PK'S NOTES: I have my issues with President Bush, mostly that he's a progressive, had a spending problem and grew the government. But I admire the man for the way he's behaved after leaving office and that he always seemed sincere and showed leadership. I mentioned this to my husband the other night: Of the previous presidents, the Republican ones pretty much have stayed out of the way unless asked -- it's the Democratic ones that can't leave the power. I put this here to show the contrast between him and our current resident.

W outclasses Barack and Bill, without even trying

Shortly after Barack Obama was elected in 2008, a fellow reporter who’d covered President George W. Bush all eight years told me she’d had enough of the travel and stress and strain of the White House beat, that she was moving on.

He reminisced about all the places we’d been, all the crazy days and wild nights, all the history we’d seen — first hand. Just before we said our goodbyes, I asked her if she’d miss covering President Obama.
“Not at all. He’s an inch deep. Bush is a bottomless chasm, a deep, mysterious, emotional, profound man. Obama is all surface — shallow, obvious, robotic, and, frankly, not nearly as smart as he thinks. Bush was the one.”

Her words, so succinct, have stuck with me ever since. By the way, she’s a hardcore Democrat.

But she was right. And that contrast was apparent to all who watched Thursday’s ceremonial event to open W’s new presidential library in Dallas. The class and grace and depth of America’s last president completely outshined that of his successor (who, coincidentally, or perhaps not, was the only one seated in the shade on a sunny Texas day).

In fact, the day gave America a chance to measure the men who have served it as commander-in-chief for 28 of the last 36 years. Five of the last six presidents were on stage, the first time the quintet has appeared together in public. And what a study in character it was.

Jimmy Carter, the Man From Malaise who was thrown out of office after just one abysmal term (remember double-digit inflation, 9 percent unemployment, gas shortages and low economic growth?) was first to speak. But he was, as always, befuddled. After Laura Bush finished her welcome to the crowd, there was a pause as the Army Chorus prepared to perform “America the Beautiful.” In those few moments, Mr. Carter, the only president wearing sunglasses, rose and moved toward the podium. W waved him back down, but Jimmy apparently thought he waving him over. After a short whispering session, the peanut farmer went back to his seat (and W made a funny face to the crowd that said “Adoy!”)

When Jimmy did speak, he opened with, “In 2000, as some of you may remember, there was a disputed election for several weeks.” Nice way to start. He then took credit for giving W the idea to intercede in Sudan, and went on to praise W’s great successes — in Africa. He never mentioned 9-11 and the war on terror, or the commander in chief’s leadership during America’s most trying hour. Which is why his comments lasted just 3¼ minutes.

Bill Clinton followed. He, of course, spoke twice as long, filling his speech with jokes and faux humility. He was his usual affable self — smooth, confident, taking just the right pauses to punch passages, set up jokes (all of which wife Hillary guffawed at).

But the lip bites, the craggy-finger point, the cocked-head squint all looked like “Saturday Night Live” caricatures — mainly because they once were. Mr. Clinton, for all his prodigious gifts, will always be the class clown, the one no one takes too seriously. And with good reason: He did, after all, not “not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” in the Oval Office. And W — who vowed “to return dignity to the office of the presidency” — was America’s answer to his tomfoolery. It was, America said, time for a grown up.

George H.W. Bush, turning 90 in June, was a welcome respite. Somewhat frail now, he spoke only briefly from his wheelchair, but garnered two standing ovations — and the biggest laugh of the day from his oldest son. After his remarks, just 24 seconds, he shook his boy’s hand and said, deadpan, “Too long?”

President Obama took the podium next. Every bit as cunning as Slick Willy, his speech too was filled with fake self-effacing insights, including one on “the world’s most exclusive club,” which he said “is more like a support group.” Another laugher from the man with no humility was when he said “being president, above all, is a humbling job.”

Then, on a day that was intended to be without politics, he hawked his push for amnesty, imploring “some of the senators and members of Congress who are here today, that we bring it home — for our families, and our economy, and our security, and for this incredible country that we love.”

In fact, Mr. Obama made the whole trip about politics. He did a Democratic fundraiser the night before the library opening, and planned a pro-abortion speech at a Planned Parenthood event the same night (which his handlers finally realized was over the top and rescheduled).

But on Thursday, Mr. Obama skipped the praise he had laid on W the night before. “Whatever our political differences, President Bush loves this country and loves its people and shares that same concern and was concerned about all people in America, not just those who voted Republican. I think that’s true about him, and I think that’s true about most of us.”

Except it’s not. Especially not this president. He has made his presidency about dividing America — along lines of class, sex, race, sexuality, you name it. Successful people are “the rich who need to pay their fair share.” Last week, he had a name for elected lawmakers who opposed his new gun laws — “liars.” And more than any president before him, he has set out to destroy the other party, casting Republicans as out of touch, archaic, maybe even racist.

Then, finally, W took the podium. Gone were the punched phrases, the comfortable pauses, the perfect elocution of Barack and Bill. Back was the Texas drawl, the too-fast delivery — nerves? No, just impatience — that the wine-sipping media so deplored.

He got right to the point: “For eight years, you gave me the honor of serving as your president. Today I’m proud to dedicate this center to the American people.”

He gave a profound lesson to his successor and his predecessor: “In democracy, the purpose of public office is not to fulfill personal ambition. Elected officials must serve a cause greater than themselves. The political winds blow left and right, polls rise and fall, supporters come and go. But in the end, leaders are defined by the convictions they hold.

