Saturday, December 17, 2011

Presenting the Ten Greediest Americans of 2011

You don't have to make a million to rate as an all-star greedster. You do have to be ruthless, self-absorbed and grossly insensitive.
December 13, 2011

The greediest among us in 2011 probably haven’t been any greedier, as a gang, than any greedy of the recent past. They just seem that way.

Why so? We have a whole new frame of reference. This fall’s sudden — and exhilarating — rise of the Occupy movement has helped us remember what we, as a society, had sadly forgotten: that decent, smart societies never let the few grab away rewards that ought to be shared among the many.

Who grabbed most greedily in 2011? We have no statistical yardstick to help us make that call. You don’t, after all, have to make a million to rate as an all-star greedster. You do have to be ruthless, self-absorbed, and grossly insensitive.

That description, we’ll admit, fits far more folks than our ten dis-honorees below. Maybe next year, we can hope, we’ll have a harder time filling out our top ten. READ MORE

10 Stupidest Moments of Fox and Friends


Fox & Friends punctuates its incessant campaign to promote conservative politics with some extremely absurd moments.
December 16, 2011

Anyone who has had the misfortune to regularly watch Fox News' morning show, Fox & Friends, knows how unique a program it is. Hidden behind the three friendly, smiling faces of the show's co-hosts Brian Kilmeade, Steve Doocy, and Gretchen Carlson, lie some of the network's most aggressive and unrelenting misinformers. But just like last year, Fox & Friends punctuated its incessant campaign to promote conservative politics with some occasional funny and outrageous moments. Therefore, we present Fox & Friends' stupidest moments of 2011. Enjoy!
READ MORE

Wisconsin Recall Breaks Record for Signatures Despite Best Efforts of Pro-Walker Media to Undermine Campaign


Behind reports of recall volunteers being harassed, effort crossed half-million signature mark on Thursday.
December 16, 2011

The grassroots campaign to recall Wisconsin’s embattled Republican Gov. Scott Walker crossed a major milestone this week that displayed its organizing prowess and growing political power. The Democratic Party announced that it gathered more than a half-million signatures midway through a 60-day petition drive—breaking state records.

But if you were only learning about the recall from Wisconsin’s mainstream media in recent weeks, particularly watching television news, where millions of dollars of pro-Walker ads have been airing, you wouldn't be left with a view of a competent new political operation. Instead you'd be hearing all about Walker supporters attacking the petition circulators -- including some arrests, Walker opponents signing petitions numerous times, fueling GOP fears of voter fraud -- and reports questioning the credibility of the state board that is overseeing the recall campaign. READ MORE

Is Sheriff Joe Arpaio Going Down?


Is Sheriff Joe Arpaio Going Down?
A Justice Department report blasts the embattled Arizona lawman for discriminating against Latinos.
December 16, 2011

The clock struck at 1,095 days and 11 hours today for Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Ariz. — or, at least according to the ticking icon on the Phoenix New Times home page that had asked readers for years: “How long has Sheriff Joe been under investigation by the feds?”

That investigation culminated Thursday when the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice released its long-awaited report, which found a “chronic culture of disregard for basic legal and constitutional obligations” in Arpaio’s office. Drawing from tens of thousands of documents and over 400 interviews with sheriff’s department personnel, inmates and experts, the report documented “a widespread pattern or practice of law enforcement and jail activities that discriminate against Latinos,” resulting in gross violations of constitutional rights.
READ MORE

Has the Israel Lobby Gone Too Far?


Will a recent attack on progressive journalists help spark a sea-change in the debate over Middle East policy?
December 16, 2011

When Josh Block, a former communications director for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), sent an “oppo dump” about a group of progressive journalists and bloggers at the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Media Matters to a list-serv of conservative journalists and asked them to push the narrative that the writers were echoing “the words of anti-Semites,” he probably didn't think much of it.

After all, this is how self-identified “pro-Israel” activists have long policed the discourse surrounding the Middle East conflict and the “special relationship” that exists between the United States and Israel.

In 2009, an influential Israeli think-tank carefully cherry-picked posts from the Huffington Post, Daily Kos and Salon, quoted them out of context and concluded that “progressive blogs and news sites in the United States are a new field where Jew-hatred, in both its classic and anti-Israeli forms, manifests itself.”
READ MORE

When Cults Collide: How Big Sports and CEO Worship Threaten Societies


Jerry Sandusky will likely go to prison. But when values poisonous to healthy societies are fostered, crimes will continue to be committed-- and condoned.
December 13, 2011

The silence. The lack of accountability. The blind loyalty. The case of Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky (who waived his right to a hearing on Tuesday) and similar horrors have shown us that under certain circumstances, otherwise normal people will stand by in the face of crimes as heinous as systemic child abuse and child rape. How could it happen that a university would protect a football program over the lives of innocent children?

The real question is: How could it be otherwise?

The Church of Football READ MORE

Who We Are and Why We Fight: "People Who Do Drugs, and People Who Don't, Will End the War on Drugs"


The foremost U.S. authority on the harm of the drug war paints a clear and brilliant picture of the path to a better future.
December 14, 2011

Ethan Nadelmann electrified the audience with this comprehensive and provocative address at the 2011 International Drug Policy Reform Conference in November in downtown Los Angeles. At the conference, anti-drug war activists from all over the world, and all walks of life, converged to plan and discuss the movement to end the drug war. Former police officers with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), and representatives from the NAACP and other organizations joined formerly incarcerated drug offenders, addicts, and individuals as prominent as the Mexican poet Javier Sicilia for three days of collaboration and education.

