Roskam: Why Did You Tell the ABA About IRS Scandal Before Congress?
[Breitbart.com]
May 17, 2013
Live Updates
Former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Acting Commissioner Steven Miller, who only took over in November and resigned this week at President Barack Obama’s behest, will testify before the House Ways and Means Committee Friday on his role in targeting Tea Party and conservative groups for audit or excessive review.
Miller was the first senior IRS official to be disciplined in the scandal, though the problems began before he took over the IRS, and other senior officials were aware of the problem and appear to have misled Congress.
Though Miller’s resignation was reported as a decisive step by the president, his term had been due to expire in early June. Joseph Grant, had been appointed only several days before as Acting Commissioner of the IRS’s tax exempt and government entities division, has also resigned.
Other current and former IRS and Treasury officials have yet to be held accountable, including Lois Lerner, who first acknowledged the scandal on May 10, and former IRS Douglas Shulman, who told Congress in 2012 that Tea Party groups were not being targeted.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced earlier this week that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would begin a criminal investigation of the IRS. Congressional Republicans have indicated that they will not be satisfied with a DOJ probe or the internal Treasury investigation released earlier this week, but will seek answers independently as they attempt to uncover who was responsible for the abuse and how widespread it has become. There are suspicions that the problem extends beyond the IRS alone and includes other federal agencies.
Kidnapped Cleveland woman, Amanda Berry, hailed a ‘hero’ after desperate 911 call
[FoxNews-AP]
May 07, 2013
- SUMMARY
- 3 brothers arrested in the case
- All 3 women were missing for about a decade
- Child found in suspect’s home believed to belong to one of the women
- Neighbors say there was never any evidence girls were inside home
- All 3 women were released from hospital, and will return to family
From the left, Pedro J. Castro, Onil Castro, Ariel Castro, were arrested shortly after police say three kidnapped women were removed from a Cleveland home after missing for around a decade.
-
May 6: Amanda Berry, right, hugs her sister Beth Serrano after being reunited in a Cleveland hospital. (AP Photo/Family Handout courtesy WOIO-TV)
State Dept. Won’t Say Its Own Officials Set to Testify on Benghazi Are ‘Credible People’
[CNSNews.com]
May 6, 2013
By Penny Starr
The burnt-out interior of a building at the U.S. State Department Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hannon)
(CNSNews.com) – When asked at a press briefing on Monday to say that two State Department officials set to testify in Congress on Wednesday about the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi are “credible people,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell would not do it.
The two officials are Greg Hicks, who was the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya, and Mark Thompson, who was the deputy coordinator for operations in the department’s counter-terrorism division.
“Before we get to the specifics of what they’re expected to testify, I wonder if you could provide us with your assessment of the caliber of these two individuals,” James Rosen of Fox News asked Ventrell. “Are they credible? They’ve been working at fairly senior posts here and abroad for years and years. I wonder first what thoughts the Department has about the caliber of these two individuals.”
GMA Devotes 109 Minutes to Other Trials, But Not One Second for Gosnell Horrors
[Newsbusters.org]
By Scott Whitlock | April 29, 2013 | 11:22
Forty two days ago, on March 18, 2013, abortionist Kermit Gosnell went on trial, charged with the grisly murder of multiple babies and a patient. Yet, in the seven weeks that followed, ABC News has permitted no coverage, discussion or mention of the case, not even a single utterance of Dr. Gosnell’s name.
But that’s not due to lack of interest in shocking criminal cases. Over the same 42 days, the Media Research Center found that ABC’s Good Morning America has aired 41 stories — about one per day — on other sensational criminal cases, including the Amanda Knox re-trial and the Jodi Arias case, totaling 109 minutes of coverage.
So it would seem that ABC doesn’t have a problem delivering the gruesome details of murder cases to morning show viewers, suggesting that the networks’ blackout of the Gosnell case has more to do with the negative light it shines on the abortion industry.
Over six weeks of weekday and weekend coverage, GMA featured the Arias case 22 times. Arias is accused of stabbing and slitting the throat of Travis Alexander, her ex-boyfriend. Clearly, the producers and hosts of the morning show aren’t worried about discussing stomach-churning details. The Associated Press recounted the graphic accusations against Gosnell, including testimony by some of the abortion clinic’s workers that they “‘snipped’ babies’ necks after they were born alive to make sure they died.”
