty in general. Once passive Americans are joining the fight; signing petitions and more.

In the midst of the left (NAACP, GLAD and NOW) rising up with pitch-forks demanding the head of Phil Robertson for quoting the Bible, I noticed that Kathy Griffin, queen of poking her finger in the eye of Christians will again co-host CNN’s New Years Eve coverage. Ms Griffin told Jesus to “S*** it” in her Emmy award acceptance speech.

Unlike the left’s hysterical demands that Phil Robertson be fired, I am not suggesting that CNN not employ the services of Ms Griffin. I am merely shining the light of truth, exposing the left’s blatant selective outrage and hypocrisy.

Ask yourself folks, would Ms Griffin be ringing in the new year on CNN had her disrespectful comments been directed at Mohammed? I shutter just thinking of the consequences.

So why has the left deemed it OK to dis my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? I ask, WDJD (what did Jesus do) to inspire such hate and disrespect from the left?

Not to stray too far off topic, I just want to express my gratitude and excitement over the much needed shot in the arm that Phil’s victory has given the Tea Party movement.

And one last thing. Well meaning folks on our side have been criticizing Phil; his interpretation of scripture and so on. While such observations may or may not be true, there are a plethora of vicious left-wing pundits ripping Phil to threads with exaggerations, distortions and lies.

Displaying manhood and backbone that has become rare in America, Phil courageously took a stand against political correctness for us; our principles and values. Therefore, I will not dare criticize him. I choose to view my Phil Robertson glass half full.

Thanks again brother Phil. You are appreciated and respected more than you will ever know.

Common Core is putting “teaching to the test” on steroids

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As the details of Common Core become known, more parents and teachers are opposing it. Bob Kellogg from One New Now reports, ”

More and more parents are concerned about Common Core standards. Many want to opt their youngsters out of the standardized testing. Jane Robbins, a senior fellow with the American Principles Project, believes school officials are being caught off guard.

Robbins, Jane (APP)“I think it’s caught them by surprise and they’re not quite sure what to do with it,” she observes, “but it’s a real indication of the depth of concern about this whole scheme.”

She says the best strategy for parents concerned about centralized, federal education standards “is to make legislators in the states and governors and other officials more afraid of the people than they are of the power brokers – the ones who have a lot of money invested in this and the ones who have decided that [they] are the experts and [are] going to do this.” Read more.

Even teachers unions are beginning to realize the potential downside of Common Core standardized testing on their members.

Kellogg reports, “Earlier this year, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten called for a delay in the implementation of the national standards, fearing teachers will be penalized if students fare poorly under the new guidelines. If those standards are wrongly implemented, she said, “they will end up in the overflowing dustbin of abandoned reforms, with people throwing up their hands,” believing that public schools are too broken to save.

Brittany Corona, a research assistant with The Heritage Foundation, says Weingarten is absolutely correct.

“We’re going to see a lot of issues – not only for the teachers though,” Corona tells OneNewsNow. “We’re going to see it for the parents, we’re going to see it for the school districts. And not just the Common Core; it’s the whole principle of national standards. That’s the problem with implementation.”

She says even though the left-leaning Weingarten is calling for a moratorium on implementation, that doesn’t mean she’s opposed to national standards.

Read more.  

VIDEO: Floridians Against Common Core posted the below video series on kindergarten mathematics. The group states, “Pavlovian obedience training method on kindergarteners. Notice their lackluster expressions.”

The War on Rich White Men

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I heard a knock on the door of my hotel room. It was Donald. “Turn on Megyn Kelly. She is reporting about an MSNBC commentators claim that using the term ‘Obamacare’ is the same as calling him the N word.” 

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry’s accusation is absurd. It is an obvious weak attempt to distance the president from Obamacare which is wreaking havoc in the lives of millions of Americans who are losing their health care.

What I found most disturbing and what I wish to focus on is Perry’s evil attempt to gin up hate against “wealthy white men” who she claims created the term “Obamacare” to demean and undermine the black president.

Due to the Obama Administration playing the race card to win every argument and silence opposition, America is polarized along racial lines. Perry’s false accusation is like throwing gasoline on the flames of national racial tensions; as irresponsible and cruel as screaming fire in a crowded auditorium.

Perry’s specific use of the term “wealthy white men” was insidiously strategic. Low info blacks in my family along with blacks across America will believe Perry’s nonsense to be the gospel truth. With the wave of black flash mob violence and the rising incidents of the racially motivated knockout game, the last thing we need as a nation is another black TV celeb promoting a racially charged false narrative.

Democrats and liberals like Perry have been promoting the same irresponsible, divisive and racist false narrative for decades. They claim that all evil in the world is the fault of racist, greedy, sexist and evil wealthy white men usually identified as conservative Republicans.

Perry’s rant is simply the latest blow to the chin of America’s white males by a liberal. Flash back to New York Times columnist, Maureen Dowd’s 2009 article titled, “White Man’s Last Stand.” Dowd’s article excoriated white men.

