Wisconsin school teacher charged in bomb and death threats to 16 Republican state lawmakers-JS

.
3/31/11, "Wisconsin school teacher charged in death threats to Republican lawmakers," Gateway Pundit

"A Wisconsin early childhood teacher was charged with sending death threats to state Republican lawmakers.
Her name is Katherine Windels and she is a Wisconsin teacher.

Here’s the criminal complaint.

JS Online reported:

A 26-year-old woman was charged Thursday with two felony counts and two misdemeanor counts for allegedly making email threats against Wisconsin lawmakers during the height of the battle over Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill.

Katherine R. Windels of Cross Plains was named in a criminal complaint filed in Dane County Criminal Court.

According to the criminal complaint, Windels allegedly sent an email threat to State Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) March 9. Later that evening, she allegedly sent another email to 15 Republican legislators, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau).

The subject line of the second email was: “Atten: Death Threat!!!! Bomb!!!” In that email, she purportedly wrote, “Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your families will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks.”

“I hope you have a good time in hell,” she allegedly wrote in the lengthy email in which she purportedly listed scenarios in which the legislators and their families would die, including bombings and by “putting a nice little bullet in your head.”

According to the criminal complaint, Windels told investigators “I sent out emails that I was
disgusted and very upset by what they were doing.”

Asked if she intended to follow through on any of her threats, Windels told the investigators “No,” according to the complaint.

Windels was charged with two felony counts “bomb scare” and two misdemeanor counts of “computer message-threatening injury/bodily harm.” If convicted, each felony count carries a maximum penalty of three years and six months in prison and a $10,000 fine, and each misdemeanor count carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Underground Conservative has much more on the violent teacher including this.

She is a 2010 graduate of Madison Area Technical College with an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, which would fit, since on her PeekYou profile she lists Wexford Head Start as one of her work experiences. She also lists a place called The Red Caboose; a Google search turns up a Red Caboose in Madison for Toddler, Preschool and School Age programs.

Here again is the vile threat Windels sent out to Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin.

W620TMJ posted this earlier (this link goes to the website's current date 3/31. The email below appears to be from 3/9/11) ed.:

I am reprinting verbatim an email that was sent to Republican senators. The email was signed, but I have deleted the name pending what I hope will be a thorough police investigation.

Right on Weathercreek says her father is a psychiatrist.

More… Charlie Sykes reported (2/21) that the Dane County DA’s office drags its feet on issuing charges in the case."

via Gateway Pundit

Jackass Scott Brown carries water for democrats, forgets this is THEIR budget they're using to get people like him to bash republicans in the media

.

Senator Brown, you may not be aware, but the present budget was to be settled in 2010 when Democrats held all 3 branches of government. With all that power, they decided not to pass a budget. Why? They knew a dumb alleged Republican like Scott Brown would come along a few months later and make a splash criticizing Republicans. Scott Brown even trivializes the matter by accusing some of "ideology" in his screed and forgets the word "character." Senator Brown can be the new Newt Gingrich or Karl Rove or better yet just another democrat.

3/31/11, "Sen. Scott Brown calls Republican spending cuts 'irresponsible'," Chris Moody

"Sen. Scott Brown called Republican efforts to cut government spending “irresponsible” and urged party leaders to get over their ideology and find an agreement on a final resolution to the government through the fiscal year.

The Massachusetts Republican sent a letter to Senate leaders of both parties Thursday urging them to end their squabble over the budget, drop the ideological games and come to an agreement, adding that he was “disappointed” in their behavior so far.

Brown started by scolding the leaders, who are currently in negotiations for a long-term budget deal."...

================================

This budget should have been voted on in 2010 with ample majorities. Why would they kick the can down the road? Because they don't give a damn about this country. Scott Brown should keep his mouth shut while he's biding time before perhaps running for re-election as a democrat. No one is saying the Republicans are anything to brag about, but they are all that stands between us and a one party system. ed.

----------------------------------------------

Reference: "Federal Budget imperatives," Leo Hindery Jr., Huffington Post

via Weasel Zippers

Gas prices double under Obama

.
3/30/11, "Gasoline up 100% under Obama," Washington Times, James S. Robbins

"Gas prices have doubled since Mr. Obama took office. According to the GasBuddy gasoline price tracking web site, the price of a gallon of regular gas was around

• $1.79 when Mr. Obama took office.

• Today the national average is $3.58.

The lowest average price in the continental United States is $3.31 in Tulsa Oklahoma, the highest is $4.14 in Santa Barbara, CA. Four-dollar-a-gallon gas has arrived on average throughout California, and a number of other states

• are headed in that direction."...

4/3/09, Discussion of Obama bowing on bended knee to Saudi King on American Thinker



via Drudge Report

Breitbart main concern culture rather than politics, media has declared civil war on us, Tea Party is driven by women

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3/30/11, " A Nationwide Movement To Eliminate Voter Fraud Is Born," RedState.com poster cringinghere

• "Cringinghere" attended the first big True the Vote summit among whose speakers was Andrew Breitbart:

"Then came Andrew Breitbart in yet another whirlwind performance. I’ve seen Andrew speak half a dozen times, now, and his manic, near steam of consciousness speeches get better every time I hear them.