Reverend Wright’s Daughter Indicted for Money Laundering
[Breitbart.com]
April 11, 2013 – by Wynton Hall
On Wednesday, the daughter of President Barack Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was indicted on charges of lying to federal authorities and money laundering.
Jeri Wright was charged with seven counts of giving false testimony to a grand jury, two counts of money laundering, and two counts of making false statements to federal officers in a case involving a $1.25 million state grant for a non-profit program called “We Are Our Brother’s Keeper.”
The indictment alleges that Wright bagged three checks totaling $28,000 in funds intended for work related to the grant.
Big Government: An Unnecessary Evil That Should Be Abolished
[Infowars.com]
March 31, 2013
There are two types of people in this world; those who worship the ideal of centralized command authority, and those who do not. Those who value freedom regardless of risk or pain, and those who value slavery in a desperate bid to avoid risk and pain. When I consider the ultimate folly of man, in the end I look to the meek and unquestioning masses who strive to avoid risk, because it is they who always end up feeding the machines of war, despair, and tyranny. The power thirsty halls of elitism surely instigate and manipulate the tides of this wretched ocean of quivering souls, but ultimately, the weak-hearted and weak minded make all terrible conquests possible.
They live by the rule of fear, and their fear drives them to seek control; control of their environment, control of others, and by extension they believe, control of the future. They attempt to mitigate their overwhelming fear by containing the world and sterilizing it of everything wild, untamed, and unknown. They dream of a society of pure predictability, and zero responsibility. They are willing to sacrifice almost anything to attain this position of artificial comfort.
The concept of “big government” appeals to such people for many reasons…
Government in most cases is nothing but an abstraction. It is merely a tool that serves the interests of a particular group of people at any given time. Modern politics is an expression of the foolish cat fight between factions of people to decide who gets to wield the weapon of government and impose their ideology on the rest of us. At least, that’s what it almost always devolves into. The great illusion of the system, though, is that ANY group of average people ever actually wields any power. The truth is, big governments are always operated by very small and exclusive clubs of root beneficiaries out of the sight of the population.
Rand Paul’s immigration plan: Border security before probationary legal status
[HotAir.com]
posted at 12:01 pm on March 19, 2013 by Allahpundit
The AP claimed this morning that Paul was set to endorse a path to citizenship in his speech today. Not so, countered conservatives on Twitter: Read his prepared remarks and you’ll see that citizenship is never mentioned. Which is true, and also irrelevant.
The whole point of Paul’s speech is GOP rapprochement with Latino voters; he spends nearly two-thirds of it extolling Latinos’ work ethic, reminiscing about his friendships with Latinos growing up in Texas, name-checking Jaime Escalante and Pablo Neruda, and of course citing the ancient canard that Latinos are really just Republicans who don’t know it yet. (He mentions abortion and gay marriage as particular areas of overlap.
In fact, younger Latinos support legal abortion in all or most cases and nearly 60 percent of Latinos overall support state recognition of gay marriage.) There’s no earthly way that Paul, having made a conciliatory pitch that florid, would ultimately turn around and insist that illegals be forever barred from seeking citizenship. In his op-ed on immigration today at the Washington Times, he actually refers to them at one point as “undocumented citizens.”(!) When pressed on the issue in the Q&A after his speech, he said this:
So no, he won’t create a special path to citizenship to help move illegals quickly through the green-card process but there’s a path to citizenship through normal channels in the end. Then again, with the singular exception of Jeb Bush, whom no one believes is serious anyway, every prominent Republican politician I can think of supports a path to citizenship eventually. That’s my whole point: If you’re trying to build goodwill with Latinos, there has to be. But what about the rest of Paul’s plan? Quote:
The first part of my plan – border security – must be certified by Border Patrol and an Investigator General and then voted on by Congress to ensure it has been accomplished…
With this in place, I believe conservatives will accept what needs to come next, an issue that must be addressed: what becomes of the 12 million undocumented workers in the United States?
My plan is very simple and will include work visas for those who are here, who are willing to come forward and work…
The Jobs Report Is Wrong
[BuzzFeed.com]
A BuzzFeed original analysis. posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:37pm EST
What headlines say about the monthly jobs numbers is actually no more accurate than chance.
