EatonWeb Blog Directory The Price Of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance: October 2009

Saturday, October 24, 2009

20 Years After the Wall

© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2009 All Rights Reserved Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH

10/16/2009

Barack is Too Busy

Obama Cancels Plans to Attend Berlin Wall Anniversary

Berlin will have to wait a while longer before Air Force One touches down for US President Barack Obama's first official visit.

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AFP

Berlin will have to wait a while longer before Air Force One touches down for US President Barack Obama's first official visit.

US President Barack Obama has shelved his plans to attend festivities marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will reportedly take his place at the Nov. 9 celebrations.

Germany is going to have to wait longer than expected for US President Barack Obama's first official visit. Citing government sources in Berlin, Reuters reported on Friday that Obama will not attend the anniversary festivities marking two decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event will take place on Nov. 9 -- just two days before Obama embarks on a long-planned trip to Asia on Nov. 11.

According to the German television channel n-tv, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will stand in for the president. It is considered unlikely that her husband, the former President Bill Clinton, will accompany her.

Berlin is going all out for the anniversary, with such luminaries as Kofi Annan, Mikhail Gorbachev and Lech Walesa expected to be in attendance. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing hard to complete ongoing coalition negotiations soon so that her government is fully formed in time for the festivities.

Despite Obama's absence, however, Merkel will get some face time with the US president in early November. She is planning to travel to Washington and will be addressing a joint session of US Congress on Nov. 3.

Obama has not visited Berlin since taking power. He was in Germany briefly in June, when he made stops in Dresden and at the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial. It was during that trip that Merkel extended the invitation for Obama to help Germany celebrate the fall of the Wall.

Merkel's government expressed understanding with Obama's scheduling difficulties, Reuters reported. Obama's first state visit to Berlin is now expected to take place in 2010.

jas -- with wire reports

At least we will be spared seeing Obama standing by the remnants of the wall and saying things, such as, "Ich bin ein stolzer Sozialistischen"--I am a Socialist. or "Mr Putin, PUT BACK THIS WALL!" To paraphrase Presidents Kennedy and Reagan. One poster named Bosman on a FoxNews message board summed it up quite well when they posted, " I'm surprised he hasn't gone to Russia to apologize for President Reagan's interference in their affairs. Perhaps he could offer reparations to Putin and offer to sponsor the walls REBUILDING! It would certainly fit his MO!"


What’s Really Vast About the Right Wing ‘Conspiracy’

October 2, 2009 by theoriginalgatekeeper

It’s not surprising that the left has trotted out one of its stock phrases to pass the buck about President Obama’s failures. There’s no vast right wing anything. The only thing that is “vast” is the list of excuses from liberals.

Somewhere in our office at the Media Research Center in Washington are the old bumper stickers proclaiming: “Proud Member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.” They are relics of another time, when Bill Clinton was president, his wife Hillary had shown her political acumen doing the health care amateur hour and the White House needed someone to blame for the president’s, um, domestic problems.

Cue conservatives, the most popular villains for liberals and media types this side of Nazis. (Actually, they think we are Nazis, so demonizing us is a two-fer.) With the Lewinsky scandal creating a political firestorm for Bill, Hillary went on NBC’s “Today” show to defend him with one of the most classic lines in modern politics.

She told host Matt Lauer that evil right wingers were really the cause of her husband’s troubles, not his sexual involvement with a White House intern. “The great story here for anybody willing to find and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy against my husband since the day he announced for president,” she explained.

More than 10 years later, it’s still our fault. Bill, who’s older, grayer and less important, still needs somebody to blame so he can make the news. When NBC’s David Gregory asked Bill if “the vast right wing conspiracy” was now targeting President Obama, the former president didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, you bet. Sure it is,” he told the “Meet the Press” audience. “It’s not as strong as it was, because America’s changed demographically, but it’s as virulent as it was.”