“As president, I tried to act on these principles every day. It wasn’t always easy and it certainly wasn’t always popular … And when our freedom came under attack, we made the tough decisions required to keep the American people safe,” he said to loud applause.

But it was the end that gave us the truest glimpse of the man. Like so many other times, the power of America got to him. With tears in his eyes, his voice breaking, he said: “It’s the honor of a lifetime to lead a country as brave and as noble as the United States. Whatever challenges come before us, I will always believe our nation’s best day lie ahead.” By the end he was in tears, barely able to creak out: “God bless.”

Then with a wink and a wave, he turned and went back to his chair. Leaning in to Laura, he said with a shrug, “Sorry.” Then he sat down, looking shell shocked. The 10,000-plus crowd was on its feet, cheering. That made him even more sheepish. He pawed at an escaping tear. Then he noticed the other presidents on their feet. So he stood back up, and held up three fingers — W.

But there was one last classy move not many saw. The program nearly over, Sgt. 1st Class Alvy R. Powell Jr. came to the side of the stage to perform the “Star Spangled Banner.” A big, powerful black man, Mr. Powell belted out the anthem. With the crowd applauding, the sergeant moved along the line of people, shaking hands with all. After greeting W, he turned to go. But the 43rd president put his hand on the sergeant’s arm and said, “Stay,” just as a chaplain stepped forward to give a benediction.

So the final tableau of the day: Five presidents, five first ladies, heads bowed in prayer. And Sgt. 1st Class Alvy R. Powell Jr. No one, really, just the man a president asked to “stay.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/25/w-outclasses-barack-and-bill-without-even-trying/#ixzz2RaCcZCRO

Bush came through on Katrina

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.

Despite the many differences I had with former President George W. Bush on a range of public policy issues, or as he called them, "decision points," I found common ground with him in one area, simply because we decided to put aside partisanship and do something good.

Hurricane Katrina's devastation and the bungled rescue efforts are seared in the national memory. Bush's "heckuva job" remark turned into a byword for government incompetence and public distrust. The shallowness of it coming at such a terrible and low point left deep wounds that are still healing. That was what it was.

But rather than rehash all that went wrong, I want to share what I believe to have been President Bush's determination to follow up on commitments, and the intense, personal, dedicated efforts he made to revive and restore people's futures. I know what I'm talking about.

Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana's governor in 2005, asked me to serve on the state's commission overseeing the long-term recovery from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. I've kept a close watch over the last eight years.

Hurricane Katrina wasn't one natural disaster: It was a triple whammy of water, winds and lawlessness. An Army Corps engineer on CBS talked this week about Midwest flooding: "Water is the perfect instrument of destruction," he said. He is so right: Katrina's waters laid waste to an area the size of Great Britain. Its winds reached 174 mph and, together, they took 1,833 lives.

Every member of my family was displaced by Katrina. Last year, I lost both my father and sister. But I had them with me that much longer because they were rescued from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. My father, Lionel, left New Orleans only two times in his life. The first was to serve his country in Korea. The second was when FEMA evacuated him to San Antonio, Texas.

My older sister, Sheila -- people sometimes thought we were twins, we looked so much alike -- was in an assisted care home. Sheila developed a brain tumor in childhood. Brain surgery left her needing help, although she still managed to finish high school and college. When FEMA officials told me it might be weeks before we found Sheila, I was furious.

Bitterness can corrode the soul. A grudge is like the chains on Marley's ghost.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer made a public plea for nearby citizens to see if the residents had survived. Eddie Rodriguez of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and our cousin, Keith, a cop, rescued her from the building's rooftop. Most other residents had left before her. Sheila wouldn't leave until she saw someone she knew. Like so many others, she was relocated to Baton Rouge.

My 92-year-old great uncle Henry, a WWII vet, was plucked from another rooftop and transported to Roswell, Georgia, only to suffer a heart attack. All seven of my remaining siblings, my father, uncle, aunts, and other relatives, lost everything in Katrina. I was upset -- mad as hell -- and disappointed But, I made a decision not to act out -- act against Bush -- but rather to turn to his administration for help, and to offer my help.

"Mr. President," I said, "how can I help you?"

"Civility," he said.

Opinion: Jury is still out on Bush

Bitterness can corrode the soul. A grudge is like the chains on Marley's ghost. We can carry these chains in life and they weigh us down. President Obama and former President Bush have been working for eight years to change the atmosphere in Washington, to get Congress to move beyond pride and party.

Bush understood the need for civility. I joined him despite my frustration because the need was too great for finger-pointing and blame-making.

So far, not even disasters or tragedies that have united the American people -- Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook, and Boston -- have moved the politicians. Not enough, anyway.

Bush understood the need for civility. I joined him despite my frustration because the need was too great for finger-pointing and blame-making. He flew to New Orleans and addressed the nation: "Tonight I also offer this pledge to the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives."

George W. Bush was good as his word. He visited the Gulf states 17 times; went 13 times to New Orleans. Laura Bush made 24 trips. Bush saw that $126 billion in aid was sent to the Gulf's residents, as some members of his own party in Congress balked.