Obama and company’s reelection strategy was centered around a shock-and-awe media blitz branding the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney as an evil super-wealthy racist white guy.

So, we get it. While political correctness is the unwritten law of the land, it is open season on trashing and targeting the American rich white male for destruction; even deemed morally correct and patriotic.

Who is out there giving rich white men props for their many positive contributions to society? Where are their advocates? I am sure with me being an American black man, liberals think it unconscionable that I would suggest such a thing; elevating me to “super” Uncle Tom status.

In 1895, Booker T. Washington formed a coalition of black leaders, politicians and white philanthropists (rich white guys), with a long-term goal to build the black community’s economic strength and pride by focusing on self-help, education and entrepreneurship.

Perry’s ridiculous claim that the term “Obamacare” is the new N word is laughable. The N word is defined as a contemptuous term for a black or dark-skinned person. Sadly, American rich white men are viewed with a similar contemptuousness; despised, kicked around and unfairly mistreated.

Bottom line, Ms Perry and the whole liberal machine pushing the war on rich white men should be ashamed of themselves. The left’s hate speech is ripe with negative consequences for the lives of real people; decent folks who simply worked hard, made good choices and achieved their American Dream.

Why should they be demonized in such a way as to inspire violence against them? It simply is not right.

Looking Into My 2014 Crystal Ball

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Pundits are expected to make predictions for the year ahead and far be it for me to avoid what, generally speaking, depends on who is making them. Major trends are already in place and easy to predict as they proceed, but it is always unknown events that upend predictions. Mother Nature and perpetrators of evil can always be counted upon to provide them.

Since the Earth has been in a seventeen-year cooling cycle, I can safely predict there will be no “global warming” in 2014 and, given the other science-based factors, the likelihood is that 2014 will experience more colder weather and may even be an earlier predictor of a mini-ice age much the same as the one that occurred from 1300 to 1850.

As mentioned, it is the unpredictable events that will affect 2014. The good news is that the U.S. has seen far fewer hurricanes, tornadoes, and forest fires in recent years. The global cooling trend, however, is likely to cause more and larger blizzards.

“Climate change”? This is now the basis of all the lies we shall hear from the President to justify his five-year delay of the Keystone oil pipeline, his continued war on coal—affordable electricity—and other Environmental Protection Agency efforts to control our lives while denying the creation of the thousands of jobs the pipeline and other energy-related development would provide. Environmentalism is the enemy of the technologies that have transformed and enhanced our lives.

The November mid-term elections hold the promise of ridding Congress of some of the Democrats who unanimously voted for Obamacare in 2009. It will also replace those Republicans-in-name-only, RINOs, who have joined Democrats in voting for legislation that advanced the socialism that is strangling the nation by expanding the federal government. I predict the ranks of “independent” voters will increase in 2014.

The erosion of the Democratic Party base will continue as Obamacare afflicts millions of Americans who will lose their healthcare insurance plans, be deprived of using their personal physician, and see their costs increase. It is the essence of communism, providing the government with control over one’s life and, in too many cases, causing many to die for the lack of plans they previously had or the costs of those they are required to purchase. Those leaving the party will include women and the younger generation leaving college to discover there aren’t any jobs to help them cope with the debt they incurred to attend. Hispanics, too, show signs of leaving.

It is hard to predict what will occur within the Republican Party whose leadership has engaged in denunciations of the Tea Party movement. However, when the Tea Party movement elects more committed conservative GOP candidates, it will save the nation and the party. Suffice to say that Obamacare will be the gift that keeps on giving in 2014. It will, in time, be repealed.

Obama’s failed foreign policy will ensure that former allies will cease to trust the U.S. to support their need to deal with the rising threat of Islamic jihad in the Middle East and Africa. Obama has lost Egypt and Saudi Arabia as long-time allies. Israel is in a particularly perilous situation and the outcome of the Syrian civil war does not bode well for it or its neighbor Jordan.

Iran will be the greatest threat of war since the 1930s. And, yes, the U.S.-led “deal” will fail.

Polls reveal a growing unhappiness with the U.S. Congress. The President’s performance ratings have been falling and will continue to do so in 2014. The problem is the growth of socialism that began during and in the wake of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The pension debt and other benefits resulting from government worker unions has forced Detroit into bankruptcy and other American cities will follow.

By executive order the President just raised government salaries by 1%. Can he do that? Not really. Only the House can authorize such expenditures. Can he change Obamacare without consulting Congress? Not really.

The mainstream media will continue to lose its credibility as the Internet affords Americans alternative means of finding out what is really occurring as opposed to the deceptive and manipulative efforts of the Obama administration. Having raised voter’s expectations of Obama, his fall will be dramatic in 2014. The mainstream media is largely composed of liberals who are the result of the transformation of education into socialist indoctrination that began in the 1960s. By contrast, conservative print and broadcast media will thrive. Fox News has more viewers than the networks and CNN, combined.

Events such as the current attack on Southern Sudan, and the on-going slaughter in Syria will continue. Christians throughout the Middle East and Africa will find themselves under continued attack. Muslim-on-Muslim violence will continue. Islamists are devoted to its “holy” war, including its own schism.

