Fool me once. shame on you, Fool me twice - shame on me!!!

Tired of hearing Republicans accused of being racist?

I sure am, that's why I was particularly taken by today's column in TownHall.com, by Ashley Herzog! Direct, on point --- and you will never see it on the front page of rags like the NY Times, LA Times, et al.

The bigotry of low expectations in D.C.
Ashley Herzog
Monday, January 04, 2010

Democrats’ favorite method of shutting down debate is to accuse Republicans of secretly promoting racist agendas. Opposing socialized medicine is racist, stopping illegal immigration is racist, and—if you listen to liberal bloggers who wrote endless gasbag analyses of the incident—Rep. Joe Wilson yelling “You lie!” during President Obama’s speech on health care was racist. But forcing thousands of black kids to return to substandard public schools is apparently all good.

Two weeks ago, Democrats defunded the Washington Opportunity Scholarship Program, which serves a city that is 54 percent black and 20 percent impoverished. The high school graduation rate is 58 percent, one of the worst in the country, and in 2006, half of the public schools failed to meet basic federal education standards.

The Opportunity Scholarship Program offered poor children a quality education at half the taxpayer expense: $7,500 as opposed to the $14,000 Washington currently spends per student. In response to the Democrats’ decision, former DC councilman Kevin Chavous said, “This successful school voucher program—for D.C.’s poorest families—has allowed more than 3,300 children to attend the best schools they have ever known.”

Substandard education at twice the cost? It makes no sense—until you realize that Democrats only care about paying off greedy teachers’ unions, not quality education for poor black kids. In March, the National Education Association fired off threatening letters to members of Congress, claiming the voucher program was a “failure.” (This was an ironic accusation from a union whose members can’t get half of DC students to graduate from high school.) The NEA’s solution to failing public schools was the same as always: give teachers more money.

There is zero evidence that raising public school teachers’ salaries benefits children, let alone poor children in failing districts. Barack Obama knows this. In his book “The Audacity of Hope,” he recounts a visit to a poor, predominantly black school in Chicago. As he described it, “Their number one issue was this: Because the school district couldn't afford to keep teachers for a full day, they let out every day at 1:30 in the afternoon. There was no time for students to take science lab or foreign language classes. ‘How come we're getting shortchanged?’ they asked me.”

Here's the answer: the average teacher at the school was making $83,000 per year, and over one-quarter were making more than $100,000. They didn't think they should have to work for any less. With such exorbitant teacher salaries, it's no wonder the school couldn't “afford” to stay open.

The Democrats defunded the scholarship program over the objections of DC’s residents, 70 percent of whom support it. But what do the Democrats care? They’ve ensured that teachers’ unions will continue giving millions of dollars to their campaigns. Sasha and Malia Obama, apparently the only black children in DC entitled to a decent education, will still attend Sidwell Friends (annual tuition: $30,842). Meanwhile, public school teachers will be paid $80,000 to leave work at noon, shortchanging their already impoverished students.

Who doesn’t care about black people now?

Hot Damn, did she nail down or what?

Canadian Health Care Anyone?

This little gem was slipped over my transom during the dark hours of this morning.... Thought I would share it with all you Pilgrims to filed under 'store and relocate' when discussing the Obamacare issue with your liberal, Dim neighbors........

This article was pulled from the "Investor's Business Daily." It provides some very interesting statistics from a survey by the United Nations International Health Organization.

Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis:

U..S. 65%

England 46%

Canada 42%

Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment within six months:

U.S. 93%

England 15%

Canada 43%

Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months:

U.S. 90%

England 15%

Canada 43%

Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:

U.S. 77%

England 40%

Canada 43%

Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million people:

U.S. 71

England 14

Canada 18

Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in "excellent health":

U.S. 12%

England 2%

Canada 6%

I don't know about you, but I don't want "Universal Healthcare" comparable to England or Canada.

Moreover, it was Sen. Harry Reid who said, "Elderly Americans must learn to accept the inconveniences of old age."

SHIP HIS ELDERLY ASS TO CANADA OR ENGLAND !

(or at least back to Nevada this November!!)

For your discussion........

Taking a few days off, Pilgrims......

Meanwhile I'll leave y'all with a Christmas Card that Tigger din't send me!

See y'all New Years Day!!!

Pecozbill

Watch Out !! - those Gorbot Robots are coming after Fido next....

Talk about environmental killjoys!

A group of tree-huggers in New Zealand has completed a study that shows that a family's pet pooch has a bigger carbon footprint than an SUV.

Factoring in what it takes to grow the food a dog eats, the study found that "owning a dog is really quite an extravagance."

(From News of the Weird, NYpost.com)

Wonder if those 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence..... who

who pledged their lives and their personal fortunes would be proud of these spineless, easily purchased prostitutes in the Capital Building................?

BTW, in case you missed Day by Day today.....

Is it genocide or mass murder?