Breitbart’s address was less about vote fraud than the others and more about his bailiwick of the culture war in which we are engaged against the far left of Hollywood and the media. He’s a bulldog for fairness and for taking down the far left’s wall of propaganda.

• But he’s not a politics guy, he told us.

“I don’t care that much about politics, I don’t go on CNN or Fox to talk about politics, I care about the culture. We’ve allowed the cultural Marxists to take over our culture and I just want to expose some of what they do. I’m about exposing the mainstream media

• I’m about exposing Hollywood,” he said in quick time.

He told us that he started life as a liberal. This surprised some in the audience. Breitbart has become a conservative hero more by default than by device because the left has filled the news with so many lies and agenda driven personalities that he could stand it no more. Ultimately he became one of us.

It’s been 2 years since I joined the Tea Party movement, I first started as a defender of the movement but then after two years I realized that, hey, I’m one of you!

I am the only media mogul that has two car payments and a mortgage, I don’t have a private plane, I’m just like you guys!

Breitbart’s speaking style is filled with amusing anecdotes and a wonderful West Coast vernacular that gives a glimpse of that Hollywood world at which he rebels.

• In fact, I’ll just post my quick notes of what he said giving you a bit of a taste of his flair.

'Traveling across the county, I have a lot of time to think. One of the things I thought about was a basic observation of our culture. The media is our enemy. The media is at war with us. Observation one: the media is the problem. The media won’t report the stories of the day. So to get the real stories out

• we’ve all had to become the media.
  

That’s what happens when people come to me and I post these stories.

Now if you’re from the Muslim Brotherhood and you want to donate to NPR, they love you.

So what’s the solution? We need to raze the mainstream media, we need to eliminate them. I want you to cheer when The New York Times fails. They choose to ignore the Tea Party movement, tell the media that “we’re sick and tired of

• the civil war you’ve declared on the American people.”

What if we created the Council on American Tea Party Relations, would they pay attention? No. We need to take them on. Your Harry Reids and Nancy Pelosis are the week sisters

• without the media backing them up.

There is another thing I realized. The Tea Party movement is driven by the women. I come to these things and I get picked up by a woman and in the time I get from the airport to the hotel I learn more about what is going on here on the ground than I can even take in. It’s like they are the general Schwartzkophs of the movement.

But the women run the Tea Party because the media has made men today a point of attack. They are called racists, homophobes, haters. The men know the media is going to attack them. But the women run this movement and they say

• “I don’t care I’m going to save this country.”

It’s an unspeakable crime what the left and the media have done to families in the minority communities. Maybe that’s want they want? But we need to go into these communities and say we are here to help. The guilt is officially over.

• That is the weapon they’ve used to destroy us.

But these changes have come not at the hands from the Republican Party. They want the Tea Party to go away because its uncomfortable.

Now I helped create Huffington Post. I know, crazy, isn’t it? But what it has done is drive the Democrat Party further left. Even The New York Times has had to prove that they are left of center. We are moving toward a more British media culture of left and right media without this false assumption that the media is unbiased.

But the left’s goal is to shut you up. They want to destroy the people’s voice. Well WE are going to fight the Lamestream Media. You folks are the media, now. It’s about taking down the entire institutional left.

• They don’t control it all any more.'

What better way to end the event than a wonderful rant from Andrew Breitbart?

I can’t think of any."

=================================

I've felt the media was the number 1 problem in this country for many years. Breitbart has articulated this problem in a way that is awakening millions to it. Those who undertake to defeat the media must be prepared to be massively attacked and ridiculed. It helps to have a certain amount of economic independence, being out of reach of saboteurs. They will try a variety of ways to silence you. As Andrew said, that's what they do, try to shut you up. Not everyone can deal with that. Breitbart is self employed so the media can't get him fired, for example. ed.

.

Bill to taxpayers for security during Wisconsin protests stands at $5.5 million and counting-JS

.
"The total security bill" for the Wisconsin protests was nearly $5.5 million..."with overtime pay rates ranging from as low as $30 an hour to as high as $60 an hour or more."...

3/29/11, "State Patrol security costs at Capitol reach $2.23 million," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Don Walker

"It cost at least $2.23 million to bring Wisconsin State Patrol officers to the state Capitol to provide security during weeks of protest,

• bringing the total security bill to nearly $5.5 million.

The costs from the Wisconsin State Patrol include actual costs between Feb. 11 and March 5, as well as estimated costs from March 6 through March 10.

• Hundreds of troopers were dispatched to the Capitol during the protests.

The $2.23 million is on top of an estimated $3.2 million in wages, overtime, mileage, food and lodging that was claimed by officers from law enforcement agencies all over the state who were asked by the state to assist in providing security at the Capitol.

The state Department of Administration is still in the midst of calculating the total bill, which is at $5.5 million. The bill is expected to go higher as more agencies submit bills and agencies that already did

• make more claims.

Here is a breakdown of the costs incurred by the Wisconsin State Patrol.

• * Straight time salary and fringe: $872,905.

• * Overtime salary and fringe: $1,120,577.

• * Meals: $39,78.

• * Lodging: $139,100.

• * Fleet: $60,000.

