The Weeping Eagle

Sheriff Joe to Congress: Investigate Obama's eligibility

2013-05-19T22:20:00.001-05:00

H/T Anita P.
WND

Hey, while Congress is investigating the use of the IRS to harass conservative activists, is trying to find out what the Obama White House covered up about Benghazi and is looking into why the Justice Department went after reporters’ phone records, why not include a check into Obama’s eligibility, too?
That’s an idea confirmed in an affidavit filed with a legal case pending before the Alabama Supreme Court. It was brought by attorney Larry Klayman on behalf of 2012 Constitution Party presidential nominee Virgil Goode and Alabama Republican Party leader Hugh McInnish, who are seeking to force Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman to verify that all candidates on the state’s 2012 ballot were eligible to serve.
The case, dismissed at a lower level, is now before the Alabama Supreme Court, where strict constitutionalist Roy Moore was elected chief justice last November. The case becomes all the more intriguing because Moore is on record previously questioning Obama’s constitutional eligibility to serve as president.
The affidavit comes from Mike Zullo, the chief of a special Cold Case Posse assembled by Maricopa, Ariz., County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to look into the question at the request of his constituents, who were concerned they were being defrauded by having an ineligible candidate on the 2012 election ballot.
Last year, Arpaio held a press conference at which he and Zullo outlined their findings.
“At that time, we announced that we had concluded that there was probable cause that forgery and fraud had been committed in respect of two documents: 1) the long-form or original birth certificate computer image presented by Mr. Obama, which contained multiple errors and anomalies, many of them serious and: 2) the selective-service document for Mr. Obama, which contained a two-digit year-stamp. This was contrary to specifications issued by federal regulations to the effect that the year of issue should be expressed as four digits on the stamp, and also contrary to any other selective-service registration document that we had been able to examine,” Zullo wrote in his affidavit to the Alabama court.
The result of the evidence, he said, is one conclusion.
“Accordingly, Sheriff Arpaio continues to recommend that the Congress of the United States open an immediate investigation, including the appointment of a select committee, as regards to the authenticity of Mr. Obama’s documentation, whether any crimes have been committed, and to determine Mr. Obama’s eligibility for the office of president of the United States,” he said.
The Obama administration’s reaction to questions about his eligibility, which have been ongoing since before the 2008 election, has been to pooh-pooh any questions and make jokes about the questioner.
But those on the special team assembled by Arpaio to investigate are not laughing. Nor does Zullo’s affidavit to the Alabama Supreme Court joke around.

It was only a few weeks ago when Democrats quoted late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel in their demand that the case, a challenge to Obama’s eligibility to be president, be dismissed.
Get Judge Roy Moore’s classic book about his battle for liberty, “So Help Me God: The Ten Commandments, Judicial Tyranny, and the Battle for Religious Freedom.”
The party had insisted, “In order for one to accept the claim that President Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery [and that he is ineligible], one has to buy into a conspiracy theory so vast and byzantine that it sincerely taxes the imagination of reasonable minds.”
The document scoffs at “birthers” as a “tiny cabal of zealots” and quotes late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel – not widely recognized as a constitutional expert – to make its case: “These people could have personally witnessed Obama being born out of an apple pie, in the middle of a Kansas wheat field, while Toby Keith sang the National Anthem – and they’d still think he was a Kenyan Muslim.”
But Arpaio is one of few law enforcement authorities to look into the issue, and although his work largely has been under the radar in recent months, it is continuing, Zullo’s affidavit confirmed.

In a 2010 interview with WND, Moore said he’d seen no convincing evidence that Obama is a “natural born citizen” – as the U.S. Constitution requires of presidents – and a lot of evidence that suggests he is not.
“This is the strangest thing indeed,” he said. “The president has never produced [evidence] in the face of substantial evidence he was not born in our country. People are accepting it blindly based on their feelings, not on the law.”
More recently, when a majority of the state’s high court denied a 2012 petition filed by McInnish seeking to require an original copy of Obama’s birth certificate before the sitting president would be allowed on the state’s ballot, Justice Tom Parker filed a special, unpublished concurrence in the case arguing that McInnish’s charges of “forgery” were legitimate cause for concern.
Parker wrote, “Mclnnish has attached certain documentation to his mandamus petition, which, if presented to the appropriate forum as part of a proper evidentiary presentation, would raise serious questions about the authenticity of both the ‘short form’ and the ‘long form’ birth certificates of President Barack Hussein Obama that have been made public.”
In his concurrence, Parker describes McInnish’s petition as follows: “McInnish seeks from this court a writ of mandamus, directly ordering Beth Chapman, as secretary of state for the State of Alabama, ‘to demand that [President Barack Hussein] Obama cause a certified copy of his bona-fide birth certificate be delivered to her direct from the government official who is in charge of the record in which it is stored, and to make the receipt of such a prerequisite to his name being placed on the Alabama ballot for the … November 6, 2012, general election.’”
Parker, who also wrote a concurrence in another case arguing Roe v. Wade should be overturned, agreed that Arpaio’s findings were legitimate cause to question Obama’s presented documents, but nonetheless joined his fellow justices in denying McInnish’s petition.
“The Alabama Constitution implies that this court is without jurisdiction over McInnish’s original petition,” Parker explains. “The office of the secretary of state of Alabama is not a ‘court of inferior jurisdiction’ that this court may control through the issuance of a writ in response to a petition.”
Now, however, the case is coming from a lower court, suggesting the Supreme Court may have some opportunity for action.
Zullo testifies that the White House computer image .pdf file contained anomalies that were unexplainable unless the document had been fabricated piecemeal by human intervention, rather than being copied from a genuine paper document.
Things have yet to be resolved, even though Obama is into his second term, authorities noted.
“As of the date of this report, this investigation remains open and ongoing and additional forensic evidence continues to be uncovered, further validating the original investigational findings.”
His testimony continued, “Mr. Obama has in fact not offered any verifiable authoritative document of any legal significance or possessing any evidentiary value as to the origins of his purported birth narrative or location of the birth event.”
At issue is the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that a president be a “natural born citizen,” something a foreigner likely would not be able to qualify as, he said.
“One of our most serious concerns is that the White House document appears to have been fabricated piecemeal on a computer, constructed by drawing together digitized data from several unknown sources,” Zullo wrote.
Zullo also noted that the governor of Hawaii was unable to produce an original birth document for Obama, and it should have been easy to find.
He said raising further questions is the fact Obama has refused to release: Original, long-form 1961 Hawaiian birth certificate, marriage license between Obama’s father (Barack Sr.) and mother (Stanley Ann Dunham), name change (Barry Sotero to Barack Hussein Obama), Obama’s adoption records, records of Obama’s and his mother’s repatriation as U.S. citizens on return from return from Indonesia, Obama’s baptism records, Noelani Elementary School (Hawaii), Punahou School financial aid or school records, Occidental College financial aid records, Harvard Law School records, Columbia senior thesis, Columbia College records, Obama’s record with Illinois State Bar Association, Obama’s files from career as an Illinois State senator, Obama’s law client list, Obama’s medical records and Obama’s passport records.
In action related to the same case, Klayman asked the court to strike the brief from the Alabama Democratic Party. He called in “frivolous and arrogant, and said “in addition to mocking in disrespectful fashion the seriousness of this case and the integrity of our judicial system, [Democrats] seek to improperly present new evidence not on the record for appeal.”
He also argues the case needs to be decided even though Secretary of State Beth Chapman doesn’t think so.

DOJ: Show Your Gay Pride, or Else …

2013-05-19T16:12:00.002-05:00

GodFatherPolitics

Even beyond the moral objections to homosexuality and gay “marriage,” there has always been an important tactical reason to oppose the gay rights agenda, and that is because of the prediction that the more entrenched the idea of “gay rights” becomes in government, the more government would come after anyone opposing the gay agenda.
The Department of Justice has now proven the point with its brochure “LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers,” available here.
Going far beyond any mere pamphlet about how to make your office run smoothly if you have gay employees, the DOJ is peddling all-out advocacy of the gay rights agenda, with a strongly implied threat of legal force behind the rhetoric. The pamphlet is apparently being passed around in preparation for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.”
The pamphlet features a long list of do’s and don’ts, such as: “Do assume that LGBT employees and their allies are listening to what you’re saying (whether in a meeting or around the proverbial water cooler) and will read what you’re writing (whether in a casual email or in a formal document), and make sure the language you use is inclusive and respectful. DON’T assume all employees are (or a particular employee is) heterosexual.”
So, does this “listening” by LGBT “allies” include reporting to der Kommisar? You can’t even assume that employees are familiar with, much less respectful of, normal human behavior any more; instead, you have to mince your words for fear of offending the Gaystapo.
But there are plenty more appalling orders from the DOJ in this pamphlet: “DO use inclusive words like “partner,” “significant other” or “spouse” rather than gender-specific terms like “husband” and “wife” (for example, in invitations to office parties or when asking a new employee about his/her home life).”
Gotta keep it gender-neutral to avoid offending the he/shes. Speaking of which, there’s also this gem of a quote: “DO use a transgender person’s chosen name and the pronoun that is consistent with the person’s self-identified gender.”
In other words, if Bob shows up in a dress, you are expected to address him as “Janet” and refer to him as “her.”
Like gays in general, the pamphlet is a bit confused, referring to “sexual orientation,” but then deeming the phrase “sexual preference” to be offensive. The pamphlet doesn’t offer a ruling on “queer,” as in the TV show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” “Queer” was all the fashion a few years ago in the gay community, but maybe it’s out of style, like Gucci pumps.
The pamphlet’s also keen on boosting tolerance through ample use of zero-tolerance policies for jokes and gossip about gays. So Catholic, fundamentalist Christian and Irish jokes, OK. Gays, no.
We’re also apparently supposed to work up to something like those mandatory government-regulation displays in the workplace: “Display a symbol in your office (DOJ Pride sticker, copy of this brochure, etc.) indicating that it is a “safe space.” Attend LGBT events sponsored by DOJ Pride and/or the Department, and invite (but don’t require) others to join you.”
How many times has skipping out on a “not required” meeting netted you a promotion? That’s a not-so-subtle way of forcing workers to endorse gay pride events.
And there’s advice about assignments, as well: “DON’T let your discomfort with an employee’s failure to conform to gender stereotypes (how you think he or she should act or look) – e.g., feminine man, masculine woman — affect whether he or she gets a particular assignment or works with a particular client.”
So set your misgivings aside and let the transgender lesbian work on the church group’s ad campaign.
The pamphlet also includes quotes from alleged DOJ employees about different topics related to being gay in the workplace, including this doozy: “As a transgender woman, I want people to understand that I’m real. I want to be recognized as the gender I really am. Yes, there was awkwardness with pronouns at first for folks who knew me before the transition. But it hurts when several years later people still use the wrong pronouns. And just imagine if people were constantly debating YOUR bathroom privileges. Imagine how humiliating that would be.”
I’m not sure we’re working from the universally accepted definition of “real” here. You’re a guy wearing a dress. People probably pick up on that because, if that’s really your picture in the brochure, you look like a guy wearing a dress. But you are humiliated because people have a problem with you using the same bathroom as their daughters and wives? You might want to think about not wearing the dress to work, then.
The line that underscores the implied threat of the whole brochure, though, is this: “DON’T judge or remain silent. Silence will be interpreted as disapproval.”
Join the immoral behavior cheer squad or else. Go along if you expect to get along.
The mere fact that it is the Department of Justice putting this pamphlet out makes it little more than a laundry list of reasons why gay people will sue anyone getting in the way of the gay rights agenda, regardless of First Amendment religious protections.
It’s all downhill from here.

