Feb. 2, 2013
Via Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
Advice From The Department Of Homeland Security: "If Attacked By A Shooter, Grab Some Scissors"
We first heard about this from a New York Post article on the topic. Then we watched the video for ourselves. It’ll make you want to defund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately. While the whole “grab scissors” to defend oneself during a mass shooting is pretty amusing, the more disturbing part is that 90% of the video just consists of people on their knees in cubicles cowering in fear or running panicked with their hands in the air. All the while police in black uniforms and “assault weapons” race in to save the day! The video is a great representation of how the DHS views the citizenry. Feeble, helpless, pathetic little children. You’ve gotta watch it for yourself!
MORE
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Sunstein Explained Obama’s New Bill of Rights in a Recent Op-Ed
Feb. 2, 2013
Cass Sunstein, Obama’s former regulatory czar, wrote an op-ed in Bloomberg News on the 28th assuring us that President Obama is “not committed to equality of outcome but a fair opportunity with decent security.”
He said Obama is interested in updating a “second Bill of Rights” alongside the existing one.
His idea is to model it after Franklin Roosevelt’s economic Bill of Rights. [Obama frequently sees himself as one of the acclaimed presidents and in this case apparently it is Franklin Roosevelt]
Sunstein wrote that Roosevelt believed the Bill of Rights and the Constitution guaranteed ”political rights” but did not assure equality in the pursuit of happiness, thus the need for an economic Bill of Rights.
FDR did not mean to change the Constitution nor did he mean that the SCOTUS should enforce it. His Bill of Rights was a political statement, Sunstein said.
Sunstein emphasized that the national government is not to take control of the means of production to make this happen. However, while claiming Obama does not want to change the Constitution, he makes it clear he wants Congress to change the law.
Roosevelt’s economic Bill of Rights which Sunstein refers to, and which he claims Obama is emulating, includes the following:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
Where Sunstein’s article gets particularly dicey is when he cites examples of Obama’s Bill of Rights which he has begun to implement:
The Affordable Care Act
Expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (people who do not earn enough to pay taxes are actually given taxpayer money)
Extension of Unemployment insurance
The Race to the Top in which the government doles out money according to how well teachers and students meet rigid, one-size-fits-all performance standards
All of these accomplishments push our country towards government-control over our healthcare, education and our money (through heavy taxation).
One could argue that Obama stops short of socialism but there is no question he has pushed us further in that direction.
The Occupy Wall Street crowd, that Obama sympathized with, believe in a wage for every person whether they work or not. I don’t believe Obama is looking to do that or is he? Where will he draw the line?
People become concerned when they hear Justice Ginsberg laud the South African Constitution, which is a social justice manifesto. People see problems when there are similarities between Obama’s updated Bill of Rights to that of the U.S.S.R.’s Bill of Rights.
The now frequent calls for a new Constitution from the academics like Cass Sunstein is adding to concerns by traditional and more Conservative Americans.
The constant demonization of traditional values and people who adhere to them makes people very nervous. The attack on religious liberty via Obamacare and the erosion of the Second Amendment are very real.
We don’t know where President Obama plans to end up but he is fundamentally changing the United States and some of us believe that our country didn’t need the changes he is forcing through. Many of us do not want his additional set of “rights.”
source
Cass Sunstein, Obama’s former regulatory czar, wrote an op-ed in Bloomberg News on the 28th assuring us that President Obama is “not committed to equality of outcome but a fair opportunity with decent security.”
He said Obama is interested in updating a “second Bill of Rights” alongside the existing one.
His idea is to model it after Franklin Roosevelt’s economic Bill of Rights. [Obama frequently sees himself as one of the acclaimed presidents and in this case apparently it is Franklin Roosevelt]
Sunstein wrote that Roosevelt believed the Bill of Rights and the Constitution guaranteed ”political rights” but did not assure equality in the pursuit of happiness, thus the need for an economic Bill of Rights.
FDR did not mean to change the Constitution nor did he mean that the SCOTUS should enforce it. His Bill of Rights was a political statement, Sunstein said.
Sunstein emphasized that the national government is not to take control of the means of production to make this happen. However, while claiming Obama does not want to change the Constitution, he makes it clear he wants Congress to change the law.
Roosevelt’s economic Bill of Rights which Sunstein refers to, and which he claims Obama is emulating, includes the following:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
Where Sunstein’s article gets particularly dicey is when he cites examples of Obama’s Bill of Rights which he has begun to implement:
The Affordable Care Act
Expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (people who do not earn enough to pay taxes are actually given taxpayer money)
Extension of Unemployment insurance
The Race to the Top in which the government doles out money according to how well teachers and students meet rigid, one-size-fits-all performance standards
All of these accomplishments push our country towards government-control over our healthcare, education and our money (through heavy taxation).
One could argue that Obama stops short of socialism but there is no question he has pushed us further in that direction.
The Occupy Wall Street crowd, that Obama sympathized with, believe in a wage for every person whether they work or not. I don’t believe Obama is looking to do that or is he? Where will he draw the line?
People become concerned when they hear Justice Ginsberg laud the South African Constitution, which is a social justice manifesto. People see problems when there are similarities between Obama’s updated Bill of Rights to that of the U.S.S.R.’s Bill of Rights.
The now frequent calls for a new Constitution from the academics like Cass Sunstein is adding to concerns by traditional and more Conservative Americans.
The constant demonization of traditional values and people who adhere to them makes people very nervous. The attack on religious liberty via Obamacare and the erosion of the Second Amendment are very real.
We don’t know where President Obama plans to end up but he is fundamentally changing the United States and some of us believe that our country didn’t need the changes he is forcing through. Many of us do not want his additional set of “rights.”
source
As Govt takes over healthcare, privacy disappears
Feb 2, 2013
In England, they’ve had government healthcare for quite some time, now, doctors will be required to report alcohol consumption and other health factors to the government.
United States Democrats promised that a government administered health care system would not result in a government that would collect and use information on American citizens – the same promise the English government gave to their citizens.
Well, in the U.K., the government will now require that general practitioners (family doctors) will be required to give lifestyle details to the National Health System – the government.
Once the federal government is on the hook for the administration of citizen health, it has no choice but to acquire information that it can use to minimize its exposure to its naive expectation.
When government takes over healthcare, it does not get less expensive, it only gets less private.
source
In England, they’ve had government healthcare for quite some time, now, doctors will be required to report alcohol consumption and other health factors to the government.
United States Democrats promised that a government administered health care system would not result in a government that would collect and use information on American citizens – the same promise the English government gave to their citizens.
Well, in the U.K., the government will now require that general practitioners (family doctors) will be required to give lifestyle details to the National Health System – the government.
Once the federal government is on the hook for the administration of citizen health, it has no choice but to acquire information that it can use to minimize its exposure to its naive expectation.
When government takes over healthcare, it does not get less expensive, it only gets less private.
source
Attention Gun Control Idiots: A gun made this possible
Feb 2, 2013
LAMPE – Two juveniles suspected of killing an elderly couple Thursday had run away from a local at-risk boys ranch earlier this week, officials have confirmed.
“The boys had run away, and we had reported that to the proper authorities,” said Richard Bottorf, chairman of Lives Under Construction Ranch. The two are suspected of killing Paul and Margaret Brooks in a Table Rock Lake home Thursday night. Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said police had no indication from the report that the boys were dangerous.
Stone County deputies received a call from a resident of Trace Hollow Road at 5:43 p.m. Thursday. The man reported that he was holding two young men at gunpoint after confronting them for suspicious behavior.
The man continued to hold the juveniles, ages 15 and 16, at gunpoint for 14 minutes until the first sheriff's deputy arrived at 1722 Trace Hollow Road.
The suspects are in custody but are not being held in Stone County, juvenile officer Keith Parris said. There is no juvenile facility in Stone County. There were no publicly available documents available this evening.
Paul Brooks, 70 and Margaret Brooks, 69, of Baldwin, Mich., were found dead inside the home. The bodies have been sent to Columbia for autopsies, after which the sheriff hopes to know more about how they died.
“Apparent signs of foul play prompted further investigation,” Rader said.
The two juveniles were first spotted taking items from the house next door, according to a neighbor.
Jack Martin, who owns the house next door to the victims, a rental which had been vacant for several months, received a phone message from Rick Balsley.
Balsley lives across the street from where the victims lived.
Balsley’s first message was that the youths were in a blue vehicle with no front license plate. The second phone message he left was shorter. He told Martin to call him as quickly as possible and that it was "important."
Martin did not listen to the voice messages until after returning from work at 9 p.m. He then called Balsley, who told him that the Brookses were dead.
source
LAMPE – Two juveniles suspected of killing an elderly couple Thursday had run away from a local at-risk boys ranch earlier this week, officials have confirmed.
“The boys had run away, and we had reported that to the proper authorities,” said Richard Bottorf, chairman of Lives Under Construction Ranch. The two are suspected of killing Paul and Margaret Brooks in a Table Rock Lake home Thursday night. Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said police had no indication from the report that the boys were dangerous.
Stone County deputies received a call from a resident of Trace Hollow Road at 5:43 p.m. Thursday. The man reported that he was holding two young men at gunpoint after confronting them for suspicious behavior.
The man continued to hold the juveniles, ages 15 and 16, at gunpoint for 14 minutes until the first sheriff's deputy arrived at 1722 Trace Hollow Road.
The suspects are in custody but are not being held in Stone County, juvenile officer Keith Parris said. There is no juvenile facility in Stone County. There were no publicly available documents available this evening.
Paul Brooks, 70 and Margaret Brooks, 69, of Baldwin, Mich., were found dead inside the home. The bodies have been sent to Columbia for autopsies, after which the sheriff hopes to know more about how they died.
“Apparent signs of foul play prompted further investigation,” Rader said.
The two juveniles were first spotted taking items from the house next door, according to a neighbor.
Jack Martin, who owns the house next door to the victims, a rental which had been vacant for several months, received a phone message from Rick Balsley.
Balsley lives across the street from where the victims lived.
Balsley’s first message was that the youths were in a blue vehicle with no front license plate. The second phone message he left was shorter. He told Martin to call him as quickly as possible and that it was "important."
Martin did not listen to the voice messages until after returning from work at 9 p.m. He then called Balsley, who told him that the Brookses were dead.
source
Shifting the Gun Control Debate From Hunting to Black Helicopters
Feb 2, 2013
Coming to the realization that insisting automatic weapons with high capacity magazines be available for sporting use wasn’t gaining much traction among the general public, gun rights advocates have shifted their rationale to argue that private ownership of such weapons is necessary to protect against a tyrannical government, either our own or from somewhere else in the world.
They interpret the Constitution’s Second Amendment reference to a “well-regulated militia” as proof that the original intent of the nation’s founders was to assure an armed populace ready and willing to take up weapons in defense of the country.
But, in the 21st Century world of government’s stockpile of sophisticated weaponry of unimaginable power — not to mention unmanned aircraft capable of delivering widespread destruction — how compelling is an argument that a homeowner standing in his doorway holding an automatic rifle is a match for the overwhelming forces of official tyranny, no matter the source?
Is it any more compelling, for instance, than claiming that shredding a deer with a few dozen slugs from an automatic weapon is a personal right deserving of constitutional protection?
Besides, we have a standing military with responsibility for keeping the country safe from invasion. Taxpayers shell out some $600 billion a year for it and, given history, it’s been pretty successful in turning back external threats from nations which have sought to impose their will or control on the United States.
Today, a 22-year-old in uniform sitting before a computer console in an underground bunker in Nebraska can, with the touch of a button, unleash profound devastation on an enemy half a world away.
As for tyranny from within, our 237-year history reveals no effort to do so. We live in a society where governmental change comes about through peaceful means — voting, the judicial system, citizen protest and petitions, for instance. The necessity to arm private individuals to stave off the actions of a government gone rogue is an argument without historical basis.
