World
& National News
David Cameron
holds talks with President Obama
David Cameron and Barack
Obama It is David Cameron's first US visit as prime minister
David Cameron is holding talks with US President Barack Obama in
Washington, with the BP oil leak, Afghanistan and the global economy on
the agenda.
He arrived at the White House, on his first visit as UK prime minister,
shortly before 1600 BST. A press conference will take place later.
Mr Cameron told a US newspaper he would be "hard-headed and realistic"
about UK-US relations.
Obama's
'Special Relationship' with Britain Tested
British Prime Minister David Cameron sought to ease transatlantic
tensions over BP Plc on Tuesday as he headed into talks with President
Barack Obama that could test the vaunted "special relationship" between
the two countries.
Cameron, speaking on National Public Radio before his White House
visit, said BP had to do "everything necessary" to cap its blown-out
oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, clean up the massive spill and pay
compensation.
GOP
Mulls Prospects for Stopping Kagan
With time running out to block U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan,
Republicans appear increasingly divided over whether they have a
realistic shot at stopping her confirmation.
Many Republicans say confidentially that it's doubtful even a
full-court press by the National Rifle Association and a GOP filibuster
could derail Kagan. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to
approve the nomination Tuesday and send it to the full Senate for a
vote.
Curt Levey, executive director of the conservative Committee for
Justice organization, says it probably isn't realistic to expect a GOP
filibuster.
GOP
Sees Path to Control of Senate
Democrats for the first time are acknowledging that Republicans could
retake the Senate this November if everything falls into place for the
GOP, less than two years after Democrats held a daunting 60-seat
majority.
Leaders of both parties have believed for months that Republicans could
win the House, where every lawmaker faces re-election. But a change of
party control in the Senate, where only a third of the members are
running and Republicans must capture 10 seats, seemed out of the
question.
That's no longer the case. The emergence of competitive Republican
candidates in Wisconsin, Washington and California—Democratic-leaning
states where polls now show tight races—bring the number of seats that
Republicans could seize from the Democrats to 11.
Blagojevich
Expected To Take Witness Stand
But His Brother Must Finish Up First
Deposed Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected to finally step into
the witness box at his corruption trial on Tuesday, though exactly when
will depend partly on how quickly prosecutors finish cross-examining
his brother.
Blagojevich arrived at court Tuesday morning, holding hands with his
wife, Patti Blagojevich. He smiled and waved to a large crowd of people
hoping to attend court for the day.
Opposing
view on the Supreme Court: A big-government vision
By
Jeff Sessions
After carefully reviewing Elena Kagan's record and testimony before the
Senate Judiciary Committee, I must oppose her nomination.
Kagan deserves bipartisan backing, but won't get it
The American people want judges who impartially follow the text of the
Constitution. They reject judges who use their power to impose their
own political views — liberal or conservative — on the nation.
Throughout her career, Ms. Kagan has placed her politics above the law.
Dem
Candidate not planning to attend Obama's Texas fundraisers
White team says his schedule is full, group tries to help Hispanic
Republicans and Perry gets a question of his own about releasing tax
returns.
As I reported last night on the Postcards blog, Democratic sources say
President Barack Obama will be in Austin and Houston on Aug. 9 for a
pair of fundraisers. And Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White
doesn’t plan to be there.
Said White spokeswoman Katy Bacon, “That week is jam packed, and he’s
not scheduled to be in Houston or Austin at all except for the night of
the 12th. In August, Bill will be talking with Texans about the future
of our state, laying out his plans for the same.”
Iran
Accuses US, Pakistan of Supporting Terrorism
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki accused the U.S., Pakistan
and allied forces of utilizing Afghanistan to support terrorist strikes
inside Iran, including last week's bomb blasts in eastern
Sistan-Baluchistan province.
Mr. Mottaki was among dozens of international diplomats speaking
Tuesday at a global forum in Kabul aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan and
unifying the global fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda.
"Terrorism is an international phenomena and it is not restricted to
one country or region," Mr. Mottaki said.
Illinois
Failures Go Nationwide Under Obama
By PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY
'Unsustainable" is a scary word that recently entered political
discourse, coming authoritatively from Congressional Budget Office
Director Douglas Elmendorf. Unsustainability is the operative moniker
for Barack Obama's massive deficit spending, which Elmendorf said
"cannot be solved through minor tinkering."
The CBO predicts an increase in our public debt from $7.5 trillion at
the end of 2009 to $20.3 trillion at the end of 2020 if Obama's fiscal
2011 budget is implemented. As a percentage of gross domestic product,
the debt will rise to 90% from 53%.
