FOX News First: Dec. 12
By Chris Stirewalt
Buzz Cut:
· Budget deal: From ‘Hell no’ to ‘Alright’
· 11 days to ObamaCare deadline: Millions face coverage gap
· Hey girl, let’s go get some ObamaCare
· Bubba jumps after host busted for spying
· Megyn gets ‘Style’-ized
BUDGET DEAL: FROM ‘HELL NO’ TO ‘ALRIGHT’
House members in both parties are swallowing hard on a budget deal set for debate and a possible vote today, but a pathway is clearing for the first long-term spending plan since 2007. As one House Republican was heard saying by Fox News First, he went from “Hell no” to “just plain no” to “alright.” What turned the tide seems to have been a combination of brawn and brains. House Speaker John Boehner hit hard Wednesday against outside groups attacking the bill: “They're using our members and they're using the American people for their own goals. This is ridiculous.” A closed-door presentation from Budget ChairmanPaul Ryan helped convince anxious conservative members that this represented some policy gains and not just a chance to steer around a politically damaging and distracting government shutdown. But will Democrats play along and deliver enough House votes to offset Republican defections?
Hidden leverage for Dems in deal? - Jonathan Strong reports atNational Review: “The bill includes language from the Senate Democrats’ budget that voids senators’ ability to raise a budget ‘point of order’ against replacing the sequester cuts with tax increases. The process is quite complicated, but in practice it grants Harry Reid the authority to send tax increases to the House with a bare majority, rather than the 60-vote threshold that would be required under a point of order.”
BAIER TRACKS: SPEAKER TURNS UP THE VOLUME…
“For all of the anger Speaker John Boehner aimed at various conservative groups for trying to kill the budget agreement – telling reporters yesterday, “It's ridiculous!” – I am told he was far more animated behind closed doors with the members of the Republican Conference. (I tried to get Congressman Tom Price, R-Ga., to spill the beans on that discussion when he took the Center Seat on our panel, but he didn't really bite.) Bottom line, Boehner has had it with those groups trying to divide Republicans and fundraise on the divisions. Expect more of these outbursts from the normally placid speaker.” – Bret Baier.
[Watch Fox: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., appears in the 10 a.m. EThour]
Mitch way will he go? - Reports from the Daily Caller and The Hill say Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will refuse to back the budget plan on offer from Team Boehner. Fellow Kentuckian Rand Paul as well as Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., have already vowed to vote against the package and McConnell is still facing a primary challenge from the right back home. While McConnell’s staff wouldn’t tell Fox News which way the top Republican would vote, it may come down to numbers. If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid loses too many liberal members of his conference angry at the lack of extended welfare benefits in the package, McConnell may have to vote ‘yea’ in order to get to the 60-vote threshold. There are 56 Senate Democrats.
[“We have a government that continues spend more money than it takes in. Doing so at an alarming pace and our children have to pay for it…We'll have a debt crisis in this country. It will continue to destroy jobs, the function of the government, the national security. When will we get serious about dealing with this once and for all?” –Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., On “The Kelly File” Watch here. Read Rubio’s op-ed at Breitbarthere.]
11 DAYS TO OBAMACARE DEADLINE: MILLIONS FACE COVERAGE GAP
Newly released administration numbers on ObamaCare enrollments reveal that millions of Americans who lost policies as a result of the law’s regulations have still been unable to sign up for coverage. For new policies to take effect by Jan. 1, consumers must enroll by Dec. 23.Nearly 15 million people who get their coverage through individual policies saw their insurance nixed under ObamaCare. But just over 365,000 Americans have been able to navigate the technical nightmares of ObamaCare’s online signup process to buy policies. And even among those determined few, coverage may still lapse. Insurance industry consultants tell investigative outfit ProPublica that customer’s first premiums must be paid before policies kick in. Some report that just 5 percent of ObamaCare enrollees have paid up so far. The digital failures of the program may result in a snail-mail nightmare as customers try to beat the clock.
[WSJ: “Insurers know that the hardest part of doing business in the individual market is getting customers to write a check. People are accustomed these days to automatic payroll deductions and the unseen lost wages of employer-sponsored insurance.”]
Life or death - WaPo: “One other challenge for patients with high medical bills has been figuring out which health insurance plans on the exchange meet their specific needs. Hemophiliacs, for example, can require $100,000 in monthly prescriptions -- making it crucial to determine whether a particular plan covers their medication.”
You’re covered! Just kidding… - Hill staffers who thought they had signed up for compulsory ObamaCare coverage got emails on Wednesday reading: “Please DO NOT ASSUME you are covered unless you have seen the Confirmation Letter from the Disbursing Office!” Readmore from Chief Congressional Correspondent Mike Emanuel.
