Is the Media starting to wake up?
On Wednesday, Obama was pitching his socialist healthcare program in a townhall meeting when a cancer patient told her story of her difficulties under the current system. After an emotional Debby Smith described how she was unable to get treatment or hold a job, Obama hugged Smith and told her he would do what he could to help “immediately.”
Our prayers for a full recovery for Smith.
The Associated Press has outed Smith as “a volunteer for Organizing for America, Obama’s political operation within the Democratic National Committee” who “obtained her ticket through the White House.”
Philip Klein writes at the American Spectator:
The town hall meeting itself was highly orchestrated — with a small number in attendance and online questions being screened by the White House.
[...]
During the session, Obama received questions from an advocate of a socialized, or single-payer health care, a representative of the liberal activist group Health Care for Americans Now, and a member of the Service Employees International Union.
Even veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas was upset with the White House propaganda, telling Press Secretary Robert Gibbs that Obama’s “formal engagements are pre-packaged.”
Gibbs was already being questioned by CBS correspondent Chip Reid when Thomas chimed in. Before being interrupted by the press secretary – who was clearly mocking the 89-year-old correspondent – she said “I’m amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency.”
“What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said in an interview with Cybercast News Service.
“Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas added. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try.”
Defending our principles in the 1920s
In a speech commemorating the 150th anniversary of our nation’s founding, president Calvin Coolidge defended our founding principles against progressives who challenged the wisdom of the founders:
“It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people.”
Lawyer says group had no legal right to cancel Atlanta Tea Party
Michael Sullivan, an attorney familiar with the cancellation of the Atlanta Tea Party, said in a radio interview that the group who canceled the event had no ownership interest in the property (via Jason Lee at the American Thinker).
Les Morris, a spokesman for the mall said in a statement: “Gwinnett Place Mall is not public property, but is privately owned. In order to preserve the shopping experience for all guests, it is our standing policy not to permit political protests or rallies on mall property. To clarify the timing of our decision, mall management was not notified of the event or contacted for approval on event plans until just last week.”
But according to Sullivan, George Thorndyke is the sole owner of the Macy’s parking lot where the event was scheduled , and Simon Property Group has no ownership interest in the parking lot. “There were a set of declarations of covenants and restrictions that were placed on the mall when it was originally built in 1984, but those covenants state very clearly by their own terms that they would expire after a period of twenty years if they were not affirmatively renewed. That 20 years expired in 2004 and the covenants where not affirmatively renewed. So you’re dealing with a Mall that doesn’t have any covenants or restrictions restricting general use in place,” Sullivan said during the interview.
“What is in place on the properties is a reciprocal parking agreement that provides that the other mall property owners have a right to the use of certain portions of Mr. Thorndyke’s parking lot. But what makes it reciprocal is Mr. Thorndyke likewise has the right to use certain portions of the parking lots off of his property. [...] There’s nothing in that agreement that gives either property the right to restrict uses of the other’s property”
Simon was able to shut down an event at a location that they had virtually no interest in. Their only claim was to parking – and even that was reciprocal. In addition, a mall official informed me that the mall will be closed at 6:00 PM on Independence Day, and the Tea Party wasn’t even scheduled to start until 7:30 PM.
Military Milestones from Pickett’s Charge to Roosevelt’s Rough Riders
Originally published at Human Events
This week in American military history:
Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt surrounded by his Rough Riders following the Battle of San Juan Heights
June 28, 1776: In what has been described as the “first decisive victory of American forces over the British Navy” during the American Revolution, the garrison at Fort Sullivan, S.C. (today Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island in Charleston harbor) under the command of militia Col. William Moultrie repulse Royal Navy forces under the command of Admiral Sir Peter Parker.
The 12-plus hour battle begins around 9 a.m. when Parker’s ships open fire on the fort; many of the British shells sinking harmlessly into the soft palmetto logs of which the fort is constructed. The ships, on the other hand, (some of which run aground on the harbor’s shoals) are constructed of oak, which Moultrie’s artillerists quickly shatter, sending deadly splinters into the unfortunate British crews.
