james c. cochran's Posts (96)
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US Taxpayers Foot the Bill for Pro-Palestinian Ad Campaign in Israel
**Written by Doug Powers
Last month, a California Congressman distributed talking points among the ranks stressing Obama and the Democrats “unprecedented” support for Israel:
The July 22 memo from Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs, declared that the backing from Obama and the House Democrats have been unprecedented.
“I think you will find [this document] useful to make the case that House Democrats and the President are as good if not better than any Congress or Administration that has come before,” Berman, who is Jewish, said in an e-mail to Democrats in Congress.
Meanwhile, across the ocean:
Washington is funding an ad campaign in Israel featuring billboards of Palestinian officials asking: “We are partners — what about you?”
The campaign launched Sunday includes the faces of senior Palestinian Authority officials Saeb Erekat, Jibril Rajoub and Yasser Abed Rabo, and Riad Malki, Palestinian foreign affairs minister, Yedioth Aharonoth said.
The aim of the campaign is to persuade Israelis that peace partners on the Palestinian side truly exist, and calls for support of a two-state solution, the Tel Aviv newspaper said.
[...]
The campaign has raised a few eyebrows in Israel.“We are talking about a Palestinian Authority campaign funded by the American government,” an Israeli Foreign Ministry official was quoted saying.
| Obama Hauls Arizona Before the UN Human Rights Council By Ben Johnson, Floyd Reports |
| Apparently Barack Obama is not content to make a federal case out of his immigration feud with Arizona; he wants to make it an international one. The president’s first-ever report on U.S. human rights to the UN Human Rights Council contains a rich vein of offensive material. So far, one aspect has not been reported: our petty president used the situation to bash Arizona’s immigration law. Throughout the report — while sounds like an Obama campaign speech — the president discusses “the original flaw” of the U.S. Constitution, America’s tolerance for slavery, and his version of our long and despicable history of discriminating against and oppressing minorities, women, homosexuals, and the handicapped. After each complaint, he addresses how he is delivering us from ourselves, patting himself on the back for such initiatives as ending “torture,” promoting Affirmative Action, and passing health care legislation. In his section on “Values and Immigration,” he praised the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to provide better medical care for detainees and increase “Alternatives To Detention” (e.g., letting them go). Then he turned to the one state that has had the temerity to stand in his way of fundamentally transforming the American electorate: |
ELECTION 2010
Soldier overseas? No voting for you
DoJ scandal reveals how thousands of military ballots may go uncounted
Posted: July 24, 2010
12:25 am Eastern
By Drew Zahn
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
 U.S. Department of Justice Building |
In the wake of the Department of Justice's New Black Panther Party scandal, a second former DOJ attorney has now come forward, blasting the department for failing to protect American soldiers' right to vote.
What's even more alarming, the attorney claims, is that despite congressional mandates passed in 2009 to ensure military personnel overseas can participate in elections, the DOJ's Voting Section is ignoring the new laws and may allow thousands of ballots to slip through the cracks uncounted in November.
M. Eric Eversole is a former litigation attorney for the Voting Section of the U.S. Department of Justice and an advocate for military voters. In an opinion piece in The Washington Times, Eversole explains how soldiers in the field may be disenfranchised in the 2010 election.
"Absentee ballots must be sent to overseas military voters at least 45 days before an election to give those voters sufficient time to receive and return their ballots," Eversole explains. "The Military Postal Service Agency goes one step further and recommends that absentee ballots be sent to war zones 60 days before an election."
But legal complaints, news stories and studies all showed dozens of states failing to give soldiers enough time to vote in the 2008 election – resulting in tens of thousands of soldiers' mailed ballots that arrived too late to be counted, perhaps enough to swing, for example, Minnesota's closely contested election of Democrat Senator Al Franken.
(Story continues below)
Eversole cites the Election Assistance Commission in arguing that more than 17,000 overseas voters were disenfranchised in 2008 because their ballots arrived after the deadline. In Minnesota, which mailed absentee ballots to soldiers just 30 days before the election, Eversole contends, more than 500 military and overseas ballots arrived too late and had to be rejected.
