Republic Heritage - Latest in Political News!

Ron Paul Shatters Attendance Records with 4,000 Attendees

2012-02-28T12:25:00.002-06:00

2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul shattered his already-impressive record of drawing supporters and undecided voters to his campaign events. Today, in a phenomenon unique to the Paul campaign, the 12-term Congressman from Texas drew an impressive 4,000 supporters to a youth rally held at Michigan State University.

Dr. Paul’s East Lansing Rally took place at 4:00 p.m. EST in the Concert Auditorium of Michigan State University, located at 149 Auditorium Road, East Lansing, MI 48824. The rally, part of a campaign swing in Michigan, was conducted in cooperation with ‘Youth for Ron Paul.’

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Poll: Ron Paul Beats Obama Nationally

2012-02-27T19:54:00.001-06:00

Fans of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul will rejoice upon hearing the following news: Congressman Paul (R-TX) has defeated President Barack Obama in a Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll of general election voters released Monday. This is the first time that Mr. Paul has defeated Mr. Obama nationally. Mr. Paul garnered 43 percent of the votes among general election voters and Mr. Obama pulled 41 percent of the votes.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney also bested Mr. Obama. The Bain Capital co-founder earned 45 percent of the votes and the former Illinois senator brought in 43 percent of the votes. This is the first time since December 2011 that Mr. Romney has led Mr. Obama in a Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll.

While Mr. Paul and Mr. Romney are now favored over Mr. Obama in a general election, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trail the president. Mr. Santorum lost to Mr. Obama by 2 percentage points and Mr. Gingrich fell to the president by 10 percentage points.

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Monumental: In Search of America’s National Treasure

2012-02-27T18:59:00.000-06:00

From The Glenn Beck Show

Kirk Cameron stopped by The Glenn Beck Program last week to talk to Glenn about his upcoming documentary, Monumental: In Search of America’s National Treasure.

Monumental is a live event, hosted by Kirk Cameron. On Tuesday, March 27th 2012, in over 450 theaters nationwide, audiences will come together for this live, one-night event. The two-hour event will begin at 7:30pm ET, 6:30pm CT, 5:30pm MT, and 8:00pm PT (tape delayed), and is suitable for ages 13+.

While making this documentary Kirk Cameron came to many of the same solutions that Glenn has over the past few years. Kirk Cameron, father of six, is more than concerned with the direction our country is headed, and went looking for solutions within the founding of America. Solutions do not start in Washington, D.C. at the White House, they start in each and every one of our homes. Top down solutions will not solve America’s growing problems. First we have to fix our own hearts.

On GBTV Kirk Cameron said, “I think we’re all headed down the road to understanding that we can’t have this top down system. That ultimately it’s got to start within the heart. We’ve got to be breaking free from the chains that bind us into selfishness, and greed, and the lust, and for power, and all this; and begin serving one another, with faith in God, and loving our husbands, loving our wives, training our children, and having a long-term view of doing the right thing over the long haul, and eventually things will start to turn around.”

This documentary started as a quest for solutions to the problems facing our country, and to find out where we started going wrong. Kirk Cameron took a journey that traced the heroic travels of the early Pilgrims and the unlikely men and women who risked everything for liberty. This documentary will allow you to experience the stories of faith that guided education, government, and civil life in the early founding of America.

This morning on the radio show Glenn encouraged listeners to attend the live-event.

“He knows that America has to be restored. He is a dad. He didn’t know what the answer was. He heard about this monument where the pilgrims landed and had never heard of it. He went there at the urging of a historian because just about four or five years ago, he started paying attention. He was like, okay, there’s trouble. What’s going on with our country? We’re in real trouble and how do we fix it? He learned ‑‑ he felt that the first thing he had to do was restore history in himself and to his children,” Glenn said.

He added, “I urge you to go to Monumentalmovie.com and check it out. And then get your church and your like minded groups, your Tea Party group, your 9/12 project and go to the movie.

Tough Re-election Road Awaits Michele Bachmann

2012-02-27T18:41:00.000-06:00

Rebounding from her failed presidential bid, Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann is

setting her sights on re-election to the House — but she faces a tough battle to retain her seat in a redrawn Minnesota district.

One recent poll showed Bachmann’s favorability rating among Minnesota voters at just 34 percent.

And the Minnesota congresswoman’s national base of conservative donors may be tiring of her pleas for money, as she carries a $1 million presidential campaign debt from her fumbled bid.