The Journal Sentinel reviewed hundreds of pages of invoices submitted by nearly 150 different law enforcement agencies. In many cases, departments claimed overtime costs for their officers, with overtime pay rates ranging from as low as $30 an hour to

• as high as $60 an hour or more."

via GWP

Ohio House and Senate pass bill limiting public sector union bargaining to wages, hours, which is still more than private sector workers get

Why don't public sector unions just protest that all of us should have the same pay and benefits they do? Why don't they put that on the ballot? It might pass.

3/30/11, "Ohio House, Senate approve Senate Bill 5," Cincinnati.com

"The bill passed 53-44 in the Ohio House Wednesday evening. Then, by one vote just before 9:30 p.m., a divided Senate agreed 17-16 to 25 House amendments....

The fight over Senate Bill 5 now will likely shift from the General Assembly to the courts and the polls, as public union leaders push a statewide referendum on the collective bargaining law.

Union officials are gearing up for a Nov. 8 ballot issue that would seek to repeal the bill, which affects 360,000 unionized public workers. Because Senate Bill 5 will affect labor contracts as they expire, union leaders favor a statewide vote this fall instead of waiting until the 2012 presidential election....

Gov. John Kasich, who said he will sign the bill into law, said his $55.5 billion state budget counts on unspecified savings from lifting union protections to plug an $8 billion gap and

• offset $1 billion in proposed cuts to local governments and $3 billion to public schools.

“Senate Bill 5 gives local governments and schools powerful tools to reduce their costs so they can refocus resources on key priorities – like public safety and classroom instruction – while at the same time preserving government workers’ right to unionize and collectively bargain,” Kasich said in a prepared statement.

Obstacles to a 2011 ballot issue include:

• Court challenges. Similar challenges have delayed statewide votes on legalizing casinos or regulating strip clubs.

• The need for unions and others to collect at least 231,147 valid signatures from registered Ohio voters within 90 days of Kasich’s signature. The pending law is put on hold once signatures are filed with the Ohio Secretary of State. The deadline to get on the November ballot is July 6, although there is additional time allowed to collect more valid signatures if others are tossed out.

• Delays in securing Ohio Ballot Board approval of petition language and validating signatures, both of which are controlled by Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted and county boards of election.

• Democrats lambasted the bill, which affects 360,000 public workers, as union busting disguised as budget cutting....

State Rep. Joe Uecker, R-Loveland and chairman of the House committee that spearheaded the 25 amendments, said the state’s current collective bargaining law “has rampantly expanded and put an undue strain on our local governments. We have found a delicate balance that

• will respect the taxpayers, save state and local jobs,

and improve the public services we rely on each day.”"

========================================

3/30/11, "S.B. 5 passes House despite heated opposition," Columbus Business First, Jeff Bell

"S.B. 5 changes the collective bargaining process for about 350,000 teachers, police, firefighters and other public workers, allowing them to negotiate only on issues related to wages, hours, terms and conditions of employment.

• Union workers would not be able to bargain for health benefits, additional employer pension contributions, work-force levels and other issues.

The bill also prohibits public employees from striking and eliminates binding arbitration for police and firefighters.

Bill proponents claim its provisions will give state and local governments more flexibility over their budgets, especially during a time of fiscal crisis. But its foes say it is part of a partisan attack on unions and have vowed to place S.B. 5 before Ohio voters in a referendum. Kasich would need to sign the bill into law before April 6 to give opponents enough time under state law to place the issue on the Nov. 8 statewide ballot. Otherwise, such a voter referendum would have to wait until the 2012 general election.

Recognizing a ballot challenge to S.B. 5 is likely, Republicans reportedly would prefer the issue be on this year’s ballot instead of 2012 when the national presidential election is expected to boost voter turnout that could favor Democrats and ballot issues they support."...

The bill also allows "public employees to refuse to make “fair share” payments to unions."...

-----------------------------------------

Why don't they try putting on the ballot that we all get the same pay and benefits for the same work, both public and private sector workers? ed.


.

Wisconsin April 5 election is David vs Goliath, judicial election being hijacked by millionaire politicians against Judge David Prosser

.
Increasingly uncivil behavior of the left ensues because Obama supports it. He is on record that wielding a deadly weapon at a polling place is just fine. He publicly scolded and slandered American governors-who don't work for him--and praised taxpayer funded public sector employees and their unions. The unions turn around and donate hundreds of millions of union dues/taxpayer money to Democrats. Private sector American taxpayers are out of money so this will end sooner or later.

3/30/11, "April 5th: As Crucial and Close Election Looms in Wisconsin, Unions Double Down Intimidating Local Businesses," BigGovernment, by John Nolte

"We are less than a week away from Tuesday’s crucial winner-take-all April 5 State Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, an election that will likely set the legislative course of that state for a generation. The stakes are for all the marbles and boil down to a simple choice. Either sitting State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser will be re-elected and the voters, though their elected officials, will be allowed to govern,

• or

Big National Labor, Big Spoiled Public Employees, and the White House Re-election Machine will prevail in electing Joanne Kloppenburg — a hardcore Leftist with zero judicial experience. The result of that catastrophic possibility is almost assuredly an end-run around democracy as four Robed Masters take over the running of the state through judicial fiat. Prosser is presently the tie-breaking 4-to-3 vote in favor of judicial restraint on the court. Should Kloppenburg prevail, however, it’s no secret the court will legislate from the bench and

• strike down all reforms passed by Gov. Scott Walker and the state legislature.