In America, privacy, an essential element of the Constitution, will continue to be diminished if Congress does not address the vast collection of information of all of our communications. Read the Fourth Amendment. It says in part that “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…”

We may see more states enact laws to defy Obamacare. South Carolina is currently the only one. The Tenth Amendment says “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Read the Constitution, you will not find the words “health” in it, nor “education”, nor “environment.” The federal government should get out of these aspects of our lives.

My most positive prediction is that historians will look back at 2014 as the year in which Americans woke to the threat of socialism-communism and, like the Tea Party movement, began to fight back.

© Alan Caruba, 2013

Fight over God in Pledge of Allegiance a Waste of Effort

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Much ado is made about the Pledge of Allegiance, arguing whether the term “Under God” should or should not be recited.

Religious folks insist on God being included. Nonreligious folks think it should be eliminated. Regardless of religious orientation, we are all Americans, taxpayers and loyalists, and many are veterans who fought for this country. And, according to the Declaration of Independence, we are all created equal, religion notwithstand- ing.

In September, the Massachusetts Supreme Court heard arguments in which plaintiffs argued that the term “Under God” in the pledge violates separation of church and state, and therefore the First Amendment to the Constitution. That case is still under review, though general opinions indicate that the pledge will probably remain as worded. Should the state court strike the two-word phrase, we can expect a cascade of similar lawsuits in other states.

As of now, 38 states have adopted laws that give children a choice to say the pledge. Schools in five states do not recite the pledge.

The real problem is that the argument digresses from the purpose of the pledge. When I place my hand upon my heart, I don’t consider it a prayer or a religious recitation. It is a promise to be loyal to our nation, symbolized by the stars and stripes. The term “Under God” was not officially inserted until President Dwight Eisenhower signed the bill into law during Flag Day 1954. In Cold War days, the national spirit was to separate a “Godless” Soviet Union from a “God-loving” America.

With all the hoopla, we lose sight that this is a simple pledge, not a religious promise. It seems ludicrous that two words would cause so much distress to either side of the argument, words which any American can choose to utter, or choose not to. Omitting “Under God” doesn’t make any less of an allegiance being pledged.

Nonbelievers should consider more important issues to pursue and drop the tenacious defamation of a widely accepted recitation. When atheists arrive at that phrase, they can remain mute, then continue on. The pledge is still a pledge.

Like who’s listening?

Parents who object to the schoolroom reciting of “Under God” for their children are perfectly free to teach their kids accordingly. Children and young adults who abstain from uttering those two words are breaking no rules. This is America. It is a choice.

We have enormous social, political, economic and national security problems in our country. Escalating a two-word phrase in to a passionate argument should not even make newsprint. The First Amendment applies to all Americans whether they believe in God nor not. Therefore, no one — including schoolchildren — should be forced to include words in the pledge that acknowledge God. It’s a matter for free speech.

The pledge is just that: a pledge to America, to love honor and respect, and to acknowledge we all are all one, indivisible, as Americans, with liberty and justice for all.

Can’t we all just get along?

Seawalls and Other Barriers to the Truth about Climate Change

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“We are not capable of addressing climate change.” Such was the leadoff sentence of the latest climate change guest columnist Gregory Willits in the December 24, 2013 edition of the Orlando Sentinel. An accurate statement to be sure, but for all the wrong reasons.

Mr. Willits, an avowed ‘green’ enthusiast, went on to strongly support the building of sea walls to keep out the predicted rising sea levels that the world’s greatest climate scaremonger Al Gore, has said will swamp most of Florida with 21ft of sea water by the year 2100. Like a pair of old socks left too long in the gym locker, it is now a malodorous, well worn refrain especially to those in SE Florida who have been sold this phony bill of goods for over twenty years by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN-IPCC). Yes, we are not capable of addressing climate change, the truth about climate change that is.

The seawalls and numerous other barriers to the truth about the Earth’s climate status have already been built to enormous heights. We need no more.

The truth of what is really happening to the climate vs. the UN and President Obama version is, however, a bit hard to accept after two decades of global warming propaganda. I know. It was for me when in April 2007, after finishing some research into solar activity, I discovered that global warming was ending and a potentially dangerous cold climate was beginning. Such was my first major climate prediction with several more to follow.

My announcement then to the White House, Congress and the mainstream media was of course greeted with the expected indifference, ridicule, and even slander.

This is the historical outcome of any who stand against the dogma and power politics of their day. Now, almost seven years later, and the track record of my Space and Science Research Corporation (SSRC) in making major climate change predictions, according to public records, is one of the best if not the best in the United States. The Global Climate Status Report©, published by the SSRC each quarter, now shows that of twenty four climate parameters, eighteen show global cooling as the dominant trend. The remaining parameters are expected to switch to cooling in the next five to ten years completing this picture of the next climate change to the predicted long cold climate epoch.

