Saturday, April 6, 2013

Obama Apologizes for Objectifying Female CA Attorney General

President Obama created a miniature firestorm Thursday, April 4, by being gauche enough to have called California Attorney General Kamala Harris the "best-looking attorney general" in the country. Not long afterward, the President was forced to apologize for the "sexist" remark.

Obama made the comment at a luncheon event held at the home of Levi Strauss heir John Goldman, where he introduced AG Harris with a list of compliments before ending with, "She also happens to be by far the best-looking attorney general in the country."
As soon as the media reported the President's comments, the lefty outrage machine kicked into high gear. Vanity Fair called Obama's comments "Sexual Harris-ment?" After others from the lefty blogosphere also attacked the President, he sent out his spokesman, Press Secretary Jay Carney, to issue a hasty apology.
The next day, Carney said that the President "did not want to in any way diminish the attorney general's accomplishments and her capabilities."
Carney assured the press that Obama thinks that women "should not be judged based on appearance."
At least one person, though, is likely happy that the President made this "gaffe."
The same day the President made his comment about AG Harris, First Lady Michelle Obama was telling a Vermont CBS TV affiliate that she was a "single mother."
In a discussion about her family obligations and her work load, Mrs. Obama blundered saying, "Believe me, as a busy single mother--or, I shouldn’t say single, as a busy mother..."
The First Lady may be relieved that good-looking-gate took the pressure off her own, more unusual gaffe.

An Extreme Position on Extremism

DoD presentation classifies Catholics, evangelicals as religious extremists
Screenshot from DoD presentation
Screenshot from DoD presentation
BY:

The Defense Department came under fire Thursday for a U.S. Army Reserve presentation that classified Catholics and Evangelical Protestants as “extremist” religious groups alongside al Qaeda and the Ku Klux Klan.
The presentation detailed a number of extremist threats within the U.S. military, including white supremacist groups, street gangs, and religious sects.
The presentation identified seventeen religious organizations in a slide titled “religious extremism.” They include al Qaeda, Hamas, the Filipino separatist group Abu Sayyaf, and the Ku Klux Klan, which the slide identifies as a Christian organization.
“Religious extremism is not limited to any single religion, ethnic group, or region of the world,” the slide explains, in language that closely resembles the text of a Wikipedia page on “extremism.”
While outfits such as al Qaeda and the KKK are explicitly violent, the presentation also lists Catholicism and evangelical Protestantism as extremist groups.
Screenshot from DoD presentation
Screenshot from DoD presentation
More than half of all Americans identify themselves as members of those two Christian denominations. National Public Radio reported in 2005 that 40 percent of active duty military personnel were evangelical Christians.
“Men and women of faith who have served the Army faithfully for centuries shouldn’t be likened to those who have regularly threatened the peace and security of the United States,” said Col. Ron Crews, a retired Army chaplain and the executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.
“It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of wrongheaded characterization,” Crews said in a news release.
Crews also criticized the presentation for citing the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center to support its findings.
The SPLC has dubbed organizations “hate groups” for promoting Christian teachings on morality and sexuality.
A SPLC map of “hate groups” was used by a gunman in 2012 to target the conservative Family Research Council for its position on gay marriage. The gunman shot a security guard at the FRC’s headquarters. The SPLC has refused to comment on its role in the shooting.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services, a Catholic organization that trains and endorses military priests and chaplains, said in a release that it was “astounded that Catholics were listed alongside groups that are, by their very mission and nature, violent and extremist.”
The AMS called on the Pentagon “to review these materials and to ensure that tax-payer funds are never again used to present blatantly anti-religious material to the men and women in uniform.”
An Army spokesperson said the presentation “was produced by an individual without anyone in the chain of command’s knowledge or permission.” The Army removed the offending slide after receiving complaints.
The person responsible for the presentation, the spokesperson said, “was not a subject matter expert, and produced the material after conducting Internet research.”
President Barack Obama is scheduled to posthumously award the Congressional Medal of Honor next week to Catholic Army Chaplain Emil Kapaun, who died in a North Korean military prison in 1951.
“It is hard to understand how a priest like Chaplain Kapaun can be honored in one breath while his faith-group is dishonored in another,” Crews said.