Let me tell you something. We are all the future of this movement. We are all the future. You know, it is the young, the old, and the in-between. The black, the white, and the in-between. The gay, the straight, and the in-between. The drug users, and the non-drug users, and the in-between. READ MORE

How Ayn Rand Seduced Generations of Young Men and Helped Make the U.S. Into a Selfish, Greedy Nation


Thanks in part to Rand, the United States is one of the most uncaring nations in the industrialized world.
December 15, 2011

Ayn Rand’s “philosophy” is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society....To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.— Gore Vidal, 1961

Only rarely in U.S. history do writers transform us to become a more caring or less caring nation. In the 1850s, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was a strong force in making the United States a more humane nation, one that would abolish slavery of African Americans. A century later, Ayn Rand (1905-1982) helped make the United States into one of the most uncaring nations in the industrialized world, a neo-Dickensian society where healthcare is only for those who can afford it, and where young people are coerced into huge student-loan debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. READ MORE

SEC charges ex-Fannie, Freddie CEOs with fraud

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


By Msnbc.com staff and wire

Federal regulators have charged six former executives -- including former CEOs -- at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with securities fraud, alleging they misled investors about their exposure to risky subprime mortgage debt.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it sued three former executives at Fannie Mae and three at Freddie Mac Friday. The civil charges were filed in two separate lawsuits in federal court in New York City. Among those charged were former Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron and former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd.

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives told the world that their subprime exposure was substantially smaller than it really was," said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division. Khuzami added that these misstatements "misled the market about the amount of risk on the company's books."
READ MORE

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Jon Stewart Presents the "Huge Balls of the Week" Award to Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, and Barack Obama

Last night Jon Stewart presented the "holy sh*t, you've got some huge, hairy motherf***ing balls on you" award (sponsored by Lowe's) to three individuals with the audacity to take a ballsy stance in the face of reason and common sense.

Watch the full segment below.

$806 Billion Spent for Hundreds of Thousands to Be Killed and Wounded: The Staggering, True Costs of the Iraq War


The war was intended to show the extent of America’s power. It succeeded only in showing its limits.
December 14, 2011

The United States is withdrawing the last of its troops from Iraq this month, which makes now an appropriate time to begin weighing the costs and benefits to U.S. national security from our intervention there.

On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush stood aboard the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and declared to the country and to the world that “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”

As Americans would quickly find out, President Bush’s declaration of victory was severely premature. Iraq would soon be in the throes of a violent insurgency and, eventually, a full-blown sectarian civil war.
READ MORE

Robert Scheer | There Goes the Republic


Robert Scheer, Truthdig
Scheer writes: "On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney claimed 'the most recent changes give the president additional discretion in determining how the law will be implemented, consistent with our values and the rule of law, which are at the heart of our country's strength.' What rubbish, coming from a president who taught constitutional law. The point is not to hock our civil liberty to the discretion of the president, but rather to guarantee our freedoms even if a Dick Cheney or Newt Gingrich should attain the highest office."
READ MORE

Carl Gibson | The Speech I Wish Obama Would Deliver



Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News
Excerpts: "Today, I vetoed legislation that would have undermined...liberties. In an alarming turn of events, your representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate-who have sworn an oath to defend our Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic-passed a bill that would have violated the sacred protections our founders promised the people of this nation 220 years ago. Ironically, the National Defense Authorization Act, which funds the wars that our men and women are currently fighting overseas, included language that would have stripped away the freedoms that those men and women of the armed forces are sworn to protect."
READ MORE

Israel‘s Pebbles joins wireless gesture-tech rush

Gesture-recognition technology enables Internet gaming from a distance. Israeli startup joins scrum of firms in wireless gaming and Web By Robert Daniel, MarketWatch TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — Pebbles Interfaces, a specialist in gesture-recognition technology, says that if you flick your finger at the screen on your smartphone, computer or TV, any number of cool things are possible. Gesture recognition — controlling electronic devices without touching them — is the technological connection that enables you to, say, sit on the couch and surf the Web or play “Assassin’s Creed” on your 42-inch flat screen on the wall. Likewise, you can control your PC screen right in front of you. Pebbles, a Ness Tziona, Israel, start-up, says its technology, which will be ready for launch in 2012, will take gesture recognition to a more sensitive and natural level, recognizing simple and subtle finger movements to execute everything on screen. READ MORE

Jerry Sandusky's lawyer Joe Amendola scrambles on defense of former Penn State coordinator


Amendola says his statement to Ann Curry was misleading

BY Teri Thompson & Michael O'keeffe
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, December 15 2011, 1:04 AM

Roughly 24 hours before Jerry Sandusky’s preliminary hearing was scheduled to begin on Tuesday morning, Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Joseph McGettigan
told the former Penn State defensive coordinator’s lawyer that he would call 11 very credible witnesses and that he would vigorously object if the defense asked inappropriate questions. McGettigan also told the lawyer, Joe Amendola,
that he would ask Senior Magisterial District Court Judge Robert Scott to increase Sandusky’s $250,000 bail after the witnesses had outlined the case against the accused child molester.
READ MORE

Irvingia: A Magic Pill?

By Tanya Edwards, MD, M.Ed.

Irvingia, an extract of the West African mango, has been used for a variety of medicinal purposes in Africa for many centuries. Recently, there have been a few studies on the use of this extract for weight loss. As an obese nation, we are chronically on the search for that magic pill which allows us to eat whatever we want while losing weight at the same time.

In the two randomized trials in overweight and obese humans using Irvingia, participants in the Irvingia group lost on average 5-10 pounds/month compared to the placebo group. Neither group made any lifestyle changes during the trial. They also noted that cholesterol levels and blood sugar levels improved significantly compared to the control group.

