Aug
02
Hailing the Reagan of Rome
Part 3 in a series
By Katie Kieffer
Augustus. Vatican Museums, Rome. Image copyright Katie Kieffer. All rights reserved.
America can find hope and direction during recession by looking to Rome. Specifically, the U.S. would be wise to follow in the footsteps of the ‘Ronald Reagan of Rome.’
When you think of Rome, you probably think of Julius Caesar. But, in fact, Rome was not always governed by a dictator. Caesar was a politician and a military conqueror. He appointed himself dictator and thereby contributed to the end of Rome’s Republic and the beginning of a more imperial system that ultimately weakened Rome to the point of destruction.
So, Caesar was not necessarily the Roman leader our founding fathers looked to when they were modeling America’s democratic republic. Caesar’s adopted son and successor, Augustus, was who I’ll refer to as the “Ronald Reagan of Rome.”
Ronald Reagan. Image credit: Michael J. Deas.
Augustus, like Ronald Reagan, cut unnecessary government spending. He reigned in the food subsidy (which I discussed here) and kept it at a fixed number. He also lowered taxes and instituted the practice of direct taxation, which was much more fair.
Under Augustus’ reign, Romans suddenly had a huge incentive to produce and become involved in the free enterprise system and the economy flourished as a result.
Rather than hoarding revenue from taxes like other emperors, Augustus invested it back in the people of Rome. He repaired the roads and temples and built many new public baths, aqueducts and buildings. He also pulled Rome out Iran, which was a huge drain on the Roman Empire.
If Augustus’ successors had all upheld his policies, Rome may not have fallen. Unfortunately, most of the emperors who came after Augustus sought their own political power and satisfaction – choosing to raise taxes and expand the military to control the people rather than allowing the free enterprise system to flourish.
As Americans, we can choose to allow our politicians to spend and tax our country into perpetual recession, or we can demand accountability. We can ask our politicians to take a second look at the man who inspired our founding fathers, the ‘Ronald Reagan of Rome:’ Caesar Augustus.
Want more? You are invited to read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.
Primary Sources:
HERITAGE LECTURES: The Lessons of the Roman Empire of America Today by J. Rufus Fears, PhD.
The Cato Journal: Vol. 14, Number 2, Fall 1994, “How Excessive Government Killed Ancient Rome,” by Bruce Bartlett.
Jul
29
Watching Rome burn
Part 2 in a series
By Katie Kieffer
Capitoline Sunset. Rome, Italy. Image credit: flickr – MarcelGermain.
If Rome was so prosperous and peaceful during the first and second century AD, why did she fall?
You’ve probably heard people say, “Rome was not built in a day.” Well, Rome also did not fall overnight. It took repeated corruption and poor governance over time for Rome to reach a point of such extreme weakness that German barbarians were able to conquer her.
Given how similar America’s balanced constitution to that of the Roman Republic’s and given America’s similar respect for equality and freedom before the law, it is very important for us to understand why Rome fell so that we do not make the same mistakes that she did.
Today, I’m going to share with you how Rome brought on her own destruction. She weakened herself to the point of no return through inflation, excessive taxation, military over-extension and political corruption.
Subsidies
Rome planted the seeds her own destruction when she began subsidizing bread for all Roman males and raising taxes. As early as 58 B.C., Rome started a policy of distributing free grain to Roman citizens. Over time, emperors expanded the dole to include free pork, oil and even wine. Roman politicians subsidized frivolous items for political gain and helped bankrupt Rome.
'Roma nel bicchiere – Rome in the glass.' Image credit: flickr – Geomangio.
High Taxes
Rome needed to charge high taxes to pay for its growing subsidies and military costs. As Rome expanded geographically and became militarily involved in the Middle East, she needed to pay for an army to keep the people in line and make sure they were paying their taxes. The taxes were high and inconsistent. Eventually, free Romans chose to sell themselves as servants to wealthy Roman landowners because they could no longer afford to pay Rome’s taxes.
The Roman government ended up denouncing individual freedoms entirely and began seizing private property such as food or cattle or land. The free enterprise system eroded and Romans became very unhappy and discontent because they were either forced to perpetually work in an occupation or trade dictated by the state or they were forced to join the army – for life.