And how does that make you feel? - A recent Cornell University study reveals only half of the nation’s psychiatrists are likely to accept ObamaCare. Reuters shares the details.
Missouri schools take ObamaCare hit - ObamaCare could spell cuts in hours for substitute teachers and the possibility of a $150,000 fine for Missouri schools. Washington Free Beacon has the details.
[The Chicago Tribune reports only 7,000 Illinoisans have signed up for ObamaCare.]
OBAMACARE CUTS TO IN-HOME CARE ABOUT TO KICK IN
From Washington Examiner: “An estimated 3.5 million poor and ill homebound senior citizens will wake up on New Year's Day to discover Obamacare has slashed funding for their home health care program. It will happen because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services quietly issued a regulation Nov. 22 announcing a 14-percent cut over the next four years in funding for the Home Health Care Prospective Payment program. The rule cuts Medicare payments to home health care providers by 3.5 percent each year beginning in 2014, for a total cut of 14 percent.”
Doc shock hearing on Hill - A panel of doctors will appear before the House Oversight Committee today to testify about being dropped from patient provider networks because of ObamaCare. Policy experts will also share how ObamaCare’s mandates are affecting health insurance markets. Watch Fox: Chief Congressional Correspondent Mike Emanuelis following the hearings.
SEBELIUS BOBS AND WEAVES ON OBAMA MEETINGS
“A lot.” That was the answer Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius gave when pressed by Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., over how many times she met with President Obama prior to the botched rollout of ObamaCare. A frustrated Sebelius flapped her hands but offered no clear response to the question. Gingrey told Breitbart, “We witnessed more evasiveness from Secretary Sebelius as she bobbed and weaved her way through this… hearing.” He added, “Whether she was unable to answer basic questions or simply refused to do so, it has to stop. She has been tasked with overhauling one-sixth of the economy and so far, Obamacare has been one disaster after another.”
[“It seems awfully late for an inspector general to be investigating this and it seems to me that it offers the perfect excuse to say, ‘Well, we can’t answer any questions because the inspector general is investigating’” – Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani discussing Kathleen Sebelius request for an IG probe into the failures of healthcare.gov “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren ]
Issa fumes over Sebelius gag order - The Health and Human Services Department has told contractors working on the problem-plagued ObamaCare website not to release documents to congressional investigators, a mandate slammed as “criminal obstruction” by House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa in a letter to Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Fox News has the details.
[Watch Fox: Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., appears in the 1 p.m. ET hour]
ObamaCare marketplace violating security law - Daily Caller reportsObamaCare’s Web site violated the Security Management Act because it did not perform a set of tests called “Security Control Assesments,” according to budget requests.
HEY GIRL, LET’S GO GET SOME OBAMACARE
People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive Adam Levine has been enlisted to use his sex appeal to boost ObamaCare enrollment. Bloomberg reports“The Voice” judge and Maroon 5 front man will be part of the administration’s social media push to promote the entitlement program to young people starting today.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD RAKES IN TAXPAYER DOUGH
America’s leading abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, received an average of $1.5 million a day in taxpayer funds in the previous fiscal year according to the group’s annual report. Daily Caller has the details.
WALK THE DINOSAUR
George Will writes on President Obama’s recent expressions of frustration with bloated and unwieldy government programs: “Obama’s tardy epiphanies do not temper his enthusiasm for giving sauropod government ever-deeper penetration into society. He thinks this serves equality. Actually, big government inevitably drives an upward distribution of wealth to those whose wealth, confidence and sophistication enable them to manipulate government.
DUBERSTEIN TAKES ON HARVARD CHAIR
Former Reagan and Bush 41 insider Ken Duberstein will become the next chairman of the Senior Advisory Committee at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. Duberstein, who served as Reagan’s Chief of Staff, succeeds now U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy. In an announcement from Harvard Thursday, Duberstein says he’s looking forward to joining the bi-partisan advisory group. “As the polarization of today’s Washington, D.C. continues to sour youth on politics, the aim of the Institute – to inspire the next generation to serve – has never been more important.” Joining Duberstein as a new member of the committee: The National Journal’s Ron Fournier, who’s been notably critical of the administration’s lack of transparency and handling of ObamaCare. Other new committee members include Rep. Joseph Kennedy, D-Mass., former Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, former Rep.Susan Molinari, R-N.Y. and former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz. Harvard’sannouncement hits the internet later this morning.
