http://mediamattersforamerica.blogspot.com/2011/09/internet-takeover-to-begin-nov-20th.html
evil enemies of America at it again
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Too Much of a Good Thing
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/94940/peter-orszag-democracy?page=0,0&passthru=MGU3YjMxNDdlN2UyMjM2MTNhZGZjNDE2MjE2NjE2Nj
Too Much of a Good Thing
Why we need less democracy.
In an 1814 letter to John Taylor, John Adams wrote that “there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” That may read today like an overstatement, but it is certainly true that our democracy finds itself facing a deep challenge: During my recent stint in the Obama administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, it was clear to me that the country’s political polarization was growing worse—harming Washington’s ability to do the basic, necessary work of governing. If you need confirmation of this, look no further than the recent debt-limit debacle, which clearly showed that we are becoming two nations governed by a single Congress—and that paralyzing gridlock is the result........
So what to do? To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic.
Too Much of a Good Thing
Why we need less democracy.
In an 1814 letter to John Taylor, John Adams wrote that “there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” That may read today like an overstatement, but it is certainly true that our democracy finds itself facing a deep challenge: During my recent stint in the Obama administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, it was clear to me that the country’s political polarization was growing worse—harming Washington’s ability to do the basic, necessary work of governing. If you need confirmation of this, look no further than the recent debt-limit debacle, which clearly showed that we are becoming two nations governed by a single Congress—and that paralyzing gridlock is the result........
So what to do? To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
N. Carolina governor faces impeachment call after suggesting upcoming vote be canceled
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=349629
Rush: Democrat 'dead serious' about suspending elections
N. Carolina governor faces impeachment call after suggesting upcoming vote be canceled
By Joe Kovacs
Despite claims that she was joking, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue is "dead serious" with her suggestion that the 2012 congressional elections be suspended, according to radio host Rush Limbaugh, and at least one group is now calling for the Democrat's impeachment.
"No, she wasn't joking," Limbaugh said today. "If they could get away with canceling elections, they would do it. That is who the Democrats of today are. That's what the American left is all about."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ELECTION 2012
Rush: Democrat 'dead serious' about suspending elections
N. Carolina governor faces impeachment call after suggesting upcoming vote be canceled
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: September 28, 2011
1:55 pm Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
© 2011 WND
Despite claims that she was joking, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue is "dead serious" with her suggestion that the 2012 congressional elections be suspended, according to radio host Rush Limbaugh, and at least one group is now calling for the Democrat's impeachment.
"No, she wasn't joking," Limbaugh said today. "If they could get away with canceling elections, they would do it. That is who the Democrats of today are. That's what the American left is all about."
During a speech yesterday in Cary, N.C., Perdue stated:
"You have to have more ability from Congress, I think, to work together and to get over the partisan bickering and focus on fixing things. I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that. The one good thing about Raleigh is that for so many years we worked across party lines. It's a little bit more contentious now but it's not impossible to try to do what's right in this state. You want people who don't worry about the next election."
Perdue spokeswoman Chris Mackey, told the Daily Caller that it was a joke and "hyperbole."
"This is not off the cuff, she had to think about this," Limbaugh said. "She wants to cancel the elections because 2012 could dwarf 2010 in terms of Republican victory, Democrat loss. If the election were in one month, two months, the Democrat Party would end up with the smallest number of elected representatives in the House of Representatives maybe in history. That's what they all know."
President Obama is definitely beatable – and this book shows you how!
"Strange thing to joke about," Limbaugh continued. "You'd better be obvious you're joking if you're gonna say something and she didn't. She's dead serious. The next time they tell you how stupid Sarah Palin is, or Michele Bachmann, just think back to this day an North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue."
He added, "I say it rather joyously because it reassures me that we've not lost the country as far as the people are concerned. It's obvious now what an aberration, an abnormality, if you will, Obama is. This is not what people thought that they were getting, it's not what people want, this is not the direction they want the country to go, and they're going to show up in record numbers in November to say so. Democrat response? Let's cancel the elections."
Meanwhile, the Virginia-based group Americans for Limited Government is calling for Perdue to be impeached by the North Carolina Legislature for her remarks.
