Last week at Montclair State University, after twice claiming authorship of Barack Obama's acclaimed 1995 memoir "Dreams from My Father," Bill Ayers temporarily eased the fears of the literary left by ending his boast with a seeming joke.
"Yeah, yeah," said Ayers when asked for confirmation of his authorship, "and if you help me prove it, I'll split the royalties with you. Thank you very much."
"Bill Ayers Started a Joke, That Started the Whole Word Hyperventilating," ran an all-too-typical headline, this one in Slate. The implication, ofcourse, was that Ayers was taunting the gullible right.
A recent email exchange between a correspondent of mine and Ayers, however, suggests that Ayers may not have been joking at all.
On the morning of March 24, "Jim" emailed Ayers at his University of Illinois at Chicago address: "Jack Cashill's new book makes an overwhelming case that you wrote 'Dreams from My Father.' In addition it recounts an encounter with a blogger, Anne Leary, in October 2009 at Reagan airport where you acknowledged to her that you wrote the book."
Jim continued, "Why don't you just go public with a straightforward statement about your role?"
As it happens, this was the same day Ayers was tospeakat Montclair State. Jim was not connected to the group videotaping Ayers at Montclair and knew nothing of its strategy. His email may well have prompted Ayers' videotaped claim of authorship.
Ayers responded politely to Jim an hour later, "As you note in you letter, I did indeed acknowledge that I wrote the book to Anne at Reagan, and over and over since then. So what more do you want me to do?"...Ayers not joking about Obama book royalties
Starting May 28, households in the five boroughs will be socked with rate increases of up to 12 percent to run appli ances -- after the feds de cided that power companies needed an extra $500 million a year, The Post has learned.
And that's on top of another 4 percent state-OK'd Con Ed rate hike that kicks in today.
A typical apartment resident's electric bill of $74 -- based on 250 kilowatt hours of power each month -- will go up to $86, or $12 more than last July.
About $8 of that boost will come from the feds' decision.
REUTERS
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer talks with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Businesses will be hit even harder. A small firm that paid $406 last July will shell out $477 this July -- a 17.5 percent boost.
Wow! I am admittedly having trouble trying to enunciate the awesomeness of this speech. I’ve gone to the trouble of transcribing the entire speech for those of you who can’t watch it but to everyone else you must watch it. The transcription simply doesn’t do it justice. It may very well be one of the best speeches I have ever heard from Allen West.
I’m not kidding:
I bolded some exceptional lines:
Thank you for being here because this shows your commitment to your country. This shows your commitment to the principles and values upon which this country was established. And you know some of the things that people continue to ask me, they continue to ask me “well, why won’t you compromise, why won’t you negotiate?”. We’ll let me tell you something.Abraham Lincoln said very succinctly, he said “plant your feet in the right place and then stand firm”, and so I’m gonna be standing firm.
When I was a young Lieutenant and I was going through airborne school, the sergeant black hat said very simply: “If you set the bar low you jump low.” You did not send us up here to set the bar low. You sent us up here with some expectations. You sent us with a mandate. You sent us up here believing that we were here to do the things, to turn around this great ship of state called the United States of America. Because right now, this leaderless, rudderless ship is out in the maelstrom about to get tossed on the rocks.
And I’m sick and tired of hearing everyone talk about this great constitutional, conservative grass roots movement called the Tea Party. I am sick and tired of them trying to blame you, I am sick and tired of them trying to castigate you in a negative manner. No one says anything about Moveon.org; no one says anything about Organizing for America. You are what this country was founded upon and I am glad to be standing her with you.
We are not here to talk about shutting down the government. But if you want to know about shutting down the government, go right over there and talk to Chuck Schumer, go talk to Harry Reid, go down to 1600 Pennsylvania and talk to the President. We’re here to talk about the incredible fiscal irresponsibility.
And I gotta tell you something. Why would I want to sit down and compromise with people who enhanced this problem we have in America with the three years of deficit spending – 1.42 trillion, 1.29 trillion, 1.65 trillion. The debt in the past four years has gone up 5 trillion dollars. Why do I want to listen to people like that. Because I don’t think that they are going to give me any good solutions.