I listened to Dingy Harry Reid's impassioned speech last night in the Senate before they voted on health care: "Every ten minutes, someone in America dies for lack of health insurance and health care. Two will have died as I speak tonight!" I got to thinking -- That would be one American every ten minutes, six every hour, 144 every day, 52, 560 Americans dying every year for lack of health care --- and yet the Dem's don't want to start this program until after 'O's election in 2012, ---- 2014 as a matter of fact, after they've been collecting taxes for four years while 210,240 Americans fill our streets and alleys with their dead bodies for lack of health care and insurance... quarter of a million souls! There oughtta be a law against such carryings on.....!!!! Where is the UN when we need it?

I wonder if.........

I wonder if when Senator Mary Landrieu (D- Louisiana) read this morning of the zillion dollars that Senator Nelson (D-Nebraska) got for his vote ----
Nebraska Medicaid paid into perpetuity by the American taxpayers of the other 49 states ----
if she looked in the mirror this morning as she thought of the mere $100 Million she extorted for her Aye vote, and said...... :

"I feel so cheap and used!"

A look inside the public trough!!!

About a year ago, I made the (apparent) mistake of copying and posting one of the better articles from "AmericanThinker.com"... They didn't like the fact that I liked their article enough to repost it in this little corner......

So I have stayed away -- despite some great items.... until today when Paul Matthews column hit me. I share it here with you, Pilgrims, and hope that you often go to "AmericanThinker.com" to read the rest of their good stuff....

Today's item;

Return to the Article

December 16, 2009

Federal Employees at the Trough

By Paul B. Matthews

Last week, USA Today reported that nearly one in five federal government employees now earn over $100,000. The paper also reported the average federal salary rose to $71,260, almost $31,000 more than the comparative average private-sector wage.

Within the Department of Defense, over 10,000 employees (as of June 2009) now earn at least $150,000 per year, a 5½-fold increase in the number of employees eclipsing this salary threshold from just eighteen months ago.

At the same time as federal employee salaries have been soaring, total private sector earnings have steadily declined as the unemployment rate escalates (now at 10%) and the average workweek declines. In fact, in November, private-sector employees worked an average of just 33.2 hours, slightly above the all-time low set in October (33.0 hours) and well below the forty hours guaranteed to federal employees. Simultaneously, average private sector hourly earnings totaled $18.74 per hour, significantly below the implied hourly wage rates ($34.25 per hour) paid to the average federal employee.

However, simply analyzing the growth in total paid compensation fails to capture the true explosion in benefits paid to federal workers.

For example, government employees almost never work on weekends. And if a federal employee does work on Sunday, he becomes eligible for Sunday Premium Pay. Federal employees are also entitled to compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay, a benefit few private sector firms are able to offer.

Paid time off for federal employees is also extremely generous. Employees with less than three years' tenure earn twelve paid days off per year. For service between three and fifteen years, workers are guaranteed eighteen days off with pay. And when an employee reaches fifteen years of service, this benefit grows to twenty-four days.

Federal employees are also guaranteed ten federal holidays with pay.

With all this time off, some government workers might be hard-pressed to use actually use it. No worries -- federal workers have a very liberal carryover policy: thirty days for all employees. However, if you get stationed overseas, this policy expands to forty-five days. And if you become classified as a "Senior Executive Service," a "Senior-Level" [employee], or a "Scientific or Professional Employee," the policy expands to ninety days.

Naturally, at retirement, or if an employee decides to leave government service, any unused time is compensated for with cash -- a lump-sum payout that could easily amount to between $6,000 and $17,800 based on the "average" federal salary figure. For senior-level employees who earn the highest pay levels, such payouts could easily total $30,000 and might even exceed $50,000, thereby eclipsing the average annual salary of an American in the private sector.

The benefits continue. On top of paid time off, federal employees are also eligible for half a day of sick time per biweekly pay period. Thus, in a 52-week year, each full-time employee may accrue 13 days of sick time. There are also no limits on the amount of sick leave an employee may accumulate. Moreover, when an employee retires, any unused sick pay is added to the calculation of the employee's retirement annuity, thereby increasing the value of the annuity payouts received by federal employees during retirement.

And yet there is still more. As part of the Student Loan Repayment Program, a benefit enacted by Congress in 2007, all federal government employees are eligible for up to $10,000 per year in student loan forgiveness, a benefit capped at $60,000 per individual. (This benefit requires ten years of government service.)

Health care benefits provided to federal employees are also quite extensive and lucrative. Notably, there are a minimum of nine national pay-for-service health care plans from which an employee may select. To supplement these nine national plans, there are a number of additional agency-specific plans as well as state-specific HMO, HDHP, or CDHP plans that are also employee options.

On top of basic health care insurance plans offered to its employees, the federal government also provides a full range of vision and dental care plans. Of course, all of these insurance programs are heavily subsidized (up to 50% of the total cost for a family policy) by the U.S. taxpayer.

Finally, the federal government even provides a subsidized life insurance to its employees. Under this program, employees pay only two-thirds of the monthly insurance premium while the U.S. taxpayer covers the rest.

On top of all these incentives, Congress has recently decided to expand the handouts. While consumer prices have steadily declined throughout 2009 (the annual CPI rate fell 0.2% through October), the U.S. Congress just passed legislation that would provide an across-the -board 2% pay raise for all federal employees. As such, federal employees will soon receive a 2.2% real pay increase as private sector wages remain stagnant or fall.