"This is all a part of a disturbing trend on the hard left, showing their antipathy toward the people's right to choose the direction of their country rather than the elites who think they know best," said its president, Bill Wilson. "Recently, former White House OMB director and Pelosi CBO director Peter Orszag similarly stated that 'we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic'. This is a trial balloon for tyranny.
"History has shown that elite-driven government always leads to authoritarianism. It's time for the North Carolina legislature to stand up for the American principle that legitimacy can only be conferred through the consent of the governed by impeaching Perdue immediately. Perdue and Orszag's attack on representative government is a desire to go back to the days before the American Revolution when the nation suffered under taxation without representation."
Read more: Rush: Democrat 'dead serious' about suspending elections http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=349629#ixzz1ZHR9cqGz
Rush: Democrat 'dead serious' about suspending elections
N. Carolina governor faces impeachment call after suggesting upcoming vote be canceled
By Joe Kovacs
Despite claims that she was joking, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue is "dead serious" with her suggestion that the 2012 congressional elections be suspended, according to radio host Rush Limbaugh, and at least one group is now calling for the Democrat's impeachment.
"No, she wasn't joking," Limbaugh said today. "If they could get away with canceling elections, they would do it. That is who the Democrats of today are. That's what the American left is all about."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ELECTION 2012
Rush: Democrat 'dead serious' about suspending elections
N. Carolina governor faces impeachment call after suggesting upcoming vote be canceled
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: September 28, 2011
1:55 pm Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
© 2011 WND
Despite claims that she was joking, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue is "dead serious" with her suggestion that the 2012 congressional elections be suspended, according to radio host Rush Limbaugh, and at least one group is now calling for the Democrat's impeachment.
"No, she wasn't joking," Limbaugh said today. "If they could get away with canceling elections, they would do it. That is who the Democrats of today are. That's what the American left is all about."
During a speech yesterday in Cary, N.C., Perdue stated:
"You have to have more ability from Congress, I think, to work together and to get over the partisan bickering and focus on fixing things. I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that. The one good thing about Raleigh is that for so many years we worked across party lines. It's a little bit more contentious now but it's not impossible to try to do what's right in this state. You want people who don't worry about the next election."
Perdue spokeswoman Chris Mackey, told the Daily Caller that it was a joke and "hyperbole."
"This is not off the cuff, she had to think about this," Limbaugh said. "She wants to cancel the elections because 2012 could dwarf 2010 in terms of Republican victory, Democrat loss. If the election were in one month, two months, the Democrat Party would end up with the smallest number of elected representatives in the House of Representatives maybe in history. That's what they all know."
President Obama is definitely beatable – and this book shows you how!
"Strange thing to joke about," Limbaugh continued. "You'd better be obvious you're joking if you're gonna say something and she didn't. She's dead serious. The next time they tell you how stupid Sarah Palin is, or Michele Bachmann, just think back to this day an North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue."
He added, "I say it rather joyously because it reassures me that we've not lost the country as far as the people are concerned. It's obvious now what an aberration, an abnormality, if you will, Obama is. This is not what people thought that they were getting, it's not what people want, this is not the direction they want the country to go, and they're going to show up in record numbers in November to say so. Democrat response? Let's cancel the elections."
Meanwhile, the Virginia-based group Americans for Limited Government is calling for Perdue to be impeached by the North Carolina Legislature for her remarks.
"This is all a part of a disturbing trend on the hard left, showing their antipathy toward the people's right to choose the direction of their country rather than the elites who think they know best," said its president, Bill Wilson. "Recently, former White House OMB director and Pelosi CBO director Peter Orszag similarly stated that 'we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic'. This is a trial balloon for tyranny.
"History has shown that elite-driven government always leads to authoritarianism. It's time for the North Carolina legislature to stand up for the American principle that legitimacy can only be conferred through the consent of the governed by impeaching Perdue immediately. Perdue and Orszag's attack on representative government is a desire to go back to the days before the American Revolution when the nation suffered under taxation without representation."
