Monday, March 25, 2013
Obama / DHS Putting the Tools of Tyranny in Place
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The Obama Regime's Assault on Your Second Amendment Rights
Friday, December 14, 2012
Obama Moving To Criminalize Criticism Of Islam
From The Western Center for JournalismBy Chris ZaneThe whole “conspiracy theory” of the Obama administration being infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood, purging government documents critical of Islam, and seeking to criminalize the criticism of Islam is just that—a conspiracy theory—isn’t it?
Sadly, it isn’t.
If you simply pull back the curtain and look at what Obama has been doing in plain sight—inviting groups convicted of terrorism into the White House, having Muslim Brotherhood members within the State Department, purging training materials of anything critical of Islam–you would find that this whole “conspiracy theory” goes by another term: the truth.
How America got to this point and whether we can return to that Shining City on a Hill instead of on our way to the trash heap of history remains to be seen.
I have a feeling the American people, as they have done in the past, will rise up and take back this country…
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Obama Seizes Control Over All Food, Farms, Livestock, Farm Equipment, Fertilizer and Food Production Across America
(NaturalNews) "We told ya so" just doesn't quite cut it anymore. As the American sheeple slept, selfishly refusing to take a stand against tyranny, the Obama administration has been plotting what can only be called a total government takeover of America.
The power to seize control and take over these resources is delegated to the following government authorities:
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
(2) the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
(4) the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
(5) the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
(6) the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials.
This takeover is designed, in part, to "stockpile supplies" for the U.S. military. Authority for this total takeover of all national resources is granted with nothing more than the writing of a single statement that claims these actions are necessary to "promote the national defense." As stated in the order:
the authority delegated by section 201 of this order may be used only to support programs that have been determined in writing as necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense:
(a) by the Secretary of Defense with respect to military production and construction, military assistance to foreign nations, military use of civil transportation, stockpiles managed by the Department of Defense, space, and directly related activities;
What all this means is that the U.S. government now claims the power to simply march onto your farm with guns drawn and demand all your crops, seeds, livestock and farm equipment.
Think I'm exaggerating? Read it yourself!
And for those living in denial who refuse to accept the reality of what's happening in America, remember the following:
• When NaturalNews reported on the existence of the NDAA, we were told our reporting was misleading because Obama opposed it and wouldn't sign it.
• When Obama betrayed America and signed the bill, we were told our reporting was misleading because "it didn't apply to Americans."
• When Obama admitted it did apply to Americans, he announced that he would choose "not to use it on Americans" but only by the grace of his restraint. Nobody who previously accused us of misleading the public had the integrity to offer us an apology and say, "Gee, you were right, it DOES apply to Americans!"
• Now Obama has seized control over all food, farms, livestock, water and transportation across America. How many brain-dead Americans will continue to live in denial and try to convince themselves this is not happening? Sticking your head in the sand does not make this go away...
What California did to Rawesome Foods, the Obama administration can do to everyone
Remember the armed raids on Rawesome Foods? With guns drawn, California authorities assaulted the food distribution center, arrested the farmers, then proceeded to destroy $50,000 worth of food including milk, eggs, cheese and watermelons. (http://www.naturalnews.com/033220_Rawesome_Foods_armed_raids.html)
As outrageous as that raid was, it's only the beginning. Now, thanks to Obama's executive order, the federal government can conduct Rawesome-style raids on all farms, all grocery stores, all food co-ops and even individual home gardens.
It's written in plain English. This is no longer debatable and it's not a conspiracy theory. It's Obama administration policy. For what other purpose would this be issued in an executive order if it was not seen as actionable by the government? This piece of paper, you see, gives them the (false) authority to do whatever they want and then have the front-line soldiers who carry it out claim "we're only following orders."
Sound familiar? Heil Hitler!
So Obama is in no way a "Commander in Chief." In fact, it is questionable whether he is even a U.S. citizen.
The phrase "national defense" can be twisted to mean almost anything. It could be invoked from something as harmless as a barge sinking in the harbor. It could even be invoked based on fabricated intelligence such as a fake website post from someone alleged to be "Bin Laden's second in command" who appears to shout some sort of threat against the United States of America. So the claim that this seizing of national resources will only be done under some sort of national defense emergency is pure bunk -- both Obama and Bush before him have already declared we are living under a national defense emergency! Thus, the conditions described in this executive order have already been triggered. It is already in effect!