Warning darkly of government agents kicking in doors in the middle of the night and carting off innocent, law-abiding citizens never to be seen again is not only a diversion from the issue at hand, but is a likelihood that the overwhelming majority of people in this country reject entirely.
If accounts coming from Washington, D. C. are accurate, legislation to prohibit the manufacture and sale of certain classes and types of automatic weapons will not become law. The system is designed to work that way: Elected representatives of the people debate, consider and vote on public policy issues, the very qualities which for 237 years have blocked the kind of tyrannical acts that guns rights advocates warn of.
Gun right groups would do better to throw their support behind proposals for universal background checks for those who purchase a firearm, for stricter enforcement of existing laws on so-called “straw buyers,” for greater scrutiny of our system of caring for mentally ill persons to prevent their access to weapons, for determining if any links exist between simulated violence in films or video games and real-life violence.
And, yes, even for considering limiting the ammunition capacity of automatic weapons.
The alternating incendiary and condescending rhetoric from National Rifle Association executive director Wayne LaPierre doesn’t help or advance the advocates’ cause, either.
Gun advocates only invite criticism and derision when they continue to insist that hunting with an automatic rifle is a sport and or that brigades of black-clad government storm troopers are in secret training eagerly awaiting official word to launch their assault on their fellow citizens.
The advocates are in possession of legitimate and sound arguments for their positions. Blowing up deer or other game or taking potshots from a bedroom window to prevent an apocalypse from an invading force, however, aren’t among them.
source
Coming to the realization that insisting automatic weapons with high capacity magazines be available for sporting use wasn’t gaining much traction among the general public, gun rights advocates have shifted their rationale to argue that private ownership of such weapons is necessary to protect against a tyrannical government, either our own or from somewhere else in the world.
They interpret the Constitution’s Second Amendment reference to a “well-regulated militia” as proof that the original intent of the nation’s founders was to assure an armed populace ready and willing to take up weapons in defense of the country.
But, in the 21st Century world of government’s stockpile of sophisticated weaponry of unimaginable power — not to mention unmanned aircraft capable of delivering widespread destruction — how compelling is an argument that a homeowner standing in his doorway holding an automatic rifle is a match for the overwhelming forces of official tyranny, no matter the source?
Is it any more compelling, for instance, than claiming that shredding a deer with a few dozen slugs from an automatic weapon is a personal right deserving of constitutional protection?
Besides, we have a standing military with responsibility for keeping the country safe from invasion. Taxpayers shell out some $600 billion a year for it and, given history, it’s been pretty successful in turning back external threats from nations which have sought to impose their will or control on the United States.
Today, a 22-year-old in uniform sitting before a computer console in an underground bunker in Nebraska can, with the touch of a button, unleash profound devastation on an enemy half a world away.
As for tyranny from within, our 237-year history reveals no effort to do so. We live in a society where governmental change comes about through peaceful means — voting, the judicial system, citizen protest and petitions, for instance. The necessity to arm private individuals to stave off the actions of a government gone rogue is an argument without historical basis.
Warning darkly of government agents kicking in doors in the middle of the night and carting off innocent, law-abiding citizens never to be seen again is not only a diversion from the issue at hand, but is a likelihood that the overwhelming majority of people in this country reject entirely.
If accounts coming from Washington, D. C. are accurate, legislation to prohibit the manufacture and sale of certain classes and types of automatic weapons will not become law. The system is designed to work that way: Elected representatives of the people debate, consider and vote on public policy issues, the very qualities which for 237 years have blocked the kind of tyrannical acts that guns rights advocates warn of.
Gun right groups would do better to throw their support behind proposals for universal background checks for those who purchase a firearm, for stricter enforcement of existing laws on so-called “straw buyers,” for greater scrutiny of our system of caring for mentally ill persons to prevent their access to weapons, for determining if any links exist between simulated violence in films or video games and real-life violence.
And, yes, even for considering limiting the ammunition capacity of automatic weapons.
The alternating incendiary and condescending rhetoric from National Rifle Association executive director Wayne LaPierre doesn’t help or advance the advocates’ cause, either.
Gun advocates only invite criticism and derision when they continue to insist that hunting with an automatic rifle is a sport and or that brigades of black-clad government storm troopers are in secret training eagerly awaiting official word to launch their assault on their fellow citizens.
The advocates are in possession of legitimate and sound arguments for their positions. Blowing up deer or other game or taking potshots from a bedroom window to prevent an apocalypse from an invading force, however, aren’t among them.
source
Just in case you missed it: Pimp MackDaddy Senator Menen-DEZZY at the Benghazi Hearing VIDEO!!!
Feb. 2, 2013
if video doesn’t automatically load, click here
(Sooper Mexican) - In case you can’t tell, this is a parody.
And if you don’t know what we’re talking about, it’s because the media is barely covering this absurd and disgusting story.
DEMOCRAT Bob Menendez is accused of having sex with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.
In addition to that, he had been employing an illegal alien sex offender who had raped an 8-year old child when he was 18. When it was discovered before the election, Homeland Security helped cover it up until he was safely re-elected.
So don’t give me any grief about the video – Menendez’s despicable actions are much worse.
if video doesn’t automatically load, click here
(Sooper Mexican) - In case you can’t tell, this is a parody.
And if you don’t know what we’re talking about, it’s because the media is barely covering this absurd and disgusting story.
DEMOCRAT Bob Menendez is accused of having sex with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.
In addition to that, he had been employing an illegal alien sex offender who had raped an 8-year old child when he was 18. When it was discovered before the election, Homeland Security helped cover it up until he was safely re-elected.
So don’t give me any grief about the video – Menendez’s despicable actions are much worse.
 |
| click the image or here to see more!! |
100 Years of the Income Tax: Then and Now
Feb. 2, 2013
Sunday, Feb. 3 marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 16th Amendment, which enabled the establishment of the U.S. federal income tax.
The century-long history of the income tax has been marked by more and more taxpayers paying higher and higher amounts of tax.
As Americans get ready for yet another tax filing season, let’s take a look at how the income tax became the raw deal it is today:
View PDF here.
Source: Ryan Ellis @ Americans for Tax Reform
Sunday, Feb. 3 marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 16th Amendment, which enabled the establishment of the U.S. federal income tax.
The century-long history of the income tax has been marked by more and more taxpayers paying higher and higher amounts of tax.
As Americans get ready for yet another tax filing season, let’s take a look at how the income tax became the raw deal it is today:
 |
| tax law pileup info here |
View PDF here.
Source: Ryan Ellis @ Americans for Tax Reform
Friday, February 1, 2013
US Senate Shoots Down Bid to Halt Sales of F-16s, Tanks to Muslim Brotherhood
Feb. 1, 2013
(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Senate Thursday defeated an amendment that aimed to prevent the Obama administration from transferring F-16 fighter aircraft and Abrams tanks to an Egypt in disarray.
A vote to block the measure proposed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) – an amendment to the debt limit bill – passed by a 79–19 vote.
In a strongly worded floor statement, Paul questioned the wisdom of providing the sophisticated weaponry at a time when “many see Egypt descending into chaos.”
He based his argument on the Egyptian government’s conduct, President Mohammed Morsi’s expressed radical views, and the possibility that the weapons could be used in a future conflict against Israel.
“I think this is particularly unwise since Egypt is currently governed by a religious zealot, a religious zealot who said recently that Jews were ‘bloodsuckers’ and ‘descendants of apes and pigs,’” he said. “This doesn’t sound like the kind of stable personality that we would be sending our most sophisticated weapons to.”
It was also foolish, Paul contended, to send weapons to “both sides of an arms race.”
“We send 20 F-16s to Egypt – which already has 240 F-16s,” he said. “What does Israel feel? They’ve got to have two for every one Egypt has. It escalates an arms race, it makes it more difficult for Israel to defend herself.
“Today we have a chance to stop this folly,” he concluded, urging colleagues to support the amendment.
Egypt has received a total of 240 F-16 Fighting Falcons since a first order in 1980, the year after the Egypt-Israel peace agreement was signed.
The 20 F-16s referred to by Paul were pledged in December 2009, when President Hosni Mubarak was still in power. Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract to build 16 F-16Cs and four F-16Ds. The first four planes were delivered last week, according to Fox News. (Lockheed Martin on Thursday referred queries to the U.S. Air Force, whose comment is awaited.)
In November 2011, General Dynamics Land Systems announced it had won a $395 million contract to produce 125 M1A1 Abrams tank kits for Egypt, with deliveries due to begin in July 2013.
Restrictions waived
Rejecting Paul’s amendment, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) characterized it as simplistic, short-sighted and potentially harmful to U.S. interests.
“Would that this amendment was as simple as the junior senator from Kentucky described it,” he told senators after Paul had spoken. “His amendment would hinder our military assistance program, licenses for commercial sales of all major military equipment, including aircraft, ships, tanks, armor, parts and so on.
“It would mean a loss of thousands of American jobs. We’d incur more than two billion dollars in contract-termination penalties for U.S. taxpayers,” Leahy said.
“But we’d also put at risk our access to the Suez Canal, the over flight by the U.S. Air Force over Egyptian territory, cooperation in the Sinai, Gaza, Syria, our emphasis and our ability to keep the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement going.
“Do I have problems with the way the Morsi government is going? Certainly,” he said. “But removing our ability to be involved, with keeping that peace agreement and our ability to influence those – this is not the way to do it.”
In a written statement – provided by the senator’s office – Leahy added that U.S. law “already conditions U.S. military aid on Egypt’s adherence to its peace treaty with Israel, and on protecting fundamental human rights and due process of law. That is current law, and it needs to be faithfully applied.”
The law he referred is an amendment authored by Leahy himself.
But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last March announced the administration would waive the restrictions. The State Department said “Egypt has made significant progress toward democracy in the last 15 months” while acknowledging that its “transition to democracy is not yet complete, and more work remains to protect universal rights and freedoms.”
At the time Leahy criticized the decision.
“Waiving the new conditions on democracy and human rights is regrettable, and handing over the entire $1.3 billion at once to the Egyptian military compounds the mistake by dissipating our future leverage,” he said in a statement.
“Using this waiver authority, at this time, sends a contradictory message,” Leahy said. “The Egyptian military should be defending fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, not harassing and arresting those who are working for democracy.”
Instability
At the time of that waiver decision and Leahy’s response, the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential flag bearer had yet to take office, and Egypt’s new constitution was still being drafted.
Instability in Egypt has worsened significantly since then, with society deeply polarized since the controversial Islamist constitution was introduced, following a low-turnout referendum.
In recent days scores of Egyptians have been killed in violent protests, mostly in provinces adjoining the Suez Canal, with police accused of employing Mubarak-era tactics in quelling the unrest. Egypt’s army chief warned that the growing political crisis could lead to the state’s collapse.
Morsi’s opponents accuse him and his Muslim Brotherhood of betraying the spirit of a revolution many hoped would usher in democracy, rather than an increasingly Islamist state; the Brotherhood says its rivals are trying to topple an elected president.
Thursday’s vote to table Paul’s amendment passed by a vote of 29-19. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), due to be sworn in as secretary of state on Friday, did not vote.
The no votes all came from Republicans: Sens. John Boozeman (Ark.), Dan Coats (Ind.), John Cornyn (Tex.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ted Cruz (Tex.), Deb Fischer (Nebr.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Dean Heller (Nev.), Mike Lee (Utah), Jerry Moran (Kans.), Rand Paul (Ky.), James Risch (Idaho), Pat Roberts (Kans.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Richard Shelby (Ala.), John Thune, (S.D.) and David Vitter (La.).
 |
| Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul (AP Photo) |
A vote to block the measure proposed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) – an amendment to the debt limit bill – passed by a 79–19 vote.
In a strongly worded floor statement, Paul questioned the wisdom of providing the sophisticated weaponry at a time when “many see Egypt descending into chaos.”
