Monday, November 17, 2008

Alert: Hannity and Limbaugh to be kicked off the air‏

Alert: Hannity and Limbaugh to be kicked off the air‏



Do you believe that liberals already dominate the media?

Do you think biased coverage played a large part in the outcome of the presidential election?

If you think things were bad in that regard...

IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE ALLOW LIBERALS TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THEIR PLANS TO IMPOSE THE SO-CALLED FAIRNESS DOCTRINE AND SUCCEED IN SILENCING CONSERVATIVE TALK-RADIO HOSTS LIKE RUSH LIMBAUGH AND SEAN HANNITY AND LAURA INGRAHAM!

Do liberals actually believe that conservative opinions are pornography?

Are liberals so threatened that they're plotting and planning right now, at this very minute, to silence conservative thoughts and opinions from the public airwaves?

You be the judge.

FOX News asked Senator Chuck Schumer if liberals in Congress will try to implement the so-called Fairness Doctrine - a measure specifically designed to shut down Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and conservative talk radio.

Schumer replied indignantly:

"Do you think we should allow people to put pornography on the air? Absolutely not. Particularly on television or radio."

Huh? No, it's NOT a joke! And he didn't stop there.

Schumer nastily admonished decent Americans for some imagined hypocrisy:

"The very same people who don't want the Fairness Doctrine want the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to limit pornography on the air.... That's not consistent."

It's almost beyond belief.

We couldn't have made it up!

Is Schumer so unhinged that he's not even capable of understanding the fundamental difference between smut and political expression?

Craig Parshall, general counsel for the National Religious Broadcasters said:

"I was stunned by Senator Schumer's suggestion that by keeping filth off the air, the federal government has somehow become empowered to take over the control of legitimate programming content of broadcasters."

But Parshall missed one very important point.

With control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives, Schumer and his liberal colleagues are twisting the First Amendment's guarantees of Freedom of Speech and of the Press -- ALL TO SET THE STAGE TO SILENCE RUSH, HANNITY AND OTHERS.

If you're a liberal, you can burn the flag, put four-letter-word bumper stickers on your car, commit lewd acts on-stage, play profane rap music loudly on your car radio, produce, rent and distribute the most disgusting filth in broad daylight and on the Internet in plain view of minors and even use taxpayer dollars to depict Jesus suspended in bodily waste.

But when it comes to shutting down conservative thoughts and opinions, now that they have grabbed the reins of power, liberals are making control over the content of speech a top priority!

They're plotting and maneuvering behind the scenes to make it happen RIGHT NOW!

Peter Kirsanow writing in National Review Online tells us why this fight is URGENT:

"Imposition of some form of the Fairness Doctrine likely will be one of the Democrats' agenda items for the first 100 days of the new administration. It's important that conservatives begin working now to stop it."

Kirsanow went on:

"Waiting until Inauguration Day to get geared up is too late. By that time the Fairness Doctrine Express will be at full steam, wavering Democrats will be pressed to support the new Democratic president, weak-kneed Republicans will want to display comity, the mainstream media will not be saddened to see talk radio annihilated and much of the public will be too enraptured by Obama's Camelot inauguration to notice or care."

Kirsanow is right.

There is not a moment to lose. If we take a stand now, we can defeat this threat to our civil liberties.

If we wait, it will be too late.



Use the hyperlink below and bombard President George W. Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate with your Blast Faxes. Demand that they stand firm against any attempt by liberals in Congress to effectively outlaw the First Amendment.

We must act now! Liberals in Congress may try to sneak the Fairness Doctrine into legislation any day now. Liberal pundits inside the Beltway and members of the elite media are already attempting to sell conservative Senators on the notion that their only chance for political survival is to display comity. Unless they hear from you now, they WILL believe it, as they have in the past.

We can win this fight. It only takes 40 Senators to stand firm . But if patriotic Americans do not speak up, we will lose this fight for our liberties.

http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/unfairnessdoctrinebeii.html

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"Congress Shall Make No Law..."


You might think it's almost beyond belief, but our Founding Fathers understood and dreaded the danger we presently face.

They feared the danger to such an extent that they ratified, as the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, words they thought would be our primary line of defense against the government evolving into a tyranny that would trample on the rights of the people.

To them the danger was real:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech...."

It was not a fluke that the above words came first.

Our Founding Fathers knew that all of our rights flow directly from those fundamental liberties.

And they knew that once the government began eliminating our First Amendment freedoms, all of our other rights would fall like dominoes.

Despots in the modern era knew it as well.

Gaining control of the media is typically the first act of a leftist usurper.


