For about 100 years Progressives have been pushing their racist platitudes and policies beginning as far back as the segregation President, Woodrow Wilson. Others of that time period, like Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger, have promoted methods for actively decreasing the Black population through sterilization, and in turn, the voice of African-Americans. Over the years the liberal agenda has worked to coopt African-Americans into the Democratic Party through pushing a defeated message of “You can’t get by on your own,” and “only the Democratic Party helps African-Americans.” Despite their message of comfort, they have done everything they can, with the help of Major Media, to convince African-Americans that only the government can help them succeed. However, this could not be further from the truth.

It was President Abraham Lincoln from the Republican Party whose conservative values worked to free African-Americans from slavery. It is also conservative values that were at work in the 1960’s to push for civil rights and for African-Americans to have the right to vote. However, since then, liberals in Washington DC and the Media have continued the template of defeatism toward African-Americans in order to try to maintain voter influence over their population. This continues even today.

African-Americans have also reached their own breaking point with Washington DC and the Media’s continued attempt to speak for them. This was reflected in the 1-1.5 million African-Americans that voted for George W. Bush during his elections. More importantly, this was reflected in the 800,000 African-Americans who voted for John McCain over the Black presidential candidate, Barack Obama. It is this absence of representation for African-American conservatives that sparked the birth of the Move-On-Up.org social network 2 years ago.

After enjoying a growing population of their social network to over 800 members, on Saturday, August 13th, 2011 Move-On-Up.org held their first ever 3-day national conference at the Crown Plaza Hotel in St.Louis, Missouri. St.Louis has had a rich history in the civil rights movement and was also one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad before the Slave Free state of Illinois. St.Louis made quite a fitting location as African-Americans once again take a stand for freedom and conservative values against the liberal policies and promotions that destroy families, promote life-long welfare, selective, historical education, and much more. (more…)

America is in shambles from sea to shining sea. Unemployment is at Great Depression levels. Real Estate is collapsing. The stock market is crumbling. Retail sales are vanishing. Consumer confidence is plummeting. Inflation is skyrocketing (on the products that matter- energy and food prices). And of course, our U.S. Triple A credit rating is gone for the first time in history.

America is staring at economic disaster- Obamageddon. We are the Titanic, headed straight for the iceberg. Even delusional 500 point up days on Wall Street will not change the frightening long term picture. The iceberg is straight ahead.

Obama and his socialist cabal have channeled Hoover and FDR, who turned an ordinary bust into The Great Depression with a toxic strategy of more government, more spending, more debt, more entitlements, more rules and regulations strangling business, higher minimum wages, more power to unions, higher taxes, more printing of money by Fed, and trade tariffs. This is the Obama blueprint squared.

Here’s where the story gets downright frightening. This time the results are going to be dramatically worse than 1929. This time we are facing The Greatest Depression ever. Obamageddon.

Why? Because The Great Depression had NONE of problems and obligations we are now facing.

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An article in The Tucson Weekly reported that the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, among other conservative foundations, have made significant donations to the University of Arizona’s FreedomCenter.  Most people would commend the Koch Foundation for their generous financial commitment to higher education.  However, there are a few left-leaning ideologues who have chosen to attack the donations on the basis of partisan distrust and personal politics, rather than placing the interests of students first.

David Gibbs, a professor of history and government in University of Arizona’s Political Science Department, is just such a person.  He makes the outlandish claim in the article that these donations are an “attempt to place the seal of academic legitimacy on their extremist libertarian views” and falsely accuses the Koch brothers of trying to influence academic opinion.

Gibbs makes these claims, despite a statement by the University of Arizona’s Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences, John Paul Jones III, who said that “there has been no donor influence over the hires we’ve made at the Freedom Center.”  As the Dean of the School, Jones’ statement offers credence in putting to rest any fears that the Koch Foundation might somehow be infringing on the University’s academic independence.

