Maggie's Notebook

Jim Inhofe Barbara Boxer: Jim Inhofe Boxer We Won You Lost Video

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:33:00 +0000

Superman Conservative Senator Jim Inhofe declared victory over the global warming conspiracy this week and then had the pleasure in a committee meeting, to tell fellow senator, Barbara Boxer, "we won, you lost, get a life." See the video below.

Senator Jim Inhofe

From the Senate floor:

I proudly declare 2009 as the 'Year of the Skeptic,' the year in which scientists who question the so-called global warming consensus are being heard.

Inhofe also recalled his most famous comment in which he suggested that man-made global warming would turn out to be "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." "Today, I have been vindicated," he said.

The comments came in the wake of the cancellation of the Copenhagen conference, "which previously was viewed as a chance for nations to make some kindof a binding agreement on greenhouse gases." According to Inhofe:

"the reality, of course, is that Copenhagen will be a disaster."

Senator Jim Inhofe and Senator Barbara Boxer (video)

Thanks to my hubby, who reads the Tulsa World and then rants, and to Hot Air.

More on Inhofe and Boxer:

Jim Inhofe and Barbara Boxer on Cap and Trade: Boxer breaks written rule

Carly Fiorina and Barbara Boxer: Fiorina to run against Boxer?

Boxer not going to send the troops in.

Barbara Boxer Assaults Genneral: Ignorant, Arrogant, Disingenuous and undeserving to question a General

EPA silences, suppresses opposition: EPA Lies

Jim Inhofe: America Loses Economic Freedoms

Michelle Rhee Gerald Walpin: Michelle Rhee Kevin Johnson: Michelle Rhee Covered up Kevin Johnson Sex Scandal?

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:48:00 +0000

Michelle Rhee is the Chancellor of the Washington, D.C. Public School system. She recently became engaged to Kevin Johnson, the former NBA basketball star and current mayor of Sacramento, California. Johnson, a good friend and donor to Barack Obama, is in the middle of a financial and sexual scandal involving underage girls. Former Inspector General Gerald Walpin ran smack into the Johnson controversy when he began an investigation in AmeriCorps. See video below.

Michelle Rhee

The result of Walpin's investigation showed that AmeriCorps misused $75 million of taxpayer monies, and Kevin Johnson was a part of that misuse - he diverted funds from AmeriCorp for his personal use. That's not all, three young girls accused him of inappropriate behavior. When Walpin's report went to Congress, Barack Obama fired the IG without cause, according to Senator Charles Grassley.

Now, through Grassley, we find that the powerful Ms. Rhee, was in the middle of a coverup for her future husband, Kevin Johnson. According to Grassley, Rhee was on the board of Johnson's St. Hope Academy. A former employee at St. Hope allegedly says that Rhee told her "she would take care of the situation." Shortly after, one of the girl's at St. Hope said Kevin Johnson's personal attorney visited the girl and offered her $1,000 a month during the rest of her time at the non-profit St. Hope.

Michelle Rhee (38), according to some in Washington, D.C. is "one of the most feared Asian Americans." She has two children, ages 10 and 7, in the DC public school system. Rhee, while feared by teachers performing less than adequately, is also considered a powerful role model. She has championed both school vouchers and charter schools - yet she allegedly tried to cover-up Johnson's despicable behavior. And even if it found this allegation is untrue, she knows the details of these charges. What is she thinking?

Rhee, responsible not to a school board but only to the mayor, went on a spree almost as soon as she arrived. She gained the right to fire central-office employees and then axed 98 of them. She canned 24 principals, 22 assistant principals, and, at the beginning of this summer, 250 teachers and 500 teaching aides. She announced plans to close 23 underused schools and set about restructuring 26 other schools (together, about a third of the system). And she began negotiating a radical performance-based compensation contract with the teachers union that could revolutionize the way teachers get paid.

The Kevin Johnson story is an ugly one. When Walpin submitted his report to Congress, Johnson was attempting to move into his position as Sacramento mayor. He had a huge problem on his hands, as no federal monies could come to his city because of the St. Hope scandal. Attorneys got involved and claimed that Walpin overstepped his authority.

Barack Obama and Kevin Johnson

In the meantime, an acting U.S. Attorney struck a deal with the government for some funds to be paid back by Kevin Johnson and St. Hope and AmeriCorp. That little deal got Johnson into the Mayor's office. Gerald Walpin objected.

The deal was made by Brown and top officials at the Corporation for National and Community Service -- Walpin was cut out of the process. He strongly disagreed with the arrangement, suspecting that it came about more for political reasons than prosecutorial ones. The new report takes his side, saying Brown's "motivation to reach a settlement was not to protect the financial interests of the United States, but rather to remove Johnson from the suspended parties list in order to ensure Sacramento's eligibility to receive stimulus funds."

Walpin continued investigating St. Hope and found that the organization had destroyed evidence. From there, things began to spiral down for Walpin who was eventually fired by Obama's White House counsel, and it looks like the firing was due to the information Mr. Walpin revealed.

For an Inspector General to be fired by the White House, there are specific guidelines that must be followed. Obama's only reason for firing Walpin was that he had "lost confidence" in him. Walpin was recently cleared of any misuse of his authority by an independent panel, and the White House has still not met the procedural guidelines for his firing. Now it has come to light that Walpin's replacement was instructed by the White House to shred documents concerning Walpin's investigation - which the acting Inspector General, Kenneth Bach, did! Senator Charles Grassley is outraged.

Gerald Walpin

Now we learn that this school Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, was allegedly willing to attempt a cover-up of sexual misconduct with minors, and then became engaged to the perpetrator, Kevin Johnson. What a great pairing. A woman with two children still in elementary school, who runs the D.C. school district and an accused sexual predator. I have written many articles about Gerald Walpin, Kevin Johnson and AmeriCorps. Please browse through those, listed below the video, and understand the corruption coming right out of the White House. It is a sordid story of corruption at the highest levels, including the DOJ, and it exposes the lengths AmeriCorp will go to, to hijack taxpayers.

Kevin Johnson (video)

The Warning Signs Were Out There.

noreply@blogger.com (Findalis) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:24:00 +0000

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle As far back as 2007 officials at Walter Reed knew that there were problems with Nidal Hasan, yet they did nothing. They chose to ignore the signs for whatever reason they had.

Two years ago, a top psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was so concerned about what he saw as Nidal Hasan's incompetence and reckless behavior that he put those concerns in writing. NPR has obtained a copy of the memo, the first evaluation that has surfaced from Hasan's file. Officials at Walter Reed sent that memo to Fort Hood this year when Hasan was transferred there. Nevertheless, commanders still assigned Hasan — accused of killing 13 people in a mass shooting at Fort Hood on Nov. 5 — to work with some of the Army's most troubled and vulnerable soldiers. Read the full story here.

I wonder if Hasan was a Christian or Jewish would he have gotten the same easy pass that he did. Just read the memo and wonder what the US Army considers to be good psychiatric care? The Memo:

National Capital Consortium Psychiatry Residency Program Borden Pavilion, Walter Reed Army Medical Center Bldg.6, Rm. 2059, 6900 Georgia Ave, NW Washington DC, 20307-5001 XXXXXXX Consortium Participating Instructions: Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, National Naval Medical Center, Malcolm Grow USAF Medical Center May 17, 2007 Memorandum for: Credentials Committee Subject: CPT Nidal Hasan 1. I am the program director for NCC Psychiatry Residency Training Program. I took over as PD in MAR 2007 and was Assistant PD from July 2006. I have been a faculty member of the residency since July 2004. 2. This memo is based on my personal knowledge of and the documented incidences in CPT Hasan’s Resident Training File. 3. The Faculty has serious concerns about CPT Hasan’s professionalism and work ethic. Clinically he is competent to deliver safe patient care. But he demonstrates a pattern of poor judgment and a lack of professionalism. In his PGY-2 year, he was counseled for inappropriately discussing religious topics with his assigned patients. He also required a period of in-program remediation when he was discovered to have not documented appropriately an ER encounter with a homicidal patient who subsequently eloped from the ER. He did successfully remediate this problem. At the end of his PGY-2 year, he was placed on administrative probation by the NCC GMEC for failure to take and pass USMLE Step 3 and to obtain an unrestricted state medical license by the end of his PGY-2 year; as a result he was not promoted to PGY-3 on time. He did eventually complete step 3 and get a license and was promoted to PGY-3. He was counseled for having a poor record of attendance at didactics and lower than expected PRITE scores. One year he failed to show for his PRITE examination at all. During his PGY-3 year, he was counseled for being consistently late to NNMC morning report. During his PGY-4 year, he was discovered to have only seen 30 outpatients in 38 week of outpatient continuity clinic. He was required to make this missed clinic time up using his elective. He failed his HGT/WGT screening and was found to be out of standards with body fat % and was counseled on that. Lastly, he missed a night of call for MGMC ER and then did not respond to numerous pages by my office the next day. 4. Take together; these issues demonstrate a lack of professionalism and work ethics. He is able to self-correct with supervision. However, at this point he should not need so much supervision. In spite of all of this, I am not able to say he is not competent to graduate nor do I think a period of academic probation now at the end of his training will be beneficial. He would be able to contain his behavior enough to complete any period of probation successfully. My purpose in writing this letter is to give the credentials committee the benefit of full disclosure and the opportunity to modify CPT Hasan’s plan of supervision following initial privileging. 5. I did discuss this memo with CPT Hasan and informed him I would be adding it to his initial credentialing paperwork. 6. POC is the undersigned and may be reached at 202-XXX-XXXX or email at XXX/ Sincerely, Scott Moran, MAJ, MC Program Director NCC Psychiatry Residency Training