Moultrie is destined to become a Maj. Gen. in the Continental Army and a S.C. governor. And S.C. will forever be known as the “Palmetto State.”
(Incidentally: This author’s five-times great grandfather, Capt. Thomas Woodward — commanding a company of S.C. Rangers on Moultrie’s extreme left — helps thwart an attempt by Royal Marines to land on the island.)
June 28, 1778: The Battle of Monmouth, N.J. is fought between Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army (including the legendary Molly Pitcher) and British forces under Gen. Sir Henry Clinton. Though tactically inconclusive, the battle is a strategic victory for the Americans who prove they can go toe-to-toe with the British Army in a large pitched battle.
A fireman’s perspective on SCOTUS reversal of Ricci
The Supreme Court overturned Ricci v. DeStefano, the lawsuit brought against the city of New Haven, Connecticut by firefighters claiming the city had discriminated against them due to their race. SCOTUS once again decided along ideological lines 5-4 with Kennedy as the swing vote.
Obama Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor surely took a big hit today as SCOTUS reversed Sotomayor and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’s decision that New Haven was acting within its obligations of the Civil Rights Act. How can Sotomayor be the best choice for a lifetime appointment to safeguard the Constitution when she has been overturned by the court she seeks to join? And if this ‘wise latina woman’ is wrong on this issue, what else will she be wrong on?
But with today reversal, it will be interesting is to watch the White House and their press corps spin the story. The press will surely use the race card, but the 100-year-plus struggle for civil rights in the U.S. is over and Americans won. Discrimination of any color violates our very founding. And when the city of New Haven decided that since more whites passed the officer exams than blacks or hispanics, that the test must be too hard for minorities and had to be thrown out.
As a firefighter myself, I say that New Haven’s decision is dangerously wrong. This decision isn’t isolated to city hall or the fire station: Decisions like these (picking firemen based on skin color, not ability) could cost people their lives. In America, and even Connecticut, it should be the best person for the job, not the best minority.
When it’s your house that’s on fire, you want the best firefighters going into the house and rescuing your children, not the best black or hispanic ones, right? You also aren’t likely to be too concerned whether or not the fire truck has a correct demographic representation of the local community, either.
According to our founding principles, Americans – not whites, blacks, and hispanics – are jumping off the firetruck to save your baby. The fact that New Haven made their decision not to promote white officers should be just as disgusting to each of us as the treatment of blacks in the 1960s.
In addition, and it seems this logic is lost on most: New Haven’s decision should have been an insult to the blacks and hispanics as apparently the city feels that the blacks and hispanics aren’t smart enough to . In my opinion, that’s where Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should have been. New Haven told blacks that they weren’t as smart as the white people who took the test.
Democratic donors cancel Atlanta tea party
Simon Property Group, Inc., a real estate company whose chairman is a major Democrat donor, has canceled the Atlanta Tea Party scheduled for July 4. Simon owns the Gwinnett Place Mall where the event had been scheduled since March, and last week the mall manager informed organizers that Simon did not want political events on their property.
“Our Atlanta Tea Party team tried for the next day and a half to find an alternative location large enough for the event, and with the proper layout for our vendors, children’s activities, and fireworks show, but we could not find anything suitable that would have been available on July 4th,” said event co-chair Debbie Dooley in a June 20 statement.
The American Thinker blog has more on Simon Property Group and their Democrat funding:
- Gwinnett Place Mall shut down the Atlanta Tea Party.
- Simon Property Group owns Gwinnett Place Mall.
- Melvin Simon (a Forbes 400 billionaire) is Co-chairman of Simon Property Group, Inc.
- Melvin Simon has provided large political contributions to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Al Franken, John Edwards, the DNC and many other Democrats and Democrat organizations.
- Melvin Simon was a major contributor to Barack Obama inaugural committee and has given at least $1 million to the William J. Clinton foundation.
- Melvin’s wife, Bren, personally donated almost $100,000 to various political candidates, was a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, and contributed to President Obama’s inaugural committee.
