Courage To See

Deadline after deadline passes for Iran… they are moving ahead with the production of higher enriched uranium.  Iran claims they need the fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.  Today Iran announced it will be moving forward with the enrichment process starting tomorrow, February 9, 2010.

The world watches as Iran moves closer and closer to having nuclear warhead capability.  As if this is not enough to cause grave concern… from Breitbart:

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a “punch” that will stun world powers during this week’s 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.”The Iranian nation, with its unity and God’s grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned,” Khamenei, who is also Iran’s commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.

Khamenei is not one that usually blows smoke in prepared statements, unlike President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who can best be described as is a nut case and will take advantage of any stage whether speaking at the United Nations or to on Iranian TV to satanize the West. This statement from Khamanei can only be viewed as a threat to the West.

What this means is anyone’s guess.. time will tell.  There is one thing that resonates deep in soul, I do NOT feel safer as an American with a President who continually appeases Islam.

My administration is now committed to diplomacy (appeasement) that addresses the full range of issues before us and to pursuing constructive ties among the United States, Iran (Mullahs, who control the country) , and the international community (57 Islamic States, because that is who he is talking to). This process will not be advanced by threats (except to American infidels who oppose allah and my administration). We seek engagement (submission to Islam) that is honest and grounded in mutual respect … (parentheses mine)

Honesty to infidels (anyone not Muslim) is impossible for those that follow Islam.  One only needs to do a quick internet search on “Islam and lying to infidels,”  to find how Muslims find it acceptable and almost righteous to lie to anyone outside of their faith.

There are two forms of lying to non-believers that are permitted under certain circumstances, taqiyya and kitman.  These circumstances are typically those that advance the cause Islam, in some cases by gaining the trust of non-believers in order to draw out their vulnerability and defeat them.

So what exactly is the Obama doing, there can be no doubt that he knows this fact about Islam.  And how does this appeasement tie in to the news today about enriched uranium and the threat from Khamenei?

Illinois politics are a strange mix of Capone style authority and party over the will of the people.

Scott Lee Cohen, the pawnbroker whose surprise victory in last week’s Democratic lieutenant governor primary was followed by scandalous revelations about him, quit the race tonight during the half time of the Super Bowl, saying he didn’t want to “put the people of Illinois in jeopardy in any way.”

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Cohen’s candidacy was widely perceived as a potential disaster for Gov. Pat Quinn and the rest of the Democratic ticket in the November general election.

When Cohen became a candidate, he disclosed that a 2005 domestic battery charge against him had been dismissed. It was only after his victory Tuesday that the details became known: His girlfriend at the time, a prostitute, had accused him of holding a knife to her throat but had failed to appear in court, leading to charges being dropped.

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Yes, Cohen won with 26% of the Democratic vote during the primary.  Was he the best candidate?  No, his past displays of violence should have been made known by the Democratic party prior to the election.  The question which nags in my mind is.. why didn’t the Illinois Democratic party expose this abuser for what he was prior to the primary?  I can only see two potential reasons: 1.) The Illinois Democratic party did not think he had a prayer of winning the primary and hence chose not to inform the voters, or 2.)  The Illinois Democratic party knew that regardless of who won the primary they could maneuver, Chicago-style, their preferred candidate in to the position.

Cohen at first adamantly refused to quit, doing a series of media interviews to present his position that the allegations against him were overblown and that he had been transparent about his background when he first got in the race in early 2009. But he was drowned out by a chorus of Democratic calls for him to quit.

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While I find the behavior by Cohen contemptible, the point here is that he was elected by the people of Illinois.  The Illinois Democratic party was  complacent over the abuse accusations.. they helped usher the abuser in to office.  And now they cry foul?  So what’s in it for them?

Steve Brown, a spokesman for Michael Madigan, the Democatic party chairman and Illinois House speaker, said work would begin soon on picking a replacement.

“The speaker is prepeared to work with the members of the (Democratic) State Central Committee, Gov. Quinn and Senate President (John) Cullerton to work on selecting a replacement,” Brown said. “We’ll start with members of the central committee and work on ideas.”

Selection of a replacement to fill the ballot vacancy is the work of the 38-member Democratic State Central Committee, made up of a male and female representative from each of the state’s 19 congressional districts. The state central committee is scheduled to meet March 17, though a meeting could be held sooner.

The state central committee is not bound to select any of the candidates who lost to Cohen in last week’s primary. State Rep. Art Turner of Chicago, a member of Madigan’s House leadership team who was backed by the powerful Southwest Side lawmaker, finished second to Cohen.

Apparently in Illinois, the voice of the people does not matter.  The most obvious replacement would be the number two candidate on the primary ticket, but that is unlikely to occur.  Now the Democratic party is salivating over their chance to hand-pick the running mate of the Democratic Gubernatorial candidate.    As the disgraced indited former Democratic Governor Blagojevich (Blago) stated when talking about filling the President elect Senate’s seat.. “This is f%$#@% golden.”

Interesting and quick quiz that may make you think..

World’s Smallest Political Quiz

h/t to Beth from the Northwest Indiana Patriots forum for this link

Take this fast and fun quiz by the Pew Organization.  How informed are you?

I scored 11 out of 12 correct, better than 96% of the American public.