This is not the first time that Gibbs has made radical statements.  In the past, he has written about a vast conspiracy by the CIA to influence academia.  He went as far as to claim that there exists “books in the library that were secretly edited by the CIA with no indication that this has been done.”  If there was no indication that the CIA edited these books, how can Mr. Gibbs factually claim to know that the CIA did indeed “secretly” edit books?

Unsurprisingly, Gibbs says that people within the political science department were unhappy with his statements regarding the connection that he was trying to establish between the CIA and academia.  After all, the comments did resemble those of a paranoid conspiracy theorist.  As a result, Gibbs left the political science department and transferred to the history department, where he had more liberty to tell his “unique” version of the past.

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I know that not all of our readers here are Southerners. However, I am not writing to pick a fight, nor will I go into some boring rehash on the Civil War. I simply want to address a phenomenon that permeates throughout our society. That is, the totally acceptable bigotry towards those who are from the South and sound like they are from the South.

I recall watching a debate between Karl Rove and James Carville. Rove made the statement that one Bush’s biggest obstacles was that he was a Texan, who spoke like a Texan. He said there was a real disdain in certain parts of our country for the kind of accent Bush had. Carville jumped quickly to point out that Clinton was from Arkansas and had his own accent. I don’t remember Rove’s rebuttal to that point but it was a weak one. What he should have said was that Clinton was forgiven of his curse because 1). He believed in late-term abortion, 2). He had an extra-marital affair(s), and 3). He was a liberal Democrat.

But, those in the South who are conservative and Republican have no chance at recompense, especially those who actually seek the presidency of a nation their ancestors fought against. A Southern accent is all the smoke needed for the liberal establishment to light the fire. Because, from the windows of their limousines, where there is a Southern accent, there is racism, sexism, backwardness and Right-wing extremism. It means fire hoses and police dogs. Of course, the pinky-in-the-air northern liberals cannot directly attribute these negative images to any modern Southern Republican; though you can’t say the same thing about Democrats, Southern or otherwise. It only needs to be associated and the liberal press will do the rest. You’ll remember Joe Wilson’s outburst to Obama. The now infamous, “You Lie!” It didn’t matter that Obama was in fact lying. Joe Wilson is from South Carolina and a Republican to boot. He has no right to challenge President Obama: a self-proclaimed black American and a very liberal Democrat.

Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men’s club — Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at a president who didn’t.

But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!

The outburst was unexpected from a milquetoast Republican backbencher from South Carolina who had attracted little media attention. Now it has made him an overnight right-wing hero, inspiring “You lie!” bumper stickers and T-shirts.

The congressman, we learned, belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, led a 2000 campaign to keep the Confederate flag waving above South Carolina’s state Capitol and denounced as a “smear” the true claim of a black woman that she was the daughter of Strom Thurmond, the ’48 segregationist candidate for president. Wilson clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber.

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Freedom is more embattled in America today than ever. My group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), has begun tracking the activities of numerous active groups that are threats to freedom in the United States today on our Threats to Freedom Index. We plan to augment it periodically and publish it annually.

All Threat to Freedom groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign American Constitutional freedoms and/or lawful initiatives for American self-defense.

My colleague Robert Spencer and I compiled the list from records of Threat to Freedom group statements and activities as they appear in their own publications and websites, as well as from reports from concerned citizens and mainstream media reports.

Threat to Freedom group activities can include misrepresentation of anti-terror and other law enforcement initiatives, attempts to restrict the freedom of speech regarding Islamic jihad or other threats to freedom, defamation of freedom fighters, disinformation campaigns in the mainstream media regarding attempts by the U.S. and Israel to defend themselves, and more.

Listing as a Threat to Freedom group does not in itself imply that a listed group calls for or participates in violence or criminal activities, although it does not rule out their doing so.

Here are the first groups listed on our AFDI Threats to Freedom Index. There is more detail in my book Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance.