Currently, the U.S. Office of Personal Management estimates that there are just over 4.2 million federal employees. Thus, based on the average salary figures reported by USA Today, total wages paid to all federal employees now total nearly $300 billion per year, or about $1,000 for every man, women, and child in the United States. Add to this figure the costs of insurance, paid time off, and retirement benefits (which have not even been quantified here), and the total federal outlay to "pay" federal employees soars by billions more.

Simply stated, this trend cannot be sustained.

With last year's U.S. federal deficit of more than $1.4 trillion, it will become increasingly difficult to reduce the government's level of red ink, particularly if the federal government continues to expand. However, it now seems quite obvious that the government employment will continue to expand, especially under a nationalized health care system or once Obama's new Consumer Financial Protection Agency officially becomes part of the government Leviathan.

Americans and the media remain almost uniformly against the large bonuses being paid to Wall Street bankers -- even though these bonuses must come from the (albeit subsidized) revenues generated by these firms. Given what has been going on in the public sector, perhaps it's about time for Americans to refocus their anger on the public bureaucrats who feed daily at the trough of the tax dollars generated by their indentured servitude in the private sector.

Paul B. Matthews is a consultant and a Texas-licensed CPA. He is a former hedge fund manager.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/federal_employees_at_the_troug_1.html at December 16, 2009 - 07:59:26 PM EST

Hopefully Pilgrims, I have included enough CYA's to even allow these folks to forgive this ole' GI to reprint --- if not, I guess I'll hear from them again. Hope this writing got your attention --- 'cause tomorrow we are gonna talk about a POTUS who threatens to move SAC === if Nebraska Senator Nelson, doesn't change his vote on the idiotic Obamacare vote. Yes SAC! ... and if you don't know what that is, and why it's headquartered in Offutt Nebraska, go back to listening to FM music.... cause you missed the boat anyway....

Nite all.......

Pity the freezing Ministers in Copehagen wading thru the snow of Global Warming...

Our People's Hero!!

Please Jesus, say it ain't so.........

...but unfortunately it is...... Obamanation, and Rahm the Assassin are jeopardizing the security of this entire country to get this dumb ass ObamaCare bill through? Read this and weep, cause I do!

White House using base-closure process to extort Nelson’s vote on ObamaCare?

posted at 1:36 pm on December 15, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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How desperate has the White House become to get anything passed under the name of health-care reform? According to Michael Goldfarb’s source on Capitol Hill, the Obama administration has targeted the last remaining Democratic holdout, at least among moderates — and they’re willing to damage national security to extort his support. The White House has threatened Ben Nelson (D-NE) with the closure of Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska if he opposes Reid’s latest version, despite its status as the headquarters of US Strategic Command:

According to a Senate aide, the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson doesn’t fall into line.

Offutt Air Force Base employs some 10,000 military and federal employees in Southeastern Nebraska. As our source put it, this is a “naked effort by Rahm Emanuel and the White House to extort Nelson’s vote.” They are “threatening to close a base vital to national security for what?” asked the Senate staffer.

Indeed, Offutt is the headquarters for US Strategic Command, the successor to Strategic Air Command, and not by accident. STRATCOM was located in the middle of the country for strategic reasons. Its closure would be a massive blow to the economy of the state of Nebraska, but it would also be another example of this administration playing politics with our national security.

The Obama administration has little left to use for leverage. Why not national security? After all, if we’re going to bring terrorists into Illinois, what does it matter if we put the US Strategic Command on wheels for a few years?

One reason for the extortion attempt is that the latest version still hasn’t won any converts among the GOP. Susan Collins (R-ME), once considered a likely supporter of ObamaCare, announced today that the elimination of the public option and the Medicare buy-in isn’t enough to rescue the bill:

Today Collins told reporters that the bill under consideration in the Senate is “too deeply flawed for me to support it.”

“I don’t see voting for the current bill that is on the floor, even with the improvements that have been made,” Collins said. “I’m very leery of the impact of nearly $500 billion in Medicare cuts, particularly the cuts in home health care, which are completely counterproductive to the goal of lowering costs.”

Collins explained that she is continuing to work on the bill not because she intends to vote for it but because, “I think something is going to pass, and I would like to make that bill as good as possible, even if ultimately it’s not a bill that I can support.”

Collins’ colleague from Maine, Olympia Snowe, is not likely to contradict her, and no other Republicans will cast a vote for this monstrosity. Without the language prohibiting abortion funding, Nelson’s not likely to go for it, either, which leaves Reid at 59 votes — maybe. He may face some rebellion from the progressive side of his caucus, several of whom pledged not to vote for a bill without any kind of public option. Getting Lieberman on board may wind up creating just another problem for Reid … unless the White House intends on threatening more base closures and disruption for national security.

Where, Pilgrims, does personal agenda desire start, and where does the abandonment of National Defense begin? Anybody know George Soros's Cell Phone number?

BTW, I thought the BRAC list was an 'apolitical' Congressional list..... dumb ole' me!!!

Why the Dem's are falling on their sword.....