“May God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.” With those words, Bachmann departed the Republican presidential arena in January, following a disappointing sixth place finish in Iowa.

Many were surprised that one of the conservative movement’s newest icons would suffer such a disastrous defeat. But a series of fumbles and gaffes on the campaign trail not only caused her campaign to go into a tailspin, it tarnished her most important asset: her ability to raise funds from the grassroots across the nation.

During the presidential race tea partyers rallied to her side, despite a series of misstatements (that HPV vaccine causes mental retardation, for example) and campaign goofs.

The congresswoman’s presidential effort seemed to unravel in the days leading up to the Iowa caucus, when her state chairman Kent Sorenson suddenly announced he was quitting her campaign to join Ron Paul’s team.

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Can Obama's Detention Plans be Stopped?

2012-02-27T18:35:00.000-06:00

FEMA Camps

A bipartisan team ranging from former Al Gore consultant Naomi Wolf to Ronald Reagan Justice Department official Bruce Fein have committed to working with state and local governments to make sure the citizen detention plans signed into law by Barack Obama are not enforced.

“Journalists aren’t safe. Union leaders aren’t safe. Activists aren’t safe. Liberty is not safe,” Wolf, an author of half a dozen books, said during a telephone conference call announcing plans.

The focal point of their worry is the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes several sections that provide for the unrestricted detention of even U.S. citizens under some circumstances.

Obama, in signing the law, suggested that such detentions are a possibility but promised not to exercise his power.

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One Student Dies in Ohio School Shooting

2012-02-27T18:24:00.000-06:00

A teenage gunman killed a fellow student and wounded four others at a high school in northeast Ohio early Monday before being chased away and arrested, authorities said.

The 17-year-old began shooting at Chardon High School around 7:30 a.m., before school started, police said. Several teachers chased the suspect from the school, federal authorities said, and he was later arrested near his car a mile away.

Authorities didn't immediately identify the alleged gunman, citing his status as a juvenile, or comment on a motive. "Folks, just bear with us, we have a lot of homework to do," Chardon Police Chief Tim McKenna said at an afternoon news conference in Chardon, a town of 5,100 about 30 miles east of Cleveland.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman said authorities believe the suspect was a student at the school.

Danny Komertz, a 15-year-old who said he witnessed the shooting, in the cafeteria, told the Associated Press the gunman was known as an outcast.

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Obama to Cut Healthcare Benefits for Active Duty and Retired US Military

2012-02-27T18:17:00.004-06:00

The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched. The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges.

The disparity in treatment between civilian and uniformed personnel is causing a backlash within the military that could undermine recruitment and retention.

The proposed increases in health care payments by service members, which must be approved by Congress, are part of the Pentagon’s $487 billion cut in spending. It seeks to save $1.8 billion from the Tricare medical system in the fiscal 2013 budget, and $12.9 billion by 2017.

Many in Congress are opposing the proposed changes, which would require the passage of new legislation before being put in place.

“We shouldn’t ask our military to pay our bills when we aren’t willing to impose a similar hardship on the rest of the population,” Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a Republican from California, said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon. “We can’t keep asking those who have given so much to give that much more.”

Administration officials told Congress that one goal of the increased fees is to force military retirees to reduce their involvement in Tricare and eventually opt out of the program in favor of alternatives established by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

“When they talked to us, they did mention the option of healthcare exchanges under Obamacare. So it’s in their mind,” said a congressional aide involved in the issue.

Military personnel from several of the armed services voiced their opposition to a means-tested tier system for Tricare, prompting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey to issue a statement Feb. 21.

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Gingrich slams Santorum as 'big labor Republican'

2012-02-27T18:12:00.000-06:00

NASHVILLE (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Monday slammed rival Rick Santorum as a "big labor Republican," accusing him of siding with unions over Memphis-based FedEx when the Senate grappled with a labor dispute in the 1990s.

Gingrich, the former Georgia congressman and House Speaker, is hoping to revive his struggling campaign in the South, and he tailored his message Monday to Republican voters in Tennessee. Although polls show a close race between Santorum and Mitt Romney, Gingrich challenged the former Pennsylvania senator and his conservative credentials.