Inflation
In order to pay for ever-growing military and government costs, many Roman emperors chose to devalue the Roman currency which led to inflation. In truth, inflation was just another form of taxation.
For examle, the denarious was the basic Roman coin. The denarious started out as a 100% silver coin. However, over time, subsequent Roman emperors reduced the silver content of the denarious so that by the middle of third century AD, it had just a 5 percent silver content.
Intervention in the Middle East
Julius Caesar was a military conqueror and he zealously expanded the Roman empire.
Statue of Julius Caesar. Rome, Italy. Image copyright Katie Kieffer. All rights reserved.
By the second century AD, nearly the entire Middle East was under Rome’s military rule. As you can imagine, the Middle East became a huge drain on Rome’s military and Rome’s citizens. Not only was the Middle East a huge distraction for Rome’s commander-in-chief, but it was a huge drain on Rome’s economy.
Does Rome’s intervention in the Middle East remind you of the U.S. government’s drive to spend time, resources and money it doesn’t have by trying to patrol the world like ‘World Police‘ – as the creators of South Park might say?
The Fall of Rome
Eventually, Rome’s citizens became so poor that they could not afford to pay the government’s taxes and maintain Rome’s military. As Rome’s politicians became increasingly corrupt and dismissive of individual liberty, vice replaced virtue in Roman society. Adultery, divorce, prostitution and broken families supplanted the once stable, family-oriented culture.
In the end, Rome fell because she abandoned her constitution and her cultural values. After she had become both spiritually and economically weak, she was conquered by German invaders. Interestingly, many Romans actually welcomed the takeover because the barbarians allowed Romans to return to relative self-governance.
Stay tuned to find out about “Rome’s Ronald Reagan” and the best hope for American free enterprise. For Part 1 in this series, click here.
Primary Sources:
HERITAGE LECTURES: The Lessons of the Roman Empire of America Today by J. Rufus Fears, PhD.
The Cato Journal: Vol. 14, Number 2, Fall 1994, “How Excessive Government Killed Ancient Rome,” by Bruce Bartlett.
May
25
Arizona ama a los Hispanos
Arizona loves Hispanics
By Katie Kieffer
Arizona sunset.
When even pageant queens smothered in lip gloss and spray tanner can see the value of states’ rights and legal immigration, you know Arizona’s new anti-illegal immigration law is not that hard to comprehend.
Oddly enough, while girls in bikinis and tiaras seem capable of understanding the true intent of Arizona’s law, the chief law enforcement officer and lawyer of the U.S. government, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been publicly bashing the law without having read it. The same goes for “Miss America Without Borders,” Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.
What keeps Napolitano so busy that she can’t make time to read Arizona’s law before she publicly tears it apart? Did Napolitano grab a part-time gig in Hollywood as a publicist for the “Aspiring and Uniformed?”
Miss Oklahoma’s intelligence stands out from the pack because female “role models” like Napolitano are influential in churning out one-hit-wonders on You Tube like Miss South Carolina in the Miss Teen USA 2007 Pageant (below).
I understand Holder and Napolitano are “busy.” So, to make it extremely easy, I have included a link to the full law (which most Arizonans and most Americans approve of) here.
Bottom line, many men and women with big titles and big sticks are spewing bad information about Arizona’s law. This is a disservice to America. Mostly, it is a disservice to Hispanics. Let me show you why:
Question the sources of criticism
The Government
President Obama is questioning Arizona’s law. So are his key officials.
If you are Hispanic, you can question whether the government is your friend.
Remember when we chatted about how we got into this recession in the first place? Remember when I told you about 1991’s “Hispanic Man of the Year,” Henry Cisneros? Well, as I blogged here, Mr. Cisneros is the guy behind this recession, not Wall Street.
Cisneros threw Hispanics under the bus by convincing President Clinton to loosen home ownership standards and make home ownership seem reachable for many Hispanics before they were in a financial position to become home owners.
Democrats were able to appeal to Hispanic voters by selling them on home ownership before they were ready for it. Certainly, Cisneros would have known that many Hispanics could not afford home ownership at the time, but he did not seem to care. He succeeded in persuading President Clinton to do his bidding and Hispanics were left to “deal” with the results: Foreclosures and foreclosure-distressed communities.