Sounds like a magic bullet to me! I tried it myself, and low and behold, in the first month of taking it (only once per day, mind you, instead of the recommended twice daily), I lost 7 pounds without making any changes in my usual healthy diet and exercise routine! I began recommending it to my patients who needed to lose weight, especially if they had high cholesterol and/or diabetes. The results have been slightly underwhelming. A few patients lost a few pounds, but it has not been the magic bullet I had hoped for. And with continued use, I have not lost any more weight.

That being said, it may be helpful for those needing to lose 5-10 pounds, and studies have shown no undesirable side effects. More independent studies likely need to be done by independent researchers (the two studies mentioned were performed by researchers with a vested interest in the company making the product). Keep your eyes and ears open for more information in the future!
Visit the site

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Secretive Millionaires Funding Online Primary For 'Independent' White House Run


They won't tell us who they are, but they are spending tens of millions as part of 'Americans Elect' to nominate and to field an 'Independent' presidential candidate in 2012.
December 12, 2011

There’s an increasing amount of buzz around Americans Elect, a peculiar Internet-based effort to shake up presidential politics. But dig a bit beneath the surface and there’s reason to be deeply skeptical of the endeavor.

The basic pitch of Americans Elect goes like this: We’ll go through the expensive and time-consuming process of getting ballot access in all 50 states. Then we’ll hold an online convention in June in which any registered voter can participate. Participants will nominate a presidential ticket including one Democrat and one Republican who will then enter the general election fray.

Here’s what the group is not so upfront about: It’s fueled by millions of dollars of secret money, there is a group of wealthy, well-connected board members who have control over Americans Elect’s nominating process, and the group has myriad links to Wall Street.

Americans Elect has been getting periodic bursts of support from prominent commentators. READ MORE

The Health of Children and Consumers is Threatened by Conservative Push for Corporate Speech Rights


Some pro-business federal judges have shockingly approved a constitutional right for big companies to avoid revealing product dangers on labels.
December 12, 2011

In recent years, corporate lawyers representing industries whose products touch millions of American lives have stopped numerous government efforts to better inform the public about possible health risks with an eyebrow-raising legal strategy. They have asserted a constitutional right not to speak, or say more than they want on labels and advertising, and pro-business federal judges have agreed, rejecting the public’s right to know.

In cases involving manmade hormones fed to dairy cows, heart and lung disease caused by tobacco, the nutritional value of foods contributing to childhood and teenage obesity, and even radiation emitted by cell phones, the industries keep returning to court until a business-friendly judge or majority on an appeals court rules that the First Amendment includes the corporate right not to ‘speak’ if it could harm profits. READ MORE

Google chairman says online piracy bill would 'criminalize' the Internet

12 Dec 2011 An online piracy bill in the House would "criminalize linking and the fundamental structure of the Internet itself," according to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. Schmidt said the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would punish Web firms, including search engines, that link to foreign websites dedicated to online piracy. He said implementing the bill as written would effectively break the Internet. "By criminalizing links, what these bills do is they force you to take content off the Internet," Schmidt said, calling it a form of censorship. READ MORE

Occupy Protesters Block West Coast Ports


By Lee Romney, Kim Murphy and Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times

13 December 11

Demonstrators fail to shut down most shipping business. Rain in some areas hampered turnout.

Reporting from Oakland, Seattle and Long Beach- Thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters blocked access to several major West Coast ports Monday in synchronized demonstrations that slowed business but fell short of what some protesters hoped would be a complete shutdown of coastal shipping.

The protests stretched from San Diego to Anchorage, brought work to a standstill in Oakland and Longview, Wash., and led to the closure of a major marine terminal in Portland, Ore. Demonstrators caused smaller disruptions in Seattle and in Long Beach, where a driving rain and threats of arrest put a damper on an early morning picket line.READ MORE

Arizona Immigration Law to Be Heard by Supreme Court


By Josh Gerstein, Politico

13 December 11



The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether a law Arizona passed last year cracking down on illegal immigration violates the Constitution by intruding on the prerogatives of the federal government.

The new high-profile platform for the continuing legal fight over immigration-related state laws has the potential to inflame the issue in the 2012 presidential campaign - a development that could benefit President Barack Obama's appeal among Latinos, but hurt his standing with swing voters who tend to be broadly supportive of legislation to rein in illegal immigration.

The Obama administration, which persuaded lower courts to block key parts of the Arizona law, known as S.B. 1070, had asked the Supreme Court not to take up the case at this time. Still, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters Monday, "You know the president's position and the administration's position. We look forward to arguing it in this case." READ MORE

Mitt and Newt Latent Progressives?


By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog

13 December 11



wo important reforms are stopping the revolving door between Washington and the nation's financial giants, and preventing financiers from flipping companies(making short-term profits by borrowing big sums to buy them, then squeezing payrolls and firing employees, and reselling the stripped-down companies at a profit - unless the debt-laden firms fall into bankruptcy first).

Remarkably, the frontrunners for the Republican nomination for president seem to agree. At least, that's the clear implication from what they've said today.

During a morning appearance on Fox News, Mitt Romney said Newt Gingrich should return the $1.6 million in payments he received from mortgage financial giant Freddy Mac.

Gingrich has tried to defend himself by saying Freddy paid him as a "historian," but anyone with half a brain knows Freddy wasn't interested in history. It coughed up the money because they wanted Newt to influence his former House colleagues, so they wouldn't take steps to reduce Freddy's financial risk or reach. READ MORE

L.A. calls for end to 'corporate personhood'

December 6, 2011, Los Angeles Times blog
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/corporate-personhood-la-constitutional-amendment.html

At a packed City Council meeting ... Los Angeles lawmakers Tuesday called for more regulations on how much corporations can spend on political campaigns. The vote in support of state and federal legislation that would end so-called "corporate personhood” is largely symbolic. The council resolution includes support for a constitutional amendment that would assert that corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights, and that spending money is not a form of free speech. City Council President Eric Garcetti, the resolution's sponsor, said such actions are necessary because “big special interest money” is behind much of the gridlock in Washington. He blamed a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, which rolled back legal restrictions on corporate spending on the grounds that political speech by a business entity should receive the same 1st Amendment protections that people do. It allows corporations and other groups to spend unlimited money on behalf of candidates. Councilman Richard Alarcon, who also supported the resolution, said corporations are “trying to take over every aspect of our lives.” “Corporations are at the wheel of America,” Alarcon said. “And they are driving us to destruction.”

