Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Motor Trend Green, Rush Limbaugh, And A Nielsen Reality

Ford named The Automotive Green Marketer of the Year by Nielsen at LA Auto Show 2010 - Nielsen research found • 85% of consumers said they recalled seeing a ‘green’ auto ad recently and, on average across the 23 brands measured, 67% of consumers said they had a more positive opinion of green marketing after seeing the ad. • Further to that, 41% of consumers said the ad increased their consideration to buy the featured vehicle. • Green auto ads resonated better than the average auto ad with 12% higher Message Recall, the percentage in which a viewer can recall an ad, the brand or vehicle featured in the ad, and the green message conveyed. • Among nearly 60,000 social media messages analyzed for auto brands, consumers view their green auto marketing efforts in a favorable light with 12 times more positive “buzz” than negative [ctrl-click image to launch YouTube of announcement]. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Motor Trend Green, Rush Limbaugh, And A Nielsen Reality

This last week during Press Days at the 2010 LA Auto Show, General Motors was doing its best to place its best foot forward and some in the automotive press were more than willing to play along. On the very same day that Motor Trend Magazine announced that it was awarding the Motor Trend Car of the Year 2010 to the Chevrolet Volt ... General Motors placed stock on the open market for people to buy (Initial Purchase Offer - IPO).

This honor by Motor Trend has been cherished by almost every manufacturer throughout the years but this year seemed unusual ... even by Rush Limbaugh.

Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Motor Trend magazine has fired back, slamming Rush Limbaugh for his ill-informed critique of the Motor Trend Car of the year for 2010 the Chevy Volt by General Motors (GM).

Talk show host, Rush Limbaugh has been on a few rants against GM's Chevy Volt, saying,

Of all the cars in the world, the Chevrolet Volt is the Car of the Year? Motor Trend magazine, that’s the end of them. How in the world do they have any credibility? Not one has been sold [and] the Volt is the Car of the Year.

That prompted this charged, and somewhat petty response from Motor Trend Magazine, editor Todd Lassa:

So, Mr. Limbaugh; you didn’t enjoy your drive of our 2011 Car of the Year, the Chevrolet Volt? Assuming you’ve been anywhere near the biggest automotive technological breakthrough since … I don’t know, maybe the self-starter, could you even find your way to the front seat? Or are you happy attacking a car that you’ve never even seen in person?

The Motor Trend blog continued its trenchant, and unprofessional take down of Rush Limbaugh's disagreements against the Chevy Volt, ending with this nasty left hook:

I’m sure GM would be happy to lend you one for the weekend. Just remember: driving and Oxycontin don’t mix.
Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

I (as both the LA Motor Culture Examiner and the LA Conservative Examiner) have some of the same troubles with the Volt being named car of the year by Motor Trend Magazine when the General Motors plan is to produce ONLY 10,000 of these citizen owned/Government owned white elephants that require an even bigger giveaway of our tax dollars ($7,500 incentive discount from the $41,000 list price) just to try to shove them, dare I say, down our throats?!

They should be selling this car as a car that has a 300 mile range on current infrastructure fuel with a pure electric power extension of maybe 40 miles.

The Volt was also named Green Car of the year all on the same day that GM issued its IPO stock offer. We call this monetizing our tax dollar debt. I already have money in GM thanks to the new rules implemented by the Government here in Carter's Second Term, why would I wish to invest more money in this joke of a Government and Union owned enterprise when there are choices that I CAN make for myself to invest in companies, green companies that are owned by people who actually have a connection to what they make?

Ford was named as the first ever Automotive Green Marketer of the Year by Nielsen ... now there IS a company that has a legacy to its product that one could invest in without having to look over one's shoulder!

This is what the press release had to say about Ford:

Ford has built significant awareness over the past year around their hybrid vehicles and fuel-efficient cars with key campaigns for Fiesta and Fusion Hybrid, as well as their Drive One 2.0 brand ads featuring hybrids and miles-per-gallon (MPG) related ads. In addition, Ford’s official sponsorship of Fox’s reality show American Idol, which put specific emphasis on the hybrid offerings, has helped drive increased awareness of their green message among millions of people every week. Last season, American Idol’s popular Ford Music Video Challenge, in which exclusive Ford music videos aired each week, featured the Fusion Hybrid and Escape Hybrid, successfully grabbing the attention of consumers. Meanwhile, the company continued to break ground in social media with the launch of new apps aimed at expanding its reach to a new class of prospective car-buyers.

“The Automotive Green Marketer of the Year award is not just about great creative, although we all know that’s a crucial element of any effective ad campaign,” said Lois Miller, President, Nielsen Automotive. “However, this is bigger than one creative. This award is for the auto marketer who was most effective at leveraging its brand to further the ‘green’ movement and create positive awareness for all the auto industry is doing to drive fuel-efficiency and eco-friendly practices. This was best exemplified by Ford.”

Basically, this is where the rubber meets the ol' green road ... Ford's contribution takes into account REALITY! ... something Todd Lassa and Motor Trend may have lost touch with a few egos (and possible political campaign contributions) ago.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

AARP Raises Premiums - Advocacy Clashes With Reality

Contrary to Democratic politician's promises when they jammed Obamacare through the Senate and Congress, claiming that when the public found out all that was in the bill they would start to support it, opposition is rising as the public becomes aware of what Washington Democrats actually passed and Obama signed into law. Caption & Image Credit: wakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com

AARP Raises Premiums - Advocacy Clashes With Reality


Truth has a funny way of dispelling the aggressive distortion of an advocacy point-of-view.

A classic case in point has popped up over at the insurance and liberal advocacy organization American association of retired persons, AARP. AARP is a non-profit organization which helps people above the age of 50 to lead a peaceful life both health and finance. Most famous of AARP programs is AARP insurance.