Bush put a special emphasis on rebuilding schools and universities. He didn't forget African-Americans: Bush provided $400 million to the historically black colleges, now integrated, that remain a pride, and magnet for African-American students. Laura Bush, a librarian, saw to it that thousands of books ruined by the floods were replaced. To this day, there are many local libraries with tributes devoted to her efforts.

It was a team effort. I'm glad to report the commission I served on went out-of-business in 2010. I'm also grateful and proud to report that President Bush was one of the leaders, and a very important member, of that team. Our recovery can be credited to the civility and tireless efforts of President Bush and other Americans, who united and worked together to help rebuild the Gulf and the place of my birth, New Orleans.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/25/opinion/brazile-katrina-bush/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

White House in Full Retreat as FAA Sequester Stunt Backfires

The Obama administration's second installment of sequester scare tactics is working about as well as its first go 'round. Run away:

The White House has endorsed a plan to eliminate FAA spending cuts that have cause air travel delays across the country. The agency has been forced to furlough air traffic controllers as part of the automatic budget cuts that kicked in this spring. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to end the cuts by claiming savings from the draw down of war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans reject his proposal calling it an accounting gimmick.

Of course it's an accounting gimmick. The point is that Democrats are desperate to extricate themselves from this mess, which they orchestrated in a bone-headed attempt to rile public anger against any spending cuts. Good luck with this, guys. Instead of hurting Republicans -- which was the entire point -- this entirely manufactured crisis has infuriated travelers, who inconveniently (a) seem to recall that the sequester was proposed and signed by Obama, and (b) aren't buying the idea that a tiny reduction in the rate of spending increase is enough to justify disruptive furloughs. They're right on both counts, and even some mainstream media outlets have taken the administration to the woodshed. Here's the Chicago Tribune, Obama's hometown paper that endorsed him twice, upbraiding the president. Zero words minced:

Hours before the federal spending sequester began on March 1, when President Barack Obama predicted that "People are going to be hurt," he did not add, Trust me, I'll make sure of it. But he might as well have, as this week's furloughs of air traffic controllers make obvious. The furloughs reflect panic: Having exaggerated their early predictions that the sequester's small reduction in spending growth would seriously affect Americans, many Democrats are hell-bent to pre-empt those Americans from drawing two logical conclusions: If one level of cuts is this painless, then maybe we should make ... more cuts to expenditures. And while we're at it, maybe we should ignore the politicians who told us that if Washington lowered the spending growth curve ... the Earth will fly into the sun....
So, what could the administration do to make a reduction of barely 1 percent of actual federal outlays — less than $45 billion of this year's roughly $3.8 trillion — turn citizens against Republicans who oppose more tax increases? Easy, or so the president's men and women figured: Cue the air controller furloughs! Let's stall some flights on the tarmac! Sure enough, travel delays have followed. We're less certain, though, that this hostage-taking will cut the way the White House expects: The scheme relies on citizens being — how to put this delicately? — stupid enough to think that the Federal Aviation Administration can't find a more flier-friendly way to save $600 million.

The Trib's editors also cite polling showing that the public is less and less worried about the sequester cuts by the day, which likely sparked panic inside the White House: We can't allow spending cuts to go unnoticed. People might start getting the wrong idea. It's time to deliberately inflict totally avoidable pain on the populace -- it's for their own good, really. Other papers are also scolding Democrats for their cynicism, including the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal:

In case there's any doubt about the President's ability to prioritize, at least two GOP Senators, Jerry Moran and Roy Blunt, have written bills to clarify Mr. Obama's authority to make sensible spending decisions. He's not interested, and Senate Democrats have blocked such reforms. Making smart choices about federal sending would spoil the fun of creating flight delays and then blaming Republicans. So this week the FAA has managed to turn the first stages of a 5% budget cut into hours of delays at the nation's airports. The furloughs are landing on air-traffic controllers as much as they are on less vital FAA jobs. Officials at the Department of Transportation, the FAA's parent bureaucracy, say it would be bad for morale to impose heavier furloughs on the employees who don't direct airplanes.

I'll leave you with two charts that put the lie to this entire charade. The first comes via Phil Kerpen:

That's right, the FAA's post-sequester budget is actually higher than the funding it would have received under Obama's own budget. This smacks of Obama's vaccination "cuts" ploy. The FAA's operational budget has soared over the last four years, even as flight traffic has declined.

UPDATE - Too perfect: A pre-sequester FAA report demonstrated that air traffic controllers were operating at 22 percent over capacity. Even FAA employees are aware that the pain is political and intentional: "I am disgusted with everything that I see since the sequester took place," another FAA employee wrote. "Whether in HQ or at the field level it is clear that our management has no intention of managing anything. The only effort that I see is geared towards generating fear and demonstrating failure."

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2013/04/26/white-house-in-full-retreat-on-faa-sequester-stunt-n1578870

Obama: "God Bless Planned Parenthood"--"We Got To Spread The Word, Particularly Among Young Women"

****

President Barack Obama vowed Friday to join Planned Parenthood in fighting against what he said were efforts across the country to turn women's health back to the 1950s.

Obama's comments were the first by a sitting president before the abortion-rights group. He lauded its nearly 100 years of service to women, providing cancer screenings, contraceptives and other health services.

"When politicians try to turn Planned Parenthood into a punching bag, they're not just talking about you," he said. "They're talking about the millions of women who you serve."