Note: Why was this key decision only reported in a blog and hardly covered by the media elsewhere? To understand how the media controls public debate, as reported by top journalists, click here.

Critics: 'Tough' Sheriff Botched Sex-Crime Cases

December 4, 2011, ABC News/Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/critics-tough-sheriff-botched-sex-crime-cases-15083848

More than 400 sex-crimes reported to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office during a three-year period ending in 2007 — including dozens of alleged child molestations — ... were inadequately investigated and in some instances were not worked at all, according to current and former police officers familiar with the cases. Many of the victims, said a retired El Mirage police official who reviewed the files, were children of illegal immigrants. The botched sex-crimes investigations have served as an embarrassment to a department whose sheriff is the self-described "America's Toughest Sheriff" and a national hero to conservatives on the immigration issue. Bill Louis, then-assistant El Mirage police chief who reviewed the files after the sheriff's contract ended, believes the decision to ignore the cases was made deliberately by supervisors in Arpaio's office — and not by individual investigators. "I know the investigators. I just cannot believe they would wholesale discount these cases. No way," Louis said. "The direction had to come (from) up the food chain." Louis said he believes whoever made the decision knew that illegal immigrants — who are often transient and fear the police — were unlikely to complain about the quality of investigations.

Note: For powerful evidence from a suppressed Discovery Channel documentary showing that child sexual abuse scandals reach to the highest levels of government, click here.

Government Employees Union Launches 'Explain It To Me, GOP' Campaign


Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:00 PM PST

The American Federation of Government Employees has launched a new advertising campaign calling Republicans to task for attempting to pay for an extension to the payroll tax holiday by cutting government employee salaries and jobs:

The “Explain it to me, GOP” campaign highlights the hypocrisy of forcing federal employees to pay for extending payroll tax relief that benefits all working Americans.

“Extending payroll tax relief for another year will boost the economy by putting an extra $1,500 in the pockets of the average American family. But forcing middle-class workers to pay for it is hypocrisy at its worst,” the ad reads. “Federal employees are part of the 99 percent. Explain to me, GOP, how slashing their jobs and wages helps the economy.”
READ MORE

Gary Johnson Reminds Voters Gingrich Proposed the Death Penalty for Marijuana

Over the weekend, struggling Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson reminded MSNBC viewers that GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich had once to called to punish some drug offenders with death. READ MORE

Fundraising Time: Wacky NRA CEO Says Obama Will Take All The Guns If Reelected


Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the National Rifle Association ("We Sell Fear"©) is gearing up for the election year fundraising blitz. Imagine, if you will, President Barack Obama carrying out a full-scale national crackdown on guns. Now that you're done laughing, read just what paranoid flames Wayne is willing to fan to keep his million-dollar paycheck:

Obama administration officials are deliberately keeping gun owners in the dark about the president’s gun-control agenda as we head into next year’s national election, because administration officials know that when NRA members and gun owners show up at the polls en masse, anti-gun candidates lose.
READ MORE

Anti-Gay GOP Politician Donating Sperm to Lesbian Couples


Posted: 13 Dec 2011 07:00 AM PST

(h/t David at VideoCafe)

Bill Johnson is a Republican Christian politician who was a former Birmingham City councilman and director of Alabama’s Department of Economic and Community Affairs until he resign to run for governor. That wasn’t his first run – he ran for the U.S. Senate in Missouri as a Libertarian, campaigning to legalize marijuana and prostitution – views he’s since renounced since he became a Republican. Still, he’s got this odd streak of idealism that has made it difficult for him to fit into the GOP stable – after he fell out with Republican Gov. Bob Riley by asking the state attorney general and the Montgomery County DA to investigate his former boss for conflict of interest, he was banned by the GOP from appearing before the executive committee in Prattsville, his home county, or speaking at any other event the committee sponsors. READ MORE

Furious at Facebook Again!


When a man tried to return my lost laptop, Facebook hid his messages from me. How come?

By Elizabeth Weingarten|Posted Friday, Dec. 9, 2011, at 11:22 AM ET

Where is Facebook storing all those messages?

On Nov. 15 at approximately 11:45 p.m., I left my 1-month-old MacBook Air in the back of a New York City cab. Quickly realizing my error, I freaked out: Hands shaking, I dialed the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, reported the cab’s medallion number (I had a receipt) and jotted down the phone number of city precincts where my cargo could end up (if a good Samaritan turned it in). Then, I slumped against the side of a building and sobbed.

Of course, it was only a computer. But this superficial, expensive thing contained a completed story that I was supposed to send an editor at this magazine the following morning. And all of my notes for said story, which I had come to New York to write. No, I didn’t save my files to an external hard drive and no I did not have insurance on the computer. The next morning, I chugged coffee and rewrote the story. I tracked down the cab driver; he claimed he never found it. A week later, I reluctantly purchased a new laptop. And that was that.