A memo like that by a civilian hospital would destroy anyone's career, regardless of race or religion. But not in the military. What the US Army only wants is diversity for the sake of diversity. Not competency. Thus Hasan's passing grade and promotion. In the old US Army, Hasan not only would have been investigate for his anti-American, treasonous (it is treason to side with the enemy during war-time) views, but would have failed in his quest to become a psychiatrist, been given a discharge (or asked to resign) and forced to pay the taxpayers back for his medical school. No one would have died at Ft. Hood, and Hasan could have emigrated to one of the 57 Islamic countries that could have used his talents. Oh for the good old days!

Sarah Palin Fort Hood: Palin Donates Royalties to Fort Hood: Sarah Palin Grand Rapids Michigan

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Sarah Palin has "gone rogue" again and told Sean Hannity that the Fort Hood shooter and murderer, Nidal Hasan should have been profiled by the Military. Palin will arrive in Fort Hood for her book signing on December 4th. She is donating her book royalties to the victims of the attack on the Texas Military base. See video below.

Sarah Palin

While the New York Daily news says that Palin's visit has "sparked controvery," their own poll, this minute shows that 68% believes it is a good gesture, and grieving troops will appreciate it. Thirty one percent think it wrong for her to "try to get PR" out of the tragedy." You can vote in that poll here.

...area pastor, Dan Galanffy, 60, said "she can probably provide some healing that is needed and some truth and honesty that is also needed."

Tina andreadis, a spokeswoman for Palin's publisher, said the Fort Hood visit was planned before the shooting and that the Army has since "reinforced their invitation, saying it would boost the troops' morale."

CBS makes a point to say that Palin will bypass "liberal-leaning cities such as Seattle, San Franciso,Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Instead, she is stopping in Sioux City, Iowa; Noblesville, Indiana; Washington, Pennsylvania; and Rochester, New York. With this veiled elitest statement, CBS doesn't even realize that her book is breaking sales records as never before - no moonbats needed.

From the Wall Street Journal, November 17th:

Sarah Palin’s memoir just hit the stands today but demand for “Going Rogue: An American Life” is so strong that HarperCollins Publishers is going back to press for an additional 100,000 run, bringing the total number of hard-covers in print to 1.6 million copies.

UPDATE: Three major booksellers declined to release sales figures for “Going Rogue” on Tuesday. However, a spokeswoman for Amazon.com Inc.’s Web site noted in an email that the title “is already one of our bestselling nonfiction books of 2009.” At 2:40 p.m., the book ranked No. 1 on Amazon’s list of best sellers, with six customer reviews and 393 customer discussions. Amazon is selling the book for $14.50, a 50% discount from its $28.99 retail price.

By the way, in Grand Rapids, Michigan about 1,500 people turned out at the Barnes and Noble today for the Palin Book Tour. "Scores more" couldn't get a wristband, awaited Palin's arrival outside, braving the cold and yelling. "USA!" and 'Sarah, Sarah!"

She's a person of faith, she has a family, she has gone through a lot of the trials and tribulations we have. I'd vote for her in a heartbeat," said Lana Smith, a dispatcher at a bus company who took the day off work and had been waiting in line since 5:30 a.m.

Watch the first video below to listen to the Grand Rapids crowd and see Palin's arrival. You'll love this video.

Sarah Palin in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity on Fort Hood

Lady Catherine Ashton is EU Foreign Minister: Baronness Catherine Ashton is EU High Representative

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:35:00 +0000

Britain's Lady Catherine Margaret Ashton will become the new European Union's (EU) foreign policy minister to serve under new EU President Herman van Rompuy of Belgium. She replaces Javier Solana.

Lady Catherine Ashton

Lady Ashton (52), or formally Baroness Ashton of Upholland, is married to Peter Kellner, the President of YouGov, a pollster, commentator and journalist. Ashton is a member of Labour, and has served as the Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. She replaces Javier Solana.

Ashton, as High Representative, will be the face of foreign policy for the EU and will spend most her time traveling, with an intense focus on the Middle East. Daniel Hannan, a Conservative Member of Parliament criticized Ashton's appointment as Trade Commissioner for the European Parliament. Hannan said she had to experience "in trade issues at a time when the EU is engaged in critical negotiations with Canada, Korea and the WTO.

News of her promotion will astound British diplomats, who would not have regarded her senior enough for the job. The two new posts are meant to bolster the EU’s influence overseas.

According to the Daily Mail, this new role for Ashton will "make her one of the world's most powerful unelected figures," even thought the Mail says, "she has had an umimpressive spell as EU trade comminssioner:

Baroness Ashton of Upholland will now be able to rule the roost over thousands of staff from a grace-and-favour home in Brussels. And, despite having desperately little foreign affairs experience, she will find herself representing the European Union in capitals all over the world.

It is a remarkable rise for a woman who is virtually unknown in Britain, let alone in Europe.

The Wall Street Journal says Ashton will be in charge of the EU's military missions overseas with an annual budget of $5.96 billion.

Herman van Rompuy is a Christian Democrat, and a devout Catholic. Van Rompuy's presidency will be the EU's first full-time president.

Both Ashton and van Rompuy will assume their posts on December 1st.

Drunkest Guy Needs Beer Video

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:30:00 +0000

Ya, the drunkest guy you've probably ever seen - not making his momma proud - at about 10:45 a.m. The big question: how did he arrive at the store?

Watch this version if you want to hear him summon his Lord and Savior and the Virgin Mary. Language alert. Be sure you have a barf bag handy for that one. Good grief!

The video below spares his very personal audio drama.

Drunkest Guy (video)

Thanks to David Lemon, who sculpts the most beautiful bronzes and clays. Watch this stunning video of his work.

UCLA Student Fee Hike Riots: UCLA Fee Hike Protest Video

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:05:00 +0000

The Board of Regents at UCLA will vote to hike undergraduate tuition fees by 32 percent over the next two years. It is estimated the 32 percent increase will cost each full-time student $2,500 over two years. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of students and faculty, in my opinion.

UCLA Covel Commons

Students and union members showed up by the hundreds, as university police barricaded the entrance to Covel Commons, where chants of "Who's university? Our university." Nightsticks and Tasers were used to force the crowd back. In the second day of protests, today, a sit-in ensued at Campbell Hall, which was closed for the day:

Inside, about 40 to 50 students had chained the doors shut shortly after midnight and were issuing e-mail statements.

I have no sympathy for these little university socialist liberals, who have such disdain for conservatism. I hope they get their tax sooner, rather than later, which will likely count among their first real "life experiences."

California is broke...it desperatly needs revenue. These ungrateful students and faculty should be honored to step in and do their part to fund a long-held bastion of far-left indoctrination. Conservatives have been doing just that for most of their working lives, whether they want to or not.

Tommy Le, a fourth-year student at UC Santa Cruz, who left his campus at 3 a.m. today in a convoy of two buses headed south. Le, 21, an American studies major from El Monte, said he was worried about how he being able to afford the higher charges, starting with an additional $585 for the rest of the school year.

Mr. Le, have you taken any interest in the unemployement rate today? Grown-ups are obsessed with it. Do you have any idea how many parents are trying to figure out a way to make their mortgage payment, now that the Democrat housing bubble has decimated the market? People have real-life problems, and most people have more than just themselves to worry about.