12 GOP senators back Rand Paul on gun-control filibuster

12 GOP senators back Rand Paul on gun-control filibuster


Rand Paul is pictured. | Reuters
Paul is renewing his vow to try to block the gun-control measure. | Reuters
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s threat to filibuster any new gun restrictions is gathering steam, as a dozen of his Republican colleagues have now signed onto his plan.
The Kentucky Republican and Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) first wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid late last month to warn him of their intention to try to tie up the Senate if, as planned, Reid moved forward with legislation that would expand background checks and attempt to crack down on interstate gun trafficking.

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Reid is expected to bring a gun-control bill to the floor as early as next week, or perhaps the following week, and Paul is renewing his vow to try to block the measure. Paul’s follow-up letter, obtained by POLITICO, bears Monday’s date and is signed by 13 Republicans, including fellow potential 2016 presidential aspirant Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — who signed on shortly after Paul’s first threat was issued — and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Jerry Moran of Kansas.
(Also on POLITICO: Obama's top-down grassroots army)
While Paul gained a new measure of fame among libertarian-minded voters on the right and left during a recent filibuster sparked by the administration’s policy of targeted drone strikes, Reid has an ace in the hole. A new Senate rule would allow him to circumvent a filibuster on the motion to proceed to the gun bill by promising each party two amendments on the legislation. Under that scenario, Paul and his allies would still get a chance to raise their objections on the floor for hours on end, but they couldn’t stop the Senate from starting debate on the bill.
Reid’s aides have discussed that option, but they haven’t yet said that they’ll use it. Reid may be able to break a filibuster with bipartisan support, which would obviate the need to do an end run around Paul’s group. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has said he won’t support a filibuster if Reid promises to allow for amendments on the floor.
In the letter due to be sent Monday, a carbon copy of the first missive, Paul and his expanded group of allies reiterate that they “intend to oppose any legislation that would infringe on the American people’s constitutional right to bear arms, or their ability to exercise this right without being subjected to government surveillance.”
(PHOTOS: Highlights from Rand Paul’s filibuster)
The Gun Owners of America, a small group that has risen in influence because of its strict adherence to a pro-gun line, has pressured senators and the National Rifle Association to back Paul, Cruz and Lee.
“If, you are an NRA member, contact them,” GOA wrote in an action alert sent to its own members, some of whom are also in the NRA, on April 1. “Urge them to join with us in supporting the Paul-Cruz-Lee filibuster. That means they should tell senators to oppose the motion to proceed to any gun control vehicle, and to oppose cloture on the motion to proceed to any gun control vehicle.”
(Also on POLITICO: Dems reach out to Toomey on guns)
In addition to Paul, Lee, Cruz, Rubio and Moran, the Republican who have signed the second letter are Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Jim Risch and Mike Crapo of Idaho, Dan Coats of Indiana and Pat Roberts of Kansas.
“We will oppose the motion to proceed on any legislation that will serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions,” they write.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/rand-paul-gun-control-filibuster-89694.html#ixzz2PiDCmNOo
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Americans around the nation were shocked Friday as they heard about H.J.Res. 15. H.J.Res 15 proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the Twenty-second Amendment. This would remove the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President. Rep. José Serrano (D- NY15) introduced the controversial joint resolution on Friday, the second day of the 2013 legislative session…

The last President to serve more than two terms was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt served three full terms as President and was elected to a fourth term. Roosevelt died 83 days into his fourth term in office.
Congress passed the Twenty-second Amendment on March 21, 1947. The required number of states ratified it in 1951.
Read more from this story HERE.

Read more: http://joemiller.us/2013/04/president-obama-could-get-3-terms-if-h-j-res-15-abolishes-term-limits/#ixzz2PhM2ojKl