Notice how nothing in this document talks about protecting the People? Serving the People? Supporting the People? It's all about protecting the government! The government needs stockpiles of weapons, food and resources -- but YOU don't! Such is the philosophy of current government which sees itself as all powerful and the People as helpless, mindless slaves of the state.
Tyrannical governments concern themselves with important concepts such as continuity of government but never the continuity of liberty for the People. At the first drop of a hat, liberty gets thrown out the window to keep government in power.
Other signs of the takeover
• Yesterday in Chicago, the police arrested NBC reporters outside a hospital, screaming that their First Amendment rights could be taken away from them at any time:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/cop-arrests-nbc-reporters-says-your-first...
• Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently revealed in U.S. Senate testimony that the Obama administration takes its orders from the UN and that the U.S. Congress is now null and void. (http://wethepeoplefree.com/constitution/senator-sessions-leon-panetta...) and (http://www.infowars.com/coup-detat-pentagon-obama-declare-congress-ce...)
• When MF Global head Jon Corzine stole billions of dollars from investors (many were farmers), there were absolutely no investigations, no indictments and no criminal arrests! Massive financial theft is now openly tolerated in America as long as those doing the stealing are politically connected to the Obama administration. (http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-cojones-defense-of-jon-corzine.html)
Of course, it's not an Obama thing. Bush was much the same. It's not the name of the person in the Oval Office who matters, it's the fundamental lack of principles and ethics reflected across government today. Instead of protecting the rights of the People, today's corrupt governments are little more than criminal gangs who steal power and resources for themselves (and their connected buddies) while destroying the economy and stealing everything in sight from the real workers upon whose sweat-drenched backs America was built.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Obama Is A Better Community Organizer Than We Knew
Obama has put Congressional Democrats in the position of having to cancel community meetings out of fear of outraged citizens. Representative Tim Bishop (D-NY) has cancelled all future meetings with constituents because as the following video makes clear, they reject the radical Obama-Pelosi agenda.
Hat Tip: DRVC Catholics
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
America's Mugabe and Dealergate
Doug Ross provides the following partial list of closed Chrysler dealers; virtually all are significant Republican donors. In every case, Chrysler dealers who have been donors to Obama remain open and are benefiting from those whose businesses have been destroyed.
• Vernon G. Buchanan: $147,450 to GOP candidates and organizations
• Wallace D. Alley and Family: $4,500 to GOP.
• Robert Archer: $4,600 to GOP and conservative causes.
• Homer S. Higginbotham and Family: $2950 to GOP.
• James Auffenberg and Family: $28,000 to GOP; $6,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Michael Maroone and Family: $60,000 to GOP; $8,500 to two Democrat candidates.
• Jerome Fader: $6,500 to Democrats; $2,500 to Independent Joe Lieberman.
• Stephen Fay and Family: $13,500 to GOP.
• William Numrich: $20,000 to GOP.
• Robert Carver: $10,000 to Democrats including $1,950 to Hillary Clinton, nothing to Barack Obama.
• Robert and Linda Rohrman: $24,000 to GOP.
• Frank Boucher, Jr. and Family: $18,000 to GOP, $1,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Scott Bossier: $4,300 to GOP.
• Todd Reardon: $17,000 to GOP; $2,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Russ Darrow and Family: $78,000 to GOP.
• Bradford Deery and Family: $24,700 to GOP.
• Charles Gabus and Family: $30,000 to GOP.
• Brian Smith: $15,500 to GOP.
• Michael Schlossman: $14,000 to GOP; $14,000 to three Democrats ($12,500 to Sen. Russ Feingold).
• Don Hill: $11,000 to GOP; $12,800 to conservative incumbent Rep. Heath Shuler.
• Don Miller: $2,000 to GOP; $1,000 to Feingold.
• Eddie Cordes: $2,150 to GOP.
• Robert Edwards: $1,100 to GOP.
• James Crowley: $19,100 to GOP.
• Stanley Graff: $2,200 to John Edwards (2008 Presidential Run); $500 to GOP.
• John Stewart: $10,500 to GOP.
• John Fitzgerald and Family: $4,600 to John McCain (2008); $2,000 to Hillary Clinton (2008); nothing to Barack Obama.
• William Churchill and Family: $3,500 to GOP.
• Thomas Ganley: $9.450 to GOP.
• Gary Miller: $20,000 to GOP.