Read more: Rush: Democrat 'dead serious' about suspending elections http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=349629#ixzz1ZHR9cqGz
Governor Bev Perdue of North Carolina Wants to Cancel Elections
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/09/27/governor-bev-perdue-of-north-carolina-wants-to-cancel-elections/
Governor Bev Perdue of North Carolina Wants to Cancel Elections
Would it be a violation of Godwin’s Law to point out that even the Nazis kept having elections even when we were bombing them? Heck, the United States continued having elections in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. We didn’t put democracy on hold just because we felt like it. There is this thing called the constitution.
But the constitution seems beside the point to one of America’s least popular governors, Bev Perdue of North Carolina. Maybe brains and constitutional fidelity go together.
Perdue has declared that we should just suspend elections in 2012 for Congress until congressmen solve our economic problems. Given her lack of popularity and the fact that her unpopularity coupled with Obama’s unpopularity will probably swing North Carolina to the GOP in 2012, I’m sure she was privately thinking we might as well suspend all elections next year.
After all, elections may matter, but they cost money.
Already people are suggesting she just had to be joking. Except it doesn’t sound like she was joking and to come out now and say she was joking after giving a rather level toned speech in which she did not chuckle about it and, instead, asked people to join with her and support the idea sounds more like post-idiocy spin than truth.
Bev Perdue, Governor of North Carolina, thinks that notwithstanding the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, or World War II, our country is in such a terrible place now that by God we don’t need no stinking elections because the people who cannot solve the problem right now will some how, miracle of miracles, solve the problem next year if only they don’t have to then be held accountable by their constituents — constituents who very likely will be purging Bev Perdue from politics next year.
Exit point: I think we’ve just had our first Democratic Governor go on record admitting our present economic situation is worse than the Great Depression.
Governor Bev Perdue of North Carolina Wants to Cancel Elections
Would it be a violation of Godwin’s Law to point out that even the Nazis kept having elections even when we were bombing them? Heck, the United States continued having elections in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. We didn’t put democracy on hold just because we felt like it. There is this thing called the constitution.
But the constitution seems beside the point to one of America’s least popular governors, Bev Perdue of North Carolina. Maybe brains and constitutional fidelity go together.
Perdue has declared that we should just suspend elections in 2012 for Congress until congressmen solve our economic problems. Given her lack of popularity and the fact that her unpopularity coupled with Obama’s unpopularity will probably swing North Carolina to the GOP in 2012, I’m sure she was privately thinking we might as well suspend all elections next year.
After all, elections may matter, but they cost money.
Already people are suggesting she just had to be joking. Except it doesn’t sound like she was joking and to come out now and say she was joking after giving a rather level toned speech in which she did not chuckle about it and, instead, asked people to join with her and support the idea sounds more like post-idiocy spin than truth.
Bev Perdue, Governor of North Carolina, thinks that notwithstanding the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, or World War II, our country is in such a terrible place now that by God we don’t need no stinking elections because the people who cannot solve the problem right now will some how, miracle of miracles, solve the problem next year if only they don’t have to then be held accountable by their constituents — constituents who very likely will be purging Bev Perdue from politics next year.
Exit point: I think we’ve just had our first Democratic Governor go on record admitting our present economic situation is worse than the Great Depression.
The New Luddites: Time to Rage Against the Machine
http://cnsnews.com/blog/dan-gainor/new-luddites-time-rage-against-machine
The New Luddites: Time to Rage Against the Machine
Drop that plastic spork (it’s made from petroleum), let your babies go diaper-free (ewww!), give up air travel and join the movement. Defining “the movement” might be a wee bit tricky, but it’s there, and if you have a heart (brain not required) and haven’t bathed recently, then why not go extreme green?
Mother Nature has finally met her match – mankind. And if we don’t alter our everyday lives, _______ will happen and all nearly 7 billion of us will die.
You don’t have to fill in the blank, the media and eco-nutballs are more than happy to do so in news or entertainment. Mankind is nearly wiped out in a cataclysm the Mayans predicted in “2012,” but with the help of John Cusack, a few survive. Nukes created a post-apocalyptic wasteland for Denzel Washington to wander in 2010’s “Book of Eli.” Hollywood just gave us “Contagion” as a means of shrinking the surplus population.