Furthermore, a 2009 Pew Center report found more than a third of states do not provide military voters stationed abroad enough time to vote or are at high risk of not providing enough time. The study found six states provide time to vote only if their military personnel overseas return completed absentee ballots by fax or e-mail – a practice that raises questions about privacy and security.
Eversole contends that despite clear authority under the law to bring action against the offending states in 2008, the Department of Justice refused, a "misfeasance" Eversole says was "was more than Congress could stand," leading to the passage of Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act of 2009.
The MOVE Act contains several provisions, including mandates that states make absentee ballots available electronically and, as of November 2010, provide 45 days for oversees ballots to get to and from solders, round-trip.
But despite the MOVE Act's passage, states are still scrambling to change their election laws to comply with it, and, according to Eversole, Justice Department officials have already stated they're willing to let states slide for the 2010 election.
"A law … is only as good as the people who enforce it," Eversole contends. "In February, a senior official in the Voting Section … expressed the section's willingness to work with states to submit waiver applications and emphasized the section's desire to avoid litigation. Since February, the section has continued to advocate a position that would grant waivers freely."
"In other words," Eversole writes, "notwithstanding Congress' clear mandate, the section continues to argue that military voters should have less than 45 days to receive and return their absentee ballots."
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has been trying for years to pass legislation that would give soldiers overseas ample time to vote, including cosponsoring the MOVE Act.
Cornyn brought up Eversole's charges in a meeting earlier this week with Defense officials responsible for ensuring military voting rights.
"I was very encouraged by what the Defense Department is doing in terms of marketing the new system to military and civilian personnel overseas," Cornyn told The Washington Times. "But the bureaucracies at both the federal and state levels are agonizingly slow. And I am concerned with the process by which waivers are being granted. I want to make sure [states] aren't being granted permission not to comply with federal law."
"I want to make sure there is not a presumption that [states] don't have to comply," Cornyn explained.
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folks i've got something here i can't figure out, maybe someone can help. last week my wife and i were talking about that we needed to get a emergency radio , in case something ever happen also at the time we were wondering about ham radios so i got online and was checking prices at differant sites and even checked ebay for prices on ham radios
this week i recieved a letter from our rep. second district ky. it stated that knowing of my interest in amature radio, i hope you find this legislation update helpful. during the 111th congress , i became a cosponsor of h.r. 2160 the amateur radio emergency communication act.. now i have never said anything to this man nor ever talk to anyone about this except my wife . are we being watched or what?
CAIRO – Sitting firmly in his seat with a determined look in his eyes, American Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf appears resolved to bridge the gap between the West and the Muslim world. “My purpose is to spread harmony and peace between the West and the Muslim world,” Imam Abdul-Rauf, chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive interview. “My role is to see how can my work help improve this relationship.” ...
Imam Abdul-Rauf is currently on a State Department-sponsored tour to build bridges. “This is part of it as the work is huge and can’t be done by one person or one organization,” he said. “It is also to share people like yourself the work that we do. We need people in the media and we need people to talk to understand what we do.”
He defended the U.S. government's support for his organization.
"If I don't have the ears of people in the political power, I would not engage in the issues of today," he said.
As the good people over at Pajamas Media have pointed out, Rauf isn't the nicest dude--more specifically, he's a "wolf in sheeps' clothing" whose roots rest in the radical Muslim Brotherhood (who we've also reported on extensively in Townhall Magazine). And now the U.S. State Department is employing the sharia-compliant imam to "build bridges" to the Muslim world--an act which apparently includes building a Cordoba House overlooking Ground Zero?
And while we're on the subject, where are all the crazies complaining about the "separation of church & state"? Or does that rule only apply to select churches?
Copyright © 2010 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.
School aims to re-teach civics with focus on faith
By Jeffrey McMurray
Associated Press
GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- Call it vacation Bible school, Glenn Beck-style. v
Some three-dozen kids ages 10 to 15 are spending five nights this week at the Vacation Liberty School, learning what organizers -- some with tea party ties -- say they won't hear in school about the Constitution, the Founding Fathers and the role of faith in the birth of the United States.
