Yesterday, the Conservative Political Action Conference featured some of the best known conservative elected officials. Among the elected officials, Rep. Steve King and Rep. Mike Pence gave some of the most memorable and passionate speeches.

With approximately 10,000 registered attendee’s, this is by far the largest conservative conference in the nations capitol.

Today, the final day of the conference will feature additional speakers, including Andrew Breitbart, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck.

Washington News Observer has been covering this conference, several highlight reels are below.

The second clip features Rep. Ron Paul, Attorney General John Ashcroft and newly elected Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

(more…)

It always happens. When the mainstream media thinks they are on the heavy side of popular opinion they take a poll and run with it. In a recent poll by ABC and the Washington Post, they determined that 80% of America was opposed to the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC.  I would have like to seen something much more relevant, like how many people know that the case before the Supreme Court was even called “Citizens United v. FEC?”

Because I’m fairly certain that that few people know anything about the decision. The 80% figure reflects more than public opinion, it reflects how well the mainstream media has been obfuscating the reality of the case.

Not that it’s relevant anyway. Despite popular opinion, America was never intended to be a Democracy. In the immortal words of James Madison: “…democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” (Federalist #10)

(more…)

My suspicion earlier this week that White House attorney and Islam Envoy Rashad Hussain was involved in covering up controversial comments he made in 2004 turns out to have been well-founded. Josh Gerstein from Politico reports:

President Barack Obama’s new Islamic envoy, Rashad Hussain, changed course Friday – admitting he made sharply critical statements about a U.S. terror prosecution against a Muslim professor after initially saying he had no recollection of making such comments.

“I made statements on that panel that I now recognize were ill-conceived or not well-formulated,” Hussain said, referring to a 2004 conference where he discussed the case.

Hussain’s reversal came after POLITICO obtained a recording of his presentation to a Muslim students’ conference in Chicago, where he can be heard portraying the government’s cases towards professor Sami Al-Arian, as well as other Muslim terrorism suspects, as “politically motivated persecutions.” Al-Arian later pled guilty to aiding terrorists.

First of all, major kudos to Gerstein for following through on this story. I do not think there are very many people in the MSM who would have continued to pursue a story such as this that originated in “conservative” media (CNS and Fox). And while Gerstein goes to great lengths in his latest post to present a balanced perspective on Hussain’s views as expressed in 2004, it is his job to do so and he does it commendably as far as I am concerned. The one complaint I would make is that the timing of this release (Friday 10:00 pm EST) strikes me as a weekend news dump, but its quite possible that Gerstein had little if anything to do with this.

(more…)

The brazen dishonesty of this president is a bit concerning to say the least.

A newly discovered video shows Obama lying to the American people about his relationship with ACORN:

Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released this video at CPAC of Barack Obama discussing his close partnership with ACORN. Obama talked about his long relationship with ACORN privately in this video before the 2008 election:

“When I ran project vote, the voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it. Once I was elected there wasn’t a campaign that ACORN worked on down in Springfield that I wasn’t right there with you. Since I have been in the United States Senate I’ve been always a partner with ACORN as well. I’ve been fighting with ACORN, along side ACORN, on issues you care about my entire career.”

(more…)

President Obama invited the Dali Lama to the White House. But, only if he used the back door.

Today, in 2009, CNBC commentator Rick Santelli gave voice to the frustrations and anger of millions of Americans. Movements need countless variables. But, most importantly, they need a spark.

To Mr. Santelli we say, “Happy Anniversary!”

Attempting to enact his big-government health care scheme, President Obama and his supporters frequently claimed that a “majority” of doctors supported his health-care plans.  When the American Medical Association – which had opposed HillaryCare – signed onto Obama’s plan last year, the organization seemed to make the President’s case.  Most people assumed that the AMA represented most of the doctors in the country.  But in fact, the AMA represents less than 20 percent of all physicians in the United States.  And yet as the organization’s leadership moved more to the left, it held a near monopoly on media attention on issues pertaining to public health.   No longer.

As the AMA has become increasingly politicized in recent years – issuing a statement in support of climate change, for example, in 2008 – a new group of doctors has risen to challenge them.  Like other anti-statist groups that have risen in opposition to the Obama-Reid-Pelosi agenda, Docs4PatientCare are challenging the AMA’s stranglehold on health care matters, just as other groups once challenged the right of the left-leaning American Bar Association to determine what judges are and are not qualified for the United States Supreme Court.  How Docs4PatientCare managed to barge its way into the closed-door meetings of Washington offers a lesson to other groups seeking to have a voice in their federal government.