And the latest is the TV epic “Terra Nova,” which takes place in 2149. Naturally, “the world is dying.” Why? “The planet is overdeveloped and overcrowded, with the majority of plant and animal life extinct.” Humans are sent back in time to walk with the dinosaurs, “rebuild civilization and get it right this time.” Like Al Gore meets “Land of the Lost,” with Gore either as a consultant or maybe one of the dinosaurs.
Apocalyptic movies and TV aren’t new. Hollywood has hyped the fears of the nuclear age with scary disaster films including giant grasshoppers, ants, spiders and moths. (No cockroaches yet, but there’s still time.) Other disasters followed, creating memorable scenes of chaos from “Soylent Green” (it’s people) to “Mad Max” to the ape movies old and new. (“Take your stinking paws off me you damn, dirty ape.”)
In many, mankind does battle not with itself, but with nature. Plants, animals, weather, even meteors are all out to get us. It’s not too surprising because that’s exactly how the left sees the world. Just as Agent Smith explained in “The Matrix,” “human beings are a disease.”
Liberals don’t just believe it, they embrace it. It’s the only explanation for the anti-human attitudes that rule the left. As a result, eco-craziness abounds.
Forget for a minute about the global warming battle. Both left and right have an interest in keeping the earth a relatively decent place to live. It’s why you don’t litter near your home.
But conservatives see nature as there to serve mankind. Many take the view of Genesis with mankind having dominion over the earth. Many liberals have an almost pagan worship of the Earth Mother.
So every bit of mankind’s (oops, personkind’s) advancement is a rape of the land. That’s the heart of the opposition to a proposed pipeline to bring oil from Canadian tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico. The 1,661-mile pipeline would cross six states and bring much-needed oil to refineries in Texas. Tar Sands Action, which opposes the Keystone Pipeline, said more than 1,200 people were arrested in White House protests. Ironically, what they want is Tar Sands in-action. No jobs, no development, no energy for mankind.
The left is using the same strategy against other forms of clean energy. Their dam strategy has meant 241 dams were “demolished between 2006 and 2010, more than a 40 percent increase over the previous five years.” Not very dam friendly or people friendly, but people don’t matter. According to The Washington Post, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe “fought the Elwha Dam and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam upstream for years.” Now they get to party like it’s 2011 BC. “Robert Elofson, the tribe’s river restoration director, said his clan has such a close connection to the fish that once flourished there that ‘we were called the salmon people, to give them a status equal to the people.’” Soylent salmon anyone?
This stance naturally (ahem) leads the left to make fools of themselves over tiny bits of creation – giving up bathing, soap, diapers to feel good about themselves.
Perhaps because they usually feel so bad. Take the nutty eco-extremists at Earth First whose motto seems to be: “Screw people, we’re green.” Here’s a classic example of such over-emotional nutbaggery. At a 2008 gathering in North Carolina, a group of Earth Firsters bemoaned the death of trees. “I want to mourn the loss of all the old growth trees,” one woman wailed amidst a background of tears. “And tell them that we love them and we don’t want them to die,” she said … to the trees. The trees would have issued a press release, but would have had to pulp one of their own to make the paper.
In Britain, that backward attitude led to protesters from the aptly named “Plane Stupid” group to oppose government plans to expand London's Heathrow airport. Here in America, crazy libs are even dying to go green through “green burial,” “a way of caring for the dead with minimal environmental impact that furthers legitimate ecological aims such as the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the restoration and/or preservation of habitat.”
To paraphrase Woody Guthrie, when they say Earth First, they mean humans last.
The New Luddites: Time to Rage Against the Machine
Drop that plastic spork (it’s made from petroleum), let your babies go diaper-free (ewww!), give up air travel and join the movement. Defining “the movement” might be a wee bit tricky, but it’s there, and if you have a heart (brain not required) and haven’t bathed recently, then why not go extreme green?
Mother Nature has finally met her match – mankind. And if we don’t alter our everyday lives, _______ will happen and all nearly 7 billion of us will die.
You don’t have to fill in the blank, the media and eco-nutballs are more than happy to do so in news or entertainment. Mankind is nearly wiped out in a cataclysm the Mayans predicted in “2012,” but with the help of John Cusack, a few survive. Nukes created a post-apocalyptic wasteland for Denzel Washington to wander in 2010’s “Book of Eli.” Hollywood just gave us “Contagion” as a means of shrinking the surplus population.