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Big Government first pointed out the absurd nature of  former Penthouse Pet Tammy Chapman’s allegations against prospective Republican gubernatorial candidate, Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder on Friday. Now, while bragging about all the media attention she is getting from it to her small circle of Facebook friends, it seems when Chapman does talk to the media, she can’t keep her story straight.

Unfortunately, that makes media outlets covering it look less interested in facts, than whatever nonsense Chapman has to say to try and damage a Republican.

Based upon research and exclusive documentation provided to Big Government, it’s believed that dated allegations of sexually aggressive behavior by former Penthouse Pet and stripper Tammy Chapman against prospective Republican gubernatorial candidate, Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, do not hold up under scrutiny. Along with that, it appears steps may have been taken to cover any tracks leading to who is behind the bizarre smear campaign.

On August 9, Chapman told the Riverfront Times she took the innocuous photo she requested of her with Kinder in the restaurant where she was working.

As for that famous photo, she’s mystified as to how it got out. She took it, she says, and she e-mailed it to him before deleting it. Kinder, she says, is the only person she e-mailed it to; she has no idea how it wound up being sent to Riverfront Times.

But that’s not what she told the Kansas City Star a mere two days later. In two short days she went from claiming to have emailed and deleted the photo from her camera, to using Kinder’s to take it. No wonder Kinder calls the claims absurd.

Chapman told The Star that a photo of the two of them was taken with Kinder’s camera and that he had circulated it.

Also, as to the original allegations, she told one media outlet Kinder would visit her where she danced every Monday and Wednesday.

The never-married Kinder started coming to the club every Monday, and then every Monday and every Wednesday.

It was only Mondays when she talked to KSDK and Senate records show Kinder was in attendance working on all but two Mondays during the session in question. Again, Chapman’s story simply doesn’t add up.

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In one of the most galling attempts in history to politically reposition a failing presidency, President Barack Obama and his Hyde Park, Chicago Progressive machine handlers have launched a new propaganda campaign meant to absolve him of any blame where the failure of his administration is concerned. Instead the “Obamanation” is attempting to brand “Congress” and the “political system” as the culprits. Forget about hope and change. Forget about any dreams his Father may or may not have had. This is audacity at its most egregious.

Throughout his political career Mr. Obama has been no stranger to the practice of throwing once crucial-now dispensable allies “under the bus.” We first saw it with Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He then graduated to tossing whole demographics in his continued failure to address specific campaign promises to activist groups, i.e. anti-war groups, gay and lesbian groups, Black advocacy groups, community organizing groups, etc. Now, those who have put their careers on the line for his agenda – whether it was for Obamacare or for the failed stimulus – find themselves in the President’s opportunistic crosshairs. Mr. Obama is throwing his Progressive and Democrat allies to the wolves in a transparent and insincere attempt to tack to the center.

As reported in The Hill:

“In what at first appeared to be another of the president’s almost routine trips to an advanced battery manufacturer, Obama came out firing, saying that ‘what we’ve seen in Washington the last few months has been the worst kind of partisanship, the worst kind of gridlock.’

“And that gridlock has undermined public confidence and impeded our efforts to take the steps we need for our economy,’ Obama said. ‘It’s made things worse instead of better.’

“The president added what was unmistakably a new economic theme and reelection message: ‘There is nothing wrong with our country. There is something wrong with our politics.’”

In a failed attempt to invoke the spirit of the TEA Party movement, Mr. Obama added,

“…the public suddenly realized…we are going to have to get engaged. And if you agree with me – it doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican or an independent – you’ve got to let Congress know. You’ve got to tell them you’ve had enough of the theatrics. You’ve had enough of the politics. Stop sending out press releases. Start passing some bills that we all know will help our economy right now. That’s what they need to do; they’ve got to hear from you.”

It is stunning that Mr. Obama and his propaganda team believe that the American people are so completely devoid of any capacity to “remember”; that they believe they can rewrite or completely abolish recent history right before our eyes.