When Castro took power in Cuba, he imprisoned journalists en masse and continued to do so throughout his regime, holding those who opposed him indefinitely without charges.

When Josef Stalin returned from exile in March of 1917 he immediately assumed control of an underground publication founded by Leon Trotsky called Pravda (which, ironically, translates as "Truth") and made it an official arm of the Soviet Communist Party. Pravda became and remained the chief propaganda arm of the Soviet Communist Party until it was shut down in 1991 by Boris Yeltsin. Subscription to Pravda was MANDATORY.

Immediately after assuming power in 1933, Adolf Hitler placed Joseph Goebbels in charge of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. All journalists, writers, and artists were required to register with the ministry.


But this is the United States where, unfortunately, such strong-arm tactics are not necessary because liberals already control the media, EXCEPT for conservative talk radio.

Kirsanow again:

"Talk radio is the most important medium conservatives have. It's the only medium conservatives dominate. But liberals aren't content to have only NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, AP, Reuters, Newsweek, Time, the NY Times, Washington Post, Hollywood, etc. Stray conservative thoughts might escape into the population, you know."

CNSNews quoting Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland:

"The government 'has the responsibility' to make sure there are a 'variety of opportunities for people to get information,' said Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) when asked about the Fairness Doctrine at the Democratic Senatorial Committee election night party on Tuesday."

"Variety of Opportunities"... ?

Without conservative talk radio THERE IS NO "VARIETY"... period!

It's simple. No conservative talk radio means there is no voice of dissent. No voice of dissent means no free speech and no free speech means that nothing stands in the way of those in government who wish to oppress the governed.



Use the hyperlink below and bombard President George W. Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate with your Blast Faxes. Demand that they stand firm against any attempt by liberals in Congress to effectively outlaw the First Amendment.

We must act now! Liberals in Congress may try to sneak the Fairness Doctrine into legislation any day now. Liberal pundits inside the Beltway and members of the elite media are already attempting to sell conservative Senators on the notion that their only chance for political survival is to display comity. Unless they hear from you now, they WILL believe it, as they have in the past.

We can win this fight. It only takes 40 Senators to stand firm . But if patriotic Americans do not speak up, we will lose this fight for our liberties.

http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/unfairnessdoctrinebeii.html

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How It Works...


The sad truth is that liberal elites in the media and in government are totally oblivious to concepts like freedom and fairness and balance.

Their ONLY agenda is to control all debate, opinion and political discourse.

And the so-called Fairness Doctrine is their means to achieve that end.

How, you ask?

Years ago the Fairness Doctrine was simply policy at the FCC.

Bill Ruder, John F. Kennedy's Assistant Secretary of Commerce, spelled it out:

"Our massive strategy was to use the Fairness Doctrine to challenge and harass right-wing broadcasters and hope the challenges would be so costly to them that they would be inhibited and decide it was too expensive to continue."

Former Reagan Budget Director James Miller put it another way:

"Put yourself in the position of the broadcaster: your very existence is dependent on the FCC's renewing your license every few years. And the FCC says you must offer 'balanced' programming. What does this mean?"

To put it another way, what do you suppose stations would do if they had to provide "balance" to Rush and Hannity and Ingraham AS DICTATED BY NANCY PELOSI and Charles Schumer?

Say good-bye to conservative talk-radio.

Make no mistake, the racket you'll soon be hearing in Washington will be the ker-blam of the wrecking ball, battering down freedom of speech in America, as Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid use the so-called Fairness Doctrine to reduce the First Amendment to rubble and haul it away in dump trucks.


Use the hyperlink below and bombard President George W. Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate with your Blast Faxes. Demand that they stand firm against any attempt by liberals in Congress to effectively outlaw the First Amendment.

We must act now! Liberals in Congress may try to sneak the Fairness Doctrine into legislation any day now. Liberal pundits inside the Beltway and members of the elite media are already attempting to sell conservative Senators on the notion that their only chance for political survival is to display comity. Unless they hear from you now, they WILL believe it, as they have in the past.

We can win this fight. It only takes 40 Senators to stand firm . But if patriotic Americans do not speak up, we will lose this fight for our liberties.

http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/unfairnessdoctrinebeii.html

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It Is No Secret.


Liberals in Congress have been trying to shut-down conservative talk-radio for years.

It's the first item on their agenda!

Here's a quote from Senator James Inhofe recounting a conversation he claims he heard between Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Hillary Clinton:

"They said we've got to do something about this. These are nothing but far right-wing extremists.... There's got to be a legislative fix for this..."

Here's former Vice-President Al Gore, unable to squelch his contempt for conservative talk radio in general and Rush Limbaugh in particular:

"[T]hen immediately afterwards, Rush Limbaugh and other hate-mongers began to fill the airwaves."