And the latest is the TV epic “Terra Nova,” which takes place in 2149. Naturally, “the world is dying.” Why? “The planet is overdeveloped and overcrowded, with the majority of plant and animal life extinct.” Humans are sent back in time to walk with the dinosaurs, “rebuild civilization and get it right this time.” Like Al Gore meets “Land of the Lost,” with Gore either as a consultant or maybe one of the dinosaurs.
Apocalyptic movies and TV aren’t new. Hollywood has hyped the fears of the nuclear age with scary disaster films including giant grasshoppers, ants, spiders and moths. (No cockroaches yet, but there’s still time.) Other disasters followed, creating memorable scenes of chaos from “Soylent Green” (it’s people) to “Mad Max” to the ape movies old and new. (“Take your stinking paws off me you damn, dirty ape.”)
In many, mankind does battle not with itself, but with nature. Plants, animals, weather, even meteors are all out to get us. It’s not too surprising because that’s exactly how the left sees the world. Just as Agent Smith explained in “The Matrix,” “human beings are a disease.”
Liberals don’t just believe it, they embrace it. It’s the only explanation for the anti-human attitudes that rule the left. As a result, eco-craziness abounds.
Forget for a minute about the global warming battle. Both left and right have an interest in keeping the earth a relatively decent place to live. It’s why you don’t litter near your home.
But conservatives see nature as there to serve mankind. Many take the view of Genesis with mankind having dominion over the earth. Many liberals have an almost pagan worship of the Earth Mother.
So every bit of mankind’s (oops, personkind’s) advancement is a rape of the land. That’s the heart of the opposition to a proposed pipeline to bring oil from Canadian tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico. The 1,661-mile pipeline would cross six states and bring much-needed oil to refineries in Texas. Tar Sands Action, which opposes the Keystone Pipeline, said more than 1,200 people were arrested in White House protests. Ironically, what they want is Tar Sands in-action. No jobs, no development, no energy for mankind.
The left is using the same strategy against other forms of clean energy. Their dam strategy has meant 241 dams were “demolished between 2006 and 2010, more than a 40 percent increase over the previous five years.” Not very dam friendly or people friendly, but people don’t matter. According to The Washington Post, the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe “fought the Elwha Dam and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam upstream for years.” Now they get to party like it’s 2011 BC. “Robert Elofson, the tribe’s river restoration director, said his clan has such a close connection to the fish that once flourished there that ‘we were called the salmon people, to give them a status equal to the people.’” Soylent salmon anyone?
This stance naturally (ahem) leads the left to make fools of themselves over tiny bits of creation – giving up bathing, soap, diapers to feel good about themselves.
Perhaps because they usually feel so bad. Take the nutty eco-extremists at Earth First whose motto seems to be: “Screw people, we’re green.” Here’s a classic example of such over-emotional nutbaggery. At a 2008 gathering in North Carolina, a group of Earth Firsters bemoaned the death of trees. “I want to mourn the loss of all the old growth trees,” one woman wailed amidst a background of tears. “And tell them that we love them and we don’t want them to die,” she said … to the trees. The trees would have issued a press release, but would have had to pulp one of their own to make the paper.
In Britain, that backward attitude led to protesters from the aptly named “Plane Stupid” group to oppose government plans to expand London's Heathrow airport. Here in America, crazy libs are even dying to go green through “green burial,” “a way of caring for the dead with minimal environmental impact that furthers legitimate ecological aims such as the conservation of natural resources, reduction of carbon emissions, protection of worker health, and the restoration and/or preservation of habitat.”
To paraphrase Woody Guthrie, when they say Earth First, they mean humans last.
LANDSLIDE FOR REPUBLICANS - CONSERVATIVE TEA PARTIERS
IT'S GOING TO BE THE BIGGEST LANDSLIDE IN HISTORY AND IT'S ALL GOING 100% OVER TO SARA PALIN
http://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/bachmann-predicts-2012-election-isnt-even-going-be-close
Republican 2012 presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) says she thinks the 2012 election isn’t “even going to be close,” predicting that it’ll be a “wave election” for the GOP.
