These Democrats are heartless, shameless and really need to be rebuked by all people with any sense of decency...

Walk of Shame - List of Names

Carol Platt Liebau | Sep 20, 2013

As Katie reported yesterday, every Democrat attending the House Oversight and Government Reform hearing today on Benghazi -- except for Elijah Cummings and Jackie Spier -- left the hearing room without offering the victims' families the courtesy even of hearing their testimony.

What shoddy disgraces.

So who were these people? Chairman Issa's spokesman reported that fourteen Democrats attended the first part of the hearing. There are 18 Democrats on the committee. That means that 4 didn't attend any of the hearing, and 12 others walked out.

Below is a list of the congressmen whose staffs confirmed they attended yesterday's hearing. These are people who evidently walked out without waiting to hear from the families of those murdered in Benghazi:

·         Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, New York

·         Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia

·         Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts

·         Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia

·         Rep. Mark Pocan, Wisconsin

·         Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois***

·         Rep. Danny K. Davis, Illinois

·         Rep. Tony Cardenas, California

·         Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico

** Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth should, in my view, be particularly ashamed, as she is a veteran of the Iraq war, a former assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and a former Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

The following offices either couldn't or wouldn't provide an answer about the simple whereabouts of congressmen yesterday -- so they may or may not have been at the hearing:

·         Rep. John F. Tierney, Massachusetts. (This office wins the dubious distinction of having the rudest staff)

·         Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, Missouri (This office had yet to open at 9:30 this morning)

·         Rep. Matt Cartwright, Pennsylvannia

·         Rep. Peter Welch, Vermont

·         Rep. Steven Horsford, Nevada

Finally, these two offices noted that the congressmen hadn't attended any of yesterday's hearing.

·         Rep. Jim Cooper, Tennessee

·         Rep. Robin Kelly, Illinois

The liberal PC police are destroying our culture and ruining the lives of innocent children...

Zero Tolerance for Common Sense 
By Marta H. Mossburg 
Friday, September 13, 2013

Parody is now reality when it comes to guns in public schools. In the name of preventing violence since the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., last December, schools across the country are suspending students for bringing toy guns to school, making gestures that look like guns and in one absurd case in Maryland, suspending a student for biting a toaster pastry into the shape of a gun. I can picture the documentary now: "An Inconvenient Pop-Tart."

The latest incident involves a sixth grader in Calvert County, Md., who was suspended for making a gun gesture while on a bus heading to school. According toThe Washington Post, Carin Read, the mother of the 11-year-old student, filed an appeal of the suspension last week, following a principal denying her request to remove the incident from his school records. This follows an episode in May in another Calvert County school where a five- year-old boy was interrogated for two hours -- without his parents first being notified -- for bringing a toy cap gun to school and suspended for 10 days, although the suspension was later lifted.

In another incident in Prince William County, Va., last February, an 8-year-old boy pointed his finger like a gun at a classmate after his friend pretended to shoot him with a bow and arrow. The interchange followed a lesson on Native American culture and the class learning a song about deer hunting, according to reports. He was suspended for "threatening to harm self or others" – a punishment also reserved for bringing a weapon to school.

Similar incidents have been reported in New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

In none of the incidents outlined above did the students who were punished pose a danger to their classmates or teachers. And in the Prince William County case, the student was role playing what he learned in a school lesson, showing the hypocrisy of a school policy that punishes elementary school students for reenacting its own curriculum. Would the school also suspend students for practicing "Hamlet" or "West Side Story" off stage?

Like forcing air travelers to remove their shoes in airport security lines, the no tolerance gun policies make no one safer, but cause a lot of harm. Chief among the casualties are the children charged with crimes they didn't commit and frequently permanently labeled in their school records as troublemakers. They also teach all children subject to the rules that the law is arbitrary – a terrible lesson for a generation who will soon be entrusted with upholding and respecting the rule of law as adults. Children understand the concept of fairness well before they start school, so these rules will only grate at their sense of justice – at the same time indoctrinating them into a world where punishment does not fit the crime or the crime even deserve punishment.

Back to the safety issue. The common thread of the mass shootings in Newtown, Aurora, Colo., Tucson, Ariz., and Virginia Tech is mental illness. Unfortunately, however, as David Kopel wrote in The Wall Street Journal in December, "In the mid-1960s, many of the killings would have been prevented because the severely mentally ill would have been confined and cared for in a state institution. But today, while government at most every level has bloated over the past half-century, mental-health treatment has been decimated."