The bottom line is this: we have got to turn this ship around. I am not going to lower my standards, I am not going to do anything but stand upon the values you sent me up her for!
For twenty two years you asked me to do one simple thing. You asked me to always protect your life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. You asked me to guard the great symbols of this country. In November of 2010 you gave me the privilege and honor of to take off a uniform, put on a suit and tie and continue to serve you.
I will continue to protect you. I will continue to protect your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. I will not let you down!
God bless you all, God bless America, and thank you to the tea party.
7 United Nations workers were murdered by a crowd of angry Muslims in Afghanistan during protests organized by religious leaders. The clerics drove through the city ofMazar-i-Sharif with loud speakers, demanding that Muslims “protest” the burning of a Koran by a Florida pastor.
Two of the UN workers were beheaded.
The leftist media here is placing the blame squarely on Koran burner Terry Jones while desperately clinging to the myth of the peaceful Muslim protest that “just got out of control”–no doubt hijacked by a that tiny minority of extremists the media thinks is responsible for over 1,000 years of Islamic Imperialism. But when the Left here makes excuses for Muslim barbarity they ignore reality and the internal drives of unreformed Islam that make Muslims predisposed to mayhem and violence.
There is no other religious group on Earth that murders and rapes more people whenever they feel attacked and insulted nor is there one that attacks and insults other religions as regularly. While the Muslims in Afghanistan murdered innocent people because one man in Florida burned a Koran, Saudi authorities tortured and arrested two Indian Christians for praying. During the arrest Saudi religious police trampled the victims’ Bibles and tore the holy books.
Where are the Christian riots? How many people will be murdered in retaliation for Saudi Arabian religious police desecrating Bibles?
A bizarre spate of television presenters dissolving into on-air gibberish has sparked claims that the U.S. military could be to blame.
In four high-profile cases, the latest involving fast-talking Judge Judy, the presenters have started off speaking properly but have then descended into undecipherable nonsense - looking confused and unstable.
The frequency of the 'attacks' - and the fact that recorded examples of the mental meltdowns have been popular on websites - has led to conspiracy theorists pointing the finger at shadowy government experiments.
Latest victim: Judge Judy Sheindlin had to stop her courtroom TV show on Wednesday after descending into nonsensical language
A popular theory being circulated online blames the U.S. Military’s supposed research into using microwaves as a mind control weapon.
America has never admitted conducting such research but proponents say the effects - produced by microwave signals stimulating the brain with fake images and voices - exactly mimic those displayed in the recent on-air breakdowns.
As to why the Pentagon might be targeting U.S. television presenters, the microwave theorists are less clear.
The phenomenon, which has provided internet video sites with some of the oddest footage for months, has now claimed one of America’s most highly paid broadcasters.
Targeted? Serene Branson's garbled Grammys report became an internet sensation, while WISCTV's Sarah Carlson suffered a similar meltdown in January
Judith Sheindlin, the fast-talking judge on Judge Judy, was taken to hospital on Wednesday after she began speaking a nonsensical string of words during a live recording of her courtroom TV show.
Studio insiders said Sheindlin, who earns £28 million a year for a show that is the most watched programme on American daytime TV, was sitting on camera and 'started saying things that didn’t make any sense'.
Sheindlin then announced she needed to stop as she didn’t feel well and asked a crew member to call an ambulance.
The 68-year-old lawyer was released from hospital the following day but a spokesman said medical tests had not revealed what caused her garbled speech and double vision.
Over the border: Mark McAllister, of Canadian Global Toronto News, soldiered on with his report on Libya, despite his words being unintelligible
Her verbal breakdown is the fourth such recent case and the odd coincidence has prompted feverish speculation over the cause.
No video has been released of the Judge Judy incident but footage of the other three has rapidly gone viral on the internet.
The first victim was Serene Branson, a Los Angeles reporter for CBS, who delivered a completely incoherent piece to camera on the Grammy music awards last month.