BIG BRAIN CALLS FOR BIG HEARTS
Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, the leading think tank on the right, says it’s for conservatives to take the moral high ground. Brooks told Roll Call that conservatives are not talking the right way about how free-market principles are designed to help the poor. “It’s the emphasis on the ‘why’ of our movement,” Brooks said. “And trying to look at the deep moral truths that enable our free-enterprise system to bestow its blessings on you and me and everybody else, especially those who aren’t as lucky as you and me.”
NUCLEAR FALLOUT HITS SENATE SCHEDULE
Senate Democrats may have changed the rules to prevent Republicans from blocking presidential nominees, but Senate Majority leader Harry Reid & Co. can’t stop the GOP from talking. Republicans have launched an around-the-clock series of speeches on the Senate floor to slow down Reid’s rocket docket of judicial appointments. The nominations must all be dealt with before lawmakers can take up any other business, including the tentative budget deal. Fox News has more.
WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE...
AP’S Director of Photography, Santiago Lyon, offers a scathing critique of the Obama White House’s unprecedented clamps on media access,Orwellian Image Control for the NYT. “American presidents have often tried to control how they are depicted… but presidents in recent decades recognized that allowing the press independent access to their activities was a necessary part of the social contract of trust and transparency that should exist between citizens and their leaders… Until the White House revisits its draconian restrictions on photojournalists’ access to the president, information-savvy citizens, too, would be wise to treat those handout photos for what they are: propaganda.”
Got a TIP from the RIGHT or LEFT? EmailFoxNewsFirst@FOXNEWS.COM
POLL CHECK
Real Clear Politics Averages
Obama Job Approval: Approve – 42.3 percent//Disapprove – 53.3 percent
Direction of Country: Right Direction – 29.1 percent//Wrong Track – 63.4 percent
BUBBA JUMPS AFTER HOST BUSTED FOR SPYING
Page Six reports former President Bill Clinton cancelled on speech to Center for Global Dialogue and Cooperation gala in Vienna after he learned the group’s founder was arrested for economic espionage. CGDC founder Stamen Stantchev was sentenced in Romania to 11 years in prison for being a part of an alleged espionage network to steal state secrets and insider information to win consulting contracts. Bubba will be returning a bill totaling more than $300,000 for the cost of a private jet and hotel suite, according to a Clinton spokesperson.
HILLARY PREPPERS REACH FOR GRASSROOTS
The Ready for Hillary political action committee is broadening its fundraising appeal beyond the mega rich with regional events this week, including one in Washington D.C. Boosters of the former first lady’s incipient candidacy are invited to an event at Look restaurant in Northwest D.C. tonight. This follows events in California and Clinton’s onetime home state of Arkansas. More regional pushes to come as the focus shifts away from big bundlers to mobilizing a still-suspicious Democratic base.
A BUSH-BASHING BLOW TO OBAMA AND CLINTON
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow swings a heavy ax at the leadership vacuum left in the Republican Party after the Bush administration, but still cuts close to the bone on a similar phenomenon playing among Democrats in the Obama era. Maddow, writing at WaPo: “Unless Vice President Biden’s presidential hinting suddenly takes a turn for the serious, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is the obvious inheritor of the party’s mantle. But, as in 2008, the Beltway may be overstating her inevitability. The grass roots aren’t all with her, frankly, and it’s yet to be seen if she’s interested in trying to win them over. Mainstream press may buy big-dollar donors (and more mainstream press), but it can’t buy the passionate volunteers and activists and excitement that are the oxygen for a winning campaign and sustained, effective leadership.”
THE DEMINTING OF THE LEFT?
BuzzFeed looks inside the controversial liberal group Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the super-aggressive brainchild of two former MoveOn.org staffers. Democrats may mock the brazen tactics of the group, but their laughter is starting to sound a bit reedy. To wit: “Now, though, Washington is a town where purity rules and a sense of shame has little use. On the right, Heritage Action — once a digital mirror image of PCCC — just accomplished a transformation from ridiculed gadfly to a central cause of the shutdown of the American government. And PCCC’s Democratic critics are increasingly loathe to discount the group’s high-profile successes, even as they attack its methods.”
THE JUDGE’S RULING: HIGHER AUTHORITY
Judge Andrew Napolitano examines moral imperatives for Americans through the lens of leaker Edward Snowden for Fox News Opinion inConspiracy so Vast. “The conspirators all agreed that it would be a crime for any of them to reveal the conspiracy. Snowden violated that agreement in order to uphold his higher oath to defend the Constitution… This is more than just a constitutional violation; it is a violation of the natural right to be left alone.”