Rather than creating better job opportunities for Hispanics in the free market, the government used Hispanics for political gain. And, now that Arizona wants to protect its borders, the government is trying to claim that Arizona is on a Nazi-like mission to discriminate against legal Hispanics who take their children out for ice cream.
Isn’t it interesting that over a decade since Mr. Cisneros lobbied for policies that would supposedly “open the doors” to home ownership for Hispanics and African Americans, The Pew Hispanic Center reports:
“since the start of the housing bust in 2005, [homeownership] rates have fallen more steeply for two of the nation’s largest minority groups-blacks and native-born Latinos-than for the rest of the population. As of 2008, 74.9% of whites owned homes, compared with 59.1% of Asians, 48.9% of Hispanics and 47.5% of blacks.
At the same time, blacks and Latinos remain far more likely than whites to borrow in the subprime market where loans are usually higher priced.”
In other words, Mr. Cisneros and the Clinton Administration used “home ownership” as a method to attract the Hispanic vote – while nudging the Hispanic community toward foreclosure and financial distress.
The American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association (AAA) recently came out in opposition of Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law. The AAA maintains that Arizona’s law “targets Hispanics,” reports USA Today. I wondered why the AAA had such a vested interest in opposing Arizona’s law, so I did a little research. I discovered:
The AAA has a project called RACE (Are we so different?). RACE is a traveling museum project that basically works to remind and prod people to think about racism and racial “differences” in an era where the vast majority of Americans – particularly young Americans – consider race to be a non-issue. 66 percent of young people voted for the first African American President of the United States, but AAA thinks there is a need for a traveling circus to debunk racism in America.
Image credit: American Anthropological Association/RACE Project.
AAA appears to have a substantial monetary interest in keeping the “race” issue alive. AAA’s RACE project is primarily sponsored by two organizations that have a vested interest in making minorities feel victimized and promoting liberal agendas, namely the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Ford Foundation.
The NSF is a government agency. President Obama recently requested an increase in the NSF’s budget appropriation – to $7.4 billion. Rather than appropriating billions toward job creation or paying off our national debt, the President has pushed for frivolous research and projects that will promote his own political agenda.
The Ford Foundation has been accused of various questionable activities throughout its history, including “participating in a Communist conspiracy,” engaging in “political activism,” acting “as a quasi-extension of the U.S. government,” financing “counter-insurgency programs in Indonesia and other countries,” and “promoting antisemitism.”
No word yet on whether ACORN and the Ford Foundation are in bed together. For now, we can question the AAA’s credibility in opposing Arizona’s new law given that the NSF and the Ford Foundation hold the AAA purse strings.
Consider the law’s intent
The intent of Arizona’s law is “the enforcement of federal immigration laws throughout all of Arizona.” In other words, Arizona is taking action because government officials like Miss America Without Borders are unwilling to take lawful steps at the federal level to keep Arizona residents safe.
Something needs to be done to keep our borders states safe. Consider that Ciudad Juárez, a Rio Grande city in Chihuahua – located across from El Paso, Texas – is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Ciudad Juárez has been named a ‘Murder Capitol’ and dubbed “the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones.“
Drug violence is rampant in Ciudad Juárez where a community leader, Lourdes Almada, recently reported that, “We wrote out an alphabet with some children, and they associated the letter K with AK-47.”
This is the sort of U.S. border violence that Arizona wants to curtail – not peaceful, legal Hispanics treating their kids to ice cream cones.
So, the next time you hear some Washington elitist bashing Arizona, ask yourself whether they are genuinely concerned about helping Hispanics – or if they are just out to buy votes.
May
07
Drill right now
Part 2 of 2
By Katie Kieffer
Jobs. Low gas prices. National security. Oh, yes, and did I mention JOBS?
If America wants to ensure any or all of the above, then, in B.o.B‘s hip hop style, “America could really use a drill right now, drill right now.”
The April 20, 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill has given drilling critics a feather for their paper-mâché hats. As environmentalists clamor for a ban on new drilling and President Obama describes the recent BP oil spill as a “massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster,” we remember that the current administration has a shady record on drilling.
Apparently, the President thinks Americans see themselves as “above” drilling for oil and would prefer to watch their neighbors “dirty” themselves in it.
In 2009, the President approved $2 billion to fund Brazil’s off-shore drilling. Now, we discover that President Obama was the highest recipient of BP’s PAC funds and that the government granted BP a “categorical exemption” from performing an environmental impact analysis on its Gulf of Mexico lease less than two weeks before the spill.