"I think there are profound reasons that Rick lost the Senate race by the largest margin in Pennsylvania history in 2006 and I think it's very hard for him to carry that all the way to the general," Gingrich said. "Then he comes South and you take the case right here. He voted for the unions over FedEx. I suspect most folks in the state don't know that. But in fact he was a big labor Republican in Pennsylvania and I suspect when you get to Memphis and you say to people, `Gee, this is a guy who wanted to guarantee that FedEx give into the unions.' Santorum won't be as popular the following morning."

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MSNBC's Alex Witt Interviews Doug Wead, Ron Paul's Senior Advisor

2012-02-26T18:54:00.001-06:00

Algae: Obama's Alternative to Fossil Fuels

2012-02-26T18:06:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we talked a little bit about President Obama’s energy speech from a “drilling for more oil is not a strategy that will solve our energy challenge” perspective, but we didn’t much cover Obama’s plans for an alternate source that would replace fossil fuels and effectively address that energy challenge.

In that same speech yesterday, Obama provided a glimpse into one possible “green” energy future: algae:

“We’re making new investments in the development of gasoline and diesel and jet fuel that’s actually made from a plant-like substance — algae,” the president said at a campaign stop in Florida. “You’ve got a bunch of algae out here, right? If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we’ll be doing all right.”

Obama said the nation could replace up to 17 percent of the oil it imports for transportation with “this fuel that we can grow right here in the United States. And that means greater energy security. That means lower costs. It means more jobs. It means a stronger economy.”

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Strategic Ambiguity for Fun and Profit

2012-02-26T17:55:00.000-06:00

The US intelligence community is having a very difficult time interpreting the signals from Iran’s nuclear program. This isn’t that unusual in historical context; US intelligence tends to be surprised by nuclear detonations. But it is of grave concern that our national leadership at all levels seems to be so shortsighted about what is at stake. Our biggest problem in dealing with Iran today is framing the issue – and at the moment, we’re doing it wrong.

If we frame the issue as a question of how close Iran is to getting the bomb, as if all other things are equal – as if Iran could get the bomb in a vacuum, with nothing else mattering or changing along the way – then it makes a sort of sense to focus exclusively on the potential ambiguity of our various data points; e.g., computer files from 2003; Iran’s connections with Pakistan, North Korea, and the A.Q. Khan network; persistent attempts to import suspect materials in defiance of sanctions.

In this extremely narrow, simplistic construct – one or zero, Iran is about to get the bomb or isn’t – analysts can justify incessantly splitting the distance from here to a bomb.

“Well, they’re closer than they were, but that’s a technicality – we still don’t know if they want one. “

“Well, they’re closer than they were, and they’re being less cooperative with the IAEA, but we still don’t have direct indications that they are designing and testing a warhead.”

“Well, they’ve offered their Middle Eastern neighbors a ‘missile umbrella’ as a defense against outside powers, which is something that would only work if the missile umbrella were nuclear, but we just don’t have the evidence that they are working on a warhead right now.”

I’ve compared this approach in the past to Zeno of Elea’s famous paradox. Zeno proposed, as a basis for a reasoning exercise, that because the distance between an arrow and its target can theoretically be divided in half an infinite number of times, the arrow can never actually reach the target. US intelligence seems determined to operate on this basis, biasing its estimates with an emphasis on the remaining distance to the target.

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The Forbidden Word Impeach

2012-02-26T17:23:00.001-06:00

- Dr. Robert R. Owens

What does History tell us about the impeachment of an American President? It has only happened twice.

Today Lincoln is an icon. His Roman style temple and oversized statue dominate one end of the National Mall. But in 1864 he was an embattled president caught in a war he couldn’t win and running against George B. McClellan, a popular general who said he could end it. Even History was against Lincoln. No president had won a second term in over thirty years. Mr. Lincoln needed all the allies he could muster to win. So the first Republicans led by the President tried to split the opposition. They changed the party name to the National Union Party and chose a Southern Democrat as a running mate. In a surprise to everyone including Lincoln, he won re-election positioning Johnson one heartbeat away from the Oval Office.

After the worst mistake by a Southern sympathizer since the attack on Fort Sumter, the assassination of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency and almost immediately ran afoul of the Radical Republicans who had a three to one majority in Congress and who wanted to punish the South. Johnson was the only Southern Senator to remain loyal to the Union. He served as the Union imposed military governor of Tennessee until chosen to run for Vice President. A mere forty one days into Lincoln’s second term Johnson was sworn in. When he sought to allow the South a path back into the Union that re-imposed limitations upon the freed slaves and ensured the rise of ex-Confederates to power, he was impeached for breaking a law concerning the firing of appointees. After a contentious trial he was acquitted by one vote.