LEAKS SEND AIDE PACKING
Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., fired executive director Paul Teller for telling. Teller passed on talking points and strategy discussions from the group of House conservatives to outside activist groups, infuriating lawmakers who thought they were speaking in confidence. Outside groups are outraged that Teller got the boot for keeping them in the loop. Fox News has more.
FORMER SENATE STAFFER TO ANSWER CHILD PORN CHARGES
Ryan Loskarn, former chief of staff for Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., will be in court today to face charges that he distributed child pornography. Loskarn was arrested at his home on Wednesday following a federal investigation. Alexander cashiered Loskarn and named a new chief of staff within hours of the story breaking. David Cleary, formerly Alexander’s legislative director, moves to the top slot. Fox News hasmore.
YOU HAVE A SEAT ON THE PANEL: LET PATIENTS DECIDE
Put patients and families in charge of health care, not Washington. That sentiment, aired by Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., found all political parties agreeing when he joined Wednesday’s “Special Report with Bret Baier” All-Star Panel. Bing Pulse measured a spike in audience participation when Price said he feels the government has “an obligation to make sure that every American has health care and the opportunity to gain health coverage that they select, not that they are forced to buy.”
Discussion of ObamaCare’s latest enrollment numbers also heightened viewer interaction. Democrats, Republicans and independents agreed with Weekly Standard Senior Writer Stephen Hayes claim that only a fraction of a fraction of those the administration claims have enrolled are actually have coverage. Votes from audience-panelists soared to 21,000 votes per minute when Charles Krauthammer charged the numbers were a “train wreck” and they were solely something for Democrats “to hang their hats on and pretend everything is okay.” Bing Pulse tallied 239,000 viewer votes during the panel. Take a deeper data dive and see the full results here and don’t miss your opportunity to take a seat on the panel.
PIPE DOWN!
A House panel is taking up a new FCC proposal that could permit in-flight phone calls, as the commission holds an open meeting on the matter. Many lawmakers have already voiced their opposition, including Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. and Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., both promising to introduce legislation to restrict phone use if the FCC changes its rules. The Association of Flight Attendants also opposes the rule change. A new Quinnipiac poll shows American’s oppose the rule change by a two-to-one margin. Watch Fox : Correspondent Doug McKelway is following the latest developments.
BLURRED LINES IN N.Y. HOUSE RACE
Investments by Democrat Sean Eldridge to Hudson Valley businesses are raising concerns that his venture capital firm has become a de facto political group aimed at bolstering his congressional campaign. Eldridge, the spouse of tech mogul, Obama insider and New Republic PublisherChris Hughes, is touting the investments in campaign ads aimed at unseating Rep. Chris Gibson, R-N.Y. Lachlan Markay has the details at the Washington Free Beacon.
ABOUT THAT GLOBAL WARMING TREATY…
According to insurance broker Willis Re, 2013 had the lowest number of hurricanes since 1982, with only two storms. The result of a quiet season is good news for insurance companies because it not only results in fewer payouts but for consumers as well as it drives down reinsurance prices. Reuters has more.
TRIPPIN’
Thamsanqa Jantjie, the man called a “fake” for his incoherent sign language interpretations during Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, is defending himself. He told AP the reason for his erratic gestures was that he was hallucinating. Jantjie said he had visions of angels while walking into the stadium in Johannesburg and was trying not to panic because there were “armed policemen all around me.” Fox News hasmore.
FROM ONE #43 TO ANOTHER
Words of praise have been few and far between for the University of Alabama’s Cade Foster after he missed three field-goal attempts in his team’s heartbreaking loss to Auburn. However, he still has at least one loyal fan in former President George W. Bush. Bush recently penned a personal letter to the kicker reading, “Dear Cade (#43), Life has its setbacks. I know! However, you will be a stronger human with time. I wish you all the best. Sincerely, another 43, George Bush.” Foster shared a photo of the letter on his Twitter account Wednesday. AP has the story.
MEGYN GETS ‘STYLE’-IZED
WaPo writer Dan Zak puzzles over who the real Fox News anchorMegyn Kelly is and seems to conclude that the TV version isn’t much different from the real thing. “Moderation is a theme in Megyn Kelly’s favorite film, the 1971 ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,’ a poster of which hangs prominently in her home. She loves the magic of it, the possibility of it, the I-can-change-my-life of it. She loves watching greedy little Veruca Salt disappear down the trash chute, another bad egg bound for justice. Her slate-blue eyes widen, her nostrils flare and she begins to quote the movie. ‘Don’t forget what happened to the boy who suddenly got everything he wanted,’ she says with an edge, like it’s a warning, even though it’s really the set up for a reversal, and for a description of her life right now.”