In the 2004 Spring issue of the UCLA Magazine, Ajay Singh wrote:

Conservatives, for their part, object that far too many members of the faculty are moral relativists who eschew notions of good and evil and don't believe that certain immutable truths in Western thought are worth preserving. Worse, liberal faculty teach students to view religious and patriotic values with suspicion.

That, in any case, is the central idea behind Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth, a book written by Ben Shapiro '04 and published earlier this year. Shapiro claims that while he was a student at UCLA in 2002, he was fired as a columnist for the Daily Bruin. The reason, according to Shapiro, was that he went on a local radio talk show and criticized UCLA's "pro-Muslim stance" — a reference to the Bruin's refusal to publish two of his columns against a Muslim-student organization on campus that Shapiro asserted supports terrorism.

A 2005 study printed in the Washington Post says 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative.

The disparity is even more pronounced at the most elite schools, where, according to the study, 87 percent of faculty are liberal and 13 percent are conservative.

Rothman sees the findings as evidence of "possible discrimination" against conservatives in hiring and promotion. Even after factoring in levels of achievement, as measured by published work and organization memberships, "the most likely conclusion" is that "being conservative counts against you," he said. "It doesn't surprise me, because I've observed it happening." The study, however, describes this finding as "preliminary.

Conservative families go though emotional angst as they try to find a way to educate their children with some smattering of the conservative viewpoint, for balance. Shopping for the less expensive option of a state university leaves no avenue to diversity in thought, but lots of diversity in ethnicity. In fact, your white son or daughter will likely fall to the back of the admissions line, no matter their test scores. Those who "get" from the government will lap-up the liberal bias. The good university-educated liberal-ales will march into the world with no understanding of conservative issues, and they won't have a clue how far-left and dangerous they are to American's founding principles.

I'm for monumental tution increases at universities all over the country. It's the only fair thing to do. More Americans say they are conservative, than moderate or liberal, and both conservatives (40%) and moderates (37%) number almost twice those admitting they are liberal (20%). In the video below, you'll see a very noisy and animated protest. Really, it could not happen to a more deserving school unless it's UC Berkely.

UCLA Student Fee Hike Protest (video)

No Political Purge Coming

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Simpson) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:36:00 +0000

There has been a story flying around the internet in recent days that the Obama administration intends to purge Republicans from the bureaucracy by using a new federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rule requiring that all applicants for career civil service jobs who held political jobs "within the past five years" be approved by OPM. The assertion is that “past five years” can only refer to Bush appointees, and that OPM’s memo authorizes the agency to ferret out Republican civil service hires and find some bureaucratic pretext to kick them out.

A close reading of the OPM memo and statements by Elaine Kaplan, OPM General Counsel, provide reassurance that, however the Obama administration plans to handle Republicans working in the bureaucracy, this OPM rule is not intended to affect them.

Obama Hanukkah: Obama Downgrades Chanukah Party by Half

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:44:00 +0000

Just as Obama cut Zionish-leaning, pro-Israel Jews from a White House meeting in July, he is downgrading the White House Hanukkah party by cutting the size down to half of past years' celebrations.

In a White House that has kicked-up partying big-time, the Hanukkah celebration has been cut by half. In July 2009, when Obama finally invited Jewish American leaders to the White House, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the largest and oldest pro-Israel group were not invited, as well as CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting). Morton Klein, the president of ZOA said he had criticized Obama on his Israel position, and was not invited to meet with the president.

The White House hosts huge parties, these days, but...:

As the White House prepares for its annual Chanukah party and candle-lighting, many previous attendees are going to find themselves left in the dark as the number of invitations is set to shrink to half of last year’s....

Given the current climate, the Jewish official continued, “The pressure on the White House to have the right people at the Chanukah party is going to be enormous.”

We'll see if ZOA is included in the smaller Canukah festivities at the White House.

Related:
Obama's Jewish Agenda

Beatrice Wilkinson Welters Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago: Embassy Paybacks to Big Donors

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:08:00 +0000

Beatrice Wilkinson Welters is President Obama's nominee for ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. No surprise, her husband Anthony Welters, is an executive with UnitedHealthGroup which brought in $200,000-$500,000 in campaign donation for the election and another $100,000 for the Obama ~~crowning~~ inaugural.

American Embassy - Paris

Beatrice Welters donated $4,600 to the Obama campaign in each of the years 2007 and 2008. Her husband, Anthony donated $4,600 in 2008. The Welters' two sons were also $4,600-donors: Bryant, reportedly 19 years old today, donated $4,600 in the second quarter of each of the years 2007 and 2008, when he was an unemployed student, and Andrew, reportedly 17 years old today, an unemployed student, donated $4,600 in the second quarter of 2008

Here are a few of those bringing in over $500,000, now representing the taxpayer in "cream of the crop" cities in foreign countries:

Charles H. Rivkin - Paris, France
Alan Solomont - Madrid, Spain
Louis B. Susman - London, England
Don Beyer - Bern, Switzerland
Nicole Avant - Nassau, Bahamas

Ambassadors with DNC ties:
Philip Murphy - Germany
Anne Slaughter Andrew - Costa Rico

Susan Johnson, president of the American Foreign Service Association says these appointments are "three year rentals:"

Equally disappointing — but perhaps more expected — to career diplomats is that the distribution of assignments shows no sign of changing: The political appointees get the big mansions in big-name countries, while the careerists pack off to Haiti, Zimbabwe, Serbia and other less inviting postings.

Amateurs in these posts - not a good idea in an era of terrorism:

The politicization of the diplomatic corps, which began in the 1960s, is of increasing concern to some foreign policy experts, given the rise of terrorism and the need for greater coordination between the U.S. and foreign governments on national security issues.

Diplomatic posts that may once have largely involved ceremonial appearances now can be focused on issues such as human and drug trafficking, kidnappings, war and intelligence sharing. With that worldview, “We believe America is best served by having career foreign service officers, just as we have career military officers,” Johnson said.

Johnson actually believed that Obama would more open and transparent, as promised:

Johnson said the career diplomatic community had hoped for more than just the status quo from a candidate who campaigned on a vision of transforming Washington into a city less beholden to special interests and wealthy political benefactors.

Read the entire article on Obama ambassadorships.

Related:
Obama Administration to deny Civil Service Jobs to Republicans

Bolton Discusses Global Arms Treaty on NRA

noreply@blogger.com (Faultline USA) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:16:00 +0000

Bolton says that we have entered a very critical period. Bolton speaks on the Obama administration’s attempt to internationalize gun control and threaten our 2^nd amendment rights.

Go to NRA and enter “global arms treaty” on search function (top right of main page) to see the video.

Former U.S. ambassador discusses the U.N.’s anti-gun agenda. Ginny Simone speaks with John Bolton about the Obama administration’s position on the International Arms Trade Treaty and the consequences of such an agreement for American gun owners. Bolton says that there is no doubt that the “real agenda here is domestic firearms control,” and he explains that controlling civilian ownership is a priority for anti-gun countries such as Britain, Australia and Japan, among others.

The U.N. fears that If the Obama administration turns out to be just one term they must move rapidly on this treaty. The U.N. wants to move rapidly during this narrow window of opportunity.

Bolton warns that this is a very dangers time we are entering into:

There’s a lot the administration can do via executive agreement that won’t require Congressional approval at all. . . .

Obama is our first post American president . . .he doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism, . . .

Our adversaries around the world see this administration as weak, indecisive . . .we are in a very vulnerable period . . . They have been waiting a long time for this opportunity . . .they are going to drive to push through everything they can . . .

Bolton says that Obama wants to avoid a 2^nd amendment fight by using his executive agreement powers.

What about Civilian ownership?

A very slippery slope especially with this administration. . .

Technorati Tags: Hillary Clinton,President,Obama,Gun control,global arms treaty,NRA,U.N.,United Nations,globalism,individual freedoms

Eric Holder Lindsay Graham: Eric Holder Jon Kyle: Holder Senate Questioning on 9/11 Civil Trials

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:21:00 +0000

Attorney General Eric Holder spoke in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today, saying he wanted to address his controversial decision to try the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed in New York City. See a video below.

Eric Holder

Holder told the mother of a man who died aboard Flight 93 which crashed into a Pennsylvania field near Shanksville, PA that "there was evidence, not yet made public, that makes federal court the best place to try Mohammed."

I guess what I'm saying is trust me," the attorney general said quietly, as reporters and security staff crowded around the pair.

I will trust you. I will defer judgment," said Hoagland, though she added she still has serious doubts about his plan.