Johnson and his presidency survived, barely. He was afterwards relegated to irrelevancy and served as a mere caretaker until General Grant came along to become the face of Reconstruction. In this first impeachment battle the President was acquitted, but Congress won.

If you ask the average person who lived through the national ordeal President Clinton was impeached because of his scandalous tryst with a young intern in the Oval Office. Though this was a shameful betrayal of trust, it was not the reason he was impeached. He was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice in a legal matter that had nothing at all to do with Monica Lewinsky. And even though Clinton was later found in contempt by a federal judge for lying under oath and was later disbarred for ethical violations it was the leadership of the House that impeached him that paid the political price. The Senate, which on a strict party line vote (all the Progressives voted to acquit), came out relatively unscathed. Today we are constantly told by the Progressive Press Mr. Clinton is a beloved elder statesman.

Etched upon the memory of the Republican wing of the party of power is the knowledge that unless there is a Senate willing to convict there is no glory in being a House ready to indict.

Republics rise and republics fall. They rise due to the explosion of creativity and production which always accompanies freedom, and they fall when demagogues convince a majority that they deserve a free ride at the expense of a minority. The good thing about History is that if we are wise enough we can learn from other people’s mistakes. And if we aren’t going to allow History to instruct us we should at least be wise enough to allow it to warn us.

Our History teaches us that the impeachment process is possible to initiate but difficult to consummate. So what are we to do if History warns us that what we are witnessing is the fall of our republic? Have we learned enough from History to navigate our way through to a safe harbor, or are we helpless in the face of a hurricane of transformation?

Due to the information developed by the American intelligence community and the bravery of Navy Seal Team Six we learned that the leader of Al Qaeda, the fraternity of terrorists America finds itself endlessly destroying, was not hiding in a cave. He was instead living in a compound barely 1,000 yards from the military academy of our principle ally in our decade long undeclared war. Today’s Hitler is dead, yet the war goes on as if nothing has happened. We have victory after victory with no conclusion and no peace in sight.

Looking at our current economic and social situation America appears more like an occupied nation than the victor of the Cold War and the sole remaining Super Power on Earth. Perhaps it is time to conceptualize the idea that our existential enemy is not a rag-tag group of malcontents dedicated to turning back the clock by six centuries. The enemy that poses a mortal threat to our way of life is instead the homegrown Progressive Movement that has labored for more than a century to subvert our education, corrupt our politics, and evolve their way from constitutionally limited government to central planning and total control.

The visible head of the Progressive Movement today is President Barack Obama. As portrayed by the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media he is not just an Alinsky-style community organizer, he is a constitutional scholar. We are told endlessly that he was a professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago. Leaving the reality of these claims aside suffice it to say that this constitutional scholar professes to believe that the constitution is a flawed document because it does not provide for positive rights such as guarantees of housing, jobs, etc. The kind of rights that the constitutions of the Soviet Union did and of Red China does provide its slaves, I mean citizens. Not to worry, our constitutional scholar-in-chief also believes that our Constitution, written to set strict limits on the federal government is a living document that each generation is free to interpret: that is, change at will.

President Obama has presided over the most calamitous decline in American prestige and influence since his fellow Progressive Jimmy Carter disgraced the office. Mr. Obama’s apology tours, his over-the-top spending which are nothing less than cross generational theft are eclipsed by his blatant assaults upon the very core of his responsibility: the integrity of the Constitution.

The president of the United States is sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, but instead Mr. Obama has trampled upon the letter as well as the spirit of this document meant to define the perimeters of federal power.

Unconfirmed Czars rule like potentates over shadow departments dispensing huge budgets while creating a parallel government outside of citizen scrutiny or control. Appointees at the National Labor Relations Board work at subordinating the nation to organized labor. A rogue justice department provides guns to Mexican cartels, refuses to prosecute obvious instances of voter intimidation, gives a pass to Islamist groups, and stonewalls Congress, while aggressively going after peaceful pro-life demonstrators and America’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio. They sue states that try to enforce immigration laws they ignore and seek to try the perpetrators of 9-11 in a New York trial that would parade itself through our national consciousness like a Broadway production of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Superstar.