Until today, when a colleague at Slate sent an email around about the messages Facebook hides in an obscure folder labeled “Other.” Haven’t heard of it? READ MORE

American President: A Reference Resource


Key Events in the Presidency of George W. Bush
2000
November 7, 2000

Americans votes in the 2000 presidential election. Vote differentials in several states are exceedingly close, with the Democratic and Republican candidates disputing many of those counts, leaving the final result inconclusive.
December 12, 2000

In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court stops the recount of votes in several contested Florida counties. The Democratic candidate, Vice President Albert Gore Jr., concedes the election, leaving Governor George W. Bush of Texas, the Republican candidate, as President-elect.
2001
January 20, 2001

George W. Bush is inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States. He is the second son of a President to occupy the Oval Office, the first being John Quincy Adams in 1825.
January 22, 2001

In one of his first policy decisions, President Bush decides to reinstate the ban on aid to international groups performing or counseling on abortion. The ban was initiated by former President Ronald Reagan but is not enforced during the administration of President Bill Clinton.
January 29, 2001

By executive order, President Bush creates the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The new office will work to ease regulations on religious charities and promote grass-roots efforts to tackle community issues such as aid to the poor and disadvantaged.
February 16, 2001

United States airplanes attack Iraqi radar sites to enforce a “no-fly zone.” Bush calls the military action a “routine mission.”
March 29, 2001

The Bush administration affirms its decision to abandon ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty signed by 180 countries to reduce global warming that set limits on industrial emissions.
April 1, 2001

A U.S. spy plane flying over the South China Sea is clipped by a Chinese fighter jet, forcing the American plane to make an emergency landing on Chinese soil. The incident strains diplomatic ties between the two nations as the United States demands that China return both the plane and its crew to American authorities.
April 4, 2001

The Miami Herald and USA Today release a comprehensive review of the 2000 presidential election recount efforts in Florida. The review shows that even if Democratic candidate Al Gore had succeeded in getting the recounts he wanted, President Bush would have won Florida by 1,665 votes.
April 25, 2001

President Bush signals a change in relations with China by officially pledging military support for Taiwan in the event of an attack by China. This is the first time a presidential administration has publicly acknowledged a position that had previously been implicitly accepted. READ MORE

Bush's Faith-Based Gravy Train

By Howard Bess January 25, 2009 Editor’s Note: When the American Right began its dramatic rise in the early 1980s, one of its early slogans was “Defund the Left” — by gutting government-funded social programs managed by liberal organizations. Two decades later, George W. Bush’s administration went further, into “Funding the Right.” In this guest essay, Rev. Howard Bess looks at how Bush institutionalized these political subsidies under the umbrella of his faith-based initiatives: During the presidential tenure of George W. Bush, a very significant, largely unnoticed organizational innovation took place. I am not writing about the Department of Homeland Security. Homeland Security is very visual. Anyone who travels is aware of Homeland Security. The agency has become a reluctantly accepted fact of American life. Rather I am writing about the Bush administration’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative. With little scrutiny the U.S. government has fundamentally changed its approach to meeting the needs of Americans who are poor or in need of some sort of public help. READ MORE

Religion and Social Welfare


The creation of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in 2001 brought the work of religious organizations to the forefront of the discussion over how America should best care for its needy.

The Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life examines the relationship between religious groups and human services providers and government, as well as public opinion on the topic.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life looks closely at public opinion regarding the extent to which faith-based groups should participate in the delivery of federally funded social services and whether government policies should reflect religious values. The forum provides a variety of resources that examine the relationship between religious organizations and social service providers and government, including reports, polling data, transcripts of its events and the latest news from media sources nationwide.

These resources are designed to deliver timely, impartial information to national, state and local opinion leaders, including government officials and journalists.

For more information about the role of religious groups in social welfare, visit the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life Web site. READ MORE

Shameless self-promotion: faith-based initiatives


Posted by Mollie

It’s an opinion piece, not a news article, but some of you might be interested in something I wrote for the Wall Street Journal’s Houses of Worship column yesterday. I took a look at how President Barack Obama’s faith-based initiative office compares with Bush’s. After reminiscing about some of the warnings that Bush’s office was leading the country to a theocratic form of government, I wrote:

Now that Mr. Bush is gone, however, no one seems particularly worried about the entanglement of the federal government with religious organizations. A recent study sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that President Obama’s “faith-based initiative has so far generated little of the contentious press coverage associated with Bush’s effort.”

According to Pew, the media ran nearly seven times as much coverage of President Bush’s faith-based initiative during his first six months in office as President Obama’s. And the stories on Mr. Bush’s initiative were almost 50% more likely to be on the front-page, emphasizing the controversial nature of the program. The stories on Mr. Obama’s initiative were buried deeper in the paper and focused on procedure. Few, if any, stories questioned whether the current president would use his office to advance a religious agenda, a major theme of coverage during the Bush ­administration.
READ MORE

Monday, December 12, 2011

How Newt's Big Mouth Could Get People Killed

Let's just assume for a moment that Newt Gingrich is going to be the Republicans' nominee for president. Is it a good thing that, when it comes to the Palestinians, he is "at odds with the opinion of all but the most extreme elements of Israeli society." He's so extreme in his hatred of the Palestinians that he makes even right-wing Israelis uncomfortable. READ MORE

Iowa Debate: Clueless Romney's $10,000 Bet Blunder Makes Gingrich the Man to Beat

In a spirited Saturday night debate with no clear winner, there was one clear loser: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, once considered the inevitable 2012 presidential nominee of the Republican Party. The ABC News debate, moderated by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos, took place at Drake University in Iowa, whose caucuses will kick off the Republican primary season in less than three weeks. Romney's defeat came not at the hands of the current frontrunner, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, but was instead was the gift of his own mouth. In a moment reminiscent of George H.W. Bush's clueless campaign romp through a grocers' conference -- when he beheld with wonder the miracle that was a barcode scanner -- Romney challenged rival Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, to a bet. A $10,000 bet. Read more

Krugman: This is a Depression

Over the past year, I’ve seen these words posted by many of the FP’ers here, and they are thus: “It’s sad to see what passes for happy news about our economy these days.” IMHO, folks are grabbing at straws. Frankly, I get the sense from some that it’s bordering on (wilted) “green shoots” déjà vu. Those talking points didn’t work for our Party in 2010, and they sure as hell won’t do the job for us in 2012. Perhaps, as Paul Krugman notes in Monday’s NY Times (and if you read the collective commentary of some of the better-known economic pundits in the MSM over the past 48 hours), we really are teetering on the abyss. READ MORE

Deadly Attack on NATO Convoy in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen attacked NATO oil tankers stranded in southwest Pakistan for the second time in days as Islamabad warned it could enforce its blockade of the US lifeline into Afghanistan for weeks.