• Kevin and Gene Beltz: $18,500 to GOP.
• Arthur Grayson: $14,000 to GOP.
• Eric Grubbs and Family: $26,000 to GOP.
• Michael Leep and Family: $19,500 to GOP; $4,800 to three Democrats including Sen. Evan Bayh.
• Harry Green, Jr.: $10,000 to GOP.
• Ronald Hoover: $5,250 to GOP.
• Ray Huffines and Family: $18,500 to GOP.
• John O. Stevenson: $1,500 to GOP.
• James Marsh: $8,200 to GOP.
• Max Pearson and Family: $112,000 to GOP.
We will be looking into this story more deeply in the weeks ahead. We would welcome any information from Chrysler dealers.
Friday, May 22, 2009
PRAVDA SAYS 'AMERICAN DESCENT INTO MARXISM HAPPENING WITH BREATHTAKING SPEED'!
But do you think those working for what was the propaganda arm of the former Soviet Union might know something about totalitarian Marxism? We've presented a column by the head of the Communist Party USA exulting in the coming of Obama. Now PRAVDA has told its readers that the "American descent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed."
From PRAVDA
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this andthe option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Stanislav Mishin
Obama Is Said to Consider Preventive Detention Plan
From The New York Times
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
President Obama told human rights advocates at the White House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a “preventive detention” system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but cannot be tried, two participants in the private session said.
The discussion, in a 90-minute meeting in the Cabinet Room that included Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and other top administration officials, came on the eve of a much-anticipated speech Mr. Obama is to give Thursday on a number of thorny national security matters, including his promise to close the detention center at the naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Human rights advocates are growing deeply uneasy with Mr. Obama’s stance on these issues, especially his recent move to block the release of photographs showing abuse of detainees, and his announcement that he is willing to try terrorism suspects in military commissions — a concept he criticized bitterly as a presidential candidate.
The two participants, outsiders who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the session was intended to be off the record, said they left the meeting dismayed.
They said Mr. Obama told them he was thinking about “the long game” — how to establish a legal system that would endure for future presidents. He raised the issue of preventive detention himself, but made clear that he had not made a decision on it. Several senior White House officials did not respond to requests for comment on the outsiders’ accounts.
“He was almost ruminating over the need for statutory change to the laws so that we can deal with individuals who we can’t charge and detain,” one participant said. “We’ve known this is on the horizon for many years, but we were able to hold it off with George Bush. The idea that we might find ourselves fighting with the Obama administration over these powers is really stunning.”
The other participant said Mr. Obama did not seem to be thinking about preventive detention for terrorism suspects now held at Guantánamo Bay, but rather for those captured in the future, in settings other than a legitimate battlefield like Afghanistan. “The issue is,” the participant said, “What are the options left open to a future president?”
Mr. Obama did not specify how he intended to deal with Guantánamo detainees who posed a threat and could not be tried, nor did he share the contents of Thursday’s speech, the participants said.
He will deliver the speech at a site laden with symbolism — the National Archives, home to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Across town, his biggest Republican critic, former Vice President Dick Cheney, will deliver a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.
Mr. Cheney and other hawkish critics have sought to portray Mr. Obama as weak on terror, and their argument seems to be catching on with the public. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats, in a clear rebuke to the White House, blocked the $80 million Mr. Obama had requested in financing to close the Guantánamo prison.
The lawmakers say they want a detailed plan before releasing the money; there is deep opposition on Capitol Hill to housing terrorism suspects inside the United States.
“He needs to convince people that he’s got a game plan that will protect us as well as be fair to the detainees,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who agrees with Mr. Obama that the prison should be closed. “If he can do that, then we’re back on track. But if he doesn’t make that case, then we’ve lost control of this debate.”
But Mr. Obama will not use the speech to provide the details lawmakers want.
“What it’s not going to be is a prescriptive speech,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser. “The president wants to take some time and put this whole issue in perspective to identify what the challenges are and how he will approach dealing with them.”
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Revolution
From American Thinker
By Herbert E. Meyer
What defines a revolution -- and this is the crucial point to grasp -- is that when it's over a country has changed not merely its leaders and its laws, but its operating system.
Since most of us think of computers when we hear the phrase "operating system" let me use this analogy to illuminate my point: Every computer has an operating system, and most of us are using either the Microsoft or the Apple operating system. If you want to do something with your computer -- send an email, watch a DVD, read an online essay like this one -- you must do it the way your computer's operating system is designed to work.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Those TEA Parties You Hate, Obama, Are Only Just Beginning!