He based his argument on the Egyptian government’s conduct, President Mohammed Morsi’s expressed radical views, and the possibility that the weapons could be used in a future conflict against Israel.
“I think this is particularly unwise since Egypt is currently governed by a religious zealot, a religious zealot who said recently that Jews were ‘bloodsuckers’ and ‘descendants of apes and pigs,’” he said. “This doesn’t sound like the kind of stable personality that we would be sending our most sophisticated weapons to.”
It was also foolish, Paul contended, to send weapons to “both sides of an arms race.”
“We send 20 F-16s to Egypt – which already has 240 F-16s,” he said. “What does Israel feel? They’ve got to have two for every one Egypt has. It escalates an arms race, it makes it more difficult for Israel to defend herself.
“Today we have a chance to stop this folly,” he concluded, urging colleagues to support the amendment.
Egypt has received a total of 240 F-16 Fighting Falcons since a first order in 1980, the year after the Egypt-Israel peace agreement was signed.
The 20 F-16s referred to by Paul were pledged in December 2009, when President Hosni Mubarak was still in power. Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract to build 16 F-16Cs and four F-16Ds. The first four planes were delivered last week, according to Fox News. (Lockheed Martin on Thursday referred queries to the U.S. Air Force, whose comment is awaited.)
In November 2011, General Dynamics Land Systems announced it had won a $395 million contract to produce 125 M1A1 Abrams tank kits for Egypt, with deliveries due to begin in July 2013.
 |
| A F-16 Fighting Falcon in flight. (Photo: Lockheed Martin) |
Rejecting Paul’s amendment, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) characterized it as simplistic, short-sighted and potentially harmful to U.S. interests.
“Would that this amendment was as simple as the junior senator from Kentucky described it,” he told senators after Paul had spoken. “His amendment would hinder our military assistance program, licenses for commercial sales of all major military equipment, including aircraft, ships, tanks, armor, parts and so on.
“It would mean a loss of thousands of American jobs. We’d incur more than two billion dollars in contract-termination penalties for U.S. taxpayers,” Leahy said.
“But we’d also put at risk our access to the Suez Canal, the over flight by the U.S. Air Force over Egyptian territory, cooperation in the Sinai, Gaza, Syria, our emphasis and our ability to keep the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement going.
“Do I have problems with the way the Morsi government is going? Certainly,” he said. “But removing our ability to be involved, with keeping that peace agreement and our ability to influence those – this is not the way to do it.”
In a written statement – provided by the senator’s office – Leahy added that U.S. law “already conditions U.S. military aid on Egypt’s adherence to its peace treaty with Israel, and on protecting fundamental human rights and due process of law. That is current law, and it needs to be faithfully applied.”
The law he referred is an amendment authored by Leahy himself.
But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last March announced the administration would waive the restrictions. The State Department said “Egypt has made significant progress toward democracy in the last 15 months” while acknowledging that its “transition to democracy is not yet complete, and more work remains to protect universal rights and freedoms.”
At the time Leahy criticized the decision.
“Waiving the new conditions on democracy and human rights is regrettable, and handing over the entire $1.3 billion at once to the Egyptian military compounds the mistake by dissipating our future leverage,” he said in a statement.
“Using this waiver authority, at this time, sends a contradictory message,” Leahy said. “The Egyptian military should be defending fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, not harassing and arresting those who are working for democracy.”
Instability
At the time of that waiver decision and Leahy’s response, the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential flag bearer had yet to take office, and Egypt’s new constitution was still being drafted.
Instability in Egypt has worsened significantly since then, with society deeply polarized since the controversial Islamist constitution was introduced, following a low-turnout referendum.
In recent days scores of Egyptians have been killed in violent protests, mostly in provinces adjoining the Suez Canal, with police accused of employing Mubarak-era tactics in quelling the unrest. Egypt’s army chief warned that the growing political crisis could lead to the state’s collapse.
Morsi’s opponents accuse him and his Muslim Brotherhood of betraying the spirit of a revolution many hoped would usher in democracy, rather than an increasingly Islamist state; the Brotherhood says its rivals are trying to topple an elected president.
Thursday’s vote to table Paul’s amendment passed by a vote of 29-19. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), due to be sworn in as secretary of state on Friday, did not vote.
The no votes all came from Republicans: Sens. John Boozeman (Ark.), Dan Coats (Ind.), John Cornyn (Tex.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ted Cruz (Tex.), Deb Fischer (Nebr.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Dean Heller (Nev.), Mike Lee (Utah), Jerry Moran (Kans.), Rand Paul (Ky.), James Risch (Idaho), Pat Roberts (Kans.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Richard Shelby (Ala.), John Thune, (S.D.) and David Vitter (La.).
Officials: Agents Raided Office of Menendez Friend After Document Shredding Truck Spotted
Feb. 1, 2013
Democratic Super-Pedo's effort to pull a fast one on investigators is filled with FAIL!
Federal agents raided the West Palm Beach eye clinic of a longtime friend and political supporter of Sen. Robert Menendez earlier this week after a document shredding truck was observed at the building, following attempts by FBI agents to question Dr. Salomon Melgen about his relationship with the New Jersey Democrat, according to federal officials familiar with the investigation.
The execution of the search warrant was carried out by a federal health care task force, with agents from both the FBI and the federal Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General's office, which had been investigating suspected Medicare fraud by Melgen's clinics for more than a year, the sources told ABC News. The raid appeared unrelated to recent allegations regarding Menendez's trips to Melgen's home in the Dominican Republic.
An attorney for Dr. Melgen's office told ABC News that "the government has not informed Dr. Melgen what concerns it may have. We are confident that Dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times. "
A spokesperson for Sen. Menendez told ABC News Thursday that the Senator's office was unaware of any FBI investigation or inquiries involving the Senator. The spokesperson confirmed the Senator was a longtime friend of Dr. Melgen and had recently reimbursed Melgen $58,000 for three trips on the doctor's private jet to the Dominican Republic, following a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee by a Samuel Thompson, a New Jersey state senator and chair of the Middlesex County Republican Organization, in November 2012, just days prior to Menendez's reelection.
The spokesperson said the Senator was advised by Democratic campaign finance attorneys that under the "friendship" exclusion he likely didn't need to reimburse the cost of the trips, but to avoid any questions of impropriety decided to repay the full cost.
The spokesperson for Menendez also strongly denied allegations by The Daily Caller website that Menendez was involved with underage prostitutes during those trips.
"All of these allegations from a right-wing blog of engaging in prostitution are absolutely false," said the spokesperson. "The Senator has known Dr. Melgen for years and his travel on Melgen's plane on three occasions has been reported and reimbursed as required by the rules."
A spokesperson for the FBI would not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. The HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Melgen, an eye doctor, is a major political donor, with most of his money going to Democrats. Over the past two decades, he and his family have contributed more than $400,000, and nearly $50,000 has gone to Menendez and Menendez PACs. They also contributed $60,400 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2009 – Menendez chaired the DSCC from 2009 to 2011 – and $50,000 to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.
Questions about Menendez and his relationship with Melgen were raised by a pseudonymous tipster who contacted the Washington, D.C. good government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in 2012.
The tipster, using the name Peter Williams, told CREW via email that Menendez had traveled to the Dominican Republic in Melgen's plane and had had sex with prostitutes, at least one of them underage.
"There's reason to be quite skeptical of these allegations," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW. "Mr. Williams claims to have known about the Senator's conduct since as early as 2008 yet didn't come forward for four years until right before Menendez's reelection."
"In addition, despite efforts by Crew, news organizations and the FBI to speak with Mr. Williams either by phone or in person, he's refused to do that for over eight months," said Sloan. She said CREW was unable to determine if the underage woman referenced by Menendez was "a prostitute, underage, or even real."
"The timing, combined with his insistence on remaining on communication only through email, seriously undermines the credibility of the allegations," said Sloan.
Earlier this week, dozens of emails between "Peter Williams" and CREW, ABC News and the FBI were published on a website.
Despite extensive efforts by ABC News to meet with Williams, speak with him on the phone, or verify his identity, Williams refused to come forward.
source: abc news
Democratic Super-Pedo's effort to pull a fast one on investigators is filled with FAIL!
 |
| FBI agents and other law enforcement officials investigate the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen who has possible ties to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on January 30, 2013 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) |
The execution of the search warrant was carried out by a federal health care task force, with agents from both the FBI and the federal Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General's office, which had been investigating suspected Medicare fraud by Melgen's clinics for more than a year, the sources told ABC News. The raid appeared unrelated to recent allegations regarding Menendez's trips to Melgen's home in the Dominican Republic.
An attorney for Dr. Melgen's office told ABC News that "the government has not informed Dr. Melgen what concerns it may have. We are confident that Dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times. "
A spokesperson for Sen. Menendez told ABC News Thursday that the Senator's office was unaware of any FBI investigation or inquiries involving the Senator. The spokesperson confirmed the Senator was a longtime friend of Dr. Melgen and had recently reimbursed Melgen $58,000 for three trips on the doctor's private jet to the Dominican Republic, following a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee by a Samuel Thompson, a New Jersey state senator and chair of the Middlesex County Republican Organization, in November 2012, just days prior to Menendez's reelection.
The spokesperson said the Senator was advised by Democratic campaign finance attorneys that under the "friendship" exclusion he likely didn't need to reimburse the cost of the trips, but to avoid any questions of impropriety decided to repay the full cost.
The spokesperson for Menendez also strongly denied allegations by The Daily Caller website that Menendez was involved with underage prostitutes during those trips.
"All of these allegations from a right-wing blog of engaging in prostitution are absolutely false," said the spokesperson. "The Senator has known Dr. Melgen for years and his travel on Melgen's plane on three occasions has been reported and reimbursed as required by the rules."
A spokesperson for the FBI would not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. The HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Melgen, an eye doctor, is a major political donor, with most of his money going to Democrats. Over the past two decades, he and his family have contributed more than $400,000, and nearly $50,000 has gone to Menendez and Menendez PACs. They also contributed $60,400 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2009 – Menendez chaired the DSCC from 2009 to 2011 – and $50,000 to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.
Questions about Menendez and his relationship with Melgen were raised by a pseudonymous tipster who contacted the Washington, D.C. good government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in 2012.
The tipster, using the name Peter Williams, told CREW via email that Menendez had traveled to the Dominican Republic in Melgen's plane and had had sex with prostitutes, at least one of them underage.
"There's reason to be quite skeptical of these allegations," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW. "Mr. Williams claims to have known about the Senator's conduct since as early as 2008 yet didn't come forward for four years until right before Menendez's reelection."
"In addition, despite efforts by Crew, news organizations and the FBI to speak with Mr. Williams either by phone or in person, he's refused to do that for over eight months," said Sloan. She said CREW was unable to determine if the underage woman referenced by Menendez was "a prostitute, underage, or even real."
"The timing, combined with his insistence on remaining on communication only through email, seriously undermines the credibility of the allegations," said Sloan.
Earlier this week, dozens of emails between "Peter Williams" and CREW, ABC News and the FBI were published on a website.
Despite extensive efforts by ABC News to meet with Williams, speak with him on the phone, or verify his identity, Williams refused to come forward.
source: abc news
COMBAT VETERAN ARRESTED!
Feb. 1, 2013
New York's draconian Gun Ban has now claimed it's first VICTIM!
Nathan Haddad, a decorated combat veteran with multiples deployments to Afghanistan, who has spent spent 12 years serving his Country in the United States Army, is now under Arrest!
Reportedly, Haddad was stopped at a State Police Checkpoint and 5 AR-15 magazines were found in the trunk of his car. Haddad is now being charged with five counts of third degree criminal possession of a weapon for violating New York State law!
Nathan Haddad's brother, Michael, reported that the magazines were "pre-ban” which would have made them legal in New York, under New Yorks original "ban." Two weeks ago, New York passed a second ban, which has not yet taken effect, which would make any magazine over 10 rounds illegal all together.