SNOOZERS ARE LOSERS
Maria Konnikova shares why you may want to reconsider hitting that snooze button in the morning. From the New Yorker: “It may seem like you’re giving yourself a few extra minutes to collect your thoughts. But what you’re actually doing is making the wake-up process more difficult and drawn out. If you manage to drift off again, you are likely plunging your brain back into the beginning of the sleep cycle, which is the worst point to be woken up—and the harder we feel it is for us to wake up, the worse we think we’ve slept.”
AND NOW A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“The administration speaks about having had 3 and one-third million signed up by the end of December. They are 3 million short as of now. There is no way it is conceivable that they could sign up that number and even if they did it is not conceivable that the insurers could hand-match the information. I think all of this is to assuage Democrats to give them something to hang their hats on and pretend everything is okay on the recess, but the beginning of January is going to be a train wreck for them.” – Charles Krauthammer on “Special Report with Bret Baier”
Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here. To catch Chris live online daily at 11:30 a.m. ET, click here.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
he most fundamental questions relating to Benghazi remain hidden behind a comprehensive White House cover-up of the on-ground happenings.
One Citizen Speaking... |
MAINSTREAM MEDIA: TO PROTECT AND PROMOTE PROGRESSIVE SOCIALIST DEMOCRATS Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:57 PM PST Before anyone believes the mainstream media and their agenda to promote and protect progressive socialist democrats, perhaps they should be held accountable for not being more forthcoming on the 9/11 anniversary attack on Benghazi and why the President and his cadre of progressive socialist democrats put forth a demonstrably false narrative about a protest in response to a video when they knew the truth from real-time sources communicating with the White House Situation room. The most fundamental questions relating to Benghazi remain hidden behind a comprehensive White House cover-up of the on-ground happenings.
Listen to Congressman Trey Gowdy as he asks other questions …
Bottom line … Why would the media and/or any American citizen accept Hillary Clinton as the 2016 Presidential Candidate when she has been proven to be a corrupt liar pushing a socialist agenda? Perhaps having a vagina is as important as being black in the political calculus of the progressive socialist democrats. Why would anyone listen to the mainstream media when they have demonstrably failed the American people as those who speak truth to power? We need to throw the progressive socialist democrats out of office as they no longer represent America and Americans and appear incapable of protecting Americans, both in foreign and domestic public policies. -- steve  |
OBAMA BOWS AND SHAKES HAND OF DICTATOR--MURDERER--THUG RAUL CASTRO Posted: 11 Dec 2013 05:44 PM PST Is the White House spinning the story of President Obama’s handshake with Raul Castro? Considering that much of President Obama’s Hollywood fundraising base openly regards murderous thugs like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara as socialist heroes and great leaders, it should come as no surprise that President Obama and his cadre of progressive socialist democrats would have the same mindset and worldview. With the recent actions of President Obama to disrespect our friends and “dialogue” with our enemies, one can easily believe that it was the President’s desire to seek some form of normalized relations with Cuba. First, to validate his empty Nobel Prize that was awarded without any form of achievement whatsoever. And, second, to burnish his credentials as a nominee for becoming the Secretary General of the United Nations, a corrupt international body that regularly disrespects the United States and fetes dictators, monarchs and Muslims. Photo opportunities on the world stage are carefully pre-arranged and the handshake was no accidental encounter between a United States President and just another well-wisher …
The case could be made that Cuba was and is a state sponsor of terrorism throughout Latin America.
Of course the Cubans are ready for a different relationship. One that relaxes trade sanctions and brings a flow of American dollars – and humanitarian support – into Cuba. Possibly to shore up a declining Marxist government dictatorship that sees its aging leaders dying off in the near future. Or to forestall another revolution when the Cuban people realize that their interests would be better served by allying with the superpower located 90 miles off its coast instead of taking socialist and communist handouts. I have a number of Cuban friends and they are a warm and friendly people – many of the older Cubans wishing to return to their beloved homeland under a banner of freedom. Under what conditions does an American citizen maintain connections with a foreign enemy government?
Are these people “useful idiots” or are they spies? I cannot see any benefit for an American citizen to maintain a relationship with the communist government of another foreign sovereign nation unless that person was motivated by ideology or money. Human rights?
