A Travesty - Hillary Does AIPAC

AIPAC holds its convention today, and for some reason they invited Hillary Clinton to speak.

If it was done just for sheer comedy relief, to listen to a bunch of obvious nonsense and outright prevarication,she didn't disappoint.

Actually, the AIPAC powers that be likely expected her to get a less than warm response, because they changed the seating arrangements in the hall so that it would be harder to hear Clinton being booed.

Her full remarks are here, but I'll spare you and simply cut to the best bits:

Given the shared challenges we face, the relationship between the United States and Israel has never been more important. The United States has long recognized that a strong and secure Israel is vital to our own strategic interests. We know that the forces that threaten Israel also threaten the United States. And we firmly believe that when we strengthen Israel’s security, we strengthen America’s security.

So from its first day, the Obama administration has worked to promote Israel’s security and long-term success. As Vice President Biden said in Israel, we know that to make progress in this region, there must be no gap between the United States and Israel on security. And there will not be. For President Obama, for me, and for this entire administration, our commitment to Israel’s security and Israel’s future is rock solid.

Oh really, Madame Secretary? Does that include lying about previous agreements between Israel and the United States? Or instituting what amounts to a de facto arms embargo?

Last fall, I stood next to Prime Minister Netanyahu and praised his government’s decision to place a moratorium on new residential construction in the West Bank. And then I praised it again in Marrakesh and Cairo. We also made clear that this was just a first step and, like every administration for decades, underscored that the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. As Israel’s friend, it is our responsibility to give credit when it is due and to tell the truth when it is needed.

Actually, what the Obama Administration and Mrs. Clinton actually did was accept and praise a concession Netanyahu gave them to institute a temporary freeze that did not include Jerusalem, and then cynically turn on Israel, ratchet up a manufactured 'crisis' and demand something no Israeli government could deliver and still stay in power.

And those prior administrations? Even the Clinton Administration accepted that Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria were going to remain part of Israel...and the Bush Administration actually formalized the arrangement!

The Obama Administration has been the only US Administration to outright `condemn' the notion that Jews should be allowed to live somewhere in peace. No other US Administration ever questioned that right.

In addition to threatening Israel, a nuclear-armed Iran would embolden its terrorist clientele and would spark an arms race that could destabilize the region. This is unacceptable. Unacceptable to the United States. Unacceptable to Israel. And unacceptable to the region and the international community.

So let me be very clear: The United States is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.{...}

We are working with our partners in the United Nations on new Security Council sanctions that will show Iran’s leaders that there are real consequences for their intransigence, that the only choice is to live up to their international obligations. Our aim is not incremental sanctions, but sanctions that will bite. It is taking time to produce these sanctions, and we believe that time is a worthwhile investment for winning the broadest possible support for our efforts. But we will not compromise our commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring these weapons.

Which means...what, exactly? Obama has already reset 'deadlines' on Iran several times now and was quite clear that he was going to pursue "mild, targeted sanctions" rather than anything that might actually have a shot at persuading the mullahs to end their quest for nukes.
That qualifies as 'determined'?

The only other step the Obama Administration has pursued is to constantly warn Israel against dealing with an existential, genocidal threat.

See, Iranians beating and torturing people in the streets, arming, financing and training the people who are killing our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and fomenting terrorism worldwide via Hamas and Hezbollah doesn't upset Barack Obama. Jews building houses...now, that's another matter.


The way forward is clear: two states for two peoples living side by side in peace and security, with peace between Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon, and normal relations between Israel and all the Arab states. A comprehensive peace that is real and not a slogan, that is rooted in genuine recognition of Israel's right to exist in peace and security, and that offers the best way to ensure Israel's enduring survival and well-being. And, it is a goal that the Obama administration is determined to achieve.

Which is why the only country the Obama Administration deems worthy of pressuring is Israel.

But wait, there's more. Our Secretary of State is so anxious to cover for the approved terrorists of Fatah that she's willing to cover for them by trying to pass off Fatah's making a hero out of a child killer as something Hamas did:

When a Hamas-controlled municipality glorifies violence and renames a square after a terrorist who murdered innocent Israelis, it insults the families on both sides who have lost loves ones in this conflict. And when instigators deliberately mischaracterize the rededication of a synagogue in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem’s old city and call upon their brethren to “defend” nearby Muslim holy sites from so-called “attacks,” it is purely and simply an act of incitement. These provocations are wrong and must be condemned for needlessly inflaming tensions and imperiling prospects for a comprehensive peace.

Is she willfully lying, or just stupid?

The day after VP Joe Biden left the region, the 'Palestinian Authority' - NOT Hamas and not 'instigators' - held that official ceremony in Ramallah to rename the main public square in honor of Dalal Mughrabi, the woman who in 1978 helped carry out a deadly terrorist attack that that left 38 Israeli civilians dead, 13 of them children as well as several Americans. Mahmoud Abbas was present, and he and his Fatah henchmen made speeches honoring Mughrabi.

As for condemning it, you didn't hear it out of the Obama Administration. I guarantee you Mrs. Clinton wasn't on the phone for 45 minutes screaming at Mahmoud Abbas and making demands and issuing ultimatums - that was reserved for Bibi Netanyahu.


We commend the government of President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad for the reforms they have undertaken to strengthen law and order, and the progress they have made in improving the quality of life in the West Bank. But we encourage them to redouble their efforts to put an end to incitement and violence, continue to ensure security and rule of law, and ingrain a culture of peace and tolerance among Palestinians.

'Reforms'? Whom exactly does Hillary think she's kidding? The Obama Administration has made no demands of the Palestinians...which is exactly why they're so intransigent. They know Obama and Hillary have their back and are simply relying on Obama to deliver the Jews.

Mrs. Clinton should stick to sucking on the face of Sufa Arafat instead of mouthing demonstrable lies like this in public. Cuddling up to Palestinian terrorists and shilling for them might be despicable, but at least it has the virtue of being honest.