Here are some of the "highlights" of Holder's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee today:

(1) The 9/11 attacks were both an act of war and a violation of our federal criminal law

(2) There are more than 300 convicted international and domestic terrorist currently in Bureau of Prisons custody. Including those responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in the attacks -- embassies in Africa.

(3) In fact I expect to direct prosecutors to seek the ultimate and most uncommon penalty.

(4) I know that we are at war. I know that we are at war with a vicious enemy who targets our soldiers on the battlefield in Afghanistan and our civilians in the streets here at home.

(5) Prosecuting -- 9/11 defendants in federal court does not represent some larger judgment about whether or not we are at war. We are at war. And we will use every instrument of national power civilian military.

(6) I'm not scared of what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has to say at trial, and no one else needs to be afraid, either,” Holder said.

(7) We need not cower in the face this enemy.

No. 6 is pure elitist arrogance, bathed in contempt and disdain for the country and the citizens. The American people are not "scared," are not "afraid," of what KSM has to say. What the animal has to say is irrelevant. How much more demeaning of the American people can a public service get?

Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) asked Holder how a civil trial could be better when KSM had already tried to plead guilty before a military commission"

How can you be more likely to get a conviction in a (civilian) court than that?" pressed Kyl, to applause from some in the hearing room.

Holder's non-answer to a very direct question was that the decision to try KSM in New York was not based on the whims or the desires of KSM - "he will not select the prosecution venue. I will. And I have." The question was, why would you think a conviction in civil court will easier than in the military commission - where KSM wants to plead guilty?

Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) asked Holder to name one enemy combatant (now known legally as an "unprivileged enemy belligerent") captured on a battlefield and tried in a U.S. civil court. Holder could not name one, and Graham pointed out that there are none. Graham accused Holder of "making bad history," and said "I think you've made a fundamental mistake here."

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said: "I believe this decision is dangerous. I believe it's misguided. I believe it is unnecessary." Holder boasted that 300 terrorists are currently held in U.S. prisons. Sessions asked for a list of those terrorists, and after a slight pause, Holder said he would get the list for the Senator.

In the meeting, Senator Jon Kyl mentioned a previous request from Senator Charles Grassley, who has asked Holder for list of DOJ attorneys who have previous ties to terrorists. Holder indicated he would think about it. Here is what Grassley says on his website:

I plan to ask the Attorney General about potential conflicts of interest within the department related to political appointees working on detainee issues. Media reports have highlighted certain political appointees at the department and their prior advocacy on detainee issues. I would like to know more about these appointees and the work they are currently doing at the department. Any prior representation on the other side of these issues could raise potential conflicts of interest that should be fully disclosed as part of basic transparency and accountability at the department.

The video below is excellent. Listen as Senator Lindsay Graham tells Holder, your actions "are a perversion of the justice system.

Eric Holder and Lindsay Graham (video)

Nidal Hasan Psychiatric Review: Nidal Hasan Residency Review: Nidal Hasan Performance Review

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:13:00 +0000

Nidal Hasan, the shooter in the Fort Hood murders, received a damning review from the program director of the Psychiatry Residency Training program at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Nidal Hasan

According to National Public Radio (NPR), Major Scott Moran wrote a letter to the "Credentials Committee" at several military hospitals, including Walter Reed, a Naval medical center and an Air Force medical center. The subject of the memo was" Cpt. Nidal Hasan" and is dated May 17, 2007. Moran says the memo "is based on my personal knowledge of and the doucmented incidences in Cpt. Hasan's Resident Training File.

Readers: If you know of any White or Black soldier that would be promoted to the rank of Major, make your story good, because I don't think I'll believe it.

CNN published the like to NPR's transcript with this note at the top of the memo:

[Editor's Note: This is a transcript of the memo obtained by NPR. It is not a facsimile or PDF of the actual document].

And CNN includes this disclaimer:

CNN could not corroborate the authenticity of the memo nor reach Moran for comment. Last week, Moran said he could not comment about differing accounts of Hasan's behavior and disciplinary record.

Here's pertinent portions of the memo (or read the NPR transcript):

The Faculty has serious concerns about CPT Hasan’s professionalism and work ethic. Clinically he is competent to deliver safe patient care. But he demonstrates a pattern of poor judgment and a lack of professionalism.

In his PGY-2 year, he was counseled for inappropriately discussing religious topics with his assigned patients. He also required a period of in-program remediation when he was discovered to have not documented appropriately an ER encounter with a homicidal patient who subsequently eloped from the ER. He did successfully remediate this problem.

At the end of his PGY-2 year, he was placed on administrative probation by the NCC GMEC for failure to take and pass USMLE Step 3 and to obtain an unrestricted state medical license by the end of his PGY-2 year; as a result he was not promoted to PGY-3 on time. He did eventually complete step 3 and get a license and was promoted to PGY-3.

He was counseled for having a poor record of attendance at didactics and lower than expected PRITE scores. One year he failed to show for his PRITE examination at all. During his PGY-3 year, he was counseled for being consistently late to NNMC morning report.

During his PGY-4 year, he was discovered to have only seen 30 outpatients in 38 week of outpatient continuity clinic. He was required to make this missed clinic time up using his elective. He failed his HGT/WGT screening and was found to be out of standards with body fat % and was counseled on that.

Lastly, he missed a night of call for MGMC ER and then did not respond to
numerous pages by my office the next day.

4. Take together; these issues demonstrate a lack of professionalism and work ethics. He is able to self-correct with supervision. However, at this point he should not need so much supervision. In spite of all of this, I am not able to say he is not competent to graduate nor do I think a period of academic probation now at the end of his training will be beneficial. He would be able to contain his behavior enough to complete any period of probation successfully.

My purpose in writing this letter is to give the credentials committee the benefit of full disclosure and the opportunity to modify CPT Hasan’s plan of supervision following initial privileging.

5. I did discuss this memo with CPT Hasan and informed him I would be adding it to his initial credentialing paperwork.

Despite Maj. Moran's evaluation, Hasan was promoted from Captain to Major, sent to Fort Hood to get him away from Walter Reed, and now 14 are dead and many injured.

Read some of Hasan's more recent statements at TheLongWarJournal.

Obama Medicare Tax Hike: Why you should care about Medicare Tax Hikes

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:55:00 +0000

So you are years away from enrolling in Medicare. So, you make less than $250,000 a year - so...you think hiking the tax rate for Medicare on those earning more than you is a good idea. Wrong.

Medicare Tax Hike

The Heritage Foundation says a new proposal to raise the current Medicare tax on those making $250,000 or more, is under consideration. At the moment, employees and employers each share the Medicare tax burden of 2.9 percent - each paying 1.45 percent. When you retire, Medicare covers your hospitalization.

The Medicare program is already paying out more than it is taking in. So, how will this higher tax on those making $250,000 or more, benefit you? It won't. Here's the scoop from the Heritage Foundation:

Raising the tax and using the revenue to fund a new entitlement does nothing to fix this shortcoming.

Using new revenue from the Medicare tax to fund health care reform would be as illogical as raising the federal gas tax, which sensibly funds highway construction and maintenance, to pay for a new welfare entitlement.

there is little doubt the tax hike would legally fall on those earning more than $250,000 a year so it remains in accordance with President Obama’s campaign pledge.

Nevertheless, those earning much less than $250,000 a year will feel the negative impact of the tax. Higher taxes on high earners will cause them to take fewer risks and cut back on investment. This will lower wages and reduce the number of jobs created. And much of the tax increase is likely to fall on small businesses, which will cause them to create fewer jobs and pay lower wages. Workers earning much less than $250,000 a year will bear the full brunt of these jobs lost and lower wages.

Thank you to OlBroad for graphic

Lael Brainard Barack Obama: Lael Brainard Tax Problems: Lael Brainard Treasury Nominee Tax Problems

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:08:00 +0000

Here's another one - the fifth of Obama's nominees with tax problems. Lael Brainard is Obama's nominee for undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs...and she didn't pay taxes in three tax years.

Lael Brainard

Brainard "was late" paying real estate taxes in 2005, 2006 and 2007, according NewsMax. The Senate Finance Committee is also questioning a deduction she took for running an office out of her home, on her 2008 return. She has since adjusted that deduction with the IRS.

From whorunsGOV:

Brainard comes from the liberal Brookings Institution, where she helped start the Global Economy and Development program. She is a veteran of the Clinton administration, where she worked as the deputy director of the National Economic Council under Gene Sperling. She also advised Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Brainard is married to Kurt Campbell, President Obama's assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs. Is there anyone in the Obama adminstration without a tax problem - who pays taxes on time and correctly - like the rest of us out here?