Yet, this capability for climate prediction accuracy and that of the other researchers who follow solar behavior to gauge climate change, goes unmentioned by our leaders and the media because of the ‘sea walls to the truth’ about the climate and the decades long barriers created by the manmade climate change myth or, what I and others have called “…the greatest scientific fraud in the history of mankind.”

The truth is that in the world of climate extremism, the fear and scare tactics of manmade global warming advocates is their only tool for demanding more walls, real and imaginary, more taxes to build them, more seizures of property, more unconstitutional activities like the stated “fascism” styled regional plans like that of the Seven50 Plan of SE Florida. On August 21, 2013, I held a news conference along with other scientists outside Miami to announce the end of global sea level rise. Despite the overwhelming evidence presented that this was likely, not one major media source picked up the story. It seems that the truth is an orphan when deception rules the day.

The truth is that Earth’s global temperature average has had zero growth for sixteen years now. More importantly, the Earth’s oceans have been cooling for ten years now and the atmosphere for seven years. These three critical statements would not be possible if the CO2 emissions of mankind had the alleged effect that the UN has proposed. The truth is the many global climate models of the UN-IPCC that global warming and ‘green’ zealots have used to justify their actions have now all been proven “simply wrong” by a wide margin according to their own supporters and developers. The truth is that climate models based on the Sun being the primary driver of climate change are over 90% accurate compared to the utter failures of the greenhouse theory and climate change based on mankind’s insignificant portion of the total emissions of the minor trace gas, CO2.

The truth is we have begun a new and possibly dangerous cold climate which will reshape the future of humankind through massive global crop losses and social upheaval. Sadly, because of the misguided climate policies of our current government in Washington, we will be completely unprepared for it, virtually guaranteeing nation-wide panic when the first cold crop damage strikes. The truth is that scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences have said a new “Little Ice Age” will start in 2014 and the SSRC says that the worst cold in over 200 years lies just ahead.

Yes, we are not capable of dealing with climate change, at least not on a truthful, factual level. The all- powerful Sun is about to demonstrate its influence over mankind’s ego by once again cutting back on its life giving warmth on a natural predictable cycle. Those who make decisions based on facts will do well in the coming cold climate. Those who make decisions based on fear and emotion will not.

This then is the truth about the Earth’s climate future when the “seawalls and other barriers to truth” are removed.

Reporters Hit a White House Stone Wall

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Obama’s promise to lead an open and transparent administration has become an “albatross” according to a Dec 24, 2013 Politico.com analysis by Josh Gerstein. As Obama’s fifth year in office wraps up, much of the Washington and nation’s press corps is very unhappy.

With the exception of those who depend on Fox, ABC radio, the Wall Street Journal, and other conservative outlets, too many of the consumers of news are blissfully unaware of the liberal, rubber stamp product they are receiving. It is the complete betrayal of those whom the press is supposed to serve.

They did not report the truth about Obamacare. They have not reported the truth about Obama’s failed foreign affairs policies, including the attack on Benghazi. They have largely ignored other scandals. Obama’s new economic “inequality” lies are right out of the Communist Manifesto. The result, however, was his reelection in 2012 and millions of cancelled health plans.

All administrations have sought to control the information—the message—that reaches the public, but the Obama administration has gone to greater lengths than previous ones. In particular, its public affairs offices (PAOs) have become obstacles to press access.

Writing in the Dec 17th edition of Editor & Publisher, the newspaper trade magazine, Jim Dickinson said, “Over two hours at the National Press Club a few months ago, the truth finally hit me. Journalism has done it to itself, the ‘it’ being the surrender of our First Amendment-protected responsibility to tell the people what their government is really, actually doing—as opposed to what the government tells us it wants the people to know.”

The panel to which Dickerson was referring was entitled “Government Public Affairs Offices: More Hindrance Than Help?” He wrote that “Public affairs offices increasingly require that reporters conduct all interviews through the press office. U.S. Departments and agencies often mandate that their employees only talk to reporters through official channels and with communications staff present.”

Not only do government employees know that this means their job can be on the line, but as I noted in October, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act signed into law in November 2012 in reality puts whistleblowers at risk of going to jail.

Reporters find that the leaks from whistleblowers and routine information from government employees are drying up. Ironically, the actions of former NSA employee Edward Snowden and U.S. Army corporal Bradley Manning exposed more information than the administration wanted anyone to know. Manning went to jail and Snowden has found asylum in Russia. Both said they acted in the public interest; a public being told that the NSA’s acquisition of data on every phone call is being done to protect them.

The problem is manifest in efforts under the Freedom of Information Act to secure feedback from government agencies. Politico’s Gerstein pointed out the availability of government records under FOIA often results in requests routinely lingering for years “and often end up producing a ream of blacked-out text.” News is expected to be timely and delaying access to public records negates that.

What has been and is reported these days are the lies for which the Obama administration has become famous.

The administration has called the scandals of the first term “phony” and a recent Sixty Minutes interview with Susan Rice, now the national security advisor to Obama, dismissed the Benghazi cover-up as “false.” It was Rice who went on five Sunday news shows to spread the lies about the attack—on the anniversary of 9/11—having been caused by a video no one had ever seen. That earned her a promotion!