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Golgotha: ObamaCare Passes, 219-212

The roll call is here.

Just like thieves in the night...

What we're seeing here is no less than a deliberate attempt to crucify the American way of life.

If this stands, it will be an unimaginable assault on everything we hold dear. It will dilute our Constitution, and lessen our our liberties, our prosperity and those of our children.These people have an image of America so warped, so essentially misshapen and distorted that it goes beyond mere 'political differences'. And to reshape our republic into their own twisted image, they're prepared to ignore the Constitution, the will of the people, and even basic morality.

It is nothing less than a declaration of war and it must be treated accordingly.

The House vote is only the first battle in this war. The Senate still has to accept the House changes in the Senate's version of Obamacare bill, and the Senate Republicans were ignored when they tried repeatedly to get the Democrats to meet with them in front of the Senate parliamentarian to address the fact that the House 'fixes' in the so-called reconciliation contain significant differences and violates the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Unless the Democrats plan to blatantly ignore US law,( which based on past performance they are) knocking down the reconciliation would mean that the only bill the president could legally sign would be the original Senate bill. However, I fully expect that the Democrats will use their majority to push the illegal reconciliation through, , with its massive funding of abortion and the infamous bribes using the taxpayer's money that were used to buy votes. It's where I always felt this was heading anyway.

Still, it is necessary to fight this tooth and nail, so that the country sees and remembers.

Nor does it end there.

The Senate Bill has a number of unconstitutional aspects even without the Slaughter Solution, in that it violates the ninth amendment by being a government 'taking' of private property without compensation and the tenth amendment by violating state sovereignty, not to mention the slew of other laws Prez Zero and Nancy Pelosi broke to get it through.

So expect lawsuits and court challenges:

Bills and resolutions have been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures seeking to limit or oppose various aspects of the reform plan through laws or state constitutional amendments, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"There's going to be a big free-for-all lawsuit about this," said Michael Bird, legislative counsel for the NCSL.

...So far, only two states, Idaho and Virginia, have enacted laws, while an Arizona constitutional amendment is seeking voter approval on the November ballot. No anti-health care reform legislation has emerged in Democrat-dominated states like Illinois and New York, according to the NCSL.

Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter signed a bill on Wednesday allowing the state's attorney general to file a lawsuit opposing federal healthcare legislation requiring individuals to buy medical insurance.

Otter sees federal legislation as overreaching and bound to add to medical expenses of state governments, spokesman Jon Hanian said .

"He's concerned we can't afford it," Hanian said, adding that Otter, a Republican, is disappointed in how the Democrat-led U.S. Congress is handling the legislation.

Florida's Attorney General (who is also running for Governor) and his counterpart from South Carolina have both vowed to sue over the individual mandate. Both states have a lot of seniors, who are getting screwed to the tune of half a trillion dollars in ObamaCare.

Expect challenges to Obamacare’s constitutionality to reach the Supreme Court in the coming months.

But no matter what the courts decide, the real victory will come when the Democrats face their constituents in November. There is not a single Congressman who voted for this travesty worthy of being returned to office, and we must defeat as many of them as possible and retake Congress, with repeal as the battle cry.

It is a war we can win.And we must make sure to elect not just the usual gang of appeasers, but legislators prepared to re-implement the Founder's principles that made this the freest, most prosperous country in history.

With majorities in both the House and the Senate much of the damage can be undone, particularly since ObamaCare doesn't really kick in to 2014. And then, it might also be time to use to power of Congress to start subpoenaing records and getting testimony from the current occupant of the White House and a few other players about some of the illegalities and irregularities used to push ObamaCare through.

First Golgotha...then the Resurrection.


-selah-

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It's Official - Bart Stupak Caves For Worthless EO

@!!##! weasel.

This is probably what Pelosi and Obama need to shove this through the House:

The White House and anti-abortion Democrats have reached an agreement to defusethe controversy over abortion in the health reform bill – planning a series of steps that will secure the support of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and other Democrats to give party leaders the votes they need to pass reform, sources tell POLITICO.

Under the agreement, President Barack Obama would sign an executive order ensuring that no federal funding will go to pay for abortion under the health reform plans. In addition, Stupak will get to state his concerns about abortion funding in the bill during a colloquy on the House floor during the debate.

And then, Stupak and several other Democratic hold-outs over abortion will sign on to the bill, the sources said.

Just for the record the President can not rescind a law at the stroke of a pen, or deny someone or some organization federal monies they're entitled to by law.

This executive order might as well be written in disappearing ink.

As for Stupak...well, I suppose we'll find out what he got out of this later.I hope it was worth selling out his constituents, his country and his faith.

As I said, now the real struggle begins - in the Senate, in the courts and most importantly, at the ballot box.

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Stupak To Announce Vote At Press Conference, 4PM EST

Which is right around now.

My guess it that he's sold his soul to Obama and Ma Pelosi and will announce a yes vote.

Here's the text of Zero's executive order on abortion..which he says he will sign after ObamaCare passes.

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Garret: Stupak Is Still A No..

Via Twitter from FOX's Major Garrett:

"Stupak spox 2 me on abortion/EO deal: "No…there is not yet a deal & he is still a NO vote right now." Note: "right now"

call Bart Stupak at 202-225-4735 NOW!!!

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Stupak Caves - Will Vote Yes On ObamaCare

This pretty much finishes things in the House.

Bart Stupak, the leader of the anti-abortion holdouts against Obamacare just rolled over. The idea is that Obama is going to issue some kind of executive order to change the abortion language in the bill. And I'm sure Stupak got something out of it personally...we'll find out later.

Now on to the real battle - resistance,court challenges and repeal.

UPDATE: Major Garrett just twittered me:

"Exercising caution on Stupak. No confirmation he's a "yes"...yet. He told Hill reporters min ago he's still a "no."

