I am one of the featured speakers at the Inaugural statewide Tea Party Convention in Tennessee’s beautiful Smoky Mountains this weekend. But look at this: the unindicted co-conspirator, terror-tied Muslim Brotherhood front group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is trying to get the good, decent Americans of the Tennessee Tea Party to crush free speech by dropping me from the Tea Party convention this weekend.

Why is CAIR starting this campaign now? This is all about the mosque that Muslims are planning to build near Ground Zero. I spoke the truth about this supremacist initiative on the Sean Hannity radio show last week, in a debate with Islamic apologist Michael Ghouse. Who won the debate? Well, you be the judge:

The next day I was scheduled to be on the Mike Huckabee Show on Fox News along with a representative from the mosque, but at the last minute they decided not to send anyone. They sent Huckabee a written statement, which he read to me on the air. And now CAIR sends around this press release full of lies and distortions, trying to intimidate the Tennessee Tea Partiers into canceling me. The CAIR press release starts this way:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the organizers of the inaugural Tennessee Tea Party Convention to be held this weekend in Gatlinburg to drop an anti-Islam speaker who claims that ‘Hitler and the Nazis were inspired by Islam’ and that Islam ‘mandates’ lies and deception.

Sounds terrible, right? Except for one thing: it’s true. (more…)

Congressman Steve King (R-IA) released the following video statement, complementing Mexican President Felipe Calderon for his efforts to combat corruption and condemning his remarks on reinstating the assault weapons ban and his stance against the Arizona immigration law .

Just as a frog will jump out of a hot frying pan, but will sit in water that slowly goes from cold to hot until he cooks to death; California’s politicians have sat quietly as the accumulation of chronic budget deficits bubbling up from an uncomfortably warm problem to a scalding hot crisis.  Even the release of Governor Schwarzenegger’s $19.1 billion budget deficit projection for the coming July fiscal year appears to have failed to bludgeon the state’s political establishment into action to avoid a looming credit rating downgrade to sub-prime that would set off a Greek style default on steroids.

The media, after months of missing the potential consequences of a Greek default, have now become focused on the similarities between California and Greece.  Both do owe gobs of money, have huge budget deficits, massive unfunded pension liabilities and can’t print their own money; but California’s situation is worse!  The California economy is 5 times larger than the Greek economy.  Los Angeles alone is twice the size of the $356 billion Greek economy.  Greece is less than 2.5% of the European Union (EU) economy, but California is over 13% of the US economy.  From 2000 to 2008, the Greek economy grew at 3.1% annually, the second fastest growth in Europe, whereas California’s growth of 2.3% during the same period was only slightly better than the rest of the US.  Greek unemployment just hit a crisis 12.1%, unemployment in California is 13% and has been above Greece’s since the start of the year.

What started out a month ago with Greece having trouble making a $10 billion debt payment has mushroomed into a worldwide liquidity crisis.  Germany and France have been forced to lead a $1 trillion bailout.  Even the U.S. was required to kick in $50 billion to the support International Monetary Fund’s contribution.  For a few days this block-buster financial backstop calmed the bond markets and allowed short-term interest rates across Europe to decline, but by the end of the week Greek interest rates were headed back up.

Chief Executive Josef Ackermann of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest financial institution, said last week he was “doubtful whether Greece will really be in a position to achieve” the repayment of the emergency loans.  However, he went on to stress that Athens had to be propped up, because if it fell, it would lead “with great certainty to a spillover to other countries,” sparking “a type of meltdown,” he added.  Ackermann’s comments are all the more surprising because they follow recent reports that Deutsche Bank itself is preparing to provide €500 million ($625 million) in loans to Greece on the same conditions as those set by the German government.

Last September the state of California sold $8.8 billion of prime rated short term debt to investors at an interest cost of 3%, similar to rates Greece was paying before the threat of default sent the rate to 24%.  The Governor Schwarzenegger’s new budget projections indicate that California will need to borrow $12-15 billion just to get through the fall.  Given that state’s economy is five times larger than Greece, if California is downgraded to sub-prime this fall and the crisis spreads to  municipalities and other states, it might take up to a $5 trillion bailout to stabilize the situation.