Many Freedom loving New Yorkers are refusing to register their guns and or comply with New York's unconstitutional, draconian gun laws. Demonstrators arrived at the New York State Police's Lake Placid barracks asking questions. Reportedly, gun owners said they will not register semi-auto rifles or modify their magazines, while others wanted to know what the State Police planned to do about it.
Turning law abiding gun owners and American Heroes into Criminals doesn't keep this Country safe and only places fear and distrust in these very same people.
"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the Right to keep and bear arms, is as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in Government." -Thomas Jefferson
How to help>>
 |
| Staff Sargent Nathan Haddad - Combat Veteran of Afghanistan |
Nathan Haddad, a decorated combat veteran with multiples deployments to Afghanistan, who has spent spent 12 years serving his Country in the United States Army, is now under Arrest!
Reportedly, Haddad was stopped at a State Police Checkpoint and 5 AR-15 magazines were found in the trunk of his car. Haddad is now being charged with five counts of third degree criminal possession of a weapon for violating New York State law!
Nathan Haddad's brother, Michael, reported that the magazines were "pre-ban” which would have made them legal in New York, under New Yorks original "ban." Two weeks ago, New York passed a second ban, which has not yet taken effect, which would make any magazine over 10 rounds illegal all together.
Many Freedom loving New Yorkers are refusing to register their guns and or comply with New York's unconstitutional, draconian gun laws. Demonstrators arrived at the New York State Police's Lake Placid barracks asking questions. Reportedly, gun owners said they will not register semi-auto rifles or modify their magazines, while others wanted to know what the State Police planned to do about it.
Turning law abiding gun owners and American Heroes into Criminals doesn't keep this Country safe and only places fear and distrust in these very same people.
"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the Right to keep and bear arms, is as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in Government." -Thomas Jefferson
How to help>>
WARNING: VETERANS - THE VA SYSTEM HAS GONE TO THE DARK SIDE
Feb. 1, 2013
WARNING: VETERANS - THE VA SYSTEM HAS GONE TO THE DARK SIDE (UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE MESSIAH?)
Wanted to let my fellow Vets know that if you have not had reason to read your records that are being generated by the VA system, that you are being assigned by a numerical value - all that you say and is written regarding your visits and other communication within the VA system, following a path to make you a concern for this administration as a potential terrorist or other that should and will have their Constitutional Rights REVOKED by the powers that be. I had reason a short time ago to acquire my previous year VA Medical records. While reading through them, I was surprised (to say the least) at the content of these records for the past year. First, there was the casual questioning about my drinking habits. Upon evaluation of my answers, I was considered a (negative) as far as dangerous alcohol consumption with a rating of 2. Had I been the regular guy that answered that they were just a casual alcohol user, I could have easily rated a 4, which would have made me a potential risk to myself and others. Alcohol at that level is rated a "Disorder" (mental) The next conversation on my records was an evaluation for PTSD - Had I not passed that questioning, I would have been classified with PTSD Mental disorder. I could go on and on about the judgement factors in this paperwork, but the bottom line is that almost anything is quantified as a potential Mental Disorder. I smoke 1/2 pack of cigs a day, and I am classified as having TOD - A Tobacco (MENTAL DISORDER) - list goes on and on. My Urologist (not even a certified Doctor - Stated in my report that - Veteran came to my office (once again wearing BIKER REGALIA) - I wore my Harley hat I guess on a couple visits and now that has been noted by a NOBODY that I may be a 1%er hard core biker - although I ride less than 200 miles a year for the enjoyment of it - Again, a potential threat to the STATE. You need to go to your VA Records Dept. and get your Records in order to find out if you have been classified a threat to the Government, so they can Disarm you - or worse in the near future! Stalin, Hitler and various others would be proud.
Forgot to post Government Coding for LIST of things that make you a person with a DISORDER - According to Big Sis and others. They want your GUNS! Being proclaimed as a “Mental Deviant” will allow them to DISARM YOU!
http://www.icd9data.com/
Chance Hart
WARNING: VETERANS - THE VA SYSTEM HAS GONE TO THE DARK SIDE (UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE MESSIAH?)
Wanted to let my fellow Vets know that if you have not had reason to read your records that are being generated by the VA system, that you are being assigned by a numerical value - all that you say and is written regarding your visits and other communication within the VA system, following a path to make you a concern for this administration as a potential terrorist or other that should and will have their Constitutional Rights REVOKED by the powers that be. I had reason a short time ago to acquire my previous year VA Medical records. While reading through them, I was surprised (to say the least) at the content of these records for the past year. First, there was the casual questioning about my drinking habits. Upon evaluation of my answers, I was considered a (negative) as far as dangerous alcohol consumption with a rating of 2. Had I been the regular guy that answered that they were just a casual alcohol user, I could have easily rated a 4, which would have made me a potential risk to myself and others. Alcohol at that level is rated a "Disorder" (mental) The next conversation on my records was an evaluation for PTSD - Had I not passed that questioning, I would have been classified with PTSD Mental disorder. I could go on and on about the judgement factors in this paperwork, but the bottom line is that almost anything is quantified as a potential Mental Disorder. I smoke 1/2 pack of cigs a day, and I am classified as having TOD - A Tobacco (MENTAL DISORDER) - list goes on and on. My Urologist (not even a certified Doctor - Stated in my report that - Veteran came to my office (once again wearing BIKER REGALIA) - I wore my Harley hat I guess on a couple visits and now that has been noted by a NOBODY that I may be a 1%er hard core biker - although I ride less than 200 miles a year for the enjoyment of it - Again, a potential threat to the STATE. You need to go to your VA Records Dept. and get your Records in order to find out if you have been classified a threat to the Government, so they can Disarm you - or worse in the near future! Stalin, Hitler and various others would be proud.
Forgot to post Government Coding for LIST of things that make you a person with a DISORDER - According to Big Sis and others. They want your GUNS! Being proclaimed as a “Mental Deviant” will allow them to DISARM YOU!
http://www.icd9data.com/
Chance Hart
Tao Tested, Imam Approved: Online Muslim Matrimonial Services
Single Muslims think that finding their soul mate is difficult because Muslims don’t date like the people of other religions but now the internet has made this task easy for them. There are many useful resources and matchmaking websites available online that are dedicated to Muslim matrimonial services. These websites are specifically for Muslim people who want to get married and are in search of a right person to spend their whole life with. With the help of these websites, youngsters looking for a life partner can talk with each other to know about the mentality and to decide whether they can spend their life with each other or not.
The privacy policies of the matchmaking websites are strict. It is a rule of every Muslim matrimonial website that if any person wants to contact the other than he/she has to request the administrator. The administrator gives the contact number and the other details. Muslim matrimonial websites are not like other matrimonial websites on which people easily search for the singles based on their criteria. At most matrimonial website, the registration is free for everyone while at some websites, the registration is free but after the ending of trial period, the registered person is charged with a small affordable amount for the services.
Muslim youngsters can easily find the online Muslim matrimonial services because there are hundreds of websites out there, helping Muslims in finding their perfect match. Many followers of Islam are still against the love marriages and they don’t accept this type of marriages but the concept of Muslim matrimonial services is simple, that a person is viewing the profile of another person just for searching a perfect soul mate. Muslim matrimonial websites are trustworthy because only Muslims can register on these websites.
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CNN Cancels Soledad O’Brien Show, Says It Wasn’t Due to ‘Ethnic’ Viewership
Feb. 1, 2013
The tumult at CNN that has seen several contributors leave the cable news network continued on Wednesday, when Soledad O'Brien's morning show, “Starting Point,” was canceled because her program's small audience was “too ethnic, based on the high concentration of minority viewers.”
Despite ending O'Brien's morning show, a CNN spokesman told Politico on Thursday that "Soledad is very important to the network, and we're discussing various options with her.”
Many staffers at the cable news network were stunned to learn that Vice President Bart Feder had often complained about the audience the morning line-up attracted and were horrified that a CNN executive was squabbling over attracting minority viewers, said Ace of Spades, a poster at Breitbart.com.
CNN employees got the news after the Latina's show concluded on Wednesday, when Executive Vice President Ken Jautz and Feder assured the staff members that their jobs were safe.
Among the many people who responded to the news of the cancellation, Allahpundit wondered:
They canceled it because the viewers were “too ethnic?” Why didn’t they just cancel it because it was terrible?
Blogger Robert Stacy McCain used the opportunity to dub O'Brien “America's Least Popular Cable TV News Personality.”
When the story went viral that the network had ended the program because of its audience's ethnicity, a CNN spokesman responded:
To clarify, Feder’s issue with “Starting Point” was that the audience was too small and happened to be predominately comprised of minorities. A source close to the show insists that the ethnicity of the audience was never the issue, it was the size. Feder in no way meant to imply that the audience was too ethnic.
A look at the ratings of the morning schedule shows that the CNN vice president had a valid complaint.
For the month of January, “Starting Point” attracted an average of 264,000 viewers. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” got 468,000 and Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends” had an average audience of 1.07 million. “Morning Express” on HLN (the Headline News channel) attracted 218,000.
Meanwhile, the morning shows on CBS, ABC and NBC had millions more than any of those programs, so it's clear that “Starting Point” was behind everyone except its sister network HLN, which has been moving closer to the CNN program's ratings.
Betsy Rothstein at FishbowlDC asserted: ”From day one, 'Starting Point' was in disarray.”
It wasn’t supposed to debut in January of 2012, but the decision was made to rush it on the air to coincide with the Iowa caucus. From its launch, the show was never fully staffed; all the promises of branding and promotion never materialized; and the constant executive in-fighting over what to do with the show angered its host and staff.
In addition, former CNN managing editor Mark Whitaker preferred the panel format used on Joe Scarborough's “Morning Joe” show on MSNBC while Jautz instead pushed for a two-anchor style.
As Allahpundit notes, it all came down to the difference in buzz between “Morning Joe” and “Starting Point.”
What’s more buzzworthy, a panel featuring Soledad talking to random CNN contributors about the budget, or a panel featuring a former GOP representative telling the press what it wants to hear about how the NRA is going to destroy the Republican Party? C’mon.
As NewsBusters previously reported, O'Brien has regularly asserted the liberal point of view when discussing issues with guests on her weekday program.
During the past month, she stated that she can't understand what's wrong with a gun registry and asked if minorities know the GOP and “decided they don't like you.”
ABC's Chris Cuomo, son of former Democratic presidential candidate Mario Cuomo, is expected to join co-host Erin Burnett, who currently anchors a CNN prime-time hour, in a new morning newscast.
source: newsbusters
Despite ending O'Brien's morning show, a CNN spokesman told Politico on Thursday that "Soledad is very important to the network, and we're discussing various options with her.”
Many staffers at the cable news network were stunned to learn that Vice President Bart Feder had often complained about the audience the morning line-up attracted and were horrified that a CNN executive was squabbling over attracting minority viewers, said Ace of Spades, a poster at Breitbart.com.
CNN employees got the news after the Latina's show concluded on Wednesday, when Executive Vice President Ken Jautz and Feder assured the staff members that their jobs were safe.
Among the many people who responded to the news of the cancellation, Allahpundit wondered:
They canceled it because the viewers were “too ethnic?” Why didn’t they just cancel it because it was terrible?
Blogger Robert Stacy McCain used the opportunity to dub O'Brien “America's Least Popular Cable TV News Personality.”
When the story went viral that the network had ended the program because of its audience's ethnicity, a CNN spokesman responded:
To clarify, Feder’s issue with “Starting Point” was that the audience was too small and happened to be predominately comprised of minorities. A source close to the show insists that the ethnicity of the audience was never the issue, it was the size. Feder in no way meant to imply that the audience was too ethnic.
A look at the ratings of the morning schedule shows that the CNN vice president had a valid complaint.