The daily White House press briefing has become increasingly heated and, when the President gave a press conference before leaving on a Christmas vacation, he was asked if 2013 had been the worst year to date for him. He obliquely acknowledged what everyone knows, but denied he pays any attention to polls, something every President of the modern era has always done.

The mainstream press has learned that, in return for having published the White House “party line” throughout its first term, that it would tap their phones and accuse a Fox News reporter of being an “accomplice” for releasing information it wanted to keep secret.

Its use of public information offices to thwart or control what news is released, its increased use of “official” White House photos, its widespread failure to respond to Freedom of Information requests, and its use of social media and organizations allied with the White House to advertise and spread its message all add up to a highly manipulative effort to influence the public.

The good news is that the Internet has become a major source of news and analysis available to everyone. As traditional print newspapers suffer decline due to the loss of advertising revenue and the younger generation’s preference for electronic access to the news, the scope of news has expanded to sources beyond government control.

A secretive and deceptive Obama administration is suffering from an abundance and availability of the TRUTH. Too bad that too many journalists have not been active contributors.

© Alan Caruba, 2013

What a Christ-mess

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Christmas is supposed to be a joyous time of the year. But, political correctness has turned Christmas into Christmess.

One way of dissecting the word is Christ-Mas, which in Spanish would be more Christ. If we had more of Christ, I am quite sure we would not have so much deviancy in our society – high divorce rates, high teenage pregnancy, or high crime rates, etc.

Some people and corporations no longer feel like they can wish a person a Merry Christmas. On the advice of lawyers, they feel compelled to say Happy Holidays. I wish I were joking, but this the truth. How is it possible to take Christ out of Christmas when the very root of Christmas is Christ?

Two weeks ago, Ralph J. Osgood Intermediate School on Long Island, N.Y., managed to do just that. Their 5th graders performed their annual Christmas carols. One of the songs they sang was “Silent Night,” but with a twist. According to radio station WCBS, “the school removed several religious references from the song; this included “holy infant” and “Christ the savior.” According to the school, this was done to avoid offending non-Christians.

This is why political correctness makes no sense. So, let me make sure I understand – you want to change the words to a Christian song in order not to offend non-Christians; thereby offending Christians! Huh?

Who is the arbiter of what is offensive? In this case, it is an arbitrary principal of a middle school. What happens if the principal is an atheist? Does he cancel the Christmas concert all together?

Why is it that we Christians have to give up our beliefs in order to make someone else feel good? How about other groups extending to us the same courtesy?

How about the homosexual community accepting the fact that we Christians believe that homosexuality is incompatible with our beliefs and values without calling us names? Should they not be required to give up their beliefs to make us heterosexuals feel good?

If their movement is truly about understanding and tolerance, as they claim, when will we see this demonstrated by their actions?

Not everyone celebrates Christmas and that’s fine; but please don’t force your beliefs on others who do celebrate Christmas. Not everyone accepts homosexuality and that should be fine also.

America must get back to its roots—of embracing God, putting Christ back in Christmas, and the continued promotion of freedom of speech.

What the political correctness police did to Phil Roberson from the TV show “Duck Dynasty” should never happen to anyone else. He called homosexuality a sin and was suspended from the TV show indefinitely, all because he was standing up for his Christian values. I think everyone should boycott A&E, the TV network that carries this show.

To all my homosexual folks, where is the understanding and tolerance for Phil’s beliefs? The Bible is in total support of his position.

If you don’t agree with his beliefs, then don’t watch his TV show. Corporate sponsors should learn to take principled stands in situations like this. If enough people stop watching the show, then the appropriate business decision would be to remove corporate support for the show. But to have 2 or 3 percent of the population (estimates of the percentage of homosexuals in the U.S.) to deny a majority of the population the option to see a TV show is political correctness gone wild.

It is inconceivable to me that Christmas has become so controversial. I don’t like the sport of figure skating, but I don’t demand for it to be taken off of TV. I despise radio shock jocks Don Imus and Howard Stern. They both have made a career out of making racially incendiary statements about Blacks. I have no problem with them being on the radio and having major corporate sponsors. I just refuse to listen to their radio shows.

So, to those who don’t believe or choose not to celebrate Christmas, that’s okay; but please don’t tread on my right to celebrate this most holy of Christian holidays.

Bob Hope Christmas With The Troops

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I vividly remember Bob Hope coming to Cu Chi, Vietnam in 1967. I was with the 101st Airborne Division when he and his team of great personalities came to entertain. Bob was a man who put men in war as ease. He put hope (no pun intended) in our hearts. He was a welcome respite from the battlefield.

I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Saudi Arabia an enemy of the United States?

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In 2001/2002 we hit Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban for aiding and abetting Al Qaida and for hosting Osama Bin Laden after the attacks on New York City, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania on September 11th 2001. We then went on to invade Iraq. This Iraq invasion had no constitutional reasoning and in my opinion was wrong.