Obama asserted that "an assault on women's rights" is underway across the country, with bills being introduced in nearly every state legislature to limit or ban abortion or restrict access to birth control.

"The fact is, after decades of progress, there's still those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st Century," Obama said. "And they've been involved in an orchestrated and historic effort to roll back basic rights when it comes to women's health."

Obama says he fought for his health care law to ensure individuals have the right to make their own medical choices. He's asking medical providers and abortion rights supporters to "get the word out" about the law's benefits.

He encouraged those gathered to continue fighting for abortion rights. "You've also got a president who is going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way," Obama said.

***

Obama's comments come as Planned Parenthood sits back and refuses to condemn the gruesome actions of late term abortionist Kermit Gosnell.

“President Obama touts Planned Parenthood as a trusted friend and health care provider to women and girls, but this could not be further from the truth. Planned Parenthood last week admitted to knowing about the conditions inside Kermit Gosnell’s Philadelphia clinic yet chose not to act to help end the killing of newborn babies and butchering of women," Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “President Obama blatantly ignored this inconvenient truth about the abortion industry’s horrific lack of oversight, and disparaged the pro-life advocates who wake up each morning with the goal of saving the lives of unborn children and women from the pain of abortion. It seems that nothing – not even eyewitness accounts of Gosnell-style conditions in their own clinics – is enough to make President Obama reconsider his unyielding support for Planned Parenthood, which in a single year performed more than 333,000 abortions and received half a billion dollars in taxpayer money. It is no wonder that in introducing him, the first thing Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards did was to lavish praise on President Obama for supporting the abortion giant to the point of willingness to shut down the entire government during the continuing resolutions battle.”

Again as a reminder, Obama's views of abortion don't stray far from Gosnell's actions. Obama's record shows he is a supporter of infanticide, voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection act four times and referred to a baby as a "fetus outside of the womb" during his time in Illinois.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/04/26/obama-tells-planned-parenthood-god-bless-you-n1579826

Planned Parenthood's Horrific Ironies Exposed by the Gosnell Trial

Kermit Gosnell's name is certain to be recorded as one of the most ghoulish figures in recent history. The revelations about his abortion "house of horrors" have appalled the nation, earning him the title of "human butcher." The graphic images of his appalling techniques have horrified, sickened and dismayed people around the world.

Yet, ironies abound in this dismaying case of savagery. Gosnell's employees are the ones exposing practices that overshadow the purported squalor of back-alley illegal abortions. In the face of unbelievably inhuman actions, the President of the United States joined those with ice in their blood, who continued to defend "choice" even after viewing the reality of savagely "slitting the throat," "tearing off limbs" or "severing the spinal cord" of newly-born babies. Planned Parenthood -- the nation's largest abortion provider is also the largest recipient of federal funding under Title X [fully 45 percent of their total funding is from taxpayer monies, over $500 million] -- in a desperate act of cold calculation and sad irony, recently launched a fundraising campaign boldly declaring a "Right to Shoes."

In light of the public images of babies' feet -- tiny footprints are often used as pro-life logos and the trial pictures from the Gosnell clinics include images of jars containing small baby feet -- the Planned Parenthood fundraising campaign is especially repulsive and appalling. No doubt many who see the campaign will recall the Planned Parenthood lobbyist who testified -- seemingly without a twinge of conscience -- before Florida legislators, declaring that "wanted" babies were the only ones deserving medical care. That Planned Parenthood representative, Alisa LaPolt Snow, repeated several times that all decisions about abortion -- even late term or born-alive ones -- "should be left up to the woman, her family and her physician."

Prior to the Gosnell revelations, most Americans had a positive view of Planned Parenthood; after all, their public relations materials create an image of a supposedly non-profit organization devoted to providing poor women with reproductive health care and contraception along with public information and educational programs. That image was exposed as false when Concerned Women for America (CWA) and other organizations exposed Planned Parenthood's own official reports showing that it is the nation's largest surgical abortion provider and that far from being caring non-profit institution, it is a heartless, profit-driven enterprise whose cash cow is its abortion operations; their huge annual profits, despite paying Fortune 500 level salaries to its leadership, are both sadly revealing and embarrassing. Life Dynamics explained that Planned Parenthood gets over $42,000 an hour from taxpayers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Clearly, Planned Parenthood focuses on promoting and performing abortions with near genocidal impacts in inner city black communities. [See a new video detailing the Gosnell atrocities.]

The Gosnell trial illustrates the unsanitary practices that have been in allowed in largely unregulated clinics owing to their politically-protected status; these conditions endanger women's health in Planned Parenthood's sleazy mission of providing abortion as birth control and abortion-on-demand anytime, for any reason. Nurses who worked in Planned Parenthood facilities have testified, under oath, about the employment of unlicensed doctors, of instruments that were not sterilized, of unsafe conditions and standard operating procedures that were worse than what might be found in third world nations or the back alleys of imaginative lore.