Unmoved by Israel, Russia Will Send Top Air-Defense System To Assad

2013-05-19T14:14:00.002-05:00

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem on June 25, 2012. (Photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/POOL/FLASH90)

TimesofIsrael

Moscow says it must honor its deal with Damascus, even though Netanyahu warned Putin that delivery of S-300 missiles could plunge the region into war

Undeterred by pleas and warnings from Israel, Russia made clear on Thursday that it will go ahead with its planned delivery of a highly sophisticated air-defense system to Syria’s President Bashar Assad.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in an emergency face-to-face meeting on Tuesday that Moscow’s sale of the S-300 missile defense system to Assad could push the Middle East into war.

But Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, evidently unmoved by the dramatic Israeli warning, declared on Thursday that while Moscow was “not signing any new deals,” it would honor existing contracts with Syria, including for the air-defense systems. “We’ve already carried out some of the deal,” Lavrov said, “and we will carry the rest of it out in full.”

A failure to honor signed contracts, Lavrov added in a television interview, would “harm the credibility” of Russia in other arms-sales contracts.

Lavrov’s statements indicated that Netanyahu’s mission to Russia — he flew to meet Putin, immediately after his return from China, for emergency talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi — had failed. In their talks, Netanyahu reportedly told the Russian president that the S-300 had no relevance to Assad’s civil-war battles against rebel groups, and implored Moscow not to deliver the systems, Channel 2 reported.

He said that if acquired by Assad, the S-300 — a state-of-the-art system that can intercept fighter jets and cruise missiles — “is likely to draw us into a response, and could send the region deteriorating into war,” the Channel 2 report said.

On Thursday night, in response to Lavrov’s statements, Israeli officials were quoted by Channel 2 as saying that Jerusalem preferred not to describe Netanyahu’s mission as a failure, but acknowledged that Israel’s “situation would have been far better” if Putin had agreed to cancel the delivery. An Israeli source was quoted as saying that Netanyahu had told Putin the S-300s represent a weapons system that “shatters [Israel's] qualitative edge,” presumably since it would greatly constrain the Israeli air force’s freedom of movement above Syria and neighboring Lebanon.

The Israeli source was also quoted as saying that Israel would “firmly oppose” the transfer of S-300s to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Twice this month, Israel carried out air attacks in the Damascus area to blow up Fateh-110 ground-to-ground missile consignments en route to Hezbollah via Syria from Iran.

Lavrov said recently that the S-300s were to help Syria defend itself against air attacks. Israel suspects that Russia will deliver to Assad six S-300 missile batteries, as well as 144 missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, listens to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Tuesday, May 14, 2013. (photo credit: AP/ Maxim Shipenkov)

At their brief joint press conference Tuesday, it was clear that Netanyahu and Putin had not reached agreement on how to grapple with the Syrian crisis.

The Russian president said that the only way to resolve the crisis was via “the soonest end to armed conflict and the beginning of political settlement.”

He added: “At this sensitive moment, it’s particularly important to avoid any action that could destabilize the situation.”

S-300 batteries in a Moscow parade. (CC BY www.Kremlin.ru)

Netanyahu, however, said that the volatile situation in the Middle East requires action to improve security. “The region around us is very unstable and explosive, and therefore I am glad for the opportunity to examine together new ways to stabilize the area and bring security and stability to the area,” he said. The prime minister’s bottom line was that “Israel will do whatever it takes to defend its citizens.”

Russia has continued to ship weapons to Syria, despite the civil war there, but while it has reportedly delivered less-sophisticated air-defense systems, it refrained from providing Damascus with the S-300s, which have a range of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles), and the capability to track down and strike multiple targets simultaneously with lethal efficiency.

The weapon would mean a quantum leap in Syria’s air defense capability, including against neighboring countries.

Israel reportedly attacked suspected shipments of advanced Iranian weaponry — the Fateh-110 surface-to-surface missile — in Syria with back-to-back airstrikes this month. Israeli officials signaled there would be more attacks unless Syria refrains from trying to deliver such “game-changing” missiles to Hezbollah. Hezbollah said weapons shipments won’t cease.

On Wednesday, Israel reportedly warned Assad that further attacks were being considered, and that it would “bring down” his regime if he retaliated.

On Monday, Israeli Tourism Minister Uzi Landau accused Russia of destabilizing the Middle East by selling weapons to Assad’s regime. “Anyone who provides weaponry to terror organizations is siding with terror,” Landau said.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON MATINEE: THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

2013-05-19T11:01:00.002-05:00

There is something about hearing the word that is strong in a different way then reading it. ("So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."- Romans 10:17)
I remember when this movie came out in theater's, it was about the same time as the Passion of the Christ and I think a lot of people missed it. I bought the DVD as soon as it was available and it became my all-time favorite Christian movie. I particularly appreciated the way the portrayed Christ in this film.
Every time I watch it ministers to me all over again. If you haven't seen it before, you don't want to miss it. If you have, I pray it ministers to you all over again.
- W.E.

Paruzja - Nowa Ziemia

The Gospel of John is a 2003 film that is the story of Jesus' life as recounted by the Gospel of John. It is a motion picture that has been adapted for the screen on a word-for-word basis from the American Bible Society's Good News Bible. This three-hour epic feature film follows John's Gospel precisely, without additions to the story from other Gospels, nor omission of complex passages.
This film was created by a constituency of artists from Canada and the United Kingdom, along with academic and theological consultants from around the world. The cast was selected primarily from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and Soulpepper Theatre Company, as well as Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre. The musical score, composed by Jeff Danna and created for the film, is partially based on the music of the Biblical period. The film was produced by Visual Bible International.

Judge Jeanine: "No One In This Administration Knows ANYTHING!"

2013-05-18T22:14:00.003-05:00

JUDGE JEANINE FOR PREZ!!

I confess, this felt good!-W.E.

RightSightings

IRS Official Who Oversaw Unit Targeting Tea Party Now Heads ObamaCare Office

2013-05-18T14:12:00.001-05:00

I like this from "Raging Against the Rhetoric":

Ingram’s move to the Obamacare office was considered a promotion, but wait, it gets better.

Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS executive in charge of the tax exempt division in 2010 when it began targeting conservative tea party, evangelical and pro-Israel groups for harrassment, got more than $100,000 in bonuses between 2009 and 2012.

Is that precious? I have the same question Dana Loesch does.

I wonder if Sarah Hall Ingram's bonuses were based on the number of tea party groups her dept. harassed. #HowDoesSheStillHaveAJob
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) May 16, 2013

Ingram’s move to the Obamacare office was considered a promotion, but wait, it gets better. Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS executive in charge of the tax exempt division in 2010 when it began targeting conservative tea party, evangelical and pro-Israel groups for harrassment, got more than $100,000 in bonuses between 2009 and 2012. Is that precious? I have the same question Dana Loesch does.
So as I was researching Ms. Ingram, I noticed a tweet from a lovely young lady, mentioning a speech Ingram gave in 2009 at Georgetown University. Here is an excerpt I found particularly interesting.

I believe that adherence to principles of good governance is entirely consistent
with both your task to accomplish your charitable objectives, and ours, to see that
the tax-exempt sector complies with the Code. Indeed, I think practicing good
governance helps advance these goals. I see good governance, then, as a tool
– something practical and useful.

Hmmm…so good governance is targeting multiple conservative organizations and refusing to grant their tax exempt status? This is exactly why we need to make sure the IRS has nothing to do with our health care.