Here's Michael Ortiz, a spokesman with the Obama campaign, explaining why Barrack Obama believes the so-called Fairness Doctrine does not go far enough. Pay particular attention to the code words:

"He considers this debate to be a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible, that is why Senator Obama supports media ownership caps, network neutrality, public broadcasting, as well as increasing minority ownership of broadcasting and print outlets."

Here's a quote from Senator Richard Durbin, the man who compared our brave men and women in uniform to "NAZIs," but had to begrudgingly apologize after being called on the carpet by conservative talk-radio hosts:

"It's time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine. I have this old-fashioned attitude that when Americans hear both sides of the story, they're in a better position to make a decision."

Here's Senator John Kerry attempting to advance the idiotic fantasy that conservative opinion dominates the media and liberal opinions are not heard:

"I think the Fairness Doctrine ought to be there... one of the most profound changes in the balance of the media is when the conservatives got rid of the equal time requirements and the result is that they have been able to squeeze down and squeeze out opinion of opposing views."

And here's Senator Dianne Feinstein equating shutting-down the opinions of the minority with fairness:

"I believe very strongly that the airwaves are public and people use these airwaves for profit. But there is a responsibility to see that both sides and not just one side of the big public questions of debate of the day are aired and are aired with some modicum of fairness."


Use the hyperlink below and bombard President George W. Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate with your Blast Faxes. Demand that they stand firm against any attempt by liberals in Congress to effectively outlaw the First Amendment.

We must act now! Liberals in Congress may try to sneak the Fairness Doctrine into legislation any day now. Liberal pundits inside the Beltway and members of the elite media are already attempting to sell conservative Senators on the notion that their only chance for political survival is to display comity. Unless they hear from you now, they WILL believe it, as they have in the past.

We can win this fight. It only takes 40 Senators to stand firm . But if patriotic Americans do not speak up, we will lose this fight for our liberties.

http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/unfairnessdoctrinebeii.html

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Our Side Knows The Score As Well.


Here's President Bush:

"By insisting on so-called balance, [liberals] want to silence those they don't agree with. They know they cannot prevail in the public debate of ideas."

Here's Martha Zoller, writing for the Business & Media Institute recounting a quick Q and A with Nancy Pelosi a few months ago:

"The do-nothing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week that she supports reviving the Fairness Doctrine... When pressed further on whether she would allow the Broadcaster Freedom Act to repeal the Fairness Doctrine permanently, Pelosi said, ' No... The interest in my caucus is the reverse.'"

Here's Cliff Kincaid with Accuracy in Media quoting the Democratic Platform; as with the statement from the Obama campaign, pay particular attention to the liberal code words:

"'We will encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media, promote the development of new media outlets for expression of diverse viewpoints, and clarify the public interest obligations of broadcasters who occupy the nation's spectrum,' the Democratic platform says."

And finally, David Limbaugh sums it all up:

"The left supports campaign finance reform, the Fairness Doctrine and other policies allegedly aimed at ensuring that both sides of the political argument be aired. But it's a colossal fraud. Can you imagine what would be in store for political speech in this country if liberals resumed regulatory control of the airways? I can and am horrified at the prospect; and you should be, too."

The time to act is now.

Pelosi, Schumer, Reid and other extreme-liberals in Congress will move quickly... possibly any day now.

When they're done, the First Amendment might as well read:

Congress shall endeavor to make laws disrespecting establishments of religion, prohibiting the free exercise thereof; abridging the freedom of speech, and the right of the people peaceably to assemble...


Use the hyperlink below and bombard President George W. Bush and the Republican Members of the Senate with your Blast Faxes. Demand that they stand firm against any attempt by liberals in Congress to effectively outlaw the First Amendment.

We must act now! Liberals in Congress may try to sneak the Fairness Doctrine into legislation any day now. Liberal pundits inside the Beltway and members of the elite media are already attempting to sell conservative Senators on the notion that their only chance for political survival is to display comity. Unless they hear from you now, they WILL believe it, as they have in the past.

We can win this fight. It only takes 40 Senators to stand firm . But if patriotic Americans do not speak up, we will lose this fight for our liberties.

http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/unfairnessdoctrinebeii.html

AOL Members Use This Hyperlink

If the hyperlink above does not function, please copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser.


Yours In Freedom,



Jeff Mazzella
President
www.cfif.org

P.S. Please help us reach as many concerned Americans as possible by forwarding this e-mail to at least 10 of your friends and family members.



The CFIF Action Alert is a service to the conservative community. If you would like to subscribe please go to www.cfif.org/signup.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Stop Obama in Georgia!

