08/31/10

“THE CORRUPTION IN ALBANY MUST END”

An interview with GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio

BY: FERN SIDMAN

For New Yorkers who are angered and frustrated by the corruption that has plagued politics in Albany for many years now, the upcoming gubernatorial mid-term election races offer viable alternatives in terms of candidates. Having represented New York’s 2nd congressional district for four terms from 1993-2001, Republican Rick Lazio is challenging Democrat Andrew Cuomo for the state’s highest office. With a platform predicated on bold reforms and a concrete plan to battle corruption, I sat down with Mr. Lazio to discuss some issues effecting New Yorkers.

FS: Concerning healthcare reform, as you know, the Medicaid system in New York spends 73% more per recipient than the country as a whole and 25% more than California, which covers twice as many people. What would you do to make Medicaid a more efficient system?

RL: I’m totally in favor of reforming and revamping our Medicaid program. We must move Medicaid to a managed care system in order to streamline costs. The taxpayers in this state are already been strangled by exorbitant taxes and with the rising cost of healthcare for employers, we must move with alacrity to remedy this problem. Those on the Medicaid rolls should be encouraged to seek appropriate healthcare and that means each recipient should have a primary care doctor who can oversee their follow up care if they need to see a specialist. What has proven to be extremely costly to our system are those Medicaid recipients who visit their local hospital emergency rooms when they have a health crisis, rather than seeing their own doctor. Incentives should be provided such as beneficiaries having stored value cards in order to get the right level of care. Provider reimbursement should be harmonized and doctors and hospitals should be extended the same reimbursements and the co-pays should be managed accordingly. I am also in favor of enforcing an anti-fraud program to the Medicaid system because each year there is over $5 billion in Medicaid fraud. We want to promote the very best healthcare system for all New Yorkers and in order to do that we must investigate medical supply companies and others who are bilking the system and hence increasing taxes in our state.

FS: How would you address the burgeoning unemployment rates in New York State and what would you do to help stimulate the economy?

RL: There is no doubt that we must focus our efforts on putting people back to work immediately. There has been way too much emphasis on stimulus money to create jobs and that’s just not happening. New York ranks 49th out of 50 states that are business friendly and that’s just deplorable. The fact that our state is laden with high taxes drives individuals and their businesses out of the state. We must encourage the creation start up businesses to stimulate the private economy in New York. We must take a good hard look at the tax environment that we find ourselves in and we must put an end to the political chaos in Albany, where the state legislature can’t get a budget done. Our government is unpredictable and Bush era tax credits have been revoked for businesses. Subsidiaries that provide energy costs have also lapsed. The more people that are employed translates into fewer dollars being taken out of businesses for taxes. The core part of our strategy is to restart the growth engine, get the costs to businesses down by reducing business taxes, rewarding start up companies and creating a new capital gains structure. Another source of major capitol and economic development are our colleges and universities. New York is a state of great people, with great skills and ingenuity and I am sure we can do exciting things in this wonderful empire state.

FS: You’ve come out against the construction of the proposed mosque at Ground Zero. Could you tell us why you are against it and what do you think of offers to have the mosque built on state property?

RL: I stand in staunch opposition to the construction of the proposed mosque close to Ground Zero. What we need here is complete transparency as this issue is not about religion. I would immediately demand a full accounting for where the funding is coming from for the construction of this $100 million dollar building. Clearly, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf who is behind this project is ducking the question of why he refuses to label Hamas a terrorist organization, when the US government lists Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization. We also know that Hamas is behind the incessant rocket attacks on Israel’s southern border. Imam Rauf has said that America was an accomplice to the 9/11 attacks on our country and that “Osama Bin Laden was made in the USA.” When Imam Rauf was asked whether he would take money from Iranian sources to build this mosque, he refused to answer and if he can’t respond to that kind of question, one could believe that he and others involved in this project may have sympathies with radical Islamist organizations.The Imam has also been associated with the Turkish terrorist organization who was behind the flotilla that sought to smuggle arms to terrorists in Gaza Just a few short years ago, Sharif El-Gamal and his brother Sammy El-Gamal of Soho Properties who are the developers of the Ground Zero Mosque were waiting tables in New York City. Where did all their money come from?