The American Family Association is preparing Independence Day tea parties in 659 cities, in all 50 states. If you missed the first round, as we unfortunately did, there is no better time than the Fourth of July to express your contempt for big, oppressive government, its irresponsible spending, and confiscatory taxes.
From AFA's TEA Party Day website:
On Saturday, July 4th, be part of the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party rally in your community. Help organize a local TEA Party.
Obama adds 78,000 new employees to government payroll
2009 budget grows to a deficit of $1.8 trillion, more than four times higher than last year’s all time high and 50% of total budget
With the national debt already out of control, President Obama has added 78,000 new government jobs to the federal payroll since he took office. Obama’s increase in the number of government employees will add hundreds of millions of dollars to our debt. If history is any measure, these jobs will never be eliminated. They will simply add to the mountains of debt we are leaving our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Obama and Congress continue to spend money the government doesn’t have. The deficit for the current year will be $1.8 trillion, 50% of the total budget. In order to pay interest on the debt, the government will have to cut spending, raise taxes, print more paper money or borrow from another country like China, which already holds billons of U.S. debt. With no end of spending in sight, some estimates project that our national debt could reach $8 trillion by the year 2014.
Obama and liberals in Congress are taking us down the road to socialism, seizing control of key banks, insurance companies, the automobile industry, etc. They are currently working on a government funded national health care program which is expected to cost roughly $2 trillion while rationing services.
Are you fed up with a Congress and a president who:
- vote for a $500 billion tax bill without even reading it?
- are spending trillions of borrowed dollars, leaving a debt our great-grandchildren will be paying?
- consistently give special interest groups billions of dollars in earmarks to help get themselves re-elected?
- want to take your wealth and redistribute it to others?
- punish those who practice responsible financial behavior and reward those who do not?
- admit to using the financial hurt of millions as an opportunity to push their political agenda?
- run up trillions of dollars of debt and then sell that debt to countries such as China?
- want government controlled health care?
- want to take away the right to vote with a secret ballot in union elections?
- refuse to stop the flow of millions of illegal immigrants into our country?
- appoint a defender of child pornography to the Number 2 position in the Justice Department?
- want to force doctors and other medical workers to perform abortions against their will?
- want to impose a carbon tax on your electricity, gas and home heating fuels?
- want to reduce your tax deductibility for charitable gifts?
- take money from your family budget to pay for their federal budget?
If so, help organize and/or participate in a Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party in your community on July 4. You choose the time and the location.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Obama's Moves a Step Toward Fascism
From The Chicago Sun-Times
By Steve Stanek
This week has brought two more reasons to be afraid --very afraid -- about what our federal government is up to.
The headline-grabbing reason is, of course, the firing of General Motors chief executive Richard Wagoner by President Obama and his administration's attempt to force a merger of Chrysler with Italy's Fiat. The other reason, all but ignored by the news media, is the declaration by Timothy Geithner that some banks will receive huge amounts of new government Troubled Asset Relief Program money even if they don't want it.
GM and Chrysler have received about $17.4 billion from the federal government over the past few months and want $22 billion more. Obama is holding off on the additional $22 billion to force the moves he wants. Those moves include the removal of Wagoner and remaking of GM's board of directors (with no concern for what GM stockholders want) and giving Chrysler 30 days to merge with Fiat.
Obama, Geithner, et al. tell us they do not want to run companies. But when they fire chief executives, install new ones, remake boards of directors and force mergers, that is exactly what they are doing.
Geithner's announcement that his agency is conducting "stress tests" that could force banks to take more federal money comes just a week after leaders of the nation's largest banks met with Obama and told him they want to pay back the TARP money they have already received, not take more of it.
Last week, Geithner announced he would decide, apparently with no firm guidelines, which companies -- including nonfinancial firms -- could pose "systemic risk" to the financial system. Such a designation would give the government unprecedented powers to inject itself into any business it chooses.
All of us -- not just corporate executives and shareholders -- should be shocked and frightened by these actions. The Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to appropriate money, yet trillions of dollars have been spent, borrowed and committed in the form of various guarantees without congressional approval.
The Constitution also blocks the government from interfering in private contracts. Various court rulings since the 1930s have weakened the protections, and now the executive branch is shredding them.
