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Tag Archives: current-events

The Ongoing Congressional ****!


The current Congressional onslaught on the IRS by Congressman Issa is at once ludicrous and too public. This issue requires a closed investigation to determine the facts before airing it in public.  Mr. Issa one of the many Dupublicans who have bucked the President at every turn regardless of the correctness of the Presidential initiatives on anything. Currently the IRS is the target and the push is on to determine if the Whitehouse is involved. These are the same Dupublicans who brought us the “sequester” , who brought us the WMD’s, the Iraqi “incident” and lately a push to go into Syria. Wouldn’t the voters be better served  working with the President and others to do what is proper for the country going forward? The same political party is in the forefront on cutting the farm bill to reduce the assistance to low income folks who have to use food subsidies (SNAP), among those users are senior citizens, unemployed and under employed voters. I am of the opinion and have been for some time that we ALL need to change how Congress works through our votes. All is required from us is not voting for incumbents but for who may be campaigning against them. We cannot  continue to go along with a Congress that has no agenda concerning our well being but continues to reap the benefits set forth by them for them. If Socrates were alive today he could have a hundred lanterns in the Congressional chamber and still be in the dark and searching.

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Better Than I said It


I recently posted similar views but this article states the case much clearer:

 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Donna Brazile: Knee-jerk partisanship is worse than ever in politics and public discourse
  • Brazile: Democracy endangered without civil discussion among people who disagree
  • IRS and Justice Department “scandals” have become lynch parties, she says
  • Brazile: Both parties and the public must stay focused on facts, causes and solutions

Editor’s note: Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist, is vice chairwoman for voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee. She is a nationally syndicated columnist, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and author of “Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pot in America.” She was manager for the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000.

(CNN) — Our democracy is endangered. Not by the Russians, North Korea, the Iran regime, or even terrorists. To quote Pogo: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Inside the beltway, the fingers point and the media tuts and struts in glee, and we, the American public, respond by becoming more rigid and divided ourselves. No more “truth springing from argument amongst friends,” as David Hume said. A recent nonpartisan Pew Research Poll finds our knee-jerk partisanship has increased dramatically.

This road we’re on will lead us step-by-step to an extreme: either an autocratic government that functions, or a dysfunctional anarchy. The petty squabbles, bilge in the name of party or principle, will dissolve our self-government.

Abraham Lincoln felt no foreign power could ever defeat the United States. He said, “From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never…No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”

We’re pointing a pistol at our heads. A government of, by, and for the people requires that people talk to people, that we can agree to disagree but do so in civility. If we let the politicians and those who report dictate our discourse, then our course will be dictated.

Why am I alarmed? Because two “scandals” — the IRS tax-exempt inquiries and the Department of Justice’s tapping of reporters’ phones — have become lynch parties. And the congressional investigation of Benghazi may become a scandal in itself.

The IRS scandal has sparked bipartisan outrage that should require a bipartisan solution. The director who oversaw this was a Bush appointee who was confirmed by a Democratic Congress. Even Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein says he doubts very much that Obama was involved

We, the people, need to stay focused on facts, causes and solutions. Let’s begin with the findings of the Treasury’s inspector general who uncovered it: That it was bureaucratic mismanagement, but that there was no evidence of any political motivation or influence from outside the IRS.

Lawmakers grill ousted IRS boss

Holder: Most serious leaks I’ve ever seen

Abrams: That’s not America at its best

And that, according to acting Commissioner Steven Miller, who just resigned, the problem started because the Supreme Court’s Citizens’ United decision created a surge of requests by political groups for tax-exempt status.

Democrats and Republicans agree there’s a problem. Maybe they should focus on solutions.

Let’s demand an end to partisan sideshows or media witch hunts: It turns out that the leaked White House Benghazi e-mails which allegedly show a cover up of a terrorist attack were themselves altered. Those e-mails are, in a word, bogus

Next up on the playbill: The Department of Justice secretly obtained dozens of reporters’ phone records because of a serious security leak. The double contradictory shell game we’re supposed to believe: Obama is not in charge and he has his finger in every pot.