(more…)

Alinsky Rule #12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Nina Easton just became the left’s latest target.  Why?  So that SEIU can hide from the truth about its financial liabilities to Bank of America (more on that after the jump).

Easton, a Washington Editor for Fortune Magazine, wrote a column early morning Wednesday, addressing the outrageous protest organized by SEIU and National People’s Action, where 700 protesters stormed the front lawn of the private residence of Greg Baer, deputy general counsel for corporate law at Bank of America.

As I wrote in my post yesterday, “SEIU Storms Private Residence, Terrorizes Teenage Son of Bank of America Exec,” Easton is actually a neighbor of Baer.  When she was startled by the loud, screaming, bullhorn-rattling protesters, she called Baer’s teenage son to check on him.  Home alone, the frightened teenager had locked himself in the bathroom.  After witnessing the entire incident as it unfolded on her neighbor’s private property, Easton criticized the SEIU and left wing groups in her article for crossing the line this time.

Alinsky’s Rule # 12 states,

“Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)”

In almost coordinated lock-step fashion, the 12^th Rule was promptly and firmly applied.  As Larry O’Connor posted on Big Journalism yesterday, a series of several posts soon followed the publication of Nina Easton’s article:

• Late Wednesday evening, John Vandeventer of SEIU posted “Nina Easton & the Bank Lobbyists: Too Close for Comfort” in response.  Conveniently, Vandeventer distracts readers by recounting the sob stories of foreclosure “victims”, then quickly focuses the attention on Easton and polarizes his target.  He proceeds to play a guilt by association game to tie her husband to Bank of America through Business Roundtable.  You can read my post from yesterday about that here.
• Then came Arthur Delaney’s piece from the Huffington Post, with the headline: “Nina Easton, Fortune Columnist, Compares Bank Protesters To ‘God Hates Fags’ Group.”  He ends his piece with a link to an open letter to Easton penned by Al Marshall, SEIU Local 1021 shop steward in Oakland, CA.  Marshall begins his letter by mentioning that he flew out to DC for the protest  from CA because “Wall Street caused” his wife to lose her job, and then him and his wife to lose their house.  (I’d like to know how he could possibly afford those plane tickets, in that case).  The whole tenor of the post is undoubtedly less jovial than his prior day’s, when he gleefully bragged about the whole event.
• And then, the much anticipated and expected Media Matters post: “Attacking SEIU, Nina Easton fails to disclose husband’s ties to Bank of America“.

Of all of the responses, not a single one of the posts actually addresses any of the issues. None will account for the fact that the protesters were on the private property of a private citizen, though Vandeventer tries to rationalize their actions as acceptable because the police supposedly followed the crowd to the location.  Then, he paints the picture that Baer is lurking in the crowd trying to blend in; rather, the man was trying to get to his front door without creating a scene so that he could get to his frightened son inside as quickly as possible.

(more…)

This week, Big Hollywood and Big Government contributor “Jon David” was profiled in the Wall Street Journal. The acclaimed Hollywood screenwriter and musician has written a song, American Heart, that has been called by many the “tea party anthem.” While many have been touched by the song, most were not aware of what, to us, is the most interesting part of the song’s pedigree; Jon David is a pseudonym. “Jon David” works in Hollywood, after all, where differing points of view are not tolerated. In the WSJ profile, “Jon David” ‘burned his boats’ and outed himself as a Hollywood conservative whose real name is Jon Kahn. Unlike most of us, Jon Kahn has risked his career by simply admitting he’s a conservative. In the United States. In 2010. He may lose some Hollywood “friends”, but we will always have his back.

S

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is attempting to bully the Tennessee Tea Party Convention into dropping Pamela Geller as one of their speakers for their event this weekend in Gatlinberg.

In a stirring piece of Orwellian propaganda, CAIR cautioned the group via press release:

“The Tea Party needs to decide whether it is a legitimate national political movement or just a safe haven for bigots and extremists,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “We ask that convention organizers not legitimize Geller’s extremist anti-Muslim rhetoric by offering her an official platform.”