Like most of you, I have been wonderin' why the Dems are beating this Obamacare Bill to death in spite of the fact that the Nation's voters don't want anything to do with it.

Today, in the Examiner, I think I found the best answer:

Why Democrats push health care, even if it kills them

By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
December 15, 2009

(AP photo/Jose Luis Magana)

To some observers, the Democrats' race to pass national health care seems irrational -- even suicidal. Don't party leaders understand how much the public opposes the bills currently on the table? Don't they know that voters are likely to take their revenge at the polls next year? Given that, why do they keep rushing ahead?

Just look at the RealClearPolitics average of polls, which shows that Americans oppose the national health care bills currently on the table by a margin of 53 percent to 38 percent. That's not just one poll that might tilt right or left, it's an average of several polls by several pollsters. And the margin of opposition seems to be growing, not diminishing. And yet Democrats seem determined to defy public opinion. Why?

I put the question to a Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous. Yes, Democrats certainly understand that voters don't like the current bills, he told me, and they are fully aware they will probably pay a price next year. But they have found a way to view going ahead anyway as the logical thing to do, at least in their eyes.

You have to look at the issue from three different Democratic perspectives: the House of Representatives, the White House and the Senate.

"In the House, the view of [California Rep. Henry] Waxman and [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi is that we've waited two generations to get health care passed, and the 20 or 40 members of Congress who are going to lose their seats as a result are transitional players at best," he said. "This is something the party has wanted since Franklin Roosevelt." In this view, losses are just the price of doing something great and historic. (The strategist also noted that it's easy for Waxman and Pelosi to say that, since they come from safely liberal districts.)

"At the White House, the picture is slightly different," he continued. "Their view is, 'We're all in on this, totally committed, and we don't have to run for re-election next year. There will never be a better time to do it than now.'"

"And in the Senate, they look at the most vulnerable Democrats -- like [Christopher] Dodd and [Majority Leader Harry] Reid -- and say those vulnerabilities will probably not change whether health care reform passes or fails. So in that view, if they pass reform, Democrats will lose the same number of seats they were going to lose before."

All those scenarios have a certain logic (even if the Senate calculation undercounts the number of potentially vulnerable Democrats). But each scenario is premised on passing an unpopular bill that hurts the party. Even if there's a strategic rationale for doing it, why are Democrats dead-set on hurting themselves?

"Because they think they know what's best for the public," the strategist said. "They think the facts are being distorted and the public's being told a story that is not entirely true, and that they are in Congress to be leaders. And they are going to make the decision because Goddammit, it's good for the public."

Of course, going forward has turned out to be harder than many Democrats thought. And now, with various proposals lying wrecked along the road, the true believers are practicing what the strategist calls "principled damage control."

But still, does it make sense? In the end, perhaps the most compelling explanation for Democratic behavior is that they are simply in too deep to do anything else. "Once you've gone this far, what is the cost of failure?" asks the strategist.

At that point -- Republicans will love this -- he compared congressional Democrats with robbers who have passed the point of no return in deciding to hold up a bank. Whatever they do, they're guilty of something. "They're in the bank, they've got their guns out. They can run outside with no money, or they can stick it out, go through the gunfight, and get away with the money."

That's it. Democrats are all in. They're going through with it. Even if it kills them.

Byron York, The Examiner's chief political correspondent, can be contacted at byork@washingtonexaminer.com. His column appears on Tuesday and Friday, and his stories and blog posts appears on ExaminerPolitics.com.

I reckon this explanation makes as much sense as anything else I've seen, thanks Byron!! Especially that last paragraph!!! Whee Doggies............

A question for the year 2010...

I didn't sleep well last night and as I sat here in the office about 2 am, I got to wondering. I thought I'd share my wondering with y'all and maybe y'all can worry about it as well. Or wait until the Holiday Hokum is over, then worry about it!

This country became great, a world leader, and number one power in the world for at least eight reasons;

We out invented
We out created
We out manufactured
We out innovated
We out engineered
We out farmed
We out soldiered
We (per capita) out worked and out produced the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, we have redefined the word 'out':

We have now outsourced manufacturing to China, Korea & Taiwan
We have now outsourced technical engineering to India and others
We have environmentally gagged inventiveness and and innovation
We have death taxed family owned farms into corporate behemoths
We turn our heads when illegals come into to do our stoop labor and the gov't turns it's head when the corporations cheat on Visa rules to bring in cheap Hi tech engineers.

This now makes us a country of 300 million 'users' who simply flip burgers and supply services to each other but create nothing............ 60 million don't even pay taxes, so have no concern over gov't spending and programs, they just want their share.

I'd love for someone to tell me that I am looking at half glass of water wrong. That they have heard any 2010 Candidates address these issues...

Maybe this is just a personal guilt trip because I realize that at my age, I am on the user list now, not the producer list......

Winnie the Pooh?

More on the KSM show trials in New York City

The Dems impeached Nixon! The GOP couldn't wait and delighted in trying to impeach Bubba! Now the much more devious, stronger Liberal Dems are raising the stakes! This column by Andrew McCarthy (National Review Online) is something we all need to read...... Can't impeach Bush & Cheney? - throw 'em to the international wolves........