CWA's report on Planned Parenthood details the specifics about Planned Parenthood's distortion of facts and the huge inconsistencies between what they say is their benevolent mission and what the actual facts in their own records show that they do. We show the inherent racism in the placement of Planned Parenthood clinics primarily in minority communities and their willingness to take donations earmarked specifically towards abortion of black babies. The numerous financial irregularities of Planned Parenthood are well-document in our report -- upwards of 107 criminal charges, including 23 felony charges, fraud, and other falsification of official documents. There are also numerous instances, documented by Lila Rose in her Mona Lisa Project, of abuse of laws requiring mandatory reporting of rape and/or abuse. In numerous instances, Planned Parenthood coached under-aged girls to lie about their age or the age of the adult boyfriend who was sexually exploiting her. Reports of such age differences are required by law, yet Planned Parenthood employees were routinely and deliberately distorting that information in their reports. Further, Planned Parenthood has programs that encourage teen experimentation with sex and pornography. These programs provide detailed information about sex acts and also undermine or attack parental rights.

The international arm of Planned Parenthood has a major lobbying effort which has enormous influence resulting in Congressional appropriations of over $700 million for promoting abortion abroad -- even in countries where this violates the deeply held religious beliefs of the citizens in what I call "modern-day colonialism," where we arrogantly export unconscionable, immoral Western practices and force them on nations that are dependent upon our foreign aid.

Planned Parenthood offends the sensibilities and principles of faith of millions of pro-life Americans -- not just in the day-to-day actions that constitute its mission, but in the driving force and distorted vision that is the motivation behind that mission. The Gosnell trial is exposing the heinous, immoral activities of Planned Parenthood that not only horrify us in their callous disregard for human life, but also for the cold-blooded way in which that disregard is carried out against the defenseless and vulnerable babies as well as against those sadly duped women and girls who thought they could safely trust their health and well-being to Planned Parenthood's care.

Have we come to the place where Planned Parenthood's phony ploy of the "right to shoes" trumps Jefferson's immaculate ideal of the God-given "right to life" in this great nation called America?

Note: Fox News will present a special on Gosnell Sunday.

Ambassador Susan Rice reveals the UN's distorted priorities

Nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea. Slaughter in Syria. Starvation and more killings in much of Africa. Alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria. International terrorism. Forcibly selling women and children for sex worldwide. Destruction of UNESCO heritage sites both deliberate and through war. And on and on the list of horrors could go.

So which of these vital concerns is the focus of the United Nations? None of them. Most of the UN's General Assembly, Security Council and Human Rights meetings are devoted to condemning Israel, US ambassador to the UN Susan rice revealed recently.

Susan Rice said a major part of her work as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is defending Israel's legitimacy.

"It's a huge part of my work to the United Nations," Rice said Sunday evening, launching this year's Consultation on Conscience, an event in Washington for Reform movement social activists organized by the Religious Action Center.

She likened the volume of work to her efforts to coordinate Syria's isolation and contain violence and abuses in Sudan.

Rice said she often works in "lockstep" with the Israeli delegation.

"We will not rest in the crucial work of defending Israel's security and legitimacy every day at the United Nations," she said.

Rice said Israel's success at the United Nations often is not reported -- for instance in joining the boards of the U.N. Development Program and UNICEF, and in advancing development initiatives.

Disgusted by the vile comments of Richard Falk, the UN's "Human Rights special investigator of conditions in the Palestinian territories", gleefully stating the US deserved the deaths at the Boston Marathon because of its arrogance and support of Israel, she bluntly tweeted a few days later

Outraged by Richard Falk's highly offensive Boston comments. Someone who spews such vitriol has no place at the UN. Past time for him to go.

Or maybe it is time for the US and all other concerned nations to leave the UN. Maybe then Rice and others could work to alleviate and eliminate some of the real evils in the world such as the dire situation in Darfur. As Rice tweeted over the past few days

Over 35,000 IDPs need urgent assistance in East #Darfur alone. Immediate humanitarian access is imperative.
In 2013, clashes displaced nearly 150,000 in #Darfur: 5 times more than in all of 2012.
Security is deteriorating across #Darfur. In last 12 months, 7 peacekeepers were killed.
We condemn yesterday's attack on #UNAMID in East #Darfur. Our condolences to the friends, family & colleagues of the fallen peacekeeper.

Darfur, where an estimated 400,000 black Africans have been brutally slaughtered by the Arab Janjaweed. Uh oh, the Arab Janjaweed. Therefore the UN will certainly continue to ignore the heart wrenching plight of the blacks in Darfur. Unless of course they can blame it on the US and Israel.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/04/ambassador_susan_rice_reveals_the_uns_distorted_priorities.html#ixzz2RaJuT8r5

The Earned Income Tax Credit Fraud

What, massive fraud in another government entitlement program? Well, the Washington Post is too coy to use the F word. No, that's not fraud, simply "improper payments." We're talking about the Earned Income Tax Credit, whereby a person can earn up to $43,000 per year and get a tax "refund" of up to $5666, depending on number of children (loosely defined).

We know the program is a wonderful one. Just look at this testimonial: "Mark Everson, who served as IRS commissioner under President George W. Bush, called the EITC 'one of the government's most successful anti-poverty programs.'"

The program has been plagued with "improper payments" for years -- decades actually: "The General Accounting Office (GAO) verified the vast scale of the fraud, reporting that '...the IRS estimated [it is] between 27 and 32 percent of EITC dollars claimed.'" And that was during the terror that was the reign of George W. Bush.

Have things gotten better under President Obama? According to an inspector general's report, at least, 21% of EITC payments in 2012 were "improper" ($11.6 billion), by far the highest fraud rate in any government entitlement program.