AARP is now telling its employees that insurance costs will rise by 8 percent to 13 percent next year, partly as a result of the ObamaCare law it supported.

This excerpted and edited from the Washington Times -

Obamacare spurs AARP to raise premiums
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar - Associated Press - 6:35 p.m., Thursday, November 4, 2010

AARP's endorsement helped secure passage of President Obama's health care overhaul. Now the seniors' lobby is telling its employees their insurance costs will rise, partly as a result of the law.
----
AARP added that it is changing co-payments and deductibles to avoid a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans that takes effect in 2018 under the law. Aerospace giant Boeing also has cited the tax in asking its workers to pay more. Shifting costs to employees lowers the value of a health care plan and acts like an escape hatch from the tax.

"Most plan co-pays and deductibles have been modified," Jennifer Hodges, AARP's director of compensation and benefits, wrote employees in an Oct. 25 e-mail. "Plan value changes were necessary not only from a cost-management standpoint, but also to ensure that AARP's plans fall below the threshold for high-cost group plans under health care reform."
Reference Here>>

Ever since Barack Obama took the office as the 44th President of the United States, AARP endorsed the efforts of the Democrat political party in its efforts at healthcare reform. These efforts had little to do with improving a free market approach and everything to do with having the Government become the chief decider on what insurance will look like ... even if the Government has to become the "Single-Payer" in the insurance equation.

The chief reason AARP was an advocate on ObamaCare can be found where AARP makes their money ... in Medigap insurance coverage. Medigap plans are a cash cow for AARP and if people don't need them because they can enroll in Medicare Advantage plans, that's a revenue loss for AARP. Obamacare helps to do away with Medicare Advantage plans.

While the organization has some partnering arrangements with Medicare Advantage plans, they provide a fraction of the revenues to the organization that Medigap does.

Second, if Medicare's benefits are cut by $400 billion or more, seniors will have an ever greater need for Medigap coverage.

"There's an inherent conflict of interest," former AARP executive Marilyn Moon says of AARP's royalty arrangements. "They're ending up becoming very dependent on sources of income."

Tens of thousands of seniors have resigned from AARP, many of them cutting up their membership cards to protest the organization's promotion of health reform.

The new chief executive officer of AARP, Barry Rand, who was a strong supporter of President Obama during last year's presidential campaign, says AARP is not protesting the Medicare cuts because reducing waste and fraud in Medicare will make the program stronger over the long term.

The 40 million-strong AARP represents people 50 and older, including retirees on Medicare and Social Security. Its endorsement of President Barack Obama's health bill came at a critical time last year, just days before a vote on the House floor.

"The [insurance rate]impact on [our]AARP employees is not a factor at all in our policy-making, which is directed at the impact on our membership and on all older Americans," said said David Certner, AARP legislative affairs director.

One has to ask ... how many 50 years of age and older employees does AARP actually have?

We , at Carter's Second Term, believe - AARP ... the American association of retired persons, is less about protecting the interests of retired persons than it is at protecting its cash cows in the insurance business.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Carter = A Steward Vs Obama = A Scold

Rush Limbaugh said “An American president has never had facial expressions like this. At least we’ve never seen photos of an American president with facial expressions like this.” Image Credit: Drudge Report/Wire Service

Carter = A Steward Vs Obama = A Scold

An opinion article written by senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Shelby Steele, helps to explain how confounding this 44th presidency is to live through.

Forget about the facts that Senator Obama promised unity, transparency, reduced deficits, responsible and accountable governance when he was campaigning to become president in 2008. All of this, and more, are sooooo 2008 here in Carter's Second Term.

Forget about the very astute understanding that we find ourselves in a political "Class Warfare" - and it is not the kind one immediately comes to. It isn't rich versus poor, or Democrat versus Republican, or liberial versus conservative but a Ruling Class (career political operatives and those purchased by their actions - ie: Unions, government workers, community organizations, and etc.) versus Country Class - defined as those who believe in this country and the Constitution that formed it!

What Shelby Steele articulates well is the opinion that what we are suffering from isn't a leader that is choosing to lead a country of greatness but to scold a country that operates from a position of bad faith.



This excerpted and edited from the Wall Street Journal -

A Referendum on the Redeemer

By Shelby Steele, Wall Street Journal - October 28, 2010


Whether or not the Republicans win big next week, it is already clear that the "transformative" aspirations of the Obama presidency—the special promise of this first black president to "change" us into a better society—are much less likely to materialize. There will be enough Republican gains to make the "no" in the "party of no" even more formidable, if not definitive.

----
His embarrassed supporters console themselves that their intentions were good; their vote helped make history. But for Mr. Obama himself there is no road back to the charisma and political capital he enjoyed on his inauguration day. How is it that Barack Obama could step into the presidency with an air of inevitability and then, in less than two years, find himself unwelcome at the campaign rallies of many of his fellow Democrats?

The first answer is well-known: His policymaking has been grandiose, thoughtless and bullying. His health-care bill was ambitious to the point of destructiveness and, finally, so chaotic that today no citizen knows where they stand in relation to it.
----
His coming of age paralleled exactly the unfolding of a new "counterculture" American identity. And this new American identity—and the post-1960s liberalism it spawned—is grounded in a remarkable irony: bad faith in America as virtue itself, bad faith in the classic American identity of constitutional freedom and capitalism as the way to a better America.
----
He is simply the first president we have seen grounded in this counterculture American identity. When he bows to foreign leaders, he is displaying the counterculture Americanism of honorable self-effacement in which America acknowledges its own capacity for evil as prelude to engagement.


Bad faith in America became virtuous in the '60s when America finally acknowledged so many of its flagrant hypocrisies: the segregation of blacks, the suppression of women, the exploitation of other minorities, the "imperialism" of the Vietnam War, the indifference to the environment, the hypocrisy of puritanical sexual mores and so on. The compounding of all these hypocrisies added up to the crowning idea of the '60s: that America was characterologically evil.