For the month of January, “Starting Point” attracted an average of 264,000 viewers. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” got 468,000 and Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends” had an average audience of 1.07 million. “Morning Express” on HLN (the Headline News channel) attracted 218,000.
Meanwhile, the morning shows on CBS, ABC and NBC had millions more than any of those programs, so it's clear that “Starting Point” was behind everyone except its sister network HLN, which has been moving closer to the CNN program's ratings.
Betsy Rothstein at FishbowlDC asserted: ”From day one, 'Starting Point' was in disarray.”
It wasn’t supposed to debut in January of 2012, but the decision was made to rush it on the air to coincide with the Iowa caucus. From its launch, the show was never fully staffed; all the promises of branding and promotion never materialized; and the constant executive in-fighting over what to do with the show angered its host and staff.
In addition, former CNN managing editor Mark Whitaker preferred the panel format used on Joe Scarborough's “Morning Joe” show on MSNBC while Jautz instead pushed for a two-anchor style.
As Allahpundit notes, it all came down to the difference in buzz between “Morning Joe” and “Starting Point.”
What’s more buzzworthy, a panel featuring Soledad talking to random CNN contributors about the budget, or a panel featuring a former GOP representative telling the press what it wants to hear about how the NRA is going to destroy the Republican Party? C’mon.
As NewsBusters previously reported, O'Brien has regularly asserted the liberal point of view when discussing issues with guests on her weekday program.
During the past month, she stated that she can't understand what's wrong with a gun registry and asked if minorities know the GOP and “decided they don't like you.”
ABC's Chris Cuomo, son of former Democratic presidential candidate Mario Cuomo, is expected to join co-host Erin Burnett, who currently anchors a CNN prime-time hour, in a new morning newscast.
source: newsbusters
Breaking: Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch Dead at 88
Feb. 1, 2013
Ed Koch, the brash, colorful and often confrontational mayor who helped to lead New York City out of its brush with bankruptcy in the 1970s, launching an astonishing municipal turnaround that continues to this day, has died. He was 88.
Koch was recently readmitted to the hospital after being treated for water in his lungs, The Associated Press reported. A spokesman confirmed the news of Koch's death early this morning.
In December, Koch recently battled pneumonia and was being treated with antibotics and in September, he was hospitalized and was treated for anemia.
Koch took office on Jan 1, 1978 with New York City all but broke. Thousands of cops, firemen, sanitation workers and teachers had been laid off. Bridges were crumbling, the subways were caked in grime and graffiti, and crime was taking off.
Koch helped to restore the city's credit with budget cuts, and he revived the city's spirits with his unflagging enthusiasm for all things New York – and an unflinching willingness to stand up to opponents.
By the time he left office at the end of 1989, New York was far from problem- free, but Gotham's future no longer was in doubt. "He went at it with a sense of joy, a sense of combat, a sense that made us all know, "That's the voice of New York, that's what we are," the writer Pete Hamill once said.
That voice never held back. Koch was forever dispensing opinions -- and forever asking New Yorkers, "How 'm I doing?" He attacked opponents as "crazy," "wackos" or "radicals." To critics who said he had drifted too far from his liberal roots, Koch said he was "a liberal with sanity."
"Part of the thing that was most refreshing and most appalling about Koch is that he will stand for what he believes in," the Rev. Al Sharpton, who repeatedly jousted with Koch in the 1980s, said in 2005. "He will not say what you want him to. And he will not be intimidated either way."
Koch put it this way: "I'm the sort of person who will never get ulcers. Why? Because I say exactly what I think. I am the sort of person who might give other people ulcers."
When the New York Giants won the Super Bowl in January 1987, Koch refused to allow a ticker-tape parade for the champs because the Giants had left New York for New Jersey's Meadowlands more than a decade earlier.
"If they want a parade, let them parade in front of the oil drums in Moonachie," Koch said, referring to a community near the Meadowlands.
While such outspokenness endeared Koch to constituents, his sharp tongue contributed to his biggest political defeats.
In 1982, while running for governor, Koch gave an interview to Playboy magazine in which he called living in rural areas "a joke" and described suburban living as "wasting your life." To top it off, he called living in the state capital, Albany, "a fate worse than death."
The comments alienated suburban and upstate voters, and Koch lost the Democratic primary to a New York City lawyer named Mario Cuomo, who went on to serve three terms as governor. Koch later called his remarks "the dumbest" he ever made.
Six years later, during the fiercely contested New York Democratic primary for president, Koch said Jewish voters would be "crazy" to support the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The remark infuriated and energized African-American voters, propelling Jackson to a surprising second-place finish behind Michael Dukakis.
The following year, the city's black voters got their revenge, helping Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins beat Koch in the 1989 Democratic primary. Dinkins went on to defeat former U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani to become the city's first black mayor.
Arguably, Koch became even more popular after leaving City Hall. He hosted a radio show, wrote books, reviewed movies and even dispensed justice for a while on television's "The People's Court," succeeding Judge Marvin Wapner.
For years he teamed up with his close friend, former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY), offering opinions and political analysis on the New York cable news station, NY1.
Koch also remained a political force. His endorsements were crucial in helping to elect two Republicans -- Giuliani as mayor of New York, in 1993, and George Pataki, as governor of New York, in 1994. And his backing of then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat, eased the concerns of some older Jewish voters, helping her win a U.S. Senate seat in New York in 2000.
Edward I. Koch was born in the Bronx on Dec. 12, 1924 and reared in Newark, N.J. He served in the Army in World War II, landing in Cherbourg, France in September 1944 and earning two Battle Stars as a combat infantryman.
A graduate of the City College of New York and the New York University School of Law, Koch was a practicing attorney when he entered politics.
"I had no goals at that time, other than to meet people. Make friends," Koch told New York's Paper magazine. "I'm an achiever. I'm a good organizer, and I became a street spokesman for the Village Independent Democrats club. I was out every night on a soapbox."
Inspired by the speeches of presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, Koch aligned himself with insurgents who opposed Tammany Hall, the long-running but decaying New York Democratic machine. Koch defeated the last Tammany boss, Carmine DeSapio, in a race for Democratic district leader in Greenwich Village in 1963.
The victory propelled Koch to the City Council, and then to Congress, where he served for nine years before winning a four-way Democratic primary for mayor in 1977 by shrewdly tacking to the political center – a shift that mirrored the political migration of white ethnic Democrats in the 1970s and '80s.
Koch cemented his popularity in 1980 when he acted as a kind of municipal cheerleader when a transit workers strike halted the subways and buses. Day after day, Koch stood on the Brooklyn Bridge, applauding New Yorkers walking to work.
"As I got on the bridge I began to yell, 'Walk over the bridge, walk over the bridge, we're not going to let these bastards bring us to our knees!' And people began to applaud. I knew I was onto something," he recalled in 2011.
During his administration, the go-go years on Wall Street in the 1980s led the city to new economic prosperity. He created a housing program which, over a ten year period, provided more than 150,000 units of affordable housing financed by city funds.
But Koch's brand of governing was not without dissenters. Koch had a troubled relationship with black voters. The relationship began its downward slide in 1978 with the death of a black businessman while he was in police custody. Other alleged cases of police brutality followed.
Racial unrest, his comments about Jesse Jackson, a municipal corruption scandal and soaring crime and homelessness doomed Koch's bid for an unprecedented fourth term.
Although Koch's endorsement helped Giuliani win 1993 mayoral race, the two had a falling out over what Koch saw as Giuliani's combative and authoritarian ways. Koch went on to write a book about it, Giuliani: Nasty Man.
Koch also wrote Citizen Koch; Ed Koch on Everything; I'm Not Done Yet: Remaining Relevant; and Eddie, Harold's Little Brother, a children's book which he co-authored with his sister, Pat Koch Thaler. He also teamed up with his good friend, John Cardinal O'Connor, who led the Archdiocese of New York, in writing, His Eminence and Hizzoner, which traced Koch's shift to more centrist and conservative positions.
Koch will spend eternity in his beloved Manhattan. He announced in 2008 that he had purchased a plot at the Trinity Church cemetery, after learning that the church permits Jews to be buried there. It is the only active cemetery left in Manhattan.
"I don't want to leave Manhattan, even when I'm gone. This is my home," Koch explained. "The thought of having to go to New Jersey was so distressing to me."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
source: abcnews
 |
| Former New York Mayor Ed Koch speaks during a publicity event in New York in this March 23, 2010 file photo. (Seth Weniog/AP Photo) |
Koch was recently readmitted to the hospital after being treated for water in his lungs, The Associated Press reported. A spokesman confirmed the news of Koch's death early this morning.
In December, Koch recently battled pneumonia and was being treated with antibotics and in September, he was hospitalized and was treated for anemia.
Koch took office on Jan 1, 1978 with New York City all but broke. Thousands of cops, firemen, sanitation workers and teachers had been laid off. Bridges were crumbling, the subways were caked in grime and graffiti, and crime was taking off.
Koch helped to restore the city's credit with budget cuts, and he revived the city's spirits with his unflagging enthusiasm for all things New York – and an unflinching willingness to stand up to opponents.
By the time he left office at the end of 1989, New York was far from problem- free, but Gotham's future no longer was in doubt. "He went at it with a sense of joy, a sense of combat, a sense that made us all know, "That's the voice of New York, that's what we are," the writer Pete Hamill once said.
That voice never held back. Koch was forever dispensing opinions -- and forever asking New Yorkers, "How 'm I doing?" He attacked opponents as "crazy," "wackos" or "radicals." To critics who said he had drifted too far from his liberal roots, Koch said he was "a liberal with sanity."
"Part of the thing that was most refreshing and most appalling about Koch is that he will stand for what he believes in," the Rev. Al Sharpton, who repeatedly jousted with Koch in the 1980s, said in 2005. "He will not say what you want him to. And he will not be intimidated either way."
Koch put it this way: "I'm the sort of person who will never get ulcers. Why? Because I say exactly what I think. I am the sort of person who might give other people ulcers."
When the New York Giants won the Super Bowl in January 1987, Koch refused to allow a ticker-tape parade for the champs because the Giants had left New York for New Jersey's Meadowlands more than a decade earlier.
"If they want a parade, let them parade in front of the oil drums in Moonachie," Koch said, referring to a community near the Meadowlands.
While such outspokenness endeared Koch to constituents, his sharp tongue contributed to his biggest political defeats.
In 1982, while running for governor, Koch gave an interview to Playboy magazine in which he called living in rural areas "a joke" and described suburban living as "wasting your life." To top it off, he called living in the state capital, Albany, "a fate worse than death."
The comments alienated suburban and upstate voters, and Koch lost the Democratic primary to a New York City lawyer named Mario Cuomo, who went on to serve three terms as governor. Koch later called his remarks "the dumbest" he ever made.
Six years later, during the fiercely contested New York Democratic primary for president, Koch said Jewish voters would be "crazy" to support the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The remark infuriated and energized African-American voters, propelling Jackson to a surprising second-place finish behind Michael Dukakis.
The following year, the city's black voters got their revenge, helping Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins beat Koch in the 1989 Democratic primary. Dinkins went on to defeat former U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani to become the city's first black mayor.
Arguably, Koch became even more popular after leaving City Hall. He hosted a radio show, wrote books, reviewed movies and even dispensed justice for a while on television's "The People's Court," succeeding Judge Marvin Wapner.
For years he teamed up with his close friend, former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY), offering opinions and political analysis on the New York cable news station, NY1.
Koch also remained a political force. His endorsements were crucial in helping to elect two Republicans -- Giuliani as mayor of New York, in 1993, and George Pataki, as governor of New York, in 1994. And his backing of then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat, eased the concerns of some older Jewish voters, helping her win a U.S. Senate seat in New York in 2000.
Edward I. Koch was born in the Bronx on Dec. 12, 1924 and reared in Newark, N.J. He served in the Army in World War II, landing in Cherbourg, France in September 1944 and earning two Battle Stars as a combat infantryman.