Fox

The IRS official who led the tax-exempt organizations unit when Tea Party groups were targeted is now in charge of the IRS office responsible for ObamaCare, two Capitol Hill sources told Fox News.
The acknowledgement comes after the administration announced that the official’s successor Joseph Grant -- who had only been on the job a few days -- would be retiring. And it fueled criticism of the agency, as the outgoing IRS commissioner prepared to face lawmakers’ questions at a hearing Friday morning.
“Stunning. Just stunning,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in reaction to the latest development.
That official, Steven Miller, will be in the hot seat Friday when he is scheduled to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee in the first congressional hearing on the IRS scandal.
The agency released a memo Thursday night that may give insight into Miller's talking points at the hearing, although it was written by Grant.
The agency also directed those seeking a possible preview to Miller's testimony to a frequently asked questions page on their website.
Also scheduled to testify is J. Russell George -- the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration -- and the man whose report released this week exposed the IRS practice that led to Miller's ouster (though Miller was apparently planning to leave the agency anyway).
President Obama, meanwhile, maintained Thursday that he didn’t know about the investigation into the IRS program until it was made public.
The ObamaCare official in question, Sarah Hall Ingram, had been serving as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations from 2009 to 2012 -- the division included the group that targeted Tea Partiers -- and has since left to serve as director of the IRS' Affordable Care Act division. That unit is responsible for enforcing parts of the health care law, including the fines associated with the so-called individual mandate -- the requirement to buy health insurance.
Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, citing her current position and history with the scandal-marred unit, reinforced his call Thursday for the IRS to be blocked from implementing the health care law. "Now more than ever, we need to prevent the IRS from having any role in Americans’ health care," he said.
While still the commissioner of the Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division, Ingram was assigned to head the implementation of ObamaCare at the IRS in 2010 after the law was enacted. It is not clear when she stopped being the head of the tax-exempt office or how active her role was there while she was implementing ObamaCare.
But the official who succeeded her, Joseph Grant, is now leaving the agency in the wake of the scandal. His retirement was announced Thursday, even though he only took the job May 8.
Meanwhile, President Obama appointed a new acting commissioner after the prior IRS chief announced his resignation.
The revelations at the Friday hearing could add more headaches for the Obama administration, as it tries to juggle its response to several scandals at once.
It's unclear whether more officials will resign at the IRS in the days to come.
An internal memo Thursday stated that Grant -- at the tax-exempt unit -- will retire on June 3. Grant oversaw the IRS division being called out for holding up applications from Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status. He was appointed to his position on May 8 by Miller.
The Senate side holds its first IRS-related hearing on May 21.
This week's clean-up at the agency is part of the Obama administration's mad dash to save face and regain footing after being hammered by a series of scandals this week, including new questions over the Benghazi terror attack and the Justice Department's seizing of journalists' phone records.
On Thursday, Obama appointed senior White House budget officer Daniel Werfel as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
"Throughout his career working in both Democratic and Republican administrations, Danny has proven an effective leader who serves with professionalism, integrity and skill," Obama said in a statement. "The American people deserve to have the utmost confidence and trust in their government, and as we work to get to the bottom of what happened and restore confidence in the IRS, Danny has the experience and management ability necessary to lead the agency at this important time."
Allegations that the IRS had been targeting conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status date back years but a government report released this week backed up the claims.
"Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it," Obama said.
Republican leaders were quick to call out Obama for being too passive with the situation and demanded more be done.
"This is runaway government at its worst," McConnell said Thursday. "Who knows who they will target next? The truth will come out. It always does."
However, the president knocked down the prospect of appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS, saying the congressional investigations and a separate Justice Department probe should be enough to nail down who was responsible for improperly targeting Tea Party groups when they applied for tax-exempt status.
Asked whether he previously knew about the IRS practice, Obama said Thursday: "I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the (inspector general) report" beforehand.
The president, though, did not say whether he was previously aware of the IRS' actions, which allegedly started as early as 2010, well before the inspector general's office began to investigate. Republican lawmakers were inquiring about the alleged targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS more than a year ago.
But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has said no one in the White House knew about the practice.

Obama Administration to Sign U.N. Arms Trade Treaty “In the Very Near Future”

2013-05-18T12:10:00.000-05:00

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
— Thomas Jefferson

ConservativePapers

Last month, on April 2, 2013 the United Nations General Assembly voted 153-4 to pass the Arms Trade Treaty, with the United States voting in favor and several countries abstaining.
The vote in the General Assembly pushed the treaty process forward after negotiations twice failed to deliver on the goal of developing the treaty by consensus. The Obama Administration is expected to sign the treaty soon after it is opened for signature on June 3.
According to a May 16 Amnesty International article, a senior US diplomat–Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Countryman–has confirmed the U.S. government will be quick to sign the new treaty. According to the article, Countryman said on Wednesday that the United States would sign the ATT “in the very near future.”
If the deeply problematic treaty is signed, the fight will move to the U.S. Senate, where the Obama administration would need to find 67 senators to ratify the treaty.
Of course, anti-gun Amnesty International approves of the treaty and is advocating its signing and ratification. In addition, Amnesty International has gone so far as to claim that the treaty will not affect “domestic gun control regulations.”
On the contrary, the ATT does indeed threaten the rights and privacy of American gun owners. Signatories will be encouraged to keep information on the “end users” of arms imported into their territory and supply such information to the exporting country. Exporting nations, nearly all of which have civilian firearm control regimes far harsher than the U.S., will be encouraged to take the firearm control laws of an importing country into account before approving a transfer of arms. And the treaty also encourages states to adopt domestic legislation to facilitate the treaty’s onerous requirements.
A majority of senators have already made clear their opposition to ratifying the ATT. On March 23, 53 senators endorsed an amendment to the Senate Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2014, “establish[ing] a deficit neutral fund” to oppose United States entrance into the treaty. Additionally, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kans.), along with 32 cosponsors, has put forth a concurrent resolution expressing the Senate’s opposition to the ATT, as it “fails to expressly recognize the fundamental, individual right to keep and to bear arms and the individual right of personal self-defense… and thus risks infringing on freedoms protected by the Second Amendment.”
Unfortunately, once a treaty has been signed, it normally remains available for the Senate to ratify in perpetuity, unless a later president withdraws from it. This means that American gun owners must remain vigilant in ensuring this treaty is never ratified. The NRA will continue to keep gun owners up to date on any movement toward ratification, and will work with our allies in the Senate to ensure the treaty remains unratified.

Congressman: IRS Asked Pro-life Group About 'the Content of Their Prayers'

2013-05-18T01:03:00.002-05:00

WashingtonExaminer

During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing today, Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., grilled outgoing IRS commissioner Steven Miller about the IRS targeting a pro-life group in Iowa.
“Their question, specifically asked from the IRS to the Coalition for Life of Iowa: ‘Please detail the content of the members of your organization’s prayers,’" Schock declared.
“Would that be an inappropriate question to a 501 c3 applicant?” asked Schock. “The content of one’s prayers?”
“It pains me to say I can’t speak to that one either,” Miller replied.
After Schock pressed him further, Miller explained that although he couldn't comment on the specific case, it would "surprise him" if that question was asked.
The report comes from the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm for religious liberty.
From their report:

Coalition for Life of Iowa found itself in the IRS’s crosshairs when the group applied for tax exempt status in October 2008. Nearly ten months of interrogation about the group’s opposition to Planned Parenthood included a demand by a Ms. Richards from the IRS’ Cincinnati office unlawfully insisted that all board members sign a sworn declaration promising not to picket/protest Planned Parenthood. Further questioning by the IRS requested detailed information about the content of the group’s prayer meetings, educational seminars, and signs their members hold outside Planned Parenthood.

NORTHERN CALI: "ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD IS CRUMBLING" - FAMILIES EVACUATE

2013-05-17T22:14:00.000-05:00

Workers prepare to pull vehicles from a sinkhole that opened up on a residential street in the South Deering neighborhood on April 18, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/AFP/Getty Images)

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."
- Romans 8:22

H/T "Scoop" Jacks
EndTimeHeadlines

A giant sinkhole in Lake County near San Francisco has begun the slow process of swallowing up homes. Eight homes in the subdivision 100 miles north of San Francisco have been evacuated, while 10 others are on notice for potential imminent evacuations, the Los Angeles Times reported. Mail deliveries to the area, called Lakeside Heights, have been stopped as a precaution as well. It is possible that all 30 of the neighborhood’s homes will have to be abandoned if the sinking cannot be stopped. ”It’s a slow-motion disaster,” said Randall Fitzgerald, a writer who bought his home there a year ago. MORE

The "Obama"NATION of Desolation, March 22nd- Time of Tribulation?

2013-05-17T19:39:00.001-05:00

Let me just echo these words from RunningFromBabylon lest you think I have gone off the deep end more than you already do:
I am linking to another YouTube by scrawnytobrawny. By linking to him I am not endorsing EVERYTHING he points out in this YouTube, nor am I endorsing EVERY YouTube he has done. I am linking to this one because he brings out some "coincidences" in various movies in which secretive and nefarious forces behind the scenes in Hollywood seem to be sending a message. He's good on picking up on some of these synchronicities.

Common Core Forcing Marxism/Nazism on America's Children

2013-05-17T17:54:00.003-05:00

This is a side-note to the story I realize, but note the above picture that I have added. It always bugs me when I see as an icon, a logo, or emblem of some sort of apple with one bite missing. Apple Computer famously uses it for instance. Ever notice it? Remind you of anything? Like a symbol for the forbidden fruit that both Eve and Adam were seduced into eating? (Yes, I realize the bible does not say what fruit they ate, but an apple surely is the symbol of that fruit, whatever it may be). Okay, rant over. .
-W.E.

RenewingAmerica

Recently, I met a remarkable woman who has accomplished an extraordinary work in her mission toward educating the American people of a clear and present danger to their children and the methods by which said danger can be stopped. This lady's accomplishments speak for themselves.
BIO:

Christina Michas is the Founder and Leader of the Palm Springs Patriots Coalition and President, Eagle Forum Palm Springs. Prior to getting involved in politics and issues facing our nation, Christina was the Owner of a Design and Development Business. Christina felt the calling to stop her business, completely, and get involved in saving her country. This led to her becoming involved in politics and their attendant issues full time. As a result, in February, 2009 she founded the Palm Springs Patriots Coalition. Since then, Christina has been involved in many organizations and events, while continuing to work with her group to educate and activate people in her community. She has worked diligently with her local officials to bring positive changes to local area cities. She was the VP of Marketing for Consumers Power Alliance (CPA), a coalition of groups dedicated to stopping Smart Meter Installations in California. Through the work of CPA, they won the right for all Californian's to opt out of Wireless Smart Meters.