----

Among today's liberal elite, bad faith in America is a sophistication, a kind of hipness.
----

There was no vision of the future in "Hope and Change." It is an expression of bad faith in America, but its great ingenuity was to turn that bad faith into political motivation, into votes. But there is a limit to bad faith as power, and Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party may have now reached that limit.

The great weakness of bad faith is that it disallows American exceptionalism as a rationale for power.
It puts Mr. Obama and the Democrats in the position of forever redeeming a fallen nation, rather than leading a great nation. They bet on America's characterological evil and not on her sense of fairness, generosity or ingenuity.

When bad faith is your framework (Michelle Obama never being proud of her country until it supported her husband), then you become more a national scold than a real leader. You lead out of a feeling that your opposition is really only the latest incarnation of that old characterological evil that you always knew was there. Thus the tea party—despite all the evidence to the contrary—is seen as racist and bigoted.
----

Our great presidents have been stewards, men who broadly identified with the whole of America. Stewardship meant responsibility even for those segments of America where one might be reviled.
-
---
But he [Obama] has functioned more as a redeemer than a steward, a leader who sees a badness in us from which we must be redeemed. Many Americans are afraid of this because a mandate as grandiose as redemption justifies a vast expansion of government. A redeemer can't just tweak and guide a faltering economy; he will need a trillion- dollar stimulus package. He can't take on health care a step at a time; he must do it all at once, finally mandating that every citizen buy in.

Next week's election is, among other things, a referendum on the idea of president-as- redeemer. We have a president so determined to transform and redeem us from what we are that, by his own words, he is willing to risk being a one-term president.

People now wonder if Barack Obama can pivot back to the center like Bill Clinton did after his set-back in '94. But Mr. Clinton was already a steward, a policy wonk, a man of the center. Mr. Obama has to change archetypes.

Reference Here>>

One has to believe that a human Bill-Of-Rights, a Constitution that intentionally limits the size, power, and scope of Government, and the nature of our American Rule-Of-Law that starts from the position that everyone who is suspected of a crime is presumed innocent in the eyes of the court, are inherently evil in order to believe that "Bad Faith" is America!

It is time to vote on November 2nd, 2010 for anything but DEMOCRAT ... for the Democrat Political Party IS the politics of BAD FAITH ... not the politics of greatness here in Carter's Second Term.

When the nation goes to the polls on November 2nd, the citizens will not be going to the polls to VOTE ... but they will be going to the polls to issue a Restraining Order on the Obama Administration and the rest of the Democrat Party!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Obama Hate Speech In Obama's Own Words

'I am not king': Obama tells Latino voters he can't conjure immigration reform alone. Image Credit: Luis Sinco

Obama Hate Speech In Obama's Own Words

Barack Obama views America through very critical and radical eyes. In a recent interview given to the NBC Spanish language broadcast arm, Univision, on the mid-term campaign trail, Barack Obama speaks about the view of illegal immigrants who (from his point-of-view) are potentially sitting on the sidelines, sheathing for a way for America to act on their behalf.

What is interesting about this interview is the way Barack Obama uses the voice of the Latin American illegal immigrant to pull forward his divisive point of view of what American Values ought to be.

This Excerpted and edited from LA Time Blog reprint of the Univision interview transcript -

Transcript of President Barack Obama with Univision
October 25, 2010 | 1:14 pm

President Barack Obama was interviewed by Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo last week in Los Angeles for a Univision radio program that aired Monday.

Sotelo asked the president to focus on immigration. When the Spanish-language radio giant suggested that the Obama administration was more dedicated to fixing issues like healthcare than immigration, the president disagreed.

“My cabinet has been working very hard on trying to get it done, but ultimately, I think somebody said the other day, I am president, I am not king. I can't do these things just by myself. We have a system of government that requires the Congress to work with the executive branch to make it happen. I'm committed to making it happen, but I've gotta have some partners to do it,” Obama said.
----
POTUS: Well, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna see how well we do in this election and I think a lot of it is gonna depend on whether we still have some support not only from Democrats, but also Republicans, but they're gonna be paying attention to this election.

And if Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, we're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us, if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2.

Reference Here>>

So, the President of the United States engages in a divide and conqurer - American against American - by speaking a voice that suggests a war within ... he further stated that "And that's why this election coming up is so important because we essentially have to say that those who are politicizing the issue, who are supportive of the Arizona law, who talk only about border security but aren't willing to talk about the other aspects of this, who don't support the Dream Act, who are out there engaging in rhetoric that is divisive and damaging that -- those aren't the kinds of folks who represent our core American values."

So basically, Americans who believe in sovereignty are to be viewed as enemies and do not represent core American values. Thanks!

These are the thoughts of a man who ran for the office of President of the United States on the premise that there are no Red States, or Blue States but there is only the United States of America.

Talk about whipping up the "BASE" ... I do not know about you, but the hateful thoughts and attitudes expressed above are nothing more than the real thoughts and attitudes of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Soros Money Gets Juan Williams Fired From NPR

So, with the news that George Soros is buying one hundred political “reporters” for National Public Radio (NPR), one waits with bated breath for the left to decry the fact that a famous anti-American leftist is buying and influencing the “news.” Image Credit: Big Journalism

Soros Money Gets Juan Williams Fired From NPR

Yesterday, Glenn Beck opened his show stating that he had something else planned to present for the hour but something came up in the form of an email that he had to address.

The email concerned itself with the new round of donations being issued by Billionaire progressive, George Soros and his campaign to get Glenn Beck fired from Fox News through boycotts by advertisers to his program. The memo confirmed that Soros had just given the left-wing hell-raising blog, Media Matters, a million dollars and asked them to broaden their boycott efforts to all of Fox News ... the declarations are on the MM website.