Stay tuned...and call Bart Stupak at 202-225-4735

Is he prepared to go against what the majority of his fellow Americans want? Does he care how many unborn babies end up being murdered with federal funds?. Does he think G-d and the American people aren't watching as he makes his deals and decisions on this bill? Is he really going to trust promises made by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Zero? Is he unaware that an Executive Order by the likes of Zero can be repealed by the stroke of a pen? Call Stupak and tell him NO FREAKIN' WAY.

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Your ObamaCare Update

A couple of interesting developments as things come down to the wire and comedy turns into farce.

Today was the day of a massive anti-Obamacare demonstration in DC with something like 30,000 attending.

And wouldn't you know it? The Angry left at places like PuffHo is breathlessly reporting that those racist, fascist tea partyers called two members of the Congressional Black Caucus the N-word!! And threatened gun violence! And called Barney Frank 'homo' and 'faggot' which some of the dear souls printed as f****t'

Funny thing though...the only people whose word we have for the racial slurs are those pinnacles of veracity, members of the Congressional Black Caucus John Lewis (D-GA.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.). Nobody else even heard it, in that big crowd with all the media present. But of course,nobody who belongs to an inherently racist group like the CBC would ever lie, right? And especially not these two. Buy hey, CNN picked it up so it must be true, what with CNN's sterling record for honest, fair and balanced coverage. Just ask Baghdad Bob or Saddam Hussein.

The 'gun violence threat' consisted of two signs saying “Warning: If Brown can’t stop it, a Browning can.” In a crowd of 30,000 people.

One thing that did apparently happen was that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, (D-Missouri) who also claimed in a statement after the fact he too was subjected to the N-word was spat on by one protester as he walked to the Capitol for a vote.

I can hardly see what he's complaining about. Cleaver's been spitting on the 'little people' that pay his salary for months now.

In another interesting development, the Democrats in the House rules committee descended into chaos over the Slaughter Solution,(AKA 'deem and pass) which apparently has some basic legal and procedural problems with it.

See, the Senate has passed its ObamaCare bill. Now, if the House passes the same exact bill, it goes on to Prez Zero, and if he signs it, the bill becomes law. That's how Article I of the Constitution specifies that this sort of thing needs to be done.

The problem is that when the House Democrats vote for the Senate bill using the unconstitutional 'deem and pass' strategy, they also want to simultaneously pass a package of amendments to the law.

Except that ObamaCare isn't law at that point, since Obama hasn't signed it. And you can't 'amend' something that isn't law!

The House Democrats don't want to go one record as voting for thedeeply unpopular Obamacare, so they were hoping to use 'deem and pass' (which magically deems the Senate bill to have passed without a vote) and then pass the so-called 'fixes'.

Because of that, the Democrats have decided to drop 'deem and pass' for now and go for an actual vote on the Senate bill.

But in a bizarre twist ( since the Dems in the House still don't trust the Dems in the Senate) they're going to have a separate, up-or-down vote on the 'fixes' to the bill scheduled before they vote on the Senate ObamaCare bill!

Again, this is something unheard of, but, as Dem Committee Chair Alcee Hastings said today "There ain't no rules here. We make 'em up as we go along"



Spoken by someone who knows,as a former federal judge impeached for bribery who is still a member of Congress in good standing.

The vote count? Very fluid.It appears Pelosi is still about a half dozen votes shy of 216. Here's a rough schedule EST of Sunday's proceedings:

2 p.m.: The House will debate for one hour the rules of debate for the reconciliation bill(the 'fixes') and the Senate bill.

3 p.m.: The House will vote to end debate and vote on the rules of the debate.(if any)

3:15 p.m.: The House will debate the reconciliation package for two hours.

5:15 p.m.: The House will vote on the reconciliation package.

5:30 p.m.: The House will debate for 15 minutes on a Republican substitute and then vote on the substitute.

6 p.m.: The House will vote on the final reconciliation package.

6:15 p.m.: If the reconciliation bill passes, the House will immediately vote on the Senate bill, without debate.

Stay tuned...

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Obama Hits New Low In Polls

Oh My...

Rasmussen, probably the most accurate poll out there since it polls likely voters has Zero's approval rating at a whopping 43%, with 56% disapproval and 44% strongly disapproving...and that's before the ObamaCare vote!

Nor are the other polls much better.Gallup,which oversamples Democrats is Obama's highest rating at 47% - 47%, tied, while FOX has him at 46% approval and 48% disapproval.

Meanwhile the Democrat Congress has a 19% approval rating.

If the Dems push ObamaCare through, look for the approval ratings of both Obama and Congress to take a substantial drop.

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Why Friendly Fire Is A Huge Mistake

Conservative blogger and film critic Debbie Schlussel is someone I've interacted with in the past and whom I link to because, in spite of a personality that could peel paint, she has done and continues to do superb work when it comes to unmasking the creeping jihad in America.

That said, she's the sort of person who seems to delight in picking fights with others on the Right side of the blogosphere in almost a Chuckie Johnson mode, including Yael over at Boker Tov Boulder and Pam Geller over at Atlas Shrugs. TYPING IN CAPITALS and accusing her foe d'jour of G-d knows what unspeakable crime, the thought has crossed my mind more than once that she tries to diminish others with the idea of inflating herself.

Her latest target is FOX personality Sean Hannity, whom she's been hostile towards for years. In a post that got a great deal of attention, she accused Hannity of running a scam to feather his own nest and charging luxury accommodations and travel utilizing the Freedom Alliance Charity, which benefits our wounded warriors and their children.

Needless to say, Lefty sites like Media Matters were giddy happy over this - hey, a Right-wing nut blogger unmasking Sean Hannity!! Whoo Hoo!!

But..was it true? Lessee..

Schlussel's original post ( and no, I'm not going to link to it) stated:

"In fact, less than 20%–and in two recent years, less than 7% and 4%, respectively–of the money raised by Freedom Alliance went to these causes, while millions of dollars went to expenses, including consultants and apparently to ferry the Hannity posse of family and friends in high style. And, despite Hannity’s statements to the contrary on his nationally syndicated radio show, few of the children of fallen soldiers got more than $1,000-$2,000, with apparently none getting more than $6,000, while Freedom Alliance appears to have spent tens of thousands of dollars for private planes. Moreover, despite written assurances to donors that all money raised would go directly to scholarships for kids of the fallen heroes and not to expenses, has begun charging expenses of nearly $500,000 to give out just over $800,000 in scholarships."