Bill O'Reilly Judge Napolitano: Napolitano on Acts of War, Constitution, KSM

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:10:00 +0000

Judge Andrew Napolitano, a Constitutional attorney, says that the Islamic terrorism perpetrated against this country is not a legal "act of war." He bases his opinion on the fact that al-Qaeda is not a government. Of course, there was no "declaration of war," as there was in WWII.

In this argument, there must be a way to acknowledge the fact that this religion of Islam is also a government, and that government governs the religion. Nothing is done without the sanction of Islam, and Islam sanctions jihad.

For all the many peaceful Muslims living in the U.S. who do not want to hear this, who go to their neighborhood mosque and hear no radical ranting - would never think of a violent act against anyone, the fact is, if you wanted to be a jihadist, Islam will support you. Not the locals - who want to live peacefully in America, raise their children here, educate them, and live the American dream...but if you want to be a jihadist, again the Koran will support you. It's a problem for you and problem for us.

I think Judge Napolitano is right. I also think the Founders would not have thought of this reality we are living today. We need to fix it.

Bill O'Reilly and Judge Andrew Napolitano on Acts of War and the Constitution (video)

NYC Newspapers Raided: New York Post, NYT, Daily News Raids: Union Corruption Probe

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:49:00 +0000

The New York Times, New York Post and the Daily News all had their circulation offices raided today in an investigation into "union corruption."

The NYT office in Queens, the Daily News on West 33rd Street, the New York Post offices on the Avenue of the Americas, and El Diario in the MetroTech center in Brooklyn. Investigators were looking into the hiring and promotion of employees of the 1,600-member Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union. Organized crime is also suspected.

Working in conjunction with the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, investigators are looking into whether leaders abused seniority rules to promote favored insiders, not all of whom were union members, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

No arrests were made. Updates as available.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/nyregion/18raids.html

Iran Death Penalty for Five in Election Protests

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:33:00 +0000

Iran has sentenced five people to death, and 81 with prison sentences ranging from six months to fifteen years.

Tehran, Iran Election Protests

No names are given in this Breitbart news piece, but are reported to be "prominent opposition figures and activists. Iran said the five sentenced to death are members of "terrorist and armed opposition groups."

No mention of the manner of the death sentence or the date.

Related and background:
Caspian Makan was Neda Agha Soltan's Fiance: Neda Movie Coming

Neda: The voice of the Iranian People

Tom Coburn Calls IRS Investigation for CAIR

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:23:00 +0000

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), along with five House members, sent a formal request to the IRS to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Tom Coburn

America, our country has granted non-profit status to CAIR, an unindicted co-conspirator in the scandalous Holyland Foundation's funding of terrorism - or as WorldNetDaily puts it:
the largest terror-finance case in U.S. history.

In its effort to repeal the Patriot Act anti-terrorism law in 2005, for example, CAIR made 72 trips to Congress, according to internal documents. "Muslim Mafia" notes Congress met just 150 days that year.

CAIR also spends $25,000 a year to organize a national "lobby day on the Hill" in which its members nationwide come to Washington – armed with CAIR talking points on a single issue – to meeting with their representatives.

IRS statutes also forbid CAIR from supporting or opposing anyone running for office, but CAIR has held political fundraisers benefitting Muslim U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and other Democrats. The group also has used its resources to get out the vote for Ellison and Democrats in tight races.

In 2004, CAIR bussed Muslim voters from mosques to polls to support Democrats in key Florida counties.

Read the whole story at WorldNetDaily.

Related and Background:

Rep. Keith Ellison defends CAIR interns

CAIR fights a new book: The Muslim Mafia

Rep. Sue Myrick: CAIR claims Myrick is Investigating Muslims on Capitol Hill

Rep. Keith Ellison and CAIR: Ellison is CAIR Fundraiser Speaker

Greta Van Susteren Olivia Newton John: Government Breast Cancer Guideline Rationing

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:46:00 +0000

Greta Van Susteran interviewed singer and actress, Olivia Newton-John, about a new live show she is promoting to recognize women and the role they play in battling cancer as a patient, a caregiver and an advocate. " The theme: a story of survivorship and providership." Newton-John is a breast cancer survivor, so naturally, the conversation quickly got to the new government breast cancer guidelines, which are the first steps to health care rationing. See videos below.

Breast Cancer graphic courtesy Southern Sass on Crime

One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2007, $7 billion was spent on treatment, including government and private payments. In President Obama's stimulus bill, he set aside $7 billion to "expand high-speed Internet access across the country." How ludicrous is that? If you cannot understand that your health care is of no consequence to this administration, then you are not doing your homework.

Greta and Olivia discussed disease and what it must be like to be a woman in a Muslim country. She first has to have the permission of her husband to get a mammogram. Then he, or some other approved male must drive her to the testing location. A woman performs the mammogram and looks out through slits for eye holes. If the diagnosis a bad one...it is often hopeless for that woman. The primary male in her life decides if she receives treatment.

Will we allow the the "Task Force" to decide our treatment? The guidelines recommend delaying mammogram screening until age 50 for American women. The recommendation allows ten years for undiagnosed breast cancer to grow. American women have government making the decisions now, yet every doctor I've seen on television so far, has denounced the study as irresponsible and dangerous. And it is from a "government sponsored expert panel" - the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

Interpretation: If you want a mammogram before age 50, you will pay for it, if you can get someone to perform it for you.

We also learned there is no longer a need to do breast self-exams. In fact, the recommendation is "against teaching" the proper exam method, and if you are 75 or older there is no evidence you need mammography.

Rationing has begun. Death panels have convened.

I am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed under 50 years of age. I found the cancer in a self-exam that I was carefully and meticulously taught to perform.

Ironically, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius said in October 2009 that 4,000 cancer deaths can be prevented with early screening, but now, if these guidelines are adopted, those 4,000 will fall the cracks. I can find no statement from Sebelius about the "Task Force" findings.

Are 4,000 women just so much garbage to this elitist government, who will make sure their women are covered?

The "Task Force" assigns their recommendations a letter grade: A through D, with A being the best finding for the highest net benefit. Here is how they explain the grades:

Each recommendation is linked to a letter grade that reflects the magnitude of net benefit and the strength of the evidence supporting the provision of the specific preventive service. The recommendation is graded from "A" (strongly recommended) to "D" (recommended against). When the evidence is insufficient to determine net benefit, the Task Force assigns a grade of "I."

Where is the supporting evidence? There is none. There is only concern that many women being screened do not have breast cancer. There is only concern that women will endure tests to rule out cancer, and those tests cause emotion pain. And the unspoken concern is that government money is going to test those cancer free. The government wants to free up the money.

Delaying mammograms until age 50 received a grade of C. The following is the actual wording of the guideline.

The USPSTF recommends against routinely providing the service. There may be considerations that support providing the service in an individual

The recommendation to no longer teach breast self-exam received a grade of D, which means:

The USPSTF recommends against the service. There is moderate or high certainty that the service has no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits.

How can breast self-exam do harm? There is "moderate or high" certainty that there is no net benefit?" What if you find a lump or tumor? Where does that fall between moderate to high? There is only one reason for this evil, evil guideline, and that is money. Doctors and their staff spend time teaching the proper method for self-exam. The instruction is usually done only one time for each patient. How many appointments can be shaved by 15-30 minutes? What is the bottom line for the Doctor and insurance companies from this savings? What about the cost of more extensive treatment when the cancer is found years later in a more advanced stage? Surely the cost is more than the cost of a one-time instruction on self-exam.

Cancer at a later stage in women over 50 - probably will not be treated at all.

I know so many women of all ages battling breast cancer. Most had no family history. Most are not overweight. All are, or were, devastated. Some survived. Too many did not.

One Saturday afternoon I looked up at the television and there was Condoleeza Rice at a podium after a Susan G. Komen 'Race for the Cure' event. She said her mother was a breast cancer survivor. She talked about the things her mother accomplished in the 16 years she lived after dealing with the disease. When her mother died of breast cancer at the age of 61, Rice was 30. Without early detection and treatment, she could have lost her mother at as a teenager. See this video below.

I have a few years between me and "the event," of breast cancer. I passed 5 years and then passed 7 years...and began to breath easier. I was beyond 7 years as I listened to Secretary Rice.

I made an appointment with my doctor, and asked: do people surpass 15 years, 20 years - do they ever die of anything other than breast cancer - how long did your longest survivor live? I'm not sharing his answer here because I know how "numbers" can influence our thinking, but I will tell you this, I plan to be his longest living breast cancer survivor. That's the plan, the hope, the prayer, of every diagnosed woman.

