YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK

[Soldier4Christ]

Kerry: 'Al-Qaida Leadership is More Capable of Attacking Today' than on 9/11
Senator proposes $7.5 billion in 'non-military' aid; says 'winning the war of ideas' against al-Qaida important to climate change, AIDS.

Al-Qaida poses a bigger threat to the United States today than it did on Sept. 11, 2001, and the only way to prevent more attacks is to spend money on non-military international aid, according a July 31 speech by one-time presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

     “[T]he statistics tell the story. And as John Adams reminded us, facts are stubborn things. Today, terrorist attacks are at historic highs. The al-Qaida leadership is reconstituting along the Afghan-Pakistan border,” said Kerry at the Center for American Progress. “The al-Qaida leadership is more capable of attacking today than they were on September 11 of 2001. The Taliban is resurgent. Hamas is tightening its grip on Gaza and Hezbollah is running a state within a state.”

A 2007 report from the State Department suggested that al-Qaida had reconstituted only “some of its pre-9/11 operational capabilities,” but that there had been and increase in deaths and injuries as a result of terrorism. Dell Dailey, coordinator of the Office for Counterterrorism attributed that increase to more frequent use of suicide bombers.

     Kerry used the Washington, D.C. speech to unveil what he called a “new approach” to fighting terrorism. The approach amounted to $7.5 billion in expenditures on non-military aid over five years to support Pakistan, a U.S. ally in the war on terror.

    “[W]e must make better use of our foreign aid to improve our standing with the Pakistani people,” Kerry said. “We’ve tried to do this now with a bill that we just passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday. And it is a bill to provide a sustained commitment to dramatically increase non-military assistance – $7.5 billion over five years. And we want to ensure that it goes directly to the people, while ensuring that we get what we pay for in terms of military assistance.”

     The end result of winning the “war of ideas,” as Kerry labeled it, would improve the United States’ standing in the world and put the country in a better position to solve problems ranging from global climate change to the AIDS epidemic.

     “So looking at all these conflicts, the big picture is this – focusing on winning a war of ideas as opposed to just killing terrorists, will not only enable us to defeat our enemies, it will restore our ability to have a positive impact on change in other areas,” Kerry said.

     “All of these things are connected,” according to Kerry. “[G]lobal climate change, AIDS, the efforts with respect to failed states, counter-narcotics efforts, consistency on human rights and understanding and defining the real relationship with the nation of Islam (sic) and our leadership role with respect to our values.”

     The issue of a potential terrorist attack recently generated criticism of Sen. John McCain’s campaign. The Republican presidential candidate’s adviser Charlie Black told Fortune magazine a terrorist attack would be of “a big advantage” to McCain in the presidential elections in a story published on June 28, some media and Obama surrogates were critical.

     “Well, I mean it’s just a breathtakingly stupid thing to say,” CNN’s Jack Cafferty said on the June 23 “The Situation Room. “However, it’s probably true. And in the twisted logic of politics, John McCain is perceived as the guy who is more capable of handling the war on terror. So it's probably true. But you just don’t say stuff like that in polite company – not that we're polite company, but we’re company and you don’t talk that way to us.”

     Even Obama, himself, told Iowa caucus voters to reject “the politics of fear” in a speech in late December. Kerry formally endorsed Obama in a speech shortly after the Iowa caucuses on January 10 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Yep, Let's just throw more money into the problem instead actually fixing the problem.

[Soldier4Christ]

Congressman wants Gitmo moved ... to Supreme Court grounds
'There can be no better way ... to exercise its new self-appointed war powers'

An East Texas congressman wants Gitmo moved to Supreme Court grounds You can practically see the sarcasm dripping off the wording in this bill U.S. Rep. Louis Gohmert of Tyler filed last week proposing a new location for Guantanamo Bay.

In light of the Supreme Court's recent ruling that Gitmo detainees are protected by the U.S. Constitution’s habeas corpus protections, Gohmert wants to move the controversial jail to the Supreme Court grounds, "confined by adequate fencing."

"There can be no better way for the United States Supreme Court to exercise its new self-appointed war powers than to house the prisoners whom it has taken a greater role in overseeing," Gohmert writes.

It's impossible to miss Gohmert's feelings toward the justices when he offers, "Should the detainees need the use of restroom facilities, they shall use the facilities inside the United States Supreme Court building."

The bill also allows the justices to take over guard duty whenever they want and threatens to cut the court's budget in half if they don't follow the bill's guidelines.

[HisDaughter]

The bill also allows the justices to take over guard duty whenever they want and threatens to cut the court's budget in half if they don't follow the bill's guidelines.