Mr. Kopel, research director of the Independence Institute in Colorado and co-author of the law school textbook, "Firearms Law and the Second Amendment ," advocates higher funding for mental health and strong civil commitment laws for the mentally ill who are violent.

That makes much more sense than punishing children for being children and perpetuating the myth that zero tolerance policies save lives and prevent violence.

Marta H. Mossburg writes frequently about national affairs and about Maryland, where she lives. Follow her on Twitter at @mmossburg.

Every once in awhile a story breaks that gives me some glimmer of hope for our country...

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Jim DeMint is Winning America

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  September 13th, 2013 at 09:20 AM  |  

Over the past several weeks, Republican aides in Congress have planted a number of stories attacking the Heritage Foundation, Heritage Action for America, and the Senate Conservatives Fund — three groups closely associated with former Senator Jim DeMint.

DeMint started the Senate Conservatives Fund. He’s now President of the Heritage Foundation. Heritage Action for America is an offshoot of Heritage. The reason Republicans have been attacking Jim DeMint, and with him the men he championed before leaving the Senate — Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul — is because of the very well orchestrated “DefundIt” campaign.

Led by Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, conservatives have rallied to the idea of defunding Obamacare. According to CNN, Obamacare’s popularity has fallen to 39%. Jim DeMint has gone around the country leading massive town halls to encourage defunding Obamacare.

Over the August recess period, the DeMint-Cruz-Lee voice has been the most dominate voice of the Republican Party in the media. The DeMint-Cruz-Lee voice has been used for their cause and against their cause. But it has been them the American people are hearing as the voice and seeing as the face of the Republican Party.

Now comes a new Wall Street Journal poll.

The Republican Party is gaining a public-opinion edge on several key issues ahead of the 2014 elections, as Americans question President Barack Obama’s leadership on Syria and worry about the country’s overall direction, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.

Republicans are now rated higher than Democrats on handling the economy and foreign policy, and the GOP’s lead has strengthened on several other issues, including dealing with the federal deficit and ensuring a strong national defense.

The public heard John Boehner come out swinging in support of bombing Syria. The public never heard from Mitch McConnell who had to wait for polling and public opinion to become clear. But for more than a week, the public has heard clearly from Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.

On the economy, it’s been Mike Lee and Ted Cruz. On Obamacare, it’s been Lee, Cruz, Paul, DeMint, and Congressmen Meadows and Graves of Georgia.

These are the people who’ve filled the August vacuum — not Boehner, not Cantor, not McConnell. And what has happened during that time?

The Republican Party is gaining a public-opinion edge on several key issues ahead of the 2014 elections, as Americans question President Barack Obama’s leadership on Syria and worry about the country’s overall direction, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.

Republicans are now rated higher than Democrats on handling the economy and foreign policy, and the GOP’s lead has strengthened on several other issues, including dealing with the federal deficit and ensuring a strong national defense.

Republicans remain deeply unpopular. With Mitch McConnell and John Boehner in charge, how could they not? But as Barack Obama’s popularity crumbles, the voices resonating with the public from the right are the voices who would not be on the national stage but for Jim DeMint.

http://www.redstate.com/2013/09/13/jim-demint-is-winning-america/

Many of us deserve this administration....but many of us don't

The fruits of epic incompetence

Charles Krauthammer

Krauthammer writes a politics column that runs on Fridays.

The president of the United States takes to the airwaves to urgently persuade the nation to pause before doing something it has no desire to do in the first place.

Strange. And it gets stranger still. That “strike Syria, maybe” speech begins with a heart-rending account of children consigned to a terrible death by a monster dropping poison gas. It proceeds to explain why such behavior must be punished. It culminates with the argument that the proper response — the most effective way to uphold fundamental norms, indeed human decency — is a flea bite: something “limited,” “targeted” or, as so memorably described by Secretary of State John Kerry, “unbelievably small.”

The mind reels, but there’s more. We must respond — but not yet. This “Munich moment” (Kerry again) demands first a pause to find accommodation with that very same toxin-wielding monster, by way of negotiations with his equally cynical, often shirtless, Kremlin patron bearing promises.