Sniper
Targets Oakland Cops
Oakland police have their hands full. In addition to a shootout on the
freeway and a police-involved shooting at a BART station, officers are
now on the hunt for an apparent sniper trying to take out officers.
"They hear gunshots and can feel the bullets pass by them," police
spokesman Officer Jeff Thomason said. "They can hear them
whizzing by."
Obama
Allies Boosting Cristg in Florida
Democratic allies of President Barack Obama are coming to the aid of
independent Senate candidate Charlie Crist even though he will square
off against a Democratic opponent in November’s general election.
The Florida governor has recently brought several Democratic operatives
into his campaign, including a pollster and consultant, The Wall Street
Journal is reporting today.
Also, Alfredo Balsera, a member of Obama’s national finance committee
in 2008 and a leading presidential adviser on Latino outreach, is now
advising Crist.
Stimulating
Unemployment
If you can't create any jobs, pay
people not to work.
Presidents typically invite Americans to appear at Rose Garden press
conferences to trumpet their policy successes, but yesterday we saw
what may have been a first. President Obama introduced three
Americans—an auto worker, a fitness center employee and a woman in real
estate—who've been out of work so long they underscore the failure of
his economic program. Where are his spinmeisters when he really needs
them?
Sure, Mr. Obama's ostensible purpose was to lobby Congress for the
eighth extension of jobless benefits since the recession began, to a
record 99 weeks, or nearly two years. And he whacked Senate Republicans
for blocking the extension, though Republicans are merely asking that
the extension be offset by cuts in other federal spending.
Why
Hasn't Israel Bombed Iran (Yet)?
The military risks are large; the
political risks could be even bigger.
Why hasn't Israel bombed Iran yet? It's a question I often get from
people who suppose I have a telepathic hotline to Benjamin Netanyahu's
brain. I don't, but for a long time I was confident that an attack
would happen in the first six months of this year. Since it didn't,
it's worth thinking through why.
First, though, let me explain my previous thinking. In the spring of
2008, there was intense speculation that then-Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, fresh from ordering an attack on a covert Syrian reactor, was
giving serious thought to an Israeli strike on Iran. President Bush—who
Israelis believed would give them the diplomatic cover and logistical
support they would need for such a strike, especially if things went
amiss—had only a few months left to go. The release of the December
2007 National Intelligence Estimate claiming (erroneously, as we now
know) that Iran had halted its nuclear weaponization effort meant it
was highly unlikely that the U.S. would attack.
From the Archives
Hobbled First Amendment
Posted: September
10, 2001
By
Geoff
Metcalf
"Those who would
sacrifice a little freedom for a little security deserve neither."
– Benjamin
Franklin
Both the "Free Press" and the "Free People" have routinely been
subjected to controls, caveats, and mitigation, which frankly should be
prohibited by the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Most Americans cherish the First Amendment to the Constitution with a
near religious intensity. Freedom of Speech is accepted as pretty
axiomatic. Actually, it seems to be the one constitutional guarantee
that left and right, conservative and liberal actually agree on – kinda.
If truth be known and acknowledged, regardless of political philosophy,
most Americans cling to and cherish their individual God-given
inalienable rights as delineated in the First Amendment. However, the
blessing and the curse of the First Amendment is that in order for us
to enjoy the freedoms to speak, write, and worship as we choose, we
must tolerate views, opinions, and religion we find offensive. Easier
said than done. Voltaire would be an anomaly today and probably would
be killed or jailed faster than Buddha.
Despite very specific prohibitive language which states "Congress shall
make no law," Congress has in fact passed laws allegedly "in the public
interest" which were specifically designed and intended to restrict
freedom of speech and press.
Some of the more famous include the Alien And Sedition Acts of 1790,
the Smith Act of 1940 and the McCarran Act of 1950 – on top of which a
gaggle of federal agencies and/or prosecutors have sparked actions that
have resulted in various limitations on freedom of speech and press.
I recalled an interesting survey I found several years ago which listed
countries that had free presses. The United States of America was tied
for 8th place. I couldn't find it in my rat's nest of files so I did a
search and found this global survey that "expands a process conducted
since 1979 by Freedom House. … This survey examines 186 countries (149
with populations greater than 1 million)."