Another two-fer for the Clintons. Bill got to make the news by blaming evil conservatives and still made it look like things had been tougher on him in the 1990s. Sure, he got impeached, so things were tougher. But part of it is that Obama has learned from the Clinton term and he’s not making the same mistakes. I’m sure if Obama — or any president — wants to cheat on his wife with a White House intern and then lie about it under oath, things will get tougher on him, too.

But this is more than just a typical whine for attention by a political has-been. When the left complains about how vast conservatives are, they really are admitting they haven’t got anything else to say. That’s stuff of goofy Hollywood celebrities and hack journalists. The truth is the left has no message — on health care, on the economy. Nada. They can’t even get their own party to vote for the public option on health care, so they need to conjure up a bogeyman to blame.

With media help, that’s what Bill tried to do. He whipped out the tired claim that there is some “vast” conspiracy keeping the left from accomplishing its goals. There must be. After all, no thinking person would dare oppose President Obama.

That’s the message the left and the media would have us believe any way.

But it’s not the truth, and truth has a nasty way of catching up to politicians — even Bill Clinton.

The truth in this case is that, while the United States remains a conservative nation, Washington, D.C. remains largely Democratic. The only thing “vast” in the nation’s capital is the distance from one true conservative to another. Actual conservatives can be found in packs in only a few organizations and at a couple random watering holes. They don’t even have a secret handshake. Most wouldn’t have anyone to practice it on.

The same goes for the media. Sure there are conservatives in the American media — they are just far outnumbered by liberals. Even liberal groups like the Pew Center for People and the Press admit this. Things are so bad in the media that The New York Times had to force one of its employees to read conservative media to find the stories that the paper was missing.

That isn’t a joke. Public Editor Clark Hoyt defended the paper’s appalling lack of coverage of the ACORN scandal, but admitted the top bosses were trying to fix it. They “said last week that they would now assign an editor to monitor opinion media and brief them frequently on bubbling controversies.”

So, The Times is so bereft of conservatives that it has to pay one of its employees to read the Drudge Report every day? Oh the horror.

That’s because The Times’ staffers are all like Clinton — and the older ones likely voted for him as well. Former Times executive editor Howell Raines admitted recently that he was “liberal to radical on most issues.” Shocker.

And it’s just as unsurprising that the left turns to one of its stock phrases to pass the buck about Obama’s failures. There’s no vast right wing anything. The only thing that is “vast” is the list of excuses from liberals.

Dan Gainor is The Boone Pickens Fellow and the Media Research Center’s Vice President for Business and Culture. He writes regularly for The FOX Forum and he can be seen on Foxnews.com’s “Strategy Room.”

The only thing “vast” are the ways the Liberals will come up with excuses for installing their Socialist, 2 class system and how they plan too oppress us.

The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance-For the Lack of Vigilance is the Loss of Freedom!

Federal Government Bans Religious Ornaments for 2009 Capitol Christmas Tree

October 1, 2009 by theoriginalgatekeeper

Arizona schoolchildren chosen to decorate tree told to keep religion out

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PHOENIX, Arizona, September 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) called on Arizona state and federal officials on Monday to stop enforcing a requirement prohibiting the state’s schoolchildren from expressing religious viewpoints through Christmas themes while decorating ornaments for the 2009 Capitol Christmas Tree.

Arizona was chosen this year to present 4,000 handcrafted ornaments made by elementary, middle-school, and high-school students to decorate Washington, D.C.’s annual Christmas tree.

Guidelines for the ornaments include specifications for their size, weight, composition, and the directive that “Ornaments cannot reflect a religious or political theme… Instead share your interpretation of our theme ‘Arizona’s Gift, from the Grand Canyon State.’”

In a letter to federal and state officials, including Arizona Governor Janice Brewer, ADF attorneys demanded that they abandon the discrimination against religious viewpoints.

“Banning Christmas from the Capitol Christmas tree is just absurd. Christian students shouldn’t be discriminated against for expressing their religious beliefs,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Jonathan Scruggs.