And CAIR should know a little something about being a safe haven for bigots and extremists. After all, their former communications director sits in jail right now after pleading guilty to weapons and explosives charges. He also admitted helping terrorists gain entry to a training camp in Pakistan.

While concerned about Ms. Geller’s exercise of free speech and the Tea Party’s exercise of free association, we missed CAIR’s press release denouncing the violation of human rights in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, etc… We’re sure they wrote one, it just wasn’t distributed as widely as this one.

(more…)

When asked by Big Government to review Greg Gutfeld’s The Bible of Unspeakable Truths, my response was instantaneous:  “Why me, Lord?”

Alas, we mere mortals can but abide His infinite wisdom – God’s not Gutfeld’s.  Resigned, I shouldered the onus of reading the late night jackanape’s scatological tome.  Afterwards, I showered…alone…in a hair shirt…and then burned it to commence my decontamination and atonement.

Oddly, no matter how hard I scoured his book and myself, the indelible fact remained –

Gutfeld’s Unspeakable Truths is, in his idiosyncratic idiom, “Supersexyawesome!”

Oh, it’s not because of his solipsistic obsession with his weight, nasty habits, backrubs, pool boys, unicorns, backrubs from pool boys riding unicorns, or his feigned interest in Ms. Megan Fox, whom he importunes to call him.  [Ms. Fox:  Do NOT call Gutfeld.]  Rather, it’s because, at root, Gutfeld is a philosophical conservative mud wrestling with a chaotic world rife with inane Leftists, all of whom he endeavors to foist by their own petard (or by the trapeze set in his “rumpus room”).

Gutfeld’s eclectic, authentic conservatism stems from an unshakeable faith in his fellow Americans’ common sense ability to self-govern – of which, admittedly, he is the exception that proves the rule.  To wit, in his assay, “You’re Leading the Country Right Now,” Gutfeld chases to the cut:

(more…)

Some news of the weird – and wired: The office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, as part of an ongoing grand jury investigation, has filed a subpoena against Twitter to reveal the names of two anonymous Twitter accounts.  The revelation came hours after Mr. Corbett won the Republican primary for governor.

The subpoena asks for name and contact information for the Twitter accounts  BFBarbie and CasablancaPA. It is unclear the reason for the subpoena, but both Twitter handles have been harsh critics of Mr. Corbett.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pennsylvania ACLU will represent CasblancaPA in fighting the subpoena. WTAE Pittsburgh has video of the story, including an interview with Mr. Corbett in which he refuses to comment on the “ongoing investigation.”

(more…)

Imagine the American response in 1950 if the Japanese government sought to erect a shrine to its World War II Emperor in Pearl Harbor, right next to the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona.

Would “outrage” be strong enough to describe the response?

Now fast forward to 2010.

Less than nine years after the worst terrorist attack on American soil in our history, an imam who blames America for the 9/11 attack wants to construct a 13 story, $100 million dollar mosque and Islamic center 600 feet from “Ground Zero.”

And he wants to unveil it to the world on September 11, 2011 – the ten year anniversary of the greatest jihadist atrocity ever perpetrated against America on its own soil.

News and blog sites across the country are heating up over this.  ACT! for America, the nation’s largest grassroots organization dedicated to combating radical Islam and global jihad, today launched a national petition opposing the mosque, which says in part:

We are opposed to the grotesque symbolism represented by the building of this mosque at “ground zero…”  We are deeply disturbed by the insensitivity to the families of the victims of the 9/11 jihadist attack exhibited by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his supporters.

As a measure of the public’s outrage , over 5,000 people had signed the petition in the first three hours.

(more…)

California has many problems these days, including a severe water shortage.  Unfortunately, big-government policies at the federal level have made this problem far worse than it needed to be.

The natural drought has been exacerbated by a man-made drought:  draconian application of the Endangered Species Act that restricts the availability of water for irrigation.  Imposed to protect various species of fish, the water restrictions have led to fallowed farmland, unsustainable reliance on groundwater, which can cause land subsidence and environmental damage, and rampant joblessness in California’s Central Valley.

A glimmer of hope emerged this week when the U.S. District Court released a ruling finding serious flaws in one of the federal biological opinions that restricted water deliveries. The ruling could lead to increased water supplies for struggling farmers and ranchers in the Central Valley.