Going back in time to the first Gulf war of 1990/Jan 1991, Iraq was no tactical, operational or strategic threat to the United States and we had no constitutional reason to liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein. This was a Muslim problem not an American problem. Osama Bin Laden offered up his Mujahedeen fighters to Saudi Arabia to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi forces but the Saudi’s declined his offer. They decided instead to let American and European forces to shed blood in their place not Muslim blood. I was there in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, forward deployed with and supporting fast attack submarines and SEAL units in this endeavor from 1990-1993.

Lets go back to the events after 9/11 2001. After we secured Afghanistan in 2002 and created conditions for free elections in October 2004 we then should have left Afghanistan our mission accomplished as per Article 2, Section 8 of the Constitution. I think after Afghanistan we should have then over thrown the leadership in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia not Iraq. That’s quite a strong statement to make but I justify what I say with this. Lets go forward in time to the present month Decembers 2013.

On December 19th 2013 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the 2005 Federal Court decision that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was exempt from any civil lawsuits arising from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The 9/11 families and insurance companies are now able to continue forward with legal action against the Saudi Kingdom. Why though would the US government protect Saudi Arabia from civil legal actions resulting from 9/11 ? Good question. Perhaps it was because Saudi Arabia not Iraq that is the enemy of the United States but we must be denied this information to protect those decision makers from prosecution who have inflicted so much pain and suffering on the our military forces and our economy by invading Iraq and not addressing the real problem. KSA !

From the intelligence gathered some of which obtained allegedly from the CIA, Saudi Arabia and the Saudi High Commission knowingly provided the terrorist group Al Qaeda with funds and other support, that helped them carry out the 9/11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.

It would appear that the leadership of Saudi Arabia is our enemy not the people of Iraq. Iraq and Iran fought an 8 year war without American interference and we should have stayed out of Kuwait too in 1991. It was not our problem but Saudi Arabia made it our problem. We fell into the trap and did not follow the Constitution which tells us not to meddle in the affairs of foreign nations. We just can’t stop being the worlds Police department.

Thomas H. Kean was the Chair and Lee H. Hamilton the Vice Chair of the committee investigating the 9/11 attacks. Former Senators Bob Kerrey (D-Nebraska) and Bob Graham (D- Florida) in December 2012 both voiced their concerns about Saudi involvement in 9/11. They submitted affidavits in this case in 2012, stating that a Saudi government agent, along with other Saudi officials, played a key role during the lead-up to the attacks. You will also recall that all of the hijackers except two came from Saudi Arabia. Imagine that. We save Saudi Arabia’s backside from a potential invasion from Iraq in 1991 and they pay us back by allegedly funding the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001. We should listen to our Founding Fathers and stay out of foreign nations squabbles and wars.

Senator Bob Graham, in the New York Times, said “I am convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the terrorists who carried out the September 11th attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia,” in his affidavit, citing, among other things, the San Diego case of Saudi government Omar al Bayoumi, who provided direct assistance to two of the 9/11 hijackers.

I want the Congress of the United States to now force the release of these censored/classified 28 pages from the Congressional Joint Inquiry. These classified documents reportedly deal with Saudi financing and support for the 9/11 hijackers. They will help the families of 9/11 recover financial damages from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and let the chips fall where they may in regards to future US relations with this Muslim country that hates Israel.

Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the attacks on our nation on September 11th 2001 would thus explain why they dumped all of their US Treasury bonds the day before the attack on September 10th 2001. This sell off was stopped when on the morning of 9/11 2001 all the phone lines to Wall Street and the Stock Exchange where cut when the second jet hit Tower II.

The Saudi’s, perhaps being complicit in the attack on the United States on 9/11 by backing and funding Al Qaeda would explain why they just lobbied President Obama the Kenyan Muslim to once again try and use our military but this time as Al Quadas’ mercenaries to take out President Assad in Syria. Saudi Arabia in my opinion is the head of the snake and British intelligence services and Iranian intelligence officers were also probably aware of the Saudi involvement in funding the attack on the United States.

We are in a war on terror partly because Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 and the Saudi’s did not want Muslim blood shed to fix this problem. The Saudi’s used our boys and girls in our military to be their protector which has now made us the target of Al Qaeda. President Carters weakness in 1979 created these conditions for the original Russian invasion of Afghanistan and thus Al Qaeda was born.

We have no reason to be in Afghanistan, we have no reason to be in Iraq, we have no reason to be in the Sudan, Obama had no Congressional authority when he ordered the tomahawk missile attack on Libya an impeachable offense and we have no reason to buy oil from the Middle East. We have more than enough here in the United States.

We must replace our government on November 4th 2014 with one that is able to follow the Constitution. We must stay out of foreign entanglements unless its a direct threat to us and we must prosecute President Obama for crimes against the US Constitution.

We must stop protecting US – Saudi relations and expose the truth about the Saudi’s involvement in creating a ten year war in the Middle East that cost us trillions of dollars, and one that created a 23 year war on terror since 1990 that has cost us thousands of American lives not to mention the veterans now affected with PTSD and lost limbs etc.