This bamboozling of the American people obscures the main point: How do we safeguard American lives and respect our freedoms at the same time? Maybe working together — Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals — the Media Shield Law, a solution to the problem, can be passed.

Both the Democrats and Republicans have run roughshod over our separation of powers. Both parties have misused and abused their constitutional powers. Democrats blocked, again and again, President Bush’s nominees for federal judges. Today, Republicans aren’t just blocking Obama’s judicial nominees, they’re blocking the Senate from considering laws and blocking Cabinet appointees necessary for the federal government to run.

Why should we allow any political party or personality to render our government unable to govern?

On 9/11 terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and tried to attack the U.S. Capitol building in order to destroy our institutions, our economic strength, our military and our democratic Congress where “the people rule.”

But in our partisan self-righteousness, we’re destroying our foundations of government more effectively than al Qaeda ever could. Whether it’s the media or the politicians, the churning of partisan passion into anger, indeed hate, has an ulterior purpose: If Obama’s administration is constantly engaged in fighting for its existence, the governing comes to a halt, and his agenda will go nowhere.

Aiming for that and little if nothing else weakens and harms our democratic institutions, both Congress and the presidency. Remember, Obama was elected by a bigger margin than George W. Bush. He deserves to have his appointees, and he deserves to have votes on the issues, to have the government function, and to fight for the policies on which he was elected. By allowing problems to become scandals and scandals to become demagoguery, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.

If it keeps up, we will all be complicit in weakening our democracy.

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We Are On The Same Page?


Recently the NRA had its annual meeting in Texas . There is nothing wrong in that except the message is completely mixed but it was not so obvious to the attendees. After hours of speeches and rhetoric the consensus was that the government was wrong to try taking guns from law abiding citizens. In the wake of the recent mass shootings no one except possibly some off the path organizations (ala NRA) have advocated taking guns from anyone in the United States. Consider the fact that the current Congress and the President cannot get a budget passed let alone anything else.  The President, some of the Congress and other groups are seeking stronger laws to prevent (we hope) people who should not own or use firearms due to mental deficiencies, criminal records or other afflictions and conditions. The NRA represents about 4 million people out of 300 million yet purports to represent all. The main theme here is that the NRA does not represent all  who own firearms and their theme of the Government taking away firearms is erroneous (yet many believe it to be true). One of the reported lines from Wayne’s  sound bite was : “the  government needs to enforce the existing laws and prevent mentally ill from obtaining and using firearms” This is exactly what the President and other members of Congress have proposed and failed to do due to the powerful NRA lobby and constituents. The question is: Whose side are they on? They (the NRA) have pressured the recipients of their largess with election failure if they went along with any firearm laws reform. I believe the real truth is that we are all on the same page but in different columns. Is the NRA so narrowly focused that the only thing they can do is fan the fires of discontent to support their own (financial) agendas?

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Uneasy Truce


The Republic of North Korea has continued to rattle sabers while its people starve, the current leader appears to be seeking a confrontation which as I see it will devastate it’s already shaky economy and kill off many more of its citizens. The Republic of North Korea  while seeking parity on the world stage has failed to gain full acceptance due to its human right record and its aggressive stance towards South Korea. Is it possible that  the North is looking to star a war that it cannot win in order to gain  after conflict reparations? The past allies of North Korea has all but abandoned them in favor of  peace and prosperity, leaving them isolated. The current regime is either looking for a way forward on the backs of their population or just extraordinarily inept. Looking at several other Radical countries where the population is living at poverty subsistence or lower, they all  have similar regimes and leadership. Once this leadership is removed,  its governance altered or completely changed , the fate of the people surges upward. Now to something local, the Dupublicans (commonly known as Republicans). There have been several loud profile Dupublicans have  voiced opinions on what we should do about N. Korea (remember the WMD’s?). This alone is not all that ails the Dupublicans, they have from one side of the spectrum to the other have uttered racially charge statements and vaguely apologized. Rand Paul  went to Howard University and spectacularly failed to win anyone over.  The problem appears to be  the inability to connect with anyone who is not white, rich and out of touch. This is not the Republican party of Abraham Lincoln but the Scamocrats (Democrats) are. To make a further point –  Look at the last 2 National elections, the anger , vitriol and  bigotry (not so closeted) against Americans who were not so “Republican”  (read what you want into this). We have an opportunity to make changes in government but only through the vote as our elected officials will not change until we change them. We need to ignore the high profile pundits who have no good agenda except their own.