Christina is the recipient of the 2010 Salvatori Award from the Heritage Foundation for her instrumental work in the Tea Party Movement. Christina is also a producer for Breaking News Journal. Today Christina is the Co-founder of a newly formed Coalition called CURE (Citizens United for Responsible Education) to join in the fight to stop the Common Core Curriculum Standards of a Government led take over of our education system. She has been on numerous local and national radio shows in the effort to educate and activate citizens and to encourage all to get involved. As Christina states, " It is time for all of us to step up and take personal responsibility for what is happening in our nation," to become our own representatives and to stop looking to Politicians to fix the problems. Christina is a Greek American and is strong believer in the Lord from which she draws her strength. This enables her to look at current events objectively through the prism of the Bible and end time prophecy.

The Interview

Sher: Christina, thanks so much for being here with me, today. You are doing an extraordinary job of bringing the truth about what is happening in the government public school system in the USA...and it isn't pretty. During his brutal reign in Russia, in which he established the Soviet Union or USSR, created the Secret Police, established Siberian prison camps, killed thousands of peasants when they did not work as hard as the ruling Communist elites demanded or if they questioned anything these same Communists did, Vladimir Lenin also, said: "Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted." He was referring to the Luciferian Communist Party's child education – aka indoctrination – system. "Common Core" appears to have all of the earmarks of the old USSR's programming system for children with several new innovative and chilling twists. It is also firmly tied to Agenda 21 – the land-grabbing and human suppression and depopulation program.

Would you give us a brief synopsis of what Common Core is, and why it is so dangerous to our children and to us all?

Christina: Common Core is a Nationalized Federal government takeover of our Education system which of course is against the law, as the Federal Government is not allowed to set any educational curriculum standards – a right reserved to the States. Least of all do they have the power to create a one size fits all complete take over of education on all levels. This is a States rights issue. The Federal Government has standardized the education curriculum that will apply to all public schools, charter schools, private schools, Christian schools and homeschooling. No one is safe from this new mandate. Common Core Standards are being mandated and implemented by the Federal Government via organizations such as National Governors Association, Achieve, and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).

What makes common core so dangerous to our children and us is becoming more evident each day. First of all, it is a one size fits all, education takeover. So, let's say your child has a learning disorder. He or she will be left behind, as CC has no provision for helping those that can't keep up.

The comparison of Nazism and Common Core (CC) are uncanny. One such comparison is that Nazism had Leaders and Master Teachers in the National Socialists Teachers League that visited schools and kept data files on Teachers. The Obama Administration funded 10,000 Master Teachers (MT'S) to train Teachers on CC and the MT's will keep data files on students and Teachers. Students were taught to spy on parents and teachers. CC will have students as young as 5 participating in the evaluation of Teachers. In Nazism, the curriculum was rewritten to provide a Nazi (government) approved curriculum.. Common Core curriculum is being rewritten to provide a global approved curriculum. Nazism kept huge data files on students and teachers and Common Core will data mine the students with over 400 different data points on each child, their family and teachers from pre-kindergarten to workforce...And one final comparison is Nazism had strong Teachers' Unions (NSTL). We have but to look at how powerful the Teacher's unions are in our country and only growing stronger in power and influence under this current Obama Administration's unholy alliance with them at America's expense and the expense of the education of our children.. The quality of the educational standards of our children has suffered at the hands of these Teachers' Unions. Common Core is no different. Our children will suffer at the hand of a government controlled education system. They will no longer be able to have dreams and goals but only those that the government wishes them to have (UNESCO – A21). If this isn't Nazism, Communism, Marxism and all the "ism's," I don't know what is. The worst part is they are lying to parents and teachers about what Common Core really is and the effects it will have. Teachers don't even realize that their jobs are in jeopardy for, if they do not conform, they will be removed.. But, then again, were not the people of Russia, Germany etc. all deceived until it was too late??

You asked why it is dangerous? In addition to the above, according to the Dept. of Education's own document, Grit, Tenacity and Perseverance, they outline the data mining methods that will be used on the children. fMRI's will be used through their computers to scan the child to see how they react to different stimuli (pg. 32)...On page 44 of the same document, they show the different technologies that will be used such as Facial Expression Camera's that will be on the computer, Posture Analysis Seats, Pressure Mouse and Wireless Skin Conductance Sensors.. All of these methods, along with the other data they will collect on families, religious affiliations, voting affiliations, health records, whether or not families own guns etc. are just a few of the data points they want to collect from the children. Children will be encouraged to spy and report on what their families do at home...Sounds like one of the famous "ism's" to me. Big Brother will know everything about how you and your children live, work and play... None of the technology being used has been tested to see what effects, if any, it will have on the children. And, if that is not enough, the Master Teachers will be instructing the Teachers to not teach our nations framework or any form of nationalism. Instead they will be trained to be "good global, sustainable citizens" prepared for a global world not our proud heritage as we were taught. They will become a "managed work force" for the New World Order...Many will be forced to choose a career path by 9 years old based on the data mined on each child.. Children will be separated based on how their data is analyzed to see if they will comply or be rebellious and will be placed into groups accordingly...Communist China has this method. The Chinese government decides what "career" you will have.. No longer will a child be able to strive to achieve his or her own goals.. They will be "managed."

Children will no longer be taught the usual math, literature, history or social studies. The curriculum, as designed, will change how children learn as much of our history has been distorted or eliminated by the authors of Common Core.. Teachers will teach to the test only.. They say that it is to the child's benefit not to teach them critical thinking and problem solving, but rather to memorize desired information; teaching to tests only.. It will be the dumbing down of our children.

Many of our states currently have superior curriculum to CC but it will be discarded in favor of the inferior CC Curriculum.. California is one State believe it or not.. The adoption of Common Core Curriculum Standards will be substantially identical across all states, "a one size fits all" and does not address the unique individuality of each child. It is teaching children all the same thing at the same time regardless of their developmental or language differences.

These are just a few examples of what Common Core is and why it is dangerous for our children and us. Many corporations are lining up at the gravy trough as they will be poised to make a bundle especially the tech industries.. Microsoft, Google, AT&T, and many others are signed on along with Exxon Mobile, Walmart, General Electric, Warren Buffet, and George Soros. William Ayres of the Weather Underground Terrorist organization along with his good friend, Linda Darling Hammond, both far left radicals; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Jeb Bush is a strong proponent.

Mark Tucker, President of the National Center on Education and the Economy is another radical from the Clinton era and was instrumental in the development of this plan. His plan in a letter to Hillary Clinton in Nov. 1992 lays out his goal to "remold the entire American system" into a seamless web that literally extends from cradle to grave" and is the same system for everyone (Common Core). Tucker's plan would change the mission of the schools from teaching children academic basics and knowledge to training them to serve the global economy in jobs selected by workforce boards. Hence all the corporate involvement.

Tucker's plan was implemented in 3 laws and passed and signed by President Clinton in 1994. "The Goals 2000 Act," "The School-to-Work Act" and the "Reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act."

Arne Duncan, Sec. of Education is a strong proponent with UNESCO. So are the Pearson Foundation and Gulen Foundation (Charter Schools in the US), just to name a few.

Sher: Which US States have already agreed to the Communist Common Core teaching methods and why do you believe they did so?

Christina: 46 States signed on to Common Core and RTTT Grants between Nov. 2009 and Jan. 2010. The States were given 2 months to comply or lose their grant monies. When will the States learn to say "no" to the dangling carrot of the Federal Government money bribes? States need to wake up and just say "no"! Now if a State wants to opt out of Common Core, it will have to go through the legislatures and governors, which is what should have happened in the first place. Most all states signed on without their legislatures knowledge or input and none of them actually "read the standards" as they were not yet developed but signed on, sight unseen. There are currently approximately 23 states that are in the process in one form or another of removing Common Core from their respective states.

Common Core was funded through the stimulus bill in 2009. What happened to those "shovel ready jobs"? Instead, we got "shoveled" a United Nations UNESCO global education agenda. The Tides Foundation in conjunction with UNESCO and Bill Gates of Microsoft had this program prepared prior to Obama's election and once elected, the funding was incorporated into the Stimulus and funded without knowledge or consent of Congress as usual. Deception! The government created a Race to the Top Grant program that was used to coerce the States into signing onto this Curriculum sight unseen. If they did not agree to implement the Common Core Curriculum, the educations grant monies for the States was withheld. This was bribery by our Government to force the States to sign or lose grants for education. The Common Core was developed and implemented without State legislative authority and funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation by at least $173 million dollars and still climbing. They claim it is a "State Led Initiative or Standard." They Lie!! the States had no input or choice. They were coerced. Now that they have signed onto this Common Core Curriculum Standard, the States sadly abdicated their States rights to have local control of education.

Sher: I understand that teachers will now be renamed "facilitators" and that actual history will continue to be rewritten by the Common Core groups. In what other ways will classroom "facilitating" and children be trained to become the elites' 'good new world order global citizens'?

Christina: They now have what they call "Master Teachers" that will be teaching the teachers on how to teach to Common Core.

At some point, teachers or "facilitators" will actually be irrelevant. They do not want Teachers force-feeding "education." According to the Master Teacher's presentation, they want a greater emphasis on development of the child's voice vs the Teachers voice. Teachers or "Facilitators" are taught not to have an adherence to the text, as "Truth is relative"; that "history has no distinct truth." Children will have no moral compass and no allegiance except to government. Of course, that is the goal to destroy the very fabric of our nation.. How do you change a society? Vladimir Lenin said, "Give me four years to teach children and the seeds I have sown will never be uprooted." This is what is facing our children if we do not wake this nation up to the dangers of Common Core.

As per one Master Teacher who gave a presentation to Teachers said, "The teachers theme is to teach students that the Civic Mission of Schools are as guardians of Democracy and will promote a correlation between government and education. The key word here is Democracy. Communist nations are considered as democracies. The US is a democratic Republic. The collective is about "democracy" or "social justice, economic justice and redistribution, which is another way of saying Tyranny and Government Control.

They will teach a more Statist oriented education. As an example, for English Literature, required reading will be "informational texts" such as the EPA bills and regulations, the Affordable Healthcare Act etc. to promote the correlation of government and education. This is to teach children from an early age that they should look to "Big Brother" for their needs. Actual literature as we were taught will only be allowed if the States choose to implement under the provision that they can input 15% of the curriculum. Common Core is a copyrighted curriculum standard and cannot be changed or altered. It must be taught as is. They tell you that the States will be able to implement their own curriculum standards but that is a lie. Only 15% input is permitted.