Beyond these abuses of power there are two glaring examples of the type of blatant transgressions of clear constitutional limits, which, if not addressed, set a precedent that may stand in the future as signs of the times that were missed at the time. If not addressed, they will point accusing fingers at a generation asleep at the switch when the bounds of limited government were finally breached.

Ruling by decree from Chicago-on-the-Potomac our Leader has taken us to war without even consulting Congress and made recess appointments while Congress was in session.

Mr. Obama has said he can rule without Congress because he can’t wait. He travels the country at tax payer expense campaigning for four more years to seal the deal, inflaming class warfare, and dispensing government giveaways to buy votes. These two egregious affronts to the Constitution lie at the feet of the Washington Monument passed over by the media and explained away by the government’s propaganda arm. And what does the loyal opposition do? They huff and they puff but actually they do nothing.

Only two Congressmen had the integrity to point out that presidents are not allowed to take us to war by whim. And only one (Ron Paul) had the courage to point out that making high level appointments without Senate confirmation while the Senate is in session is more than bad form: it is unconstitutional and more compatible with a dictatorship than a republic.

We stand before the yawning maw of collectivism presided over by a self-proclaimed transformational president seeking to change us from what we have been to what he thinks we should be. Mr. Obama is supported by what amounts to a personality cult in the media and a legion of fellow citizens addicted to either distributing or receiving the dole. The Republican candidates are standing in a circular firing squad working hard at allowing the Progressive Media make them look like the bar scene from Star Wars. At the same time the media gives the President a pass for everything from gas prices to artificially deflated unemployment figures. If America as we have known her is to survive, we must elect a Congress with enough courage and enough votes to do what must be done. The Congress we have now is passive in the face of serial provocations and outright illegality. They will not call Mr. Obama to account on anything so he feels free to do everything.

If he wins again we all lose unless we replace those who merely go along to get along with those who are willing to speak the forbidden word…Impeach!

Ron Paul Receives Another Endorsment

2012-02-26T16:31:00.000-06:00

2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul was endorsed today by the Chairman of the Payette County Republican Party, Nate Jones of New Plymouth. Payette County’s main population centers include Fruitland, New Plymouth and Payette.

In making his endorsement public, Mr. Jones issued the following statement:

“I support Paul because he’s the only candidate that understands how absolutely crucial individual liberty is. He is the only candidate that has a correct understanding of the proper role of government. Congressman Paul is a ‘statesman’ in every sense of the word. He’s humble, but unafraid and unashamed to forcefully speak the truth, even when it’s unpopular…for it is often said that ‘truth is treason in the empire of lies.’

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Ron Paul: Santorum is "desperate"

2012-02-26T16:20:00.000-06:00

MT. PLEASANT, Mich. - Ron Paul on Saturday laughed off remarks made by fellow GOP

presidential candidate Rick Santorum earlier in the day speculating that Paul and Mitt Romney have a backroom running mate deal going.

"I don't know what all that meant," Paul chuckled backstage of a rally he held here at Central Michigan University. "No, we've never had a conversation, anything like that ... but he's a family person, I've known him for five years, so it is a little bit different. But I don't agree with [him on] hardly anything, probably."

Santorum has openly speculated that Paul and Romney are working together. He vented his frustration at multiple events on Saturday that "in 20 debates, Ron Paul never attacked Mitt Romney." During last week's debate in Arizona, Santorum said, "I felt like messages were being slipped behind my chair."

Paul admitted to reporters that he's never "volunteered" an attack on Romney during a debate, but said he "answered the questions when they asked me." He said Santorum's sudden gripe about the issue shows that he's "desperate."

As for the Texas Congressman's attack ads, which have been harsh on Santorum but absent on Romney, particularly in Michigan, Paul said that "right now the anti-Romney candidate is Santorum, so I have to get his votes, as I did at one time with Gingrich."

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Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Endorses Romney for President

2012-02-26T16:16:00.000-06:00

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) endorsed Mitt Romney for president during her appearance Sunday morning on “Meet the Press.”

Brewer said she viewed Romney as the most electable candidate to challenge President Obama this fall, and that she made her conclusion after meeting with the candidates and after a debate this week in Arizona.

“I have decided that I am going to publicly endorse Mitt Romney. I think he's the man that can carry the day,” Brewer said. “I think Mitt is by far the person who can go in and win.”

Brewer has become a national figurehead for efforts to curb illegal immigration after leading an effort to install one of the nation’s toughest immigration laws.