As a guest on Mark Levin’s radio show last night, Bachmann was outlining her plan to repeal President Obama’s health care law (“Obamacare”) when she made her prediction.
When Levin asked, “How do we repeal this thing?,” Bachmann said that the Senate needs 13 more Republicans who share her values and determination:
“You need a House and a Senate, and that’s why, as a nominee of the Republican party, I’m not going to rest until I elect 13 more like-minded senators who are going to have the titanium spine, because I will ask them, ‘Will you vote with me on every procedural vote, and every substantive vote, until we repeal this thing?’”
That’s when Bachmann suggested that her goal was, in fact, attainable, since Republicans will dominate the 2012 elections:
“But, I firmly believe, Mark, this will be a wave election. I don’t think this election is even going to be close in 2012.”
Bachmann added that Republicans are secure enough going into the election that they won’t have to compromise when choosing a presidential candidate for 2012.
“That’s why I think we can have our pick of the best candidate this year that we put up to run for the presidency,” she said.
Bachmann went on to say that she wants those 13 additional Republican senators so that, as president, she’ll have a filibuster-proof majority – and that she’s will to do her part to help those candidates get elected:
“And, I am firmly committed to electing the 13 more Republican senators – I’m an extremely hard-working person – and I intend to be in all of those states and raise the money and make sure that we have this.
“Because, I don’t want to be tied up in knots the Oval Office. I want to have 60 filibuster-proof senators, and then the House, and then that’s how we actually repeal this thing.”
http://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/bachmann-predicts-2012-election-isnt-even-going-be-close
Republican 2012 presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) says she thinks the 2012 election isn’t “even going to be close,” predicting that it’ll be a “wave election” for the GOP.
As a guest on Mark Levin’s radio show last night, Bachmann was outlining her plan to repeal President Obama’s health care law (“Obamacare”) when she made her prediction.
When Levin asked, “How do we repeal this thing?,” Bachmann said that the Senate needs 13 more Republicans who share her values and determination:
“You need a House and a Senate, and that’s why, as a nominee of the Republican party, I’m not going to rest until I elect 13 more like-minded senators who are going to have the titanium spine, because I will ask them, ‘Will you vote with me on every procedural vote, and every substantive vote, until we repeal this thing?’”
That’s when Bachmann suggested that her goal was, in fact, attainable, since Republicans will dominate the 2012 elections:
“But, I firmly believe, Mark, this will be a wave election. I don’t think this election is even going to be close in 2012.”
Bachmann added that Republicans are secure enough going into the election that they won’t have to compromise when choosing a presidential candidate for 2012.
“That’s why I think we can have our pick of the best candidate this year that we put up to run for the presidency,” she said.
Bachmann went on to say that she wants those 13 additional Republican senators so that, as president, she’ll have a filibuster-proof majority – and that she’s will to do her part to help those candidates get elected:
“And, I am firmly committed to electing the 13 more Republican senators – I’m an extremely hard-working person – and I intend to be in all of those states and raise the money and make sure that we have this.
“Because, I don’t want to be tied up in knots the Oval Office. I want to have 60 filibuster-proof senators, and then the House, and then that’s how we actually repeal this thing.”
LightSquared: Obama's Dangerous Broadband Boondoggle
http://cnsnews.com/blog/michelle-malkin/lightsquared-obamas-dangerous-broadband-boondoggle
If you thought the half-billion-dollar, stimulus-funded Solyndra solar company bust was a taxpayer nightmare, just wait. If you thought the botched Fast and Furious border gun-smuggling surveillance operation was a national security nightmare, hold on. Right on the heels of those two blood-boilers comes yet another alleged pay-for-play racket from the most ethical administration ever.
Welcome to LightSquared. It's a toxic mix of venture socialism (to borrow GOP Sen. Jim DeMint's apt phrase), campaign finance influence-peddling and perilous corner-cutting all rolled into one.