FrumForum analyzed this in detail and had this to say:

Freedom Alliance’s press release today stated categorically that they have “never provided planes, hotels, cars, limos, or anything else to Sean [Hannity] … to be clear Sean pays for all his own transportation, hotels, and all related expenses for himself and his family and friends and staff.” We are satisfied that this is true.

It is true that Freedom Alliance spent $60,000 on aviation services in 2006, but there is no evidence that this was for Sean Hannity’s benefit, and it seems unlikely that the money was used to lease a Gulfstream 5. Rates for G5 aircraft average around $8,000 an hour. $60,000 would not buy much at that rate.

We have also been able to confirm that Sean Hannity has no operational control over the organization. Nor is he even a member of the group’s board.

If Schlussel stands behind her statement, then she will have to do better than a quote from a blind source, who is, as she admits, a friend of a friend.

And the Freedom Alliance also stated that not only does Hannity receives nothing from the charity but that Hannity has personally “contributed $100,000 to the Wounded Warriors Foundation, over $200,000 to the Freedom Alliance, and over tens of thousands of dollars to other military charities and individuals.”

Schlussel also stated in her piece that only $1 million of the organization’s $8.8 million in revenue was going to soldiers and scholarships in 2008.

In fact, when you look at the actual numbers from FrumForum's audit of Freedom Alliance's 990 forms and from Charity Navigator, she's only including direct financial grants to individuals from the charity. It doesn't appear to include in kind contributions like groceries, taking soldiers to concerts and sporting events or care packages sent overseas.

Charity Navigator reveals that The Freedom Alliance is hardly the most efficient charity around, but far from the least with an efficiency rating of 35.65, which puts it solidly in the middle ranking for charities.

Freedom Alliance also spends money on non-cash benefits for military families, involving things like taking soldiers to sporting events and sending care packages to troops.

The same thing is true of scholarship funds which gave 167 students an average of $4,803.89 each in tuition. But as Debbie doesn't mention, that's annual. And since we're talking about kids of Iraq and Afghanistan who are younger rather than college age, that's a pretty nice amount towards private school tuition.

Out of $2.1 million for scholarships Freedom Alliance raised in 2008, about $800,000 of that went to scholarships for that year and the remaining $1,238,636 went into the Freedom Alliance's scholarship trust fund, NOT into it's general fund as Schlussel wrote in her piece.

If so, putting a substantial amount in the trust fund would represent proper planning for future needs and a correct allocation of resources - which is exactly how reputable charities play the game.

Is the Freedom Alliance a model charity? Probably not. But is Sean Hannity guilty of corruption and of using it as his personal cash cow? Unless La Schlussel has some actual evidence to the contrary instead of a lot of third hand whispers, no.

For that matter, the very fact that Colonel Ollie North, who founded the Freedom Alliance in 1990 and who now serves as the organization's honorary chairman approved a press release exonerating Hannity says a lot more to me than any half-baked malicious rumors from someone who by her own admission has hated Hannity for years..

As anyone who has met him knows, Colonel North, aside from being the sort of person you'd instinctively want watching your back in a tough spot is a person of innate integrity. The idea that he would countenance a scam of this type is ludicrous.

Schlussel, for her part responded to all this in true Dan Rather fashion, essentially not responding to any of the factual rebuttals to what she had to say but declaring that she had more to post on 'the fraud at Freedom Alliance, in the coming days.'

Oh, and she gratuitously accused RedState's Erick Erickson of being an 'anti-Semite' for having the temerity to post a rebuttal to what essentially is a weak accusation so far.

Erick Erickson? Unbelievable....next she'll probably call me one!

So, in the end, what's all this about?

I confess to not particularly being a Sean Hannity fan, although I find his on air persona pleasant and enjoy the fact that he gets great guests.But to go crazy like this without providing any specific proof? Why?

If I had concrete information ( as opposed to what Debbie Schlussel has revealed so far) that someone like Sean Hannity was misusing a charity, my first action would be to contact him and get his side of it before I went public. Aside from it being the fair and decent thing to do, it has the positive aspect of denying the Angry Left ammo and a target.

Schlussel ought to realize that we are in a war, and you need to be real careful about firing on your own side just to massage your ego.It is absurdly dangerous and irresponsible, and you only end up shooting yourself in the foot. In one post she's accused Hannity of foul corruption and Erick of being a Jew hater, and those accusations will stick with the Left and be repeated again and again no matter how often they're debunked.

Debbie, who claims to be an observant orthodox Jew may be familiar with what the Torah and the Mishna have to say about the sin of Lashon Hora, an evil tongue.

If she's unable to back up her accusations, I hope in her heart of hearts she takes a little time to reflect on those passages and think about what she's doing.

-selah-

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The Lying Socialist Weasel-In-Chief Hits A Speed Bump

In this case, a speed bump named Brett Baier who actually subjected Prez Zero to a critical interview that asked real questions and refused to allow Zero to filibuster:





Notice how Zero fumbles, stumbles and dissembles in the face of actual real questions and is unable to answer...

Obama is still likely to foist ObamaCare on the American people, but it was good to see a journalist actually vetting him for once.And for the American people to actually see what a con man and prevaricator the current occupant of the White House actually is.

Next time, Zero will stick to Mess NBC, where they pray to a statue of The ObamaMessiah five times a day.

Oh, Peggy Noonan weighs in on this in the WSJ, and it seems that *gasp* she's discovered that the man she had orgasms over during the campaign really is a serial liar with a deeply ingrained contempt for the American people.

Sorry, Peg. You're a little late to the party, and we haven't forgotten.

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The Latest ObamaCare Roundup..

I figure that this weekened is going to be the end game for ObamaCare.