Big Labor most certainly understands the stakes on April 5 and undoubtedly did from the beginning. Pro-union supporters have launched an unprecedented campaign of violence and intimidation in the state all with an eye on the prize of stopping Walker with a firewall built around the State Supreme Court and an ongoing recall petition drive. In addition, just when you think the thuggery — which has been all but ignored by local and national media — can’t get any worse, we learn that a union campaign of outright extortion only the mafia could be proud of has just been launched against Wisconsin small business owners:

Members of Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, have begun circulating letters to businesses in southeast Wisconsin, asking them to support workers’ rights by putting up a sign in their windows.

If businesses fail to comply, the letter says, “Failure to do so will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business. And sorry, neutral means ‘no’ to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members.”

Jim Parrett, a field representative of Council 24 for Southeast Wisconsin, confirmed the contents of the letter, which carries his signature. But he added that the union was also circulating letters to businesses thanking them for supporting workers’ rights.

Parrett said that since the letters were sent out, he has received threatening phone calls as well as calls from people supporting the state workers.

• “I’ve gotten a lot of threatening phone calls,” Parrett said.

Parrett said he believed the letter campaign was going on in other parts of the state. His region includes Racine and Kenosha counties, as well as parts of Waukesha and Walworth counties.

• “It’s going on in other parts of the state,” he said Wednesday.

Parrett referred questions to Marty Beil, the head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union. Beil was not immediately available for comment.

In the letter from Parrett to some businesses, he says that, “It is unfortunate that you have chosen ‘not’ to support public workers rights in Wisconsin. In recent past weeks you have been offered a sign by a public employee who works in one of the state facilities in the Union Grove area. These signs simply said, ‘This Business Supports Workers Rights,’ a simple, subtle and we feel non-controversial statement gives the facts at this time.”

Translation: “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” In other words, if you don’t put a sign in your window proving you side with us we will “publicly” boycott your business. Obviously, that could mean anything up to and including picketers driving away customers until you’re bankrupt. And you have to love the union official’s tactic of complaining about “threatening phone calls.” A real reporter would’ve asked for a police report and if there was none, asked why.

This is extortion, pure and simple, well beyond the normal boycott, against

• businesses already ravaged by this recession.
  

A business that hangs a partisan sign in their window choosing sides on a hotly debated political issue is certain to alienate customers one way or another. These union thugs are intentionally putting what are mostly small, personally owned businesses in a no-win situation. This is all part of the coordinated psy-ops campaign launched the day the 14 Wisconsin Democrats fled the state. The idea is to make as many people in the state as miserable as possible in the hopes they put pressure on Walker

• to make it go away.

  It might sound contradictory for me to claim the media is ignoring this ongoing bullying campaign and then link to a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story covering it. But reporting on the dribs and drabs as opposed to a comprehensive front-page analysis of the overall campaign (which you can be sure the Tea Party would receive) is a way to cover the story without really covering it. What are you going to do, though, when George Stanley, the managing editor of the state’s largest newspaper, looks at the ongoing death threats, vandalism and intimidation tactics as nothing more than Walker supporters
  

• reaping what they sow?

Okay, so we know for a fact that the other side is engaged and energized. The question is, are we? Michael Barone is not too sure, and who’s going to argue with Michael Barone?

There is some good news, however. It appears as though a $3 million dollar television blitz smearing Justice Prosser with the worse kind of lies has completely backfired on Kloppenburg and a terrific ad is up and pushing back hard:

Also, as Charlie Sykes reports here, the WMC, a pro-business Wisconsin group, has met their fundraising goals to air more ads like the one below, that effectively do what the media won’t, and that’s vet Kloppenburg:

The goal of the pro-union supporters and their allies in the media is to make the April 5th election a referendum on Governor Walker and the only way to do that is to ignore Kloppenburg’s crazy-left positions and lack of any judicial experience. The White House and Big Labor have done an effective job in bringing down Walker’s poll numbers and if April 5 is about him, we will lose that race. However, Wisconsinites simply won’t put a soft-on-crime, out-of-control lefty candidate into any statewide office, so the more her record is exposed, the better chance we have of protecting democracy in Wisconsin.

• Again, the media won’t do it so a privately-funded ad blitz is the only way.

From what I’ve read, internal polls show the race is close, and it shouldn’t be. Unfortunately, Big Labor has their rage on and if our side is just waking up now — just 6 days away — it isn’t a minute too soon.

In my Sunday piece, I went into great detail in order to explain why this race matters to all of us, not just my fellow cheese heads. So let me repeat my closing

• plea for you to get involved:

If you live in Wisconsin or if you know anyone who does, make sure Tuesday April 5th is circled in red on the calendar. Vote. Vote. Vote.

In the meantime, you can volunteer.

And you don’t have to live in Wisconsin. Get engaged on Twitter. Get engaged on Facebook. Anyone, anywhere can be an activist today using social media.

Start here with Justice David Prosser’s campaign site and Facebook page.

What you can’t do is nothing."

=================================

6/14/08, "Obama: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun,’" WSJ.com

Above, 11/4/08, Philadelphia voter polling place, New Black Panthers
standing near front door, one brandishing a deadly weapon. US civil rights attorneys have demanded prosecution of this case for over two years, but Obama refuses to allow it. His attorney general, Holder, says the incident was nothing compared to what "his people" went through.