Workers attending to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Image credit: Deepwater Horizon Response
This spill still pales in comparison with the U.S.’s worst spill on record, the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. Additionally, this spill pales in comparison to international oil spills.
The Earth is more resilient than the administration and the left-wing media will admit. The facts regarding this spill show that, while serious, it does not warrant a ban on drilling. Rather, now is the time for the U.S. to drill more.
There is a huge source of revenue and energy available to America in a tiny section of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) known as the “1002 area.” Out of ANWR’s 19,000,000 acres, the 1002 area’s 1,500,000 acres were set aside for potential energy resource production.
The biggest controversy over drilling in ANWR’s 1002 area is that it would supposedly harm wildlife, especially the Porcupine caribou. However, the facts show otherwise. Indeed, the Central Arctic Caribou herd migrates through and calves in the vicinity of an existing oil field on Alaska’s North Slope known as Prudhoe Bay every year.
Caribou take refuge in the vicinity of Prudhoe Bay's oil field.
The Central Arctic Caribou herd has actually grown from 5,000 to at least 32,000. The caribou seek refuge from mosquitoes in the oil field. In fact, ABC’s Lee Dye, who lives in Alaska, reported, “I personally saw caribou climb on top of the pipeline in a futile effort to escape the hoards of mosquitoes that drive them crazy. Sometimes, they have to be shooed off the runway so planes can land.”
Drilling is popular with Americans
Don’t take it from me. Take it from your fellow Americans. Numerous recent polls show that the majority of Americans favor drilling for oil and gas.
Apparently most Americans recognize that we are in a recession, and for the first time in Gallup‘s 9-year history of conducting an energy vs. environment opinion poll, more Americans “favored energy production over environmental protection.” Thus, Frank Newport, PhD and Editor in Chief of Gallup concludes, “these parlous economic times are ripe for the announcement of policies that focus on energy development rather than the environment.”
Drilling creates jobs.
Furthermore, most Alaskans also favor drilling as they understand the value it brings to their families and communities. Dye also testifies to the benefits he witnessed in Alaska when drilling in Prudhoe Bay:
“About 15 years ago, a decade after oil began flowing through the Alaska pipeline from the Prudoe Bay field, which is west of the refuge, I visited a high school in Point Barrow at the northern tip of the state. Before oil, the impoverished community housed its students in quonset huts. But the new school had everything, including computers on every desk, and an Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool. The $50 million school wouldn’t have been there without oil.”
Here is a short recap of what America has to gain from drilling:
Jobs
Drilling for oil would produce hundreds of thousands of jobs for Americans and would provide an economic benefit to every state.
Low prices on goods
Whispers about $5 gas coming this summer should have America scouting for a better way: Drilling.
Buying Gas
Actually, more drilling would yield more than low gas prices. Drilling would also help about keep down the cost of indulging in your morning coffee, replacing your tires, baking banana bread, or serving shrimp at your next summer cocktail party. As the oil spill off the coast of New Orleans has spread, it has temporarily shut down prosperous fishing grounds and could also jam up shipping at the mouth of the Mississippi River, causing prices to rise.
Coffee and banana bread. Image credit: flickr/photos/yehwan/.
Just like you want to protect your blood sugar from spiking because of the detrimental impacts on your energy levels and overall health, our country should proactively search out ways to buffer the economy from “spikes” or crashes should a natural disaster, government oversight or corporate mistake jumble the natural flow of production. If we had a more self-sufficient drilling system in this country, we would be a richer country overall. It seems logical that we would be able to create a “buffer” from economic price hikes if we drilled in ANWR, for example.
National security
Our country is secure when it is independent. China already owns much of our debt. How would we feel if China pressured us into handing over the fuel we are unwilling to drill for ourselves? Consider this: Less than a month ago, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez announced that his country had accepted $20 billion in loans from China as part of a venture where Venezuela agreed to supply the world’s second-largest consumer of oil with an ample supply of the crude oil from the Orinoco Belt.
Oil workers near Maturin, Venezuela. Image credit: Tommy Images.