Months in red are months where initial headlines said the jobs numbers fell short of economists’ expectations, but then the revised numbers actually exceeded expectations (or vice versa).
Economists’ expectations were drawn from a Bloomberg survey of economists, and jobs figures were gathered from BLS.gov. Final benchmark revisions for the previous March are released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in February of the following year.
Another Oscar Night Wasted
American [Spectator.org]
By Ben Stein on 2.25.13 @ 6:11AM
Ben Stein’s Diary
Maybe Seth McFarlane should be footman to Mrs. Obama, our own Evita.
Sunday
I am not quite sure who Seth McFarlane is, but he must be important, because he was the host of the Oscars show last night. He managed to be the most offensive host I have ever seen on an awards show. He looks sane, but there is something wrong with him, or maybe it’s that the producers asked the writers to be really offensive, and the writers produced offensive material, and Seth McFarlane just blithely read it.
But herewith some of his bons mots:
He mentioned various actors who had played Abraham Lincoln — Raymond Massey, Daniel Day-Lewis — and then he added, “But the only actor who ever really got inside the brain of Lincoln was John Wilkes Booth.”
What the hell was that? A sick, evil joke about the murder of Abraham Lincoln on a network TV show? We have really gone way down into the toilet bowl of humor.
Roughly at the same time, the host said that some charity for college students at the Motion Picture Academy was a great idea: drunk producers and “college co-eds.” I thought we didn’t say “co-eds” any longer because it insults women.
But then the charming host brought out an actress who played a vicious alcoholic and said that was what he aspired to be. What? Do the writers think alcoholism is funny?
Then the host introduced some performers and said they were being brought out in case anyone didn’t think the show was “gay enough” already. I had no idea that Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, Renee Zellweger, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, the actors Mr. McFarlane introduced were gay, but if they are, I am not sure it’s Mr McFarlane’s duty to mock them and “out” them on national TV. If they are not gay, then why call them gay?
But the ultimate was the end of the show, in which Mrs. Obama, live from the White House, wearing what looked like a large roll of aluminum foil, stood with a bunch of military aides in dress uniforms announcing Best Picture. I always like to see the military honored — and rightly so. But the sight of so much military around the First Lady, who holds no official post, smacks of Evita Peron.
However, Mrs. Obama, who apparently never had a happy day until her husband ran for President, was obviously enjoying herself immensely, so, it’s all fine. It does make clear, though, that even being President is a step or two under being a big power in Hollywood. What do First Ladies aspire to? Why, Hollywood, of course. My wife tells me Mrs. Obama was on a show on Saturday doing some kind of dance. She said she was not impressed.
Well, my own idiot fault for watching the Oscars in the first place . It’s never good. Too much ego in one room. Tonight, the Obama ego and the Hollywood ego. I thought my TV would melt. And what’s all this whining about the sequester and people being laid off? Let them eat red carpet.
Meanwhile, let me tell you something. As any reader of my little column knows, our son has been a major challenge to me over the past 25 years. He’s handsome and smart, but he’s also incredibly difficult to wake up for school, sarcastic, thinks he knows it all, and orders way too much food at restaurants and that’s just the tiniest start.
But do you know, he and his staggeringly beautiful wife and their daughter, Coco, and their dog, Buglet, left to move to the world’s most charming town, Greenville, South Carolina, yesterday, and I can hardly stand it. He’s not going to be walking in the door at midnight asking for money. He’s not going to be showing up at 7 a.m. wanting me to take him to the car dealer. He’s not going to need me to referee fights between him and his wife. He’s gone. When I asked him how long he thought he would be gone, he said straightforwardly, “For good.” I thought I would pass out.
And I cannot look at a picture of him now without tears coming to my eyes.
“Empty nesters.” Now, there is a sad phrase.
Photo: WhiteHouse.gov
American Crossroads: We need more Marco Rubios
[HumanEvents.com]
By: Steven Law
2/22/2013 12:04 PM
If there’s one thing all conservatives seem to agree on, it’s that we need more Marco Rubios, Rand Pauls and other high-caliber leaders who can fight for our principles in Washington and win others over to the cause.
However, you don’t get to change Washington unless you win elections, and you don’t win elections unless you have top-notch candidates like these. That’s why we helped launch the Conservative Victory Project: to identify and support the strongest, most competitive conservative leaders who can win elections and effectively advance our values in Congress.
