Fellow entrepreneurs, Americans, anyone who still cares about this country at all — this is a must read: By the end of this week, the US government very likely will have the power to lock up US citizens for life at Guantanamo Bay or other military prisons — without charge and without trial. This means that, in the near future, a controversial Twitter post, attending a peaceful protest, or publishing an anti-Congress critique or anti-TSA rant on Google+ could land you “indefinite detention” for life, in the wording of the bill. No access to a lawyer, no access to trial.
Yes, you read that right. This would target American citizens, on American soil. Military personnel would be able to come into your house like something out of a Tom Clancy novel and chopper your innocent self down to Guantanamo Bay for life.
Candidate for Congress Roger Williams held an open debate with Democrats, recently, which was not aired on PBS. As I understand it, Democrats do not want it to air in his home State of Texas. While Mr. Williams seems to be trying to bring up campaign issues, you will notice the Democrats all respond with the same answer. The Democratic responses make about as much sense as they normally do.
Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-08) introduced H.R. 1501 to withhold U.S. contributions to the regularly assessed U.N. biennial budget until it officially retracts the Goldstone Report, a 2009 U.N. report that accused Israel of war crimes. This bill is a response to last week’s Washington Post Op-Ed by the report’s author, Dr. Richard Goldstone, in which he recanted the entire report. He wrote that the report’s central accusation—that Israeli soldiers deliberately targeted Palestinian civilians during its invasion of Gaza—is false. Goldstone has now concluded that “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone report would have been a different document”.
“This is just another example of the United Nations’ long-time bias against Israel,” said Walsh. “I find it outrageous that the United Nations has yet to distance itself from a report that even its author has discredited and disavowed.”
By Gregory Korte, USA TODAY Updated 12/13/2010 1:27 PM
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives is the same size it was a century ago — even as the country’s population has grown more than three times as large.
That’s resulted in growing disparities between the largest congressional district and the smallest. When the U.S. Census Bureau releases state-by-state population numbers this month, it’s likely that Montana’s lone congressional district will have about 450,000 more people in it than that of its Wyoming neighbor. Continue reading “Size matters, lawsuit says of U.S. House” »
Forty-five percent (45%) say the average Tea Party member has a better understanding of the problems America faces today than the average member of Congress does. That figure is down seven points from a year ago. Still, today only 31% think the average member of Congress has a better understanding. Twenty-three percent (23%) are undecided.
In the ongoing budget-cutting debate in Washington, some congressional Democrats have accused their Republican opponents of being held captive by the Tea Party movement, but voters like the Tea Party more than Congress.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters say when it comes to the major issues facing the country, their views are closer to the average Tea Party member as opposed to the average member of Congress. Just 22% say their views are closest to those of the average congressman. Even more (30%) aren’t sure.
Senate Democrats thought they had House Republicans cornered on a government shutdown.
Media reports had established the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as being in support of a plan to meet the hot House halfway to its proposed 4 percent reduction in the $1.65 trillion deficit projected for the current fiscal year.
“But, but…” House Republicans sputtered. But the Democrats cuts rely on some accounting gimmicks! But the plan doesn’t include specific instructions to take the money from controversial programs, like the $300 million annual subsidy for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading provider of abortions. But the Senate hasn’t even passed a bill – none of it is in writing.
But nothing. By the time you get past “agreed to meet halfway” on a fiscal compromise, the rest becomes kind of white noise for most news consumers. It’s boring stuff and folks tune out quickly on minute detail. House Republicans were losing the message war and were heading into a calendar squeeze play.
Facebook’s march into Washington began in late 2007, shortly after its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, unveiled Beacon, a program that allowed users to see granular details of the online behavior of their Facebook “friends.” Privacy experts, particularly on Capitol Hill, fumed.
In early March, Barack and Michelle Obama appeared in an exclusive Facebook video from the White House. The topic was bullying prevention, and it was by far the highest profile in the series of online conversations the social-media behemoth has produced with various members of Congress and federal and state officials in recent months. “You can participate in the conversation online,” the President said, “right here on Facebook.”
That endorsement is one of the most provocative examples of how Facebook is changing the way the social-media industry is throwing its weight around in Washington. This week, the company’s 10 Washington staffers moved into a gleaming 8,500-sq.-ft. (790 sq m) office near the White House, equipped with a studio for upcoming Facebook Live episodes with lawmakers. In recent months, the company has hired several experienced Washington hands, including Marne Levine, a former aide at President Obama’s National Economic Council. Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, is a former Clinton Administration official. And the company is reportedly courting Obama’s former spokesman, Robert Gibbs. (See TIME’s 140 best Twitter feeds.)
Barely three years after opening its first Washington outpost, Facebook has assigned a team to offer tutorials to Congressional staffers and state officials. Another new hire works exclusively with prospective Republican presidential candidates. And Washington has responded: as of last year, more than 50 federal government departments had created 1,000-plus Facebook pages. “They’re doing things that no one else has done before because the technology is so new,” says Chris Calabrese, the American Civil Liberties Union’s top privacy lobbyist.
(CNSNews.com) – The former home congressional district of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama ranks dead last in the United States for “healthy behavior,” according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index released this month.
Out of 436 districts measured by the Well-Being Index—including the 435 U.S. Congressional Districts plus the District of Columbia—the 1st Congressional District of Illinois ranked 436th for the “healthy behavior” of its residents in 2010. That was down from the district’s ranking of 408th for “healthy behavior” in 2009, which was Mrs.Obama’s first year as first lady.