The presenter was unable to get out her words and continued to struggle to speak for around 10 seconds outside the Staples Centre before producers cut to a video.
She said later: 'My head was definitely pounding and I was very uncomfortable, and I knew something wasn’t right. I was terrified and confused.'
'My head was definitely pounding and I was very uncomfortable, and I knew something wasn’t right. I was terrified and confused'
Her doctor later said she had suffered a complex migraine whose symptoms mimic a stroke.
Her case was followed by a Canadian news reporter whose report on his country’s contribution to the military campaign in Libya suddenly collapsed into gibberish.
Mark McAllister of Global Toronto News told viewers that the Canadian defence minister had confirmed that 'more than sifty four 18 fighter jets are spending about as much as 20 and ready to assist 600 hundred, hundred deployed over the an-amount needed'.
His piece-to-camera went on to become even more odd before he signed off.
His employers later confirmed there had been no problem with the autocue but McAllister had also suffered from a migraine.
In January, Sarah Carlson of WISC-TV in Wisconsin was also struck. She started out fine in her report on Wisconsin’s challenge to Barack Obama’s health care reforms, but it soon became apparent that she was having trouble forming words and the camera switched to a startled-looking co-presenter.
Unlike the others, Carlson, 35, has a history of seizures, but America’s army of conspiracy theorists are unconvinced by the medical explanations.
Ford Motor Co. beat General Motors in March sales, another small but significant victory of private enterprise over government micromanagement. Since the 2009 government takeover of GM, competition between the two leading domestic auto manufacturers has taken on strong ideological overtones. It serves as an ideal test case, a microcosm of the competition between two worldviews, the automotive equivalent of North vs. South Korea. Right now, the good guys are winning.
Ford has been giving GM a run for its money since the competition began. In October, Ford recorded a 68 percent increase in its third-quarter net income, the sixth straight profitable quarter during the worst economy since the Great Depression. The blue oval passed Toyota to become the second largest auto brand sold in America. In March, Fordsold 212,295 vehicles, beating GM by 5,674 units - only the second time since 1998 that Ford won the monthly sales race. It did this without the supposed “benefits” of government intervention, except to the extent government minders have kept GM from maintaining its historically dominant position.
March sales numbers also highlight the lax public response to theObama administration’s continued emphasis on “green” technology. One of Ford’s mainstays is the F-series pickup, sales of which are up 25 percent over the previous year. This full-sized truck gets 19 miles per gallon, very fuel efficient for a pickup in its class but not exactly a poster vehicle for environmentalists. At the other end of the conceptual spectrum is the Chevrolet Volt, the new electric car that’s been excessively hyped by earth muffins and bureaucrats but only sold 608 in March, about three-tenths of 1 percent of GM’s total sales for the month...EDITORIAL: Free-market Ford laps Government Motors - Washington Times
You can’t blame Americans for feeling as though the government is increasingly crossing boundaries and reaching into their daily lives. The Obama administration and regulatory authorities such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appear to be coming at us on all fronts.
The Republican-led Congress has been steadfast in its efforts to beat back the EPA. Recent committee hearings have exposed the adverse consequences that the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions will have on the job market. Unfortunately for hardworking Americans, the cost of the EPA’s action will make energy prices higher, drive jobs overseas and force more citizens into the unemployment line. Under the Obama administration, the EPA has been transformed into a job-killing machine.
The EPA is donning a new title, as well — “nanny state” behemoth. While many are aware of the fight against cap and trade and the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, the totality of their smaller actions, which often go unnoticed, is starting to add up. They already tell us what kinds of light bulbs we can use and how much water we are allowed to have in our toilets. Now, they have their sights set on our soap.
For generations, Americans have safely used bacteria-killing products to protect us from germs. Anti-bacterial hand washes and soaps are used every day in our schools to stop the spread of viruses and keep our kids healthy. Hospitals use similar products to maintain sterile environments. Dentists have safely used anti-bacterial mouthwashes for years in the treatment of gum and other oral diseases.