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DXXXV


Thomas Hobbes, who wrote that legitimate political power must be representative and based on the consent of the people, born in Wiltshire, England. With that being said can anyone tell me what is wrong with Mitch Mcconnell? This member of Congress has for the past 5 years and probably beyond been as obstructionist as possible. I am not sure how one become the leader (?) of the house but this is one leader who  shouldn’t be.  The recent leak from some one on what was said in his office is enough to show what type of person we have representing (?) voters. He has been vocal on some many fronts but only to play to what he thinks his constituents want.  He (McConnell) is asking for a FBI probe to determine how the information  was obtained but did not deny the allegation. The conversation was regarding how to attack a potential candidate for his seat  (Ashley Judd) by using her publicly known bouts of depression. There are many Americans who have and have had bouts of depression yet are still high functioning people. It is about time to relieve our selves of Congressional members who cannot run on their own merits ( which are few in number). Mr. McConnell is just one instance of  our overall Congressional malfeasance. If  a FBI probe is required , it should start with the DXXXV.

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Clarification


I ran across this article by Earl Ofari Hutchinson, this addresses the misinterpretations selective interpretation of biblical passages. The selective use could also apply to how Congress applies the legal mandates of our country.

 

  Earl Ofari Hutchinson

The long standing reason for shoving the courts, the federal government and the states into the private relations between two adult consenting men or women is the Bible. There are those two infamous and interminably cited passages in Leviticus 18:22 20:13 and Romans 1:26-27 that deem it “detestable” a man lying down with another man. Then they castigate men for doing “shameful things” with other men.

The ultimate punishment is that the two offenders must be put to death. The only fair thing about this is that in the modern interpretation the part about putting the two men to death for their alleged detestable act is not cited. This would be murder, and that bumps up against the law. But the first part is read and acted upon literally. It’s after all written in the Bible.

But then why take one passage out of the Bible so literally and not others? Consistency in Biblical citing would do much to shut the critics up who finger point those as hypocrites for cherry picking a passage from the Bible to prop up a personal hatred or a political agenda on gay marriage.

Here is a checklist of Biblical prescriptions that gay marriage opponents must embrace if they want to shed the tag of hypocrite. Gay men aren’t the only ones that must pay the ultimate price for their Biblical prescribed un-godly transgression. Leviticus 20:10 also is stern that a married man that commits adultery with any man’s wife must be immediately dispatched. Girls don’t escape Biblical wrath either. If she has the temerity to have sex before marriage Deuteronomy 22:20-1 demands that she must be stoned to death, by no less than the men of her town, even presumably that could include one of the men that caused her to lose her virginity.