A few days ago the Congress and the Senate repaid veterans who have shed their blood defending our nation by cutting their pensions. The Congress / Senate should be ashamed of themselves. I demand that they release and declassify the 28 pages of Saudi complicity in 9/11, lest they forget that the 4th plane that went down in Pennsylvania was meant for them.

We will remember who voted to cut the pay of the military veteran stuck in the wheelchair, hobbling on the crutches and who hides in his or her house afraid to live life because of the experiences he or she has endured to keep these bastard politicians free and Saudi Arabian government rich and prosperous. God Bless America.

God Responds to Lawsuit Against the Word “Sin”

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america duck yeah

For a larger view click on image. Courtesy of The Peoples Cube.

“I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.” – Intolerant, bigoted hick, Phil Robertson

With the fires barely extinguished on their Barilla pasta boxes, GLAAD has found a new victim to harass: Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty.

GLAAD’s beef with Phil is that Phil’s Bible says the gay lifestyle is “sinful.” Phil does not use the New Progressive Bible co-authored by GLAAD and other liberals, but instead chooses to study the outdated traditional Bible.

This is a big deal, because everyone in this country must have a religion that embraces gayness. New, approved Groupthink™ teaches that as long as the parties involved LOVE each other, it doesn’t matter what God says. All religions must comply to receive tax-exempt status (Muslims excluded).

Phil calmly responded, “I didn’t write the Bible. If you have a problem with the Bible, take it up with the Lord.”

GLAAD then filed an Offensive Religion lawsuit against God for the continued H8 and bigotry implied in the word “sin.” They released the following statement:

“We want God to stop smiting us and our lifestyle. We have dealt with the smiting for centuries and we are done – DONE! God’s orders are very discriminatory and do not progress with the changing times. His morals are inflexible and rigid.”

After the Colorado bakers were forced by the courts to make a cake for a gay wedding, GLAAD was hopeful that the courts could also force God to make a new Bible.

GLAAD asked to be compensated with a new kinder, gentler version of the Bible – novelized over centuries by multiple authors – with a 10% tithe going to sex-change charities.

God, a very high-tech deity, responded to GLAAD through email with an updated PDF of a form that used to circulate around the internet. The People’s Cube was able to get a copy of GLAAD’s response through the Freedom of Information Act:

Butthurt_Report_Form.jpg

Obviously, God is being non-compliant, which presents a problem. If God does not show up in court, the NSA has been authorized to track down God’s IP address through the PDF upload, and bring him in to answer for the global crime of calling gayness a “sin.”

We expect GLAAD will have their panties in a bunch, no matter what the outcome.

EDITORS NOTE: Further investigation has discovered that the PDF submitted by God contains layers that are not consistent with technology used at the time of the writing of the Bible, as well as the fact that back flaps may be the reason behind GLAAD’s panties-in-a-bunch problem. This column originally appeared on The Peoples Cube.

Miss Duck Dynasty? Try QUACK DYNASTY with the Obamas

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Since A&E’s Duck Dynasty proved to be a lot more popular with Americans than their messianic president, the A&E Network is now working on a substitute series that will be just like the indefinitely suspended Duck Dynasty, only with the Obamas – a progressive Washington family running a growing government business out of the White House while pretending to have American values.

David Axelrod says about the new show, “If this doesn’t improve the President’s failing ratings, nothing will.”

EDITORS NOTE: This column with graphics originally appeared on The Peoples Cube.

Like Nixon, Obama Must Be Forced to Resign

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A December 17 Reuters article was titled, “Obama’s Current Approval Rating Is The Ugliest Since Nixon.”

“President Barack Obama is ending his fifth year in office with the lowest approval ratings at this point in the presidency since President Richard Nixon, according to a new Washington Post/ABC poll released Tuesday.”

Nixon was forced to resign on April 22, 1974 after two long years that followed the revelations about Watergate, a break-in of the Democratic Party offices in Washington, DC. The backlash against the horrors of Obamacare, concerns about the “deal” with Iran, and a succession of scandals from Fast and Furious to Benghazi, have raised fear and anger over his judgment, competence, and behavior in office.

Having lived through the years that led to Nixon’s resignation, I am seeing the same national resistance that Obama’s five years in office have led to. Nixon was never a “popular” President, widely seen as “Tricky Dick”, but like Obama, he was twice elected to the office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, who assumed the presidency was defeated by Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, and, four years later, an unhappy electorate defeated Carter and elected Ronald Reagan who would serve two terms. Even the popular Bill Clinton faced impeachment.

Not since the days of the Great Depression in the 1930s have Americans endured an economy that has failed to overcome slow growth despite Obama’s full first term in office and another year in his second term.

Ignoring the central role of a free market prolongs bad economic conditions and high taxation to maintain an ever-expanding central government led to big problems for European nations and promises the same—or worse—for the U.S.