The company is building "a state-of-the-art open wireless broadband network." Competition in the industry is a good thing, of course. But military, government and civilian aviation experts have long objected to LightSquared's potential to interfere with the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network. As the government's own Positioning, Navigation and Timing agency explained:
"The GPS community is concerned because testing has shown that LightSquared's ground-based transmissions overpower the relatively weak GPS signal from space. Although LightSquared will operate in its own radio band, that band is so close to the GPS signals that most GPS devices pick up the stronger LightSquared signal and become overloaded or jammed."
Two high-ranking witnesses — Air Force Space Command four-star Gen. William Shelton and National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Director Anthony Russo — have now blown the whistle on how the White House pressured them to alter their congressional testimony and play down concerns about LightSquared's threat to military communications. According to Eli Lake of The Daily Beast, both officials were urged to express confidence in the company and endorse its promise to address any technical concerns "within 90 days."
Gen. Shelton had noted earlier this year: "Within three to five miles on the ground and within 12 miles in the air, GPS is jammed by (LightSquared's) towers. ... If we allow that system to be fielded and it does indeed jam GPS, think about the impact. We're hopeful we can find a solution, but physics being physics, we don't see a solution right now."
Despite industry-wide protests, the firm somehow received fast-track approval for a special FCC waiver that grants LightSquared the right to use wireless spectrum to build out a national 4G wireless network on the cheap. Ken Boehm, of the conservative watchdog National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) in Washington, D.C., summed up the deal earlier this year: "LightSquared will get the spectrum for a song, while its competitors (e.g., AT&T and Verizon) have to spend billions."
The current "fix" LightSquared proposes to address the interference problems is a costly, conceptual pipe dream that could require massive retrofitting of millions of handheld GPS devices.
GPS expert Eric Gakstatter scoffs: "I've been pretty open-minded about LightSquared proposing a solution, but this really insults our intelligence. (A)s we've seen previously with LightSquared, it's not about finding a practical solution for the GPS user community; it's all about selling an idea to the FCC. The problem is that the FCC doesn't have to live with LightSquared's half-baked 'solution'; we do."
So, what's greasing LightSquared's skids? Hint: It used to be known as "Skyterra." In 2005, Obama put $50,000 into the speculative firm — raising eyebrows even among his water-carriers at The New York Times. The paper noted that Skyterra's principal backers at the time of the investment included four Obama "friends and donors who had raised more than $150,000 for his political committees."
One of those pals who urged him to buy stock in Skyterra was George Haywood, a major Skyterra investor and campaign donor who chipped in nearly $50,000 to Obama's campaigns and to his political action committee along with his wife.
Coincidentally, Obama bought his Skyterra stock the very same day the FCC "ruled in favor of the company's effort to create a nationwide wireless network by combining satellites and land-based communications systems." The Times reported that immediately after that morning ruling, "Tejas Securities, a regional brokerage in Texas that handled investment banking for Skyterra, issued a research report speculating that Skyterra stock could triple in value."
Coincidentally, Tejas and its chairman, John J. Gorman, were also major backers of Obama — flying him in a private plane for political rallies and pitching in more than $150,000 for his campaign coffers since 2004. Obama sold his stock at a loss in November 2005, but his political relationship with the company was cemented. In 2009, shady billionaire hedge-fund manager Philip Falcone — whose firm Harbinger Capital Partners is reportedly under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for market manipulation abuses — acquired Skyterra.
Coincidentally, Falcone, his wife and LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja have contributed nearly $100,000 between them to the Democratic Party during critical White House meeting periods and negotiations over LightSquared's regulatory fate.
Oh, and coincidentally, there's $6 billion earmarked for a "public safety broadband corporation" buried in the Obama jobs proposal just as LightSquared pushes into that market, too.
It's all just one strange quirk of timing, Team Obama shrugs. Except, as we all should know by now: There are no coincidences in Chicago on the Potomac. Just an endless avalanche of quids, quos and taxpayer woes.
If you thought the half-billion-dollar, stimulus-funded Solyndra solar company bust was a taxpayer nightmare, just wait. If you thought the botched Fast and Furious border gun-smuggling surveillance operation was a national security nightmare, hold on. Right on the heels of those two blood-boilers comes yet another alleged pay-for-play racket from the most ethical administration ever.