Andrew Cuomo is the attorney general of New York and as such, he could eliminate the controversy that swirls around this mosque by launching an investigation into the group’s monetary sources. People really need to get their voices on this issue because if Iran is even partially funding this mosque then we can expect that those preaching in it will be promoting terrorism against the United States and Israel. Iran has already threatened to wipe our ally Israel off the map while the whole world sleeps. America must never allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and we must do everything in our power to protect Israel. I believe in solidifying relationships with our good friends such as Israel and working to ensure her safety and dealing forcefully with our avowed enemies such as Iran.

08/31/10

Sarah Palin: Pelosi and Reid Are Obama’s Sheep

Hat Tip: Brian B.

08/31/10

The DOJ Dons Their New ‘Little Black Dress’ with Marxist Accessories

By popular demand, this post is being reposted in full… 8)

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
Hat Tip: DragonLadyToo

Well, well, well… Look who has been caught with their hand in the ‘progressive’ cookie jar… None other than the Department of Justice. They have cast off the outdated red, white and blue for a sleek black masthead with a really cool Marxist/Progressive quote:

The common law is the will of Mankind issuing from the Life of the People

Catchy, huh? Just one tiny little (too small to be relevant obviously) point – the quote is from C. Wilfred Jenks, who in the 1930’s was a leading proponent of the “international law” movement, which had as its goal to impose a global common law and which backed ‘global workers’ rights.’ Call it Marxism, call it Progressivism, call it Socialism – under any of those names it definitely makes the DOJ look corrupt in their sleek, new black website with Marxist accessories to match.

On the cutting edge of technology and counterterrorism, the site utilizes social networking sites to ‘interact’ with American citizens. Well, I for one feel all warm and fuzzy knowing the DOJ will be watching those ‘dangerous’ bloggers. Oops, I guess I’m one of them. You don’t think they would abuse their surveillance of us do you? If you don’t think so, I have some prime property for you. Just ask…

The quote at the beginning of this post is credited to Jenks, a man who made a place at the collective table for socialists and communists at the U.N., and inspired the global “workers rights movement.” Jenks was a long-time member of the United Nation’s International Labor Organization and the author of a number of globalist tracts, including a set of essays published back in 1958 entitled The Common Law of Mankind. Jenks also belonged to The League of Nations.

From The American Spectator (read the whole article – it is very good):

Most telling: Jenks, as director of the ILO is credited with putting in place the first Soviet senior member of the UN organization, and also with creating an environment that allowed the ILO to give “observer status” to the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and to issue anti-Israeli statements, which precipitated efforts by the U.S. Congress to withdraw U.S. membership from the ILO. The U.S. actually did withdraw in the mid-1970s due to the organization’s leftist leanings.

“It was Jenks’s efforts that helped make the ILO a tool of the socialist and communist movement,” says one of the DOJ lawyers. “We used to joke about how fitting it was that this was Janet Reno’s favorite quote to use in speeches, and now the Obama folks think it encapsulates out department’s mission.”

Suggestions to highlight quotes from the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights or quotes from the Founders, the Federalist Papers or prominent American jurists were quickly shot down by the Department of Justice’s media and new media teams, according to DOJ sources familiar with the design process, and the White House communications shop was given input to the overall design as well.

There you have it… Founding Fathers need not apply – who needs them when you have a Progressive/Marxist to lead the legal way?

Update: Pierre Legrand’s Pink Flamingo Bar – Department of Justice…or Something!