Founded by Dr. Hal Scherz, a prominent Atlanta physician, the group of doctors expressed concern that like so many other professional groups, the AMA’s leadership have been  thoroughly “Washingtonized” – caring more about the pleadings of other lobbyists on K Street, White House invitations and Capitol Hill committee appearances than the professions they are supposed to represent.  As doctors have taken a battering over several decades from insurance companies, HMOS, and government agencies, Scherz says the AMA was a bystander.

“As the insurance companies become more and more impossible and government intrusion keeps growing, we’ve seen our delivery of care to our patients compromised and our incomes decrease,” he said.

But it was the AMA’s support for ObamaCare that really troubled Scherz and others in his field.

(more…)

From Washington Examiner’s Byron York:

Attorney General Eric Holder says nine Obama appointees in the Justice Department have represented or advocated for terrorist detainees before joining the Justice Department. But he does not reveal any names beyond the two officials whose work has already been publicly reported. And all the lawyers, according to Holder, are eligible to work on general detainee matters, even if there are specific parts of some cases they cannot be involved in.

Holder’s admission comes in the form of an answer to a question posed last November by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley. Noting that one Obama appointee, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal, formerly represented Osama bin Laden’s driver, and another appointee, Jennifer Daskal, previously advocated for detainees at Human Rights Watch, Grassley asked Holder to give the Senate Judiciary Committee “the names of political appointees in your department who represent detainees or who work for organizations advocating on their behalf…the cases or projects that these appointees work with respect to detainee prior to joining the Justice Department…and the cases or projects relating to detainees that have worked on since joining the Justice Department.”

(more…)

Nick George, a senior at my sister college, Pomona College, was detained by TSA earlier this year. On February 10, he filed a federal lawsuit with the ACLU against TSA, the FBI, and the Philly police. (His father is an attorney and former public defender in the Philadelphia-area.) The lawsuit claims that he was detained for his Arabic flash cards. I think it’s because he was suspicious all throughout.

George is known as being very far to the left on the campuses, which is saying something for Pomona College. After a Pomona Student Union event discussing the state of the media, George tussled with Ross Douthat for over an hour, saying that the right — by which he meant Glenn Beck and Fox News — was effectively nuts and dishonest — much to the chagrin of those of us who wanted to talk to Douthat about something a bit more substantive.

And rather unsurprisingly, his political views on his Facebook profile are listed as “Communist Party of Bulgaria.” (He was asked by TSA agents whether or not he was a Communist; Facebookers of the world might think twice about what they put up in that section from now on.)

So George is not Mr. C.I.A. wannabe, as the mainstream media is trying to spin it. Take, for instance the opening lines of Daniel Rubin’s column for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

(more…)

The President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is what everyone really knows it is—a bipartisan group of former and current political elites that will listen to hours of testimony by a select group of witnesses in order to create a report that will justify a tax increase for which there does not exist political support. The fact that the commission is being created by Executive Order rather than by congressional action tells us what the expected conclusion of the commission will be.

We do not need another commission to know that decades of programs that tax those who work in order to provide benefits to those who are in political favor has led to the point where the promises made to millions of Americans cannot possibly be met. To quote from the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees 2009 Annual Report: “Projected long run program costs are not sustainable under current program parameters.” This is government-speak for: “the jig is up.” The Social Security cash flow will be negative by 2016, at which time the baby-boomers will start to retire and things go south ever faster.

To again quote from the report: “Medicare’s financial status is much worse…Medicare already runs cash flow deficits…For the third consecutive year, a ‘Medicare funding warning’ is being triggered, signaling that non-dedicated sources of revenues—primarily general revenues—will soon account for more than 45 percent of Medicare’s outlays. A Presidential proposal will be needed in response to the latest warning.” We don’t need a bipartisan commission to tell us what the problem is. Social Security and Medicare have total unfunded liabilities in excess of $100 trillion. We need Presidential leadership that will address the spending problems that are the result of a government that has been shorn of the limitations of the 10th amendment.

(more…)

Hooray everyone! The Economy is growing!!

The video below was recently released by the Democrat Party, and it touts the Obama-Democrat “recovery” now under way.