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California recently instituted as part of its budget solution an “Amazon Tax” aimed at forcing out-of-state, online retailers with no physical presence in the Golden State to collect and remit sales tax in respect of goods sold to Californians where the retailer in question advertises, or maintains an “affiliate” referral relationship, with websites based within state lines.

Prior to passage of the bill obligating collection and remittance in such circumstances, prominent online retailers including Amazon.com and Overstock.com had threatened to terminate relationships with affiliates, if the legislation became law.  Now that it has, and affiliate relationships are being severed, something critics of the legislation say was entirely foreseeable is occurring: Online businesses and entrepreneurs are leaving the state, thus risking an actual reduction, as opposed to marginal increase, in California’s tax revenue.

Last month, news broke of one California-based online entrepreneur who had decided to ditch California and move to Nevada in the aftermath of Gov. Jerry Brown signing the law.  ”I always figured that in California, home to Silicon Valley and a million tech startups, they’d never pass a law like this,” said Nick Loper, who formerly operated ShoesRUs and has now opened a new venture, ShoeSniper.

Per the piece in which Loper is quoted, more than 70 affiliates had at that stage already left California, according to online businesses.

Then, last Thursday, another online entrepreneur, Erica Douglass, posted a mock “It’s Over” letter to California on her blog. Douglass, who sold an internet company she had built for $1.1 million in 2007 when she was just 26, cited multiple reasons for moving to Austin.  Among them were unnecessary paperwork requirements mandated by the state, and high taxes as well as business fees.  However, the straw that broke the camel’s back, was according to Portfolio, Brown signing the Amazon Tax into law.

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So far the U.S. government has bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the tune of at least $130 billion, and perhaps as much as $1 trillion. And yet, the Obama administration continues to stonewall the release of documents that could shed light on why Fannie and Freddie failed, thereby sending the economy into a tailspin from which we have yet to recover. (Those records are housed at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) now that Fannie and Freddie are owned and operated by the federal government.)

Judicial Watch is especially interested in documents related to the political contributions of Fannie and Freddie. And we’ve gone to court to get our hands on them. Unfortunately, our efforts sustained another setback when an appellate court sided with the government and ruled that Fannie and Freddie’s records are not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) law and may continue to be kept secret:

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has been the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since 2008. Judicial Watch filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) asking the FHFA to disclose records of Fannie and Freddie that show how much money they gave to political campaigns. But it is uncontested that no one at the FHFA has ever read or relied upon any such documents. The district court held that the documents are not agency records subject to FOIA, and we agree.

So, in other words, because no one at the FHFA, the agency in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has “read or relied upon” the documents, they are not considered agency records under FOIA, and cannot be released.

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the proposed “Department of Jobs,” and Warren Buffett’s plea to the government to make him pay more in taxes.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

A Jobs Agenda, Anyone?
White House Debates Fight on Economy
Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

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….Well, actually, it’s feces and other objects like “nails, glass, cinder block, spikes, feces, clubs, rocks, screws, or puncture devices of any kind, or other object or debris…”

On Friday, a judge in New Jersey granted Verizon some relief from its striking unions by granting an injunction against International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 827–one of the two unions that has pulled 45,000 union members out on strike.

While injunctions are often issued during strikes when there are instances of mass picketing and the blocking of entrances and exits, the New Jersey injunction is somewhat unusual in that it also specified the aforementioned feces.

According to the Toms River News, NJ Supreme Court Justice Marybeth Rogers ordered that there should be no vandalism, violence, harassment, obstruction, intimidating, threatening, blocking, or trespassing. (more…)

We keep hearing from the usual suspects on the Left that voter fraud is virtually non-existent, a figment of the collective imagination of racist vote-suppressing Republicans.

And yet more evidence of voter fraud keeps surfacing.

In Wake County, North Carolina, Shelia Ramona Hodges, Kierra Fontae Leach, Brandon Earl McLean, and Lela Devonetta Murray have been charged with voting twice, a felony.