Again, I doubt this has nothing to do with an actual vote count. Now that the Democrats have voted to allow Nancy Pelosi to implement the Slaughter Solution that illegally 'deems' the Senate bill to be passed, a formal roll call and vote isn't even necessary.

One of those who voted for the Slaughter Solution was Rep. John Boccieri (D-Ohio, a key swing vote who has now made it official and switched his solid 'no' vote to a 'yes'.he was one of the Donkeys I was watching to see which way this was going, and is a major pick up for Prez Zero and Pelosi.

Another indication that we may not even see a vote or roll call on ObamaCare was a lil' statement by Speaker Pelosi that Bart Stupak and the other anti-abortion Democrats can essentially go screw themselves:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked by ABC News about Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-MI) suggestion that there could be another bill to address abortion funding but she closed the door.

Said Pelosi: "This bill is about health care and not about abortion. There will be no further changes in the bill."

That means one of two things. Either Pelosi and Obama have been able to bribe/threaten/intimidate enough votes to push this through or more likely, as I theorized yesterday, the House Jackasses approving the use of the unconstitutional Slaughter Solution was pretty much the real vote on ObamaCare.

Since Boccieri, Joe Sestak and several other supposedly solid 'no' votes decided to go along and vote 'yes' on Slaughter, it seems to make sense that Pelosi made a deal with them that if they voted for the Slaughter Solution, she would use it to spare them actually having to go on record in an actual vote.

In other news, the Congressional Budget Office has 'revised' its earlier estimate on the costs of ObamaCare, now that they have more of an idea of what 'fixes' the Dems have in mind.

The new price tag? Oh, up from a mere $940 billion to $2 trillion in the bill's first decade.

And as I told you here, even those figures are likely understated.

This will likely go through, one way or another, because Obama wants at least the appearance of a 'win' at all costs to salve his own ego,no matter how many Democrat Congressional seats it costs.

The GOP will likely do its best to use procedural landmines to try and delay it, and that's good, because this needs to be fought tooth and nail.

But the real route to killing this is going to be court challenges like the massive ones Mark Levin already has planned, legal challenges in every single circuit. That, and the Republicans throughout America using 'Repeal' as their battle cry from now until November.

Repeal is entirely plausible because the bill's 'entitlement' provisions don't even kick in until 2013..just the pain and the taxation.

In the meantime, melt the phones and the wires. Hugh Hewitt has good lists of vulnerable Democrats whose lives you can make miserable even if you don't live in their districts by telling them that if they vote for this abomination, you just donated to their opponents and there's more where that came from.

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Watcher's Council Results, 3/19/10

The Council has spoken! Here's a complete rundown of the voting tallies on our weekly competition, with Wolf Howling and Walter Russell Mead taking the honors this week :

Winning Council Submissions

• First place with 3 points! – Wolf Howling - AP Goes APE Over Texas School Book Changes
• Second place *t* with 2 points – American Digest - The Plague of Locusts Presidency
• Second place *t* with 2 points - The Razor – The United States of Venezuela
• Third place with 1 1/3 points - Mere Rhetoric – Confirmed: Anti-Israel Jewish Groups Scapegoat Israel For Obama’s Manufactured Crisis
• Fourth place with 1 point - Bookworm Room - God and Gaia; or, the difference between a religion that serves man and one that serves Nature
• Fifth Place with 2/3 point - The Provocateur - The Untold Story of Non Profit Hospitals
• Sixth Place with 1/3 point - Joshuapundit - The Prince And The FOX
• Sixth Place with 1/3 point - Right Truth - Violence Against Israel, Blame It On Obama, Biden, and Clinton
• Sixth Place with 1/3 point - The Colossus of Rhodey – On the Texas textbook controversy

Winning Non-Council Submissions

• First Place with 2 1/3 Points – Walter Russell Mead’s Blog-The American Interest - Is this Lobby different from all others?
• Second place with 2 Points - Melanie Phillips – The Obama Intifada Submitted by JoshuaPundit
• Third Place *t* with 1 1/3 Points - Riehl World View – Isn’t It Time To Euthanize Reid’s Wife? Submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Third Place *t* with 1 1/3 Points – The Lunatic’s Asylum – Reason # 11,206 Why Your President is an Asshole… Submitted by Right Truth
• Third Place *t* with 1 1/3 Points – The New Ledger - Obamacare’s Two Americas Submitted by American Digest
• Fourth Place with 1 Point - Pillage Idiot Retirement – Joe Biden works his magic in the Middle East submitted by The Watcher
• Fifth Place *t* with 2/3 Point - David Thompson - But Left Equals Virtue . . . Submitted by Wolf Howling
• Fifth Place *t* with 2/3 Point - Pajamas Media - Ruben Navarrette Jr – It’s Time for Republicans to Up Their Game Submitted by The Razor
• Sixth Place with 1/3 Point – Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic Monthly Blog – Andrew Sullivan Revises History (Again) Submitted by Bookworm Room

Council Note: We currently have a seat open for a qualified blogger on the Council up for grabs. If you're interested, you may apply here...or e-mail me for details.

As always, congratulations not only to the winners but to all the participants.

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US Observing De Facto Arms Embargo On Israel

This is just the latest in a series of events that started when Obama moved into the White House:

Officials said the U.S. military was ordered to divert a shipment of smart bunker-buster bombs from Israel to a military base in Diego Garcia. They said the shipment of 387 smart munitions had been slated to join pre-positioned U.S. military equipment in Israel Air Force bases.

"This was a political decision," an official said.

In 2008, the United States approved an Israeli request for bunker-busters capable of destroying underground facilities, including Iranian nuclear weapons sites. Officials said delivery of the weapons was held up by the administration of President Barack Obama.

Since taking office, Obama has refused to approve any major Israeli requests for U.S. weapons platforms or advanced systems. Officials said this included proposed Israeli procurement of AH-64D Apache attack helicopters, refueling systems, advanced munitions and data on a stealth variant of the F-15E.