Oddly, despite the numerous government CRA/Fannie/Freddie/Sally Mae/HUD scandals, and despite the fact that Democrats have controlled Congress since 2006, it blames ALL of America’s economic problems on reckless bankers, and Bush/Republicans.

Coincidentally, despite the fact that the Democrat controlled government just raised the debt ceiling so they could borrow more money against future generations in order to fund today’s entitlement/pubic sector payroll, the video assigns Democrats with ALL the credit for what they are calling a “recovery”.

The US Government is borrowing TRILLIONS of dollars from foreign countries in order to swell the government sponsored payroll, thereby making it appear on paper as thought there is a “recovery” underway, and the Democrats are crowing as though they have achieved something meaningful?

Don’t get us wrong. We would love to be able to live in the progressive utopia of Obamaland, and bask in the glory of the American economic recovery, if only it could be. We would all stand to gain from an economic recovery. But as fiscal conservatives have been pointing out for years and years and years now, the tab for this monstrosity of a government will come due, and when it does, it will leave us all in ruin.

Worse still, the government is apparently intent on taking ZERO responsibility for their role in our disastrous predicament (as evidenced in the video above). While that is the case, there is no hope of the system being reformed based on anything resembling reality and/or honesty.

(more…)

It’s time for your weekly dose of markets and politics with Coffee and Markets, featuring The New Ledger’s Francis Cianfrocca, a podcast brought to you by the fine folks at Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com and LibertyPundits.com, your new home for Conservative podcasts. In this week’s edition, we celebrate the anniversary of the stimulus (celebrate probably isn’t the right word), unpack the ramifications of the financial meltdown in Europe, and hash out the realities of America’s jobless future.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed

You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

TNL: The President Thinks You’re Stoo-pid
The Atlantic: America’s Jobless Future
Business Insider: If You Think Greece is Bad…
The American: The Straw Stimulus
TNL: The Inconvenient Truth About Spending and Job Creation

Look at the bright side, Mr. President: It’s just one less leader you need to bow to.

On two occasions, President Obama has made off-handed swipes at Las Vegas, and both times Mayor Oscar Goodman defended his city.

Most recently, Obama, with a straight face, was discussing making wise financial decisions (because he’s been so prudent with our money) and told a crowd in New Hampshire:

“When times are tough, you tighten your belts.  You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage.  You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.”

So when the customary invitation came from the White House to kiss the ring of the visiting president at the airport (Obama was in Las Vegas Thursday, presumably to bail some water out of the sinking S.S. Harry Reid), Goodman fought back.  He declined the invitation.

Kudos to Mayor Goodman for standing up for his constituents and not tolerating the president’s attacks on his city – as humorous as they were meant to be.

“We are hurting, we have people in foreclosures, we have people having a hard time feeding their families and we can’t stand to have a flippant statement made,” said Mayor Goodman.

“I haven’t heard an apology, I haven’t heard a response, all I do is get invitations,” Goodman went on to say.

I doubt you’ll get an apology from this administration, Mayor Goodman.

(more…)

“Congress should address the need for both national standards and a more robust enforcing authority.  If not, more decision making will fall to the states,” said Miles Rapoport, President of Dēmos, an umbrella corporation for the myriad of progressive groups attacking our state electoral processes.  Progressives, realizing the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) left much of the implementation to states, began their National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) assault in 2006.

The first battle over compliance with the NVRA occurred in Ohio in 2006.  Coincidentally, the Secretary of State Project (SoSP) focused much of its efforts on seizing the open-seat for Ohio Secretary of State that same year.  Seeing an opportunity to de-legitimize Ohio’s electoral process and to create an atmosphere favorable to a progressive candidate, ACORN filed a suit a little over a month before the 2006 elections.  Sound familiar?  It was the strategy in Michigan in 2004.  But Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell (R) was not going to leave office without a resolute fight in defense of Ohio.

At issue was NVRA § 7: Voter Registration Agencies.  Any state agency providing public assistance received designation as a voter registration agency.  Public assistance agencies were supposed to follow a set of procedures providing mail voter registration, assisting applicants in completion of those forms, and accepting completed voter registration forms.  Each state designates a “chief state election official” to coordinate state responsibilities for compliance with the NVRA.