If our country wishes to stay safe, we need to remain economically independent from other countries. It is particularly concerning that China, a communist country that censors free speech, utilizes sweat shops and opposes freedom of religion (remember the Dalai Lama?) is growing stronger in many ways while the U.S. is starting to look more and more like Venezuela - dependent on China.
Wouldn’t it be better to occasionally clean up an oil spill than to become a socialist country without individual freedoms and private property rights?
To read Part 1 in this series, click here.
May
05
No anesthesia drilling
Part 1
By Katie Kieffer
A sign at a London BP station is reflected in raindrops. Image credit: Luke MacGregor/Reuters
America, it’s time for you to get out the drill. Don’t worry. You won’t need a local anesthetic because this drill job will be relatively painless. This will feel new to you, so if you dislike change, take a deep breath. I believe in you.
America, I’m challenging you to take the blinders off that you’ve been wearing since at least the 1950‘s and open yourself to new ways of thinking about economic prosperity, conserving the environment, job growth, innovation, energy and development. I will guide you toward a better road than the circuitous path to recession that you’ve been plodding.
I propose that the lesson Americans take away from the Gulf of Mexico BP oil spill is that we should drill more, not less. If you think the government should be applauded for keeping “a boot on the throat” of BP during this crisis, I have a historic timeline that might cause you to question the administration’s sincerity in opposing offshore drilling:
Timeline of Inconsistency
- 2008: On the campaign trail, Sen. Obama calls offshore drilling for oil a “gimmick…that would only worsen our addiction to oil.“
- 2009: Newly elected President Obama lends $2 billion to Petrobras, Brazil’s government-owned oil corporation, to explore off-shore drilling in Tupi oil field off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
- March, 2010: President Obama proposes “compromise” to drill offshore for oil and natural gas “along coastline, the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska,” reports The New York Times.
- April, 20 2010: Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
- May, 4, 2010: The White House says it will keep the “boot on the throat” of privately held oil company, BP.
After watching this video, you begin to question how the government can chastise BP and ignorantly dismiss offshore drilling as a “gimmick” while funding Brazil’s offshore drilling:
I’m seeing a consistently inconsistent pattern in the current administration’s stance on offshore drilling. I’d love to think that the administration is led by well-meaning, but ill-informed, extreme environmentalists. Yet, the administration’s own words and actions reveal that it is led by politicians seeking political gain rather than preserving clean waters for Nemo and Willy.
In Part 2, I will share reasons for why we need to drill right now. Stay tuned.
Apr
21
‘Terror’ level: Blue dress
By Katie Kieffer
When a Presidential player starts calling his neighbors terrorists, you wonder whether he is just worried about Peeping Toms outing his next rendezvous.
Former President Clinton is making speeches, writing columns, and appearing on TV as an “expert” on the Tea Party movement and terrorism. Clinton implied in an April 16th keynote address to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing that Tea Party supporters, who are calling for fiscal reform and a return to Constitutional principles, could be the next Timothy McVeighs.
Even a slinky would have a hard time making Clinton’s stretch. Take a listen:
Around the same time as Clinton’s remarks, two of the Administration’s key officials actually vested with protecting our country from terrorism, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder, are subpoenaed to explain details regarding the Ft. Hood shooting to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
How convenient for the Administration to have a smooth-talking former president with no political ambitions defend its incompetency and ridicule the millions of Americans who espouse the Tea Party’s ideas of limited government, fiscal responsibility and Constitutional principles?
Let’s quickly run through Clinton’s qualifications to discuss the Tea Party movement and terrorism:
- He’s an expert on extramarital affairs and dress-staining. Unlike Tiger, Clinton was even brazen enough to redefine “sexual relations” to avoid confessing.
- He possesses two terms worth of “experience” cracking down on domestic terror, Doughboy style. Hoo, Hoo!
- He chose a tree-hugging poet to be at his side in the White House.
- He christened the thriving economy Reagan handed him, “Great Recession,” in honor of Henry Cisernos.
So, now that we’ve determined that Clinton is clearly an expert on the Tea Party movement and fighting terrorism, let’s consider the motivation behind his comparisons of frustrated and peaceful Tea Partiers to the extreme anger and violence of Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing.
I would suggest that one motivation for Clinton to misrepresent Americans who are frustrated with big government would be loyalty to his wife, Secretary Hillary, who works for this Administration. Except, he cheated on her, so spousal loyalty is not a driving motivator.