"All signs indicate that this will continue in 2010," a congressional source familiar with the Israeli military requests said. "This is really an embargo, but nobody talks about it publicly."

It also ensures that the Israelis will almost certainly have to use tactical nukes to take out Iran's nuclear facilities - after which Obama will lead the charge in the UN to condemn Israel and attempt to put sanctions on them to get them to give up their nuclear arsenal.

Again this is nothing new that has anything to do with any current dispute with the US.As I reported before, almost as soon as he took office, Obama had the Pentagon change the rules on military aid to Israel to make major restrictions on how the IDF could use it. This tactic allowed Prez Zero to ewffectively cut military aid to Israel without formally going to Congress and doing so by making a significant percentage of it unusable.

At the same time, America is spending over $100 million per year on Mahmoud Abbas' shiny new Palestinian militia, being armed and trained in the Palestinian occupied areas of Judea and Samaria (AKA the West Bank) under US General Keith Dayton. Not only are Hamas fighters commonly supposed to have infiltrated the Fatah units, but many of Dayton's 'soldiers' are actually members of Fatah;s terrorist wings, the Tanzim and the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. Expect that in the event of hostilities, those troops will be turning their weapons on Israeli civilians.

Barack Hussein Obama's goal is to try and ingratiate America with the Muslim world by destroying America's alliance with Israel. It's that simple.

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Dems Vote To Implement Slaughter Solution 222 - 203

The Democrats just successfully voted to allow Nancy Pelosi to urinate on Article I of the Constitution and use the Slaughter Solution to 'deem' ObamaCare passed without an actual roll call or vote.

In other words, the fix is in.

The rollcall of Jackasses who voted for this travesty is here:

And courtesy of the NRO's Jim Geraughty,here's a list of highly vulnerable Dems that need to be punished for going along with this and thus violating their oath:

* Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania.
* John Barrow, Georgia.
* John Boccieri, Ohio.
* Allen Boyd, Florida.
* Leonard Boswell, Iowa.
* Gerry Connolly, Virginia.
* Steve Driehaus, Ohio.
* Joe Donnelly, Indiana.
* Brad Ellsworth, Indiana.
* Baron Hill, Indiana.
* Marcy Kaptur, Ohio.
* Dan Maffei, New York.
* Jim Marshall, Georgia.
* Jim Matheson, Utah.
* Michael McMahon, New York.
* Betsy Markey, Colorado.
* Patrick Murphy, Pennsylvania.
* Earl Pomeroy, North Dakota.
* Nick Rahall, West Virginia.
* Mike Ross, Arkansas.
* Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania.
* Carol Shea Porter, New Hampshire.
* Ike Skelton, Missouri.
* Zach Space, Ohio.
* John Spratt, South Carolina.
* Charlie Wilson, Ohio.

This list does not count retirees.

I pretty much see this as the real vote on ObamaCare. and I note that John Boccieri, Joe Sestak and several other supposedly solid 'no' votes decided to go along with what amounts to a de facto vote for ObamaCare.

Perhaps Pelosi made a deal with some of them to support this so they would be spared an actual vote.

Either way, none of them deserve to be allowed into the halls of Congress in the gallery,let alone serve.

I think my previous prediction was pretty much accurate. Pelosi will avoid an actual vote and use the Slaughter Solution to get this to Obama to sign, after which he'll leave town to go hang out in Indonesia with his Muslim homies.

There will follow a number of procedural and court challenges that will keep this tied up for quite a while, but meantime Obama can claim a 'win' and move on from this poisonous turf to his next campaign..amnesty for illegal aliens, if I were to hazard a guess.

Now the real fight - the Court challenges, retaking Congress and repeal - begins.

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Figures Lie And Liars Figure - The Real Numbers On ObamaCare

The Democrats are giddy with the numbers from the Congressional Budget office showing the cost of ObamaCare to be $940 billion ( almost all of it incurred in a mere 6 years) with supposed 'deficit cutting' of $1.3 trillion over twenty years.

And the left is attempting to spin this as justification to pass this garbage!

I can't speak for the Ezra Kleins of the world, but my mother didn't raise any stupid children.

These numbers are bogus for a number of reasons:

• The figures are an estimate, since they weren't based on the actual reconciliation bill but on a preliminary draft furnished to the CBO by the Democrats.

• There's no telling what the end package will be, because there's no telling what additional bribes and special deals are going to be necessary to pass this before it's over.

• Illegal aliens will be covered,( there's no enforcement provisions or requirements otherwise) and there's no true accounting for how many of them are here or how many will be attracted by our open borders and their shiny new ObamaCare benefits.

• The so-called 'deficit reduction' includes double counting in a number of areas. For instance, $500 million is cut from medicare and taken away from seniors, so this is counted as a 'savings'. it isn't because the money is being used to fund the subsidies on the new entitlement contained in the bill!

But let's take this a step further, shall we? Let's assume that these bogus figures were actually accurate.

I've got a proposition for you, people. You refinance your home and pay me $9,490 upfront in 2010 dollars in costs and fees. In exchange, you're going to save a whopping $13,000 in 2030 dollars twenty years from now ( and remember, there's inflation)...assuming the numbers the Jackasses are trumpeting are anywhere near correct, which they aren't.

Such a deal, eh?

I'm not sure which is worse, the fact that they're actually trying to get away with this or the utter contempt it shows they have for the American people.

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Gaza Rocket Kills One In Israel - While EU Envoy Is Visiting Hamas

Just another gesture from Israel's 'peace partners', I suppose.

Today's attack was on the Israeli community of Netiv Ha'asara and killed an agricultural worker from Thailand as the rocket hit an agricultural hothouse.he apparently wasn't able to get to a shelter in time.

It happened about an hour after the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton paid a diplomatic visit to Hamas.