The procedures for compliance are rather straight-forward, so Project Vote had an easier job alleging non-compliance.  Catch any agency on a day after it has run out of forms.  Seek assistance from any personnel unfamiliar with NVRA requirements.  Find any individual receiving public assistance that has moved, and was formerly registered to vote.  Compare the number of individuals registered in the first year under NVRA to the number of individuals registered now (because every year should see the same amount of people receiving public assistance, the same amount of people unregistered, and they will always be new or moved people, right?)  Send a letter to the chief state election official alleging non-compliance through “scientific” studies.  Demand a plan to remedy violations.  Offer “help” to the state.  Then sue to “protect” the voters (and more importantly, recoup expenses).  Brilliant!

(more…)

Today, in 1942, FDR signed an executive order to intern Japanese-Americans in prison camps.

Yesterday afternoon conservatives gathered on land once owned by George Washington to commit their organizations and members to a renewed set of principals.

Known as the Mount Vernon Statement, the document includes the following:

• It applies the principle of limited government based on the
  rule of law to every proposal.
• It honors the central place of individual liberty in American
  politics and life.
• It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and
  economic reforms grounded in market solutions.
• It supports America’s national interest in advancing freedom
  and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that
  end.
• It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family, neighborhood,
  community, and faith.

(more…)

In a recent post, I posited unemployment insurance should be reformed to offset the minimum wage for new small businesses hires.  Please continue in comments to help me brainstorm.

This is a “free stimulus,” because it uses current unemployment payments to actually create new jobs.  No tax cuts.  No deficit spending.   No new government program.  And only Main Street gets to use it.  When was the last time you heard something sane and immediate?

The Elevator Pitch

Example:  A company not currently making new $7.25 per hour hires, can bid $2 per hour and if no other employer in the area bids more, and have deeply discounted workers… with the government making up the difference to $7.25.

The discounted employment contract is for one month, so when a higher bid comes in, the current employer will have to meet the new pay.  If no higher bid comes in, the small business continues paying $2 per hour.  Highest bid wins.

(more…)

There is a somewhat convoluted story flying under the radar about a White House official, Rashad Hussain, who back in 2004 allegedly spoke out in support of Sami Al-Arian, a man accused (and subsequently convicted) of aiding the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. Hussain has worked in the White House Counsel’s Office since January 2009, and just last week was appointed by the President as his Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

The source of the allegation is a 2004 article unearthed from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA) which originally quoted Hussain as saying the following:

Al-Arian’s situation is one of many “politically motivated persecutions,” claimed Rashad Hussain, a Yale law student. Such persecution, he stated, must be fought through hope, faith, and the Muslim vote.

…

Along with many others, said Yale’s Hussain, Dr. Sami Al-Arian has been “used politically to squash dissent.” The Muslim community must speak out against the injustices taking place in America, he emphasized. Otherwise, everyone’s rights will be in jeopardy.

Here is where the story gets interesting. I said the WRMEA article “originally” quoted Hussain because at some point after the original publication the quotes attributed to Hussain were removed from the version of the article published online. You can see the original version courtesy of the Internet Archive here, and the modified version here.

What explains the discrepancy?

(more…)

No one is more self-dramatizing on cable news than male hysteric, unsolicited janitor of Cooperstown, and Countdown host Keith Olbermann, who includes more special effects during his Castro-length “Special Comment” segments than Mikhail Kalatozov did in I Am Cuba (one cinematically exemplary rant remains Commandante O’s multi-camera denouncement of Hillary Clinton during the 2008 campaign).

When Olbermann is not ripping “tea-baggers” (get it, har har har) or slagging honest reporters such as Miami Herald TV critic and Reason contributing editor Glenn Garvin (who committed the unpardonable crime of reporting that Olbermann donned a Bill O’Reilly mask and did Nazi salutes in front of a room full of TV critics), he is courageously taking a stand in favor of English-only at schools, judging Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News as “worse than Al Qaeda,” and extolling Sen. All Aboard Amtrak, Joe Biden, who embodies the Holy Trinity of Olbermannia: “passion, detail and eloquence.”

Countdown—it’s like Rupert Pupkin finally did get a talk show that could broadcast far past the paneled walls of Mom’s basement and reach most of the neighborhood—is must-see TV, as riveting as a nail gun powered by nuclear energy on steroids, the sort of can’t-turn-away-from-car-wreck-like commentary usually associated with CNN hosts who have actually been in car wrecks (like this guy and this one).

(more…)