In addition to recent attacks on (admittedly unjustifiable) contractual bonuses at American International Group, the administration has recently moved to impose unjustifiable mortgage "cram downs" that require lenders to rework loans.
These recent actions amount to a fundamental move away from individual rights and toward state corporatism -- better known as fascism.
Steve Stanek is a research fellow at the Chicago-based libertarian Heartland Institute.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Thug-In-Chief to CEO's: "My Administration is the Only Thing Between You and the Pitchforks"
Imagine the media fury if a conservative told the limousine liberals, radical environmentalists, sodomites, or the ACLU that "my administration is the only thing between you and the Second Amendment enthusiasts."
The President Is 'Keeping Score'
From The Wall Street Journal
By Karl Rove
"Don't think we're not keeping score, brother." That's what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.
A few weeks ago, Mr. DeFazio voted against the administration's stimulus bill. The comment from Mr. Obama was a presidential rebuke and part of a new, hard-nosed push by the White House to pressure Congress to adopt the president's budget. He has mobilized outside groups and enlisted forces still in place from the Obama campaign.
Senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and her chief of staff, Michael Strautmanis, are in regular contact with MoveOn.Org, Americans United for Change and other liberal interest groups. Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina has collaborated with Americans United for Change on strategy and even ad copy. Ms. Jarrett invited leaders of the liberal interest groups to a White House social event with the president and first lady to kick off the lobbying campaign.
Read the rest of this entry >>
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Obama Youth Brigade: Church Attendance Forbidden
By Jonas Clark
Is this the change you really voted for? President Obama has only been in office for two months. Now we have HR 1388. The Bill was sponsored by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) with 37 others. The Bill was introduced to the floor of the House of Representatives where both Republicans and Democrats voted 321-105 in favor. Next it goes to the Senate for a vote and then on to President Obama.
This bill’s title is called “Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education” (GIVE). It forms what some are calling “Obama’s Youth Brigade.” Obama’s plan is require anyone receiving school loans and others to serve at least three months as part of the brigade. His goal is one million youth! This has serious Nazi Germany overtones to it.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Obama Youth Coming for Your Loyalty Pledge Tomorrow
From American Thinker
By Lona ManningThey have taken a pledge of loyalty to Obama, and they say they are coming tomorrow for yours. Organizing for America, the Obama-for-President campaign morphed into Obama-for-Maximum-Leader army, will hit the streets for their "Pledge Project Canvass," knocking on doors and accosting folks in parking lots and sidewalks to ask them to sign a pledge to support Obama's policies for health care, energy and education reform.Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, is variously described in the media as [President Obama's] "own version of a lobbying firm", "a parallel organization to the Democratic National Committee" and "an independent force to lobby for Obama's goals" (Houston Chronicle); "an independent group" (Dayton Daily News); Obama's "citizen army," and a way of building public opinion" (The Bergen County Record); "a grass-roots lobbying group," (Roll Call), "Obama 2.0" (Newark Star-Ledger), "a joint partnership," (DNC press release), and as a "political bully," (AP).According to Mitch Stewart, Director of OFA, the organization will be "getting out in front of Washington and asking our elected officials to lead the charge on energy, education and health care this year."So one might suppose that all the names and emails collected this weekend will be sent to our lawmakers in Washington in the form of a petition. Except that David Plouffe, Obama's former campaign director and an "advisor" to OFA, has emphatically stated that they will do no such thing.Plouffe "stressed that Organizing for America is not aimed at twisting the arms of members of Congress but meant to keep activists engaged on issues such as health care, energy and the economy."Syndicated columnist Dick Polman reported on January 29 that:"Mr. Obama's aides emphasized that the effort was not created to lobby directly or pressure members of Congress to support Mr. Obama's programs... ‘This is not a political campaign,'' Mr. Plouffe said. ''This is not a 'call or e-mail your member of Congress' organization.''"Whoops! Looks like Plouffe is out of the loop on that one. The OFA website prominently asks people to call Congress and helps them look up their representative's name and number. It even provides a script.