This is an important victory, but we must not to lose sight of the bigger picture, which is that the root of the problem lies in federal interference with state resources.

While I’m glad that the court’s latest ruling could lead to more water for California’s struggling farmers, I cannot forget that it was this same court that two years ago forced the federal government to restrict pumping under the Endangered Species Act.

(more…)

Ways and Means Ranking Republican Dave Camp (R-MI) and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Wally Herger (R-CA) today released a new road map that shows America’s small businesses and their employees how to calculate the so-called small business health care tax credit.

Small_business_tax_credit_path_flow

As the navigation tool shows, employers face a dizzying array of questions and formulas before determining if they are eligible for some, all or none of this credit.

“The health care law is going to drive up premiums even further and, as this road map shows, it provides virtually no help to small businesses,” said Camp.  “No wonder the nation’s leading small business organization is suing to overturn the law.  We need to repeal this law and replace it with health care reforms that lower costs for small businesses, families and taxpayers.”

Herger added, “Ronald Reagan once said that the most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’  It’s no surprise that the Democrats’ big-government health care law offers no real help for small businesses struggling with high health care costs.  In fact, at a time when our top priority should be to create jobs and get our economy back on track, this new law instead kills jobs and tells small business owners that it isn’t in their best interest to grow and prosper.  It’s time for Congress to get to work on repealing this destructive health overhaul and providing real tax relief and health care savings for America’s small businesses.”

The Ways and Means Republican document reaffirms concerns expressed by small business owners in an Associated Press article, FACT CHECK: Tax cut math doesn’t add up for some,  out this morning.

(more…)

The Central Illinois 9/12 Project became one of the first to expose — beginning this past March on BigGovernment.com – Shorebank’s extensive green and microfinancing agendas, in anticipation of that bank’s impending bailout.  Shorebank, a Chicago-based, community-based investment bank, is focused on domestic and foreign microfinancing, is heavily engaged in the financing of “green” projects and “green” jobs, and has a host of ties to the Obama and Clinton administrations.  Most recently, we wrote in April about Shorebank seeking a “bailout” from larger financial firms that have previously received bailout money from the federal government. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky had previously proposed that the bank receive funds from the State of Illinois to help cover its loss of capital since the beginning of the nation’s economic downturn in 2008.

As we previously wrote, Shorebank would potentially be eligible for TARP funds if it were to be recognized as a “Community Development Financial Institution.” In order to to received needed federal TARP money and prevent seizure by the FDIC, Shorebank needed to receive appropriate matching funds from private sources.  News stories have been released over the past several days indicating that Shorebank has potentially received such funding.

Shorebank has reportedly received $20 million from General Electric, $20 million from Goldman Sachs, and $20 million from Citigroup – with additional large funds being promised by J.P.Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley. Shorebank also has received funds from the Northern Trust Corporation, State Farm, and Harris N.A.  It has been reported that the bank could also receive funds from Wells-Fargo and PNC Financial Services.  Assistance from these financial institutions puts Shorebank’s raised capital from private sources within the range needed to make it eligible for TARP funds.

As we reported previously, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Chase all received tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer money from TARP.  Does this then mean that Shorebank is being bailed out by bailout money?

(more…)

At the same time Gallup has released numbers that Americans believe the country’s moral outlook is bleak, another D.C. type has been taken down by sex — or, more accurately, the hypocrisy of having sex when running on moral rectitude. The Washington Examiner’s inimitable Nate Beeler has a humorous cartoon running right now:

Of course, the seemingly endless cavalcade of polticians caught in flagrante delecto isn’t the capital’s only love affair with cross-dressing politics in tones of morality. It’s almost always the moralists who will try to ruin the lives of others by claims of moral failure, right before their own lingerie-covered skeletons come tumbling out of the closet.