The attackers shot dead a driver and destroyed seven tankers in a blaze of fire late Sunday, the second attack in four days in Pakistan's volatile region of Baluchistan, which is rife with separatists and Taliban militants.

There was no claim of responsibility but Pakistan's fragile alliance with the United States crashed to new lows after November 26, when NATO air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in what Pakistan said was a deliberate attack.
READ MORE

Mystery Company Buying Up US Gun Manufacturers

By Natasha Singer, The New York Times 04 December 11 Lined up in a gun rack beneath mounted deer heads is a Bushmaster Carbon 15, a matte-black semiautomatic rifle that looks as if it belongs to a SWAT team. On another rack rests a Teflon-coated Prairie Panther from DPMS Firearms, a supplier to the U.S. Border Patrol and security agencies in Iraq. On a third is a Remington 750 Woodsmaster, a popular hunting rifle. The variety of rifles and shotguns on sale here at Cabela's, the national sporting goods chain, is a testament to America's enduring gun culture. But, to a surprising degree, it is also a testament to something else: Wall Street deal-making. READ MORE

The Return of Bad Newt

By Maggie Haberman and Alexander Burns, Politico

04 December 11

The all-too-familiar character from the 1990s has only peeked out in public a handful of times so far. But already, Newt Gingrich flush with pride over new polls showing his left-for-dead candidacy now leading the pack - is letting his healthy ego roam free again, littering the campaign trail with grand pronouncements about his celebrity, his significance in political history and his ability to transform America. "I helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the Congress," Gingrich said this week on Sean Hannity's show. "I'm going to be the nominee," he informed ABC News while in Iowa. "I was charging $60,000 a speech and the number of speeches was going up, not down," Gingrich said in South Carolina, explaining why he didn't actually need his consulting fee from Freddie Mac. "Normally, celebrities leave and they gradually sell fewer speeches every year. We were selling more." READ MORE

Gingrich: 5-Year-Olds Working Is an 'Education in Life'

By David Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Thursday that it was good life experience for children as young as five or six to have a job. For more than a week, the candidate has been talking about the virtues of child labor, calling current restrictions "truly stupid." "I got a little controversy going a week ago because I suggested that children could work," Gingrich told a forum with local business leaders in Greenville, South Carolina Thursday. He explained that a successful young woman had told him that her grandfather had paid her to run errands at the age of five. He also gave the example of a father that paid his 6-year-old son to help him wash the car and clean up the yard. "Now, this is education in life," Gingrich declared.READ MORE

Mitt Romney Isn't Made Of Clear Plastic

Posted: 08 Dec 2011 04:00 PM PST By Nicole Belle The DNC has come out with a pretty effective ad about Mitt Romney that hopefully should start getting a lot of play. You know, for a guy who is charitably described as "plastic," transparency doesn't come easily. I have to admit that I finally had an epiphany on Romney over the weekend when I first saw the ad. They call Romney a career politician and there was a part of my brain that said, "hold on, that's not really correct, is it? The only office he's held is Governor of Massachusetts and that was only for a single term." But you know what? He really *is* a career politician...just not a very successful one. READ MORE Web Video: "Mitt Through the Ages"

Colbert Roasts Bush - 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner

Colbert Announces His 'Serious, Classy Republican Debate' This January

By Tina Dupuy All I want for Christmas...

NASA loses moon rocks and other space objects: Report

Over 500 pieces of moon rocks, meteorites, comet chunks and other space material stolen or missing since 1970 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Thursday, December 8 2011, 6:25 PM WASHINGTON -- Astronauts may have had the 'right stuff' to go to the moon, but when it comes to keeping track of what they brought back, NASA seems to have misplaced some of that stuff. In a report issued by the agency's Inspector General on Thursday, NASA concedes that more than 500 pieces of moon rocks, meteorites, comet chunks and other space material were stolen or have been missing since 1970. That includes 218 moon samples that were stolen and later returned and about two dozen moon rocks and chunks of lunar soil that were reported lost last year. NASA, which has loaned more than 26,000 samples, needs to keep better track of what's sent to researchers and museums, the report said. The lack of sufficient controls "increases the risk that these unique resources may be lost," the report concluded. READ MORE

Why the GOP field is so weak

By James Carville, CNN contributor updated 9:53 AM EST, Fri December 9, 2011 Editor's note: James Carville is a Democratic strategist who serves as a political contributor for CNN, appearing frequently on CNN's "The Situation Room" as well as other programs on all CNN networks. Carville remains active in Democratic politics and is a party fundraiser. (CNN) -- As usual, Professor Paul Krugman's piece in the Monday morning New York Times is causing a great deal of chatter among the political types. Krugman points out just how inept the Republican field is. In some cases he takes a scalpel (and in others a machete) to surely the weakest field of presidential aspirants any party has offered in modern American history (see my earlier CNN column comparing this field to 1980). I believe I can explain why this field is so inept. In order to proffer this explanation I am going to utilize Professor Krugman's field of economics. Hold on: I confess I've never taken an economics course and if you ask me the relationship between interest rates and bond prices I would have a Herman Cain Libya moment. I could probably get the right answer but it would take me a while. There are some laws of economics that I believe all economists (be they salt, fresh, or brackish water) would agree on. One of these is: The more valuable a thing, the more people will be interested in purchasing that thing. And as Professor Krugman points out in his piece, the 2012 Republican nomination was clearly considered by most observers to be a thing of value. READ MORE