More likely, Clinton’s motivation was the same as it always has been: To be loved. Clinton wants Americans to love him and to do so, he has to remind them of how he protected them from terror, lest we recall how incompetent, and possibly even complicit, he was with regard to the Oklahoma City bombing:
My own experience attending and speaking at Minnesota’s largest Tea Party rally proved what the polls show: Tea Party members are “mainstream” and “generally representative of the public at large,” Gallup reveals. They are also above average in terms of education and financial success, finds a recent poll conducted by The New York Times and CBS News.
I witnessed a group of patriotic, concerned and engaged Americans at this rally. Please enjoy watching this video of the Minnesota Tea Party Tax Day rally I created along with Forever Films, and form your own opinion of the Tea Party, unhindered by Clinton’s self-aggrandizing gossip.
Mar
12
Blah health care, talk law
By Katie Kieffer
Image credit: Richard A. Bloom/Corbis
Blah, blah, blah. Stop talking about health care for 15 seconds. You have until at least March 18th to analyze Speaker Nancy Pelosi and streakerciser Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel bludgeon Congress to vote for Obamacare.
Let’s talk about the stories of legal manipulation and scandal that this administration is happy you aren’t paying attention to while you’re focused on jobs and health care.
President bashes Supreme Court
It takes uber gall and immaturity to lambaste a comrade. The current administration is well endowed in both deficiencies, so it was smashingly successful in breaking with American history, decorum and the Constitution during the State of the Union Address.
We have yet to hear an apology from the President for ganging up against the Supreme Court and chiding justices for doing their job. The President arrogantly and inappropriately used his State of the Union address as a bloody pulpit to bash the third branch of government and mischaracterize the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
Thankfully, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts had the confidence to denounce the President’s actions this week. When a University of Alabama law student asked him about the occurrence, he responded: “I think anybody can criticize the Supreme Court. On the other hand, there is the issue of the setting, the circumstances and the decorum. The image of having the members of one branch of government standing up, literally surrounding the Supreme Court, cheering and hollering while the court — according to the requirements of protocol — has to sit there expressionless, I think is very troubling.”
Image credit: Jay Reeves, AP
Pointing out the obvious fact that the Supreme Court justices only attend the State of the Union address as a courtesy to the President, and the justices rarely even applaud throughout the speech to maintain an appearance of impartiality, Roberts said, “I’m not sure why we’re there,” particularly when the President treats the High Court with disrespect and hostility.
Eric Holder’s secret ‘al Qaeda 7′
Last week, Keep America Safe ruffled feathers by demanding maturity, transparency and respect for the law from an administration that just held a casual health care summit where the President rolled up his sleeves and addressed congressmen by their first names.
Since President Obama appointed Eric Holder as the U.S. Attorney General, legal ethics has taken a tumble. Holder completely mishandled the Christmas day underwear bomber national security threat, and he has been unwilling to disclose his previous viewpoints on mirandizing terrorists that differ greatly from those he holds under Obama’s watch. He has also been less than forthright on his work with the infamous Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Now, the Attorney General has refused to release the names and associations of seven of the nine attorneys who represented Guantanamo detainees. This led Keep America Safe to produce the video above. It certainly is not common practice to withhold the identities of either attorneys or clients, so Holder’s silence has led conservatives such as Ann Coulter to question whether there is a political agenda or association to hide.
Federalist Society co-founder, David M. McIntosh, stated: “Was the [Justice Department] person acting merely as an attorney doing their best to represent a client’s case, or did they seek out the opportunity to represent them or write an amicus brief because they have a political or personal agenda that made them more interested in participating in those [terrorist] cases?”
Federal judge lines ACORN’s pockets
This week, U.S. District Judge Nina Gerson unconstitutionally declared that a rotten little nut called ACORN had a “constitutional right” to taxpayer money to continue its “important” work for the community including voter registration fraud, and other nefarious deeds.
I try to think the best of people, so I’m happy to see that Judge Gerson legislates from the bench to keep our President’s pet radical group alive with taxpayer money during a recession. Plus, it looks like you can be a sexy Acorn for Halloween again in 2010! Or, you could be boring and go as Obamacare. Blah, Blah, Blah.
Image copyright Amie Kieffer 2009. All rights reserved.