A graduate of the City College of New York and the New York University School of Law, Koch was a practicing attorney when he entered politics.
"I had no goals at that time, other than to meet people. Make friends," Koch told New York's Paper magazine. "I'm an achiever. I'm a good organizer, and I became a street spokesman for the Village Independent Democrats club. I was out every night on a soapbox."
Inspired by the speeches of presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson, Koch aligned himself with insurgents who opposed Tammany Hall, the long-running but decaying New York Democratic machine. Koch defeated the last Tammany boss, Carmine DeSapio, in a race for Democratic district leader in Greenwich Village in 1963.
The victory propelled Koch to the City Council, and then to Congress, where he served for nine years before winning a four-way Democratic primary for mayor in 1977 by shrewdly tacking to the political center – a shift that mirrored the political migration of white ethnic Democrats in the 1970s and '80s.
Koch cemented his popularity in 1980 when he acted as a kind of municipal cheerleader when a transit workers strike halted the subways and buses. Day after day, Koch stood on the Brooklyn Bridge, applauding New Yorkers walking to work.
"As I got on the bridge I began to yell, 'Walk over the bridge, walk over the bridge, we're not going to let these bastards bring us to our knees!' And people began to applaud. I knew I was onto something," he recalled in 2011.
During his administration, the go-go years on Wall Street in the 1980s led the city to new economic prosperity. He created a housing program which, over a ten year period, provided more than 150,000 units of affordable housing financed by city funds.
But Koch's brand of governing was not without dissenters. Koch had a troubled relationship with black voters. The relationship began its downward slide in 1978 with the death of a black businessman while he was in police custody. Other alleged cases of police brutality followed.
Racial unrest, his comments about Jesse Jackson, a municipal corruption scandal and soaring crime and homelessness doomed Koch's bid for an unprecedented fourth term.
Although Koch's endorsement helped Giuliani win 1993 mayoral race, the two had a falling out over what Koch saw as Giuliani's combative and authoritarian ways. Koch went on to write a book about it, Giuliani: Nasty Man.
Koch also wrote Citizen Koch; Ed Koch on Everything; I'm Not Done Yet: Remaining Relevant; and Eddie, Harold's Little Brother, a children's book which he co-authored with his sister, Pat Koch Thaler. He also teamed up with his good friend, John Cardinal O'Connor, who led the Archdiocese of New York, in writing, His Eminence and Hizzoner, which traced Koch's shift to more centrist and conservative positions.
Koch will spend eternity in his beloved Manhattan. He announced in 2008 that he had purchased a plot at the Trinity Church cemetery, after learning that the church permits Jews to be buried there. It is the only active cemetery left in Manhattan.
"I don't want to leave Manhattan, even when I'm gone. This is my home," Koch explained. "The thought of having to go to New Jersey was so distressing to me."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
source: abcnews
Shhh!!! Armed Guard Stops School Shooter After He Opened Fire at Atlanta Middle School
Feb. 1, 2013
The Blaze
ATLANTA (AP) — A student opened fire at his middle school Thursday afternoon, wounding a 14-year-old in the neck before an armed officer working at the school was able to get the gun away, police said.
Multiple shots were fired in the courtyard of Price Middle School just south of downtown about 1:50 p.m. and the one boy was hit, Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said. In the aftermath, a teacher received minor cuts, he said.
The wounded boy was taken “alert, conscious and breathing” to Grady Memorial Hospital, said police spokesman Carlos Campos. Grady Heath System Spokeswoman Denise Simpson said the teen had been discharged from the hospital Thursday night. Campos said charges against the shooter were pending.
Police swarmed the school of about 400 students after reports of the shooting while a crowd of anxious parents gathered in the streets, awaiting word on their children. Students were kept at the locked-down school for more than two hours before being dismissed.
Investigators believe the shooting was not random and that something occurred between the two students that may have led to it.
Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis said the school does have metal detectors.
“The obvious question is how did this get past a metal detector?” Davis asked about the gun. “That’s something we do not know yet.”
The armed resource officer who took the gun away was off-duty and at the school, but police didn’t release details on him or whether he is regularly at Price. Since 20 children and six adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December, calls for armed officers in every school have resonated across the country.
Hours after the Atlanta shooting, several school buses loaded with children pulled away from the school and stopped in front of a church about a half-block away. Parents tried boarding the buses. Police who initially tried to stop the parents, relented and screamed, “Let them off!” about the students.
James Bolton was at work when his sister called saying a teen had been shot at his son’s school and was in the crowd as parents began swarming the fleet of buses.
“Move, I see my son, I see mine!” he said, running up to embrace James Bolton Jr. “As long as I got this one back I’m OK,” he said, holding his son’s head against his chest as parents nearby frantically searched for their children.
Bolton Jr. said he was in class when the intercom sounded and a school official announced the building was under immediate lockdown.
“They told us we had to be quiet,” Bolton told The Associated Press. “They said something went on in the courtyard.” Bolton said he was unaware that anyone had been shot until a reporter asked him about it.
Shakita Walker, whose daughter is an eighth-grader at the school, said she received a text from her that said, “Ma somebody’s shooting and somebody got shot.” Walker, who works at another school, said she jumped in her car and was thinking “just hurry up and get there.”
Walker said her daughter called to tell her that they were being kept in the gymnasium, but she said she was anxious to see her to make sure she was OK.
The fear and anxiety was palpable in the crowd, as one person yelled, “Does anyone know what happened?”
Superintendent Davis sympathized with concerned parents who complained that it took too long for students to be released from the building. He said emergency procedures were followed according to protocol and school district officials would meet Friday to review their response. Calls to the school district were not immediately returned.
Mayor Kasim Reed condemned gun violence in a statement shortly after the shooting and said counselors were at the school to meet with students, faculty and family members.
“Gun violence in and around our schools is simply unconscionable and must end,” Reed said. “Too many young people are being harmed, and too many families are suffering from unimaginable and unnecessary grief.”
Outside the school, Laquanda Pittman said she still hasn’t heard from her sixth-grade son. She said she heard the news of the shooting on TV and immediately came to the school.
“All types of stuff went through my head. I’m wondering whether it was my child who got shot, is my child OK, did he see what happened?” Pittman said.
She said she just wants to see her son.
“As a parent, you just think you can send your child to school and you hope they come home OK,” she said.
The Blaze
 |
| Authorities stage at Price Middle school in Atlanta Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, after a child was shot. Credit: AP |
Multiple shots were fired in the courtyard of Price Middle School just south of downtown about 1:50 p.m. and the one boy was hit, Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said. In the aftermath, a teacher received minor cuts, he said.
The wounded boy was taken “alert, conscious and breathing” to Grady Memorial Hospital, said police spokesman Carlos Campos. Grady Heath System Spokeswoman Denise Simpson said the teen had been discharged from the hospital Thursday night. Campos said charges against the shooter were pending.
Police swarmed the school of about 400 students after reports of the shooting while a crowd of anxious parents gathered in the streets, awaiting word on their children. Students were kept at the locked-down school for more than two hours before being dismissed.
Investigators believe the shooting was not random and that something occurred between the two students that may have led to it.
Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis said the school does have metal detectors.
“The obvious question is how did this get past a metal detector?” Davis asked about the gun. “That’s something we do not know yet.”
The armed resource officer who took the gun away was off-duty and at the school, but police didn’t release details on him or whether he is regularly at Price. Since 20 children and six adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December, calls for armed officers in every school have resonated across the country.
Hours after the Atlanta shooting, several school buses loaded with children pulled away from the school and stopped in front of a church about a half-block away. Parents tried boarding the buses. Police who initially tried to stop the parents, relented and screamed, “Let them off!” about the students.
 |
| Busses arrive at a church carrying children from Price Middle school in Atlanta on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, after a child was shot at the school. Credit: AP |
 |
| Authorities stage at Price Middle school in Atlanta Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, after a child was shot. Credit: AP |
 |
| Authorities stage at Price Middle school in Atlanta Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, after a child was shot. A 14-year-old boy was wounded outside the school Thursday afternoon and a fellow student was in custody as a suspect, authorities said. No other students were hurt. Credit: AP |
“Move, I see my son, I see mine!” he said, running up to embrace James Bolton Jr. “As long as I got this one back I’m OK,” he said, holding his son’s head against his chest as parents nearby frantically searched for their children.
Bolton Jr. said he was in class when the intercom sounded and a school official announced the building was under immediate lockdown.
“They told us we had to be quiet,” Bolton told The Associated Press. “They said something went on in the courtyard.” Bolton said he was unaware that anyone had been shot until a reporter asked him about it.
Shakita Walker, whose daughter is an eighth-grader at the school, said she received a text from her that said, “Ma somebody’s shooting and somebody got shot.” Walker, who works at another school, said she jumped in her car and was thinking “just hurry up and get there.”
Walker said her daughter called to tell her that they were being kept in the gymnasium, but she said she was anxious to see her to make sure she was OK.
The fear and anxiety was palpable in the crowd, as one person yelled, “Does anyone know what happened?”
Superintendent Davis sympathized with concerned parents who complained that it took too long for students to be released from the building. He said emergency procedures were followed according to protocol and school district officials would meet Friday to review their response. Calls to the school district were not immediately returned.
Mayor Kasim Reed condemned gun violence in a statement shortly after the shooting and said counselors were at the school to meet with students, faculty and family members.
“Gun violence in and around our schools is simply unconscionable and must end,” Reed said. “Too many young people are being harmed, and too many families are suffering from unimaginable and unnecessary grief.”
Outside the school, Laquanda Pittman said she still hasn’t heard from her sixth-grade son. She said she heard the news of the shooting on TV and immediately came to the school.
“All types of stuff went through my head. I’m wondering whether it was my child who got shot, is my child OK, did he see what happened?” Pittman said.
She said she just wants to see her son.
“As a parent, you just think you can send your child to school and you hope they come home OK,” she said.
‘Micro-States’ Ruled By Sharia Law: ‘No-Go’ Zones Being Established For Non-Muslims In European Cities
February 1, 2013
PatDollard.com
Related update – France set to deport radical Imams from the country
(NewMediaJournal) - Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of “no-go” areas in European cities that are off-limits to non-Muslims.
Many of the “no-go” zones function as microstates governed by Islamic Sharia law. Host-country authorities effectively have lost control in these areas and in many instances are unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services.
The “no-go” areas are the by-product of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged Muslim immigrants to create parallel societies and remain segregated rather than become integrated into their European host nations.
In Britain, for example, a Muslim group called Muslims Against the Crusades has launched a campaign to turn twelve British cities – including what it calls “Londonistan” – into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic Sharia law and operate entirely outside British jurisprudence.
The Islamic Emirates Project names the British cities of Birmingham, Bradford, Derby, Dewsbury, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Manchester, Sheffield, as well as Waltham Forest in northeast London and Tower Hamlets in East London as territories to be targeted for blanket Sharia rule.
In the Tower Hamlets area of East London (also known as the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets), for example, extremist Muslim preachers, called the Tower Hamlets Taliban, regularly issue death threats to women who refuse to wear Islamic veils. Neighborhood streets have been plastered with posters declaring “You are entering a Sharia controlled zone: Islamic rules enforced.” And street advertising deemed offensive to Muslims is regularly vandalized or blacked out with spray paint.
In the Bury Park area of Luton, Muslims have been accused of “ethnic cleansing” by harassing non-Muslims to the point that many of them move out of Muslim neighborhoods. In the West Midlands, two Christian preachers have been accused of “hate crimes” for handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham. In Leytonstone in east London, the Muslim extremist Abu Izzadeen heckled the former Home Secretary John Reid by saying: “How dare you come to a Muslim area.”