Now, it is confusing to see the Democratic National Committee asking for help to persuade the Democrat-led Congress and the Democrat-led Senate.But according to OFA Director Stewart, ordinary folks like you are needed to combat "a Washington establishment that doesn't welcome change.... It's up to you to show Washington that Americans are demanding this new direction."Okay, so who in Washington, exactly? Is the DNC going to give the names and emails to lobbyists? To Washington bureaucrats? That's doubtful. The sign-up sheet to be used for the pledge drive does not mention any privacy policy.It does reveal (at the very bottom) that OFA is a project of the DNC. This might come as a surprise to dedicated Obama supporter Janine Poppa, who told the Dayton Daily News, "It is a nonpartisan effort, and I hope people believe it's nonpartisan, because we truly do need each other to move it forward."Poor Ms. Poppa might be disillusioned to learn that the Florida Democratic State machine unabashedly bragged to the St. Petersburg Times that they were "preparing to tap into Barack Obama's grass roots machine to build the biggest political operation ever seen from the state party.""The million-dollar question is how to translate the activism and enthusiasm that Barack Obama was able to create and translate it down the line,'' said Steve Schale, a Democratic consultant who managed Obama's Florida campaign. "That's the challenge, but fundamentally the state is better for Democrats than ever before because of what Barack Obama was able to do. It's still up to candidates to have compelling messages and drive up enthusiasm."No doubt the Florida Dems will be getting another memo from Plouffe to remind them that OFA a movement "not to win an election, but to change this country."
Phillip Elliott reported in January that the extensive OFA email list is not even being shared with the DNC: "Party officials had hoped Obama would transfer his list of supporters to the party, a move that would put them in control of one of the most extensive campaign organizations in politics. Instead, Obama decided to keep ownership of that enormous campaign and install his own loyalists to run it." This was done, Obama's aides insisted, in the name of being "post-partisan."
And Stewart and Plouffe, those idealistic grass-roots campaigners, stress that OFA is all about getting feedback from the Obama followers: "Mitch... believes so strongly in feedback, so we want to hear from you!"The website is all about making "sure your voice is heard."So tut-tut to Macon Phillips, the 30-year-old White House director of New Media, who told the New York Times that the OFA website "would give the White House another way to reach the public without having to rely on the mainstream news media." Doesn't he know that OFA is for people to communicate with their Leader, not for the Leader to send messages to his people?Turns out even commenters at the Daily Kos are skeptical of the post-campaign uses of a campaign database."A small concern... again, small, but I need to voice it. I'd love to work like this to push for certain issues and policies I want to see enacted......however...I don't want to see this turn into some type of "permanent campaign". If anyone knows how the Obama administration is drawing that line I'd like to hear about it.""There's no more campaigning to do. We won. Now it's up to us to usher in Obama's Age of Responsibility by working together to help fix America. The new goal is in service projects, not electioneering.""I think it would be nice to include a smidge of something somewhere about the difference between governing and campaigning - it'd not only help answer any critics, but it would again draw another difference between the Obama administration and 8 years of Bush."Whatever OFA is, David Plouffe at least thinks ''[t]his has obviously never been undertaken before. So it's going to be a little trial and error.'' As we noted on Wednesday, it seems as though OFA's organizers are ignorant of the lessons of history and of the sinister ambitions of leaders who created their own private organizations, loyal only to them.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Knock on the Door
By Lona Manning
A sitting President of the United States is "organizing a political organization loyal to him, bound by a pledge, outside the government and existing party apparatus. The historical precedents are ominous."
Certainly, thousands of organizations seek to influence the political debate. There's Newt Gingrich's American Solutions or the left-wing People for the American Way, for instance.
You will not find any mention of OFA`s governing structure, their budget, their bylaws, or their officers at the OFA website. Donations to the website go to the DNC, but OFA is managed out of the White House. If you click on the comments button, you are taken to a link to the White House email.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sunlit Uplands Declares Itself a "Hate" Website
We have tragically become a nation where the people are instead the docile workers, supporting an ever larger, more centralized, more powerful, and more arrogant government that serves a small power elite. If criticism of our President and our federal government makes one a "hater," or this a "hate site," then we proudly accept the appellation.
We hate the federal government's arrogance and disregard for the U.S. Constitution. We hate what has become of the U. S. Congress, an overpaid, over-staffed, self-perpetuating institution that appropriates more and more tax dollars for the sake of its own political preservation.
We hate that America's public schools have become instruments of the state, rather than the agents of parents, where values contrary to those of most parents and antithetical to America's Constitution are imposed, and where critical thinking is suppressed.