Feb
05
5 Super Bowl Party Ideas
By Katie Kieffer
The Vikings didn’t make the Super Bowl this year. You can still have an awesome Super Bowl Sunday. Instead of apathetically watching the Colts steamroll the Saints, take my suggestions to increase the “fun factor” at your Super Bowl party.
Pre Game
You could listen to dancing-sensation, Katie Couric, interview President Obama before the Super Bowl. Or, you could ignore politicians who are trying to control college football, act as sports commentators and snag prime pre-Super Bowl slots instead of focusing on their real job. (We all know Underwear Bombers could care less about football.)
If you’d like the President to start focussing on serious matters like national security and spend less time having fun, here’s a better pre-game idea: Have your guests make the President a paint splash Valentine. Just be sure to finish reading this post BEFORE you start splashing paint, or you’ll end up like my “twin” sister, Blair:
Before the game, give each guest a different colored can of paint and a huge blank canvas. Let them have fun – this is modern art – not Michelangelo. They should write a message to the President such as: “Leave Football Alone!” They can finger paint, spray paint, dump the entire can of paint on the canvas – whatever rocks their boat. Let the canvas dry, and on Monday ship the canvas to the White House for Valentine’s Day delivery.
Food
The Vikings are a good team. Let’s stop moping and celebrate how far they came this season with:
- Energizing Sack-Man Smoothies to honor Jared Allen‘s energy that, as Sports Illustrated reveals, carries fans on eagle’s wings. Or, as Brett Favre says, “Jared Allen is a beast, man.” Smoothies taste best Allen-style, when when you’re wearing your Wyatt Earp cowboy hat.
- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and wine to honor the strength, leadership and skill that Brett Favre brought to the Vikings this season. Wine and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese get better with age, as does Favre. Whether Favre stays with the Vikings or not, I’ve shown how his leadership has improved the team, and we should celebrate that.
Party Favors
Send your guests home looking like Joe Montana and give them all Super Bowl rings. Get the Vince Lombardi Trophy engraved onto an inexpensive ring for each guest. Now that Roger Goodell seems to think it’s fine to mess with the Holy Grail of NFL tradition and alter the look of the Trophy on the Super Bowl logo, you need to preserve it for your friends. Some changes, like going from Sen. Kennedy to Sen. Brown are uplifting, while pointless change for the sake of change is less exciting. 
After Party
TiVo Tebow: Record Tim Tebow’s confident tribute to life and free speech in his Super Bowl ad. Whenever you’re tired of hearing about Tiger Woods’ secret life, turn on Tebow’s ad and restore your faith in super star athletes.
Jan
05
Sexy Os, Breakfast of Terror
By Katie Kieffer
Image credit: Alex Brandon/AP
“Not only is weakness provocative, but the perception of weakness on our part can be provocative as well,” warned Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, when he left the Pentagon on Dec. 15, 2006. Three years later, the “Christmas Day incident” is a haunting tribute to the truth in Rumsfeld’s words.
President Obama successfully attracted his wife, Michelle. However, when it comes to the Mating Dance of Peace, our President is using all the wrong techniques.
Our Chief Executive has portrayed an image of America as a cute, submissive nit-wit that makes Yemen-trained bombers drool. The President’s Trophy of Peace sits in the Whitehouse while American citizens are left to defend themselves from known terrorists on airplanes.
We’ve got the bling. We’ve got the ice. We’ve got a President who naively acts like terrorists are nice. Most of all, we’ve got strategy:
- Refuse to acknowledge the war on terror. Announce that the “Christmas Day incident” was the work of an “isolated extremist” and treat Northwest Flight 253 wanna-be-bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmultallab, as a U.S. criminal instead of a terrorist – “rewarding” him with an attorney and civilian court trial over an appropriate military interrogation. Investigators deem Abdulmultallab a cohort of Al-Qaida extremists, but our President chooses to laugh this off.
Terrorism in America is becoming similar to celebrity extortion in the U.S. in this sense: As it becomes an increasingly low-risk crime, it will be attempted at a higher rate and with greater boldness.
- Abandon the Yemen Embassy - American-protected soil. This is a “surrender in advance” to terrorists as Dennis Prager noted on his talk show and a “victory for Al-Qaeda,” says Bill Kristol.