08/31/10

The Restoring Honor Rally: A First-Hand Report

Hat Tip: Garry Hamilton

By: Ken O’Donnell

The Trip

We left the house at 5:30 am and arrived at the Shady Grove Metro line at 8:45 in the morning, which we thought would be early. From Shady Grove, MD it’s roughly a 45 minute ride into DC. When we arrived, we waited in line for 90 minutes to take the Metro into DC. The line JUST TO ENTER the station stretched the extent of the red line indicated on the attached map. That’s out into the parking lot, past the parking deck and into the overflow lot. 90 minutes we stood, until the station manager elected to waive the fees to ride the train, which was what caused the wait to board a train. When we boarded, the line still stretched back to where we entered. Had we still had to wait to pay, it would have been 10:00 am until we boarded a train, which was when the rally itself was scheduled to begin. Even with the long waits, we saw NO ONE who showed up and decided to leave after learning of the long wait times. Everyone we saw show up decided to go anyway, even if it meant showing up after the event was nearly done.

We picked up the Metro at the Shady Grove line in Maryland. I’ve attached an aerial photo to help explain the distance. We arrived at the event location itself at 10:30. The reflecting pool was completely full. The WWII Memorial was full. So we made our way left, into the overflow field area which was congested, but still had some spaces. We set up our chairs, I erected my flag, packed a bowl and set up just in time to hear Sarah Palin speak.

The Venue

Even at the “overflow field” there were jumbo-trons and porta-johns for the attendees. Even at our distance, we missed nothing. The experience was awesome. Listening to the speakers was uplifting. Experiencing it, deep within the crowd, was an experience I cannot compare. Glenn’s saying, “We surround them,” comes to mind. Hearing the crowd sing the hymn “Amazing Grace” along with the bagpipes — which incidentally were NOT amplified over the sound system, but came to us in natural tones from over half a mile away — was indescribable. Hearing the crowd respond to questions posed by a speaker, or shout in unison to a plea for a praise — again — indescribable.

It was very much like a revival movement. And I was moved.

Please consider… God and I parted ways over a decade ago… and I was moved to tears at the event.

The Event

What we heard and what we experienced. was nothing less, and perhaps nothing more, than a spiritual revival. Yet… strangely… it wasn’t wholly religious. My wife attends church. She is active on the board. I do not go to church. I haven’t regularly attended church since I dropped out of a Christian college in the mid-’90s. Yet I did not feel like an outsider, an intruder or a mere observer. I felt included, in a way I haven’t felt included in a spiritual event in a long, long time.

This event was patriotic. It was deeply patriotic. Not in an “American Way or the Highway” sense, but in a deeply personal way. I felt challenged. We all were challenged, to be the best of who we were, in whatever calling we held. And we were encouraged.

The Crowd

I cannot say anything better about the crowd than they were the best of America.

I told my wife tonight that at leftist, progressive rallies you see segments of the population. Young people… women… minorities… you name it… you see groups. Saturday, I saw families. Not just families, but generations of families.

Some of the media have said that the event was dominated by “old people.” They had blinders on.

I saw generations of families. I saw grandparents with their children and their grandchildren, all in the same group. I saw the biggest cross-section of America in attendance I’ve even seen, coming together for a renewal. Different races. Different ages. And different social classes coming together for one purpose and to hear one message:

The country is on the wrong path.

And the solution is not in a party. The solution is not an election. The solution was not in one man.

The solution is us.

We were challenged to change us. Seriously. Not to go vote. I did not hear a call to go vote mentioned once. I did not hear a party mentioned, or a candidate. All I heard were individual challenges, time and time again, to get ourselves right. And only when we got ourselves right… right with our families, right with our own dignity and to be able to look ourselves in the mirror, and yes, right with our God — in whatever name and faith our God is — would be be able to restore the nation. That was the message of the day.

The Crowd Left

The crowd was Huge. HUGE. When we left, 30 minutes after the event itself had concluded, to board the Metro at the Smithsonian, the line stretched in two directions, down a city block both ways. We waited 40 minutes alone just to get off the sun baked sidewalks into the station.

The crowd left no trash behind.