But in 2010 President Obama signed the Improper Payments Elimination Act, which "requires federal agencies to reduce erroneous payments to a rate of less than 10 percent." Ten percent fraud is surely a modest goal; what private business would be content with such a rate? And how's the IRS doing? In the two years since Obama signed the law, improper EITC payments have increased by 22%.

Oh, but the IRS wants to comply: "The reduction of improper payments is a top priority for the IRS, and we are making progress in this area." Yes, a "top priority." So a 22% increase in improper payments is "making progress." One wonders what the IRS would deem a fail.

The IRS cannot possibly reduce its fraud rate below $11.6 billion, yet a cut of $669 million to the FAA's budget forces the agency to furlough air traffic controllers in order to create 3 to 4 hour lines at airports. Talk about a rigid, inflexible, sclerotic bureaucracy.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/04/the_earned_income_tax_credit_fraud.html#ixzz2RaL3tmVE

The Flu Tax

What to make of a headline that includes the following words: tax, $100 million, Congress, bipartisan, and flu? Are our Congressional invertebrates happily plotting to tax the flu? Why not sinus infections, shingles, or schistosomiasis? Perhaps the Onion or HuffPo originally posted this headline? Here's the entire misery, "Congress Prepares $100 Million Bipartisan Flu Tax."

Good grief, what psychotropic pharmaceuticals are being added to Washington D.C.'s drinking water?

From the Weekly Standard we read:

In February, identical bills were introduced in the House and Senate to add seasonal flu vaccines to the IRS code as taxable. The legislation would exact a 75¢ per dose tax on any "vaccine against seasonal influenza." Given that the Centers for Disease Control projects that 135 million doses of flu vaccine will be used this year, the government's take on flu vaccines alone is over $100,000,000 per year.

So, our Congressional invertebrates that created Obamacare, the most massive and wasteful healthcare train wreck in recorded human history, want to add insult to injury. They plan to stick us suckers into paying an additional medical tax for an essential vaccine that is used by 135 million folks each year. You couldn't make this up.

Wait, there is much more behind this Molière farce:

Along with taxes on other vaccines, this tax would fund the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund. The fund is a "no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system for resolving vaccine injury claims that provides compensation to people found to be injured by certain vaccines." However, the fund is by no means in the same kind of trouble that other government "trust funds" are.

The balance in the fund (as of November 2012) was more than $3.5 billion. Since the program's inception in 1988, the fund has paid out only $2.5 billion in 25 years for cases involving all vaccines, not just the flu vaccine. This means the balance in the fund could conceivably last another 25 years with no further tax revenue.

So, the trial lawyers lobby craves this tax since it insures them a continued easy payday. The hard left lib/progs covet this tax since it creates an new tax that is not required, so as to further soak the bourgeoisie in favor of the working proletariat, right comrade?

The Congressional invertebrates hunger for this tax so they can continue to pretend they are running the country and are not being herded deeper into the fetid fiscal swamps by Obama and the MSM.

From the movie Rounders this famous line about high stakes poker: "Listen, if you can't spot the sucker at the table... then you are the sucker." With that in mind:

As is the case with all government "trust funds," there is no cash set aside to pay out claims. According to the November 2012 report on the vaccine trust, the $3.5 billion balance is invested in "U.S. Treasury Securities." In other words, financing a portion of the $16.5 trillion national debt.

Each one of us are the suckers.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/04/the_flu_tax.html#ixzz2RaKWSaZ9

A National Security History Lesson for Marco Rubio

By Michelle Malkin

Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio seems well meaning enough. As second-generation conservative Americans, I know we both share a common passion for this great land of opportunity. But when it comes to comprehending the real agenda of the open-borders zealots he's allied himself with, Rubio doesn't have a clue.

And his abject ignorance threatens all of us who cherish American sovereignty and exceptionalism.
On Fox News' "The Sean Hannity Show" Tuesday night, Rubio defended his Gang of Eight "immigration reform" bill and insisted that we could and should have a system in place that vets foreign tourists and short-term visa holders based on their "national security" profiles.

"In essence, we should be able to analyze (whether) these are individuals coming from a part of the world that keeps feeding into the terrorist network," Rubio earnestly explained. "(W)e should be very careful about who we allow in and take into account every single measure or every single factor that we think could lead to somebody being more likely possibly a member of a terrorist organization or involved in terror."

Great idea, Rubio! Newsflash: The concept of a national security entry-exit screening database is at least 10 years old. It's an idea that was sabotaged by the progressive soft-on-security ideologues with whom Rubio has recklessly partnered.

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration created NSEERS, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System. Administered and championed by Justice Department constitutional lawyer, immigration enforcement expert and now-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, NSEERS stopped at least 330 known foreign criminals and three known terrorists who had attempted to come into the country at certain official ports of entry.

NSEERS required higher scrutiny and common-sense registration requirements for individuals from jihad-friendly countries including Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as other at-risk countries. The basic components included a more rigorous application process in light of the shoddy visa questionnaires and undetected overstays of the 9/11 hijackers; 30 extra minutes of interviewing at ports of entry; a digital fingerprint check and in-person registration after they arrived in the interior of the country; and verification of departure once they exited.

The targeted registration of certain foreign nationals already in the country (temporary visa holders including students, tourists and businesspeople) resulted in the apprehension of dozens of illegal alien felons. As I reported at the time, these scumbags included:

--a Tunisian convicted of multiple drug-trafficking offenses, in addition to previous violations of immigration law.