1/27/11, "New Black Panther Party case: The facts are in," Washington Post, Right Turn, by Jennifer Rubin

=================================

3/17/11, "20 days of left wing thuggery in Wisconsin: When will Obama, Democrats, and MSM call for civility?" BigGovernment.com, John Nolte

================================

Spring, 2010, "The Beholden State-How public sector unions broke California," City Journal, Steve Malanga

===========================

(I contributed to Club for Growth Wisconsin which is supporting Judge Prosser in the upcoming election. ed.)

.

As predicted, there is no hope for America with current so-called GOP leadership in the House of Representatives. It will take another election

.

3/30/11, "House Republican leaders want Democrats, not conservatives, to vote for their budget," Erick Erickson, RedState.com

"The Washington Post reports that the House Republicans, instead of picking a fight for real spending cuts, are set to woo House Democratic “moderates” to vote for the GOP budget instead of conservatives.

This is really amazing.

In other words, the House Republicans have decided to reject defunding Obamacare and reject defunding Planned Parenthood and reject defunding NPR. Instead, they will get House Democrats together and marginalize conservatives.

Why?

Because the House GOP is desperately afraid of a government shutdown.

With no spine, the GOP will fold and show no leadership. This is precisely what leadership by fear does. So fearful of a shutdown, the GOP will sell its soul, betray its base, and out negotiate itself all because it is scared of its own shadow.

Game over."

================================

There are only 4 possibilities: the so-called House 'leadership' doesn't know what is in ObamaCare, doesn't care about this country, or the "leaders" are mentally ill or criminally insane. In any case, they will be voted out as soon as possible. ed.

.

Obama approved American officials on the ground in Libya weeks ago. Certain kinds of Kool Aid would be a much cheaper way for us to commit suicide

.
Obama has already put Americans 'on the ground' in a war zone, in harm's way. American taxpayers are paying personnel to aid jihadis who ultimately want us dead, some who have likely already killed Americans. So we are paying for our suicide. Certain kinds of Kool Aid would be much cheaper.

3/30/11, "Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret help for Libya rebels," Reuters, M. Hosenball

"President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi,

• government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two or three weeks, according to government sources familiar with the matter.

Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. This is a necessary legal step before such action can take place but does not mean that it will.

As is common practice for this and all administrations, I am not going to comment on intelligence matters," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. "I will reiterate what the president said yesterday -- no decision has been made about providing arms to the opposition or to any group in Libya."

• The CIA declined comment.

News that Obama had given the authorization surfaced as the President and other U.S. and allied officials spoke openly about the possibility of sending arms supplies to Gaddafi's opponents, who are fighting better-equipped government forces....

People familiar with U.S. intelligence procedures said that Presidential covert action "findings" are normally crafted to provide broad authorization for a range of potential U.S. government actions to support a particular covert objective....

In 2009 Obama gave a similar authorization for the expansion of covert U.S. counter-terrorism actions by the CIA in Yemen. The White House does not normally confirm such orders have been issued.

Because U.S. and allied intelligence agencies still have many questions about the identities and leadership of anti-Gaddafi forces, any covert U.S. activities are likely to proceed cautiously until more information about the rebels

• can be collected and analyzed, officials said....

Sending in weapons would arguably violate an arms embargo on Libya by the U.N. Security Council imposed on February 26, although British, U.S. and French officials have suggested

• there may be a loophole.

Getting a waiver would require the agreement of all 15 council members, which is unlikely at this stage. Diplomats say any countries that decided to arm the rebels would be unlikely to seek formal council approval."...

• (So all the alleged intricate moves to comply with and receive approval of the United Nations don't matter after all. ed.)

(continuing, Reuters): "Members of Congress have expressed anxiety about U.S. government activities in Libya. Some have recalled that weapons provided by the U.S. and Saudis to mujahedeen fighting Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s later

• ended up in the hands of anti-American militants.

There are fears that the same thing could happen in Libya unless the U.S. is sure who it is dealing with. The chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, said on Wednesday he opposed supplying arms to the Libyan rebels fighting Gaddafi "at this time."

"We need to understand more about the opposition before I would support passing out guns and advanced weapons to them," Rogers said in a statement."

============================

Reference: 3/30/11, "Al Qaeda's Libya Pilgrimage," The Daily Beast, by Ron Moreau & Sami Yousafzai

================================

Jonestown 1978 mass suicide by drinking Kool Aid like drink from vat seen in photo by AP.

---------------------------------

via Weasel Zippers

Obama approval falls to all time low, Quinnipiac Poll, March 2011

.
3/30/11, "Survey: Obama's approval rating at all-time low 42 percent," The Hill, Ballot Box, by Shane D'Aprile

"President Obama's approval rating has hit an all-time low, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.

The survey measured Obama's approval at just 42 percent, with 48 percent of voters disapproving of the job he's doing in office. Fifty percent of voters surveyed believe the president does not deserve election to a second term next year — just 41 percent said he does.

The 42 percent approval number marks a four percentage-point drop over the past month. A Q-poll released March 3 had Obama at 46 percent approval; 45 percent of voters said he didn't deserve a second term.