November 16, 2009

Trial and Terror
The Left gets its reckoning.

By Andrew C. McCarthy

The decision to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other top al-Qaeda terrorists to New York City for a civilian trial is one of the most irresponsible ever made by a presidential administration. That it is motivated by politics could not be more obvious. That it spells unprecedented danger for our security will soon become obvious.

The five 9/11 plotters were originally charged in a military commission. Military commissions have been approved by Congress and the courts. Eleven months ago, the jihadists were prepared to end the military case by pleading guilty and proceeding to execution. Plus, the Obama administration is continuing the commission system for other enemy combatants accused of war crimes. If we are going to have military commissions for any war criminals, it is senseless not to have them for the worst war criminals. In sum, there is no good legal or policy rationale for transferring these barbarians to the civilian justice system. Doing so will prompt a hugely costly three-ring circus of a trial, provide a soapbox for al-Qaeda’s anti-American bile, and create a public-safety nightmare for New York City.

There is, however, a patent political rationale behind Obama’s decision.

The terrorists are clearly committed members of the al-Qaeda conspiracy to wage a terrorist war against the United States — so much so that KSM cannot help himself, bragging about his atrocities against our country, including the 9/11 massacre of nearly 3,000 Americans. Further, controversy surrounds the intelligence-collection measures used by the Bush administration after 9/11 — measures such as enhanced interrogation that, though they saved countless lives, have been stridently condemned by the antiwar Left. This antiwar Left, President Obama’s base, has demanded investigations and prosecutions against Bush officials.

The Obama Justice Department teems with experienced defense lawyers, many of whom (themselves personally or through their firms) spent the last eight years volunteering their services to America’s enemies in their lawsuits against the American people. As experienced defense lawyers well know, when there is no mystery about whether the defendants have committed the charged offenses, and when there is controversy attendant to the government’s investigative tactics, the standard defense strategy is to put the government on trial.

That is, Pres. Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, experienced litigators, fully realize that in civilian court, the Qaeda quintet can and will demand discovery of mountains of government intelligence. They will demand disclosures about investigative tactics; the methods and sources by which intelligence has been obtained; the witnesses from the intelligence community, the military, and law enforcement who interrogated witnesses, conducted searches, secretly intercepted enemy communications, and employed other investigative techniques. They will attempt to compel testimony from officials who formulated U.S. counterterrorism strategy, in addition to U.S. and foreign intelligence officers. As civilian “defendants,” these war criminals will put Bush-era counterterrorism tactics under the brightest public spotlight in American legal history.

This is exactly what President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder know will happen. And because it is unnecessary to have this civilian trial at all, one must conclude that this is exactly what Obama and Holder want to see happen.

During the 2008 campaign, candidate Obama and his adviser, Holder, rebuked the Bush counterterrorism policies and promised their base a “reckoning.” Since President Obama took office, Attorney General Holder has anxiously shoveled into the public domain classified information relating to those policies — with the administration always at pains to claim that its hand is being forced by court orders, even though the president has had legal grounds, which he has refrained from invoking, to decline to make those disclosures. Moreover, during a trip to Germany in April, Holder signaled his openness to turning over evidence that would assist European investigations — including one underway in Spain — that seek to charge Bush-administration officials with war crimes (which is the transnational Left’s label for actions taken in defense of the United States).

Now, we see the reckoning: Obama’s gratuitous transfer of alien war criminals from a military court, where they were on the verge of ending the proceedings, to the civilian justice system, where they will be given the same rights and privileges as the American citizens they are pledged to kill. This will give the hard Left its promised feast. Its shock troops, such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, will gather up each new disclosure and add it to the purported war-crimes case they are urging foreign courts to bring against President Bush, his subordinates, and U.S. intelligence agents.

From indictment to trial, the civilian case against the 9/11 terrorists will be a years-long seminar, enabling al-Qaeda and its jihadist allies to learn much of what we know and, more important, the methods and sources by which we come to know it. But that is not the half of it. By moving the case to civilian court, the president and his attorney general have laid the groundwork for an unprecedented surrender of our national-defense secrets directly to our most committed enemies.

The five jihadists in question are alien enemy combatants currently detained outside the United States. They are not Americans and are not entitled to the protection of our Bill of Rights. That means that in a military-commission trial, they would be given only those rights Congress chose to give them.

At Gitmo, they’ve insisted on representing themselves. In a military commission, we can allow them to do that, but we don’t have to. The commission rules provide for the appointment of military counsel and permit the combatants to retain their own lawyers. This is significant because discovery rules require that the defense be given mounds of information for trial preparation. Much of that information is top-secret intelligence. Importantly, however, we do not have to show the terrorists themselves any classified information. Only counsel who have the required security clearances, and are duty-bound not to reveal the nation’s secrets to the nation’s enemies, get access.

The rules are saliently different in the civilian justice system, where, the attorney general has promised, this case will be treated like any other criminal case. In federal court, defendants — even illegal aliens — are vested with constitutional rights that Congress may not alter or reduce. One of those is the right to represent oneself, meaning: to conduct one’s own defense without the participation or interference of an attorney.