--an Iranian who had been convicted three times of assault with a deadly weapon and had been convicted twice of grand theft in addition to immigration violations.

--an Iranian twice convicted of child molestation.

--two suspected al-Qaida operatives who were caught trying to enter the U.S. after their fingerprints matched ones lifted by our military officials from papers found in Afghanistan caves.

But grievance-mongering identity groups and the American Civil Liberties Union could not stand the idea of an effective national security profiling database. For one thing, a successful program would have laid the groundwork for a broader nationwide entry-exit system affecting all foreign visitors. Congress mandated that system six times over the past 17 years. It has yet to be built.

Let me repeat that: We still have no way of tracking who has actually met their visa requirements, who has overstayed their visa, and who has left the country when their visa requires them to do so. Earth to Rubio: This malignant failure is by special-interest design, not by accident or lack of imagination.

Here's a test: Why doesn't Rubio form a Gang of One and dare Washington to pass the entry-exit system his new pals all say they support as a stand-alone first. Let's see them prove they can keep even a single one of their national security/immigration enforcement promises before entertaining 900 more pages of them. Prove it.

I've read the bill -- and I can see right through it. The Democrats' history speaks for itself. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose illegal alien amnesty spirit infuses the Gang of Eight's bill, spearheaded legislative attempts to de-fund and destroy NSEERS. His left-wing pals (and a few open-borders Republicans such as heavyweight operative Grover Norquist, who stood literally and figuratively behind Rubio at the amnesty bill unveiling) decried NSEERS and its supporters for fostering "discrimination" and "profiling."

Never mind that the pilot program was in line with alien registration systems around the world. And never mind that indiscriminate entry and immigration policies are what enabled so many jihadi plots in the first place.

When the Obama administration took over, as Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul pointed out this week, it indefinitely suspended the NSEERS pilot program and has no plans to revive it in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Now the Gang of Eight Republicans want conservatives to jump in bed with these security saboteurs for another Amnesty Now, Enforcement Never plan? Who's Rubio kidding? Only himself.

http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2013/04/26/a-national-security-history-lesson-for-marco-rubio-n1579068/page/full/

Gang of Eight loopholes put many illegal immigrants on fast track to citizenship

Members of the Senate’s bipartisan Gang of Eight have stressed that under their new immigration plan, currently illegal immigrants will have to wait more than a decade before achieving citizenship. Newly-legalized immigrants will be given a provisional status and “will have to stay in that status until at least ten years elapse and [border security] triggers are met,” Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio told Fox News on April 14. “Then the only thing they get is a chance to apply for a green card via the legal immigration system.” The green card process would take additional years, meaning the road to full citizenship could take as long as 15, or even 18, years.

Unless it doesn’t. A little-noticed exception in the Gang of Eight bill provides a fast track for many — possibly very many — currently illegal immigrants. Under a special provision for immigrants who have labored at least part-time in agriculture, that fast track could mean permanent residency in the U.S., and then citizenship, in half the time Rubio said. And not just for the immigrants themselves — their spouses and children, too.

A second provision in the legislation creates another fast track for illegal immigrants who came to the United States before they were 16 — the so-called Dreamers. The concept suggests youth, but the bill has no age limit for such immigrants — or their spouses and children — and despite claims that they must go to college or serve in the military to be eligible, there is an exception to that requirement as well.

First the agricultural workers. The Gang of Eight bill creates something called a blue card, which would be granted to illegal immigrant farm workers who come forward and pass the various background checks the bill requires for all illegal immigrants. Instead of the 10-year wait Rubio described in media appearances, blue card holders could receive permanent legal status in just five years.

How does an illegal immigrant qualify for a blue card? If, after passing the background checks, he can prove that he has worked in agriculture for at least 575 hours — about 72 eight-hour days — sometime in the two years ending December 31, 2012, he can be granted a blue card. His spouse and children can be granted blue cards, too — it can all be done with one application.

There’s more. If an illegal immigrant is apprehended by authorities after the passage of the bill, and appears to qualify for blue card status, the law requires the Department of Homeland Security to give him a “reasonable opportunity” to apply for blue card status. He cannot be deported while his application is under review. Even if he is in removal proceedings, the bill says, the Secretary of Homeland Security is required to allow him to apply for blue card status, and immigration authorities are required to “terminate [removal] proceedings without prejudice.”

The bill’s supporters point out that the Gang of Eight would limit the period of time in which illegal immigrants can apply for a blue card. That’s true; the bill specifies that applications have to be filed in the year after the last of the rules enforcing the new immigration law have gone into effect. But the bill also gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the discretion to extend that period by another year and a half if she or he determines that “additional time is required” for the applications. The extension can also be granted for any other “good cause.”

The next step happens five years after the Gang of Eight bill is enacted. At that time, the legislation requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to change the blue card holder’s status to that of permanent resident if the immigrant has worked in agriculture at least 150 days in each of three of those five years since the bill became law. A work day is defined as 5.75 hours. Also, the immigrant can qualify for permanent residence with less than three years, of 150 work days each, if he can show that he was disabled, ill, or had to deal with the “special needs of a child” during that time period. He can also shorten the requirement if “severe weather conditions” prevented him for working for a long period of time, or if he was fired from his agricultural job — provided it was not for just cause — and then couldn’t find work.