Democrat Bob Filner, of the 51st district of California, has introduced H.R. 540, the “In Memory Medal for Forgotten Veterans Act.”
The medal, to be known as the “Jesus (Chuchi) Salgado Medal,” to be designed and issued by the Secretary of Defense to honor each veteran of the Armed Forces who served in the Vietnam war or who died as a result of service in the war–as determined by the Secretary of Defense–and whose name is not eligible for placement on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington.
The medal is named after Sgt. Salgado of California who is given credit for getting the act introduced in 2005 to the 109th Congress.
The House voted 228 to 192 to defund National Public Radio. H.R. 1076 would also prevent funding for NPR content.
Jeff Flake—who is trying to be a Republican in light of his run for Arizona’s vacated Senate seat—was not among the seven Republicans voting against the measure.
Federal funding includes Grants, Loans, Property, Cooperative agreements, and Direct appropriations. NPR has been the target of accusations of liberal bias of late.
The legislation will have difficulty, at best, of passing the Democratic-held-hostage Senate and will probably be vetoed by a strapped-for-cash Obama administration.
The House, also, has an eye on the National Endowment for the Arts. Liberals might argue that it might be protected under Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, because they do not read it as written. The Constitution provides Congress the power to secure, “…for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” In other words, the Congress has the authority to protect private authors and inventors investment in time and money. This is done by Copyright and Patent laws. It does not include monetary investment at the expense of the taxpayers.
When asked, former President Thomas Jefferson said, “To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
Geoff Davis (R-KY) has introduced H.R. 10 in the House of Representatives and Rand Paul (R-KY) has introduced the legislation in the Senate as S. 299. The Regulations from teh Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act “REINS” in backdoor legislation through the use of unelected government officials.
The act would require a vote in Congress on any “major” regulations issued by the Executive Branch before it could be enforced on the American People.
FreedomWorks reports that, “Every year, the executive branch issues thousands of new rules and regulations. Those rules that impose at least $100 million of annual compliance cost are considered ‘Major Rules.’ In 2010, federal agencies issued 95 Major Rules. The REINS Act would respect the checks and balances carefully established in the Constitution by requiring Congress to approve such rules.”
The Supreme Court has ruled that it is acceptable for Congress to refer to the “experts” in the various departments, such as the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency, to write regulations to enforce the laws they pass. That has led to severe abuse as Congress does not pay attention, usually, until it is too late. A recent example is the net neutrality ruling by the FCC.
The Department of Education indoctrinates children in Communism, but a recent Rasmussem Reports poll shows some hope in that only 11% of Likely U.S. Voters think communism is morally superior to the U.S. system of politics and economics.
“Communism calls for the elimination of all private property with everything owned in common, and voters even more emphatically reject it as an economic theory. Eighty-seven percent (87%) say, in practical terms, free market economies work better than communist economies. Only four percent (4%) say communist economies work better,” the report says.
FeedomWorks says, “The REINS Act would restore accountability and protect citizens’ rights by giving elected officials a voice in all major regulations issued. It is unjustified that unelected bureaucrats can impose substantial costs on individuals and businesses without approval from the people’s representatives. We must ensure the Founding Fathers’ vision for America by not allowing one branch of government to become overly powerful.”
WASHINGTON – Two senators said to be targeted by U.S. military seeking to use “psychological operations” to convince them to support the war effort in Afghanistan say they’re fine with an investigation though they don’t believe there’s much to the story.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who’ve been traveling in the Middle East for the past week, joked Sunday about a Rolling Stone article released last week that alleged that three-star Gen. William Caldwell ordered his staff to use military techniques to persuade them to back more money for training Afghan forces.
WASHINGTON — Republican representative Darrell Issa of the 49th district of California, has submitted H.R. 45, the Criminal Alien Accountability Act. The bill was submitted January 5 and currently has no cosponsors.
The bill is “To amend section 276 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to impose mandatory sentencing ranges with respect to aliens who reenter the United States after having been removed, and for other purposes.”
The bill would change certain mandatory sentencing laws concerning criminal aliens in the United States. Specifically, it adds minimum sentences in three areas where they do not exist now.
WASHINGTON, DC — “Do Not Track Me” legislation introduced in Congress today by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-CA, will let consumers block unwanted tracking of their information online, said the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog at a press conference today with the bill author and consumer and privacy advocates.
The bill authorizes the Federal Trade Commission to enact and enforce regulations that would give consumers a right to block companies from tracking their activities as they use the Internet. The concept is analogous to the popular “Do Not Call” list that prevents advertisers from calling consumers who do not wish to be disturbed by telemarketing.
“Consumers should have the right to choose if their private information – from shoe size, to health concerns, to religious beliefs – is collected, analyzed and profiled by companies tracking activities online. Do Not Track is the simple way for consumers to say ‘no thanks’ to being monitored while they surf the web,” said Carmen Balber, Washington director for Consumer Watchdog.
Rep. Speier’s bill is the first in Congress to explicitly provide for a Do Not Track mechanism.
“Right now much of the online advertising market is based on unauthorized spying on consumers,” said John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Inside Google Project. “A Do Not Track mechanism would give consumers better control of their information and help restore their confidence in the Internet. That’s a win-win for consumers and business. What kind of lasting business can be built on snooping on your customers?”
February 5, 2012 1906 John Carradine 1920 Frank Muir CBE 1946 Charlotte Rampling 1948 Barbara Hershey 1948 Lord Haden Guest 1948 Sven-Goran Eriksson 1952 Russell Grant 1962 Jennifer Jason Leigh 1966 Jose Maria Olazabal
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