According to TV station WRAL

McLean and his fiancee Leach admit to participating in early voting in the 2008 election. Unsure about the process on Election Day, they said they went to the polls to make sure their vote counted.

“I was confused and did not know,” McLean said. “This is my second time voting for a president in my life.”

Leach said she even told a poll worker about it.

“We told her we had already early voted, and we just wanted to make sure it counted,” Leach said. “She said, ‘If you have a ballot, then go ahead and vote.’ And that is what we did. We did not think anything of it.”

McLean said they were not trying to cheat the system.

District Attorney Colon Willoughby said he’s not finished yet. “One of the bedrocks of our democracy is that we have fair and open elections, and I think this goes to the fabric of fairness and the public’s perception of the credibility of open elections.”

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The culture of corruption is a well-known fixture in Chicago and Illinois politics where it doesn’t matter what you know, it matters who you know.  We have one governor on his way to jail and the one before him currently serving time for corruption.  You would think the current governor, Pat Quinn, who bills himself as a reformer would change things. You would be wrong.

One way Quinn has continued the culture of corruption is by stacking state boards and commissions, many paying lucrative salaries for little to no work, with political allies.  For instance, pro-choice activist Terry Cosgrove was appointed to the Human Rights Commission and has been a lifelong friend of the Democratic Party of Illinois and Quinn.

Quinn, however, has a new twist on board appointments.  Many of these bodies are restricted by state law from having too many members of one party on them.  This modest requirement is an attempt to ensure decisions are made on the merits instead of on the politics.  Governor Quinn has gotten around this requirement by having Democrats label themselves as “Independents” when it comes to board appointments in an apparent end-run around the law and what likely is illegal behavior.

How prevalent is this problem?  Here is a list of boards and commissions I examined to see if Quinn was following the law.

• Capital Development Board – 4 Democrats maximum, 6 Democrats serving and no Republicans
• Housing Development Authority – 5 Democrats maximum, 7 Democrats serving
• Board of Education – 5 Democrats maximum, 7 Democrats serving
• Board of Higher Education – 7 Democrats maximum, 14 Democrats serving and no Republicans
• University of Illinois Board of Trustees – 5 Democrats maximum, 6 Democrats serving
• Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees – 4 Democrats maximum, 5 Democrats serving
• Human Rights Commission – 7 Democrats maximum, 9 Democrats serving
• Health Facilities and Services Planning Board - 5 Democrats maximum, 6 Democrats serving
• Educational Labor Relations Board – 3 Democrats maximum, 4 Democrats serving
• Medical Disciplinary Board – 5 Democrats maximum, 6 Democrats serving
• Judical Inquiry Board – 4 Democrats maximum, 5 Democrats serving

These are boards with real power that either spend a good deal of taxpayer dollars or wield great sway over the voters.  You can view the official party affiliation at the state website appointments.illinois.gov.  To verify true party affiliation, I checked state voting records.  Under state law, if you vote in a primary for a party, you are a member of that party.  That is how I discovered many “independents” on these boards are really lifelong Democrats, many giving a good deal of money to Democrats for office.

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The media still seems baffled that prim and proper England would be almost brought to its knees by what the London Daily Mail newspaper referred to as “nihilistic and feral teenagers” rioters. For four days anarchistic youths “from all walks of life raced around the streets mindlessly and desperately hurling bricks, stones and bottles at the cops while looting here and setting bonfires there, leading the authorities on a merry chase of catch-as-catch-can as they tweeted their way from one strategic target to another.” The British Social Welfare State that Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative Party dismantled thirty years ago has come roaring back with 14 year of Labor Party rule.

Today’s British youth have been indoctrinated in school that Thatcher was an anti-democratic fascist, who denied the public their entitlements. It should not be surprising that this generation of “Mini-Me” leftists would act out now that Parliamentary control a broke U.K. has gone to the Conservative Party under David Cameron to return the nation to solvency.