It turns out that recently, George Soros has also given a very large donation (1.8 million dollars for 100 reporters) to National Public Radio (NPR) as well.

This morning, NPR has just announced that it was firing longtime author and Democrat politics commentator, Juan Williams. NPR used as its reasoning that Jaun Williams' appearance on the Fox News top rated politics, culture information, and commentary show, The O'Reilly Factor, resulted in Juan expressing feelings that were inconsistent with its world view ... or something to that effect.


This excerpted and edited from The Atlantic -

Juan Williams Fired by NPR For No Particular Reason (UPDATED)
By Jeffery Goldberg - Oct 21 2010, 12:23 AM ET

National Public Radio has fired the political analyst Juan Williams for comments he made about Muslims on Bill O'Reilly's Fox show. These are two of the controversial comments in question, according to The New York Times:

'I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

And this, in reference to Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani immigrant who attempted to blow up Times Square with a car bomb:

"He said the war with Muslims, America's war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts."

The first quotation reflects the views, I'm guessing, of the vast majority of people who fly in this country (and in Europe and Asia and other parts of the world, as well). With some regularity, Muslim men associated with radical Islamist organizations have been trying to kill American civilians, here and abroad. A group of 19 Muslim men succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in their mission nine years ago. The majority of Muslims abhor terrorism, and Muslims are the disproportionate victims of Muslim terror, but the essential truth remains that most of the world's spectacular terrorism today -- thwarted and achieved -- is committed by Muslims.

Juan Williams misunderstands one crucial fact: Muslim terrorists who are attempting to commit acts of terror seldom if ever dress in "Muslim garb"; they dress, for obvious tactical reasons, in a manner meant to help them blend in with surroundings. So Williams is wrong, I think, to be particularly suspicious of traditionally-dressed Muslims. But is he wrong to worry about Islamist terrorism? Of course not.
Reference Here>>

So, the real reason for the firing seems confused, at best.

What is consistent here is that both Juan Williams and Mara Liasson are (or were) longtime contributors to NPR and are contributors to Fox News and therein lays the rub. Soros money is now beginning to turn the screws and place pressure from where the money is placed and directed. Mira Liasson has said previously, that her participation on discussion panels at Fox News (primarily with Brit Hume and Bret Baier) has been questioned by the staff at NPR.

One wonders here during Carter's Second Term ... just when will all of the Soros money will catch up with her (Mara Liasson) and gets her removed from either NPR or have her resign from Fox News due to "pressures"?

This act by George Soros and his media minions is an attempt to end free speech through fear!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Boxer VFW Endorsement In Dispute By VFW Leadership

Photo of letter issued by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States calling the actions of the VFW-PAC into question as it relates to political endorsements. This photo was taken at a protest rally outside of the VFW-PAC news conference to endorse Barbara Boxer for her fifth term as United States Senator. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Boxer VFW Endorsement In Dispute By VFW Leadership

In what may be a case of identity theft through going rogue, the separate political action committee organization using the "VFW" in its name is endorsing candidates without the blessing of the real VFW organization out of Kansas City, MO.

In a letter issued October 8, 2010, titled "VFW Leadership at Odds with VFW-PAC" and signed by Richard L. Eubank - National Commander, Richard L. DeNoyer - Sr. Vice Commander, and John E. Hamilton - Jr. Vice Commander, the VFW leadership called the methodology process used by the PAC "seriously flawed at best this year and in immediate need of extensive review," in the wake of the recent congressional endorsements made by the committee.

This separate organization, formed by 12 VFW members, is acting rogue in their endorsements of Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi. The voting record and personal statements from all of these endorsed candidates should have had them removed from consideration.

This photo was taken at a protest rally outside of the VFW-PAC news conference to endorse Barbara Boxer for her fifth term as United States Senator. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

This excerpted and edited from the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States website -

VFW Leadership at Odds with VFW-PAC

By Richard L. Eubank - National Commander, Richard L. DeNoyer - Sr. Vice Commander, and John E. Hamilton - Jr. Vice Commander - October 8, 2010 - VFW, Kansas City, MO.

“Even though the law requires that VFW-PAC be a separate organization, the acronym ‘VFW’ is attached to the committee and the natural assumption is that the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is somehow making the endorsement decisions. Nothing could be further from the truth, but perception is reality,” said National Commander Richard Eubank.

“Obviously, an organization's political positions have to reflect the opinions of its members. But those opinions can't be perceived as ‘off the wall,’ and the methodology used this year to grade candidates obviously is skewed in favor of the incumbent. That isn’t fair, and it actually subverts the democratic process.”
Reference Here>>

Paul Chabot - Statewide Chairman, Veterans for Carly Coalition, Iraq War Vet, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (Kansas City) Lifemember) as he presents the letter from the VFW leadership out of Kansas City, MO, and reviews Barbara Boxer's voting record on Veteran's Affairs. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Barbara Boxers record is as follows (re-published from LA Conservative Examiner):

To be clear, this endorsement should be protested on these facts on the actions and voting record of this current Senator from California (information provided by the Pasadena Patriots - TeaPac - Paul Chabot - Statewide Chairman, Veterans for Carly Coalition, Iraq War Vet, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (Kansas City) Lifemember):

Boxer Military Fact Check

1) Barbara Boxer continues to campaign with Jane Fonda. I do not have to remind Veterans the harm that Jane Fonda caused to our Nation - they know all too well.

2) In California, we have 1.9 million Veterans, 30,000 returning from war each year. While the California unemployment rate is 12.4%, Veterans in California have over a 30% unemployment rate. Of the total number of unemployed persons in California, 25% are Veterans. The problem has gotten much worse under Boxer, not better.