The promise is to rid Syria of its chemical weapons. The negotiations are open-ended. Not a word from President Obama about any deadline or ultimatum. And utter passivity: Kerry said hours earlier that he awaited the Russian proposal.

Why? The administration claims (preposterously, but no matter) that Obama has been working on this idea with Putin at previous meetings. Moreover, the idea was first publicly enunciated by Kerry, even though his own State Department immediately walked it back as a slip of the tongue.

Take at face value Obama’s claim of authorship. Then why isn’t he taking ownership? Why isn’t he calling it the “U.S. proposal” and defining it? Why not issue a U.S. plan containing the precise demands, detailed timeline and threat of action should these conditions fail to be met?

Putin doesn’t care one way or the other about chemical weapons. Nor about dead Syrian children. Nor about international norms, parchment treaties and the other niceties of the liberal imagination.

He cares about power and he cares about keeping Bashar al-Assad in power. Assad is the key link in the anti-Western Shiite crescent stretching from Tehran through Damascus and Beirut to the Mediterranean — on which sits Tartus, Russia’s only military base outside the former Soviet Union. This axis frontally challenges the pro-American Sunni Arab Middle East (Jordan, Yemen, the Gulf Arabs, even the North African states), already terrified at the imminent emergence of a nuclear Iran.

At which point the Iran axis and its Russian patron would achieve dominance over the moderate Arab states, allowing Russia to supplant America as regional hegemon for the first time since Egypt switched to our side in the Cold War in 1972.

The hinge of the entire Russian strategy is saving the Assad regime. That’s the very purpose of the “Russian proposal.” Imagine that some supposed arms-control protocol is worked out. The inspectors have to be vetted by Assad, protected by Assad, convoyed by Assad, directed by Assad to every destination. Negotiation, inspection, identification, accounting, transport and safety would require constant cooperation with the regime, and thus acknowledgment of its sovereignty and legitimacy.

So much for Obama’s repeated insistence that Assad must go. Indeed, Putin has openly demanded that any negotiation be conditioned on a U.S. commitment to forswear the use of force against Assad. On Thursday, Assad repeated that demand, warning that without an American pledge not to attack and not to arm the rebels, his government would agree to nothing.

This would abolish the very possibility of America tilting the order of battle in a Syrian war that Assad is now winning thanks to Russian arms, Iranian advisers and Lebanese Hezbollah shock troops. Putin thus assures the survival of his Syrian client and the continued ascendancy of the anti-Western Iranian bloc.

And what does America get? Obama saves face.

Some deal.

As for the peace process, it has about zero chance of disarming Damascus. We’ve spent nine years disarming an infinitely smaller arsenal in Libya — in conditions of peace — and we’re still finding undeclared stockpiles.

Yet consider what’s happened over the last month. Assad uses poison gas on civilians and is branded, by the United States above all, a war criminal. Putin, covering for the war criminal, is exposed, isolated, courting pariah status.

And now? Assad, far from receiving punishment of any kind, goes from monster to peace partner. Putin bestrides the world stage, playing dealmaker. He’s welcomed by America as a constructive partner. Now a world statesman, he takes to the New York Times to blame American interventionist arrogance — a.k.a. “American exceptionalism” — for inducing small states to acquire WMDs in the first place.

And Obama gets to slink away from a Syrian debacle of his own making. Such are the fruits of a diplomacy of epic incompetence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-the-fruits-of-epic-incompetence/2013/09/12/7e6771d2-1bdf-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html

Birds of a feather...

Grant fraud probe includes suspects with ties to Obama, Wright

11:20 AM 09/11/2013

Chuck Ross

Illinois state workers with ties to President Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright have been charged with fraud involving grants from state health and commerce departments, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

In total, 13 state workers have been charged after a multi-year investigation found fraudulent state grant and contract activity adding up to more than $16 million, including embezzlement from an AIDS benefit organization.

The numerous cases — some of which stretch back to 2011 — were investigated by the U.S. Postal Service, the Internal Revenue Service and the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, according to the Sun-Times.

Jeri L. Wright, whose father was Obama’s controversial pastor, is charged with money laundering and making false statements to a grand jury.

Wright said she is a “close associate and friend” with Regina and Ronald Evans. Mrs. Evans is the former police chief of Country Club Hills, Ill.