“The First Amendment does not allow government officials to exclude schoolchildren’s ornaments for the capitol’s Christmas tree merely because they communicate a religious viewpoint.”

The request was issued on behalf of a mother whose son expressed a strong desire to submit three religious ornaments for the tree: One reading “Merry Christmas,” another “Happy Birthday, Jesus,” and the third portraying a manger scene with the Christ child.

Each of these ornaments will also honor Arizona, using as a theme the state’s history, geography, or motto, “Ditat Deus,” which means “God Enriches.”

ADF attorneys indicate in the letter that they will take legal action if officials do not comply by October 4, the day before the deadline to submit ornaments for consideration.

“It is well established that expression of religious beliefs is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” the letter reads. “Religious expression is speech and is entitled to the same level of protection as other kinds of speech … even expression that comes through symbols, such as ornaments.”

Well, well, well. The “Dictator-in-chief” (I guess we can just use the initials, d.i.c.)has descended to a new low. But, considering some on my previous posts, not exactly unexpected. Every good dictator (I know ‘ it’s an oxymoron), always ensures that he is the only thing “deified in his society. This is just another “brick” in the socialist “dungeon” that the “d.i.c.” is building for all of us.

The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance-For the Lack of Vigilance is the Loss of Freedom!

Democratic Lawmaker Likens Health Care Crisis to a ‘Holocaust’

September 30, 2009 by theoriginalgatekeeper

Republicans are likening Rep. Alan Grayson’s remark to Rep. Joe Wilson’s widely criticized shout of “You lie!” during President Obama’s address to Congress earlier this month.

FOXNews.com

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A Democratic congressman under fire for saying that Republicans want Americans to “die quickly” if they get sick fanned the flames further Wednesday by comparing the U.S. health care system to a “holocaust.”

“I call upon all of us to do our jobs for the sake of America, for the sake of those dying people and their families,” Florida Rep. Alan Grayson said on the House floor. “I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America.”

Taking a page from Democrats who disciplined Rep. Joe Wilson earlier this month, Republicans now are seeking their revenge on Grayson who said Tuesday that the GOP wants Americans to “die quickly” if they get sick.

Grayson,a first-term Democrat known for being provocative, refuses to apologize for the comments he made on the House floor Tuesday night while criticizing Republican health care proposals.

Click here to watch the video.

Republicans are likening Grayson’s remark to Wilson’s widely criticized shout of “You lie!” during President Obama’s address to Congress earlier this month. They say Democrats should insist that Grayson apologize just as they did Wilson.

“This is an individual who has established a pathological pattern of unstable behavior,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“Alan Grayson not only refuses to apologize, but he is doubling down on his despicable remarks and he is dragging his party down with him,” he said.

Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, who heads the party’s conservative Republican Study Committee, was planning to introduce a “resolution of disapproval” over Grayson’s behavior that mirrors one Democrats approved against Wilson. Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner, said Boehner supports the resolution.

Grayson said he won’t apologize even in the face of a possible House resolution of disapproval that was passed against Wilson.

“Because I said the truth,” Grayson told FOX News.

And Grayson was more than willing to keep challenging Republicans.

“I think that the Democrats are sick and tired of being kicked around with death panels,” he said, referring to a term popularized by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. “We’re sick of it. They have nothing to offer (on health care) themselves.”

Wilson told FOX News Wednesday that Grayson’s criticism of GOP health proposals is “wrong.”

“The Republican proposals are positive,” he said. “They’re for senior citizens. They’re for small businesses. They’re for creating jobs in our country.”

Wilson wouldn’t comment further on the controversy until he said he could look at exactly what he did.

Earlier Wednesday, the fourth-highest ranking Democrat in the House, Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., said he would encourage Grayson to apologize.

“We should keep in mind the rules of the House and the way we speak to one another,” he said.

But Larson didn’t seem open to having the House discipline Grayson in the same manner as Wilson, saying many other lawmakers would then have to be punished.