3) Our VA Hospitals are overloaded, bulging at the seams; the quality of care is decreasing while wait lines are increasing beyond any reasonable expectation. As a Vet who receives care at California VA's, I can firmly
attest to this fact and the outrage felt by my fellow Veterans.

4) Barbara Boxer has consistently voted against funding for our troops in times of war. In 2007, she was one of only 14 senators to vote against supplemental funding for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. That bill included billions of dollars in funding for body armor, for mine-resistant vehicles, for defense health programs - including funding for the treatment of soldiers suffering from PTSD and brain trauma - and to help combat IEDs.

5) In 2003, Boxer was one of just 12 senators to oppose the $87 billion supplemental appropriation for the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, which provided funding for body armor, communications equipment, equipment maintenance and operation, defense health programs, increased imminent danger pay. The reconstruction package also included funds to help military families by increasing the Family Separation Allowance, by allowing family members to visit soldiers who are ill or injured as a result of their active-duty service and by providing access to the benefits of the Family Medical Leave Act.

6) Boxer has repeatedly disrespected prominent members of our military. Who can forget the time she upbraided Brigadier General Michael Walsh during a committee hearing for calling her "ma'am" instead of "senator."

7) Boxer has also refused to condemn the offensive, defamatory advertisement MoveOn.org ran against General David Petraeus, who is now commanding our forces in Afghanistan.

It is for these reasons, that we must ask the VFW-PAC to rescind its endorsement of Barbara Boxer.

Reference Here>>

This photo was taken at a protest rally outside of the VFW-PAC news conference to endorse Barbara Boxer for her fifth term as United States Senator. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

This excerpted and edited from the LA Times -

Boxer highlights endorsement by VFW-PAC

By: Cathleen Decker - October 10, 2010 | 5:13 pm

Fiorina has been critical of Boxer’s record on military issues, including Boxer's vote against a military spending bill that Boxer opposed because she said it did not outline a clear exit strategy from Iraq. On Sunday after speaking at a civic affairs conference hosted by the Iranian American Jewish community in Century City, Fiorina said the VFW PAC had “lost a great deal of credibility because they’ve demonstrated once again that all they ever do is endorse incumbent politicians.”

“There are a great number of veterans who are offended by Boxer’s refusal to support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan," Fiorina told reporters Sunday. "There are veterans who are offended by the way she dressed down a general, and there are, unfortunately for the VFW PAC, now a whole lot of veterans who are offended by the decision the VFW PAC has taken.”

Fiorina’s campaign also released a statement by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other military veterans, objecting to the VFW's endorsement of her. (McCain is campaigning for Fiorina).

Asked after her speech about McCain's objection, Boxer merely smiled and replied: "I'm so excited to have the VFW endorsement. I couldn't be more thrilled."
Reference Here>>

This photo was taken at a protest rally outside of the VFW-PAC news conference to endorse Barbara Boxer for her fifth term as United States Senator. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Well, no matter how tainted or in dispute, or bogus an endorsement may be (especially given one's own voting record and personal statements) ... the accepting of this VFW-PAC endorsement passes for something to be excited about by Barbara Boxer, here during Carter's Second Term (the 44th Presidency of the United States).

Boxer Endorsement UPDATE - VFW Leaders Tell PAC to Rescind Boxer, Klein Endorsements - Published October 13, 2010 | FOX News/Associated Press

VFW UPDATE - VFW Commander-in-Chief disolvess its Political Action Committee (VFW-PAC) after disputed endorsements - October 15, 2010

It is now evident to most of the VFW leadership, both National and especially the departments, that the VFW has been subjected to extreme negative publicity throughout the nation, and the recent endorsement decisions have, in fact, harmed the VFW’s reputation and future ability to fulfill our mission.

I cannot let this erosion of public support for our great organization continue. The apparent lack of the committee to address these concerns will lead to a proposal by me, as Commander-in-Chief, to amend the by-laws at the 112th National Convention for the purpose of dissolving the PAC. Meanwhile, under the authority granted to me as Commander-in-Chief in section 619 of the VFW National By-Laws and under section 620 of the Manual of Procedure, I am withdrawing all PAC appointments effective October 15, 2010.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

One Nation Rally - The Hodge-Podge Of Disgruntled Socialist Rant

Demand the changes we voted for - One Nation Working Together is a social movement of individuals and organizations committed to putting America back to work and pulling America back together. Coming from a diverse set of backgrounds, experiences, beliefs and orientations, we are determined to build a more united country with good jobs, equal justice, and quality public education for all [how come they did not use a photo from the actual rally?]. Image Credit: OneNationWorkingTogether.org via the infamous Martin Luther King speech held on the mall 47 years ago

One Nation Rally - The Hodge-Podge Of Disgruntled Socialist Rant


This rally, billed as being planned before the Restoring Honor Rally was planned and held, was a disorienting and divisive collection of speeches and music without a clear direction to it except an "I Want More From You" chant of bigger Government socialist utopia.

One by one, Communists the likes of Van Jones, Union Leadership operatives from SEIU, AFL-CIO, and etc., and single Race representatives from American Indian tribal associations political landscape operatives (Al Sharpton), La Raza (which translates to "The Race") hispanic rights over all others ... especially legal citizens, came to the microphone to exclaim their injustice and ax to grind in the name of unity ... with all of this being moderated by MSNBC's Ed Shultz. Can you feel the love?

More than 400 organizations, including liberal faith, environmental, union, and gay rights groups, sponsored the "One Nation Working Together" demonstration on the same end of the National Mall where a month ago tea party activists and sympathizers met to hear conservative TV and Radio commentator Glenn Beck, Former Governor Sarah Palin, and a host of other speakers talk to the issue of "Restoring Honor" to our broken nation.

Organizers claimed they had as many participants as Beck's rally. But Saturday's crowds were less dense and didn't reach as far to the edges as they did during Beck's rally (see photo below). The National Park Service stopped providing official crowd estimates in the 1990s.