The Evanses will soon be sentenced for embezzling nearly half of a $1.25 million commerce grant. The couple admitted that they spent the loot on personal debt and gifts for friends.

Quinshaunta Golden is the former chief of staff to long-time Obama friend Eric E. Whitaker, the former head of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Jones is accused of skimming $433,000 in kickbacks on health department grants and contracts, according to the Sun-Times.

The Sun-Times reported that Whitaker is cooperating with the investigation and had no knowledge of Golden’s scheme.

Retired south side Chicago state Rep. Connie Howard, a Democrat, admitted to embezzling tens of thousands of dollars for personal and political use, according to the Sun-Times.

Howard co-founded Let’s Talk, Let’s Test, which was devoted to ending the scourge of AIDS in Chicago’s black community. The former executive director of the group is accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money for personal use.

Other examples of fraud include two members of the National Black Nurses Association. Margaret Davis admitted to spending half a million dollars on personal mortgage and credit card payments. Her associate, Tonja Cook, admitted to helping in the scheme.

Also set for trial is Chicago businessman Leon Dingle Jr. and his wife Karin. They are accused of using $3 million in health grants for various personal investments.

Jacqueline Kilpatrick and Edward Clemons, associates of the Dingles, are accused of using $700,000 in embezzled funds to pay for a vacation home in South Carolina as well as luxury cars and a fur coat.

Brian Costin, director of government reform at the Illinois Policy Institute, said that the large investigation is evidence of widespread systemic issues.

“Grant fraud has been a problem in Illinois for many years,” Costin told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a phone interview. “There’s virtually no transparency or accountability measures built into the system.”

Costin said that bills proposing increased transparency are routinely shot down by the state legislature.

“Some people had connections in one way or another to the President, and maybe they felt ‘hey, we can get away with this,’” said Costin who said that he is very worried about the potential for widespread fraud with the implementation of Obamacare.

“There are a lot of grants being given out to various local agencies to make this push to register people for Obamacare or Medicaid,” he said. “Is there going to be transparency over this process?”

Over $190 million worth of no-bid contracts will be issued to help track track, store, and process the state’s cases under Obamacare, according to a recent Fox News report. The massive program will require many states to upgrade their information technology systems.

Illinois was able to circumvent the contract bidding process by partnering with the state of Michigan which uses the Maryland-based company Client Network Services Incorporated to process its Medicaid claims.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal cancelled a contract with CNSI after the company was targeted in an investigation into possible criminal activity over the procurement of a $200 million contract.

Follow Chuck on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/11/grant-fraud-probe-includes-suspects-with-ties-to-obama-wright/#ixzz2ebXYtZuj

http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/11/grant-fraud-probe-includes-suspects-with-ties-to-obama-wright/

Hmmm. Very predictable for this administration.. Muslims get a permit to demonstrate on 9-11 but patriotic bikers are denied

Wonder if Sheila Gotha is a Muslim or just another mindless, un-American Liberal.  Like to have her email address to spread around. Or, better yet, her phone number.

DC throws up roadblock for patriotic bikers

Permit denied for rally to counter Muslim march

(Biz Pac Review) - The countdown to Sept. 11 commemoration demonstrations by patriotic bikers versus a fringe Muslim “truther” group is taking shape, and despite some confusion about the technicalities, the court of popular opinion isn’t even close:

Let the good guys roll.

Denied a permit by the nation’s capital for a special “non-stop” ride through town with a waiver for red lights, stop signs and other traffic controls, organizers of the “2 Million Bikers to DC” ride to remember 9/11 are undeterred.

Just riding on a public street doesn’t take any special permission after all, even if you have a million people doing it. They just sought the permit to make life easier on the city’s residents and businesses.

So the ride will go on. It’s just going to take a little longer.

“We find this regretful for the residents and businesses of that great city, and humbly offer our apologies,” organizers wrote on Facebook  Saturday. “What could have been a one or two hour ride through will now likely be an all-day event. We will be obeying all laws. We will be stopping at all stoplights, stop signs, and yielding to all pedestrians.”

The ride’s route won’t be posted in advance for security reasons, but the lineup is set to begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Harley Davidson of Washington (9402 Livingston Road, Fort Washington, Md.) with a blessing, Pledge of Allegiance and guest speakers.

Kickstands go up at 11 a.m.