In 1975, the Supreme Court ruled in Faretta v. California that this right to self-representation is absolute. As Justice Potter Stewart put it, “forcing a lawyer upon an unwilling defendant is contrary to his basic right to defend himself if he truly wants to do so.” To borrow Holder’s pet phrase, we are supposedly bringing terrorists into civilian court to honor “the rule of law.” Well, our rule of law holds that a defendant may tell the judge that he does not want a lawyer, that he wants to conduct his own defense, and that he wants to see all of the legally required discovery himself — not have a lawyer or some other government operative restrict his access.

The judge may try to talk the defendant out of his decision to be his own lawyer. The judge may appoint “stand-by counsel” to advise the defendant and to be available to represent the defendant if he changes his mind. Under Faretta, however, the judge may not deny the defendant the right to conduct his own defense.

By transferring this case to civilian court rather than leaving it to be handled by the military-commission system created by Congress, Obama and Holder have needlessly created a perilous dilemma. Do we deny KSM & Co. the right to represent themselves and thus risk reversal of any convictions on Sixth Amendment grounds? Do we grant them self-representation but withhold critical discovery and thus risk reversal on due process grounds? Or do we grant them self-representation and disclose directly to our wartime enemies the nation’s security secrets, which they can then pass on to confederates who are actively targeting us for mass-murder attacks?

In the military court, there would be no such dilemma. Indeed, in the military court, this case would be over now. If President Obama had simply let it proceed, there would have been no trial, and these war criminals would be well on their way to the execution of death sentences.

But then the Left would not have gotten its reckoning. Can’t have that.

I told you it was scary!!!

From Super Star to 'Joke of the day'!!

I thought that somehow, Tiger's unblemished image might carry the day for him, but alas - after Bimbo #10 stood up and shouted...... he has become just 'today's joke'.

Click on the pic and note the smiles on the fans of all sexes and races, cops, and photographers in this pic taken at the Texans-Jaguars game Sunday with 'Elin" chasing 'Tiger' in a golf shirt and ball cap, with a golf club in her hand.

Copenhagen Cock-up!!!

The New York Post ran a great short item this morning that is the best summary of this eco-terrorist summit in Copenhagen that I've seen. I am moving it over here so y'all see it, but be sure to go to the Post for more.......

Denmark's warm and 'fuzzy facts'

By CHARLES HURT

Last Updated: 8:14 AM, December 7, 2009

COPENHAGEN -- Shakespeare's Marcellus was right. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

In this hotbed of homogeneity, where global warming is a sacred assumption for the faithful, 15,000 people will come together from 192 countries to pray for two weeks over what can be done to save the Earth from certain doom. Few places are better suited to handle the throngs of unquestioning believers who will journey from around the globe.

Dissent is not tolerated, and diversity -- in any form other than biodiversity -- is not welcome here.

But it turns out that Denmark's big claim to greenery isn't quite so impressive when you find out that they do not include one of their biggest and dirtiest industries -- shipping -- in calculating their annual carbon footprint.

That's because the last great world climate treaty, Kyoto, does not make them include their nasty shipping business in the calculation. No wonder the Danes liked that so much.

Even if President Obama gives away the farm when he arrives next week and signs some drastic pledge, it will be a treaty that must be ratified by the Senate.

His Democratic majority dwindles to basically nothing without members from coal states, heavy-industry states and other states where people generally would like to find a job.

But this crowd gathering here is far worse than just a bunch of hand-wringing Hamlets dithering in Denmark.

Some 40,000 tons of carbon will be spewed getting this crowd together and keeping them in comfort.

That is the amount of carbon dioxide produced by more than 60 of the world's smaller countries in an entire year -- combined.

Those last couple of sentences sum up this gathering of global popinjays pretty damn well!! So I'll leave it - and the link to the Post.

http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/international/warm_and_fuzzy_facts_RD1aMFGyyvy19b0ZTHaGwO

A new direction..........

Well Pardners,

I been AWOL here the last few days ..... as I pondered whether to continue this ole' blog or not. I have lost interest in bamming Obamation for a couple of reasons ---

- There are professional bloggers, with staffs and expertise, that are doing a hell of a lot better job than I might do....

- The 'O' man himself, seems to be a hell of a lot better job self destructing, than any damage I might inflict from this little corner in Texas.

I was going to drop this whole thing, since I just started it up during the last presidential primary and election season - t0 share my thoughts.

However, I reckon I'll just keep on dropping a few words now and then on those topics that grab my attention, and that I wouldn't want y'all to miss. Some serious, some humorous, some knee slapping, and some a downright slap up the side of the head like yer paw used to give you.

If there is something you'd like to see added in here, either leave a comment in here, or e-mail me at "Pecozbill@aol.com" with your suggestions.......

Thanks for checking back.....

Pecozbill

The power of one honest voice in the crowd......

Over the years, most Presidents have given their major wartime speeches to a joint session of congress. After all, they directly represent the American people and they also control the Defense Budget!!

Why then, I asked myself, is the O'man going to West Point to give his speech tomorrow night instead of the Capital Building..?