This is especially a concern for advocates of limited government, and it forces a tough moment to recognize that we have to defend our values through logic, rather than through the law. Many in Washington love to demand government that is just small enough to fit under the doorway of our bedrooms. Take, for instance, the Department of Justice prosecution persecution in D.C. this summer against a mainstream pornographer. Reason has the story:

(more…)

UPDATE: Video has since been removed from YouTube

By now, you’ve probably seen the mob-scene that developed on the front lawn of the private residence of Greg Baer, deputy general counsel for corporate law at Bank of America.  This was planned for some time by the SEIU as part of a larger national event, their Showdown on K Street, which was shared with National People’s Action and thousands of other activists from MoveOn.org and other left-wing groups.

Prior to the main event on K Street in Washington DC, SEIU and company made a little pit stop.  According to Fortune magazine Washington editor Nina Easton, 14 busloads of riled up protesters unloaded on Baer’s private property and stormed up to his doorstep, while his teenage son was home alone.  Easton is a neighbor of Baer’s and had called to check on her neighbor’s son when she heard and saw all the commotion outside. Easton writes,

“Waving signs denouncing bank “greed,” hordes of invaders poured out of 14 school buses, up Baer’s steps, and onto his front porch. As bullhorns rattled with stories of debtor calls and foreclosed homes, Baer’s teenage son Jack — alone in the house — locked himself in the bathroom. “When are they going to leave?” Jack pleaded when I called to check on him.

Baer, on his way home from a Little League game, parked his car around the corner, called the police, and made a quick calculation to leave his younger son behind while he tried to rescue his increasingly distressed teen. He made his way through a din of barked demands and insults from the activists who proudly “outed” him, and slipped through his front door.

“Excuse me,” Baer told his accusers, “I need to get into the house. I have a child who is alone in there and frightened.”

Imagine what you would have done if your child were inside that house and that mob was on your front lawn as you tried to reach him.

(more…)

Last Wednesday, I announced on Big Government the launch of a new initiative that would enable taxpayers to directly propose federal spending cuts on the House floor. Today, over a quarter-million Americans will get to see whether their representatives in Congress share their specific fiscal priorities.

For those who hunger to hold their elected officials accountable for perpetuating a culture of reckless runaway spending in Washington, meet YouCut.

This first-of-its-kind interactive initiative empowers taxpayers with direct democracy at a time when their faith in Congress’ fiscal prudence has reached its lowest. YouCut allows the public to vote each week on one of five wasteful spending items that they would like to strip from the federal budget. Once the votes are tallied, Republicans force a vote on whether or not to take up and debate the cut on the House floor.

During the first week, a plurality of voters – over 81,000! – chose to axe a recently created $2.5 billion annual welfare program that undercuts cost-saving welfare reforms made in the mid 1990’s.  Within 5 days of the experiment, 280,000 Americans have cast a vote either online or by text message.  At several points, more than 5,000 votes were being cast per hour, with less than one percent of votes originating from inside the beltway.

The overwhelming response speaks to the extreme levels of frustration that you feel toward a Congress that refuses to listen to you.  Over the last decade, taxpayers have grown weary of the incessant federal spending binges – no matter which party has been in power. They now look across the Atlantic with horror as Europe collapses under the weight of its own debt. Fear that America will go down the same road has only amplified calls for spending restraint.

Through YouCut, concerned citizens are cracking through the wall of resistance put up by big spenders in Washington to create a new culture of savings. This poses a threat to several in Congress who are invested heavily in preserving the status quo – hence the Democratic National Committee’s vigorous effort to discredit the program.  Worse, rather than listening to the hundreds of thousands of Americans, Tim Kaine (Chairman of the DNC) and Chris Van Hollen (Chairman of the DCCC) chose to mock the opinions of those who voted.  Not listening – a common theme for Democrats.

(more…)

Just four months apart, there were very different results in the special elections for the “Kennedy Seat” and the “Murtha Seat.”   Each race was to replace a long-standing Democrat icon.  Each race held out high hopes for Republicans in an anti-incumbent environment.  Yet the results were not the same.  While no two races are exactly alike, the different results, in similar races, provides an important warning for Republicans.

The Similarities.  The race to replace Kennedy and Murtha included many similarities.  There is no question that there is an anti-Washington and therefore an anti-incumbent wave crossing America.  High unemployment and even higher deficits, combined with a sense that government is no longer by the people is worrying many an incumbent.  The manner in which Health Care was passed and the very nature of that government take-over continue to weigh on the minds of voters.