The truth is, you never stop battling breast cancer. Surgeries and treatments and check-ups...it goes on and on, and what a privilege it is to see my doctor and receive a good report. I am grateful for my doctor, grateful for modern medicine, grateful for the time with my husband, especially grateful that I lived to see my son a grown man.

These guidelines are designed to suck-in insurance companies to support Obama's audacious dream of government control of our health and private information. No surprise this comes just as the House health care bill is passed, just as Harry Reid says the Senate plan is about ready to be revealed, just as a report popped up tonight that drug manufacturers have already raised the price of their products in anticipation of what comes next from this government. Insurance will drop coverage of mammograms. To think they will not, is naive.

But...the "Task Force" says this is not about money. It is about concern for the healthy women who are recommended for follow-up tests and biopsies that may yield no negative results...it's about the angst a healthy woman might have:

With these recommendations, the task force has made "a value judgment that's subject to discussion and interpretation," says Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, which is sticking to its recommendation that women begin annual screening mammograms at age 40.

Harms are tricky to measure. It's hard to quantify the psychological impact of additional tests and biopsies, for example. And estimates of overdiagnosis generally range only between 1 percent and 10 percent, according to the review consulted by the USPSTF. (Monetary costs weren't considered by the task force, says USPSTF Vice Chair Diana Petitti.) Lichtenfeld is also concerned about using computer models as the basis for the every-other-year recommendations, since so much is at stake.

Marisa Weiss, a Philadelphia oncologist and founder of Breastcancer.org, says the task force's conclusions were based on outdated assumptions about treatment and mammography. For example, studies show that digital mammography is more accurate among young women, but the USPSTF discussed only the standard film mammography.

And it figured in certain harms that have been ameliorated over the years with procedures such as core biopsies rather than the more invasive open biopsies, as well as tests that can predict which women are likely to benefit from chemotherapy and which can skip it. She worries these recommendations will result in young women being entirely bypassed, so that women in their 50s will be diagnosed at later stages of cancer and will need more treatment.

The above quote is from US News and World Report, by Katherine Hobson. I hope you will read the entire article.

This from Susan G. Komen for the Cure:

October 9, 2009: According to the results of a study presented at the ASCO 2009 Breast Cancer Symposium, nearly three-quarters of breast cancer deaths occur among the minority off women who do not get regular screening mammograms.

Although breast cancer remains the second-leading cause of cancer death in U.S. women, breast cancer mortality rates have been declining for the last 20 years. The decline in mortality is thought to be due to improvements in both treatment and early detection.

Mammography (an X-ray of the breast) is an important part of routine breast cancer screening. The American Cancer Society recommends that women at average risk of breast cancer receive annual mammograms starting at the age of 40. Women at higher risk of breast cancer may need to begin screening at a younger age, and may be screened with breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in addition to mammography.

Studies have indicated that mammography reduces the risk of death from breast cancer. To explore the relationship between mammography and breast cancer mortality in the general population, researchers collected information about 6,997 women diagnosed with breast cancer in Massachusetts between 1990 and 1999 and followed until 2007 (median follow-up period was 12.5 years).

Cady B, Webb M, Webb M, Michaelson J, Smith BI. Death from breast cancer occurs predominantly in women not participating in mammographic screening. Presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2009 Breast Cancer Symposium. Abstract 24.

I've heard several doctors say this "Task Force" is independent from the government. That is not true. This is not an independent panel. Their website is a .gov url, and the banner, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services banner runs across the top. Sixteen doctors sit on the panel for a period of 4 years. Some are always rotating out at the end of the year. View a list of doctors here.

Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, released a statement in October 2009 about the need for health insurance reform and breast cancer. I find no statement on the findings of the "Task Force." She advocated for just the opposite of what this "Task Force" is trying to do:

This year alone, an estimated 192,370 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,170 will die from the disease, making it the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women.

America, you must understand that this is just the beginning. Your health care will soon be under government control. Here is something coming out of the Presiden't office that should shock you: President Obama's Chief of Staff, and close, close friend, Rahm Emanuel's brother, Ezekiel Emanuel tells us how the government can cut costs:

Dr. Emanuel is a health policy adivser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of the Federal Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research. He has the President's ear:

Savings, he writes, will require changing how doctors think about their patients: Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath too seriously, "as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of the cost or effects on others" (Journal of the American Medical Association, June 18, 2008).

The only way to come close to paying for the health care plan proposed, is to cut medical care to others. If you think cuts in medicare will pay for your insurance, think about the women not yet 50 - far too young for medicare. Everyone has a daughter, a mother, a niece, a wife, a grandmother, an aunt...Rationing has already started. Death panels have convened. The first video below is Condoleeze Rice and the second, Greta and Olivia.

width="400" height="344">
Condoleeze Rice - Vreast Cancer (video)

Greta Van Susteran and Olivia Newton-John (video)

Hasan Participated in Presidential Transition Task force on Homeland Security

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Simpson) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Nidal Hasan, the Muslim U.S. Army Major accused of the mass killings at Fort Hood, is listed as participant in the George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute's (HSPI) Presidential Transition Task Force Report. While this is not entirely surprising, given Hasan's former position in the Army, it raises significant questions about White House reluctance to release relevant records allegedly in its possession.

The HSPI is not a governmental organization, and was not directly tied to the Obama administration's transition team. Rather, in its own words, it is a "nonpartisan 'think and do' tank whose mission is to build bridges between theory and practice to advance homeland security through an interdisciplinary approach..." HSPI has already issued a statement on Hasan's participation in the task force as follows:

Eric Holder Thanks John McCain and Lindsay Graham: KSM comes to New York

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:10:00 +0000

In Eric Holder's speech announcing that he was bringing Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and five other terrorists to New York City, New York City, (he said it twice) for criminal trials, he thanked Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham for passing legislation to "strengthen" and "reform" the military commission system. See videos below.

Republican Senators receiving a thank you from Eric Holder is the stuff of nightmares. I can see Holder smugly inserting McCain and Graham into his text, knowing the conservative angst that would follow.

Carl Levin (D-MI) the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. John McCain (R-AZ) is the ranking Republican member. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) sits on the committee. I suppose that is why Holder was thanking these two men. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is also on the committee and I notice he received no thanks.

As explained by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a letter to Levin and McCain dated July 23, 2009, the amendment would:

...establish a system for addressing classified information issues in
military commissions that is similar to the system provided by the Classified Information Procedures Act ("CIPA") for criminal cases prosecuted in Federal court.

The Levin-Graham-McCain amendment adapts CIPA to the military commissions context, with some modifications to reflect lessons learned from past terrorism prosecutions....

It sets substantive standards for providing the defense access to classified information in the discovery phase, and for the use of classified information at trial.

We believe the amendment will advance the President's objective of reforming the commissions and ensuring that they are a fair, legitimate, and effective forum for the prosecution of law of war offenses.

Barack Obama signed it into law on October 28, 2009. This is the law, as laid out in the legislation:

Through a Sense of Congress, the preferred forum for the trial of alien unprivileged enemy belligerents is trial by military commission.

I guess Eric Holder didn't get the memo.

Here's more:

(1) Changes "unlawful enemy combatant" to "unprivileged enemy belligerent,"

(2) Making an unprivileged enemy belligerent, who engaged in or supported hostilities against the United States, subject to military commissions. Obviously, trial by military commission cannot be interpreted as the same as a civil Federal court.

(3) Forbids the use of statements that were obtained "by the use of torture."

(4) Gives the accused the right to seek suppression of evidence that is not reliable or probative.

(5) Additional restrictions on the use of hearsay evidence.

(6) Specific procedures for the treatment and protection of classified information. The Military Commissions Act provides for this and meets the challenges of the Classified Information Protection Act. More on that below

(7) Unprivileged enemy belligerents will not be read Miranda rights, unless an "unappealable court order requires it.

(8) Allows the U.S. to take an interlocutory appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals (rather than, or in lieu of current law that allows such an appeal to the Court of Military Commission Review.

(9) Right of appeal with respect to classified information. This is already in the MCA's MRE 505 governing military tribunals.

(10) Adds contempt and perjury and obstruction of justice as triable offenses.

So this basically was about McCain tamping down "torture" and making it impossible to use any confessions or statements from that "torture," no matter the results.

There were obviously some good things out of this: no more mirandizing, and if I understand this correctly, perjury and contempt can be charged against the defendants. Terrorists are hard-core liars and contemptible by nature.