In just the last three years, American Crossroads has become one of the largest advocates for movement conservative and Tea Party-backed leaders at the federal level. We stood proudly with Senators Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Pat Toomey. We also got behind riskier bets like Sharron Angle and Richard Mourdock that many in the “establishment” wouldn’t touch. Regrettably, some of them blew opportunities we should have won.
Conservatives point out that many of our failed candidates were “establishment” retreads instead of Tea Party insurgents. They’re right. That just means we’ve got to get better at putting forward great candidates across the board.
No one benefits more from subpar Republican candidates than the Democratic party. So here’s something else all conservatives should agree on: we don’t want Harry Reid and left-wing Super PACs picking our nominees for us. Yet it’s happening with increasing frequency. In Missouri, Reid’s Super PAC tag-teamed with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Sen. McCaskill’s campaign to deliver the GOP nomination to Todd Akin, a champion of congressional earmarks who self-immolated within weeks.
How did they get away with it? Conservative groups splintered among several second-tier contenders, weakening the front-runner and paving the way for the Democrat-backed Akin. This should never be allowed to happen again.
Some conservatives also decry a “consultant-driven” political culture that exists just to enrich consultants. Right again. For years, consultants formed outside groups, taking a fundraising commission and a fat slice of the media buy. In contrast, American Crossroads doesn’t pay any fundraising commissions, and no board member, adviser or staffer gets a percentage of funds raised or media placement fees. Strict conflicts-of-interest policies prevent self-enriching side deals. Because we bid work and avoid sole-source contracts, we pay rock-bottom fees and push 96 cents of every dollar out the door for advocacy. We hope other groups have the same model and are as transparent about their policies on conflicts and consultant fees.
In the end, here’s how conservatives can nominate more Rubios and Cruzes and fewer election-losing clunkers: more rigorous candidate vetting (including assessment of fundraising ability and message discipline); more cooperation among conservative groups to try to build consensus instead of brutalizing primaries; and more resourceful recruiting when the presented options don’t look appealing. Will it work every time? Of course not. But if there’s one lesson we should take from 2012, it’s that we can all do better. Let’s get after it.
Steven Law is president and CEO of American Crossroads.
White House [Obama aids] walks back leaked immigration plan amid GOP outrage
[FoxNews.com]
Published February 18, 2013
President Obama’s advisers tried to put the genie back in the bottle after a leaked White House immigration plan drew outrage from Republicans who accused the president of endangering the reform push.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a key figure in immigration reform talks, was among those who slammed the president for the plan. After what was described as a draft White House proposal was first leaked in USA Today, Rubio said over the weekend it would be “dead on arrival in Congress.”
By Monday, Obama insiders were walking the plan back and suggesting the leak was not intentional.
One White House official told Fox News they were “surprised” that the “draft” language was given to the press and thought the publication was “unfortunate.”
“This was not the administration floating anything,” the official said, adding that the White House reached out to Senate offices Saturday evening to stress their support for ongoing congressional talks.
Food Stamp Rolls in America Now Surpass the Population of Spain
[CNSNews.com]
(AP Image)(CNSNews.com) – Since taking office in 2009, food stamp rolls under President Barack Obama have risen to more than 47 million people in America, exceeding the population of Spain.
“Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity,” said Obama during his first joint session address to Congress on Feb. 24, 2009.
Since then, the number of participants enrolled in food stamps, known as the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP), has risen substantially.
When Obama entered office in January 2009 there were 31,939,110 Americans receiving food stamps. As of November 2012—the most recent data available—there were 47,692,896Americans enrolled, an increase of 49.3 percent.
TV Guide Hails Martha Raddatz as ‘Moderator of the Year,’ Slams Clint Eastwood, Bristol Palin
[Newsbusters.org]
December 31, 2012
TV Guide published a “Cheers and Jeers” issue to analyze “2012′s Best and Worst in TV.” When it came to political TV, the magazine made it quite clear that Obama’s re-election was a highlight, and conservative celebrities were only mentioned in “Jeers.”