Stop Obama in Georgia!

Stop His Plans to Ban Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, Boortz

Scott Wheeler
Executive Director





First of all, thank you for your generous support in the past election. We could not claim victory but we did have an effect.

I am writing you again about an urgent matter that will affect you and your family.

The Democrats now control 57 seats in the Senate. They are perilously close to getting the 60 votes in the Senate they need to end filibuster and pass Obama's radical legislation.

A special Georgia Senate run-off election is slated for December 2.

The outcome of this race will impact all of us — especially if the Republican loses and Democrats get total control of the Senate.

If the Democrats defeat Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss, they will be very close to getting the 60 votes they need in the Senate to pass Obama's radical legislation.

Without the 60 votes, Obama won't be able to pass a new Fairness Doctrine limiting the power of talk radio. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a leader of the Democratic Senate has called talk radio "pornography." He and Pelosi have one goal — put Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, Savage, Boortz, Beck and all the major hosts, out of business once and for all.

Without the 60 votes, Obama can't pass legislation to increase income taxes, increase capital gains taxes, increase FICA taxes or any other taxes.

Without the 60 votes, Obama won't be able to pass new social spending programs estimated as costing as much as $1 trillion.

Without the 60 votes, Obama won't be able to nationalize the healthcare system.

Without the 60 votes, Obama won't be able to give 12 million illegal aliens citizenship and other government benefits.

Obama and the Congressional Democrats must be denied the 60 votes.

You can stop Obama in Georgia — Help us — Go Here Now.

The Democrats believe they may be able to persuade one or more liberal Republican senators like Arlen Specter to join them to pass Obama's legislation.

They know they are very close to getting the magic number.

That is why they are pouring millions of dollars as we speak in Georgia to win this special election and elect the liberal Democratic candidate Jim Martin.

They will do whatever it takes to destroy Sen. Chambliss. Their union supporters will be bussed into the state for this last ditch effort to give Obama what he really wants: total control of the U.S. Congress.

You must stop them. We can stop them. Donate Here — Go Here Now.

We at the National Republican Trust PAC, also known as GOPtrust.com, are launching an emergency appeal to Republicans across the United States to help defeat Jim Martin and keep Saxby Chambliss in the U.S. Senate.

Fox News analyst Dick Morris calls us at the National Republican Trust the "most important group now in the Republican Party, our version of Moveon.org but more effective."

Dick Morris also said that "It's critical the Republicans win the Georgia race. The National Republican Trust PAC can make a huge difference."

We are demonstrating our important work by focusing national support to help stop Barack Obama in Georgia and elect Saxby Chambliss.

Early voting will start soon for Dec. 2 run-off. Time is short.

We at the National Republican Trust PAC are planning a massive TV ad campaign to alert Georgia voters to the dangers of a Senate and Congress controlled by Barack Obama.

It's important to remember that McCain beat Obama in Georgia by 52% to 47%.

Still, Republicans are deeply concerned. Please help us — Go Here Now.

The special run-off will bring out far fewer voters than the general election. Obama's campaign are masters at organizing small turn-out elections. They won every caucus state, for example.

Have no doubt the Democrats will throw everything they have to get out core constituencies for Jim Martin: union members, African-Americans and other special interests.

That's why our work at the National Republican Trust PAC is so critically important.

Our TV ad campaign and other outreach efforts will alert Georgia Republicans that this election is like no other. In fact, the future of the United States depends on it.

You can help us in our fight to keep Georgia's seat in Republican hands and out of Obama's control.

The maximum donation is $5000 per person. With this amount we can blanket a whole city for a day with ads on broadcast and television.

But even if you donate $2500 or $1000 or $500 or any amount we will put your money to good work.

Donate Today — Go Here Now.


Thank you.

Yours for America,

Scott Wheeler
Executive Director

P.S. As I am writing this to you, liberal Senator Chuck Schumer has just sent out an email to Democratic activists alerting them that his committee is targeting Georgia in the run-off "to help Barack Obama make fundamental change in this country." If you want to stop Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, the place to do it is Georgia. We need your help today. Please donate by responding by Going Here Now or use our Donor Hotline and call Toll-Free 1-866-957-1467.


Paid for by The National Republican Trust PAC.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
2100 M St. NW Suite 170-340 Washington, DC 20037-1233

Contributions to The National Republican Trust PAC are not
deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.
No corporate funds are accepted.

DEMOCRATS CLOSE IN ON 60 VOTES

DEMOCRATS CLOSE IN ON 60 VOTES

By DICK MORRIS

Published on DickMorris.com on November 12, 2008

With the election a week old, Norm Coleman's lead in Minnesota keeps dropping with each day. And now, for the first time, the official recount is underway. Is the left stealing votes? One get suspicious when every day brings new ballots that favor Franken over Coleman.