This same MT discussed a parallel writing technique where students are encouraged to create division and class warfare in the classroom. Students love to argue in everything and to encourage this will enhance their 'creative " side; to be angry with parents; to encourage them and give them permission to be rude and nasty. Kids will love it and it will teach them "oppositional behavior." It is all sick and designed to destroy the family unit.

Sher: Christina, how does Common Core ultimately tie into the Agenda 21 removal of all private property from human populations and the planned culling of multiple millions of us as Obama's friend Bill Ayers suggested when he said in the 1970s that at least 25,000,000 Americans – alone – would have to be exterminated?

Christina: First of all, for those that are not familiar with Agenda 21, it is actually called the United Nations Agenda for the 21st Century. President H.W. Bush initially brought the UN Agenda into the US. He was the one that initially spoke those now infamous words, "New World Order." The UN Treaty for this was never ratified by Congress so in 1993, President Bill Clinton signed an Executive Order creating the President's Council on Sustainability Development (Sustainable America) dropped the UN Agenda into this order, thus incorporating Agenda 21 into our country and implementing a UN driven agenda through regulations and legislation bypassing Congress and the ratification of the UN treaty. Another deception foisted onto the American people!

UNESCO is the educational and sustainable division of the United Nations. They are tasked to facilitate partnerships through a work program approved by the United Nations Council on Sustainable Development. . In 2004, Bill Gates signed an agreement with UNESCO to further their agenda here in the US and globally. Common Core Educational Standards originate from UNESCO and are being implemented and promoted by the Progressive left in the US.

To tie Agenda 21 Sustainability movement into Common Core one has but to look at excerpts of the UNESCO Mission Statement: "It may be hoped that in time anybody will be able to persuade anybody of anything if he can catch the patient young and is provided by the State with money and equipment"

"There are thus two tasks for the Mass Media division of UNESCO, the one general, the other special. The special one is to enlist the press and the radio and the cinema to the fullest extent in the service of education, of science and learning, of art and culture. The general one is to see that these agencies are used to promote the growth of the "common outlook" shared by all nations and cultures.

Education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, thought the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished"...written by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, he goes on to state: "The social psychologist of the future will have a number of classes of school children on whom they will try different methods of producing an unshakable conviction that snow is black. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for more than a generation will be able to control its "subjects" securely without the need of armies or policemen."

Julian Huxley, a major player for UNESCO in 1945, served as its first Director. Huxley was also the VP of the Eugenics (meaning: a science that deals with the improvement of hereditary qualities in a series of generation of a race or breed, esp, by control of human mating and reproduction) Society from 1937 thru 1944. In 1947, he wrote: "Thus even though it is quite true that any radical eugenic policy will be for many years politically and psychologically impossible, it will be important for UNESCO to see that the eugenic problem is examined and that the public mind is informed of the issues at stake so that much that now is unthinkable may become thinkable."

From reading these quotes and excerpts, we can see how Common Core ties into Agenda 21's global goals for the New World Order. Control!! Control!!

The ultimate goal of UNESCO, via the nationalization of our education system is to create " good global, sustainable citizens who will be "managed" by a Global Government.. The ultimate goal is to have a "managed citizenry," a managed economy, and a managed environment once again returning to Mother Earth worship.

This is where eugenics and William (Bill) Ayers, ObamaCare, the Nationalization of our Economy, Energy, Health and Education systems comes into play.. Ayers is a major driver behind Common Core and sadly is a very radical Professor today that has had much influence on students thinking ... He and other key players including the Clinton's, Bushes', Gore, Gates, Soros, Rockefeller, Warren Buffet, Obama and his minions, etc.. Understand that one cannot "manage" most of adult America today. The ultimate goal of these radicals from the UN, the US and other nations is to set up Internment or Re-education camps for those that will not comply with their sick agenda.. You either are "retrained" or you will have to be eliminated.

The Healthcare Bill will take care of the "useless" senior population via "managed care." The government will have free reign with the youth.. You cannot change a nation unless you change how it thinks and operates...Hence, the lesson learned from Lenin, Stalin, Marx et al, "get the children and you change generations"... I know this sounds insane, but sadly, it is a reality we are facing today.. Don't take my word for it, do your research.. Just go to the United Nations and look at Agenda 21... do your own homework. Research the Sustainability Movement. There is no shortage of information available. This is a very real Agenda that is being thrust onto citizens here in America and across the globe.. The US stands in the way of ultimate implementation. Hence George Soros's, Open Society, states: "we must have a managed decline of America in order to bring about the New World Order"... Do your research everyone.. This is very real and is happening at record speed.. The target is the US and our children. Hence the implementation of Common Core to achieve the mission goals of UNESCO stated above.

Agenda 21 is the UN's vision for a centrally managed global society.. Agenda 21 has a plan for how you will live (as per Marx, "private property ownership must be eliminated") where you will live (stack and pack communities; walkable communities, livable communities; "managed communities "under the guise of "sustainable and/or "smart growth." Even the American Planning Assoc. is complicit in helping to implement this agenda via local planning, zoning, etc. in conjunction with ICLEI, another UN agency. Hence the removal of personal/private property via regulations).. how you commute (high speed rail and public transportation – cars a thing of the past); what you will eat (genetically modified foods – another unholy alliance with Monsanto and Archer Daniel Midland and others), and what you will learn or be taught (BINGO, COMMON CORE!).. And, even "who your God will be" – social justice anyone"...... When fully implemented, "Agenda 21 will have government involved in every aspect of life for every human on earth from cradle to grave."

Global Warming was the vehicle invented to drive this Sustainable Agenda from the UN. Read, "Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save our Planet.. The goal is to save "Mother Earth."

Quote from the Club of Rome (Gro Harlem Bruntland – previous President of Norway, the Bruntland Commission and all members of Club of Rome are huge supporter of eugenics. She worked with Al Gore on Climate Change Agenda) Indeed, the Rockefeller Foundation had population control, as it's founding principle – all part of UN A-21.

One quote: "Agenda 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by ever person on earth.. it calls for specific changes in the activities of all people. It will require a profound reorientation of all human society, unlike anything the world has ever experienced – an unprecedented redeployment of human and financial resources.. The shift will demand that a concern for the environmental consequences of every human action be integrated into individual and collective decision making at every level."

One last quote from Club of Rome: "the common enemy of humanity is man...in searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill.. All these dangers are callused by human intervention and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome.. The real enemy then, is humanity itself..."

These are not my words but the actual words and quotes from the sources themselves. We don't have to speculate; we have but to read their words...Research for yourself. It is not difficult to see what their agenda is and how important it is for the people of this nation to wake up to the dangers facing our children and us.

I could go on and on about this, but I think you get the idea. If you go back over this article, based on the above from UNESCO and the UN Agenda 21 goals, you will be able to readily see how Common Core ties into A-21/ UNESCO's ultimate goals and visions.. Controlled Education Curriculum; Data Mining; Master Teachers, technology to monitor children et al... Connect the dots for yourself.. It is not a "warm and fuzzy" agenda.... Not difficult to connect the dots.. It is being thrust on America via lies and deception by this Government to serve their global, utopian agenda of a One World Order.

Sher: What can people do to stop this insidious onslaught and destruction of our children?

Christina: We have formed a national Coalition called CURE, Citizens United for Responsible Education. They can go to our website or contact me directly and we can hook them up to people in their respective states so they can get involved. I have only scratched the surface here today. I encourage everyone to research Common Core and Agenda 21 as they are part and parcel of each other.. Find out what is happening in your states. Join our coalition.. I strongly encourage parents to get their children out of the Public Education system into Christian Schools, private schools or homeschooling.. be sure to ask if they are implementing Common Core.. and not Charter Schools either.. They are involved with CC as they are a public/pvt. funded partnership. We also have Gulen Charter Schools of which Gulen supports CC...There are numerous homeschooling Associations and organizations to research.. Be wary of Sylvan Learning Centers as their National Headquarters were contacted by our organization and found that they are complicit to Common Core curriculum standards. Be sure to ask!! We are working on developing alternatives for parents as they struggle to navigate this new paradigm,

Sher: Thanks so much for your insight, your excellent work and your time, Christina. To which website can people go to keep updated on all you and others are doing to stop Common Core? Christina: Our website is: www.natcore.org (Scheduled to go "live" by 5-12-2013) or one can reach me via email at: goldiebelle@reagan.com

Other helpful sites.

www.truthineduation.org

www.breakingnewsjournal.org

www.stopcommoncore.org

A homeschooling site:

www.theeducationalfreedomcoalition.org

© Sher Zieve

Jonathan Cahn On Glenn Beck TV- The Harbinger

2013-05-17T17:15:00.000-05:00

I know that today we live in a post modern America, or put another way, a secular America and things having to do with God are not in vogue...at least not the God of the bible. But some that follow Glenn Beck, may take a listen and this is my hope.
This is not prophecy, this is a warning. God loves America, more importantly, God loves each and every human being and wants you to turn in faith to His Son.
Jonathan Cahn does not give his full presentation of the 9 Harbingers, but enough to perhaps wet the appetite.
For more in-depth from Cahn see: IS AMERICA UNDER JUDGMENT? (VIDEO)

ApolloEight Genesis

Obama IRS Refused Tax Exempt Status to Christian and Pro-Israel Groups But Granted Nonprofit Status to Muslim Orgs

2013-05-17T10:52:00.000-05:00

Our Federal Government, at the highest levels has been compromised by men and women in places of power that pretend to be working for America, when in fact, their far left ideology is much more supportive of Progressivism and as such, they work against America. This is where the evidence leads us, yet many, if not most, are thrown off this trail because the media, themselves over-run by Progressive's don't report on it.
Of course they don't, they would have to expose themselves.
It's really quite simple as I have tried to explain it before if we look at the BIG PICTURE, then end game if you will. We can then see it played out in smaller, day to day workings of this government.