Pew Quiz

Whether you voted for the President or not.. words matter.  If you run a campaign on specific claims as to the direction you will lead the country and then fail to adhere to your word.. what does that make you?  And please do not tell me about  the “obstruction” GOP, because the Democrats have controlled Congress for the year.

The Tobacco Tax Parity Act of 2010, House Bill H.R. 4439, proposes to raise the tax on pipe tobacco by 775%.

More and more smokers I know have taken to rolling their own.. why, you ask?  Simple, instead of paying $50, $60 or $70+ per carton of smokes (depending on where you are in the country) you can buy loose pipe tobacco and “tubes,” roll your own for about $12.00 a carton .  For those addicted to nictotine this can be a huge savings.  The tax which went in to effect last year on tobacco omitted pipe tobacco from the hefty tax increases, a loophole which smokers looking to save a few dollars quickly found.

Well not so fast says the federal government, who is increasing the deficit by trillions without so much as a blink.  They are looking to close this loophole.

Overwhelmingly low and middle class income earners are the preponderance of smokers.  So much for not raising taxes on those on the lowest rung of the economic ladder.  Oh but they do this to encourage you not to smoke.. you poor peons, don’t you know how bad smoking is for you?  Enter parent government, if they can’t make you see the sense in quitting… they will tax you to the point where you have to decide between that smoke and putting food on the table.  When will the government quit placing backdoor taxes on the American people?  If they are looking to parent us, I have a suggestion… lets start taxing alcohol at the 775% rate.

One in 25 deaths around the world is caused by alcohol consumption, and booze is now as damaging to global health as tobacco was a decade ago, according to a new study in the British medical journal the Lancet.

How would you feel about that?  It’s time for Government to quit attempting to be the omnipotent parent to every American, get your taxes and laws off our body.  Write your Representative and let them know, if this bill comes out of committee, they should vote NO.

While drafting the budget last year, Congress froze its annual cost of living increase for 2010 but will – by law – receive it in 2011 and every year after, unless Congress votes to stop the increase each year or to stop the automatic increases permanently.

American families are losing their jobs, their homes and increasingly their hope for a brighter future.  Seniors on Social Security did not get a cost of living adjustment this year.  Congress suggests that, for instance, teachers pay should be tied directly to performance, yet holds themselves to a different standard.

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Does this number surprise anyone?  Bureaucracy breeds top-heavy weasels who will be seen popping in and out of holes throughout the United States.  How do unions fit in this scenario?

New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that a majority of American union members now work for the government. The pattern of unions adding members in government while losing members in the private sector accelerated during the recession. The typical union member now works in the Post Office, not on the assembly line.

Representing government employees has changed the union movement’s priorities: Unions now campaign for higher taxes on Americans to fund more government spending. Congress should resist government employee unions’ self-interested calls to raise taxes on workers in the private sector.

Is the sizable increase in federal workers a pay-back to unions who supported Obama?  First the government makes it their duty to assure you use the “correct” light bulbs in your home; next they attempt to mandate the minimum type of health insurance you must purchase, now we have a government which is gorging itself and increasing in size on the taxpayer’s dollar.

The era of big government has returned with a vengeance, in the form of the largest federal work force in modern history.

The Obama administration says the government will grow to 2.15 million employees this year, topping 2 million for the first time since President Clinton declared that “the era of big government is over” and joined forces with a Republican-led Congress in the 1990s to pare back the federal work force.

Most of the increases are on the civilian side, which will grow by 153,000 workers, to 1.43 million people, in fiscal 2010.

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“I’m shocked that the ‘tea party’ hasn’t focused on it yet, and the Obama administration only has a thin sliver of time to deal more directly with it, I believe,” said Paul C. Light, who studies the federal bureaucracy as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor at New York University. “When you talk about big government, you’re talking about a big employer.”

The new figures are contained in the budget that Mr. Obama sent Monday to Congress.

Mr. Obama says the civilian work force will drop by 80,000 next year, mostly because of a reduction in U.S. census workers added in 2010 but then dropped in 2011 after the national population count is finished. That still leaves 1.35 million civilian federal employees on the payroll in 2011.

From 1981 through 2008, the civilian work force remained at about 1.1 million to 1.2 million, with a low of 1.07 million in 1986 and a high of more than 1.2 million in 1993 and in 2008. In 2009, the number jumped to 1.28 million.

Since Obama took office in 2009, the federal government added an average of 6,666.666.. employees each month.  Eerie?  You bet.  And how does this fit in with a USA Today article from early December.. you remember, the one that stated:

The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.

Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession’s first 18 months — and that’s before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.

The free money wagon in Washington bureaucracy has exploded, while average people struggle to pay bills and find work, federal employees are living high on the hog supplied by your tax dollars.

Obama talks a good game about fiscal responsibility, heck some people probably believe the lies words which easily flow from his mouth when he makes announcements about cutting the deficit, about understanding the concern the American public feels with the run-away money train in Washington.  Behind the shiny veneer though is a charlatan, a carnival barker, quick to encourage confidence yet void of empathy to the shattered hopes who have placed faith and trust in him.  There is no doubt there is reason behind his madness, there is purpose, for the moment it is hidden behind illusion.  But as with all illusions, as with all scam artists, as with all those who seek to perpetrate deception on the American people.. the illusion will fade, the scam artist will be exposed and the American people will rise up and declare: This is the country of WE-THE-PEOPLE.