Obama is now in a dead heat with a generic Republican challenger,

• trailing an unamed Republican in a hypothetical 2012 match-up 36 percent to 37 percent.
  

"President Barack Obama's approval numbers are at their lowest level ever, slightly below where they were for most of 2010 before he got a bump up in surveys after the November election and into the early part of this year," said Peter Brown, assistant director at the Quinnipiac Polling Institute.

Brown pointed to Obama's overall negatives on

• the deficit,
  
• economy,
  
• foreign policy and
  
• healthcare as driving up his disapproval numbers.

The poll also gave Obama negative ratings on the military action in Libya. Overall, voters oppose the nation's involvement in Libya — 47 percent to 41 percent — and a full 58 percent said Obama has

• not clearly articulated the goal of U.S. involvement. ...

Sixty-one percent of respondents in the poll said removing Col. Moammar Gadhafi from power is not worth having American troops "fight and possibly die."

The poll surveyed 2,069 registered voters nationwide from March 22 to 28 and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.2 percentage points."


via Weasel Zippers

Anadarko moves drill ship from US Gulf to West Africa, could not wait any longer for Obama's drill permit group who are busy helping New Guinea

.
.
3/28/11, "Anadarko To Move Discoverer Spirit From Gulf of Mexico To West Africa," EPMag.com

"Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Houston, has reported it has finalized plans for its previously announced 2011 drilling campaign in the Liberian Basin, offshore West Africa. To carry out this program, Anadarko intends to mobilize the Discoverer Spirit drillship from the Gulf of Mexico to West Africa after it finishes completion activities on the third Caesar/Tonga well.

• The Discoverer Spirit is expected to begin drilling in West Africa during the third quarter....

"Mobilizing the Discoverer Spirit to West Africa ensures our ability to deliver upon our exploration and appraisal programs in a timely fashion in an area that offers tremendous potential with more than 30 identified Jubilee-like prospects on our acreage," says Al Walker, Anadarko president and chief operating officer."...

=======================

Reference: "While (Obama appointee) Michael Bromwich bemoans a lack of the staff necessary to speed up the (Gulf drilling permit) process, he's sending his staffers to Papua New Guinea to advise its officials on ways to develop the country's offshore drilling infrastructure."...

3/28/11, "Soros Wins Under Obama's Energy Policies," American Thinker, Ed Lasky

"Are Barack Obama's energy policies influenced by hedge fund billionaire and political patron, George Soros?

Abby Wisse Schacter, in the New York Post, notes that the Obama administration is clamping down on oil and gas development in America (both onshore and offshore) but is hell-bent on helping other nation's tap their resources and points out that such help is being showered specifically in New Guinea, of all places."...

via Vladimir

Chris Christie leads GOP pack by wide margin in Newsmax-Zogby presidential poll

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Poll included 'likely GOP primary voters.' Sarah Palin 2nd.

3/29/11, "Newsmax/Zogby Poll: Christie Leads GOP Pack," Newsmax.com, D. Patten

"An exclusive Newsmax/IBOPE Zogby International poll shows New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie so dominates the GOP field for 2012 that he garners

• more than twice as many votes as his nearest Republican competitor.

The new poll reflects growing momentum for Christie, despite his repeated insistence that he’s not ready to be president and has no intention of running.

Christie’s strong showing is likely to further encourage those Republicans who are actively engaged in mustering support for a campaign to draft him to run.

• Supporters launched a DraftChristie2012 website last October.

The Newsmax/IBOPE Zogby survey shows Christie to be the choice of 23.6 percent of likely GOP primary voters. That dwarfs the 10.3 percent for second-place finisher Sarah Palin....

Others rounding out the field in the survey:

• Newt Gingrich — 7.9 percent
• Mitt Romney — 7 percent
• Ron Paul — 7 percent
• Michele Bachmann — 6.9 percent
• Mike Huckabee — 6.8 percent
• Tim Pawlenty — 5.9 percent
• Donald Trump — 5.1 percent
• Mitch Daniels — 2.6 percent
• Haley Barbour — 1.5 percent...

“This is a year for Republicans when I think being a fresh face may count for more than anything else – much the same way as it happened for Democrats three years ago,” he (Zogby) tells Newsmax. “It’s fluid, very fluid.”

Zogby said Christie, who shocked pundits by defeating then-incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in November 2009,

• is actually benefiting from not being a candidate....

The Newsmax/IBOPE Zogby international poll was conducted March 25 through March 28. Data on the GOP field was based on 1,030 online surveys of likely GOP primary voters. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 3.1 percent."

via Weasel Zippers

March consumer confidence sharply lower...unexpectedly

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The price of a gallon of gas rose to its highest price in history for this time of year.

3/29/11, "Inflation worries push consumer confidence lower," AP

"Rising prices at the gas pump and in grocery aisles are starting to crimp shoppers' outlook.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell sharply from a three-year high in February,

• reversing five straight months of improvement.

The decline raises questions about Americans' ability and willingness to spend in coming months.

The index fell more than expected to 63.4 from a revised 72.0 in February.

• Economists expected 65.4, according to FactSet.

The drop was the steepest since the 10.1-point plunge from January 2010 to February 2010, when the U.S. stock market was hammered by worries about Greece's national debt.

• The index measures how Americans feel about business conditions, the job market and the next six months.