There is nothing we can do about Minnesota (or Alaska, where Stevens' margin is under attack as well) but there is a great deal we can -- and must -- do to protect the 60th Republican seat in Georgia.

Saxby Chambliss won with less than 50% of the vote on Election Day and now faces a runoff on December 2nd. His opponent, Jim Martin, is a traditional liberal Democrat who will be a rubber stamp for Harry Reid in squelching Republican filibusters of Democratic tax and spending legislation. We must keep Chambliss in office!

Please take the time to go to GOPTrust.com and donate money for an independent expenditure for Chambliss to keep the Democrats shy of the 60 votes they need to rule the nation. With Chambliss' vote, we can be secure that the socialist agenda of Obama will not pass Congress. Rarely has so much ridden on one vote. If the Democrats, who have already won 57 seats in the Senate, can reverse the counts on Stevens and Coleman, they will have 59 votes. Chambliss is the 60th.

There are only three weeks until the runoff election. Democrats, aided by ACORN, specialize in maximizing the turnout among liberals and minorities. We need to fund the conservative opposition to stop them from taking the decisive seat in the Senate. Please donate now to GOPTrust.com so we can wage this battle....and win!

Go to DickMorris.com to read all of Dick's columns!

Dick Morris on SARAH PALIN SAVED GOP FROM LANDSLIDE DEFEAT

SARAH PALIN SAVED GOP FROM LANDSLIDE DEFEAT

By DICK MORRIS

Published on TheHill.com on November 11, 2008

As Richard Nixon wrote, "history is written by liberals," but the story of the 2008 campaign is too important to cede to them the analysis of what happened. A close analysis of the returns indicates several key realities:

a) Sarah Palin made a vast difference in McCain's favor. Compared to 2004, McCain lost 11 points among white men, according to the Fox News exit poll, but only four points among white women. Obama's underperformance among white women, evident throughout the fall, may be chalked up, in large part, to the influence of Sarah Palin. She provided a rallying point for women who saw their political agenda in terms larger than abortion. She addressed the question of what it is like to be a working mother in today's economy and society and resonated with tens of millions of white women who have not responded to the more traditional, and liberal, advocates for their gender.

b) Turnout did not increase substantially. Despite predictions (by me and others) of a vastly greater voter turnout, it didn't happen. About 127 million people voted in 2008, compared to 122 million in 2004. By contrast, turnout rose by almost 20 million between 2000 and 2004. The emphasis on early voting and the heavy participation in primaries indicated the likelihood of a huge increase in turnout, but, on Election Day, the turnout was modest.

c) The black vote made a huge difference; but young people did not. Obama, as expected, generated a big increase in African-American voter turnout. Fox News's exit polls estimate that blacks constituted 13 percent of the turnout in 2008, compared with 11 percent in 2004 and 10 percent in 2000. But voters under 30 years of age were still the same 11 percent of the vote that they were in 2004. The surge of young voters, which was supposed to animate Obama's rise, failed to happen.

d) The turnout efforts of groups like ACORN made a huge difference. Ultimately, it was the difference in voter turnout among Republicans and Democrats that, in addition to the higher black vote, elected Obama. According to Curtis Gans of American University, Republican turnout dropped from 30 percent in 2004 to 28.7 percent of the electorate in 2008, while the Democratic proportion of voters rose from 28.7 percent to 31.3 percent. Much of this increase came from newly registered voters, many as a result of ACORN's efforts. Voter registration rose by 6 million in 2008, which may have accounted for virtually all the increase in turnout.

The message for conservatives is clear: The focus of Democrats on grassroots activism, begun in 1998 by MoveOn.org, was crucial to the Obama election. Instead of relying on the Republican Party to carry the message to the electorate, conservatives must organize their own grassroots movements -- like GOPTrust.com -- and boost turnout and enthusiasm among those who share their worldview. The backbreaking tasks of registering voters and getting out the vote are key to winning elections in the post-media era. Online networking and building of cyber-roots organizations is the way to go in competing in the new politics we face today.

Will the Republican Party get its act together to compete? Who knows. Will conservatives take matters into their own hands and build the kind of organization and Internet base that the liberals have over the past 15 years? They better. Unless we want to witness a fundamental change in our laws, society and culture, conservatives had better get busy and emulate their leftist brethren in building organizations to tap into their base. In the '80s, groups like the National Rifle Association and the Moral Majority filled this need. Today, new groups must move to the fore to fill the void. And they better do it fast!