An incredible 56% of voters, on the day of the Murtha replacement election, still want the health care bill repealed.  No greater examples of the intensity of the anti-Washington fervor can be found in the fall of Senator Bennett in Utah (a long time conservative) and  in the fall of Charlie Crist (backed by the Republican establishment).

Beyond that, the Kennedy/Murtha races did not feature huge personalities stepping up to take the seats.  Instead, more local/regional candidates ran.   Despite those similarities, however, there was a different outcome.  The Republicans picked up the Kennedy seat – despite longer registration odds – and lost the Murtha seat.  The reasons why are telling.

(more…)

I’ve been joking recently that the political climate was moving into territory where it would be impossible for even the GOP to screw up the November elections. I was wrong. Tuesday’s special election to replace the deceased Rep. John Murtha, where a credible GOP candidate lost by almost ten points, proves that we should never underestimate the GOP’s ability to squander its advantages and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

First, lets dismiss with a few of the challenges the GOP faced in the special election. The district, Pennsylvania 12, is a gerrymandered mess, designed to elect a Democrat. There are twice as many registered Democrats in the district as Republicans. Although the Presidential election in 2008 was close, in prior years the Democrat candidate won the district in a walk.

The special election was scheduled on the same day as a hotly-contested Democrat primary, guaranteeing a boost in the party’s turnout. There was a gadfly “tea party” candidate auditioning for the role of spoiler and a somewhat complicated voting process where supporters of the GOP candidate, Tim Burns, had to vote twice; once in the GOP primary and again in the actual special election. And, the Democrat candidate had the full support of the left’s political machine and an army of supporters from Big Labor, in one of the few remaining districts where that matters.

All of these dynamics pointed to a close race. They do not, however, add up to the blowout suffered by Burns on Tuesday. Remember, Burns’ opponent, Mark Critz, was a former staffer for John Murtha. He actually campaigned that he was the economic development director for the former Congressman. He negotiated the earmark deals that cast an ethical cloud above the Congressman and filled a grand jury docket. He said he was a pro-life Democrat, as if that means anything in a post-Stupak world. Oh, and he said he opposed ObamaCare but wouldn’t vote to repeal it. It seems he was against it before he was for it.

(more…)

Today is, by some counts, International Draw a Mohammed Cartoon Day. Or, something like that. We totally understand that, to many Muslims, depictions of their prophet is blasphemous. But, we also know…and will always fight to defend the idea…that, in a free and pluralistic society, a minority, or even a majority, can’t impose their religious beliefs on others. To that end…

I find the George Soros-funded Media Matters for America outlet extremely entertaining in their capacity as the Obama White House’s fluffy attack chinchilla — not just because they clearly work so hard at such drudgery, but because they are so oblivious to their incredible irrelevance within the ongoing online conversation. In this case, I sadly didn’t even notice their long, drawn out response last week to my BigGovernment piece on CMS nominee Donald Berwick until just today. It’s a classically impotent MMFA attack post, in the sense that it spends an incredible amount of effort to rebut absolutely nothing I wrote.

They admit that Donald Berwick has expressed his support for a health care plan which “redistribute[s] wealth from the richer among us to the poorer”; he does talk about how he’s “romantic” about Britain’s National Heath System; he expresses his strong support for “rationing with our eyes open.” You can see video excerpts of Berwick’s remarks here. In fact, in quoting at length trying to provide some wiggle room, MMFA actually makes Berwick seem worse!

In any case, normally I’d just let MMFA continue on their merry way until the Obama White House calls them up to tell them who needs to be squeaked at tomorrow. But their naivete when it comes to health policy is so evident in their choice of sources, I have to point out one aspect of their response to me: their reliance on a rebuttal, and a support for health care rationing, from one Dr. Peter Singer.

You may recognize the name, and not know why. The MMFA author, who evidently didn’t, quotes at length from Dr. Singer’s piece in support of health care rationing in the New York Times: “The debate over health care reform in the United States should start from the premise that some form of health care rationing is both inescapable and desirable. Then we can ask, What is the best way to do it?”

(more…)