There are no human rights in Cuba as long as Castro and his henchmen are in power. Your rights are dictated (ironically) by your value or threat to the government. If you represent neither, you live in a state of equality – everybody sharing equal misery and access to poor healthcare. Bottom Line … President Obama needs a foreign policy win – any foreign policy win – and it is my belief that he would sell out America and her citizens in a heartbeat if it advanced his personal and political agenda. Obama is truly an historic American President, possibly the first Marxist/Communist to ever hold the office, and the only President in history, including Jimmy Carter, where his loyalty and patriotism are suspect. It is time that “We the People” attempt to restore the Constitutional checks and balances by dominating both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the coming 2014 congressional election cycle. Not only to restore honor to the Office of the Presidency and reverse America’s slide toward a European-style socialist democracy ruled by the oligarchs, the bureaucracy, and the unions, but also curtail the erosion of American freedoms that are being lost to petty (and not so petty) tyrants and bureaucrats. The progressive socialist democrats have placed one-sixth of the American economy and the nation’s healthcare in jeopardy with their socialist drivel, it is time to kick these bastards under the bus. -- steve  |
How do you spell idiot? There are several ways: F E I N S T E I N or B O X E R or P E L O S I
Quote of the day by Dianne Feinstein..........
Dianne Feinstein: "All vets are mentally ill in some way and government
should prevent them from owning firearms"
Yep, - she really said it on Thursday in a meeting in front of the
Senate Judiciary Committee. .and the quote below from the LA Times is
priceless. Sometimes even the L.A. Times gets it right.
Kurt Nimmo: "Senator Feinstein insults all U.S. Veterans as she flays
about in a vain attempt to save her anti-firearms bill."
Quote of the Day from the Los Angeles Times:
"Frankly, I don't know what it is about California , but we seem to
have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office.
I'm not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine ,
even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to
Washington , we're Number One. There's no getting around the fact that
the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein,
Maxine Waters, and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when
the curtain went up on 'Macbeth'.
The four of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of
blab. You don't know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or
simply marvel at their ability to form words."
-- Columnist Burt Prelutsky,
Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Stealing America: The Left's Blueprint for Taking Over Red States...
Pamela Anne is first a Christian, secondly a Constitutional Republic patriot living in one of the declining blue states that has been primarily governed by Democrats for numerous decades. (Hence the decline.)… More
“Colorado. . . . A microcosm of the forces destabilizing American politics.”—Ronald Brownstein, National JournalColorado has been a centerpiece of political and editorial attention for a while. In fact, just before the last election, an upstate N.Y. published an editorial piece, titled “Politics of exclusion”. It ascribed Colorado’s culture clash to the tea party and GOP and attributed their opposition to the fear of social change; specifically fear of the “new norm”.
Why, I asked myself, is a N.Y. newspaper’s locally-minded editorial column focusing on Colorado rather than local elections? The editorial was a hit piece, primarily against the tea party. What elevated my Constitutional radar was the author’s intentional or blinded disregard of the Democratic-dominated legislature’s policies that led to overregulation, overspending, and the gun control laws that were massively unpopular and the primary catalyst to voter resistance. Instead, the piece framed the Right as being unable to accept this new norm, which was brought about by the state’s changing demographics; that the changing values should be accepted by long time residents without further debate to their needs or concerns.
Candace Reed, a politically active tea party member now living in Louisiana is a former Colorado resident. Reed says, “Colorado has been ‘Californicated’ and Hispanics have moved there in droves. The same is happening to Texas!” As such, she explained, the whole dynamics of the State changed, resulting in a democratically elected majority in the legislature.
Colorado’s culture has indeed changed over the past ten years. But as Michael Barone of www.WashingtonExaminer.com points out in his article, Democratic policies rejected in America ,writ small’, while the Democrats had only a narrow majority, they pressed ahead with a liberally social agenda and became heavy handed. Reed noted, however, that the Left’s over-reach led to the Coloradan voters-turned-activists recall of the two senators, resulting in their removal. At a glance, Colorado can appear like a typical tug of ideological war—each side winning some and losing some. But that is a superficial glance. There is a much deeper cause for concern for those of us who are Constitutional Republic patriots.
In July of 2008, Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard wrote an in-depth article on, The Colorado Model – The Democrats’ plan for turning red states blue. A “confidential” memo written by a Democratic insider in January of 2008 had surfaced. Democrats were 3rd in registered voters, behind Independents and Republicans, respectively. It exposed a plan to spend over $11 million dollars in 2008 to “crush Republicans”. The concern is not the obvious targeting of Republicans—that’s a given, but the uniquely conceived political blueprint, which has become known as the Colorado model.