(UPDATE: Organizers of “2 Million Bikers to DC” have been monitoring coverage of the event closely. In a comment on this story posted below, the group thanked the unofficial response from the Beltway-area police.)

 We WILL ride as we did not really need a permit, but did apply for THEIR benefit. We were told by Sheila Gotha of the Permits DEPT. “This Ride Only event has been denied.” When asked why, her only response was “It’s a weekday and DC residents are not going to happy with you folks.”

We did our best to explain that IF we received assistance with road blocks, etc. it would be beneficial to the residents of DC as we would be able to get through in much less time. Her response, “Permit Denied”. NOW I will say almost every LEO Dept that was on that call did reach out to us afterwards. They were concerned as well, but MOST were VERY SUPPORTIVE! They were not able to help with road blocks, but wished us well!

Meanwhile, the Muslims have a permit, but how much of a protest is tough to predict.

The American Muslim Political Action Committee announced Saturday it had received a permit for the misleadingly labeled Million Americans Against Fear demonstration – formerly known as the Million Muslim March – to go ahead Wednesday on the National Mall.

It also announced it had received a commitment from U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus to speak at the event.

However, the demonstration has drawn little support from better known Muslim groups and will likely be dwarfed by the bikers in the streets.

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/09/09/bikers-denied-no-stop-permit-for-911-rally-apologize-to-residents-82999

http://www.teaparty.org/dc-throws-up-roadblock-for-patriotic-bikers-28259/

MSNBC Thumped by Fox News...Actually this news isn't surprising for two reasons...

First the obvious.  MSNBC isn't really a news channel.  Its actually the propaganda bureau for the Obama Administration.  All informed, intelligent US citizen knows that full well.  So, that would certainly impact ratings.  The only reason they even appear on the radar is the abundance of ill-informed government dependents with TV sets.

Now, the second reason may be a bit more obscure, but bear with me.  You see, the left-wing, liberal, progressives, socialists, Marxists...or whatever moniker they go by today are and always have been the minority in our country.  Its only by their corruption, plus alliances with the mainstream media and Hollywood and their padding of voter roles with hordes of lazy government dependents  have they been able to stay in power. Of course with Obamacare, continued high unemployment, particularly among the very people who supported Barry and his ilk, this too may be coming to an end in the near term. So, with so few of these parasitic elite around to view MSNBC, their audience is already handicapped.  And why do the libs watch MSNBC?  So they know what to dictate to all us lowly, ill-informed, unaware, uninitiated constituents.  You see, the elite are so good at telling others how to live their lives.  But then they are so poor at taking their own advice.  Its always been "Do as I say, not as I do" for the Liberals.

MSNBC Thumped in Saturday’s Cable Coverage of Syria

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff

September 4, 2013 1:01 pm

MSNBC finished way behind Fox News and CNN Saturday during cable news coverage of developments in Syria, Variety reports.

Nielsen estimated Fox News was the most-watched news network during the special breaking news coverage on Syria from noon to 5 p.m. ET, averaging 971,000 viewers, with CNN next at 926,000 and MSNBC a distant third at just 390,000:

While both FNC and CNN saw significant week-over-week gains, third-place MSNBC actually was down about 20% week to week, averaging 390,000 viewers for its Syria coverage.

In the key news demo of adults 25-54, CNN (242,000) edged FNC (235,000), with MSNBC drawing 124,000 [NOTE: still far too many Libs...we need to thin the herd more].

On a total day basis, which includes hours before and after the breaking news coverage, Fox News led with 772,000 total viewers and 183,000 adults 25-54. CNN ran second in total viewers (470,000 to 364,000 for MSNBC), but MSNBC narrowly led CNN in adults 25-54 (154,000 to 151,000) — another indication that CNN has had difficulty maintaining an audience in the aftermath of big events.

This comes after MSNBC’s ratings tumble in 2013 continued with a poor August showing, with some primetime programs seeing nearly a 50-percent drop in viewership from a year ago. The liberal network also was crushed during the reading of the George Zimmerman murder trial verdict Saturday, July 13, finishing fourth behind Fox, CNN and HLN despite wall-to-wall coverage of the case.

A Gallup poll in July showed MSNBC was tied with such outlets as Univision, PBS and BBC as the primary source of news for just 1 percent of all U.S. adults