When you add in the increased debt imposed in Obama’s first term you are looking at the road to ruin. Blaming “millionaires and billionaires” or “income inequality” is the very essence of communism. It is a rejection of our capitalistic economic system.

Financial ruin for America is embedded in its huge debt, its deficits, and its multi-trillions of dollars in unfunded debt that already insolvent Social Security and Medicare programs represent. And Medicare was looted to fund Obamacare!

The destruction of our healthcare system, one sixth of the nation’s economy, is widely regarded as a disaster and it bears the President’s name. Passed late at night prior to Christmas in 2009 and signed into law by Barack Obama, Obamacare is distinguished by the lies the President told all Americans about their right to keep their healthcare insurance plans, retain their personal physicians, and see their costs reduced. It has done the opposite and it is impossible to believe the President did not know this would occur.

The nation has reached a point when the President must be told to resign.

Whether a Congress, also held in extraordinary low esteem, can or will do this is unknown. While I have said in the past that Obama cannot be removed by impeachment, I now believe that if the House would initiate impeachment proceedings that in itself would focus public attention, for example, on the President’s excessive use of executive orders to by-pass Congress and his unconstitutional altering–tweaking–of the Obamacare law.

His first term was filled with scandals that included using the IRS for political gain. His role in dragging down the nation’s international position as an exemplar and protector of freedom has made the world less safe. These and other issues need a review and discussion that would not occur in the mainstream press in any other way.

This isn’t about a President who authorized a break-in. This is about a President who is a current and future threat to the Constitution, the nation’s military strength, and the restoration of its economy.

This is about a President who can use existing laws to declare martial law based on a manufactured crisis. Existing law would permit him to seize control of all aspects of life in America.

The nation’s mainstream print and broadcast media is showing signs of disillusionment, but not enough to abandon a President they have supported with deliberately biased reporting.

Complicating a demand for his resignation is a divided Republican Party whose elites have rejected the Tea Party movement that has already elected a number of members to Congress. Many find little to differentiate the GOP from the Democratic Party, but there are differences and the House of Representatives is proof of that.

Many Americans sense that the nation is at a very dangerous point.

Dramatic action is needed. A demand for Obama’s resignation via petitions and other measures is needed to save America from the worst President ever elected to that office.

© Alan Caruba, 2013

Israel: The Masada Paradigm

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During my 2012 trip to Israel I visited many historical sites. One site that struck me was Masada (Hebrew for fortress). Masada embodies the spirit of Israel. It is located in the Southeastern part of Israel near the Dead Sea. Masada is both a historical site and symbol of Israel’s current plight.

Israel finds itself a fortress in the Middle East surrounded by those wishing it harm just as Masada was a safe haven and fortress for Sicarii rebels and Jewish families fleeing the Roman invasion and sacking of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Today many Jewish families are fleeing to Israel from places like Ethiopia, the Ukraine and Europe to find security.

Security is paramount to all Israelis.

What many in America and the media do not understand, is how important security is to those living in Israel — including Arab Israelis. Dr. Reuven Hazan, Director of the Political Science Department at Hebrew University, addressed us on the last day of my trip to Israel. Dr. Hazan explained that Israel consists of two camps. Both agree that security is paramount but each approaches the security issue differently. One camp believes that the land taken during the 1967 war is needed to provide a buffer against future attacks. The other believes the land must be returned to gain peace.

Over the short 65-year history of Israel there have been five conservative prime ministers according to Dr. Hazan. The most recent two are Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. Many believe that the two camps are separated by an insurmountable chasm on the issue of security. Dr. Hazan says that is not true. In fact one camp has been moving to the other camp’s position that land for peace is a viable national security strategy. He pointed out that former Prime Minister Sharon unilaterally pulled out of Gaza and that current Prime Minister Netanyahu has publicly embraced a two state solution.

The question remains: Have these efforts made Israel more secure?

As I write this column the Israeli Knesset has authorized the mobilization of Defense Force battalions to increase security on Israel’s borders with Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. Israel has been struck by over 150 rockets fired from Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai in the past week alone.

Has Israel moved too far to one side at its great peril?

The Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. on March 26, 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt-Israel treaty was signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and witnessed by President Jimmy Carter. Former Prime Minister Begin was a founder of the conservative Likud Party. He gave up the Sinai Peninsula in a land for peace agreement. Egyptian President Sadat was assassinated by the Muslim Brotherhood on October 6, 1981. Just 31 years later, the Muslim Brotherhood has, for a short time, controlled both the Egyptian Parliament and the Presidency.

Today peace in the Middle East is more in jeopardy than ever.

Both camps have traded land for peace in one form or another since 1967. Peace remains elusive if not impossible. According to Dr. Hazan, Israel has no one to negotiate a peace treaty with today. The Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, is not strong enough to insure an agreement is kept. HAMAS, led by Khaled Meshaal, is strong enough to insure a peace agreement is kept but will not enter into negotiations. HAMAS is the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. The HAMAS charter calls for the destruction of Israel. Therefore the status quo of a nation under siege is the current national security policy of Israel.

Israel is a modern day Masada.