 

Psalm 137:9 has something to say about children when it orders to revel in those that seize children and smash them against a rock. If a man, and presumably it would be warring men that smash the children, the children’s mothers could not raise a peep of protest since Timothy 2:12 absolutely forbids a woman to have any authority over a man. But if for a moment she forgets her place, she runs the risk of being branded a sorceress.  Exodus 22:18 commands that she must not be allowed to live. If she somehow escapes being rapped as a sorceress and simply has a relationship with any of the male child smashers she could be tossed around sexually among many men, and according to Judges 19:25-28 she would just have to meekly accept her lot. The same rule of merciless and pitiless retribution doesn’t spare a man’s daughter either. Judges 11:30-1, 34-5 makes it clear that she must be sacrificed to satisfy the triumph of the Lord. It was not just a daughter who could be slain in sacrifice. A son could also be the designated victim in Genesis 22:2 which commanded Isaac to take his only son to another place and dispose of him “as a holocaust.” But the son or daughter can’t protest their fate since Leviticus 20:9 insists that talking back to a parent is disrespectful and once again the ultimate price that must be paid is death.

The two groups that fare best in the Bible are faithful husbands and slave masters. The word of a faithful husband is law says Ephesians 5:22 and his wife must obey him unquestioningly in whatever he says and does. Then there are the slave masters. The iron rule from 1 Peter 2:13, 2:18 is that their chattel, human that is, must not only serve them faithfully but must serve them in “reverence.” This rule doesn’t apply just to kind and charitable slave masters but the lousy and brutal ones as well. But there is an element of equity here since Leviticus 25:44-45 permits anyone to buy their neighbor if they have only been a neighbor for a temporary period and they can then press them into slavery.

Biblical scholars have written volumes alternately debunking these passages for their errors, misinterpretations, and for being taken out of context, and worst of for being selectively used to make any moral point one wants to make. Yet, the truly scary part of this is that no volume of meticulously researched and documented scholarly assessments of the Bible, let alone rationality, mean little to millions of Americans. A Gallup poll in 2011 found that nearly one out of three Americans is convinced that every word written in the Bible is the literal truth. About half of those polled were more charitable and simply said it was the “inspired word of God.” But inspired or literal, the danger is the same. The Bible is not simply taken on faith but for millions is the basis of moral conduct, and even law. But then that begs the question, whether it calls for the stoning of women, or being a cheerful slave, or slaying sons and daughters in the name of God, why not trumpet these acts too as appropriate conduct just as is routinely and passionately done to condemn gay marriage? But then that’s less a question than the ugly example of the never ending hypocrisy of hiding behind the Bible.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KTYM 1460 AM Radio Los Angeles and KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network.

Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/earlhutchinson

 

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Views: 549

Apathy


I read this with interest even though the subject is specific to the firearms debate, relates to our approach to voting and who we vote for. Take firearms out of the equation and we have the basic subject of this writing.

By Tim Schmidt USCCA Founder

I once heard a man say, “Apathy is always at the door.  He’s waiting for you to let him in.”
Apathy is like a thief who is waiting for you to slip up and give him access to your home.  Once Apathy gets in, he steals your livelihood and takes away everything that is valuable to you.
While this metaphorical image seems obscure, it’s a perfect picture of what can happen to our rights if we are not vigilant.  Sure, it’s easy to speak up for your rights, beliefs, and convictions in the heat of an election or public debate, but what happens six months after the debate dies down?  What happens a year after?  Most people let Apathy in the door and they let him rob them of their values and convictions.
Becoming apathetic about the natural born rights we have to defend ourselves and our loved ones is not something that anyone can afford.  The moment you become apathetic about your beliefs, you risk the chance of losing them forever.
What am I getting at?  You’ve probably noticed by now that I, along with many of our writers, have been saying the same things about our rights over, and over again lately.  Do you know why?  Because we are unwilling to let Apathy in our front door to rob us of our liberty.  Our rights are worth causing a stir over, and you will not see any of us sitting down to see how this plays out.  Waiting for things to pan out will only lead to defeat.
I want to encourage you to stave off apathy during a time of political and corrupt scheming.  Lend your voice to the cause of freedom, and contribute to preserving the rights that were afforded us by the blood of countless patriots.  Call and email your state and federal representatives.  Sign petitions.  Support organizations and businesses that are fighting for freedom.
Your action can preserve the freedom that our children deserve.  Not acting can cause devastation they should not have to bear.