The Big Picture are these three goals:

ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT
ONE WORLD ECONOMY
ONE WORLD RELIGION

In order to implement these fundamental changes, Globalists, using Progressive ( i.e., Marxist and yes, Islam's "Sharia" aligns itself very often with Marxism) ideology attack with the intent of destroying or compromising the following three obstacles that are the largest hindrance to their end-game.
These I like to think of as the "Three C's"

-CONSTITUTION
-CAPITALISM
-CHRISTIANITY

When I look at this issue for instance through this lens, it is quite clear why a government rife with Progressives would want to attack individuals and organizations that have tea party principles when by and large "tea-partiers" are often (though not always) Christians who strongly support the Constitution and Capitalism.

-W.E.

GatewayPundit

The Inspector General released a report this week and found that 63% of scrutinized IRS applications were withdrawn or were still unresolved.
Conservative, Tea Party, pro-Israel and Christian groups were targeted by the IRS.

The Obama IRS refused to grant tax exempt status to Christian and pro-life groups on behalf of the abortion group Planned Parenthood.

“In one case, the IRS withheld approval of an application for tax exempt status for Coalition for Life of Iowa. In a phone call to Coalition for Life of Iowa leaders on June 6, 2009, the IRS agent ‘Ms. Richards’ told the group to send a letter to the IRS with the entire board’s signatures stating that, under perjury of the law, they do not picket/protest or organize groups to picket or protest outside of Planned Parenthood,” the Thomas More Society announced today. “Once the IRS received this letter, their application would be approved.”
Planned Parenthood endorsed Obama in 2008 and 2012.

But, Muslim organizations were granted nonprofit status almost immediately. Maryam Aryam Ansari at Illume reported:

Having spent most of my legal career working with tax exempt entities, the IRS scrutiny on the Tea Party isn’t news to me. In my days at large law firms, I handled a portfolio of nonprofit Tea Party organizations and saw firsthand how the IRS treated them when it came to granting exemptions.
In many cases, the organizations fight tooth-and-nail to get through IRS scrutiny, often facing pages of questions from the IRS on their activities.
In some instances, the IRS went about it in a more roundabout way, calling into question the organization’s use of funds, its outside grants and operational issues.
Several of the applications were even sent up to the IRS’ National Office for elevated scrutiny.
The experiences mirror the allegations of the American Center for Law and Justice, who represented 27 organizations.
On the flip side, I’ve worked with numerous Muslim organizations as well. And every single application of a Muslim nonprofit has flown through the IRS, with minimal scrutiny.
What does this say about the way that the IRS is handling applications from Muslim nonprofits? For one, in the application phase, Muslim nonprofits seem to have an upper hand over Tea Party groups.
Is this a tacit power-play by the Obama administration? Some would say so.

The Obama IRS also harassed a pro-Israel group suggesting they might be involved in terrorism.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY- THE SEAT OF SATAN

2013-05-16T20:33:00.001-05:00

I hope many of you are keeping up! If you have moved ahead that is great! Keep on going, or simply review.
In part 20 and 21 of our ongoing study section 1 comes to a close and because those are quick videos, let's try and forge ahead with two more.
We learn in these two chapters of the mystery religions that began in Babylon are moved temporarily to Pergamos (see Revelation 2) until the time of Caesar.
Part 22 begins the second of 4 sections (each 20 chapters long) starting with the first advent of Christ and moves into the historical questions regarding Constantine and persecution of the church by Rome and the doctrines of demons that enter the church of Rome (Chapter 23).

Parts 18 and 19 here Part 16 and 17 here Parts 13 thru 15 here

Parts 11 and 12 here. Parts 9 and 10 here Parts 7 and 8 here Parts 5 and 6 are here Parts 3 and 4 here Part 2 - Lucifer here

See Part 1, a short introduction to this series here.

TheFuelProject

Most Americans: I'm Immune From Disaster

2013-05-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.- Proverbs 6:6-8

WND

Terrorists? Electro-magnetic pulse from a bomb, or a solar flare? Even floods, tornadoes or fires?
Most Americans apparently are infected with a version of NIMBY – Not In My Backyard, one that convinces them it won’t happen to them.
That’s according to a new poll that said only 36 percent have an established emergency response plan in place.
Zogby Analytics also today said that only one American in four is concerned that an emergency situation – terror attack, health pandemic, or natural disaster like tornadoes – will affect their community.
The poll by State University of New York Institute of Technology and Zogby was conducted online on May 8-9 and reached out to 1,000 adults nationwide. It has a sample error rate of 3.2 percentage points.
It was released in conjunction with the “Safety and Security in the Global Age” conference on the SUNY campus.
“When asked of the likelihood if a series of emergency situations were to occur in their community, the following percentages said the emergency was ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’: 26 percent a general emergency, 24 percent an industrial accident, 23 percent a natural disaster, 20 percent a mass shooting, 19 percent a terrorist attack, and 15 percent a health pandemic,” the report said.
“If such an emergency situation were to occur, the most likely locations cited were a shopping mall (46 percent), an airport or train station (43 percent), a stadium or arena (42 percent), on a bus/plane or train (38 percent), an outdoor sporting or community event (35 percent), a school (30 percent), a roadway (28 percent ) or office building (28 percent), a bridge (27 percent), a hospital (25 percent), or at home (22 percent),” the poll said.
It also revealed 55 percent said they were “confident” that they knew safety procedures, but only 36 percent said they have a plan for emergencies “in place,” despite a number of online resources that provide guidance for the fundamentals of self-defense, emergency response and management, and a source for tools and other equipment for emergencies.
One of the Web’s most comprehensive resources for preparing for and responding to emergencies, now available at the WND Superstore.
Zogby reported in case of a neighborhood emergency, Americans said their family (53 percent) was more prepared than their local government (44 percent).
Airports (41 percent), schools (39 percent) and employers (31 percent) were estimated to be even less prepared.
“In case of a national emergency, Americans are most trusting in local law enforcement in case of a shooting (58 percent), the FBI in case of a terrorist attack (53 percent), the Centers for Disease Control in case of a pandemic (49 percent), and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration in case of a natural disaster (45 percent),” the report said.
But the poll reveals Americans still are concerned about privacy, and not always supportive of “security” measures.
“In several situations tested, Americans gave little support to retinal scans and searches of personal items – but there were some differences depending on the specific situations. A majority (58 percent) supported bag searches at airports and train stations. Armed security was more acceptable at airports and train stations (49 percent) but not at office buildings (23 percent), hospitals (32 percent), schools (34 percent), and shopping malls (38 percent),” the poll reported.
The idea of a national ID card was panned, only 27 percent supported the idea, but microchips for felons who served time for violent crimes were supported by 34 percent, ID cards for adults 42 percent, public road security cameras 46 percent, registration of bomb ingredients 47 percent, national fingerprinting 47 percent and background checks for firearms and large ammunition purchases 64 percent.
“Americans feel they are knowledgeable about preparation for emergency/disaster situations but only one in three have actual preparedness plans. When it comes to such situations, all emergency relief is local – i.e. Americans trust family and local law enforcement more than government or larger institutions. We seek and trust the familiar more than the agencies we support by taxes. This country was founded on personal liberty and more than a decade after the events of 9-11 and only weeks after the Boston Marathon Bombings, Americans are not too willing to give up many of those liberties,” pollster John Zogby said.
One of the Web’s most comprehensive resources for preparing for and responding to emergencies, now available at the WND Superstore.

CHUCK MISSLER: WARNING TO AMERICA & GOD'S JUDGEMENT

2013-05-16T00:41:00.001-05:00

Q69573

Multiple Tornadoes Strike North Texas, up to 100 Injured (VIDEO)

2013-05-16T00:08:00.001-05:00

NoLinkNewsChannel

Inspector General: IRS Reviewed Every Org with 'Tea Party' in Name

2013-05-14T22:49:00.002-05:00

MichaelSavage4Prez

Breitbart

The Inspector General of the U.S. Treasury has released its 54-page report on the targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Earlier Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice would be opening a criminal probe into the IRS scandal, though the White House declined to condemn the IRS action, despite expressions of outrage by President Barack Obama.
The Treasury report does not conclude that the review of certain organizations' tax-exempt status was inappropriate, but rather that the selection criteria used to identify these organizations were wrong.
Other important findings include:

70% of applications for tax-exempt status by all organizations of any kind were approved in fiscal year 2010
Over an 18-month period, all applicants with the words "Tea Party" in their names were reviewed; later, "Patriots" and "9/12" were added; other names included "We The People"
58% of the groups chosen for review received requests for information from the IRS that were "unnecessary," including the names of donors and "the type of conversations and discussions members and participants" had at meetings
Because of the additional scrutiny applied to these groups, many experienced significant delays that entitled them to sue the IRS
Because of the selection criteria based on names and conservative policy positions, some other politicized groups were missed by the IRS
Senior IRS officials claim the wrongdoing was not instigated "by any individual or organization outside the IRS"
There was "ineffective oversight by management" over the review process
Officials in the Exempt Organizations division disagreed with some of the findings of the Treasury IG

The full Treasury IG report is embedded below.
141499802-Full-text-The-IG-s-54-page-IRS-tax-scandal-report

141499802-Full-text-The-IG-s-54-page-IRS-tax-scandal-report

Gen Boykin: "Outraged" at Imam Gloating Over Coffins of SEAL Team 6

2013-05-14T17:30:00.000-05:00

After watching the short video below, you will undoubtedly want to see: The Muslim Cleric Video Damning Our Fallen Soldiers to Hell

OUTRAGE DOESN'T BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THIS GOVERNMENT ORDAINED ABOMINATION.
W.E.
theunitedwest

America's Downward Spiral Continues: Minnesota Approves Same-sex Marriage

2013-05-14T16:44:00.005-05:00

I mentioned this would happen just about a week ago, and my comments then, are the same thoughts I have now:
"American continues to try and legitimize same sex marriage, defying 6000 years of recorded history, and the Judeo/Christian tradition that was once the bedrock of America. For the LGBT movement, this is the 11th state to legalize gay marriage, with Minnesota next in their sites and sure to fall.
But for all of the wisdom of this world, from the political progressives in the halls of Congress to the Hollywood crowd and the media pundits who are bringing us boldly where no nation has gone before, Almighty God still says, "For I am the Lord, I change not". "
-W.E.