Friday, November 07, 2008

Senate legend Robert Byrd gives up the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee

Senate legend Robert Byrd, approaching 91 this month and hailing a “new day in Washington," said he would voluntarily give up the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee with the new Congress.

OBAMA'S 'CHANGE': BACK TO THE DEMOCRATIC WASHINGTON

OBAMA'S 'CHANGE': BACK TO THE DEMOCRATIC WASHINGTON INSIDERS




What's with Obama's choice of old-time Clinton cronies and recycled Washington insiders to run the transition to his new politics of change?

Can't the anti-Washington insiders President-elect find anyone who isn't a Beltway has-been?

Judging by the appointments to his transition committee and leaks about possible top staff and Cabinet choices, Obama appears to be practicing the politics of status quo, not the politics of change.

Obama based his innovative campaign on an emphatic and convincing commitment to change the culture of Washington and bring in new people, new ideas, and new ways of doing business.

But now, Obama has definitely changed his tune. As president-elect, he's brought back the old Washington hacks, party regulars, and Clinton sycophants that he so frequently disparaged. Like Jimmy Carter, the last President who ran as an outsider, Obama has reached out to the same old folks who dominate the Democratic Party and represent the status quo.

His Transition Committee looks like a reunion of the Clinton Administration. No new ideas of how to reform the system there. The Chairman, John Podesta, was Clinton's Chief of Staff. He presided over the outrageous last minute pardons and his style is strictly inside-the-beltway and make-no-waves.

Then there's Carol Browner, Clinton's competent former EPA Administrator who became the consummate Washington insider. She's Madeline Albright's partner and recently married mega-lobbyist and former Congressman Tom Downey. During the uproar over Dubai taking over U.S. ports, Browner brought Downey to meet with Senator Chuck Schumer to plead Dubai's case. Downey was paid half a million dollars to push Dubai's position. He's also a lobbyist for Fannie Mae, paid half a million to try to cover their rears on the subprime mortgage mess. Is his change?

Federico Pena was Clinton's Secretary of Transportation and of Energy. The President felt he was unduly soft on Air Florida after their crash and lost confidence in him. Now he's back as a Transition Committee member.

Bill Daley, Clinton's former Secretary of Commerce and the brother of the Mayor of Chicago, is the epitome of the old Democratic establishment. Clinton appointed him to the Fannie Mae Board and his son worked as a lobbyist for the agency. Aren't these the kind of folks that Obama ran against?

Larry Summers, President of Harvard and former Clinton Secretary of the Treasury is not exactly an outsider either. He's also alienated more than a few with his bizarre suggestion that women may be genetically inferior to men in math and science.

Susan Rice, Assistant Secretary of State under Clinton advised John Kerry and Mike Dukakis. Does that tell you enough?

Obama has named one of his big bundlers - Michael Froman, an executive at Citigroup. Is this supposed to symbolize change?

Obama's choice of a spokesperson for the transition is also surprising; hers' is definitely not the face of reason and new politics. Stephanie Cutter is the brash and combative former Clinton, Kerry, and Ted Kennedy mouthpiece. The liberal DailyKos.com once described Cutter as "a moron to the nth degree" when she tried unsuccessfully to force the New York Times' Adam Nagourney to treat her unsolicited email criticizing Howard Dean as "background" without mentioning her name.

Speaking of brash, Rahm Emmanuel, the new White House Chief of Staff, makes Cutter look timid. Rahm is also a former Clinton White House staffer - and a very obnoxious one. He spent his White House years leaking to the Washington Post whenever he didn't like what the President was doing. Even Bill Clinton stopped trusting him. Any hopes of Obama keeping his commitment to reach across the aisle would go right out the window with Rahm's appointment. Instead of extending a hand to the opposition, it would be like raising just one finger. And Rahm's strident demeanor laced with the 'f' word in every sentence will do little to elevate the bipartisan dialogue in Washington.

Christopher Edley, another member of the transition team, is Dean of the Berkeley Law School. He's a former member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission under Clinton and his wife, Maria Echaveste was Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff.

Transition committee staffer Christine Varney was a Federal Trade Commissioner under Clinton and worked in the White House.

Throughout the early debates, Obama criticized Hillary as part of the inside-the beltway establishment that needed to go. But now he's reaching out to these exact same folks. Some change.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

AN ELECTION THAT THE REPUBLICANS NEEDED TO LOSE

AN ELECTION THAT THE REPUBLICANS NEEDED TO LOSE -- GOOD LUCK OBAMA

By DICK MORRIS

Published on TheHill.com on November 5, 2008

If ever there was an election that was not worth winning, it was the contest of 2008. While it was hard-fought on both sides, had McCain won, it might have spelled the end of the Republican Party. As it is, the party is well-situated to come back in 2010 and in 2012, if it learns the lessons of this year.