"If we're going to take our country back, we've got to remember where we came from, not only as adults, but we need to teach our children," said Tim Fairfield, one of the teachers, who wore a three-cornered hat at the opening class of Vacation Liberty School.
The school is held in the basement of Gano Baptist church in Georgetown.
The curriculum includes lessons like "equal rights, not equal results," "recognize men don't create rights -- only God," and "understanding falsehoods of separation of church and state."
Organizers say the program has drawn interest from people looking to start new chapters in Ohio, Colorado, New York, Florida and other communities in Kentucky.
It's is an offshoot of the 9/12 Project, inspired by conservative commentator Beck, who had no direct role in the planning of the Kentucky school.
The project, which seeks to unify Americans around nine values -- including honesty, hope and sincerity -- and 12 principles, was behind some of the raucous protests at health care forums around the country last summer.
Beck declined comment on the school.
On Monday, the first night of Vacation Liberty School, the basement of the church was converted into a tyrannical kingdom meant to resemble colonial England where students were told they must suppress their laughter, sit apart from their friends and flawlessly recite "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
Against the urgings of a mock king's representative, the brave ones ventured through the rugged terrain of a maze of upside-down tables discovered an adjoining room with all the luxuries of the New World. There they could play basketball, toss beanbags and ride a teeter-totter while being showered with confetti as Neil Diamond's "Coming To America" blared over the speakers.
Some parents showed up early to quiz the organizers about the curriculum. Others said they wouldn't mind a conservative slant to balance out what they say is a liberal influence in the public school system.
"Other people are trying to put their viewpoints out there, so I don't see any reason why we can't put our viewpoints out there," said John Cravens, the father of two children who attended.
Eric Wilson, head of the Kentucky 9/12 Project, acknowledges he and many others behind the school are strong supporters of the conservative tea party movement, which claims Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul as one of its highest-profile members. But he says the curriculum was carefully planned to ensure politics didn't creep in.
"We may be playing in the same sandbox," Wilson said. "But in the 9/12 Project, we're going to tell you where the sand came from while the tea party is telling you what sand to buy."
Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, isn't so sure. A news release announcing the school referenced the tea party, leading him to believe that if the Vacation Liberty School isn't crossing the line into politics, it's coming close.
"All Americans want kids to learn about the government and political system," he said. "It's something quite different when kids are being indoctrinated in church in one political tradition. That's quite different from learning objectively and academically about civics."
He cautions Gano Baptist could risk losing its tax-exempt status if explicit political lessons are being taught in a church setting.
But the Rev. Wayne Lipscomb, the pastor there, says he had no political motivations for allowing the classes to be held without a rental fee. Tickets were distributed online for free.
"I think our kids need to know about the Founding Fathers and they need to understand the connection between God and the Founding Fathers," he said. "They don't need to hear the revisionists' stories of history."
With such weighty topics swirling, 13-year-old Matthew Porter seemed to get some of them jumbled.
"I didn't know faith, hope and charity were parts of the Constitution," he said. "I thought they made it as laws, nothing to do with church."
Although there was no talk of Democrats or Republicans during Monday's session, there was an activity geared toward teaching children the dangers of communism.
Given pistols to shoot soap bubbles out of the air, the students quickly learned they could do it far more easily by refilling from their own buckets of water rather than having to share a communal one.
Fairfield told the class the lesson is that while secular communism sounds good in theory, free enterprise works far better in practice.
Later in the week, the economic teachings would extend to lessons on debt and inflation. As more money is printed, the costs of candy and toys at the school's canteen will skyrocket.
Even in the New World it's not all fun and games, the children learned. When told it was time to clean up, 10-year-old Taylor Lopez responded with a quip.
"Now we have to clean up America?" she asked.
This was written by a woman born in Egypt as a Muslim.
This is not hearsay, and it will scare the life out of you.
Make sure you read the paragraph (in red) towards the end.
Joys of Muslim Women
By Nonie Darwish
In the Muslim faith a Muslim man can marry a child as young as 1 year old and have sexual intimacy with this child. Consummating the marriage by 9.