Take care and stay safe,

OCE


OCE is the abbreviation for  the Office of Congressional Ethics. How odd that this office is investigating Aaron Shock of Illinois for alleged ethical errors(?), when so many of the current sitters are possible just as culpable in many ways. Let’s remember the past 20 years of political infighting and wars. If we want to look at the work of this office  as being of value perhaps we want to have them (the office) looked with an objective eye. This brings to mind the question of “who are the watchers and who are the watchees?” The ability of a section of Government to police itself  could be classed as an oxymoron, as I consider  the existing modern day Congress to be.

Chris Kyle


The recent murder of Ex Sniper Chris Kyle is a tragedy for America. This combat veteran devoted his time to assisting fellow vets with after service problems and was killed by one of the same veterans he was helping. This tragedy points out the need for more professional help on the part of the military for the discharged and active members. No matter what so called firearms laws exist or will exist, the mental state of veterans and others is a big unresolved issue. It is unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to bring the mental health part of the problem to the front-again. The NRA and others have seemingly failed to grasp the idea that no one in Government is trying to put more laws on Fire Arm owner, the impetus is focused on keeping weapons out of the hands of persons who should not have them. The many State and Federal laws which many firearm owners have just a small amount of knowledge about need some adjusting so they work as first proposed. The divide between government and pro firearm factions is  resolvable if the “I am right and you aren’t” attitude goes a way.  We already know that the criminal elements will never, ever register a weapon of any sort but seem always be able to get them. The legal forearms owners and purchasers pay the price for it. The legal firearm owners pay again when these assorted reports on proposed or just talked about new or improved fire arm laws creates a flurry of demand  further boosting prices on firearms and accessories. This on top of asinine proposals like a tax on firearms and ammunition above what is already paid. There needs to be a more respectful legacy for folks like Chris Kyle who spent his military afterlife doing what the military should be doing.

How the ATF works


The ATF works in typical government fashion to protect us as evidenced by the following article. 

In the fictional world of television police dramas, a few quick clicks on a computer lead investigators to the owner of a gun recovered at a bloody crime scene. Before the first commercial, the TV detectives are on the trail of the suspect.

Reality is a world away. There is no national database of guns. Not of who owns them, how many are sold annually or even how many exist.

Federal law bars the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from keeping track of guns. The only time the government can track the history of a gun, including its first buyer and seller, is after it’s used in a crime. And though President Barack Obama and numerous Democratic lawmakers have called for new limits on what kinds of guns should be available to the public and urged stronger background checks in gun sales, there is no effort afoot to change the way the government keeps track — or doesn’t — of where the country’s guns are.

And tracing a gun is a decidedly low-tech process.

“It’s not CSI and it’s not a sophisticated computer system,” said Charles J. Houser, who runs the ATF’s National Tracing Center in Martinsburg, W. Va.

To trace a gun, the search starts with police sending all the information they have about the gun — including the manufacturer and model — to an office worker in a low-slung brick building just off the Appalachian Trial in rural West Virginia, about 90 miles northwest of Washington.

ATF officials first call the manufacturer, who reveals which wholesaler the company used. That may lead to a call to a second distributor before investigators can pinpoint the retail gun dealer who first sold the weapon. Gun dealers are required to keep a copy of federal forms that detail who buys what gun and a log for guns sold. They are required to share that information with the ATF if a gun turns up at a crime scene and authorities want it traced. Often, gun shops fax the paperwork to the ATF.

That’s where the paper trail ends.

In about 30 percent of cases, one or all of those folks have gone out of business and ATF tracers are left to sort through potentially thousands of out-of-business records forwarded to the ATF and stored at the office building that more closely resembles a remote call center than a law enforcement operation.

The records are stored as digital pictures that can only be searched one image at a time. Two shifts of contractors spend their days taking staples out of papers, sorting through thousands of pages and scanning or taking pictures of the records.