As the CR vote comes to a climax again next week, I wanted to share an incredible story with the LifeNews blog readers. We’ve seen the Live Action undercover videos of Planned Parenthood’s protection of racists, rapists and sex traffickers but their movies come to life when SFLA directly works with Planned Parenthood’s victims.
Melissa Pereira, a pro-life student leader at Caldwell College in New Jersey, sent me her story last week after winning the “Tell Congress” video contest and her interview with the National Pro-Life Youth Podcast. It is so powerful, I want to share it with you. As you read it, remember that this is not a single case, but stories like this are generated everyday that Planned Parenthood is open.
We must de-fund this abortion Goliath, and reach out to women who are victims of the abortion industry.
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Why? Why me? Why did I have to learn at an extraordinarily young age how to make 911 calls? Why did I have to experience the trauma of threats? Why the screaming, the psychological manipulation, the constant fear as if my life were a big, ugly mine field? What did I do to deserve this? Looking at my peers, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why did I have to be born with this kind of life?”
After a lifetime of asking these questions it became very clear; as vivid as the days when I came close to death itself. I was born into this situation because three of my siblings could not be born. They became victims of abortion and I, then, had to become a victim of child abuse. It was all part of the vicious cycle where violence breeds violence. My life and that of my mother are living testimonies of the death of three children and a family.
People may think that the taking of the lives of my siblings created a void. I tell you, in this world, there can be no voids. From the laws of nature to the deepest recesses of the human mind and heart, there can be no voids; something has to fill it. The emptiness created from the murders of my three siblings was instantly filled with years of abuse and exploitation. Why did it take that route? Why couldn’t it have led to a sense of remorse, healing, or respect? Because Planned Parenthood is the Great Enabler that not only allows for the cycles of exploitation and abuse, but feeds it with their lies and what they do not say. Because Planned Parenthood’s idea of a “final solution” leaves no room for personal responsibility and accountability. Vulnerability is their target, from the innocent defenseless life in the womb to the fearful young girls and women caught in abusive relationships. My life testifies to this as that of my mother.
Twenty-six years ago my mother was forced into a Planned Parenthood facility with her supposed husband. As they entered the clinic together, my mother was pushed and verbally abused as her husband exclaimed that this was her only choice right in front of a clinic worker. Rather than defend the woman and her rights, one of Planned Parenthood’s champion causes, the clinic worker not only ignored the abuse, but proceeded to lie about her pregnancy. My mother was 5 months pregnant, but she was told it was just a “blob of cells”. There was no counseling, no chance for my mother to make an informed choice with the guidance of informed educators as Planned Parenthood claims to be. That day was empty of truth as my mother’s womb was emptied of a person too small and vulnerable to defend himself. It became a void for my father to quickly fill with more sexual abuse.
March update: civilian noninstitutional population: 239.0 million; Civillian labor force: 153,406, Employed 139,864, Unemployet 13,542. Americans not in Labor Force: 85,594. Which means that the Labor Force Participation rate continues to be at a 25 year low of 64.2%. And Birth Death adds another 117,000.
Anything so as not to appear to be like George Bush.
That was the not-so-hidden theme of President Barack Obama’s speech on Libya last Monday. In his first crack at his predecessor, Obama defended his decision to not expand the American mission in Libya by saying “we went down that road in Iraq.” In another, an allusion to the superiority of his approach to foreign affairs over that of Bush’s, Obama stressed the fact he was acting in Libya out of humanitarian motives and on the basis of a United Nations (UN) mandate (Bush did not obtain one for his Iraq invasion).
“”The Libyan opposition, and the Arab League, appealed to the world to save lives in Libya,” Obama said. “At my direction, America led an effort with our allies at the United Nations Security Council to pass an historic Resolution that authorized a No-Fly Zone to stop the regime’s attacks from the air, and further authorized all necessary measures to protect the Libyan people.”