Simply put, all hell is about to break loose in the markets and the economy. The mortgage crisis will likely be followed by defaults in credit card debt, student loans and car loans. We will probably be set for two years of zero growth, according to economists with whom I talk. And the federal efforts to protect the nation from the worst of the recession will probably lead to huge budget deficits and resulting inflation. We are in for stagflation that could last for years.

Had McCain won, he would be the latter-day Hoover, blamed for the disaster that unfolded on his watch. Now it is Obama's problem. With the Republicans suffering a wipeout in congressional elections (although not as bad as they feared), the ball is now squarely in the Democratic court. Good luck!

If Obama raises taxes, the situation could get even worse. With a liberal Congress on his hands, he will be constrained to move to the left, if he needs any pushing. When Clinton was elected in 1992, the Democrats in control of Congress gave him a clear message: Either you govern within the four walls of the Democratic caucus or you won't get our support. Crossing the aisle to get Republican votes, even including the GOP in negotiations, was a no-no for which the president would pay dearly if he transgressed.

The result was predictable. Moderate initiatives like welfare reform were scrapped, the Congress passed tax hikes and legislation became festooned with liberal amendments. Faced with the need to round up every last vote in the Senate and House Democratic caucuses, Clinton had no choice but to load up conservative bills like an anti-crime measure with liberal pork (like a provision for midnight basketball courts in urban areas) to get unanimous caucus backing.

Obama will have to move left to appease his caucus. He will become their hostage, and they his jailers.

This dynamic will produce extreme-left-wing governance, which the Republicans can blame for the continuation of the recession and for any worsening. The party will recover, fed by anger at Obama's policies, and will emerge from this defeat stronger than ever.

But the Republicans must learn the lesson of MoveOn.org. Founded in the bleak days of the Clinton impeachment, MoveOn developed a grassroots Internet base. Building up its e-list of activists and contributors, MoveOn laid the basis for the incredible Internet appeal of the Obama campaign. At last count, Obama has 4.5 million donors, most online.

Conservatives cannot count on the Republican Party to fight their battles for them, and certainly cannot count on them to win. The right needs to develop cyber-roots conservative organizations to rival the power of groups like MoveOn.org. The stellar efforts of NewsMax.com and its ally, GOPtrust.com, illustrate the power of such efforts. Together, these groups raised $10 million for an independent expenditure on media in swing states featuring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's anti-American bombast.

And their efforts worked.

Virtually all the polls agreed that Obama would win 52-53 percent of the vote, but the surveys varied in the amount of undecideds they found. On Election Day, virtually every undecided voter went to McCain, and Obama's final vote share was no more and no less than the 52-53 percent the surveys had predicted. This unanimity among undecided voters is attributable to the endgame of groups like GOPtrust.com and NewsMax.com.

These groups have to lead the way in running media to battle against the leftist legislation that will undoubtedly emanate from the Obama administration and the liberal Congress America has just elected. Then they can become the basis for a Republican resurgence, just as MoveOn.org was this year for the Democrats.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

last chance that we have to help Stephanie

With 25 letters of commendation, two awards, and nine years of service to the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland, Stephanie Mohr does not sound like an officer who should be spending years in jail away from her young son, Adam. Unfortunately, this is already Mohr’s fifth year of a prison sentence that she does not deserve. With your help though, we can get this innocent officer out of jail and reunited with her son.

This is the last chance that we have to help Stephanie.

In September of 1995, Mohr was on patrol with her police dog Valk. She was patrolling Takoma Park, an area that had been known to have many recent burglaries. When Mohr and her partner, Sergeant Anthony Delozier, got a call for backup from an officer who had spotted two men on the roof of a nearby store, they knew they may have found the criminals.

Ricardo Mendez and Herrera Cruz were the two suspects who were ordered to get down and face the wall. Mendez then made a move that looked as if he were about to flee the scene.

As Mohr had been trained to do in this type of situation, she released her canine. Valk, the police dog, was trained to perform the police department’s standard “bite and hold” and that is exactly what he did. The dog bit Mendez on the leg and held him there until the officers could apprehend him.

Mendez and Herrera were convicted of 4th degree burglary and were then deported. The two illegally re-entered the U.S. again and were arrested for selling crack cocaine. They were then deported a second time.

Stephanie was relieved that she had gotten these two criminals off of our streets and back to their country.

She soon gave birth to her son Adam and was a proud mother.