It has been 21 years since Thatcher retired as British Prime Minister. During her 11 year reign as the “Iron Lady” she systematically reversed England’s precipitous economic and military decline. When the she became Prime Minister in 1979 the U.K. was in a severe recession. Violent riots broke out in the South London neighborhood of Brixton over demands for more social spending. Scores of buildings were burned and 2500 policemen were injured and as the violence raged. The rioting spread to Liverpool where over a four day period 150 buildings burned and 781 more police officers were injured. Police were finally forced to use CS gas for the first time on the British mainland to quell the unrest.

The Iron Lady’s tough response to the rioters was applauded by the public and gave her the mandate to carry out her agenda of fiscal conservatism. She implemented economic policies that led to the sale or closure of state-owned companies, deregulation of British industry and the financial sectors, flexibility in labor markets, and withdrawal of state subsidies. After a rough start, British GDP rose twice as fast as government spending for the first time since the 1920s. Thatcher demanded balanced budgets and refused to be suckered into adopting the euro currency. When Thatcher retired in 1990, the U.K. was considered a growth engine of Europe.

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Today, in 1945, Japan surrendered, ending World War II.

I believe in girl power. I’ve been a proponent of it long before the ridiculous Power Puff Girls and those sassy Spice Girls made the term part of our vernacular.

I’m of the mind a woman can do anything she puts her mind to – and isn’t limited by the fact that she is a woman.

Don’t get me wrong. I do believe some things are meant to be done by men only – err taking out the trash or mowing the lawn to name a few, but hell- if I wanna do them I’m perfectly capable of it and don’t you doubt it (I really despise taking out the trash. Don’t know why … I just do).

Women can fight in wars. They can die for their country. They can fly planes, build bridges, perform brain surgery and even help build the space shuttle (Sing it with me now: ‘bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never ever let you forget you’re a man …’). But apparently, they’re not equipped to be significantly represented on the ‘Super Committee.’

We represent 50.7 percent of the population in the United States. The Democrats, claiming to be progressive, placed only one woman on the 12-person Debt Reduction committee. If the committee, appointed by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, didn’t want to be representative of the American population, it could’ve at least been sensitive to the 93 women serving in Congress. This would’ve required the placement of at least 2 women on the panel. But no.

Reid and Pelosi were too concerned with making sure all minority groups were represented. One African-American Congressman was chosen (According to the Census, 12.6 percent of the population is African American. 44 are in the 112th Congress — or 8.1 percent of the total membership) and one Latino is on the committee (There are 31 Hispanic or Latino members of the 112th Congress, which is 5.7 percent of the total congressional membership. Hispanics and Latinos make up 16.3 percent of the U.S. population.)

What is the significance of this? To me, it’s clear. The democrats care more about the minority vote than they do about the gender vote because they feel they’ve already got it in the bag! (more…)

Ames, Iowa – Now that Tim Pawlenty has become the first candidate to end his presidential campaign political junkies are consumed with who’s next? Despite finishing behind Pawlenty former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum promised me he isn’t going anywhere, “We are very excited about the results. Look we finished behind a perennial presidential candidate and two locals. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. We are ready to go.” Herman Cain struck a similar note, however, his supporters are far less optimistic. In national polls Cain still commands the greatest positive intensity rating, but his finish behind Santorum is another sign his momentum is gone. Ron Paul’s strong showing was expected, yet his numerous straw poll victories have rarely translated to success on election night.

Gov. Rick Perry may be campaigning down south, but his supporters are urging him to visit Iowa and fill the void left by Pawlenty. Conservatives are worried a Bachmann/Perry dogfight is looming in the near future. While Bachmann’s bruising assault upon Pawlenty may have driven him to defeat, only Mitt Romney stands to benefit from a similar barrage against Gov. Perry. Analysts and staffers are becoming increasingly alarmed by Mitt Romney’s ability to stay unharmed. Perry has also noted this and is supposedly looking for a showdown with Romney rather than Bachmann.

