Blog Heap of Links for the day 23 June 2011

Nearly ten years after islamic terrorists hijacked planes and used them to murder 3000 innocent people on our own soil, we have the freaking TSA destroying evidence in a criminal investigation of an islamic terrorist threat.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Wednesday escalated his standoff with the Department of Justice over a gun-tracking program that might have contributed to the death of federal agent. As the family of slain ATF agent Brian Terry pleaded for justice, Issa said officials should be "ashamed" for handing over heavily redacted documents about the program.

If they're not stumping for him and serving as an unofficial economic advisor during the 2008 campaign or footing the bill for his swearing-in ceremony, they're accommodating the 2012 campaign with special deals involving their new advertising product.

Was Mrs. Weiner (Huma Abedin), the Deputy Chief of Staff to Hillary Clinton unaware that her mother was reported as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood? Did western media miss what has been REVEALED in several Arab newspapers, which remained SECRET in American government circles?

The lethal fallout from a botched operation by the US Department of Justice which allowed almost 2,000 illegally purchased firearms to be transported from the streets of Arizona to drug gangs in Mexico has been laid bare in a scathing Congressional report, which concludes that it resulted in countless deaths. A mixture of arrogance, over-confidence, and staggering ineptitude by the Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives [ATF] was outlined in a 51-page investigation by two Republican members of a House panel charged with getting to the bottom of what went wrong during a two-year operation called "Fast and Furious".

On Friday, the Obama administration issued a memo announcing that federal immigration officials do not have to deport illegal aliens if they are enrolled in any type of education program, if their family members have volunteered for U.S. military service, or even if they are pregnant or nursing. This new policy of "prosecutorial discretion" was quietly announced on Friday afternoon, and completely ignored by the mainstream press.

Several Democrat strategists candidly admit that the president has not been very effective at communicating in a manner that reaches voters. "They do not believe he shares their values and their concerns," conceded one. Simple things, such as Obama not receiving economic briefings for more than a month, make voters scratch their heads -- especially when the jobs data are anything but optimistic. Obama will be a formidable force against whatever Republican emerges from the GOP primaries. Beating an incumbent is never easy. Yet no modern president has won re-election when unemployment was at 8 percent or higher. Most economists predict joblessness will still be above that number on Election Day 2012.

Say what you will about President Barack Obama, but when he misrepresents the truth, no matter how much evidence surfaces to the contrary, he stands by his falsehoods.... In the first paragraph of an exclusive Father's Day essay for People Magazine, Obama continues the fiction that his father, Barack Obama Sr., "left when I was two years old."... If the president persists in lying about the first few years of his life, why should we accept his account of the first few days?

[Obama] then told everyone fill up on the food offerings that included hot dogs, hamburgers, fried chicken and funnel cake. "I want you guys to eat until you can't eat any more. All right?" he said. And perhaps because his wife was right there, Obama added, "And then tomorrow you can 'Let's Move.'"

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer told the Netroots Nation blog conference this morning that the Barack Obama never filled out the 1996 questionnaire, when he was running for the Illinois legislature, in which he averred that he supports gay marriage. The questionnaire - two questionnaires in fact - have been out there for years - 15 years in fact - and it has caused the President, who now claims to oppose marriage equality for gay couples, a good amount of heartburn as reporters, such as the Blade's Chris Johnson, keep asking the White House it.

Yes, he's historic, alright. [A horrifying list of Obama's "firsts"]

it is the left which wants to control everything that goes on in every other room in the house to include the kitchen and garage... proposed "voluntary" regulation by the Federal Trade Commission, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.... calls for voluntary compliance, but apparently there's also a proposed penalty for those foods which aren't reformulated... "If the food is not reformulated, no more ads or promotions on TV, radio, in print, on websites, as well as other digital advertising such as e-mail and text messaging, packaging, and point-of-purchase displays and other in-store marketing tools; product placement in movies, videos, video games, contests, sweepstakes, character licensing and toy branding; sponsorship of events including sport teams and individual athletes; and, philanthropic activity tied to branding opportunities...." Between the EPA, the Department of Interior, and now this bunch, the war on US businesses continues apace. Choice — the lost concept of freedom.

A 7-year-old Michigan boy barefoot and in pajamas drove a car for 20 miles, sometimes hitting speeds of 50 mph, before finally slowing down and stopping with the help of authorities.

The chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee harshly attacked on Tuesday proposed new rules from the National Labor Relations Board designed to drastically shorten the period workers have to consider a vote to join a union.

U.S. officials say Pakistan failed another test to prove it could be trusted to go after American enemies on its soil by intentionally or inadvertently tipping off militants at two more bomb-building factories in its tribal areas, giving the suspected terrorists time to flee.

Socialism, like the old policy from which it emanates, confounds government and society. And so, every time we object to a thing being done by government, it concludes that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of education by the state — then we are against education altogether. We object to a state religion — then we would have no religion at all. We object to an equality which is brought about by the state then we are against equality, etc., etc. They might as well accuse us of wishing men not to eat, because we object to the cultivation of corn by the state.

Far more disturbing than the salacious details of Weiner's dalliances is the fact that apparently his mother-in-law is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. ... How is it that the Western media, with its hourly analyses of Weiner, missed this salient point, yet Arab news sources revealed this connection? ... Why are so many at the highest levels of American government ignoring the methodology of Islamists like Gulen, who has declared that the best way to seize power is to lie in wait "with the patience of a spider" in order to "wait for people to get caught in the web"? Is Clinton so nave? Thus, Huma Abedin's position with Clinton in the State Department, as well as her marriage to Representative Weiner, has given her enormous exposure "to state secrets and access to the inner workings of Congress." This would be unsettling enough if it were not also for Obama's latest appointee. The 44th president has just appointed Azizah al-Hibri to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Al-Hibri believes that sharia law is superior to American law. Yet, al-Hibri is only one of the pro-sharia adherents that Obama has placed in influential positions since he became president. Dalia Mogahed was one of the earliest appointees and as Nonie Darwish has written, "[t]he empowerment of Radical Islam under the Obama administration" is extremely disturbing. Last year, Obama appointed two devout Muslims to Homeland Security.....

We've tracked down satellite photos of these unnerving places, based on a report from Forensic Asia Limited. They call it a clear sign of a bubble: "There's city after city full of empty streets and vast government buildings, some in the most inhospitable locations. It is the modern equivalent of building pyramids. With 20 new cities being built every year, we hope to be able to expand our list going forward."

Israeli officials were up in arms Tuesday after Apple cleared for release into the iPhone App Store an application that encourages violent uprising against Israel, and advocates violence against "settlers," generally defined by Arab anti-Israel groups as all residents of Israel. Called "The Third Intifada," the Arabic-language app features articles and stories by radical Arab members of Fatah and Hamas, as well as members of the Palestinian Authority. They discuss strategies to use in fighting IDF soldiers, and glorify acts of violence that have already taken place. The app also features photos and images of Arab youths throwing stones and bombs at Israelis, and a collection of "intifada music" popular in the PA. In addition, it has a social media component, designed to allow activists to organize "flash mobs" on the go, gathering quickly at specific times and places to attack Israelis. [Know the enemy: APPLE]

Pictures of an unhealthy horse in Bartlesville are spreading across the internet. The owner says his reputation is being ruined because people are accusing him of animal cruelty, but that's just not the case. "She got bred by an accident, she's 24 years old and now she's having to nurse a foal, and the foal is pulling her down," says Cecil Moles about the horse in question named Baby.

CHASE KYLA HUNTER has been WARNING US! And SHE, according to her Twitter Profile, is a "Spirit Led Cherokee writer, news blogger. Genetic Clairvoyant. Jesus lover Bible Urantia. Nature mama. True blue conservative. Sun surf wine women & song :-)" YOU probably don't even know what "Urantia" MEANS! NEITHER DID I! Until I LOOKED! I LOOKED and I SAW!!! [Sarcasm much?]