Sandusky's wife calls accusations 'absolutely untrue'

From Jason Caroll, CNN updated 12:50 PM EST, Fri December 9, 2011 (CNN) -- Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky's wife, Dottie, told CNN that she is angry about accusations of child sexual abuse occurring in her home, calling them "absolutely untrue." "No child who ever visited our home was ever forced to stay in our basement and fed there," she said. "We would never do anything to hurt them." Her husband faces more than 50 charges surrounding a child sex abuse scandal that allegedly spanned more than 15 years. "We don't know why these young men have made these false accusations, but we want everyone to know they are untrue," she added. READ MORE

Michele Bachmann vs. 8-year-old boy

Posted: 11:28 PM ET Michele Bachmann apparently met her match. During a public appearance, a young boy said to Bachmann, "My mommy, Miss Bachmann, my mommy's gay but she doesn't need any fixing." Bachmann was at a loss for words–though she did tell the boy "bye bye." So...who won the face-off between Bachmann and the 8-year-old? Please feel free to comment below.

Indiana state government unearths $320 million in unknown tax revenue


By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 7:44 AM EST, Sat December 10, 2011

(CNN) -- Indiana's state government has discovered $320 million in funds it didn't know it had, money that officials stumbled across while enacting statewide belt-tightening measures.

"Christmas came early," Gov. Mitch Daniels said.

During a press conference Tuesday, Daniels cited a "programming omission" and modernized tax collection processes for unearthing the $320 million in corporate tax revenue. That money had been accumulating since 2007, but hadn't been accounted for in the state's operating budget.
READ MORE

Posted to usenet by: Craig Chilton

Copied from usenet: Newsgroup: nyc.politics Posted by "(¯`·.¸ Craig Chilton ¸.·´¯) " -------------------------------------------------------------------------

REMINDER of How WACKO and HYPOCRITICAL the Most Visible RRR Cultists Can Be!! HERE'S a List of SOME of the Proven PEDOPHILIC Ones!

(And remember that this list is SOLELY of the *pedophilic* ones, and doesn't list OTHER hypocritical behaviors, such as the trysts that Jimmy Swaggart had with hookers.)

(In each of the cases below, I've replaced the descriptor that was used in the original posting, "Radical Right Wing Christian Conservative" with the SYNONYMOUS one, "RRR Cultist," to save space, and make it read less redundantly.)

= = =

-- RRR-Cultist, anti-abortion activist Neal Horsley admitted to having sex with a mule.

-- RRR-Cultist, Pastor Ted Haggard, president of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals, denounced gays and illegal drugs but was later exposed as a gay Crystal Meth user!

-- RRR-Cultist, Senator Larry Craig was arrested for lewd conduct in the men's restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

-- RRR-Cultist, Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Con- gress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy.

-- RRR-Cultist, aide Alan David Berlin was arrested on charges that he wanted to engage in sex acts with a 15-year-old boy while dressed in a panda costume.

-- RRR-Cultist, news producer Aaron Bruns was arrested on charges of possessing child pornography.

-- RRR-Cultist, activist and former presidential campaign chairman Jeffrey Claude Bartleson was arrested on charges of sexually molesting a 5-year-old boy.

-- RRR-Cultist, activist, and former chairman of the Christian County Radical Right Wing Christian Conservatives Royce Fessenden plead- ed guilty to two counts of first-degree child molestation and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy.

-- RRR-Cultist, parole board officer and former legislator George C. (Chris) Ortloff pleaded guilty to attempting to lure 11-and-12- -year-old girls to have sex with him.

-- RRR-Cultist, legislative aide Robert R. Groezinger was arrested for possessing child pornography.

-- RRR-Cultist, legislator Robert A. McKee pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

-- RRR-Cultist, legislator Scott Muschany was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, chief of staff Eric Feltner pleaded guilty to showing pornography to a 13-year old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, presidential campaign official Matthew Joseph Elliott was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child.

-- RRR-Cultist, Conservative Party Chairman Donald Fleischman was charged with two counts of child enticement, two counts of con- tributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of expo- sing himself to a child.

-- RRR-Cultist, prosecutor John David Roy Atchison was arrested for soliciting sex from a 5-year old girl, then killed himself three weeks later. At the time of his arrest, Atchison was an "assistant U.S. attorney" appointed by President Bush's attorney general.

-- RRR-Cultist, city councilman John Bryan killed himself after police began investigating allegations that he had molested three girls, including two of his adopted daughters, ages 12 and 15.

-- RRR-Cultist, legislator Ted Klaudt was charged with raping girls under the age of 16.

-- RRR-Cultist, city councilman Joseph Monteleone Jr. was found guilty of fondling underage girls.

-- RRR-Cultist, congressional aide Jeffrey Nielsen was arrested for having sex with a 14-year old boy.

-- RRR-Cultist, County Commissioner Patrick Lee McGuire surrendered to police after allegedly molesting girls between the ages of 8 and 13.

-- RRR-Cultist, prosecutor Larry Corrigan was arrested for soliciting sex from 13-year old girls.

-- RRR-Cultist, Mayor Jeffrey Kyle Randall was sentenced to 275 days in jail for molesting two boys -- ages 10 & 12 -- during a six- year period.