Raddatz was hailed for “asking direct questions and keeping the candidates on point,” which does not describe her first question to Joe Biden on Benghazi. She noted the State Department now admitted there were no protests, but could ask Biden if the Benghazi attack was a “massive intelligence failure,” not a massive campaign of misleading the American people:
CHEERS to ABC News’ [sic] Martha Raddatz for being moderator of the year. She took control of the vice-presidential debate with blunt forcefulness, asking direct questions and keeping the candidates on point, a marked contrast to Jim Lehrer’s passive style in the first presidential matchup. Can she do all the debates from now on?
The magazine sort of ruined that pro-substance argument by awarding “Jeers” to the “Today show train wreck” for letting go of Ann Curry, the woman who couldn’t locate Illinois on a map.
Clint Eastwood’s speech at the Republican convention – where someone thought his star power would eclipse the eloquence of his presentation – drew only jeers:
JEERS to the Eastwoods for not knowing when to stay off camera. Clint’s embarrassing and rambling diatribe to an empty chair at the Republican National Convention raised eyebrows, while wife Dina’s narcissistic celeb-reality show Mrs. Eastwood & Company provoked only yawns.
First responders cite difficulty in getting past scenes witnessed at Sandy Hook Elementary
[FoxNews]
Associated Press
Published December 20, 2012
Dec. 14, 2012: In this file photo provided by the Newtown Bee, paramedics and others rush toward Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., shortly after Adam Lanza opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP/Newtown Bee)
NEWTOWN, Conn. – While the people of Newtown do their best to cope with loss and preserve the memories of their loved ones, another class of residents is also finding it difficult to move on: the emergency responders who saw firsthand the terrible aftermath of last week’s school shooting.
Firefighter Peter Barresi was driving through Newtown on Friday when police cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring raced toward his oldest son’s elementary school. After he was sent to Sandy Hook school himself, he saw things that will stay with him forever.
With anguished parents searching for their children, he prepared to receive the wounded, but a paramedic came back empty-handed, underscoring the totality of the massacre. Barresi, whose own son escaped unharmed, later discovered that among the 26 dead were children who played baseball with his son and had come to his house for birthday parties.
There Are No Words: The Tragedy in Photos
[TheBlaze.com]
- Posted on December 14, 2012 at 3:09pm by
Liz Klimas
Editor’s note: We’ll be discussing the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on a special live BlazeCast at 4pm ET.
Richard Wilford, the father of a 7-year-old in second grade who attended Sandy Hook Elementary School where the tragic shooting of 26 people, 18 of whom were children, said “there’s no words” to describe what happened in Newtown, Conn., Friday morning.
“It’s sheer terror, a sense of imminent danger…,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
The photos coming in from the scene certainly express this one father’s sentiments:
Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting
Jessica Hill/APA woman waits to hear about her sister, a teacher, following a shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of New York City, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. An official with knowledge of Friday’s shooting said 27 people were dead, including 18 children. It was the worst school shooting in the country’s history.
(more…)
‘Pawn Stars’ ex-agents suing for $5 million day after ‘Storage Wars’ star files suit
[FoxNews.com]
Published December 12, 2012
NEW YORK – It’s been a bad week for A&E.
First, Dave Hester sued the network, claiming “Storage Wars” was staged. Now the network’s History Channel division has its own lawsuit brewing over its hit show “Pawn Stars.”
A talent agency has filed a lawsuit against The History Channel, TMZ reported, claiming they signed on to represent the cast of “Pawn Stars” back in 2007 and 2009 and were terminated after the show hit the air.
The agency, Venture IAB, claims they were representing Corey Harrison, Rick Harrison, Richard Harrison and Austin “Chumlee” Russell before the stars made it big. The agency alleges six months after the show hit the air, two “Pawn Star” executives convinced the cast to end their deal with Venture.
According to court documents, posted on The Hollywood Reporter’s website, History Channel Vice President Mary Donahue and General Manager Nancy Dubuc “intentionally interfered with the Agency Agreements by inducing the Harrisons, Golden State Pawn Stars, and Russell to terminate the [Venture IAB] agreement.”
This resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in income, the talent agency claims.
‘When Obama Goes to Hell,’ GOP Official Says, He’ll Claim ‘This Is All Bush’s Fault’
[Newsbusters.org]
By Randy Hall | November 21, 2012
Here’s another sterling example of the premise that liberals have no sense of humor.