Our government officials sound like a bunch of spoiled, unruley children.
" Wahh, I'm telling!"  "Wahh, if you don't play the way I play then I'll take my bat and ball and go home!"
It is really discusting to sit and watch.  They all need a nap and a time out.  Actually, they all need to go somewhere else, to a land far, far away.  Or get real jobs where they actually have to work for a living.  I am so sick of every single one of them and their "me" attitudes.
Excuse me...I have to go outside and spit.

[Soldier4Christ]

Our government officials sound like a bunch of spoiled, unruley children.
" Wahh, I'm telling!"  "Wahh, if you don't play the way I play then I'll take my bat and ball and go home!"
It is really discusting to sit and watch.  They all need a nap and a time out.  Actually, they all need to go somewhere else, to a land far, far away.  Or get real jobs where they actually have to work for a living.  I am so sick of every single one of them and their "me" attitudes.
Excuse me...I have to go outside and spit.

I agree totally. I think that this article is a stab at humor by Louis Gohmert in regards to the Supreme Court's decision to make laws of their own instead of enforcing laws already on the books. It is also a slam on those in the house and senate that are always submitting eroneous bills for just about anything other than the real issues. I really can't blame him for his frustrations and think this is a better way to express them than those that just walked out and went on summer break without facing those real issues. Congress has become nothing more than a bunch of clowns in a three ring circus and Louis Gohmert has made quite a statement in regards to just that.

[nChrist]

Congressman wants Gitmo moved ... to Supreme Court grounds
'There can be no better way ... to exercise its new self-appointed war powers'

An East Texas congressman wants Gitmo moved to Supreme Court grounds You can practically see the sarcasm dripping off the wording in this bill U.S. Rep. Louis Gohmert of Tyler filed last week proposing a new location for Guantanamo Bay.

In light of the Supreme Court's recent ruling that Gitmo detainees are protected by the U.S. Constitution’s habeas corpus protections, Gohmert wants to move the controversial jail to the Supreme Court grounds, "confined by adequate fencing."

"There can be no better way for the United States Supreme Court to exercise its new self-appointed war powers than to house the prisoners whom it has taken a greater role in overseeing," Gohmert writes.

It's impossible to miss Gohmert's feelings toward the justices when he offers, "Should the detainees need the use of restroom facilities, they shall use the facilities inside the United States Supreme Court building."

The bill also allows the justices to take over guard duty whenever they want and threatens to cut the court's budget in half if they don't follow the bill's guidelines.

       

   This is a great idea. I don't know anything about this Congressman, but I like him. What happens if the bill passes?      ROFL!

[Soldier4Christ]

      

   This is a great idea. I don't know anything about this Congressman, but I like him. What happens if the bill passes?      ROFL!

Now that would be funny.

 

[HisDaughter]

Dems leave on vacation, GOP revolts

A group of House Republicans staged a revolt after Democrats passed a non-debatable adjournment resolution to shut down the chamber for a five-week vacation.

 Even though lights, microphones and C-SPAN cameras were turned off, about 40 Republicans took to the House floor and railed against Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-California) refusal to hold a vote on legislation to allow offshore oil drilling. Their speeches were met with applause from tourists in the visitor's gallery.

 One of the GOP protesters, Representative Thad McCotter (R-Michigan), says Republicans were "silenced in a Stalinist manner." "It's a representative government. Our constituents are outraged at the way the Democrats have run this Congress into the ground and done nothing on their behalf, and we were not going to have our people's voices silenced, and we're not going to let this issue go because it's not about Republican or Democrat, it's about American," he argues. "Working Americans cannot afford to wait for gas price relief just because the Speaker wants them to."

 He believes part of the reason Congress is so hated by the American people is because they "care more about politics than about working people." "That is why they went on a five-week paid vacation without doing their job," McCotter contends.

 McCotter says he understands that Nancy Pelosi's commitment to environmental extremism would lead her to block a vote on increasing domestic energy production, but he does not understand why she would stop members from even talking about the issue on the House floor.

[HisDaughter]

Leaders to debate Palestinian refugee problem

A leading Christian Zionist thinks the Palestinian refugee problem has been propagated by Arab countries and the U.N. at the expense of U.S. taxpayers and the state of Israel.


 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will reportedly be proposing ideas to the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia on how to resolve differences between Israel and the Palestinians over Palestinian refugees. Rice is expected to present a draft document in a meeting that will be held under the auspices of the U.N. General Assembly in September in New York.