So the road to permanent resident status that Rubio said would take a decade will take only five years for currently illegal immigrants who have done some work in agriculture. How many are there? Pro-reform congressional sources suggest the number could be 700,000 on the low end and 1.1 million on the high end. Congressional sources skeptical of reform say the number would be higher. No one seems to know with any certainty.

Then there is the other fast track, for the Dreamers. The Gang of Eight bill creates a special category for immigrants who came to the United States illegally before age 16. That applies equally to illegal immigrants who today are, say, 19 years old, or those who are 49 years old, or older. The bill gives permanent resident status to them, and to their spouses and children, after five years. To get that, they have to have completed high school or earned an equivalency degree. In addition, the bill says the immigrant must have “acquired a degree from an institution of higher education or has completed at least two years, in good standing for a bachelor’s degree or higher degree in the United States; or has served in the Uniformed Services for at least four years and, if discharged, received an honorable discharge.”

That requirement is often cited by Dream Act supporters to show the tough standards immigrants must meet. But the very next section of the bill outlines a “hardship exception” which says the immigrant may be awarded permanent legal status if he or she has not completed college, or not completed two years of college, or not served in the military. The immigrant who has done none of those things may still be fast tracked if he can “demonstrate compelling circumstances for the inability to satisfy the requirement.” The bill does not specify what those compelling circumstances might be; the discretion for such decisions lies with the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Like agricultural workers, it is not entirely clear how many currently illegal immigrants and family members would be involved in the Dream fast track, but the total number could be in the millions — a significant portion of the estimated 11 million immigrants in the country illegally today.

The bottom line is that in both cases, agricultural workers and Dreamers, the Gang of Eight creates significant exceptions to what Rubio claimed would be a long and arduous path to legal residency and then citizenship. Under the proposed bill, some illegal immigrants will navigate the path to citizenship much more quickly than others.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/gang-of-eight-loopholes-put-many-illegal-immigrants-on-fast-track-to-citizenship/article/2528194

The Tsarnaev Miranda – Who Exactly is Judge Marianne Bowler ? Who Directed Her, and Why?

The FBI works for, and falls under the authority of, the Federal Department of Justice, Eric Holder. Which brings in a strange series of questions regarding the stoppage of questioning by the FBI of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Initially the feds proclaimed Tsarnaev would fall under the “public safety exception to miranda” which would have given them 48 hours to question him prior to the delivery of Miranda protection. The feds didn’t even need to charge him with anything right away – but they did. In addition, something, obviously unexpected by the FBI interrogators, was changed. Who changed it? Why? and why was the FBI not notified of the intent to change direction?

Boston AP [excerpt] … Once Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was read his rights on Monday, he immediately stopped talking, according to four officials of both political parties who were briefed on the interrogation but insisted on anonymity because the briefing was private.

After roughly 16 hours of questioning, investigators were surprised when a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney’s office entered the hospital room and read Tsarnaev his rights, the four officials and one law enforcement official said. Investigators had planned to keep questioning him.

[...] District Court Judge Marianne Bowler arrived at the hospital where he is being treated to preside over his initial hearing Monday, when she read him his Miranda rights.

But Fox News’ sources say there was confusion about Bowler’s timing, with some voicing concerns that investigators were not given enough time to question Dzhokhar under the “public safety exception” invoked by the Justice Department.

Obviously if Judge Bowler walked into the questioning, unexpectedly, then you can infer the DOJ and the FBI were not sympatico on the Tsarnaev process. Why? What gives?

Perhaps a review of who Eric Holder sent to the hospital, Judge Marianne Bowler, will help us better understand what’s at play here; AND make no mistake about it – it was Eric Holder who sent her in to that hospital, no DOJ underling would make such a high-profile decision on their own. This was 100% an Eric Holder decision.

Back to Bowler - Judge Bowler was a Clinton appointee, and it will probably not surprise readers that she is exceptionally versed in Muslim sensibilities. So much so that she is the first female judge to have spoken in Kuwait (1997).

(HatTip Front Page Mag) Apparently in that capacity, she visited and spoke on legal issues at a number of Muslim countries, becoming the first female judge to speak in Kuwait, appearing also in Egypt and in the United Arab Emirates.

But look at 2012.   Speaking/Lecturing in Egypt, Cairo University.

If there’s one specific ME aspect we are familiar with, it’s Egypt and Libya 2011, 2012 and 2013.

That 2012 trip is “Post Morsi” – Meaning she was delivering her speech at Cairo University after the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and the release from jail of Ayman al-Zawahiri.   Meaning…. she had to have the approval of The Muslim Brotherhood to be an American Judge in Egypt – delivering a lecture, at Cairo University in 2012.

Is it a coincidence that a well versed, perhaps one of the best Muslim versed, judges on the East Coast – stemming from an area steeped in liberalism, and having attended the fully vested progressive indoctrination education and legal career, was selected to walk unexpectedly in to a questioning session of an admitted Islamist Jihadist - and stop the interrogation in its tracks?

For me personally, against the backdrop of fully advanced Political Correctness, intentionally designed by the current administration to deconstruct the Homeland Security safeguards surrounding terror profiling of Muslims, I now put Tsarnaev’s success on the same white-board as Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hassan.

That’s what Eric Holder is sweeping away…. Period.

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2013/04/26/the-tsarnaev-miranda-who-exactly-is-judge-marianne-bowler-who-directed-her-and-why/