We agree with Samuel Adams that "While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader." A national government that defends immorality while banishing religious practice and values from our schools and the public square, is a government determined to undermine the moral strength and conviction that flows from those who have well formed consciences and know that truth is objective and real, not relative, and must be proclaimed and defended.
We hate those who would present themselves and their government programs as idols and substitutes for the One True God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.
We hate a government that defends the deliberate taking of human life and funds abortion and other means of population control here and around the world.
We hate its unconstitutional, undeclared and preemptive wars.
We hate that our national government has suppressed all notion of the United States as a voluntary association of free and independent states, where all but a few, enumerated powers are reserved to the states.
We hate a government that is subservient to major, international corporations, entangling alliances and trade agreements that put ideology and corporate interests above those of American families, small business owners and workers, and have exported American manufacturing and jobs to nations with slave labor wages.
We hate a government intent on imposing socialist principles that are contrary to human nature, natural law, and have always and everywhere failed.
We agree with Thomas Jefferson that "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God," and that "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
With Jefferson, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
A story that should concern all liberty loving Americans follows. May it inspire us to restore America's Constitution.
From The Enid News and Eagle
By Bridget Nash
An Oklahoma City police officer wrongly pulled over a man last week and confiscated an anti-President Barack Obama sign the man had on his vehicle.
The officer misinterpreted the sign as threatening, said Capt. Steve McCool, of the Oklahoma City Police Department, and took the sign, which read “Abort Obama, not the unborn.”
Chip Harrison said he was driving to work when a police car followed him for several miles and then signaled for him to pull over.
“I pulled over, knowing I hadn’t done anything wrong,” Harrison said in a recent phone interview.
When the officer asked Harrison if he knew why he had been pulled over, Harrison said he did not.
“They said, ‘It’s because of the sign in your window,’” Harrison said.
“It’s not meant to be a threat, it’s a statement about abortion,” Harrison said.
He said he disagrees with the president’s position on abortion.
“I asked the officer, ‘Do you know what abort means?’” Harrison said. “He said, ‘Yeah, it means to kill.’ I said, ‘No, it means to remove or terminate.’”
Harrison said his sign was to be interpreted as saying something like: Remove Obama from office, not unborn babies from the womb.
The officers confiscated Harrison’s sign and gave him a slip of paper that stated he was part of an investigation.
Harrison said he later received a call from a person who said he was a lieutenant supervisor for the Internal Investigations Department and wanted to know his location and return his sign to him.
According to Harrison, the supervisor said the Secret Service had been contacted on the matter and had told them the sign was not a threat to the president.
Harrison was asked if he would like to file a complaint. He said he was not sure but would take the paperwork, just in case.
But his run-in with the law wasn’t over yet.
“The Secret Service called and said they were at my house,” Harrison said.
After talking to his attorney, Harrison went home where he met the Secret Service.
“When I was on my way there, the Secret Service called me and said they weren’t going to ransack my house or anything ... they just wanted to (walk through the house) and make sure I wasn’t a part of any hate groups.”
Harrison said he invited the Secret Service agents into the house and they were “very cordial.”
“We walked through the house and my wife and 2-year-old were in the house,” Harrison said.
He said they interviewed him for about 30 minutes and then left, not finding any evidence Harrison was a threat to the president.
“I’m still in contact with a lawyer right now,” Harrison said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Harrison said he feels his First Amendment rights were violated.
McCool said the officer who pulled over Harrison misinterpreted the sign.
“We had an officer that his interpretation of the sign was different than what was meant,” McCool said. “You’ve got an officer who had a different thought on what the word ‘abort’ meant.”
McCool said the sign basically meant Obama should be impeached and it was not a threat.
“(The officer) shouldn’t have taken the sign,” McCool said. “That was (Harrison’s) First Amendment right to voice his concern.”
McCool said although the sign should not have been confiscated, the situation was made right in the end.
“We always try to do the right thing and in the end we believe we did the right thing by returning the sign,” McCool said.
Enid Police Department Capt. Dean Grassino said such an incident most likely would not have occurred in Enid.
“We wouldn’t pull over anybody for a bumper sticker or a sign like that unless it was a safety issue,” he said.
Grassino said a safety issue would be a sign that obstructs the view of the driver.
“We wouldn’t do it based on the views of the bumper sticker or sign,” Grassino said.
If a sign was undoubtedly a threat to the president, Grassino said it is not within the jurisdiction of the city police to handle that and the FBI or the Secret Service would be called before any action was taken.