But while Obama is priding himself on not being like George Bush, the current president’s well-known penchant for multilateral action abroad and for putting American interests and foreign policy in the hands of international bodies is turning out to be a disaster for everyone involved, especially for the Libyans. In the end, American reliance on the UN to determine its foreign policy will ultimately wind up costing more money and lives than a quick and massive, unilateral NATO invasion. At the other end of the scale, negotiations and no intrevention would have even been more preferable.
Obama stated the UN established the No-Fly Zone to protect Libyans from Gaddafi and proudly said in his speech NATO warplanes prevented a massacre in Benghazi, which the Libyan dictator’s troops were poised to overrun two weeks ago. While this is true, Obama failed to mention that it took three weeks to get that mandate, during which time Gaddafi’s troops ousted most of the rebel forces from Western Libya.
Before their ouster, the rebels occupied towns and cities as close as 30 kilometres to Tripoli. A quick intervention by NATO ground troops to bolster rebel positions, or the threat to do so, would have seen Gaddafi’s small army confined to the Tripoli area. Military force is the only thing a nasty bully like Gaddafi appears to understand. George Bush’s invasion of Iraq, for example, caused the Libyan leader to give up his weapons of mass destruction program, since Gaddafi was afraid he would be next.
But during this wait for UN approval for action, the Libyan dictator captured the rebel-held areas in Western Libya, after which he sent in his secret police to hunt down rebel supporters. The resulting death toll is unknown. The hunt for rebel sympathisers continued as his forces advanced into rebel-held Eastern Libya. After their retreat, several hundred people were listed as missing by the Libyan Red Crescent. In a dozen cases, Human Rights Watch reports “government forces answered themobile phone of the missing person.” Gaddafi’s “campaign of killing”, which Obama said the UN-mandated bombing stopped, continues.
CONCORD, N.H. -- Amid chants from the gallery and thousands of demonstrators in the Statehouse plaza, New Hampshire's Republican-dominated House approved a $10.2 billion budget yesterday that makes deep cuts to social programs and strips public unions of much of their bargaining power.
The House debated the budget for five hours before Republicans pushed it through, 243-124. Early in the debate, chants of "Shame On You!" rained down from a raucous crowd in the gallery, which was temporarily cleared but reopened before the final vote. Outside the Statehouse, thousands more gathered to voice their opposition.
Republican House Speaker William O'Brien called it a historic achievement to pass a spending plan to the Senate that raises no taxes or fees or borrows for operating costs. The loud voices outside weren't the ones speaking to him, O'Brien said.
"The voices that speak to me are the taxpayers who say (the spending is) too much," he told reporters.
An estimated crowd of 2,500 rallied outside and voiced their displeasure while the House debated. The demonstrators were public employees, their supporters and opponents of deep cuts to social-service programs who opposed the budget.
"Are we going to give everyone the opportunity to live free, or are we going to sit back, pass a state budget like this and just let people suffer until they die?" 16-year-old recovering drug addict Jesse Welch told the crowd.
Welch spent five months at Phoenix
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House in Dublin, a treatment center that receives state funding. State funding for substance-abuse treatment is reduced in the House budget.
Katharine Terrie, a retired director of development for the North Country Consortium, which provides social services for northern Grafton and Coos counties, said she came to support the unions and the poor who will be harmed by the cuts. She said it is unrealistic to expect churches and the private sector to absorb the cuts with donations.
"If these cuts go through, I think people will die and that's appalling," she said.
But Hudson state Rep. Shawn Jasper, a Republican who also chairs his town's Board of Selectmen, said he's happy he voted to pass the spending plan and criticized protesters who called the budget "draconian."
"After hearing all of the opposition statements, you could have come to the conclusion that half of the population of New Hampshire would be dead from the spending cuts," he said last night. "But the reality is we've seen a huge increase in spending the last four years, much of it due to stimulus money. But the well is dry and the people have had it."
“”The Libyan opposition, and the Arab League, appealed to the world to save lives in Libya,” Obama said. “At my direction, America led an effort with our allies at the United Nations Security Council to pass an historic Resolution that authorized a No-Fly Zone to stop the regime’s attacks from the air, and further authorized all 