In France, large swaths of Muslim neighborhoods are now considered “no-go” zones by French police. At last count, there are 751 Sensitive Urban Zones (Zones Urbaines Sensibles, ZUS), as they are euphemistically called. A complete list of the ZUS can be found on a French government website, complete with satellite maps and precise street demarcations. An estimated 5 million Muslims live in the ZUS, parts of France over which the French state has lost control.
Muslim immigrants are taking control of other parts of France too. In Paris and other French cities with high Muslim populations, such as Lyons, Marseilles and Toulouse, thousands of Muslims are closing off streets and sidewalks (and by extension, are closing down local businesses and trapping non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for Friday prayers. Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of “Allahu Akbar” via loudspeakers into the streets.
read more...
PatDollard.com
Related update – France set to deport radical Imams from the country
(NewMediaJournal) - Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of “no-go” areas in European cities that are off-limits to non-Muslims.
Many of the “no-go” zones function as microstates governed by Islamic Sharia law. Host-country authorities effectively have lost control in these areas and in many instances are unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services.
The “no-go” areas are the by-product of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged Muslim immigrants to create parallel societies and remain segregated rather than become integrated into their European host nations.
In Britain, for example, a Muslim group called Muslims Against the Crusades has launched a campaign to turn twelve British cities – including what it calls “Londonistan” – into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic Sharia law and operate entirely outside British jurisprudence.
The Islamic Emirates Project names the British cities of Birmingham, Bradford, Derby, Dewsbury, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Manchester, Sheffield, as well as Waltham Forest in northeast London and Tower Hamlets in East London as territories to be targeted for blanket Sharia rule.
In the Tower Hamlets area of East London (also known as the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets), for example, extremist Muslim preachers, called the Tower Hamlets Taliban, regularly issue death threats to women who refuse to wear Islamic veils. Neighborhood streets have been plastered with posters declaring “You are entering a Sharia controlled zone: Islamic rules enforced.” And street advertising deemed offensive to Muslims is regularly vandalized or blacked out with spray paint.
In the Bury Park area of Luton, Muslims have been accused of “ethnic cleansing” by harassing non-Muslims to the point that many of them move out of Muslim neighborhoods. In the West Midlands, two Christian preachers have been accused of “hate crimes” for handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham. In Leytonstone in east London, the Muslim extremist Abu Izzadeen heckled the former Home Secretary John Reid by saying: “How dare you come to a Muslim area.”
In France, large swaths of Muslim neighborhoods are now considered “no-go” zones by French police. At last count, there are 751 Sensitive Urban Zones (Zones Urbaines Sensibles, ZUS), as they are euphemistically called. A complete list of the ZUS can be found on a French government website, complete with satellite maps and precise street demarcations. An estimated 5 million Muslims live in the ZUS, parts of France over which the French state has lost control.
Muslim immigrants are taking control of other parts of France too. In Paris and other French cities with high Muslim populations, such as Lyons, Marseilles and Toulouse, thousands of Muslims are closing off streets and sidewalks (and by extension, are closing down local businesses and trapping non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for Friday prayers. Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of “Allahu Akbar” via loudspeakers into the streets.
read more...
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Dominican prostitute: Senator Bob Menendez ‘likes the youngest and newest girls’
Jan. 31, 2013
(Daily Caller) - In a little-noticed email published online Wednesday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a young Dominican woman wrote nine months ago that she slept with 59-year-old New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez at a series of sex parties organized by Dr. Salomon Melgen, a longtime Menendez campaign donor.
“That Senator also likes the youngest and newest girls,” the woman wrote on April 21, 2002, according to an English translation provided to The Daily Caller by a native Spanish speaker.
“In the beginning he seemed so serious, because he never spoke to anyone, but he is just like the others and has just about the same tastes as the doctor, very refined. I think they were taking us more often to get us checked [medically] because of him.”
TheDC is not disclosing the woman’s name because she may have been a minor when her alleged sexual encounters with Menendez occurred. Four different Spanish speakers who reviewed TheDC’s translation of her letter all said her Spanish writing indicated someone who was very young and unsophisticated.
CREW chose to publish her name, despite her concerns for her safety. “I do not want to have problems with those people,” she wrote, adding that she believed “I can trust you, that you will help us, and that nothing bad will happen to the other young girls, to me, or to my family.”
“The thing that worries me the most is that if they know that I spoke with someone they will find me,” she added.
The young woman wrote that she was recruited as an escort from an adult escort service called the Doll Palace, and that the code word “chocolate” would summon her and other girls to Melgen’s sex parties. She offered specific recollections of Melgen’s preferred pimp, the homes where she slept with his house guests for money, and the phone number her calls would come from.
Her account of the sex parties Menendez allegedly attended in the Dominican Republic is the most detailed to surface since TheDC first began reporting on the story in November.
She told her story to a tipster who forwarded the email to CREW; it was not included with the cache of documents he published online on Jan. 24. TheDC was first to report on that dossier about Sen. Menendez, which included an interview transcript in which a different women claimed she was 16 when she began sleeping with him.
That young prostitute said she had sex with Menendez “three times at least” in 2009. “The first one in February, and then in May and June. I recall his visit in June so well because that month was my 17th birthday.”
The woman whose email CREW released on Wednesday also recalled a sexual encounter with Menendez near her birthday, but said hers was in a different month.
“The first time I saw him was more than three years ago at the beginning of March, because it was around my birthday,” she wrote.
NEXT >> 'I also don’t want anything to happen to the girls'
(Daily Caller) - In a little-noticed email published online Wednesday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a young Dominican woman wrote nine months ago that she slept with 59-year-old New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez at a series of sex parties organized by Dr. Salomon Melgen, a longtime Menendez campaign donor.
“That Senator also likes the youngest and newest girls,” the woman wrote on April 21, 2002, according to an English translation provided to The Daily Caller by a native Spanish speaker.
“In the beginning he seemed so serious, because he never spoke to anyone, but he is just like the others and has just about the same tastes as the doctor, very refined. I think they were taking us more often to get us checked [medically] because of him.”
TheDC is not disclosing the woman’s name because she may have been a minor when her alleged sexual encounters with Menendez occurred. Four different Spanish speakers who reviewed TheDC’s translation of her letter all said her Spanish writing indicated someone who was very young and unsophisticated.
CREW chose to publish her name, despite her concerns for her safety. “I do not want to have problems with those people,” she wrote, adding that she believed “I can trust you, that you will help us, and that nothing bad will happen to the other young girls, to me, or to my family.”
“The thing that worries me the most is that if they know that I spoke with someone they will find me,” she added.
The young woman wrote that she was recruited as an escort from an adult escort service called the Doll Palace, and that the code word “chocolate” would summon her and other girls to Melgen’s sex parties. She offered specific recollections of Melgen’s preferred pimp, the homes where she slept with his house guests for money, and the phone number her calls would come from.
Her account of the sex parties Menendez allegedly attended in the Dominican Republic is the most detailed to surface since TheDC first began reporting on the story in November.
She told her story to a tipster who forwarded the email to CREW; it was not included with the cache of documents he published online on Jan. 24. TheDC was first to report on that dossier about Sen. Menendez, which included an interview transcript in which a different women claimed she was 16 when she began sleeping with him.
That young prostitute said she had sex with Menendez “three times at least” in 2009. “The first one in February, and then in May and June. I recall his visit in June so well because that month was my 17th birthday.”
The woman whose email CREW released on Wednesday also recalled a sexual encounter with Menendez near her birthday, but said hers was in a different month.
“The first time I saw him was more than three years ago at the beginning of March, because it was around my birthday,” she wrote.
NEXT >> 'I also don’t want anything to happen to the girls'
SHOCKER: Israel raid 'unmasks' origins of Syria conflict: Hezbollah
Jan. 31, 2013
Propaganda!
AFP - The Israeli air strike on Syria has "unmasked" the true origins of the bloody conflict in the country, its closest ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, said on Thursday.
The Shiite militant group, an archfoe of Israel, said Wednesday's attack "fully unmasked what has been happening in Syria over the past two years and the criminal objectives of destroying this country and weakening its army."
Hezbollah, in a statement, said it "forcefully condemns this new Zionist aggression against Syria," in what was the first such Israeli strike since a deadly anti-regime revolt broke out in March 2011.
The attack unveiled Israel's policy of preventing "Arab and Muslim forces from boosting their military and technological capacities," it said.
The Syrian army said an Israeli strike targeted a "scientific research centre" near Damascus, with local residents telling AFP it was a non-conventional weapons research centre.
Israel has repeatedly warned that if Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons fell into the hands of Hezbollah, it would be a casus belli. But it remained tightlipped over the air strike reports.
Propaganda!
 |
| Hezbollah militants display a rocket launcher in the Lebanese town of Iqlim at-Touffah near the border with Israel on February 16, 1999. Hezbollah has said the Israeli air strike on Syria has "unmasked" the true origins of the bloody conflict in the country. |
The Shiite militant group, an archfoe of Israel, said Wednesday's attack "fully unmasked what has been happening in Syria over the past two years and the criminal objectives of destroying this country and weakening its army."
Hezbollah, in a statement, said it "forcefully condemns this new Zionist aggression against Syria," in what was the first such Israeli strike since a deadly anti-regime revolt broke out in March 2011.
The attack unveiled Israel's policy of preventing "Arab and Muslim forces from boosting their military and technological capacities," it said.
The Syrian army said an Israeli strike targeted a "scientific research centre" near Damascus, with local residents telling AFP it was a non-conventional weapons research centre.
Israel has repeatedly warned that if Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons fell into the hands of Hezbollah, it would be a casus belli. But it remained tightlipped over the air strike reports.
Saggy Pants Gets You Tossed In Prison For 3 Years In Massachusetts!
Jan. 31, 2013
Watch Video: Massachusetts Anti Saggy Pants Video
Hat tip: Stupid Yanks
Watch Video: Massachusetts Anti Saggy Pants Video
Hat tip: Stupid Yanks
USSA: Indiana Couple Faces Jail Time For Rescuing Deer
Jan. 31, 2013
When Jeff and Jennifer Counceller saw a wounded fawn, they did what they could to save it.
source
When Jeff and Jennifer Counceller saw a wounded fawn, they did what they could to save it.
source
UPDATE: Reuters Tries to Help United Nations Play "Big Brother", Again
Jan. 31, 2013
Communist organization U.N. human rights inquiry says Israel must remove settlers and halt settlement expansion
(Reuters) - United Nations human rights investigators called on Israel on Thursday to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank, saying that its practices violated international law.
"Israel must, in compliance with article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, cease all settlement activities without preconditions. It must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers from the OPT (occupied Palestinian territories)," said a report by the inquiry led by French judge Christine Chanet.
The settlements contravene the 1949 Geneva Conventions forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territory, which could amount to war crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it said.
In December, the Palestinians accused Israel in a letter to the United Nations of planning to commit further "war crimes" by expanding Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto U.N. recognition of statehood and warned that Jerusalem must be held accountable.
Israel has not cooperated with the probe set up by the Human Rights Council last March to examine the impact of settlements in the territory, including East Jerusalem. Israel says the forum has an inherent bias against it and defends its settlement policy by citing historical and Biblical links to the West Bank.
The independent U.N. investigators interviewed more than 50 people who came to Jordan in November to testify about confiscated land, damage to their livelihoods including olive trees, and violence by Jewish settlers, according to the report.
"The mission believes that the motivation behind this violence and the intimidation against the Palestinians as well as their properties is to drive the local populations away from their lands and allow the settlements to expand," it said.
"CREEPING ANNEXATION"
About 250 settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been established since 1967 and they hold an estimated 520,000 settlers, according to the U.N. report. The settlements impede Palestinian access to water resources and agricultural lands, it said.
The settlements were "leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination," it said.
After the General Assembly upgraded the Palestinians status at the world body, Israel said it would build 3,000 more settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - areas Palestinians wanted for a future state, along with the Gaza Strip.