Side-By-Side - Restoring America Rally on left (packed with concerned American citizens) / One Socialist Nation Rally on right (packed with all of the Messiah's socialist citizens) - ironic and telling, isn't it? Image Credit: The Blaze (2010)

This excerpted and edited from Gateway Pundit -

Figures. CSPAN Uses Tea Party Rally Crowd Shot for Leftist “One Nation” Rally Article
Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, October 2, 2010, 10:56 AM

CSPAN is airing the leftist “One Socialist Nation” rally today in Washington DC.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have a good crowd shot of the turnout… So they used a photo from a Glenn Beck tea party rally.


Notice the Gadsden flags in the background.
(Hat Tip Editor)

This is despite the fact that thousands of supporters were given free rides by unions and the NAACP to the rally.


The actual crowd is a little sparse at the One Nation rally today.

Despite the free rides and T-shirts the leftists just couldn’t match this crowd.


This photo is from the Glenn Beck rally last month.

Reference Here>>

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka urged participants, including his union's members, to band together. "There is nothing, and I mean nothing, we can't do when we stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder," Trumka said. "We will stand together. And we will win together. And we won't let anyone — and I mean anyone — stand in our way."

"Coming out of here, we've got to go home and ask our friends to vote, ask our neighbors to vote," NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said.

Socialist protesters and paraphernalia dominated today's left-wing protest rally in Washington, DC. The so-called "One Nation" rally was led primarily by labor unions as an attempt to counter Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor Rally, which took place in DC on 8-28-2010.

Rose Dixon, a health care worker from Pawleys Island, S.C., said she hopes the rally sends a message to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. "Stop the obstructionism. Work together," Dixon said. "Stop playing politics as usual and to put the American people first. We're tired of the politics and the posturing and the games."

This quote sticks out because of its absurdity ... we have been governed since January 20, 2009 by an Executive Branch and Legislative Branch that has a single political party with a voting super majority - and they have passed legislation that has expanded Federal Government by nearly 25% and added more taxpayer debt in 19 months that it took forty previous Executive and Legislative Branches to amass in over 200 years (over 3 Trillion Dollars).

The "obstructionism" Rose Dixon is referring to, of course, is having the Federal Government release money directly to her and people like her. These people believe all power and income comes from Government as opposed to the fruits of one's own labor or intellectual property.

Not once during the rally did we, at Carter's Second Term, see or hear anyone stand up for the Constitution of the United States or the Bill of Rights.

Organizers insisted the rally was not partisan. They said the message of the rally is about job creation, quality education and economic justice. However, the 400 organizations, such as the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, Code Pink, the ACLU, and etc. always back Democrat Party candidates. We have to ask ... what are they rallying for? Their political party currently controls all of the power of this current Federal Government and unfortunately it is "One Nation"!

NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous was right as it relates what is needed to change things as they are in Washington today ... "we've got to go home and ask our friends to vote, ask our neighbors to vote" ... that is, we have to go into our neighborhoods and ask each of our neighbors to vote for a person that will go to Washington and vote to uphold working to have a smaller government, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights here during Carter's Second Term.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Dreamin' On The Nightmare Of The Dream Act

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez discusses immigration issues while pandering to students at a conference organized by Elev8 Chicago students. Image Credit: Eric Young Smith

Dreamin' On The Nightmare Of The Dream Act

Harry Reid, in an effort to diminish the Rule-Of-Law, is working actively to give benefits and citizenship away through a piece of legislation he wishes to get passed by tucking it away as a rider on a military appropriations bill currently working through Congress.

The reason this "Dream Act" is a nightmare is that it seeks to slice up and weaken current immigration law that protects those who played by the rules and waited to become legitimate Green Card holders and/or citizens in the first place.

To have this legislation come up and be potentially passed into law as a rider without the debate and the vetting process required through the rule of law attacks the essence of sovereignty that makes the United States be the United States.

Further, these law breakers who make it into the United States believe they are entitled to have all of the financial assistance that full citizens are able to apply for just because they are here - a belief held by those we elect to protect us and the sovereignty our country.

This from Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.)



"These [kids] are Americans in ALL, but paper ..." - This quote from Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), in its full context, can be found starting at 3:04 and the fact is, these people, no matter what age, are NOT Americans - in paper or otherwise.

Illegal is illegal no matter what the circumstance. All undocumented immigrants need to be held to the Rule-Of-Law for without enforcement ... there is no law. The Dream Act opens the door to convert illegal to citizen without the processes that all other immigrants had to go through to become citizens. Sneak in and get citizenship ... try this approach in any other country. The Dream Act is nothing but a nightmare.

This is why I am urging everybody stuck here in Carter's Second Term to pick up the phone and call Sen. Brown now to urge him to NOT support the DREAM Act due to the issue - the Rule-Of-Law. This issue should be debated and considered on its own merits alone and not tucked into a military appropriations bill. His number is (617) 565-3170.

Tell him (or the representative who answers the phone) that it doesn't make sense to diminish the Rule-Of-Law and to talk to his Senate colleagues Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to vote down the Dream Act for the same reasons.

Dreamy UPDATE - Reid ends up voting against own amnesty agenda rider ... The Dream Act!:

Today two Arkansas Democrats, blocked the bill that had the two riders - one repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell" gay rights agenda for military service and one prelude to amnesty for Students and etc. ... "The Dream Act", with many arguing that the added measures, whether they supported them or not, had no place riding in a defense-spending bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who had championed the bills, also ended up voting against the defense bill for procedural reasons. The Republicans held strong - "Hats Off!"

More than 2.1 million children and adults under 35 years old would have been eligible if the DREAM Act passed, according to estimates by the Migration Policy Institute, and a little more than a quarter of them live in California alone. This means that California dodges another UNFUNDED Federally mandated spending bullet!