It has hovered in a tight range from the high 50s to low 60s over the past year, far below the 90 that indicates a healthy economy. The index hasn't approached that level

• since the recession began in December 2007.

A housing slump that isn't over and won't be for a while isn't helping.

Home prices are falling in most major U.S. cities, and the average prices in four of them are at their lowest in 11 years, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller report released Tuesday. On Friday, the Commerce Department said new-home sales plunged in February, the third month in a row.

The falling Consumer Confidence Index is in line with Gallup Poll's weekly surveys,

• which have registered a slide in confidence since mid-February.

Economists monitor confidence because consumer spending, including big-ticket items such as housing and health care, accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity and is critical for a strong rebound....

As for consumer spending, analysts say March has been uneven after strong holiday spending continued into January and February.

• Rising prices are showing up in several noticeable ways.

The national average for a gallon of gas hit $3.584 Monday, the highest ever for this time of year, according to AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service. Gasoline prices have

• jumped 25.1 cents in the past month and 78.1 cents from a year ago.

Food prices are expected to increase 3 to 4 percent on average this year, with the steepest increases in dairy, meat and coffee.

• Clothing retailers are also raising prices as they face soaring costs for labor in China and raw materials like cotton.

The Conference Board survey, conducted by The Nielsen Co., is based on a random survey mailed to 3,000 households March 1-March 16."...

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US home prices drop for 6th straight month, boomtown Washington DC the exception, up 11% in 2 yrs., flush with highly paid public sector paper pushers

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3/29/11, "Home price declines deepen in major US markets," AP, Herron and Kravitz

"Damage from the housing bust is spreading to areas once thought to be immune.

In at least 14 major U.S. metro areas, prices have fallen to 2003 levels -- when the housing bubble was just starting to inflate. Prices will likely drop further this year, making many people reluctant to buy or sell.

• That would push down sales and prices more.

The depressed housing industry is slowing an economy that has shown strength elsewhere. And it's starting to hurt those who bought years before the housing boom began. In some cities, people

• who have paid their mortgages for a decade have little or no home equity.

Prices have tumbled in familiar trouble spots, such as Las Vegas, Cleveland and Detroit. But they're also at or near 10-year lows in Denver, Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis -- cities that weren't as swept up in the housing boom and bust....

Just about the only major market weathering the second wave of the housing downturn is Washington. Home prices there have risen

• 11 percent in the past two years.

Prices fell from December to January in all but one of the 20 cities tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index. The index dropped for a sixth straight month. Prices in 11 of the cities are at their lowest point since the housing bubble burst....

• "The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's.

Weak home sales and falling prices are imposing a heavy burden on the economy, which has gained strength from higher consumer spending....

Sales of previously occupied homes are coming off their worst year in more than a decade. And new homes are selling at the

• slowest pace on records dating to 1963.

In part, the weakening prices show how much a home-buying tax credit stimulated sales in late 2009 and early 2010. Once those tax credits expired in April, many markets began a decline that shows no sign of stopping. Some economists say the tax credits merely postponed the bottoming out that's occurring now.

Millions of foreclosures and short sales are largely to blame. Short sales occur when lenders let homeowners sell for less than they owe on their mortgage. Those cut-rate sales have left a glut of discounted properties in many markets.

• Prices won't stop falling until they are cleared.

Even though foreclosures and short sales have created a surplus of homes for sale, many of them are undesirable. The supply of homes that people actually want to buy -- and can afford -- is much narrower.

"Some people who want to buy don't have the time, desire or energy to fix up a foreclosure, so they don't buy them," said Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors Inc. in Miami,

• where foreclosures or short sales make up two-thirds of homes sold....

The Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul) have suffered price declines of 11 percent over the past six months.

• That's the worst among cities tracked by the home price index.

Minneapolis enjoys a strong local economy and low unemployment. But it's been beset by foreclosures and skittish home-buyers....

Over the past year, prices for the most affordable homes have fallen 7.5 percent, compared with a 5 percent drop for middle-tier homes and a 2.3 percent decline for the most expensive properties,

• according to data analyzed by Capital Economics."...

Two thirds of US Gulf oil and gas leases inactive, 45% of all US onshore oil and gas leases inactive-AP

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3/29/11, "Two-thirds of oil and gas leases in Gulf inactive," AP, J. Pace

"An Interior Department report to be released Tuesday says more than two-thirds of offshore oil and gas leases

• in the Gulf of Mexico are sitting idle.

According to the report, obtained by The Associated Press, those inactive swaths of the Gulf could potentially hold more than 11 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The report also shows that

• 45 percent of all onshore oil and gas leases are inactive.

President Barack Obama ordered the Interior Department review earlier this month amid pressure to curb rising gas prices. The White House says Obama will address his plans for the country's energy security

• during a speech in Washington Wednesday."

via Drudge Report

South Carolina 'Health Care Exchange' bill met up with a fork in the road called the Tea Party and took the right turn

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3/29/11, "Tea Party gains ground in SC on Health Care Exchange Bill," RedState.com poster karenmartin

"About 10 days ago I asked this question:

• Why Set Up an Exchange Plan for a Law that is Unconstitutional?