*****

If you are interested in DOJ's comments that this new legislation would provide the same protections in the Military Commissions Act as afforded by the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), as I looked at everything I could find, the protections afforded the accused in a military trial is virtually the same as that stipulated by CIPA.

I saw one possible difference, that being that the first responsibility of a military court is to protect national security, and the first responsibility of a civil Federal court is to protect the rights of the defendant. But the methods and way to do that are virtually the same.

Military courts are subject to the 6th Amendment's demand for the accused's right to a fair trial. Once the habeus corpus section of the MCA of 2006 was ruled unconsitutional, there is little that is different between Military courts and Federal courts.

The following are my notes on the CIPA and the Military's MRE 505:

The Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) is a tool to help courts decided whether or not sensitive information is a national security threat, before the trial begins.

The 1980 CIP Act through a formal written request pre-trial, notifies the prosecution that the defendant will be asking for X, Y and Z during the trial, giving the prosecution the opportunity to dismiss the case if the risk to national security is unacceptable. A civil judge decides what is admissable and what is not - always with the defendants right to a fair trial prevailing.

Once the trial begins, if additional sensitive information comes to light, another CIPA form must be submitted for prompt court conference.

If the court admits the sensitive material for trial, the DOJ can then enter a request to the court to substitute summaries or redacted documents in lieu of originals. The court may accept or reject such a request. At all times, if summaries or redacted information is admitted, it must guarantee the defendant the same degree of fairness that the original documents would provide.

The Attorney General then decides whether to appeal the court's ruling, or file a formal protest. If a formal protest is waged by the DOJ, the court can "require" the prosecution to dismiss the case, although the likelihood of that happening is insignificant. Once that is put to bed, the DOJ determines the degree of risk to national security if the trial goes forth. If the risk is unacceptable, the DOJ can dismiss the case. This is known as the "disclose or dismiss dilemma." That's it. That's the choice. A civilian court makes the determination about a prisoner of war.

At all times, the goal of CIPA is fairness to the defendant, and while CIPA has withstood Constitutional challenges:

...the judge in the Iran-Contra prosecutions has ruled that CIPA procedures must give way when they risk excessive exposure of the defendant's case.

This was the case of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, where the judge saw a risk to North's defense of "excessive exposure" of his case. The conclusion of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report summary, is that it works best when when the classified information is only "marginally relevant or marginally sensitive." When sensitive information is at the "core" of the defendant's case, it is less likely that the case can be resolved in a manner that preserves the rights of the defendant - which means that national security is at jeopardy in such a trial, and so presumably, the DOJ would move to dismiss the case.

In a military court the guidelines are known as MRE 505. With MRE 505, CIPA is essentially flipped. National security is the greatest concern, not the defendant, but in all cases, the defendant's right to a fair trial is adhered to.

As far back as 2004, this exhaustive article written by Joshua E. Kastenberg, compares CIPA and the Military MRE 505. I noticed something that might not happen in a civil court, although I can't confirm that. In the case of a Marine embassy guard in Moscow, the military court ruled that the national security risk of allowing the public to hear testimony, warranted preventing public access to certain witnesses. Military courts have been been sensitive to how a trial under CIPA requirements, might change a defendant's outcome, from that in a Military court. In otherwords, the Military has, at times, used CIPA to "balance context between an accused's rights and the need to protect national security information."

In a military trial, the defendant has the right to civilian counsel, but if classified material is to be introduced into evidence, the civilian attorney must have the proper security clearances. The defendant's right to a speedy trial is likely compromised by this requirement. If the civilian counsel refuses the clearance procedure, but the defendant continues with the representation, the attorney will be excluded from some portions of the trial.

The first video below is Eric Holder announcing that the 9-11 terrorists will be brought to New York City for Federal criminal trial. The second video is Senator Barack Obama in September 2007 saying KSM would "get real military procedures...." As Scared Monkeys says,"Obama was for Military Commission tribunals before he was against them."

Eric Holder Civil Trials (video)

Barack Obama - KSM will get real military procedures (video)

Wayne Allyn Root is Barack Obama Columbia Classmate? Wayne Allyn Root No One Remembers Barack Obama at Columbia

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:20:00 +0000

Wayne Allyn Root graduated Columbia, NYC in the same year and same class as Barack Obama in 1983. He says no one he knows, remembers Barack Obama from the graduating class. See a video below.

Wayne Allyn Root

Root was a Libertarian vice-president candidate on Bob Barr's ticket in the 2008 elections. This means he and Barack Obama were running on the same ticket at the same time. Root says he did not know Obama at Columbia although they were both on the same career path, Political Science and pre-law. On September 5, 2008, Reason's Matt Welch and Tim Cavanaugh interviewed Root. At the time, candidate Root wanted Obama's Columbia grade average released, as were G.W. Bush's, John Kerry and Al Gore - not to mention overall intelligence. Welch asked this:

[Welch] So tell us what we should know about Barack Obama that we don't?

[Root] I think the most dangerous thing you should know about Barack Obama is that I don't know a single person at Columbia that knows him, and they all know me. I don't have a classmate who ever knew Barack Obama at Columbia. Ever!

Welch, incredibly, says "yeah, but you were like selling, you know, Amway in college or something, werent' you? Root replies: "And the best damned Amway salesman ever! The conversation moves to smoking pot in dorm rooms, before Root gets the conversation back to the fact that no one remembers Barack Obama:

[Root] Nobody recalls him. I'm not exaggerating, I'm not kidding.

[Welch] Were you the exact same class?

[Root] Class of '83 political science, pre-law Columbia University. You don't get more exact than that. Never met him in my life, don't know anyone who ever met him. At the class reunion, our 20th reunion five years ago, 20th reunion, who was asked to be the speaker of the class? Me. No one ever heard of Barack! Who was he, and five years ago, nobody even knew who he was.

[Welch] Did he even show up to the reunion?

[Root] I don't know! I didn't know him. I don't think anybody knew him. But I know that the guy who writes the class notes, who's kind of the, as we say in New York, the macha who knows everybody, has yet to find a person, a human who ever met him. Is that not strange? It's very strange.

I mean, when I went to Columbia, the black kids were all at like tables going "Black Power!" We used to walk by and go, "What the hell are they talking about." And they didn't associate with us and we didn't associate with them. So if you track down a couple of black students, they'll probably know him. But nobody white's ever heard of this guy. It's quite amazing. Nobody remembers him. They don't remember him sitting in class.

The Columbia Spectator, however, quotes a classmate. This from Michael Ackerman, a 1984 grad (the link to Ackerman may not be "the" Michael Akerman, although this shows him to be at Columbia from 1980-1984):

His political science classmate, Michael Ackerman, CC ’84, recalled him as “almost chameleon-like, spy-like, slipped in and out. He tried to keep to himself.”

A New York Sun article, linked below, quotes a Columbia spokesman:

A spokesman for the university, Brian Connolly, confirmed that Mr. Obama spent two years at Columbia College and graduated in 1983 with a major in political science. He did not receive honors, Mr. Connolly said, though specific information on his grades is sealed. A program from the 1983 graduation ceremony lists him as a graduate.

Then, there is the man who says he was Barack Obama's roomate at Columbia, Phil Boerner, Class of '84, who also says he knew Obama from their studies at Occidental College in Los Angeles:

Barack Obama and Phil Boerner, Columbia Roomate

At Oxy, we attended some of the same social events and had late-night philosophical discussions related to our college reading or to current affairs. We attended rallies on campus where we were urged to “draft beer, not people,” and discussed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, apartheid in South Africa, the hostages in Iran and the Contras in Latin America.

The crowd we hung out with included men, women, blacks, whites, Hispanics and international students. Barack listened carefully to all points of view and he was funny, smart, thoughtful and well-liked. It was easy to sit down with him and have a fun conversation.

In that apartment [at Columbia, while roomates] we hosted a number of visitors, mostly friends from Oxy who stayed overnight when they were passing through town. Barack was very generous to these visitors. As a host and roommate, he sometimes did the shopping and cooked the chicken curry.

Through different living arrangements in Astoria, Queens; Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; and all over Manhattan, we stayed in touch and remained friends for the rest of our college years. He got to know my girlfriend from Arkansas, who is now my wife. Since I last saw him in 1985, we have exchanged a few letters and photos. He left for Chicago, and I eventually settled in Sacramento.

The Reason conversation gets to the subject of grade averages and Root says this is the moral of the story:

I had a B-plus, A-minus average at Columbia University, in four years. When I graduated, I took the LSATs and I did well. I didn't do great, I did well; B-plus, A-minus average.