The defense policy bill has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support, passing 48 years in a row with both parties eager to back the military. But this year, with the bill being introduced to the Senate floor in a paralyzing atmosphere just weeks ahead of the midterm elections, both parties have sought to add amendments that motivate their supporters.

“They want to weigh this bill down with controversy in a transparent attempt to show their special interest groups that they haven’t forgotten about them ahead of the election,’’ said Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader. “This is not a serious exercise. It’s a show.’’

That is the story here on the frontlines of Carter's Second Term.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Robert Gibbs defends Obama's 'mainstream' Christian religion

Trinity United Church of Christ - "A CHURCH IN BLACK ... and white". Trinity UCC was founded in 1961. Ten years later, when the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright became its pastor, the church had 87 families. Today, Trinity UCC has more than 8,000 members, 70 ministries and three Sunday worship services. Image Credit: TUCC Newsletter


Robert Gibbs defends Obama's 'mainstream' Christian religion


Glenn Beck stated on his radio program this week (as reported by Associated Press) that President Barack Obama practices a version of Christianity that is not recognized by most people. Beck said that this "liberation theology" is all about "oppressors" and "victims."

The White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs defended this critique by Glenn Beck by saying President Barack Obama is a "committed, mainstream Christian." Further, Gibbs said, "I can only imagine where Mr. Beck conjured that from."

Carter's Second Term looked into the website of Barack Obama's church during the 2008 presidential campaign ... the one he claims to have attended for twenty years, where he married his wife Michelle, and had his two daughters christened ... and this is exactly what we found.

Originally published at MAXINE on January 13, 2008 -

"Ideating" Barack Obama & Trinity United Church of Christ


IBM has a commercial where a workgroup is lying on floormats spread out on the floor of a large room, with those pillows people use on airplanes that form around the neck. The lights are off. When a man who is checking the rooms opens the door and turns on the lights to a neon glow, he discovers this room full of people, lying on the floor in orderly rows.

The man asks, “What are you guys doing?”

A female voice calls out, “We’re ideating.”

Well, we at MAXINE, felt like doing a little “Ideating” of our own when we began to read about Barack Obama and his twenty year association with the Chicago-based Trinity United Church of Christ.

The problem isn’t that this church may/may not have practices or beliefs that many would not consider mainstream – such as have some believers who speak in tongues, or handle snakes, or think that the Devil and Jesus Christ are related in a family way, or do a bunch of faith healings in a tent, or – well you get the idea. The problem starts with what this church tells about ITSELF and what it believes on its website.

Barack Obama (pictured here with TUCC Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.) has put his religion back into the headlines, trumpeting the power and salvation of faith and asking a church audience in South Carolina to help him become “an instrument of God” and join him in creating “a Kingdom right here on Earth." Image Credit: Trinity United Church of Christ/Religion News Service via FOX News

This issue first came to our attention during a morning review of Pajamas Media through this excerpted posting –

Obama’s Creepy, Race-Obsessed Church
By Burt Prelutsky - Pajamas Media – 1/12/2007

Introduction from PJM
A leading Democratic candidate for president attends an “Afrocentric” church that bestows awards on Louis Farrakhan and practically defines itself through race-baiting. Burt Prelutsky asks, why isn’t Barack Obama’s faith-based problem making national headlines and the nightly news?

One of the obvious differences between Democrats and Republicans is the role that religion plays in their presidential campaigns. For instance, every Democrat, while pretending to believe that “separation of church and state” actually appears somewhere in the Constitution, must also insist that religion plays an essential role in his or her life.

----
What’s more, when questioning these people, the liberal media kindly limits itself to a yes or no question regarding the existence of God.
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Why is it, I wonder, that nobody is asking Barack Obama about his religious convictions? From what I’ve gathered, they’re far more fascinating than Mitt Romney’s.
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The vision statement of the TUCC is based upon something called the systematized liberation theology that began in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, “Black Power and Black Theology.” Dr. Cone believes that black Christians should not follow the “White Church,” as it had failed to support them in their struggle for equal rights in America. I suspect that most white Christians would disagree.

Trinity United boasts that it is a congregation “Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian.” What’s more, “it is a congregation with a non-negotiable commitment to Africa. We are an African people, and remain true to our native land, the mother continent, the cradle of civilization.”

Its pastor, Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., has referred to “white arrogance” and “the United States of Whiter America.” To my ears, that sounds unashamedly black, but I’m not so sure about the unapologetically Christian.

Furthermore, Rev. Wright’s church publishes a magazine, The Trumpet. Not too surprisingly, all things considered, the recipient of the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Trumpeter Award for Social Justice was none other than Louis Farrakhan, the fellow who plays the race card even better than he plays his violin.
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That being said, I have no idea how a member of a black church that apparently feels it owes greater allegiance to Africa than to America and that pays homage to a bigot like Farrakhan, has the gall to present himself as the one candidate who can bring us all together.
Reference Here>>

Of course we had to do some investigation of our own, and sure enough this “Ideating” stuff can get really interesting.

Again, Barack Obama states that he has been an active member of this church for the last twenty years.

The website of the Trinity United Church of Christ has several revealing and disturbing written postings that need to be read in context in order to see what all of the fuss is about.

Trinity United Church of Christ sanctuary. Image Credit: TUCC

This from the TUCC website –

Trinity United Church of Christ


We are a congregation which is Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization.

God has superintended our pilgrimage through the days of slavery, the days of segregation, and the long night of racism. It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a Black worship service and ministries which address the Black Community.