A few blogs picked up on this, the SC tea party community exchanged some emails and Facebook comments, and several folks took it upon themselves to contact their representatives asking that same question, bolstered by this FANTASTIC article by Michael F. Cannon of The Cato Institute, which I also cited on our Spartanburg Tea Party website.

Ralph who is a tea partier from the other side of the state shared his plan of action with me; he contacted his Rep. Nelson Hardwick (R) (who was a co-sponsor of the bill) in a series of respectful, informative emails, backed up by the information from Michael Cannon and his own good common sense. Two days later Ralph told me

• Rep. Hardwick withdrew his name as a sponsor of House Bill H-3738!

Yesterday around 2:45 PM Talbert Black of Campaign for Liberty who is the anchor for all the liberty groups in Columbia when it comes to letting us know what’s going on at the Statehouse alerted us:

… the Ways and Means committee, chaired by Rep. Dan Cooper (R), intends to bring H3738, the Health Care Exchange bill up tomorrow, Tuesday the 29th, even though it is not on their agenda. It seems they want to give it a favorable vote without anyone there to witness it. However, if we can fill the room, then our supporters on the committee have said they will be brave enough to make a motion to

• send the bill back to sub-committee…
  

effectively killing the bill. In order for this to work, we need everyone there in committee. We need to fill the room!

Plans were made, emails were sent, phone calls commenced. Around 4:30 we received this message:

Chairman Cooper has asked to send the below message to the entire caucus. H. 3738, “the SC Health Exchange Benefit Act” will not be placed on tomorrow’s Ways and Means Committee agenda. This is misinformation on someone’s part. Feel free to inform your constituents.

YAY! I sent out an email to our tea party letting them know to “stand down” but also informing them how just our intended presence and all our work in the past few years of being the legislative watchdogs had an impact. This message was from Talbert to the tea party legion:

Even if you didn’t have a chance to contact your representative yet, the knowledge that your calls would soon be pouring in has had the desired effect! First, let me say this was no false alarm. I had independent confirmation from two sources that the intention was to sneak this bill through committee tomorrow. Second, the voice of South Carolina’s people is powerful! This was averted because of you.

Talbert also informed us that he had received an email from Ways and Means Chairman Dan Cooper letting him know that “due to its controversial nature” he chose not to add it to the agenda for the day. Oh yes. And this one last thing. Dan Cooper is removing his name as co-sponsor of the bill because “it seems he got some incorrect advice on the bill.”

I enjoyed the Tea Party rallies I’ve attended over the past few years. I was inspired by the protests and marches, which served to show us just how many other Americans feel the same way we do. However, at this point in time the work of the Tea Party is just that … to work. To call. To email. To show up. To argue and persuade. To be present when and where we need to be. To inform citizens, and bring them with us to speak to those in power.

Yesterday in South Carolina, thanks to Talbert and the many Tea Party/liberty group leaders around the state, we did that."

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Lovesick NY media fawn over Neo-Con Obama who has given our soldiers to terrorists and thugs to use as they please

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Obama supports racist Libyan "Rebels" who are driving blacks out of Libya. The NY media avoids actual news, just sells adoration of Neo Con Obama. Below, NY Daily News, 3/29/11, photo conquering Neo Con Obama visiting NYC today, followed by NYC front pages today.


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(photos 2,3, and 5 above with Obama and halo)

Below, George Bush burned in effigy for going to war, Nov. 2004



Bush effigy via Zombietime.com

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“Libya bad for the black....” said a Malian arrival at the camp, “rebel chase us....Gadaffi chase us.”

3/18/11, "Border Blues," Think Africa Press by Ben Judah, reporting from the Tunisia side of the Libya-Tunisia border
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3/25/11, "Mark Steyn: Do-gooders in a land with no good guys," Orange County Register

"It is tempting and certainly very easy to point out that Obama's war (or Obama's "kinetic military action," or "time-limited, scope-limited military action," or whatever the latest ever more preposterous evasion is) is at odds with everything candidate Obama said about U.S. military action before his election. And certainly every attempt the president makes to explain his Libyan adventure is either cringe-makingly stupid ("I'm accustomed to this contradiction of being both a commander-in-chief but also somebody who aspires to peace") or alarmingly revealing

• of a very peculiar worldview:

"That's why building this international coalition has been so important," he said the other day.

• "It is our military that is being volunteered by others to carry out missions

that are important not only to us, but are important internationally."

That's great news. Who doesn't enjoy volunteering other people? The Arab League, for reasons best known to itself, decided that Col. Gadhafi had outlived his sell-by date. Granted that the region's squalid polities haven't had a decent military commander since King Hussein fired General Sir John Glubb half-a-century back, how difficult could it be even for Arab armies to knock off a psychotic transvestite guarded by Austin Powers fembots? But no:

• Instead, the Arab League decided to volunteer the U.S. military.

Likewise, the French and the British. Libya's special forces are trained by Britain's SAS. Four years ago, President Sarkozy hosted a state visit for Col. Gadhafi, his personal security detail of 30 virgins, his favorite camel and a 400-strong entourage that helped pitch his tent in the heart of Paris. Given that London and Paris have the third- and fourth-biggest military budgets on the planet and that between them they know everything about Gadhafi's elite troops, sleeping arrangements, guard-babes and dromedaries, why couldn't they take him out? But no:

• They, too, decided to volunteer the U.S. military."

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