She also drew headlines for a confrontation recently with President Obama on an airport tarmac. She was photographed wagging a finger at the president after greeting him and handing him a handwritten note. Brewer described the exchange as being driven by Obama’s dissatisfaction with her book, though the president described the exchange as being “not a big deal.”

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Afghans Lob Grenades at US Base, Clash with Police

2012-02-26T16:10:00.000-06:00

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Protesters angry over Quran burnings by American troops lobbed grenades at a U.S. base in northern Afghanistan and clashed with police and troops in a day of violence that left seven international troops wounded and two Afghans dead.

The attacks were the latest in six days of violence across the country by Afghans furious at the way some Qurans at an American base outside of Kabul were disposed of in a burn pit. The incident has swiftly spiraled out of control leaving dozens of people dead, including four U.S. troops killed by their Afghan counterparts, in a sign of the tenuous nature of the relationship between Afghanistan and the U.S.

Afghan authorities have launched a manhunt across the country for a driver they suspect in the killing of two U.S. military advisers who were shot to death at an Afghan ministry a day earlier. International advisers working at Afghan ministries were recalled out of fears of another attack.

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Another GOP star baptized Mormon

2012-02-25T21:23:00.000-06:00

Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who is considered a top prospect for the GOP’s vice

presidential nomination, became a member of the Mormon church while his family lived in Nevada during his childhood years, according to a report on the political blog Buzzfeed.

Family members told the publication that Rubio was baptized in the Mormon church at about the age of 8 – along with some of his family members – when they lived in Nevada.

Several years later he left the Mormon church and rejoined the Catholic Church, the report said.

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Domestic Drones Lining up to Invade Privacy

2012-02-25T21:12:00.002-06:00

Dozens of organizations concerned about a cataclysmic loss of privacy for Americans are petitioning the federal government to address that issue as thousands – maybe even tens of thousands – of drones are expected to be put into the air over the U.S. in coming years.

“Drones greatly increase the capacity for domestic surveillance. Gigapixel cameras used to outfit drones are among the highest definition cameras available, and can ‘provide real-time video streams at a rate of 10 frames a second.’ On some drones, operators can track up to 65 different targets across a distance of 65 square miles. Drones may also carry infrared cameras, heat sensors, GPS, sensors that detect movement, and automated license plate readers,” warns the letter sent to Michael Huerta, the acting administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

That organization has been assigned by Congress to develop rules over dispatching drones over the heads of consumers all across America.

The letter was signed by officials with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the World Privacy Forum, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Patient Privacy Rights, Liberty Coalition, Government Accountability Project, Demand Progress, Cyber Privacy Project, Center for National Security Studies, Bill of Rights Defense Committee and dozens of other groups and individuals.

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Video: Ron Paul Dispels the "Alliance" Rumors

2012-02-25T19:29:00.001-06:00

“VP” Rand Paul and the Imaginary Romney/Paul Connection

2012-02-25T14:01:00.001-06:00

By: Jack Hunter

The media speculation about some supposed cooperation between the Ron Paul campaign and Mitt Romney has gotten completely out of hand. Ron Paul is running for President of the United States. His son, Sen. Rand Paul, is supporting his father’s run for President of the United States. That’s all that’s going on here. There is no secret “conspiracy.” During a radio interview this morning in Chicago, Sen. Paul said:

“If there’s a secret deal they’re keeping it secret from me, I think that’s mostly internet chatter and fun for people to speculate on…”

Speculative fun is exactly right. Sen. Paul explained his own views on the supposed Romney/Paul connection this morning, including his comments about being “honored” if he were to be considered as the GOP vice presidential nominee:

I think the story kind of got misrepresented, because you know when I was asked, every time I’m asked these kind of questions, these are hypothetical questions, I always say you know what? I still have my first choice in the race and that’s Ron Paul. My first choice would be a Ron Paul presidency and my first choice for a position would be an unofficial adviser to a Ron Paul presidency…

But when they push and push and push, and say ‘What about Romney? Would you do it?’ I mentioned that it would be an honor, and what I meant by that is sort of like if you were nominated for an academy award, what’s your response? You’d say “It’s be an honor to be nominated’ and so I think it would be silly for me not to say that if anybody considered me that I’d be honored by it, but I think it was somewhat overblown, it sort of fits into this sort of cabal that people write about…

That there’s this big strategy between Ron Paul and Romney, really the Ron Paul strategy as far as I’m aware of it is to gather delegates and to try to win, and one of the unwritten stories really is that Ron Paul may have already won a couple of states but people haven’t realized it because the delegates haven’t been allotted in Iowa yet, and we still think there’s an reasonable chance we can win Iowa we they count the delegates, we think there’s a reasonable chance we can win Maine when they count the delegates, and this is sort of an unwritten story that’s out there, and also why I don’t like the story out there that somebody’s trying to angle for some other position other than I’m just trying to help my dad at this point…

I Tried to Open a Lemonade Stand...