Virginia Republican Official Bob FitzSimmonds had no idea what was going to happen when he stated in a Facebook posting on Wednesday that “When Obama is 90 years old and he dies and goes to Hell, he is going to say ‘This is all Bush’s fault’!”
Of course, members of the GOP instantly recognized the post as a joke referring to the claim often made by the president and his fellow Democrats that everything bad that happened during Obama’s first term was the fault of the previous occupant of the White House, Republican George W. Bush.
As you might expect, the comment drew heated responses from both sides of the political aisle on that social networking site.
Ben Marchi said that the remark was “completely inappropriate” even when made in jest, and Karen Hand Mason noted that whether or not Obama goes to Hell is “God’s decision.”
“This is a good example of how far our country has gone,” wrote Muneer Baig. “People have been so blinded by politics that they are treating themselves as Gods and passing judgment over others.
“May God help us and our country and help us to see beyond the fake walls we have ourselves created around us,” he added.
Krugman rips Romney for ‘flat-out untruths,’ gives Obama pass on ‘minor fudges’
[FoxNews.com]
Published October 08, 2012
Aug. 10, 2009: Paul Krugman speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (AP)
A fib is a fib is a fib. – Unless you’re President Obama.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, ripped into Mitt Romney for telling “flat-out untruths” at last week’s debate.
But when asked about Obama’s on-stage misstatements, The New York Times columnist called them just “minor fudges.”
The discrepancy drew a pronounced “Ugh” from Republican strategist Mary Matalin, a panel member who later told Krugman: “You are hardly credible on calling somebody else a liar.”
Exclusive – Sarah Palin: Did Joe McGinniss Condemn an Innocent Man?
[Breitbart.com]
by Sarah Palin 17 Sep 2012, 7:29 AM PDT
I don’t normally read “true crime” books, and I’ve certainly never written a review of one, but Errol Morris’ new book, “A Wilderness of Error,” isn’t typical of the genre. It’s much more interesting and I think important. It’s a book about the failings of a legal system administered by very fallible human beings, and it’s a book about how we buy into false media narratives that tidy up uncomfortably complex stories and give us permission to call off any further search for truth – and, yes, Morris argues with refreshing clarity that objective truth is real and worthy of being sought after despite the pretentious nonsense preached in faculty lounges about all truth being relative. In fact, he argues passionately that the search for truth is what journalism and justice is all about.
Morris describes how false narratives can become a sort of prison. He opens by reminding us of the story of “The Count of Monte Cristo” – the novel about an innocent man who escapes from the seemingly inescapable island prison he was sent to. Morris writes that today we have an even worse prison than that fictional one – only ours is “built out of newsprint and media. A prison of beliefs. You can escape from prison, but how do you escape from a convincing story? After enough repetitions, the facts come to serve the story and not the other way around. Like kudzu, suddenly the story is everywhere and impenetrable.”
Budget cuts to silence military buglers, replaced with recorded renditions of Taps at New York funerals
[FoxNews.com]
By Joshua Rhett Miller
Published September 05, 2012
A bugler plays ‘Taps’ during the 2009 funeral for Army Spc. Stephen Mace at Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Due to a looming budget cut on Oct. 1, virtually all military funerals in New York state will use an electronic bugle instead of a live performance. (AP)
As budget cuts are set to silence live performances of Taps at military funerals in New York, one military bugler told FoxNews.com the iconic musical piece should always be performed by an Honor Guard musician.
Jari Villanueva, director of the Maryland National Guard Honor Guard and a bugler at thousands of military funerals, said having a phony hornsman hold up an instrument while a recording plays isn’t befitting of the somber task of burying a veteran. Yet, the piped-in version is what mourners will hear at virtually all New York military funerals beginning Oct. 1, due to a 25 percent reduction in federal funding for the state’s Military Forces Honor Guard.
Congress Probes Obama Green Stimulus Funds for MSNBC
[TheNewAmerican.com]
Monday, September 3, 2012
Written by Alex Newman
Lawmakers are investigating the Obama administration’s controversial decision to purchase over 100 advertisements touting so-called “green jobs” on the far-left MSNBC cable television outlet using “stimulus” funds, raising serious questions among analysts about misappropriation of taxpayer money to reward allies of the president who parrot White House talking points. No other TV media channels received similar contracts and no jobs were “created.”