Half a million people came to the Lincoln Memorial, and left no trash behind. I can’t go to a high school football game and not see trash in the stands. Yet, as God as my witness, my wife and I commented on how everyone picked up their empty water bottles and plastic sandwich wrappers and junk food bags, and took it with them. The sense of honor and decorum was overwhelming.

I felt welcome. Even smoking my pipe during the event, I saw no sneers. I heard no off-the-cuff comments to little Johnny about how smoking was bad. I must have had my picture taken about 40 times by attendees, flying my flag and smoking my pipe. I guess men like me must be a curiosity or a relic from a previous era. I even had ladies come up to me to tell me how the aroma reminded them of their fathers or grandfathers, and how it made them feel… nostalgic… even if they couldn’t come up with the word, I knew it was what they meant by the memories they shared with me.

So… What did I come away with?

This country is not doomed. Not yet anyway.

There are enough people that think like us, that believe we are destined for better things, that we can regain our foundations….

But it starts with the individual. It begins with me. And one man can change the world. Humble men. Honest men. If we do our part, this country can once again become the shining city on a hill. But the individual makes the difference.

The speakers were great. The message was great.

But the people I was there with — and my wife was the only person I went down with — everyone else was a complete stranger — the people I was there with were people who believe in this country, and want to restore it to greatness.

They believe we always were great. But somewhere along the journey, we lost our way and it’s up to us to make the nation great once again. And if we don’t, the world will plunge back into darkness.

So much for being a political rally, huh?

Personal

Anyway… that was my experience.

I’ve never seen that many people in one place ever. Cell phone didn’t work. We overwhelmed the infrastructure. You could send a text, but it took 10 minutes to get to your recipient.

I’ve never seen crowds that took up four lanes of traffic wide, for hundreds of yards when they walked. And I’ve never been around so many pleasant people in one place at one time. Yes, the message was great.

But the people were phenomenal.

So that’s my story. Here are some pictures we took while we were there.

—————-

UPDATE: Here are some slide shows from Andrea Shea King at The Radio Patriot – they are truly inspiring…

The Crowd

The Media Coverage

The Online Coverage

08/31/10

Jan Brewer: We Found Out the Obama Was Turning Us Into the UNHRC on Internet

Hat Tip: Jean Stoner

Jan Brewer: We Found Out that Obama Was Turning Us Over to the UNHRC on the Internet

08/31/10

VERY Interesting Read on Sarah Palin

Hat Tip: Nancy Jacques
From: A Land Called America

By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman.

The last 45 of my 66 years I’ve spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics, but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here’s the breaking point:

Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It’s not about persona, style, rhetoric, it’s about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I’m about to mention here.

1. Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor’s office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican’s “Corrupt Bastards Club” (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, “la la la la” (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.

2. Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called “ACES.” Exxon (the biggest corporation in the world) protested and Sarah told them, “don’t let the door hit you in the stern on your way out.” They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3. The other thing she did when she walked into the governor’s office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as “pork.” She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the “when-hell-freezes-over” stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we’ll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor’s jet because it was extravagant.

Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor’s cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning – I imagine – that she’s packing heat herself). I’m still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4. Now, even with her much-ridiculed “gosh and golly” mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn’t impress you, then you’re trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand!

5. For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn’t start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started. Then, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

6. President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewable by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool.

But that’s just a cover-up. I’m still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won’t be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn’t let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better!!

You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents’ wives.

So “You go, Girl.” I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals.

I rest my case. Only FOOLS listen to the biased media.

08/31/10

So Quoteth the Rug in the Oval Office…

Simply unbelievable…

President Obama selected the following five historical quotes for the Oval Office rug:

“The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself” — President Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Towards Justice” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Government of the People, By the People, For the People” — President Abraham Lincoln

“No Problem of Human Destiny is Beyond Human Beings” – President John F. Kennedy

“The Welfare of Each of Us is Dependent Fundamentally Upon the Welfare of All of Us” — President Theodore Roosevelt

Collective welfare and justice for all… The Marxist/Progressive comes out of the Oval Office.

Oval Office gets a makeover

08/31/10