“Those records come in all different shapes and forms. We have to digitally image them, we literally take a picture of it,” Houser said. “We have had rolls of toilet paper or paper towels … because they (dealers) did not like the requirement to keep records.”

The tracing center receives about a million out-of-business records every month and Houser runs the center’s sorting and imaging operations from 6 a.m. to midnight, five days a week. The images are stored on old-school microfilm reels or as digital images. But there’s no way to search the records, other than to scroll through one picture of a page at a time.

“We are … prohibited from amassing the records of active dealers,” Houser said. “It means that if a dealer is in business he maintains his records.”

Last year the center traced about 344,000 guns for 6,000 different law enforcement agencies. Houser has a success rate of about 90 percent, so long as enough information is provided. And he boasts that every successful trace provides at least one lead in a criminal case.

“It’s a factory for the production of investigative leads,” Houser said of the tracing center.

A 1968 overhaul of federal gun laws required licensed dealers to keep paper records of who buys what guns and gave ATF the authority to track the history of a gun if was used in a crime. But in the intervening decades, the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups lobbied Congress to limit the government’s ability to do much with what little information is collected, including keeping track on computers.

“They (lawmakers) feel that the act of amassing those records would in essence go a step toward creating an artificial registration system,” Houser said.

What the ATF can do is give trace information to the law enforcement agency that asked for it and in some cases uses the data to help point them in the direction of other crimes.

Houser said the “manually intensive process” can take about five days for a routine trace. In some cases, completing the trace can mean sifting by hand through paperwork that hasn’t yet been scanned.

In more urgent situations, including the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting in Connecticut last year, ATF agents run a trace within about 24 hours. Oftentimes, that involves sending agents to the gun dealer that first sold the weapon to quickly find the paperwork listing its original buyer.

Despite having access to millions of records about gun purchases from dealers that have gone out of business, the ATF isn’t allowed to create a database of what guns were sold to whom and when.

ATF does keep tabs on how many guns are manufactured and shipped out of the country every year, but only gun makers and dealers know for sure how many are sold. There are also strict limits on what the agency can do with the gun trace information. And that’s just the way the gun lobby and Congress want it.

Various laws and spending bills have specifically barred the ATF from creating a national database of guns and gun owners. And due to the efforts of lawmakers, including former Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, ATF agents who trace the history of a gun can’t share that information with anyone but the police agency that asked for it.

As it stands now, local law enforcement doesn’t have access to regional data about gun traces. So if the police commissioner in New York City is trying to figure out where the guns are coming into the city from — whether they’re going to New Jersey first or upstate New York, for example — that data is not available because of an amendment introduced by Tiahrt, said Mike Bouchard, a former ATF assistant director for Field Operations. ATF can tell police where most crime guns are traced from, by state. But it does not release information on gun shops or purchasers.

If police chiefs want that, they have to reach out to individual chiefs at other departments and ask.

“It’s pretty ridiculous when we have an automated system that will do it for the chiefs,” Bouchard said.

Tiahrt said he first proposed limiting access to trace data to make sure the information wasn’t available under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. It was an issue of keeping undercover police, informants and innocent gun buyers and sellers out of the public eye, Tiahrt said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Knowing who legally buys guns won’t prevent gun violence, the former Republican congressman said.

“We’re chasing these wisps of smoke that won’t solve the problem,” Tiahrt said. “Get to the root cause. Put out the fire. Deal with mental illness. Deal with situational awareness.”

Houser said he would prefer the tracing center’s operations to be expanded and a center built that would use some technologies to help more easily trace a gun. But until the law changes, his staff will continue removing staples, turning pages right-side-up and taking digital pictures of records.

“Our job is to enforce the laws that are passed to us,” Houser said. “What they give us is what we are required to work with.”

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Associated Press reporter Eileen Sullivan contributed to this report.

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Follow Alicia A. Caldwell on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/acaldwellap