The group behind the takeover of Colorado’s culture is known as the “Gang of Four”. It was masterminded by the former president of Colorado State University, Al Yates. (Yates biography is worth reading to understand the mind-set and methods used by him and his “gang” to take the state.)
In 2004, Yates and his cohorts: Tim Gill, Rutt Bridges, Jared Plis and Pat Stryke devised a plan to recapture both chambers of the state legislature for the first time in 30 years. Under Yates’ leadership, these multi-millionaires spent record amounts of money, pouring them into every local race, the details of which are reported in Barnes’ article.
Yates formed the Democracy Alliance (CoDA), a secretive organization bankrolled by a handful of very influential progressive millionaires and billionaires. The Alliance became a canopy over anextensive publically synergistic infrastructure of 30 plus organizations. Jennifer Fender, writes in The Denver Post (Oct. 2008), the article titled Colorado Democratic scheme called ingenious,
The ever-evolving network of nonprofits, advocacy groups and 527 committees that benefits from the alliance forms an alternative political universe that allows progressive power brokers to direct money more efficiently and effectively than ever before—and almost entirely out of the public eye.
This “brand new, privatized political infrastructure” was an intentional decision by these wealthy progressives to ignore the state Democratic establishment, a model unique to the American political landscape—or at least to what is intended by our founders.
The Left’s takeover of Colorado’s government through carefully targeted races is further expounded upon in Rob Witwer and Adam Schrager’s 2010 book, The Blueprint: How the Democrats Won Colorado (and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care).
The “Gang of Four” strategy changed the whole state’s dynamics. It led to the newly elected, but narrowly held Democratic-dominated legislature. They forged ahead with a progressive agenda:passing civil unions for same-sex couples, in-state college tuition for children of illegal immigrants and green energy requirements. Then, after the Aurora movie theatre massacre, they passed a gun-control law with universal background checks and gun magazine limits. But the Progressives then hit a couple of snags.
In September, 2013, voters-turned-activists led to the recall the two Democratic state senators who supported the state gun control law, resulting in their recall. The legislature then passed an education reform bill dependent on voters approving $970 million in additional funding, called Amendment 66. The Amendment 66 supporters included Bill and Melinda Gates, Michael Bloomberg and local teacher unions and involved raising proportional taxes on certain income brackets. But in the last 2013 election Amendment 66 was rejected by 65-to35 in over 62 counties, passing in only Denver and Boulder counties.
Many in the rural counties of Colorado reacted in opposition to the forced change by these wealthy Progressive elites. The “new norms” (regulating and taxing marijuana, gun control, green energy, etc.) are really a cultural invasion leading to those in rural Colorado to seek secession to form a 51ststate because they no longer have a voice in their government. While the effort failed 6-to-5, it’s important to point out that Colorado has become a template for the radical progressive elites to capture the nation.
What happened in Colorado is not how a Constitutional Republic’s government functions. Rather Yales’ blueprint manipulated the election system from one that is of the people, by the people and for the people to one steered by a group of elites who basically instigated a cultural value shift through election candidate selection and legislation.
A culture is based on a system of thinking—a value system that encompasses moral, economic, and personal codes of conduct. That system of thinking becomes a “filter” to form judgments by weighing certain factors in a prioritized manner, then giving credence to one standard over another. When a select group of unelected people can change those dynamics by using their wealth to overcast traditional values, intentionally creating a new perception, that state is being hijacked. Our system was designed to have open discussion and debate so thought and reason of consequences can prevail—and be a conscious choice. If this model prevails and is repeated America will no longer be a Constitutional Republic.
The method used by the Gang of Four is not really new. What we see in the making, if not the arrival, is called an oligarchy. An oligarchy is a form of government based on a power infrastructure, led by a small number of people.
“Oligarchy is not displaced by democracy but rather is fused with it”, writes Jeffrey A. Winters, author of Oligarchy (2011). The populace in an oligarchy government has no contrast, conflict, or comparisons given to them to make different choices. They are led to the choice made by a few.
Josef Stalin wrote, “America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.” The founding values of our nation are being undermined and usurped with new norms, which are being artfully woven into our culture without widespread legitimate debate, collective consciousness and against many of our wills. Our nation’s trajectory rests with the Right; will we comply or resist? Will we remain passive or activate?
This video below is an explanation of the various forms of government, showing the political spectrum of government.
Pamela Anne
Pamela Anne is first a Christian, secondly a Constitutional Republic patriot living in one of the declining blue states that has been primarily governed by Democrats for numerous decades. (Hence the decline.) As a newly defined “far” right winger by the Leftist linguistics practitioners, she admits to promoting, through key stroke and pen: one nation under God (of the Bible), conservative values, and Constitutional principles. Pamela’s background is in communication and management. She can be found on Facebook.