 Jim Hutchens, president of The Jerusalem Connection International, believes Rice's document needs to address the issue of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which was set up uniquely for Palestinian refugees. "It's unlike any refugee program in the world or refugee program that the U.N. sponsors -- and for all practical purposes, it's been a hoax," he contends. "It's been something that has perpetuated rather than solve the Palestinian problem." Hutchens adds that there has been no commitment or goal to resolve this problem, and he accuses the U.N. and Arab nations of perpetuating the problem in order to delegitimize Israel.

 Hutchens says UNRWA needs to be dissolved because the billions of dollars funneled into the agency have mostly been "squandered or squirreled away by Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian leaders into Swiss banks."  The U.S. contributes millions of dollars to the U.N. agency annually.

 Instead he suggests that a viable solution to the refugee problem would be to relocate them in Jordan. But Hutchens acknowledges that Jordan's King Abdullah will be hesitant to embrace the idea because of his past experience with the Palestinians. "Yasser Arafat attempted to go in and take over Jordan under King Abdullah's father King Hussein in the early [19]70s," Hutchens points outs. "We had the 'Black September' event that took place there when King Hussein recognized that Yasser Arafat wanted to take over Jordan. Matter of fact, Arafat said that Jordan is Palestine. Arik Sharon said the same thing, but that notion has been shelved over the last several years," he says.

 Hutchens notes that Palestinian refugees could be relocated to a number of Arab countries and resettled, but those countries are also unwilling to allow that to happen.

[HisDaughter]

I shake my head so much it is becoming a tick.  Could somebody please tell me why we pour billions of dollars everywhere but here?  I see our own "refugees", the homeless, everyday on the streets.  Our mission turns away 19 out of every 20 women that call for shelter because we can only accommodate so many.  Some of them don't have "recovery" issues.  They are single, divorced/abused moms that have no place to go and no income.  Even if they could find work, the cost of living and the cost of daycare is too far out of reach.  True, we have a welfare system but it's not adequte and the ones that have abused it make the social workers leary towards the ones that really need it.

Almost every article I read, the amount of "billions" are being spent willy nilly.  It's insanity in the first degree.

[Soldier4Christ]

Could somebody please tell me why we pour billions of dollars everywhere but here?

You answered your own question, sister.   

It's insanity in the first degree.

[HisDaughter]

Thanks for clarifying that for me PR!    I can see clearly now!

[Soldier4Christ]

Fuel-injected GOP back in House today
Gas prices, oil production on agenda despite Democratic recess

"The American people did it," says WND Editor Joseph Farah, who, in the face of rising gas prices, launched a campaign 14 days ago to pressure Congress to lift restrictions against offshore oil drilling and other limits on domestic exploration and production.

Farah says the response Friday by House Republicans to keep demanding action despite an August recess called by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi shows the campaign is making its mark.

"The Democrats are running scared – literally," he says. "That's why they went home for the month. They're afraid of defections on this issue by their own members. The pressure was rising day by day."

Farah believes that pressure needs to rise in the home districts as representatives meet with constituents over the next month.

Meanwhile, House Republicans will be back on the floor today talking about gas prices – and they may stay all week.

"In an urgent memo sent to GOP members and staff Saturday ('A Call to Action on American Energy'), Republican Leader John Boehner and Whip Roy Blunt hailed Friday's action, and encouraged House Republicans to return to the Capitol beginning Monday morning to help keep the historic effort going," said a release from Boehner's office.

[HisDaughter]

Fuel-injected GOP back in House today
Gas prices, oil production on agenda despite Democratic recess

"The American people did it," says WND Editor Joseph Farah, who, in the face of rising gas prices, launched a campaign 14 days ago to pressure Congress to lift restrictions against offshore oil drilling and other limits on domestic exploration and production.

Farah says the response Friday by House Republicans to keep demanding action despite an August recess called by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi shows the campaign is making its mark.

"The Democrats are running scared – literally," he says. "That's why they went home for the month. They're afraid of defections on this issue by their own members. The pressure was rising day by day."

Farah believes that pressure needs to rise in the home districts as representatives meet with constituents over the next month.

Meanwhile, House Republicans will be back on the floor today talking about gas prices – and they may stay all week.

"In an urgent memo sent to GOP members and staff Saturday ('A Call to Action on American Energy'), Republican Leader John Boehner and Whip Roy Blunt hailed Friday's action, and encouraged House Republicans to return to the Capitol beginning Monday morning to help keep the historic effort going," said a release from Boehner's office.

Maybe writting our senators and congressmen did help a bit.  I know I was on it!
To quote another 70's saying: "Power to the People"!   