Unfortunately, her joy did not last very long. Five years after this incident and one day before the statue of limitations was set to expire, Mohr was indicted by the U.S Department of Justice.

Looking for cases of “police brutality” the U.S Department of Justice indicted Stephanie and two fellow officers charging them with conspiracy charges and violating Ricardo Mendez’s civil rights.

At the trial, Officer Mohr was found not guilty of conspiracy. A hung jury, voting 11 to 1 in favor of Mohr failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the civil right charges.

The prosecutor sought a retrial that was held in 2001. The trial was scheduled even though the jurors from the first trial said that the case lacked merit. At this trial the prosecution convinced the jury that Mohr had released her canine on innocent minority citizens.

In this second trial, the judge allowed prejudicial testimony into evidence that Mohr had used racial epithets in making a prior arrest using her canine. The charges did not start out as racial but the prosecutors needed to do something desperate to save their case. This questionable evidence should not have been allowed into the courtroom.

The jury was stacked with minorities who would be sympathetic with illegal immigrants. The government even flew Mendez back into the U.S. at taxpayer expense. They did this in order to have Mendez testify against Mohr despite the fact that he was a convicted felon.

Because of the racial tactics the prosecution had to use to save their failing case, Stephanie was convicted of a federal criminal rights violation and given a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

Stephanie is now serving her fifth year of the ten year prison sentence.

This is the fifth year that she has had to spend away from her son Adam. She has missed so many important days in her son’s life like birthdays and holidays because of this prison sentence she does not deserve.

Stephanie has not lost hope though. She has faith in the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. We are doing everything we can to help Mohr.

We have appealed the trial Courts decision denying Stephanie a new trial to the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia.

Last month we filed our “request for a Commutation of Sentence” to President George W. Bush.

With just four months left in his administration, President Bush is now reviewing Pardon requests. You and I both know that no one in the country deserves her freedom more than Stephanie Mohr.

Stephanie’s eight year old son has now spent the last 5 years of his life without his mother by his side.

Five years of her life have been wasted in prison because she followed police procedure when she ordered her police dog Valk to stop a suspect from fleeing the scene. Five years that can NEVER EVER be given back.

The suspect – an illegal alien from San Salvador – was convicted of selling drugs and deported. ---- But outrageously the prosecutor brought him back, at public expense, to testify against Stephanie.

And Stephanie was convicted of “violating” his civil rights.

Just as unfair as the charges, the Judge, blindly following the recommendation of the Civil Rights Division, imposed a draconian ten-year sentence that both Stephanie and her son Adam are both serving. What can be more outrageous!!!

Now with President Bush only four months away from the end of his term, this may be our last chance to free Stephanie.

If you agree that its time to send this innocent mother home to her son, won’t you please help fund our crucial “Request for Commutation of Sentence” to the U.S. Department of Justice by sending your most generous tax deductible contribution to The Law Enforcement Defense Fund by clicking here today.

We strongly believe that Mohr has been wrongly accused and innocent of this crime. Stephanie did not cross any boundaries while trying to apprehend Mendez. Mohr followed all the police procedures as she was trained to do.

In order to protect the public, which was her main concern, she had to release her canine to ensure that Mendez could not escape and pose a further threat to the community.

We here at LELDF (see who we are) hope that you as an American citizen can realize that this sentence is unjust. Mendez is an illegal alien who is receiving more benefits than Mohr, a police officer who protected the public for over nine years.

We are asking you to show your support by giving a gift of $25, $50, or any amount that you can afford. This gift of any amount is tax-deductible.

LELDF is assisting Stephanie with all the legal costs for the appeal and for the Petition for Commmutation of Sentence.

Stephanie’s appeal asks the federal judge to review her conviction based on evidence in court documents that a witness against her lied, saying she used a racial slur and that this lie influenced the jury to convict her.

LELDF is trying to help Stephanie Mohr in any way we can. But, we cannot do it alone. We need your support to help Stephanie obtain her rightfully deserved freedom.

Your contribution of any amount will greatly impact our efforts in supporting Stephanie.

By the time Stephanie gets out of prison, her son Adam will almost be a teenager. Mohr has lost some of the most crucial moments in Adams life. This is every mother’s worst nightmare. We need to help her get out of prison as soon as possible so she can be reunited with her son.

Any donation that you can contribute will help our cause in giving Stephanie her freedom. She deserves to know that we appreciate all her hard work and sacrifices.

We thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,


David H. Martin
Chairman

P.S. Stephanie Mohr was only performing her job the way she was trained how. Mendez is an illegal alien who should not even be in the U.S. Please do not let this mother be torn apart from her son any longer. Won’t you please help LELDF to reunite Stephanie and Adam? Thank you!