Read all posts by Pamela AnneRead the rest of this PolitiChicks.tv article here: http://politichicks.tv/column/stealing-america-lefts-blueprint-taking-red-states/#VGHpfc70EG2X9vOx.99
MEXICO CITY - Organizations of defenders of freedom of expression warned about the disappearance of the reporter for Agency TV Hotline (Lineainformativa.com), Zoila Edith Márquez Chiu, whose whereabouts are unknown since Saturday December 7.
Borderland Beat |  |
Missing Journalist in Zacatecas, Feared Kidnapped Posted: 10 Dec 2013 10:29 PM PST Borderland Beat
MEXICO CITY - Organizations of defenders of freedom of expression warned about the disappearance of the reporter for Agency TV Hotline (Lineainformativa.com), Zoila Edith Márquez Chiu, whose whereabouts are unknown since Saturday December 7.  Article 19 and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported in separate statements of the disappearance of Márquez Chiu, who was last seen midday on Saturday the 7 in zacatecana capital. The organizations demanded local authorities,and eventually federal authorities take into account the practice of journalism as the line of investigation. Article 19 called for the intervention of the Special Prosecutor for (FEADLE) the Investigating of Crimes against Freedom of Expression, which depends on the Attorney General's Office (PGR), while RSF noted that the Zoila Edith case should be added to the Sergio Landa Rosado of Diario Cardel, whom nothing is known about him since January 22, and Gerardo Blanquet, of Radio Grande of Coahuila, whose whereabouts remain unknown since April 30.  RSF, an organization based in Paris, France, said that in the past 10 years, 18 journalists remain missing, one woman María Esther Aguilar Cansimbe, of Diario Cambio de Michoacan, disappeared on November 11, 2009."None of these cases have been solved, in which, by their nature, could involve corrupt police officers," said RSF. “We hope enough resources will be deployed to find Márquez safe and sound as soon as possible,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The authorities must respond to her family’s appeal. There is so far no proof that she has been kidnapped but the police should investigate the possibility that her disappearance is linked to her work.” "Even thought there is no direct indication that it is a kidnapping, December 7 being the last time the journalist was witnessed driving her car, RSF called for appropriate actions be undertaken by the authorities "as soon as possible to find the reporter safe and sound "an appropriate investigation is one that takes into account the professional activity of Márquez Chiu as an online investigator.."  Article 19, based in London, England, explained Zoila Edith was acting as a reporter and was the also the editor of Hotline, providing area coverage of general information and surveys of citizens. One of the last topics she covered was the student strike at the Normal School of Zacatecas.Lineainformativa, director Omar Hernández Herrera, gave the information that prior to her disappearance, the journalist, had not received any threats or in an incident that would jeopardize her integrity, a situation that also has occurred with the local media. "The journalist had been working the weekend before her disappearance on a report on the conflict in the mining town of Loreto, explained her boss,Omar Hernandez." He does not believe that the fact has to do with the type of information that was assigned to Zoila Edith. Article 19 called Zacatecas state authorities, as well as the FEADLE and PGR to investigate the disappearance of journalist Zoila Edith Márquez, and not to discard it as part of her work," the organization said in its statement. Recalling that the disappearance "effects the fundamental rights of individuals, including economic and social issues" Article 19 urged authorities to "take all measures necessary protection and investigation in this case." Details (Cont.) According to La Jornada online, four people took Chiu Marquez on Saturday afternoon, as she drove her vehicle-a silver Pointer plates ZHL 9684 - by Ave San Marcos, apparently bound for a video rental store to to deliver a rented movie. Witnesses reported to the newspaper that two men and two women in a black SUV Ecosport blocked the journalist's way at the intersection Minera and Las Palmas in the capital of the state, and forced her into the vehicle, after which it fled in an unknown direction.  The prosecutor told local media Zoila's husband reported her missing to the States Attorney, so investigations are being carried out. Family, friends and colleagues of the mother of two young children have mobilized social networks to spread the word with signs photographs, asking for support from the authorities for her search and localization. Through Twitter and Facebook have reproduced photographs of the journalist and the vehicle she was driving at the time of her disappearance. The latest word is Mexican authorities have launched a joint operation involving police, police prosecutors and members of the Army to search for journalist Zoila Edith Chiu. The search was ordered by the governor of Zacatecas Miguel Alonso Reyes.The surrounding states of Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi, Coahuila and Durango were alerted as well. Hashtags on Twitter: |
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