The latest Freedom House survey has the United States ranked No. 10 in
the world. America, "home of the free, land of the brave," with the
First Amendment carved in stone falls behind:
1. Denmark
2. New Zealand
3. Finland
4. Norway
5. Sweden
6. Canada
7. Switzerland
8. Netherlands
9. Australia
Knowledge is power, and the power elite can and will restrict
information however and whenever they can to further their specific
agenda. We have several recent examples to point to for confirmation of
this fact: Ruby Ridge, Waco, Oklahoma City and TWA Flight 800. You
might also consider the "official" government stories of James
Forrestal's "suicide," JFK, Vince Foster, Ron Brown and the recently
WND reported string of related CIA deaths in the '50s.
Way back in 1798 Congress passed four laws which came to be known
collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts. You see, politics being
politics, the then-dominant Federalist Party hoped by this legislation
to hamstring political enemies, specifically the Democratic Republicans.
There had been a quasi-war with France following the XYZ Affair that
convinced a whole bunch of Federalists that "criticism" was disloyal
(more than a little weird and hypocritical so soon after the
Revolution), and so legislation was authored, sponsored and pushed
through Congress. Despite the reservations of President John Adams, it
happened.
Here's what they did:
* The Naturalization
Act increased residency requirements for aliens seeking citizenship
from 5 to 14 years.
* The Alien Act,
limited to two years duration, gave the president power to deport any
foreigner he regarded as dangerous "to the peace and safety of the
United States."
* The Alien
Enemies Act gave the President broad powers to deal with enemy aliens
during time of war.
* The Sedition
Act (another two-year deal) made it a crime to publish anything false
or scandalous against the government. Thank goodness that one was
sunsetted in the founding era or Clinton would have loved that puppy.
This last act violated the letter and spirit of the First Amendment,
although it is notable in that it raised the concept of seditious libel
to accept truth as a defense and to allow juries to rule on questions
of law as well as fact. Republicans won in 1800 and repealed (in 1802)
the Naturalization Act. The others were quietly allowed to expire. But
it happened; the Alien Sedition Acts were once law in America.
And it happened again. The Smith Act of 1940 was a result of concerns
over Germany's European aggression during WWII, and more specifically
over alleged Communist sparked strikes intended to cripple defense
production.
The Smith Act called for and required the fingerprinting and
registering of all aliens residing in the United States and made it a
crime to advocate or teach the violent overthrow of the U.S. government
or to belong to a group advocating or teaching it. Now some folks said
"Whoa! Wait a minute. What about the First Amendment and Freedom of
Speech?"
Well the Supreme Court of 1951 in Dennis v. United States upheld the
act's constitutionality (because it could) and told dissenters to shut
up and sit down. However, the supremes have always been mercurial and
subject to change. In 1957, the court amended its position in Yates v.
United States and ruled that teaching communism or other revolutionary
theories did not in itself constitute grounds for conviction – only
proof positive that direct action had been urged to topple the
government could yield a conviction.
The above is especially significant when viewed in contemporary context
in which the Clintonistas waged jihad against militias and those who
oppose government abuses. Critics of the previous administration were
often victims of abuse of government power, and a long list of Clinton
critics are still licking their wounds and paying legal bills.
The commie-under-the-bed Red Scare of Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs and
McCarthyism gave birth to the Internal Security Act of 1950. This was
supposedly an effort by Congress to eliminate suspected Communist
subversion within our borders. History now shows that the threats were
very real, very significant and (especially in the State Department)
ubiquitous. This puppy (which grew into a Great Dane/Mastiff
crossbreed) provided that Communist front and action organizations must
register with the U.S. attorney general. It denied members employment
within the federal government or its defense industries and the right
to the use of U.S. passports.
Other elements extended the statute of limitations for espionage,
arranged for emergency detention of those likely to commit espionage or
sabotage and created (here we go folks) a "Subversive Activities
Control Board" for the purpose of determining whether organizations and
individuals were Red. The law passed Congress despite a presidential
veto from Harry Truman and hung around (although ignored) until it was
eventually whittled away piece by piece during the early '70s.
All said, it's clear we have a history in the United States of the
Congress tinkering with what we assume to be carved in stone: The First
Amendment.
Last year (2000) the Senate Intelligence Committee tried (and failed)
to create a bill that would establish this country's first-ever
official secrets act. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., wants to criminalize
the unauthorized disclosure of any type of classified information by
federal employees.
In the wake of eight years of abuse of federal power as an art form,
and a nation yearning for the disinfectant cleansing of sunlight, our
government seems intent on restricting further the potential of people
power through knowledge.
If Shelby gets the wink-wink, nod-nod from President Bush it could
herald the end of future Gary Aldriches, I.C. Smiths, Notra Trulocks,
Lt. Cdr. Jack Dalys and no doubt a goodly portion of Bill Gertz's
rolodex.
Can Orwell's "Thought Police" be far behind?