The dubious Obama-friendly commercials touting “green” stimulus schemes ran over 100 times on MSNBC, costing taxpayers about half of a million dollars. But after the administration’s decision became a public scandal in the wake of watchdogs and media reports exposing it, criticism of the plot is growing. And now, members of Congress want answers.
Obama follows Romney to Louisiana
[DailyCaller.com]
Published: 2:03 PM 08/31/2012
Get Neil Munro Feed
President Barack Obama announced Friday that he’s heading to Louisiana, but he’ll arrive after Mitt Romney has toured the storm-damage state in company with the state’s popular Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal.
The president’s Sept. 3 visit was announced via a 11:54 a.m. tweet from White House communications director Daniel Pfeiffer. “President Obama will head to Louisiana on Monday to visit damage from Hurricane Isaac,” he tweeted.
Romney’s visit to the storm-damaged state the day after his successful convention speech highlights his aggressive campaign strategy, which seeks to preempts Democratic p.r. offensives. For example, Romney and his vice presidential pick, Rep. Paul Ryan, have aggressively criticized Obama for damaging Medicare in advance of Democratic efforts to “Mediscare” retirees into voting for Obama.
Republican Convention: In Spite of Background Differences, Susana Martinez Backs Romney
[Fox News Latino]
Published August 29, 2012
In a sign of her rising stature within the Republican Party, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez took center stage Wednesday night at the Republican Convention in Tampa – speaking right before vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
In her speech, an emotional Martinez attacked President Barack Obama for the U.S.’s growing national debt while calling for bi-partisan politics to solve America’s problems. Martinez, like her fellow Latino politicians Ted Cruz of Texas and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, began her convention speech by recalling her family’s blue-collar past.
“We grew up on the border and truly lived paycheck to paycheck. My dad was a golden gloves boxer in the Marine Corps, then a deputy sheriff. My mom worked as an office assistant,” Martinez said, adding that her family opened up a security business that had her guarding a church parking lot with a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum. “And sure, there was help along the way. But my parents took the risk. They stood up. And you better believe that they built it.”
Too many Americans are out of work, and our debt is out of control. This election needs to be about those issues.
Watch Obama get his ‘medicine’ on live TV
[WND.com EXCLUSIVE]
Limbaugh raves about doctor’s speech: ‘Talk about a tingly feeling up your leg!’
Posted: February 09, 2013
At the National Prayer Breakfast, broadcast live on C-SPAN2, Dr. Ben Carson said he didn’t want to “offend” anyone, but his words nonetheless were likely to have made one distinguished guest in attendance – President Barack Obama – squirm in his seat.
Carson is director of the pediatric neurosurgery division at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. His inspiring story of growing up the son of an illiterate, single black woman to becoming one of America’s most esteemed doctors has been detailed in the book “Gifted Hands” and the movie of the same name.
At Thursday’s prayer breakfast, Carson took aim at a number of topics that may have caused the man seated two chairs to his right a bit of indigestion, including class-warfare economics.
“Some people say, they say, ‘Well, that’s not fair because it doesn’t hurt the guy who made $10 billion as much as the guy who made 10,’” Carson said. “[But] where does it say you have to hurt the guy? He just put a billion dollars in the pot!
“We don’t need to hurt him,” Carson continued. “It’s that kind of thinking that has resulted in 602 banks in the Cayman Islands. That money needs to be back here, building our infrastructure and creating jobs.”
(more…)
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February 9, 2013 | Categories: 2012 Election, America's Freedoms, Balanced Budget, Congress: Inquiries & Committees, Corruption, Corruption in Government, Deficit, Economic Terrorism, Elections Politics, Electorate, Fiscal Responsibility, Freedom Justice and Liberty, Government, Individual Rights and Freedoms, Liberals Big Spending and Taxes, Manufactured Crisis, National Debt, New Media News, Politically Intentioned Crisis, Politics, Radical Liberal Progressive Left, Redistribution of Wealth | Tags: Barack Obama, church leaders, current-events, Dr. Ben Carson, Drew Zahn, live on tv, Obama "medicine", pediatric neurosurgen, politics, prayer breakfast, Rush Limbaugh comments, Science, speech, squirm in his seat, WND | Leave A Comment »