- Spill your guts to the world: Since his first day as President, Obama has advocated to share U.S. federal security secrets with the world. On Dec. 29, 2009 he recommended the release of up to 400 million pages of previously classified Cold War-era secrets and eliminated the intelligence community’s ability to block public release of certain documents. Steven Aftergood, director of the Project of Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists warns that this move “has tremendous potential to reduce the level of secrecy throughout the government.”
- Nominate shady TSA leader: The White House has nominated Erroll Southers to lead the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Democrats are pushing for a quick January appointment. The Washington Post reports Southers’ appointment has raised eyebrows since he has: Provided “Congress misleading information about incidents in which he inappropriately accessed a federal database, possibly in violation of privacy laws.”
Southers reportedly hacked into confidential private databases to obtain information about “his wife and their son, who had begun living with the (wife’s) boyfriend.” Then, he misled Congress with regard to the details of this intrusion. When our country’s security is at stake, we need confidence in the TSA; a Southers appointment will further weaken the image of the U.S. abroad.
For America to stay safe and peaceful, our President needs to stop spoon-feeding terrorists “Sexy Os” for breakfast – the provocative messages and decisions of weakness that he proudly broadcasts to the world.
Dec
17
‘Barefoot Burglar’ could be CIA’s Justin Bieber
By Katie Kieffer
Self portrait of Colton Harris-Moore via stolen digital camera
When Usher discovered 15-year-old talent sensation, Justin Bieber, he took him under his wing and helped him use his vocal talents to rise to a star. Likewise, when there’s a superstar teen burglar roaming the country that the cops can’t catch, perhaps the CIA should consider bringing him into its posse.
18-year-old Puget Sound native, Colton Harris-Moore, known as the “Barefoot Burglar” to his nearly 10,000 Facebook® page fans, lives in the woods and is adept at slipping in and out of luxury. However, unlike the Salahi peacocks, who ignore the law in hopes of drawing attention to their salon-enhanced physiques, rugged Harris-Moore does whatever he wants while lurking in the shadows.
Harris-Moore’s conquests include confiscating three planes, speedboats and a car. He’s been known to enter homes for a bite of ice cream, a steamy bath or a quick and hefty credit card purchase on an unattended computer, reports Time Magazine. Such is the life of a smart and stealthy youth who thumbs his nose at the coppers as he joyrides. His third plane theft – and crash – achieved a befuddled police-force and just a few scrapes and bruises on his youthful frame. “We saw him, we think, but it’s like he disappeared in front of our eyes,” said a mystified sheriff pursuing his trail.
Across the coast, the Salahi party-crashers and the Georgia “tourists” have proved that it’s frighteningly easy to obtain access to our top elected official. Clearly, the White House has some explaining to do regarding their “hospitality” to uninvited guests. It is in the interest of our country and our national security to protect President Obama and his family to the highest extent.
I disagree with the logic behind most of the President’s policies – and this is on a different level. This is about our President’s security and our national security. The American people need answers to why characters like the Salahis were able to trounce into the White House uninvited. Do we need a new member in the Secret Service? Do we need a new White House Social Secretary to step in for Desirée Rogers?
I’m amazed at how entrepreneur, Richard Branson, is able to launch Americans into space, but our government can’t track down an 18-year-old bandit who has been running wild since around age seven or provide clear answers to the security issues within the White House. Let’s find a role for this kid that harnesses his natural talents – like Usher did for Bieber – and helps keep our President and country safe. With nearly 10,000 fans on his Facebook® page alone, he’s bound to have copycats. Do we want our police to have to spend time running after ‘Barefoot Burglar’ wannabes?
Here’s an idea: Recruit him into the CIA and he could expand his horizons beyond running from local cops to defying global terrorism. Harris-Moore’s resume certainly seems to fit the bill with lots of upside: We get a criminal off the street – who understands how to evade the highest levels of cops – before he becomes “a career criminal” and mixes violence with his brazen thievery.
Key attributes of successful law enforcement officers include the abilities to outrun and outhink criminals. Harris-Moore has the ability to think like a criminal and outrun the best of them. While he’s still young, he has the potential to be molded into one of our country’s greatest assets. Maybe the Department of Defense could help him advance beyond the flying manual he ordered online and get real pilot training so he could channel his obvious love for aviation into surveillance. We’d all be a little safer at night and more planes would remain intact.