While the WAPO story I've linked to, mostly written by Palestinian shill Nidal al-Mughrabi does its very best to put the onus for this this on an 'outside militant group', even he can't hide that Hamas took credit for it and that Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum did nothing to distance itself from the attack, saying, "The government of the Zionist enemy, which has launched a war against the Palestinian people and against holy sites and al-Aqsa mosque, bears the responsibility for all the escalation."

In reality, very little happens in Gaza without Hamas okaying it.

Ashton and UN chief Ban Ki-moon issued the usual pro-forma condemnations.But of course, they're still going to keep funding Hamas through UNRWA and insisting Israel and only Israel (not Egypt) open its borders with Gaza.

And if Israel retaliates, I'm sure they'll have problems with Jews defending themselves as well.

-selah-

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Happy St. Patrick's Day...

And remember, if you can't be good,be careful!

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Stupidity From The Latest Mid East 'Expert' - Maureen Dowd !?!

Yes indeed...Modo hung out with the Saudis for a week, and she's now taken off her burka and is an Expert on all things Israel!:

So, Barack Obama can lose his temper without a teleprompter. And we have the supremely aggravating Bibi Netanyahu to thank for that.

On St. Patrick’s Day, of all days, we wouldn’t want to think that our president did not know how to pick his donnybrooks.{...}

Obama is so unpopular in Israel that he has nothing to lose by smacking our ally for its egregious treatment of the vice president. Joe Biden, the great champion of Israel, was humiliated when Israel used the occasion of his visit to defy America and announce a plan for 1,600 more homes in the disputed East Jerusalem area.

Can you stomach the stupidity and arrogance of this idiot? Did you ever wonder why Obama's so unpopular in Israel, Modo? You have to really go some to get down to 4%, and after this latest nonsense it may not even be that high. And calling Joe Biden, the 'great friend of Israel' who's consistently voted against any sanctions on Iran, wanted Israel sanctioned for taking out Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor ( ultimately saving American lives in the Gulf War a decade later) and who famously pounded his fists on a desk while he tried to threaten Yitzak Shamir with a cut off of military sales? Him?

And you have to love the rhetoric on how Israel is 'defying America' by announcing what amounted to a local zoning plan. The reality is that the Obama Administration decided to defy yet another agreement with Israel - the major concession Netanyahu made to Obama but putting a temporary freeze in place in all of Judea and Samaria except Jerusalem, which no Israeli government has considered a 'disputed area for forty years. That especially applies to Ramat Shlomo a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem that no Israeli government ever considered 'disputed'..and no American administration either, until this one.

And as far as insults go, what about Obama's demands that Israel forbear seeking to protect it's religious shrines as part of its heritage?


But wait, there's more...

The president and his inner circle are appalled at Israel’s self-absorption and its failure to notice that America is not only protecting Israel from Iran, fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also dealing with a miasma of horrible problems at home. And Israel insults the Obama administration over a domestic zoning issue that has nothing to do with its security?

America is protecting Israel from Iran, MoDo? Since when? Isn't it actually the reverse, with the Obama Administration complementing its non-policy on Iran by protecting the Islamic Republic and warning Israel constantly not to do anything about the mullahs and their genocidal intentions as the centrifuges keep spinning?

Let's go on...the comedy continues:

In his Atlantic blog, Goldberg suggests that Obama’s ulterior motive is to drive out the ultra-conservatives and force a rupture in the governing coalition that will make it necessary for Netanyahu to take Tzipi Livni’s Kadima Party into his government, thus creating a “stable, centrist coalition” that could work for peace.

Does this silly woman actually think that any Israelis except the far left actually believe that building a few homes in Jerusalem is 'an obstacle for peace?' Does she not understand that the overwhelming consensus in Israel looks at Jerusalem as a red line, as Israel's indivisible capitol...and that in the unlikely event they managed to win an election, even Tzipi Livni and Kadima wouldn't go down that road if they wanted to stay in power?

And after this, do you think the majority of Israelis are stupid enough to trust anything the Obama Administration says?

And here's the boffo finish:

Netanyahu is taking his time-out in an Israel where many citizens and columnists are embarrassed by his behavior. Yet Post-Biden, the government is acting petulant and is inviting construction on more new homes in northeast Jerusalem. Perhaps Bibi will have the good sense to realize the Biden insult was a bit more than “regrettable,” as he tepidly put it. He may remember that the two most important things to Israel should be a security doctrine that prevents a neighboring adversary from getting a nuclear weapon and cherishing the relationship with America — rather than zoning and earmarks.

Yes, Benyamin Netanyahu, an MIT graduate is just a spoiled child having a time-out.

The reality is that since Obama has blown this out of all proportion, Netanyahu likely realizes that no amount of fine tuning or concessions is ever going to be enough to placate the most anti-Israel administration in America's history.

And while the sort of clueless Jews who take drivel of this sort seriously might be too bound up in Obama worship to understand that, the vast majority of Israel's Jews understand it only too well..even if an incredibly arrogant and ignorant Maureen Dowd remains clueless.

You see, relationships go two ways..but then, maybe MoDo just has more experience with the abusive kind.

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Obama's War On Israel

But those that tell lies, that seek my soul to destroy it,they shall go into the nethermost parts of the earth; they shall fall by the sword; they shall be a portion for foxes -Psalm 63.

The mask has come off...if indeed it was ever on.

For those of us who were always aware of whom Barack Obama really is and whom his mentors were and are, this is hardly a surprise that Obama would seek an opportunity to start a war of words with our ally Israel.

It is a war largely built on lies.

The pretext was a supposed 'insult' by Israel over what amounted to a zoning decision to OK building 1600 new homes in Jerusalem while Vice President Biden was on a state visit there.

Biden's ostensible mission in traveling to Israel was to talk the Israelis into playing ball and warn them that they had better not do anything about the genocidal maniacs in Iran, who threaten to annihilate the Jewish State just about every other day and continue to advance steadily towards possessing the means to do it.

Meanwhile of course, the West is doing absolutely nothing about it except demanding that Israel sit quietly and not defend herself.