2012-02-25T12:07:00.000-06:00

By John Stossel

Want to open a business in America? It isn't easy.

In Midway, Ga., a 14-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister sold lemonade from their front yard. Two police officers bought some. But the next day, different officers ordered them to close their stand.

Their father went to city hall to try to find out why. The clerk laughed and said she didn't know. Eventually, Police Chief Kelly Morningstar explained, "We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade and of what the lemonade was made with."

Give me a break. If she doesn't know, so what? But kids trying their first experiment with entrepreneurship are being shut down all over America. Officials in Hazelwood, Ill., ordered little girls to stop selling Girl Scout cookies.

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Surprise? DC is Nation's Adultery Capital

2012-02-25T11:59:00.000-06:00

The revelation isn't particularly shocking, but hey, at least it's official now: DC is

home to the nation's highest concentration of cheaters.

More people per capita in the D.C. metropolitan area sign up for the website Ashley Madison than in any other city, according to the site, which helps people looking to stray. Washington has the highest per capita membership among the site's 13 million users, The Washington Post reports.

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Ron Paul Destroys Santorum, Romney and Gingrich in Latest NY Straw Poll

2012-02-25T11:32:00.000-06:00

Ron Paul can now add yet another straw poll win to his list of wins.

Ron Paul won the Amherst straw poll Thursday night with 31.9% of the vote. Santorum garnered 26.6% while Romney and Gingrich came in third and fourth with 22.3% and 19.2%.

The straw poll had 94 participants.

- Michael

7 States File Suit Over Obama Birth Control Mandate

2012-02-25T11:13:00.000-06:00

Nebraska, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas are joining together to file a lawsuit over Obama's birth control mandate.

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U.S. Agencies See No Move by Iran to Build a Bomb

2012-02-25T10:34:00.000-06:00

I have always believed that history is a very important tool that can help society's in the future, prevent mistakes of the past. Here we are only a few years after the invasion of Iraq because of the allusive "WMD's" that were not there. Have we learned nothing? How we forgot already? I remember I was on the same bandwagon with most conservatives that said; "Let's go kick their butt!" I was wrong. It just baffles me that you "conservatives" today are so ready to repeat the same mistake because once again you buy into the war propaganda. The same propaganda that got us into war just a few years ago. You forget the fact that war is a financial strain on the tax payer of this country. You forget that while you sit comfortably living your day to day lives that we are sending our service men and women to die in yet another senseless war. Yes, I know you so called "liberty loving conservatives" will laugh and scoff at this because it is to much reality to handle. You don't realize that you who claim to love freedom, love war.

Let's be honest. You have made the decision already in your mind that like Iraq, Iran needs to go down. You have bought into the propaganda and lies and you won't listen to any sort of reason. After we go and spread our "Democracy" and it is all over will we once again find no evidence of a bomb? Most likely. We are no longer a Christian nation. Jesus said you will know a tree by it's fruit. Well all I see in America these days is a love for war and that is not what Jesus was about. We are going down the same path like all great empires in the past. Where are those empires today? They don't exist. Why? Because they did just what we are doing. They spread themselves to thin and in the end collapsed.

I can only say that I hope that people will wake up and see the truth of what is happening before it is to late. Many intelligence reports continue to trickle out of Iran claiming that they don't have a weapon. If I was an Iran leader and I heard constant reports that the US was considering a preemptive attack I would advocate building weapons to protect the country. Why is this unreasonable for a country to want to protect themselves? Because it is Iran? They are not allowed to defend themselves from a power hungry, war loving country like the US? It is this very action that would encourage a country like Iran to desire a nuclear weapon.

I have attached a related story below.

- Michael

WASHINGTON — Even as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said in a new report Friday that Iran had accelerated its uranium enrichment program, American intelligence analysts continue to believe that there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb.

Recent assessments by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies.

NYT: U.S. Agencies See No Move by Iran to Build a Bomb