The dowry is given to the family in exchange for the woman (who becomes his slave) and for the purchase of the private parts of the woman, to use her as a toy.
Even though a woman is abused she can not obtain a divorce.
To prove rape, the woman must have (4) male witnesses.
Often after a woman has been raped, she is returned to her family and the family must return the dowry. The family has the right to execute her (an honor killing) to restore the honor of the family. Husbands can beat their wives 'at will' and he does not have to say why he has beaten her.
The husband is permitted to have (4 wives) and a temporary wife for an hour (prostitute) at his discretion.
The Shariah Muslim law controls the private as well as the public life of the woman.
In the West World ( America ) Muslim men are starting to demand Shariah Law so the wife can not obtain a divorce and he can have full and complete control of her. It is amazing and alarming how many of our sisters and daughters attending American Universities are now marrying Muslim men and submitting themselves and their children unsuspectingly to the Shariah law.
By passing this on, enlightened American women may avoid becoming a slave under Shariah Law.
Ripping the West in Two.
Author and lecturer Nonie Darwish says the goal of radical Islamists is to impose Shariah law on the world, ripping Western law and liberty in two.
She recently authored the book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law.
Darwish was born in Cairo and spent her childhood in Egypt and Gaza before immigrating to America in 1978, when she was eight years old. Her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel . He was a high-ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza .
When he died, he was considered a "shahid," a martyr for jihad. His posthumous status earned Nonie and her family an elevated position in Muslim society.
But Darwish developed a skeptical eye at an early age. She questioned her own Muslim culture and upbringing.. She converted to Christianity after hearing a Christian preacher on television.
In her latest book, Darwish warns about creeping sharia law - what it is, what it means, and how it is manifested in Islamic countries.
For the West, she says radical Islamists are working to impose sharia on the world. If that happens, Western civilization will be destroyed. Westerners generally assume all religions encourage a respect for the dignity of each individual. Islamic law (Sharia) teaches that non-Muslims should be subjugated or killed in this world.
Peace and prosperity for one's children is not as important as assuring that Islamic law rules everywhere in the Middle East and eventually in the world.
While Westerners tend to think that all religions encourage some form of the golden rule, Sharia teaches two systems of ethics - one for Muslims and another for non-Muslims. Building on tribal practices of the seventh century, Sharia encourages the side of humanity that wants to take from and subjugate others.
While Westerners tend to think in terms of religious people developing a personal understanding of and relationship with God, Sharia advocates executing people who ask difficult questions that could be interpreted as criticism.
It's hard to imagine, that in this day and age, Islamic scholars agree that those who criticize Islam or choose to stop being Muslim should be executed. Sadly, while talk of an Islamic reformation is common and even assumed by many in the West, such murmurings in the Middle East are silenced through intimidation.
While Westerners are accustomed to an increase in religious tolerance over time, Darwish explains how petro dollars are being used to grow an extremely intolerant form of political Islam in her native Egypt and elsewhere.
(In twenty years there will be enough Muslim voters in the U.S. To elect the President by themselves! Rest assured they will do so... You can look at how they have taken over several towns in the USA ... Dearborn Mich. Is one... And there are others...)
I think everyone in the U.S. Should be required to read this, but with the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on!
It is too bad that so many are disillusioned with life and Christianity to accept Muslims as peaceful.. Some may be but they have an army that is willing to shed blood in the name of Islam.. The peaceful support the warriors with their finances and own kind of patriotism to their religion. While America is getting rid of Christianity from all public sites and erasing God from the lives of children the Muslims are planning a great jihad on America ...
This is your chance to make a difference...! Pass it on to your email list or at least those you think will listen..
Some of those I'm sending it to WILL NOT!
Put your head back under the covers so you can't see the boogie man!
as we have the primary coming up in may. and grayson behind in the polls the courier journal just came out this morning with a story about dr. paul being supported by extremist like sara palin and the teaparty. grayson must be getting desperate his attack are getting worse . we need to get all of these career politicians out of office. and thats what grayson is ,he is not the solution to the problems , he is part of the problem