Glamour girl Abedin accesses our most sensitive national secrets through her longtime, joined-at-the-hip relationship with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This jihadist penetration into our government's innermost sanctums is A-OK with Bill Clinton, who risibly presided over Abedin's wedding to proud pervert Anthony Weiner. And then there's Clinton's former chief of staff, CIA chief Leon Panetta, who we now discover may be hiding a colorful past of Communist entanglements. Naturally, Panetta's odd choice of friends proved no impediment to his confirmation as Secretary of Defense; the Senate just unanimously approved him. This Unholy Trinity in the news -- Weiner, Abedin, and Panetta -- brings back memories of the many splendored treacheries of the Clinton years. It seems just yesterday that Bill and Hill were guzzling down illegal campaign contributions from China and handing them advanced military technology in exchange for cash. And who can forget the Clintons' most heinous betrayal of all, which was...what, exactly? We'll probably never know because Sandy Berger took care of that. ... When pathetic Anthony Weiner committed a complete Twitter-ectomy of his career, the spotlight suddenly turned on his most curious marriage. A devout Muslim married to a Jew, with no repercussions from the excitable elements back home. An elegant sylph with expensive tastes married to a dorky jerk on government pay. And a rushed romance that seemed oddly timed to suggest a deal: the Clintons' support for Weiner's New York mayoral ambitions, in exchange for him dousing the growing scrutiny of Hillary's unusual relationship with her closest aide. The Muslim Brotherhood's charter explicitly states its plan to infiltrate the infidels' highest ranks. The sad thing is, I don't think our betters are putting up much of a fight; do you? Oh well. Maybe President Palin can order an investigation into how the Muslim Brotherhood penetrated our government. First witnesses: Bill and Hillary Clinton.

An early skirmish for women's votes in 2012 has broken out in the House — among women. A prominent Democrat fired the first shot by claiming that majority Republicans are waging a "war on women." And now, Republican women are returning fire by raising their profiles, making clear what they stand for and, implicitly, who they are not: Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. Neither of the GOP's most visible women rated a mention by a series of House Republican women who on Tuesday defended their party against Democrats. Bachmann, a three-term congresswoman, presidential candidate and chairwoman of the Tea Party Caucus, was not among the speakers on the House floor. Those who did described themselves as every-women who run businesses, farms and families and wove their life stories into a broader narrative designed to help the GOP hang onto its gains among females in the 2010 elections.

The GOP is eager to recapture the Senate majority in the 2012 elections, and party leaders are optimistic about their chances given that 23 Democratic seats are up for grabs and a half-dozen of those races are considered toss-ups. Republicans need five additional seats to take effective control of the chamber. The GOP captured control of the House last year. But the restless electorate the GOP hopes to harness to help win those seats is also threatening longtime Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Richard Lugar of Indiana, who are being targeted in Republican primaries by the Tea Party movement and other conservative groups. Republicans will likely end up retaining those seats, but it may not be Hatch and Lugar who win them.

My self-appointed task as part of the Conservatives4Palin email review has been scanning the emails for notes from other Democrats who support Sarah Palin. I would like this post to be used as a counter-argument that "Democrats will never vote for Palin". Actually, yes they will — and here is proof.

A Father's Day Tribute to Todd Palin… A Man for All Seasons

Now the overall vote. Sarah Palin takes the top spot decisively. Rick Perry holds on to second. Michele Bachmann bounces into third, followed by Herman Cain and Mitt Romney. Compare the disparity between Palin's vote and the votes of Bachmann and Perry, though, and consider that in those head-to-head matchups… the undecideds swing to both of Palin's challengers in huge numbers.

Yesterday, several House Republican women denounced charges that their party is anti-women. They described themselves as pro-family, pro-economic growth, and pro-small business.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said this week he prefers Jon Huntsman to Mitt Romney in the GOP Mormon presidential primary, has taken a lot of money from the Huntsman family, and the former Utah governor appointed Reid's son, Josh, to Utah's Board of Regents. So no wonder Reid said Tuesday, "If I had a choice in that race, I'd choose Huntsman over Romney."

If you liked George Bush, you will love Rick Perry. Every day we in Texas hear disbelieving conservative citizens on local talk radio asking "...is the national media serious about Rick Perry as a conservative president?" Because here in Texas, we know Rick Perry is anything but a conservative.

Old and busted: Rigging elections New hotness: Rigging elections by preventing other people from rigging elections This seems to be the central theme of E.J. Dionne's latest polemic against election reform laws currently being enacted around the country. Of course these efforts at "voter suppression" are cleverly disguised and, to be sure, they aren't taking place everywhere. Just where conservatives are in power.

Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a bill Friday that could have eventually required voters to provide a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot. In the closing days of the legislative session, lawmakers passed an amendment to the state's constitution mandating a photo ID to vote and a bill putting the amendment into practice. Voters will have the final say next year on the amendment, but by vetoing the implementation bill Nixon has prevented the law from going into effect even if it is approved by voters.