My counselor at Columbia said don't even bother applying to Harvard Law School, because you can get into any law school in the country with your record, except Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton [Editor's Note: Princeton doesn't have a law school]. Except for the very top, you can get in anywhere, but don't even try those, because your grades don't cut it.

Well, everyone says how bright Barack is, but Barack won't release his transcripts from Columbia University.

And I'd be willing to bet every dime I have in the world, a million dollars I'll put, I'll put a million dollars cash on the fact—that my GPA was better than Barack's—...and he got in based on the color of his skin.

Does anyone doubt that possibly Barack could have gotten into Harvard with a C average because he's black, where as I, white, couldn't get into the same school with a B-plus, A-minus average? And yet his wife says that America is a terrible nation unfair to minorities! I say, Au contraire!

So now I ask out loud in the press, I challenge my classmate to give his GPA against mine. And let's see if he really is the bright guy they all say he is. What if we discover he got into Harvard with a C average? Is he then the brilliant man America thinks he is? That would be a very good question, don't you think?

I represent millions and millions of poor people in this country who weren't lucky enough to be poor and black, they were unlucky enough to be poor and white, and they can't get into Harvard. So maybe that country Barack's fighting for, he's got the wrong country here. He's been just fine in this country. The rest of us need someone to defend them....

From the New York Sun, about the same time as the Reason interview:

But one chapter of the tale remains a blank — his education at Columbia College, a place he rarely speaks about and where few people seem to remember him.
Contributing to the mystery is the fact that nobody knows just how well Mr. Obama, unlike Senator McCain and most other major candidates for the past two elections, performed as a student.

The Obama campaign has refused to release his college transcript, despite an academic career that led him to Harvard Law School

From Smith College professor, James Miller, who studies the effects of human intelligence on the economy:

Mr. Miller acknowledged that Mr. Obama displayed academic achievement at Harvard, where he graduated magna cum laude and led the Harvard Law Review. Still, Mr. Miller said, he would like to see information about how Mr. Obama performed in various subjects at Columbia.

Note that on this site, Famous Columbians, Barack Obama's name does not appear, even though there are categories for the Nobel Peace Prize and Writers. Maybe the webmaster isn't updating.

At least we know that "few" remember Barack Obama. To be accurate, one person is on the record as remembering him as a "chameleon." Just one man. A Columbia employee found Obama in a database, evidently. That's it. Columbia University has a total of 205 students in their current Political Science program, which is 1 percent of enrollment. Columbia ranks 37th for "popular" schools with political science programs. How big could the class have been in 1983?

Wayne Allyn Root (video)
Thanks to a reader, whose comment led to this article. Check out her website if you have children, grandchildren, or need a great children's gift for Christmas, or anytime.

Caspian Makan was Neda Agha Soltans Fiance: Caspian Makan was Nedas Boyfriend: Neda Movie Coming

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:32:00 +0000

Caspian Makan says he was Neda Agha Soltan's fiance when she was shot down in the streets of Tehran, Iran on June 20, 2009.

Neda Agha Soltan

Caspian Makan

While the West watched in horror, the beautiful young woman known as Neda Agha Soltan, died as bystanders videoed her blood draining into the streets. She took a bullet directly to the heart - and had told her fiance, Caspian Makan, 37, that she was willing to do just that - take a bullet to the heart, to bring democracy to her country.

On the day of her death, Neda was in a car stalled in heavy traffic with her friend, Hamid Panahi, and two others. They were making their way to a protest area. While the traffic went nowhere, the story is, Neda stepped into the street for fresh air and was immediately hit in the chest. Panahi is quoted saying "All she wanted was the proper vote of the people to be counted."

Makan and Neda met in Turkey only two months prior to her death, when Neda was traveling with a guided tour through Turkey, Dubai and Thailand.

He tells the GuardianUK that Neda was politically active and dedicated to overthrowing Achmadinejad. Makan refused to join the protests and was nervous about Neda taking part. She told him he should be documenting the violence.

Neda was present at the front line of the protests from the very first day. She was a natural leader and attracted many [protesters] to her side. I think that is why she was shot. ...they wanted to extinguish her.

It is worth noting that some friends say that Neda was not a long-time activist and had just begun speaking out about the elections, so the degree of her activism is unclear.

Caspian did not learn of Neda's death until the morning after she died. He was arrested three days later,"on the personal order of Khamenei," and was detained for 65 days in the notorious Evin prison. He was released after signing papers promising to never again talk about Neda, and never to leave the Iran. Using smugglers to get him out of the country, he made it out safely.

Makan has recently given two interviews and a documentary or a movie about Neda is in the works with director Angus Macqueen:

In both interviews she emerges as a markedly different figure to the young woman depicted at the time of her death. Her fiance describes her as politically active and assertive, convinced she was fighting for "democracy and freedom" for Iranians.

Neda was 26. She was divorced, a graduate of Islamic Azad University. She was a musician and singer and had made a name for herself in

According to Makan, and contrary to most reports at the time of the protests, Neda Soltan did not support any of the candidates opposing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Two days after Neda was shot down, violent protests followed and a Iranian cleric opposed to Achmadinejad, called for three days of public mourning. Reports vary about her burial. Some say the Iranian government withheld her body for a time, some say she was buried by the government in a grave set aside for protesters.

Other reports say the family was denied a public funeral and only family was allowed to attend. Neda's family and friends tried to gather at their local mosque for a memorial and found a sign on the door saying "there is no commemoration here for Neda Agha Soltan.The Basij military arrived and broke-up the mourners. At the time, prayers for Neda in local mosques were banned. and neighbors said the family was forced from their home - although that report cannot be confirmed.

Caspian Makan and Neda Agha Soltan (video)

Obama Congressional Ft. Hood Investigation Political Theater: Hoekstra vs White House

maggiesnotebook@cox.net (Maggie M. Thornton) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:17:00 +0000

Barack Obama has asked Congress not to investigate Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood killer. Citing the possibility of turning the Fort Hood assassinations into "political theatre" and "political stagecraft," he wants the results of his own investigation, before Congress steps-in. Rep. Pete Hoekstra has exposed the lack of forthcoming requested information from the White House. It will be interesting to see if Hoekstra's House investigation is shut-down by ranking Democrats.

Pete Hoekstra vs White House

The first question: does Congress have any power, at all anymore - what happened to separation of powers? The second: how do we trust an investigation Obama oversees?

To think that the President will not head the oversight once the intelligence is all in, is to be naive. We trusted the FBI and the Military to separate the terrorists from patriots, and now funerals are underway for 14 dead.

Obama turned his attention home and pleaded for lawmakers to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater." He said those who died on the nation's largest Army post deserve justice, not political stagecraft.

This week, the ranking member of the the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) asked for documents related to the Fort Hood killings:

...the administration is in possession of critical information related to the attack that they are refusing to release to Congress or the American people," Hoekstra said.

But Obama said he [Hoekstra] and other intelligence committee members had been "briefed," Hoekstra says that is not true. So, were the Democrats briefed, and Republicans not? Afterall, Congress is nothing but closed-doors to Republicans these days.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is blasting President Obama for withholding from the Congressional intelligence committees information on the Fort Hood killings suspect, while at the same time acknowledging the leaders of those panels -- including Hoekstra himself -- have indeed been briefed on Nidal Malik Hasan.

House Democrats dismissed Hoekstra's concerns. Of course they did. In February 2008, Hoekstra spoke at the Heritage Foundation about the importance of "recognizing the threat of terrorism, but the Democrat leadership told him "the threat is not real." See that short video clip here.

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder thinks Hoekstra "compromised a sensitive National Security Agency collection program" when he released the information that Hasan had email contact with an American-born Muslim jihadist now operating out of Yemen. While some intelligence agencies are concerned about Hoekstra's interview with the Washington Post, a Hoekstra spokesman confirmed "the congressman had not received any classified briefings about the Ft. Hood attack."

It has to be embarrassing to the entire intelligence community - that soldiers and civilians are dead because they put political correctness ahead of safety. I hope it hurts their hearts, as well. If Hoekstra had not spilled the beans, we might never have known of a Hasan-al-Qaeda contact.

Congress makes a hobby of leaking information that should not be leaked, but...was Hoekstra briefed or not? National security is not a partisan issue. If Republicans are being shut-out of briefings, it needs to stop. Hoekstra's comments are obviously inconvenient for Liberals, who want the Muslim-jihad angle hushed. Hoekstra needs to keep pounding, or we will never know the truth.

Related and background:

Democrat Congress defends CIA on Ft. Hood: Hoekstra Accuses Obama of Withholding Info