In the meeting, it was leaked that Biden supposedly told the Israelis that General Petraeus, commander of CENTCOM had made the implausible link between Israel building homes for Jews and endangering US troops.In other words, the vice president told the Israelis that any decision about building that affects 'Palestinian rights' in East Jerusalem affects personal safety of American troops.

"This is starting to get dangerous for us," Biden reportedly told Netanyahu. "What you're doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace."

As if stopping Israel from building a few homes in its sovereign capital ( something they specifically said they were never going to halt anyway) is going to stop the Taliban from killing Americans in AfPak, cause al-Qaeda to close up shop,Hezbollah to disarm or the Iranians to end their quest for nukes!

When this first broke, I doubted Petraeus said anything of the kind, simply because he's not a stupid man. And as it turns out, I was right.

As a matter of fact, Joe Biden didn't even say it

Only an idiot deficient in critical thinking or a deliberate liar would would come up with this kind of linkage. And with that, allow me to introduce you to Mark Perry, an ex-adviser to Yasir Arafat who put this out to wide circulation in Foreign Policy....who of course mentioned nothing in the piece about Perry's old boss and have yet to issue a retraction.

Yes, just another piece of successful pro-Arab disinformation, and one seized on as proof by 'anti-Zionists' that Obama's tactics towards Israel are entirely justified.This one is being repeated ad nauseum as one looks at the sort of comments that news articles and blog pieces on the subject attract from the sort of creatures dwelling underneath various rocks in cyberspace.

As for Biden, once he found out about the homes to be built in Jerusalem,he essentially threw a tantrum, holding up a state dinner in Israel for ninety minutes and then issuing a statement harshly 'condemning' the planned housing in language more suited to an enemy than an ally.

Netanyahu, in an effort to keep things civil issued an apology, at which point Biden declared himself mollified. But the Obama White House had other plans.

It started with Obama unleashing Hillary Clinton to scream at Netanyahu over the phone for forty five minutes, and continued with White House adviser David Axelrod ranting on the Sunday shows about how this was a 'deliberate insult' by Israel.

You might remember that it was Hillary Clinton who praised Netanyahu's earlier agreement to a building freeze that explicitly did not include Jerusalem as an unprecedented concession.'

Not that any of that matters. At this point, the White House is keeping the pot boiling by presenting what amounts to an ultimatum to Israel, demanding a total freeze on building in East Jerusalem, the mass release of Palestinians convicted of terrorism in Israeli courts and the cancellation of the proposed housing project in Ramat Shlomo as 'proof of Israel's peace commitment.'

Along with Obama's demands that Israel forbear seeking to protect it's religious shrines as part of its heritage, these are deliberately calculated as demands no Israeli government could fulfill and still stay in power. The Israelis have held the position that Jerusalem is Israel's indivisible capitol for over forty years, and there's no support in Israel for crossing that particular red line. And for Netanyahu to overrule a local zoning board is about as plausible as Obama stopping a housing development in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Like the Obama Administration's earlier unilateral trashing of the agreement under which Israel signed on to the Road Map and its de facto arms embargo on Israel, this will once again be taken by the Israelis as proof that the current regime in the White House is not to be trusted one iota. And that realization is by no means limited to Israel.

Barack Hussein Obama's main foreign policy goal is to ingratiate America with the Muslim world, no matter what that entails. And part of that involves destroying America's relationship with Israel.

The day after Biden left, the 'Palestinian Authority' held a ceremony in Ramallah to rename the main public square in honor of Dalal Mughrabi, the woman who in 1978 helped carry out a deadly terrorist attack that that left 38 Israeli civilians dead, 13 of them children as well as several Americans. Mahmoud Abbas was present, and he and his Fatah henchmen made speeches honoring Mughrabi.

That's something the White House didn't see fit to condemn.

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Watcher's Council Nominations - St. Pat's Edition!

The Watcher's Council is a group of some of the most incisive blogs in the`sphere. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one of their own and one from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.

Then, we vote on the ones in each category..with the results appearing on Friday.

So, let's see what we have this week....

Council Submissions

• Wolf Howling - AP Goes APE Over Texas School Book Changes
• Mere Rhetoric – Confirmed: Anti-Israel Jewish Groups Scapegoat Israel For Obama’s Manufactured Crisis
• The Razor – The United States of Venezuela
• Rhymes With Right – Why Is This Not A Major National Story?
• The Colossus of Rhodey – On the Texas textbook controversy
• The Provocateur - The Untold Story of Non Profit Hospitals
• Right Truth - Violence Against Israel, Blame It On Obama, Biden, and Clinton
• Bookworm Room - God and Gaia; or, the difference between a religion that serves man and one that serves Nature
• The Glittering Eye - What Next?
• Joshuapundit - The Prince And The FOX
• American Digest - The Plague of Locusts Presidency

Non-Council Submissions

• David Thompson – But Left Equals Virtue . . . Submitted by Wolf Howling
• John Noonan / Weekly Standard Blogs – Obama Nominates Missile Defense Critic to Key White House Spot Submitted by Mere Rhetoric
• Pajamas Media – Ruben Navarrette Jr – It’s Time for Republicans to Up Their Game Submitted by The Razor
• Riehl World View – Isn’t It Time To Euthanize Reid’s Wife? Submitted by Rhymes with Right
• The Evolutionary Review – On the Origins of Comics: New York Double-take Submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Chicago Tribune/John Kass – For Outfit’s Coffee Klaatsch Submitted by the Provocateur
• The Lunatic’s Asylum – Reason # 11,206 Why Your President is an Asshole… Submitted by Right Truth
• Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic Monthly Blog – Andrew Sullivan Revises History (Again) Submitted by Bookworm Room
• Walter Russell Mead’s Blog–The American Interest – Is this Lobby different from all others? Submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Melanie Phillips – The Obama Intifada Submitted by JoshuaPundit
• The New Ledger - Obamacare’s Two Americas Submitted by American Digest
• Pillage Idiot Retirement – Joe Biden works his magic in the Middle East submitted by The Watcher

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