[Soldier4Christ]

Maybe writting our senators and congressmen did help a bit.  I know I was on it!
To quote another 70's saying: "Power to the People"!   

Whether it did any good or not at least there are still some people that realize their jobs are on the line in regards to the actions that they take.

[Soldier4Christ]

State: Just in case,
we'll take your gun
Cops allowed to seize firearms
even before crime is committed

A new report to the Connecticut state legislature shows police have used the state's unique gun seizure law to confiscate more than 1,700 firearms from citizens based on suspicion that the gun owners might harm themselves or others.

The state's law permits police to seek a warrant for seizing a citizen's guns based on suspicion of the gun owner's intentions, before any act of violence or lawbreaking is actually committed.

The law was first proposed in 1998, following a mass shooting at the Connecticut Lottery Corporation that left five dead, including the gunman. Since the law went into effect Oct. 1, 1999, according to new Office of Legislative Research report, police have made more than 200 documented requests for warrants to seize firearms from citizens, and only two of the requests have been denied.

The law has remained hotly debated since its passage, as some point to possible murders and suicides it may have prevented, and others worry that police would abuse the law.

"It certainly has not been abused. It may be underutilized," Ron Pinciaro, co-executive director of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, told the Waterbury Republican American. "The bottom line from our perspective is, it may very well have saved lives."

Attorney Ralph D. Sherman, who has represented several of the gun owners whose firearms were confiscated under the law, disagrees.

"In every case I was involved in I thought it was an abuse," he told the newspaper. "The overriding concern is anybody can report anybody with or without substantiation, and I don't think that is the American way."

Joe Graborz, executive director of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, an affiliate of the ACLU, told WND the law "continues to invest unusual and far-reaching powers in police authority that does not belong there" by requiring "police to act as psychologists in trying to predict and interpret behavior."

"What is the standard of proof on this?" he asked. "The way this law is written, it can and will be easily abused by police."

Under the statute, dubbed the "turn in your neighbor" law by opponents, any two police officers or a state prosecutor may seek a warrant, following a specified process of investigation, to confiscate guns from people deemed a risk to harming themselves or others. The vast majority of cases, however, begin when a person – usually a spouse or live-in, according to the OLR report – file a complaint.

Shortly after the law was passed, Thompson Bosee of Greenwich, Conn., had his guns and ammunition seized by police. Bosee told WND in 1999 he suspects a neighbor, with whom he has had words regarding the neighbor's driving on Bosee's property, might have reported him.

"They had a warrant for my guns, they arrested my guns," said Bosee.

A member of both the NRA and the American Gunsmithing Association, Bosee said he works on his guns in his garage and is not ashamed of it.

Although Greenwich Police would not comment, they released a list of the guns and ammunition they seized from Bosee, including six handguns, three rifles, one shotgun, one submachine gun and 3,108 rounds of ammunition.

The new OLR report shows that in most cases, relatives or neighbors of the gun owner filed the complaint when they feared for their own safety or feared the owner was suicidal. In a case from Southington, however, a man had his gun taken for threatening to shoot a dog.

Attorney Ralph Sherman told WND the law's cruelty to animals justification for gun seizure worries him.

"If I throw a rock or a newspaper at a dog in my yard or in my garden, that doesn't mean I'm mentally unbalanced," he said. "What if a neighbor doesn't like me and sees that?"

In October 2006, according to the Republican American, police obtained a seizure warrant after a man made 28 unsubstantiated claims of vandalism to his property. The police application for seizure described the man as paranoid and delusional, citing extensive self-protection measures installed on the man's property, including alarms, cameras and spotlights.

Four months after the man's guns were taken, a judge ruled that police had failed to show the man posed any risk and ordered the guns returned. According to the ruling, the gun owner had no history of documented illness, criminal activity or misuse of firearms. "In fact, the firearms were found in a locked safe when the officers executed the warrant," the ruling said.

The law dictates that courts hold a hearing within 14 days of a seizure to determine the eventual fate of the guns. In most cases, according to the OLR report, the guns are held for a period of up to a year, destroyed or sold. The Republican American reports that in 22 of the more than 200 cases, the guns were ordered returned.

Connecticut State Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, House chairman of the Judiciary Committee and one of the chief authors of the law, told the Republican American he wasn't aware of any pending challenges to the law's constitutionality.

"The whole point was to make sure it was limited and constitutional," he said.

Sherman however, said the law hasn't been challenged yet, simply because it is used sparingly and a test case would prove too costly for the average gun owner.