Grayson represents a Republican-leaning central Florida district around Orlando and was already among the GOP’s top targets for the 2010 elections. Late Tuesday night, he defiantly gave Republicans more ammunition.

“Now Democrats have a different plan,” he said, highlighting his comments with a sign that that read: “The Republican Health Care Plan: Die Quickly.”

“Democrats say if you have health insurance, we’re going to make it better,” he said. “If you don’t have health insurance, we’re going to provide it to you. If you can’t afford health insurance, then we’ll help you to afford it.”

“So America gets to decide,” he added. “Do you want the Democrats’ plan or the Republican plan.”

Republicans are pressing Democratic leaders to force Grayson to apologize.

“Will Pelosi hold vote to reprimand #Grayson?” Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., wrote on Twitter Wednesday, referencing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Or was JWilson reprimand just partisan politics after all?”

Ken Spain, spokesman for the House Republican campaign arm, said Democrats should be “lining up to call on him to apologize.”

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now has an opportunity to condemn the very behavior and tone of this health care debate that she claims will ‘incite violence,”‘ he said, referring to Democratic concerns that the bitter tone of the health care debate could lead to attacks.

Pelosi’s office didn’t directly address the controversy Wednesday in a statement to FOXNews.com

“Members of Congress should focus on the issue at hand: ensuring quality, affordable and accessible health insurance for all Americans,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said in e-mail.

FOX News’ Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Once again, we can clearly see the the “ObamaCrats” will say and do ANYTHING to stymie any attempts to block their agenda or to inform the public of what the “dictator-in-training” has got in store for we “peasants”. But, we have something “up our sleeves” too. Its a VERY EFFECTIVE tool. Lets call it the 11-2-10 project.
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The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance-For the Lack of Vigilance is the Loss of Freedom!

Biden on 2010: If GOP Succeeds, It’s ‘The End of the Road for What Barack and I Are Trying to Do’

September 30, 2009 by theoriginalgatekeeper

ABC News’ Karen Travers reports:

Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama’s agenda.

Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping these seats.

“If they take them back, this the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do,” the vice president said at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) today in Greenville, Delaware.

Republicans need to pick up 40 seats next November to take back control of the House.

There are 49 seats currently held by Democrats in districts that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) won in last year’s presidential election.

Biden said these House seats are Republicans “one shot” at breaking the Obama administration’s agenda. But if Democrats can hold on to those seats, “the dam is going to break,” he said, and a new era of bipartisanship will begin.

“All the hidden Republicans that don’t have the courage to vote the way they want to vote because of pressure from the party … it will break the dam and you will see bipartisanship,” Biden said.

Republicans welcomed the vice president’s assessment of the 2010 landscape.

“What didn’t seem possible just a few months ago, appears to be the topic of conversation even within the upper echelons of the Obama White House,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “It is interesting to hear Vice President Biden admit that the administration’s effort to double down on a partisan agenda of government takeovers could possibly mean the ‘end of the road’ for their political viability.”

Knowing that 2010 is going to be a tough year for defending their own turf, Democrats are hoping to stay on offense in several House districts held by Republicans, including Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania, Mike Castle of Delaware, Mary Bono Mack of California and Joseph Cao of Louisiana.

“From day one, Democrats said this is a challenging cycle but we’re aggressively tackling that challenge with outstanding Frontline Members and by putting additional Republican seats in play,” said Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, referring to the most vulnerable Democoratic incumbents. “Republicans have banked on failure by opposing common-sense measures to get the economy back on track and health insurance reform.”

Biden’s comments came at a fundraiser for Giffords, a Blue Dog Democrat who was first elected in 2006 to represent a district that had been Republican since 2000.

So, the “vice chancellor” agrees with me that the day of reckoning will be November 2, 2010. At that time, the Congressional elections will be held. If the Republicans can take back one or both Houses of Congress, the ObamaNation will be “foiled” in its “plot” and maybe, just maybe, we will be a nation that has preserved its rights and freedoms.

The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance-For the Lack of Vigilance is the Loss of Freedom!