Three Reasons, I answered myself:

1. It makes a better photo-op than the House Chamber, besides he's been there - done that.

2. It's fitting to make a war strategy speech at the home of the US Army.

3. Joe Wilson, Rep from South Carolina won't be allowed in the hall to interrupt when O's nose grows!


Just my humble opinion, of course. I have not had it peer reviewed!

Like toilet paper stuck on your shoe .........?

Rent-a-tent for White House State Dinner - $100,000
Catered dinners for 340 guests - $102,000
Event planning and security - $500, 000
Place setting value per guest (silver and china) - $350
Cheap ass cocktail napkin attached POTUS's glass raised in toast - 2¢

Timeless Photograph -- Priceless!!!!!

If you Pilgrims ain't scared yet by this Obamacare Health Program , you oughtta be!!

Here's one of the latest fact-finding comments from the Washington Examiner:

HHS would become federal giant under Senate plan

By: Susan Ferrechio
Chief Congressional Correspondent
November 26, 2009

A quick search of the Senate health bill will bring up "secretary" 2,500 times.

That's because Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius would be awarded unprecedented new powers under the proposal, including the authority to decide what medical care should be covered by insurers as well as the terms and conditions of coverage and who should receive it.

"The legislation lists 1,697 times where the secretary of health and humans services is given the authority to create, determine or define things in the bill," said Devon Herrick, a health care expert at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

For instance, on Page 122 of the 2,079-page bill, the secretary is given the power to establish "the basic per enrollee, per month cost, determined on average actuarial basis, for including coverage under a qualified health care plan."

The HHS secretary would also have the power to decide where abortion is allowed under a government-run plan, which has drawn opposition from Republicans and some moderate Democrats.

And the bill even empowers the department to establish a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation that would have the authority to make cost-saving cuts without having to get the approval of Congress first.

"It's a huge amount of power being shifted to HHS, and much of it is highly discretionary," said Edmund Haislmaier, an expert in health care policy and insurance markets at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Haislmaier said one the greatest powers HHS would gain from the bill is the authority to regulate insurance. States currently hold this power, and under the Senate bill, the federal government would usurp it from them. This could lead to the federal government putting restrictions and changes in place that destabilize the private insurance market by forcing companies to lower premiums and other charges, he said.

"Health and Human Services ... doesn't have any experience with this," Haislmaier said. "I'm looking at the potential for this whole thing to just blow up on people because they have no idea what they are doing. Who in the federal government regulates insurance today? Nobody."

The health care reform legislation would rely on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for recommendations as to what kind of screening and preventive care should be covered. Last week, the group, which operates under HHS, drew sharp criticism for advising that mammograms should begin at age 50, a decade later than the current standard.

Critics of the bill said this was an example of how the new bill could empower HHS to alter health care delivery, but Democrats argue they would rather have the government making these decisions.

"There's an insurance company bureaucrat in between the patient and her doctor right now," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said on ABC's "This Week."

sferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com

Time to pick up those phones and fax machines Friends.... and tell 'em how you feel! Now, rather than later!

Doug Giles files this great column in TownHall.com yeserday!

What Happens When a PI Dumpster Dives Behind a San Diego ACORN Office?
Doug Giles
Saturday, November 28, 2009

What happens when a PI dumpster dives behind a San Diego ACORN office?

He strikes the flippin’ mother lode! At least that’s what happened to private investigator Derrick Roach at the National City (San Diego) ACORN office. Yep, Roach scored big-time on the cockroaches of ACORN when he staked out their San Diego workplace.

According to señor Roach via BigGovernment.com, after the release of the San Diego ACORN sting videos—which my daughter Hannah, James O’Keefe, and Andrew Breitbart dropped on the Nation’s head—and following Governor Schwarzenegger’s call for a probe into this batty zoo, Roach took it upon himself to get busy and see if he could ferret out more funky filth from this nefarious gang.

And, as stated, Roach scored more than Dwayne Wade would playing hoops against blind five-year-old, one-legged narcoleptic midgets.

Going Rogue by Sarah Palin FREE

What did Papa Roach come across? Well, my children, it was stuff like …

• Information exposing the inner workings of ACORN in California.

• Sensitive personal information belonging to employees, members and ACORN clients, such as social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, immigration records, and tax returns.

• ACORN’s political agenda is also laid bare, with thousands upon thousands of documents revealing the depth of the political machine that is ACORN and its disturbing ties not only to public employee labor unions but some of the most radical leftist organizations in existence (I wonder which politicians we will discover are in cahoots with these goofy clowns?).

The timing of this 20k plus page paper plunk of sensitive and incriminating 411 is kinda interesting as well. Check it out:

• On October 1st, 2009 California Attorney General Jerry announced that he was going to do a little look-see inside ACORN’s hull to determine if their San Diego office was as innocent as Bertha Lewis, David Lagstein and the Mange Stream Media screamed them to be.

• “Coincidently,” just a few days prior to when AG Brown was slated to pay them a howdy-doo, low and behold, on October 9th ACORN San Diego decided to do a bit of midnight spring cleaning and dump all their docs in a public dumpster to spruce up the joint before the AG’s arrival.