With the April 15 Tax Day Tea Party drawing around 20,000 attendees, it should hardly have been a secret to Simon and the Gwinnett Mall that the July event would be political. It seems to me that the nature and timing of the cancellation was simply a way for opponents to cancel the event altogether.
The Atlanta Tea Party has joined forces with the Cobb Tea Party for a metro-wide event on July 3.
Child rights treaty will expand government, hurt children
Published at Canada Free Press
The Obama administration is renewing efforts to sign a United Nations treaty supposedly aimed at protecting children’s rights. Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN announced on Monday that the administration is investigating “when and how it might be possible to join” the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
While a treaty codifying children’s rights may sound harmless, the true nature of this treaty is devastating to our family structure, Constitution, national sovereignty and security. New rights granted the child would include the right to “thought, conscience and religion.”
Do our children not already enjoy these rights? Our nation is already party to the treaty’s two optional protocols: one preventing Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, the other preventing Children in Armed Conflict.
Why either of the two are “optional” is disturbing.
Our country and our children stand to gain nothing from the passage of this treaty. In fact, the CRC would provide a far more damaging environment for children. So why are politicians like Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) – who pushed for a 60-day timeline for ratification – so anxious to sign?
In many ways, the CRC is a match made in Heaven for today’s Democrat agenda. Upon ratification, Congress would have the power to enact any legislation in order to comply with the treaty. The result would be what the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) calls “the most massive shift of power from the states to the federal government in American history.” National children’s health insurance and other social programs would be created in order to comply with the CRC. The U.S. would have to curtail defense spending in order to keep in proportion with these social expenses. To a western European country whose defense our military has subsidized for decades, this would have no major impact. But the effect would be devastating to both our economy and our security.
Excerpt: Read more at CFP
Military Milestones from Crazy Horse to LeMay’s Feed and Coal Company
Originally published at Human Events
This week in American military history:
Marine with M1903 Springfield rifle
June 22, 1944: Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 — commonly known as the “G.I. Bill of Rights” – into law.
The law will literally change the socio-economic landscape of the country: putting teeth in the U.S. Veterans Administration, and providing education and work-training opportunities, home loans, farm and business startup capital, and other benefits for millions of soon-to-be-returning World War II veterans who otherwise would never receive such.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, “Before the war, college and homeownership were, for the most part, unreachable dreams for the average American.”
The G.I. Bill changed that.
“Millions who would have flooded the job market instead opted for education. In the peak year of 1947, veterans accounted for 49 percent of college admissions. By the time the original G.I. Bill ended on July 25, 1956, 7.8 million of 16 million World War II veterans had participated in an education or training program.”
June 23, 1903: The U.S. Army adopts the now-famous Springfield rifle (M1903) as the standard infantry weapon.
The bolt-action M1903 Springfield will be the primary American rifle carried by soldiers and Marines during America’s year (1918) in World War I. And in 1942, U.S. Marines fighting Japanese diehards on Guadalcanal are still armed with the ’03 Springfield as their primary weapon (though the semi-automatic M1 Garand had begun to replace the Springfield a few years earlier).
Coincidentally among the American combat units on “the Canal” is the fighting 5th Marine Regiment, which — 25 years earlier during the bloody battle of Belleau Wood – won for the entire Corps a reputation as some of the world’s best marksmen. And they did so of course with the ’03 Springfield.
U.S. Army Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, commanding general of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, will say, “The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle [meaning his ’03 Springfield].”
In his book, Guadalcanal Marine, author Kerry L. Lane will write: “The enemy on Guadalcanal would soon learn that a Marine marksman armed with a Springfield ‘03 rifle is a dangerous man at a great distance.”
Exposing the Democrat agenda
The difference between Democrats and Republicans is: Democrats have accepted some ideas of Socialism cheerfully, while Republicans have accepted them reluctantly.
- Norman Mattoon Thomas, six-time Socialist Party of America presidential candidate
Great cartoon for children exposing Socialism
This 1948 cartoon on the pitfalls of Socialism (disguised as “Ism” on the video) might as well be from 2009. Get your children and watch this ASAP.