Meanwhile here in Ames live goes on as normal. Yesterday the towns population swelled by almost 30% as Republican faithful attended a straw poll that went down more like a rock concert slash county fair. Paul Shanklin scrounged the grounds with his eighteen year old son looking for material worth parodying on Rush Limbaugh’s show. Rick Santelli signed autographs, Mike Huckabee hammed it up with Christian music group Sonic Flood, and attendees joked that security officers vacated an entire level of the Hilton coliseum when Ron Paul’s supporters set up camp.

It looks like Herman Cain, Thaddeus McCotter, and Newt Gingrich are all good candidates to quickly replicate Tim Pawlenty’s departure.

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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held on August 2 – 6, 2010 in Bonn, Germany.  It was the third round of U. N. climate change negotiations with representatives from 178 governments present.  The meeting was designed to set the agenda for what they hoped to accomplish at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico in November and December of last year.

The information in their press release conveyed the urgency of the U. N. to get this moving forward with solid agreements reached by the November/December conference. The text in this press release is so extremely important for all of us to understand that paragraphs have been copied verbatim.

“Governments have a responsibility this year to take the next essential step in the battle against climate change, said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres.  How governments achieve the next essential step is up to them.  But it’s politically possible.  In Cancun, the job of governments is to turn the politically possible into the politically irreversible, she said.” (Bolded by Writer)

“Christiana Figueres pointed to the opportunity to capture the promises, pledges and progress that governments have already made, in accountable and binding ways.  According to Ms. Figueres, governments now need to resolve what to do with their public pledges to cut emissions.  All industrialized countries have made public pledges to cut emissions by 2020 and 38 developing countries have submitted plans to limit their emissions growth.”

“This needs to be captured in internationally agreed form, the U.N.’s top climate change official said.  More stringent actions to reduce emissions cannot be much longer postponed and industrial nations must lead, she added.”

“Ms. Figueres pointed out that governments agree to a comprehensive set of ways and means to allow developing countries to take concrete climate action.”

“This includes adapting to climate change, limiting emissions growth; providing adequate finance; boosting the use of clean technology; promoting sustainable forestry; and building up the skills and capacity to do all this.”

A brief history of the UNFCCC – With 194 Parties, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.  The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 190 of the UNFCCC Parties.  Under the Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments.  The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.”

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I happened to be in a hair salon when the news first hit. The shock was palpable as word spread from the employees to their clients. There was surprise, then sadness. It was one of those moments some people will always remember exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time.

Upon returning home, sketchy details emerged on internet-news sites, and the Facebook and Twitter-sphere were abuzz as people came to terms with the sad reality.

Amy Winehouse was dead.

This particular singer, who’s only semi-legitimate claim to fame was an appropriate ditty about her refusal to go to rehab, should have surprised no one who bothered to care when she reportedly topped her own previous attempts at excess with a mix of cocaine, heroine and horse tranquilizers; or if you’re to believe her parents, a lack of alcohol.

This singer-turned-public-spectacle became the latest martyr of the Me Generations who elevate practitioners of extreme-hedonism-to-the-point-of-death to romantic notions of victimhood. You know, troubled creative geniuses struggling with enormous and unexpected success. Pushing a 27-year-old body to the point of death through partying takes actual work, and an absolute inability to control one’s cravings.

The next weekend, news hit that a Chinook helicopter had been shot down during a raid in Afghanistan, killing all 30 on board, including 22 Navy SEALs, many reportedly from the elite Team 6. Loss of life during a time of war is tragic, but military casualties are an expected and necessary evil and cost of wars fought for an ostensibly greater good.

But there’s something especially devastating – both psychologically and militarily – about losing so many of the very best. To the extent the internet blogosphere and Facebook are any indications of public sentiment, at least among certain demographics, the public expressions of sadness and grief at this event was mostly confined to those few pro-military individuals. The public expressions of shock and sadness were far less than the number reserved for the drug-addicted dead singer/public spectacle, and only one brave person in my sphere of online friends dared to call out the general population on their sad priorities.

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