The U.N. human rights inquiry said that the International Criminal Court had jurisdiction over the deportation or transfer by the occupying power of its own population into the territory.
"Ratification of the (Rome) Statute by Palestine may lead to accountability for gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law and justice for victims," the U.N. report said, referring to the treaty setting up the Hague-based U.N. tribunal which prosecutes people for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Israel Responds: 'Biased' UN settlement report hampers peace
AFP - Israel's foreign ministry on Thursday slammed as "biased" a report by the UN Human Rights Council calling on the Jewish state to halt all settlement activity, saying it would only hamper peace efforts.
"The Human Rights Council has sadly distinguished itself by its systematically one-sided and biased approach towards Israel. This latest report is yet another unfortunate reminder of that," said spokesman Yigal Palmor in a statement.
additional editing: mine
Communist organization U.N. human rights inquiry says Israel must remove settlers and halt settlement expansion
| Skanky UN lady with uneven globs of botox in her face |
"Israel must, in compliance with article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, cease all settlement activities without preconditions. It must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers from the OPT (occupied Palestinian territories)," said a report by the inquiry led by French judge Christine Chanet.
The settlements contravene the 1949 Geneva Conventions forbidding the transfer of civilian populations into occupied territory, which could amount to war crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it said.
In December, the Palestinians accused Israel in a letter to the United Nations of planning to commit further "war crimes" by expanding Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto U.N. recognition of statehood and warned that Jerusalem must be held accountable.
Israel has not cooperated with the probe set up by the Human Rights Council last March to examine the impact of settlements in the territory, including East Jerusalem. Israel says the forum has an inherent bias against it and defends its settlement policy by citing historical and Biblical links to the West Bank.
The independent U.N. investigators interviewed more than 50 people who came to Jordan in November to testify about confiscated land, damage to their livelihoods including olive trees, and violence by Jewish settlers, according to the report.
"The mission believes that the motivation behind this violence and the intimidation against the Palestinians as well as their properties is to drive the local populations away from their lands and allow the settlements to expand," it said.
"CREEPING ANNEXATION"
About 250 settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been established since 1967 and they hold an estimated 520,000 settlers, according to the U.N. report. The settlements impede Palestinian access to water resources and agricultural lands, it said.
The settlements were "leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination," it said.
After the General Assembly upgraded the Palestinians status at the world body, Israel said it would build 3,000 more settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - areas Palestinians wanted for a future state, along with the Gaza Strip.
The U.N. human rights inquiry said that the International Criminal Court had jurisdiction over the deportation or transfer by the occupying power of its own population into the territory.
"Ratification of the (Rome) Statute by Palestine may lead to accountability for gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law and justice for victims," the U.N. report said, referring to the treaty setting up the Hague-based U.N. tribunal which prosecutes people for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Israel Responds: 'Biased' UN settlement report hampers peace
 |
| View of a new housing project under construction at the Jewish settlement of Har Homa in east Jerusalem, on December 20, 2012. Israel's foreign ministry has slammed as "biased" a report by the UN Human Rights Council calling on the Jewish state to halt all settlement activity, saying it would only hamper peace efforts. |
"The Human Rights Council has sadly distinguished itself by its systematically one-sided and biased approach towards Israel. This latest report is yet another unfortunate reminder of that," said spokesman Yigal Palmor in a statement.
additional editing: mine
BREAKING... Bob Menendez to resign? Christie to appoint replacement Senator. Could it be this man?
Jan. 31, 2013
The Bob Menendez - underage Hooker scandal is moving at lightening speed. The New Jersey Senator unexpectedly left a major Senate immigration press conference early yesterday, not taking any questions. He scampered away from the conference without a word. Now, a day later, news that Menendez's good friend, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgin's home and office were raided yesterday by the FBI. Agents reportedly were searching for documents related to alleged unpaid IRS penalities.
Also today, reporters, including journalists from some major media outlets, peppered Menendez with questions about the growing scandal. It is one thing to be rumored to have had an affair with a prostitute outside of the U.S. Quite another if said prostitute was underage. Even the normally cover-up for liberals at any cost, Wonkette remarks:
we do know that when you are having an orgy pile, and you are a United States Senator — even if you are out of the country! — you should really try your best not to f*ck children.
An imminent resignation by Menendez?
Speculation already surfacing as to who Republican Governor Chris Christie would appoint as a replacement.
Could it be this man?
New Jersey State Senator, and son of former moderate Republican two-term Governor Thomas Kean, Thomas Kean, Jr.
The younger Kean has shown a much more defined pro-liberty, almost Tea Party like record as a leading voice in the State Senate; good on guns, staunchly anti-tax.
source: Pundit Press
 |
| Thomas Kean, Jr |
Also today, reporters, including journalists from some major media outlets, peppered Menendez with questions about the growing scandal. It is one thing to be rumored to have had an affair with a prostitute outside of the U.S. Quite another if said prostitute was underage. Even the normally cover-up for liberals at any cost, Wonkette remarks:
we do know that when you are having an orgy pile, and you are a United States Senator — even if you are out of the country! — you should really try your best not to f*ck children.
An imminent resignation by Menendez?
Speculation already surfacing as to who Republican Governor Chris Christie would appoint as a replacement.
Could it be this man?
New Jersey State Senator, and son of former moderate Republican two-term Governor Thomas Kean, Thomas Kean, Jr.
The younger Kean has shown a much more defined pro-liberty, almost Tea Party like record as a leading voice in the State Senate; good on guns, staunchly anti-tax.
source: Pundit Press
Leftist Stupidity Ultimately Trumps Common Sense
Jan. 31, 2013
Sentence reduced, not removed. Final score: Ruling Class 1, Country Class 0
Bubble gun incident resolved; girl, 5, back in school Thursday
MOUNT CARMEL — The 5-year-old suspended from kindergarten for shooting comments she made in reference to a Hello Kitty pink bubble gun machine will return Thursday to Mount Carmel Area Elementary School.
That was the word Wednesday from Robin Ficker, the Maryland attorney who represented the girl’s family at a meeting with Mount Carmel Area School District Superintendent Bernard Stellar, solicitor Edward Greco, the girl’s mother and two other family members.
“We worked it out,” he said, add all issues were resolved.
He considers the case closed, he said.
The girl had been suspended initially for 10 days, because she told two other girls standing Jan. 10 in a bus line at the elementary school that she was going to shoot them and herself with a Hello Kitty bubble gun.
The suspension later was reduced to two days and the reason changed from being a terroristic threat to threatening to harm another student.
The family, who requested anonymity, sought to have the girl’s record expunged and an apology issued to the girl who has not attended kindergarten since the incident.
source
Sentence reduced, not removed. Final score: Ruling Class 1, Country Class 0
Bubble gun incident resolved; girl, 5, back in school Thursday
That was the word Wednesday from Robin Ficker, the Maryland attorney who represented the girl’s family at a meeting with Mount Carmel Area School District Superintendent Bernard Stellar, solicitor Edward Greco, the girl’s mother and two other family members.
“We worked it out,” he said, add all issues were resolved.
He considers the case closed, he said.
The girl had been suspended initially for 10 days, because she told two other girls standing Jan. 10 in a bus line at the elementary school that she was going to shoot them and herself with a Hello Kitty bubble gun.
The suspension later was reduced to two days and the reason changed from being a terroristic threat to threatening to harm another student.
The family, who requested anonymity, sought to have the girl’s record expunged and an apology issued to the girl who has not attended kindergarten since the incident.
source
Why does the White House wants your cell phone used on the network it came on?
Jan. 31, 2013
It sounds to me like they don't like combing through various networks, if they want to monitor your calls. What other logical explanation is there?
White House petition aims to overturn ban on unlocked cell phones
As of this past weekend, if you unlock your cellphone - that is, alter it so that it will work on a network other than that of the carrier from which you purchased it - you could be breaking the law. The rule change comes not from Congress, per se, but by fiat of the Library of Congress, which decided in October to close an exemption in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act that had made the practice legal.
The change went into effect Saturday, and some techies have been howling. "The idea that a decision that will affect so many, and involves so much money, could rest on a single unelected person is bizarre at best and absurd at worst," Mark Sullivan wrote in PCWorld. Derek Khanna, the former Republican Study Committee staffer who made news last fall as the author of a policy memo on copyright reform that went viral, called the rule "the most ridiculous law of 2013 so far."
Now Sina Khanifar, a 27-year-old entrepreneur from San Francisco, is trying to galvanize the backlash with a petition on WhiteHouse.gov: "Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal." From the petition:
Consumers will be forced to pay exorbitant roaming fees to make calls while traveling abroad. It reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full. The Librarian noted that carriers are offering more unlocked phones at present, but the great majority of phones sold are still locked. We ask that the White House ask the Librarian of Congress to rescind this decision, and failing that, champion a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal.
When I talked to Khanifar by phone Monday, he told me the issue is "near and dear" to him. "My first company, while I was in college, was unlocking phones. It's actually what got me through college." It also nearly got him in trouble: Khanifar says Motorola tried to sue him over a website he had created that told people how to unlock its Razr phone, a big seller at the time. A couple of academic lawyers took his side, he says, and the suit never materialized. Today the story might be different.
The Library of Congress justified its decision by pointing out that wireless carriers' business models rely on being able to lock customers into contracts. But Khanifar points out that unlocking a phone doesn't get you out of your contract, it just makes it non-exclusive. He says he has grown accustomed to swapping out the SIM card on his own unlocked device when he travels overseas, which he does frequently. "I know I'm going to hate it when I go abroad and can't use my iPhone," he says. "The whole arrangement just doesn't make much sense."
His petition, created on Jan. 24, had racked up some 28,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon.
source
It sounds to me like they don't like combing through various networks, if they want to monitor your calls. What other logical explanation is there?
White House petition aims to overturn ban on unlocked cell phones
As of this past weekend, if you unlock your cellphone - that is, alter it so that it will work on a network other than that of the carrier from which you purchased it - you could be breaking the law. The rule change comes not from Congress, per se, but by fiat of the Library of Congress, which decided in October to close an exemption in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act that had made the practice legal.
The change went into effect Saturday, and some techies have been howling. "The idea that a decision that will affect so many, and involves so much money, could rest on a single unelected person is bizarre at best and absurd at worst," Mark Sullivan wrote in PCWorld. Derek Khanna, the former Republican Study Committee staffer who made news last fall as the author of a policy memo on copyright reform that went viral, called the rule "the most ridiculous law of 2013 so far."
Now Sina Khanifar, a 27-year-old entrepreneur from San Francisco, is trying to galvanize the backlash with a petition on WhiteHouse.gov: "Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal." From the petition:
Consumers will be forced to pay exorbitant roaming fees to make calls while traveling abroad. It reduces consumer choice, and decreases the resale value of devices that consumers have paid for in full. The Librarian noted that carriers are offering more unlocked phones at present, but the great majority of phones sold are still locked. We ask that the White House ask the Librarian of Congress to rescind this decision, and failing that, champion a bill that makes unlocking permanently legal.
When I talked to Khanifar by phone Monday, he told me the issue is "near and dear" to him. "My first company, while I was in college, was unlocking phones. It's actually what got me through college." It also nearly got him in trouble: Khanifar says Motorola tried to sue him over a website he had created that told people how to unlock its Razr phone, a big seller at the time. A couple of academic lawyers took his side, he says, and the suit never materialized. Today the story might be different.
The Library of Congress justified its decision by pointing out that wireless carriers' business models rely on being able to lock customers into contracts. But Khanifar points out that unlocking a phone doesn't get you out of your contract, it just makes it non-exclusive. He says he has grown accustomed to swapping out the SIM card on his own unlocked device when he travels overseas, which he does frequently. "I know I'm going to hate it when I go abroad and can't use my iPhone," he says. "The whole arrangement just doesn't make much sense."
His petition, created on Jan. 24, had racked up some 28,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon.
source
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