Welcome to LightSquared. It's a toxic mix of venture socialism (to borrow GOP Sen. Jim DeMint's apt phrase), campaign finance influence-peddling and perilous corner-cutting all rolled into one.
The company is building "a state-of-the-art open wireless broadband network." Competition in the industry is a good thing, of course. But military, government and civilian aviation experts have long objected to LightSquared's potential to interfere with the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network. As the government's own Positioning, Navigation and Timing agency explained:
"The GPS community is concerned because testing has shown that LightSquared's ground-based transmissions overpower the relatively weak GPS signal from space. Although LightSquared will operate in its own radio band, that band is so close to the GPS signals that most GPS devices pick up the stronger LightSquared signal and become overloaded or jammed."
Two high-ranking witnesses — Air Force Space Command four-star Gen. William Shelton and National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Director Anthony Russo — have now blown the whistle on how the White House pressured them to alter their congressional testimony and play down concerns about LightSquared's threat to military communications. According to Eli Lake of The Daily Beast, both officials were urged to express confidence in the company and endorse its promise to address any technical concerns "within 90 days."
Gen. Shelton had noted earlier this year: "Within three to five miles on the ground and within 12 miles in the air, GPS is jammed by (LightSquared's) towers. ... If we allow that system to be fielded and it does indeed jam GPS, think about the impact. We're hopeful we can find a solution, but physics being physics, we don't see a solution right now."
Despite industry-wide protests, the firm somehow received fast-track approval for a special FCC waiver that grants LightSquared the right to use wireless spectrum to build out a national 4G wireless network on the cheap. Ken Boehm, of the conservative watchdog National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) in Washington, D.C., summed up the deal earlier this year: "LightSquared will get the spectrum for a song, while its competitors (e.g., AT&T and Verizon) have to spend billions."
The current "fix" LightSquared proposes to address the interference problems is a costly, conceptual pipe dream that could require massive retrofitting of millions of handheld GPS devices.
GPS expert Eric Gakstatter scoffs: "I've been pretty open-minded about LightSquared proposing a solution, but this really insults our intelligence. (A)s we've seen previously with LightSquared, it's not about finding a practical solution for the GPS user community; it's all about selling an idea to the FCC. The problem is that the FCC doesn't have to live with LightSquared's half-baked 'solution'; we do."
So, what's greasing LightSquared's skids? Hint: It used to be known as "Skyterra." In 2005, Obama put $50,000 into the speculative firm — raising eyebrows even among his water-carriers at The New York Times. The paper noted that Skyterra's principal backers at the time of the investment included four Obama "friends and donors who had raised more than $150,000 for his political committees."
One of those pals who urged him to buy stock in Skyterra was George Haywood, a major Skyterra investor and campaign donor who chipped in nearly $50,000 to Obama's campaigns and to his political action committee along with his wife.
Coincidentally, Obama bought his Skyterra stock the very same day the FCC "ruled in favor of the company's effort to create a nationwide wireless network by combining satellites and land-based communications systems." The Times reported that immediately after that morning ruling, "Tejas Securities, a regional brokerage in Texas that handled investment banking for Skyterra, issued a research report speculating that Skyterra stock could triple in value."
Coincidentally, Tejas and its chairman, John J. Gorman, were also major backers of Obama — flying him in a private plane for political rallies and pitching in more than $150,000 for his campaign coffers since 2004. Obama sold his stock at a loss in November 2005, but his political relationship with the company was cemented. In 2009, shady billionaire hedge-fund manager Philip Falcone — whose firm Harbinger Capital Partners is reportedly under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for market manipulation abuses — acquired Skyterra.
Coincidentally, Falcone, his wife and LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja have contributed nearly $100,000 between them to the Democratic Party during critical White House meeting periods and negotiations over LightSquared's regulatory fate.
Oh, and coincidentally, there's $6 billion earmarked for a "public safety broadband corporation" buried in the Obama jobs proposal just as LightSquared pushes into that market, too.
It's all just one strange quirk of timing, Team Obama shrugs. Except, as we all should know by now: There are no coincidences in Chicago on the Potomac. Just an endless avalanche of quids, quos and taxpayer woes.
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