NewAmerican

The state Senate of Minnesota voted 37 to 30 on May 13 to allow same-sex marriages, following earlier passage of the legislation by the state’s House of Representatives on May 9 by a 75-to-59 vote.
The legislation changes the definition of marriage in Minnesota from "between a man and a woman" to a civil contract between two persons.
The bill now goes to DFL Governor Mark Dayton, who has indicated he will sign the bill Tuesday evening. Dayton is heir to the Dayton’s Department store fortune, now known as Target Corporation.
Both houses of the Minnesota legislature are dominated by the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), which outnumbers Republicans 73 to 61 in the House and 39 to 28 in the Senate. The DFL is affiliated with the national Democratic Party, but has origins in the leftist Populist, Progressive movement that has long been popular in the upper Midwest.
Minnesota becomes the third state in the nation to approve same-sex marriage in May, following Rhode Island and Delaware. It is the second Midwestern state to do so, after Iowa. But Iowa’s status resulted not from a legislative vote, but a 2009 decision by the state’s supreme court.
Demonstrators marched outside the state capitol in St. Paul before the vote, carrying signs against and in favor of the legislation: “Don’t Erase Moms and Dads” and “Marriage Equality, You Betcha.”
“In my heart of hearts, I know that today love wins,” State Senator Tony Lourey (DFL) was quoted by the New York Times.
But State Senator Torrey Westrom, a Republican, asked, “Where does this stop?” This vote, he said, will send Minnesota “down that road of taking mother and father out of our recognition of what our children need.”
The Times also quoted a statement from the Rev. Thomas McCabe, a Catholic priest who stood among the crowd inside the Capitol, who pointed out the obvious: “It’s an objective reality that every baby has a mom and a dad.”
A Reuters news story posted on NBC.com observed that this latest vote marked “a sharp reversal for Minnesota’s legislature.” Just two years ago, the then-Republican-controlled legislature bypassed the governor and voted to place a measure on the ballot that would have made the state's existing ban on gay marriage part of the state constitution.
However, Minnesota voters rejected that proposal last November and also elected Democratic-Farmer-Labor majorities to both houses, making Monday’s legislative vote possible.
Reuters also quoted Republican Senator Warren Limmer, a sponsor of the proposed pro-traditional marriage amendment two years ago, has said the legislation will change how businesses work, clergy speak from the pulpit, and school curricula are shaped.
“Prior to the marriage amendment [vote] in November, many people were warning that this day would come,” Limmer said in an interview last week.
Limmer was also quoted in a report from Minnesota Public Radio, which said that the Maple Grove Republican does not believe the legislation provides adequate protections for those who do not believe in so-called gay marriage.

“This proposal does not protect religious institutions and non-profits," said … Limmer…. Organizations like the YMCA, Northwestern College and the University of St. Thomas "are all religious affiliated institutions, but they are not protected. Northwestern is a very popular place to get married. That Christian college cannot refuse (a same sex wedding on its grounds), according to this law that we’re considering. And so it goes with other institutions."

MPR also quoted another Republican senator, Sean Nienow of Cambridge, who charged that wedding photographers and others who make a living off weddings but don't believe in gay marriage would be given the difficult choice of being put out of business or “violating their core beliefs.”
Others spoke in favor of the recent measure: “This legislation will finally give (same-sex couples) the same recognition that my wife and I have and most of the people in this room have. Nothing more. Nothing less," MPR quoted Sen. John Marty (DFL-Roseville). “These families pay taxes, participate in their communities ... These families deserve the same rights that we do.”
Marty’s statement presumes not only a redefinition of marriage, but a redefinition of “family” as well.
Sen. Dan Hall (R-Burnsville), whom MPR said warned that the bill would create the worst societal divisions since the Civil War, posed some penetrating questions: “Are homosexual marriages good for our children? Are we as members in this chamber going to change the course of history?”
Same-sex marriage is currently legal in eleven states (Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Washington, Delaware, and Rhode Island) and the District of Columbia.
President Obama announced on May 9, 2012, “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” Obama also supports the repeal of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996. DOMA restricts federal marriage benefits and requires inter-state marriage recognition only to opposite-sex marriages in the United States. Clinton has since reversed his stand and now advocates the repeal of DOMA.
As the battle between the novelty known as same-sex marriage and millennia-old traditional marriage continues, and as state after state jumps on the same-sex bandwagon, it is interesting to consider what most American believe on this critical cultural issue.
In a June 22, 2011 article, The New American cited a May 2011 survey conducted by the pro-family Alliance Defense Fund. After polling 1,500 Americans about their opinions on marriage, the survey found that 62 percent agreed with the traditional definition of marriage, with 53 percent “strongly” agreeing.
Bible-believing Christians may observe with some irony that this latest legislative triumph against the traditional Judeo-Christian concept of marriage took place in St. Paul, Minnesota, named after the Log Chapel of St. Paul. Father Lucien Galtier, who established the chapel, wrote that the settlement was now to be called by that name, as “Saint Paul as applied to a town or city was well appropriated, this monosyllable is short, sounds good, it is understood by all Christian denominations.”
St. Paul, known as “the Apostle to the Gentiles,” authored 13 books of the New Testament, and several passages in Paul’s epistles condemn homosexuality, especially Romans 1:26-27, which reads, in the King James version of the Bible:

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

^{Photo of crowd cheering in the Minnesota State Capitol as the State Senate approved same-sex marriage: AP Images}

Desiree's Story: The Horror Of Abortion, The Horror House Of Gosnell

2013-05-14T15:32:00.001-05:00

3801Lancaster

The Monsters that Walk Among Us

2013-05-14T14:56:00.000-05:00

PJMedia

I remember the first person I arrested for murder.
I had been out of the LAPD academy only a month or two, and my training officer and I were assigned a radio call known as a “welfare check.” These calls most often arise when someone is unable to contact an elderly relative or friend. We went to the house in question, the home of an elderly widow, and found no evidence of a forced entry or any other outward sign of trouble. But given the woman’s age and the accumulation of mail and newspapers at her front door, and as none of her neighbors had seen her in some time, my partner made the decision that we should break in. We did so, expecting to find the woman dead of a heart attack, a stroke, or any of the other natural causes that claim people her age.
Yes, she was dead all right, but there was nothing natural about what had killed her.
When the homicide detectives arrived and assessed the scene, they told us it appeared that the woman had been raped and then stabbed to death with a kitchen knife. The killer, having worked up an appetite, cooked and ate a meal as the woman lay dying in the next room. To this day I am haunted by the thought of the terror she must have felt in those final moments of her life. Who could have done such a thing, I wondered.
Later, with the detectives still sifting the crime scene for evidence, there was little for my partner and me to do but stand near the yellow crime-scene tape and keep the curious at bay. A young man of about 20 approached and asked us what was going on, and in the most perfunctory of terms we told him that the woman in the house had died. A detective in the house contacted us by radio and told us to step out of earshot from the man, and when we had done so the detective informed us we had been talking with the likely killer.
As an eager rookie, my inclination was to slap the handcuffs on him as quickly as I could. My partner, with his greater experience and accompanying wisdom, played it differently. He continued to engage the man in small talk, cleverly eliciting some admissions that would later prove valuable in the murder case against him. We would come to learn that the woman had befriended the killer — a neighbor — some years before and often hired him to perform odd jobs around the house. He had completed one such job before raping and killing her.
While the man struck me as a bit odd, to my then-untutored eye there was nothing in his demeanor that suggested he was capable of the horrible crime he had just committed. In speaking with other neighbors later, I didn’t find one who wasn’t completely shocked by what the man had done.
Which brings us to the unfathomable, decade-long ordeal of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight, the three women recently freed from their kidnapper in Cleveland. How, we wonder, could one man kidnap and hold in captivity even one person for so long without being discovered? How twisted must a man be to carry out such a crime not just once but three times? And how can so twisted a person move among us without our detecting the depth of his malevolence?
We want to comfort ourselves with the delusion that we can spot the dangerous people in our midst. We look at the man accused in the Cleveland case, Ariel Castro, and we tell ourselves we would have known something was amiss behind the walls of his ordinary looking clapboard home. Never in my neighborhood, we say.
But the truth is that most of us haven’t a clue about what goes on inside our neighbors’ homes, even in those neighborhoods described, like Ariel Castro’s, as “tight-knit.” As anyone who reads the papers knows, this term is most often a press euphemism for “poor” or “crime-plagued,” and indeed the Cleveland Police Department’s crime map reveals that officers in Castro’s neighborhood are kept busy. Zoom in on the map to the area just south and west of the I-90/I-71 interchange, expand the date range from the last seven days to the last 30, 60 and 90, and watch the dots on the map multiply like so many poisonous spores in a Petri dish.
I’ve spent most of my police career in Los Angeles working in similar neighborhoods, and even in those that genuinely are “tight-knit” there are always those few individuals who, like Ariel Castro, are themselves at varying stages of coming unraveled. I’ve arrested murderers who had been living right under the noses of people who couldn’t bring themselves to believe that their friend, neighbor, or even family member had shot, stabbed, or bludgeoned someone to death. Once he washes the blood off his hands, your typical murderer looks much the same as anyone else.
Did the police make mistakes in their handling of the three women’s disappearances? Perhaps. Michelle Knight’s name was dropped from an FBI database of missing persons only 15 months after her disappearance, but there is little cause to believe her continued presence in the database would have led to her recovery. After all, Amada Berry’s and Gina DeJesus’s names were in the same database the entire time they were held, to no effect at all. And as for those who say the police should have done more to find the women, one must ask: What more could they have done? In all three abductions the police had no witnesses to describe a suspect and no crime scene from which to pluck forensic evidence. And there was nothing about Ariel Castro that would have offered police cause to suspect him in the cases or to search his home.
No, it isn’t easy to spot the evil person next door. Witness the various characterizations of the Tsarnaev brothers, the Boston Marathon bombers, whom most acquaintances described as ordinary young men incapable of such a horrific crime. And now we know that the brothers have been implicated in a 2011 triple murder in Waltham, Mass., not far from the Watertown neighborhood where the elder brother was killed in a shootout with police and the younger one was captured. How many of their friends suspected they were such cold-hearted killers? How many of the strangers they encountered every day saw even a hint of the darkness in their souls? None of them, I’m sure.
So it is with Ariel Castro. Yes, now that he’s been identified as the proprietor of the Seymour Avenue Dungeon, his neighbors are making claims that they suspected him of bad things all along. There was a naked woman chained up in the backyard, went one report, but the police failed to investigate. All of these tales were concocted after the rescue, police say; there was nothing about Ariel Castro or his house that would have offered the slightest hint at what he was doing behind his closed door.
Ariel Castro is accused of unspeakably evil acts, but like the Tsarnaev brothers, like that murderer I arrested years ago, like all those killers on the loose in Chicago and most other cities you could name, he went unrecognized until the evidence of his crimes leapt out and grabbed someone’s attention.
Not every criminal — or even every murderer — sinks to the level of depravity occupied by the likes of the Tsarnaev brothers and Ariel Castro. But consider: The Boston Globe reported that police solved 43 percent of the city’s murders in 2012, leaving 57 percent of the killers out and about and free to kill again. In Ariel Castro’s Cleveland the police do a better job of things, with a 2012 murder clearance rate of 69 percent, but that still leaves 31 percent of its killers on the loose. And in Chicago, a mere 132 of the city’s 507 murders that occurred in 2012 were solved, for a clearance rate of just 26 percent. That’s a lot of killers running around out there going to restaurants and the movies and partaking in all the other pleasures the less homicidally inclined enjoy, maybe even sitting in the theater right next to . . . you.
Enjoy the show.