• Unfortunately for poor ACORN, PI Derrick Roach was parked outside waiting for them to do something stupid like dump 20,000 plus pages of their corporate papyrus and their clients’ personal records in a trash bin behind their slim shady facilities.

By the way, are there laws governing how personal info like social security numbers, tax returns, driver’s license numbers and stuff like that should be handled? I’m thinking there would be. Hmmm, I don’t know. Maybe Media Matters will look into it; if there are laws demanding stringent care and disposal of sensitive info, it looks like ACORN, prima facia, could be in deep crap with a stack of folks for placing their private stories in a public dumpster.

I would now like to address you, Mr. Roach. Good job, old chap! As Hannah Giles’ father and one who has been on the receiving end of the ACORN/Mange Stream Media stick, please take my advice and brace for the vilifying crunch from these numb nuts.

They’re are going to hit you with retarded stuff like …

• How dare a conservative PI jump into a dumpster and steal trash?! It’s unethical.

• You’re not a legitimate trash man. You’ve never been to trash man school. • The trash did not give its consent to be removed from the dumpster.

California law requires garbage to give its go-ahead before it is embraced by another. • FOX News paid you 100 kadrillion dollar$ to dumpster dive.

• You tried this at thousands of other ACORN dumpsters and came up snake eyes.

• No other ACORN office would ever dispose of their clients’ records like this, except, of course, for that Oklahoma ACORN branch that left all their computers and crap on the curb after they got kicked out of their building for not paying the bills.

ACORN, naturally, is going into full damsel in distress mode, stating it was an accident and a coincidence that it occurred right before Brown and his boys were to perform their investigative colonoscopy into ACORN’s corrupt underbelly.

ACORN also blathered that Roach stole their trash. Stole your trash? Hey ACORN, once you place your clients’ sensitive info and your political playbook into le garbage it is public domain. Every hooker running a whorehouse with underage sex slaves knows that.

Lastly, will the little darlings on the left report this? Will Eric Holder call for a brutal investigation into the ACORNucopia of corruption of which BigGov and some citizen soldiers have uncovered? Garsh … who knows! I guess we poor little serf’s of Obamaland will just have to wait and see.

For more of Giles' and other great reports, go to:
http://townhall.com/columnists/

You can run, but unfortunately, you can't hide from Big Goverment, it follows you everywhere!!

Some Thanksgiving Thoughts from this Pilgrim to all the rest....

The current (temporary I hope) occupant has declared that this great Country of ours in NOT a Judeo-Christian Country. Rather than throwing my weak words at him, I would suggest he read the following proclamation issued by the first President of the U.S.A in 1779 creating the first Thanksgiving Day for our brand new Nation:

"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789."

George Washington,
President, United States of America

If I had highlighted every reference to God, this would have been a one sentence announcement. The Blue state elitists would scorn this proclamation, disavow any such references in a public speech, and claim that it would offend non-Christians! That my friends, is a barrel of bovine excrement!

Happy Thanksgiving Pilgrims, and may the Good Lord Look Over Us all for the next three years! Please!!!!

We can hear the Piper coming down the road......

I am speaking of the Piper this Nation is gonna have to pay after floating all this worthless paper this last year....... long after Obamanation and his cronies have left the White House and are living 'la dolce vita' in their revolving door board rooms, and writing memoirs.... our Grand kids are gonna be picking up the tab!

To be more specific, it's been projected that (even without some humongous health care bills added) the annual debt service on our National Debt will exceed $700 BILLION DOLLARS before 2020! That is $700,000,000,000 American Dollars!

We are currently paying $200 Billion Dollars per year just to service our debt --- that additional $500 Billion Dollars is more than 'the combined federal budgets this year for Education, Homeland Security, Energy, and both of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan'!!!

Please read that last sentence again. And again.....! Don't even ask how they are going to be able to pay all the other federal mandated obligations ..... you don't dare ask!

Or better still, do ask! Write or e-mail your congressmen and senators today and ask them to answer this question before they vote on Cap & Trade and National Health Care!!!! And another Porkulus Bill...

"All politics is local", used to be one of Speaker Tip O'Neill's favorite sayings

And that may well be true........ but apparently 'All sports is local' is a misnomer. I'm hearing that the detainees (whatever the hell that PC word means) in the internment camp in Iraq are harassing their American guards by teasing about Bret Favre's jump to the Minnesota Vikings.

Obviously any die hard Packer's fans are not thrilled with his career move - and the prisoners picked up on it. Apparently they picked up on the word 'shenanigans' as well, and now enjoy shouting out to the Wisconsin National Guardsmen in Camp Cropper, Iraq, about "Bret Farve's shenanigans.... he is so good for the Vikings".

According MyFox reports, the soldiers are grinning (grimacing?) and bearing it!!

It's all a matter of "Class"

It's called "CLASS"...some have it and some think they have it!

.... and some will never have it!! This shows how much Mrs 'O' cares about, respect for Air Force One and all it represents!!

I don't think I need to add any other comment!!!!

(thanks and a tip o'' the Stetson to my old Air Force pal, Al up in Maryland)