-- RRR-Cultist, County Board Candidate Brent Schepp was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl and killed himself three days later.

-- RRR-Cultist, executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Wash- ington Times newspaper pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a 13- year-old girl on the Internet.

-- RRR-Cultist, chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition, Lou Beres, confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, county Constable Larry Dale Floyd pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting sex from an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeat- edly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.

-- RRR-Cultist, Judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

-- RRR-Cultist, Conservative Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.

-- RRR-Cultist, petition-drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business.

-- RRR-Cultist, County Chairman Armando Tebano pleaded guilty to fondling a 14-year-old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13- & 14 -year-old girls.

-- RRR-Cultist, campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.

-- RRR-Cultist, Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year-old girls.

-- RRR-Cultist, Former Lake County GOP Chairman and Green Oaks, IL Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the Internet. (He *could* have been sentenced to 14 years in prison, but was CODDLED by being given probation, community ser- vice, and a $10,000 fine instead!)

-- RRR-Cultist, former Oswego, NY Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls. He served 33 months in prison. He'd pleaded guilty in 2006 to paying $250 to arr- ange a sexual encounter with two teenage girls. The deal turned out to be an FBI sting. The girls didn't exist. [Good for the FBI!]

-- RRR-Cultist, Republican County Commissioner David Swartz of Rich- land County, Ohio pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

-- RRR-Cultist and Puerto Rican politician who served as the Speaker of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives from 1997 to 2000 was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

-- RRR-Cultist, John R. Curtin, a state Republican committeeman in Pennsylvania, was convicted of molesting an underage teenage boy and sentenced to serve six to 18 months in prison.

[See #10, HERE] ---

-- RRR-Cultist, anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

-- RRR-Cultist, zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he MURDERED.

-- RRR-Cultist, anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer *and* offering a BOUNTY to anybody who MURDERS an abortion doctor.

-- RRR-Cultist, Republican political consultant in the South Bay area of Southern California was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

-- RRR-Cultist, pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

-- RRR-Cultist, legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial.

-- RRR-Cultist, fundraiser Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

-- RRR-Cultist, lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

-- RRR-Cultist, Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

-- RRR-Cultist, fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

-- RRR-Cultist, activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

-- RRR-Cultist, campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge.

-- RRR-Cultist, Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

-- RRR-Cultist, activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his stepdaughter.

-- RRR-Cultist, Judge Ronald C. Kline pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer.

-- RRR-Cultist, Congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

-- RRR-Cultist, Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for dis- tributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

-- RRR-Cultist, activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Radical Right Wing Christian Conservative Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

-- RRR-Cultist, legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

-- RRR-Cultist, Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

-- RRR-Cultist, preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced prison after offering $20 to a 14- year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

-- RRR-Cultist, talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year-old girl after he attemp- ted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

-- RRR-Cultist, Conservative Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

-- RRR-Cultist, election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year-old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

-- RRR-Cultist, legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

-- RRR-Cultist, anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.

-- RRR-Cultist, activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.

-- RRR-Cultist, Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was con- victed of molesting a 13-year old girl.

-- RRR-Cultist, County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

-- RRR-Cultist, City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.

-- RRR-Cultist, activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

-- RRR-Cultist, parole board officer and former Colorado state repre- sentative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

-- RRR-Cultist, strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the Internet.

-- RRR-Cultist, city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

-- RRR-Cultist, businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.

-- RRR-Cultist, campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed rev- erend Steve Aiken -- and president of YouthQuest, Lansdale, PA -- was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.

-- RRR-Cultist, director of the "Young Radical Right Wing Christian Con- servative Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daugh- ter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

-- RRR-Cultist, president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.

-- RRR-Cultist, benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

-- Orson , 12-9-11

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = For even MORE, go HERE:

http://www.republicansexoffenders.com

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020221.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020221.php

And for additional specific details that pertaining to the lowlifes -- and their locales! -- who are named in the list provided by Olson, just Google 'em BY NAME. In almost ALL cases, the full details of each case can be found that way in seconds.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

-- Craig Chilton (E-Mail me if you wish, from top 5 websites below.)

[[ Readers: If you respond to my post, and you wish for me to SEE your response, you'll need to make sure that you include alt.politics.homosexuality in the cross-postings, and that the total number of groups in the cross-postings is five or fewer. That's because the vilest and most irrational of the Anti-Human & Civil Rights bigots are those seeking to deny EQUAL rights to gays. So in defending those rights, as one of their straight egalitarian allies, I monitor and post almost exclusively from that group. ]]

Other highly-informative Resources:

http://www.TravelForPay.org -- Unemployment Solution!
http://www.ChristianEgalitarian.com -- Fight the hateful RRR Cult!
http://apifar.blogspot.com -- Tactics: Defending Human Rights
http://pro-christian.blogspot.com -- Exposing RRR Cult Bigotry
http://www.shadowandillusion.com -- Learn "The LOPAQUA Secret!"
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/print/14481 -- Excellent article!

And ONE MORE: Read this, and then take future action accordingly:

Regarding: http://base8.lavenderliberal.com/index.html

The above normally is a very USEFUL Searchable Database of the Proposition Hate (8) ENEMIES of Human Rights! KNOW the enemies... and then HARASS and BOYCOTT the enemies, as much as it is legally possible to do so! NOTE!! -- If you're reading this in a post made by me on or after 11-24-11, you may find that the link doesn't work. Hopefully, that situation will only be temporary. Please save it in your Bookmarks/Favorites and keep trying it as you get the chance. It is a HIGHLY useful resource when it can be accessed!

If the link changes in the future, I'll include the NEW one in forth- coming posts as soon as I learn about it.