POLICE STATE: GOVERNMENT SPIES ON FREE PRESS

2013-05-14T11:34:00.001-05:00

MyWay

Gov't Probe Obtains Wide Swath of AP Phone Records

The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.
The records obtained by the Justice Department listed outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, for general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and for the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP. It was not clear if the records also included incoming calls or the duration of the calls.
In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown, but more than a hundred journalists work in the offices where phone records were targeted, on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.
In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any specific investigation. He demanded the return of the phone records and destruction of all copies.
"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know," Pruitt said.
The government would not say why it sought the records. Officials have previously said in public testimony that the U.S. attorney in Washington is conducting a criminal investigation into who may have provided information contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot. The story disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot in the spring of 2012 to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for the United States.
In testimony in February, CIA Director John Brennan noted that the FBI had questioned him about whether he was AP's source, which he denied. He called the release of the information to the media about the terror plot an "unauthorized and dangerous disclosure of classified information."
Prosecutors have sought phone records from reporters before, but the seizure of records from such a wide array of AP offices, including general AP switchboards numbers and an office-wide shared fax line, is unusual.
In the letter notifying the AP, which was received Friday, the Justice Department offered no explanation for the seizure, according to Pruitt's letter and attorneys for the AP. The records were presumably obtained from phone companies earlier this year although the government letter did not explain that. None of the information provided by the government to the AP suggested the actual phone conversations were monitored.
Among those whose phone numbers were obtained were five reporters and an editor who were involved in the May 7, 2012, story.
The Obama administration has aggressively investigated disclosures of classified information to the media and has brought six cases against people suspected of providing classified information, more than under all previous presidents combined.
The White House on Monday said that other than press reports it had no knowledge of Justice Department attempts to seek AP phone records.
"We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department," spokesman Jay Carney said.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the investigative House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said on CNN, "They had an obligation to look for every other way to get it before they intruded on the freedom of the press."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an emailed statement: "The burden is always on the government when they go after private information, especially information regarding the press or its confidential sources. ... On the face of it, I am concerned that the government may not have met that burden. I am very troubled by these allegations and want to hear the government's explanation."
The American Civil Liberties Union said the use of subpoenas for a broad swath of records has a chilling effect both on journalists and whistleblowers who want to reveal government wrongdoing. "The attorney general must explain the Justice Department's actions to the public so that we can make sure this kind of press intimidation does not happen again," said Laura Murphy, the director of ACLU's Washington legislative office.
Rules published by the Justice Department require that subpoenas of records of news organizations must be personally approved by the attorney general, but it was not known if that happened in this case. The letter notifying AP that its phone records had been obtained through subpoenas was sent Friday by Ronald Machen, the U.S. attorney in Washington.
William Miller, a spokesman for Machen, said Monday that in general the U.S. attorney follows "all applicable laws, federal regulations and Department of Justice policies when issuing subpoenas for phone records of media organizations." But he would not address questions about the specifics of the AP records. "We do not comment on ongoing criminal investigations," Miller said in an email.
The Justice Department lays out strict rules for efforts to get phone records from news organizations. A subpoena can be considered only after "all reasonable attempts" have been made to get the same information from other sources, the rules say. It was unclear what other steps, in total, the Justice Department might have taken to get information in the case.
A subpoena to the media must be "as narrowly drawn as possible" and "should be directed at relevant information regarding a limited subject matter and should cover a reasonably limited time period," according to the rules.
The reason for these constraints, the department says, is to avoid actions that "might impair the news gathering function" because the government recognizes that "freedom of the press can be no broader than the freedom of reporters to investigate and report the news."
News organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants phone records and then they enter into negotiations over the desired information. In this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP, cited an exemption to those rules that holds that prior notification can be waived if such notice, in the exemption's wording, might "pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation."
It is unknown whether a judge or a grand jury signed off on the subpoenas.
Arnie Robbins, executive director of the American Society of News Editors, said, "On the face of it, this is really a disturbing affront to a free press. It's also troubling because it is consistent with perhaps the most aggressive administration ever against reporters doing their jobs - providing information that citizens need to know about our government."
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a potential 2016 presidential candidate, said: "The Fourth Amendment is not just a protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, it is a fundamental protection for the First Amendment and all other Constitutional rights. It sets a high bar - a warrant - for the government to take actions that could chill exercise of any of those rights. We must guard it with all the vigor that we guard other constitutional protections."
The May 7, 2012, AP story that disclosed details of the CIA operation in Yemen to stop an airliner bomb plot occurred around the one-year anniversary of the May 2, 2011, killing of Osama bin Laden.
The plot was significant both because of its seriousness and also because the White House previously had told the public it had "no credible information that terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida, are plotting attacks in the U.S. to coincide with the (May 2) anniversary of bin Laden's death."
The AP delayed reporting the story at the request of government officials who said it would jeopardize national security. Once officials said those concerns were allayed, the AP disclosed the plot, though the Obama administration continued to request that the story be held until the administration could make an official announcement.
The May 7 story was written by reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman with contributions from reporters Kimberly Dozier, Eileen Sullivan and Alan Fram. They and their editor, Ted Bridis, were among the journalists whose April-May 2012 phone records were seized by the government.
Brennan talked about the AP story and investigation in written testimony to the Senate. "The irresponsible and damaging leak of classified information was made ... when someone informed The Associated Press that the U.S. government had intercepted an IED (improvised explosive device) that was supposed to be used in an attack and that the U.S. government currently had that IED in its possession and was analyzing it," he wrote.
He also defended the White House decision to discuss the plot afterward. "Once someone leaked information about interdiction of the IED and that the IED was actually in our possession, it was imperative to inform the American people consistent with government policy that there was never any danger to the American people associated with this al-Qaida plot," Brennan told senators.

BENGHAZI -- MAYBE BRUCE WILLIS SHOULD BE PRESIDENT

2013-05-13T23:49:00.000-05:00

RunningFromBabylon

Benghazi sure became the main topic this past weekend.
This story really started to heat up during this last peace process push by John Kerry when Kerry met with Livni in Rome on Wednesday. There are so many stories out there right now about Benghazi (the most I've seen on any given topic in quite some time) that I've linked to only a few.

What I don't think this President realizes is that the reasoning (excuse?) proferred for not sending military help to the consulate in Benghazi is actually disturbing on a very deep level. Does this President not realize that what he is really saying is, "I didn't think we could get help there in time, so why bother?"

For forever in America the idea has ALWAYS been that we will do whatever it takes to help those in peril. Whenever a disaster takes place in some part of the world, it has long been expected that America will step up to the plate and go above and beyond the call of duty to be of help. It's who we are. It's why we send out search and rescue teams on the high seas for a week or two beyond what would be reasonable for a person to survive. It's why we dig holes into the ground to rescue a little girl fallen into a well. It's why we have elite military groups, so they can go into the tough areas and hopeless situations. Americans are so identified with the idea of a few doing the impossible that we even make movies about Bruce Willis stopping an asteroid from hitting earth. Yeah, that's how much we believe that Americans try against all odds. So that is what is so disturbing about the abandonment of those who found themselves in a fierce fire fight in a tough neighborhood in Benghazi. This President, thus we Americans, weren't there for them. In fact, this President didn't even try.

Hillary infamously screeched during her very softball Q and A with Congress, "What difference does it make?" Perhaps she actually heard that from someone higher up? "What difference would help make? Let's cut our losses and call it good. I've got an election to think about, so I'm going to bed, folks. G'night."

Yeah, Bruce would have tried."

THE 12-MIN VIDEO THAT COULD MAKE JAY CARNEY CURL UP INTO THE FETAL POSITION

DRUDGE: ASSUME ALL YOUR COMMUNICATIONS ARE BEING MONITORED

2013-05-13T23:26:00.002-05:00

WORDS TO LIVE BY MY FRIENDS, WORDS TO LIVE BY- W.E.

Warning to reporters and sources: Assume all your communications are being monitored. Time to move back to the parking garage #longhotsummer
— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) May 13, 2013