The Pastor as well as the membership of Trinity United Church of Christ is committed to a 10-point Vision:

1. A congregation committed to ADORATION.

2. A congregation preaching SALVATION.

3. A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.

4. A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.

5. A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.

6. A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.

7. A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.

8. A congregation committed to LIBERATION.

9. A congregation committed to RESTORATION.

10. A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY
.
Reference Here>>

Image from YouTube video of The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan receiving from Obama's pastor, Dr. Wright Jr., the "Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright,Jr. Lifetime Achievement Trumpeteer" Award for Social Justice at the 2007 Trumpet Gala held on November 2, 2007 - Hyatt Regency Chicago - Video Credit: TRINITYCHGO - TUCC

Talking Points

Dr. Wright’s talking points (3.1.7)
[3/1/2007] for Trinity United Church of Christ its Web site and the Black Value System (in response to Erik Rush’s comments (2.28.07) on the Hannity and Colmes show):

• One of the biggest gaps in knowledge that causes the kind of ignorance that you hear spouted by this man [Erik Rush] and those like him, has to do with the fact that these persons are completely ignorant when it comes to the Black religious tradition. The vision statement of Trinity United Church of Christ is based upon the systematized liberation theology that started in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, Black Power and Black Theology.

• Black theology is one of the many theologies in the Americas that became popular during the liberation theology movement. They include Hispanic theology, Native American theology, Asian theology and Womanist theology.

• I use the word “systematized” because Black liberation theology was in existence long before Dr. Cone’s book. It originates in the days of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. It was systematized and published by theologians, Old Testament scholars, New Testament scholars, ethicists, church historians, and historians of religion such as Dr. James Cone, Dr. Cain Hope Felder, Dr. Gayraud Wilmore, Dr. Jacqueline Grant, Dr. Kelley Brown Douglas, Dr. Renita Weems, Dr. Katie Cannon, Dr. Dwight Hopkins, Dr. Linda Thomas, and Dr. Randall Bailey.

• These scholars, who write in various disciplines, also include seminary presidents like Dr. John Kinney and professors of Hebrew Bible, like Dr. Jerome Ross. Black liberation theology defines Africans and African Americans as subjects – not the objects which colonizers and oppressors have consistently defined “others” as.

• We [African Americans] were always seen as objects. When we started defining ourselves, it scared those who try to control others by naming them and defining them for them; Oppressors do not like “others” defining themselves.

• To have a church whose theological perspective starts from the vantage point of Black liberation theology being its center, is not to say that African or African American people are superior to any one else.

African-centered thought, unlike Eurocentrism, does not assume superiority and look at everyone else as being inferior.

There is more than one center from which to view the world. In the words of Dr. Janice Hale, “Difference does not mean deficience.” It is from this vantage point that Black liberation theology speaks.

• Systematized Black liberation theology is 40 years old. Scholars of African and African American religious history show that Black liberation theology, however, has been in existence for 400 years. It is found in the songs, the sermons, the testimonies and the oral literature of Africans throughout the Diaspora.
Reference Here>>

“IDEa … what?”, The man at the door asks the workgroup lying on the floor, on mats, while having their necks supported with custom travel pillows. Image Credit: IBM via Mikntosh3001

And last but not the least -

THE BLACK VALUE SYSTEM


Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the Black Value System, written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee, chaired by the late Vallmer Jordan in 1981.

Dr. Manford Byrd, our brother in Christ, withstood the ravage of being denied his earned ascension to the number one position in the Chicago School System. His dedication to the pursuit of excellence, despite systematic denials, has inspired the congregation of Trinity United Church of Christ. Prayerfully, we have called upon the wisdom of all past generations of suffering Blacks for guidance in fashioning an instrument of Black self-determination, the Black Value System.

Beginning in 1982, an annual Black Value System – Educational Scholarship in the name of Dr. Byrd was instituted. The first recipient of the Dr. Manford Byrd Award, which is given annually to the man or woman who best exemplifies the Black Value System, was our brother, Dr. Manford Byrd.

These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They consist of the following concepts:

1) Commitment to God. “The God of our weary years” will give us the strength to give up prayerful passivism and become Black Christian Activists, soldiers for Black freedom and the dignity of all humankind.

2) Commitment to the Black Community. The highest level of achievement for any Black person must be a contribution of strength and continuity of the Black Community

3) Commitment to the Black Family. The Black family circle must generate strength, stability and love, despite the uncertainty of externals, because these characteristics are required if the developing person is to withstand warping by our racist competitive society.

Those Blacks who are blessed with membership in a strong family unit must reach out and expand that blessing to the less fortunate.

4) Dedication to the Pursuit of Education. We must forswear anti-intellectualism. Continued survival demands that each Black person be developed to the utmost of his/her mental potential despite the inadequacies of the formal education process. “Real education” fosters understanding of ourselves as well as every aspect of our environment. Also, it develops within us the ability to fashion concepts and tools for better utilization of our resources, and more effective solutions to our problems. Since the majority of Blacks have been denied such learning, Black Education must include elements that produce high school graduates with marketable skills, a trade or qualifications for apprenticeships, or proper preparation for college.

Basic education for all Blacks should include Mathematics, Science, Logic, General Semantics, Participative Politics, Economics and Finance, and the Care and Nurture of Black minds.

5) Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence. To the extent that we individually reach for, even strain for excellence, we increase, geometrically, the value and resourcefulness of the Black Community. We must recognize the relativity of one’s best; this year’s best can be bettered next year. Such is the language of growth and development. We must seek to excel in every endeavor.

6) Adherence to the Black Work Ethic. “It is becoming harder to find qualified people to work in Chicago.” Whether this is true or not, it represents one of the many reasons given by businesses and industries for deserting the Chicago area. We must realize that a location with good facilities, adequate transportation and a reputation for producing skilled workers will attract industry. We are in competition with other cities, states and nations for jobs. High productivity must be a goal of the Black workforce.

7) Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect. To accomplish anything worthwhile requires self-discipline. We must be a community of self-disciplined persons if we are to actualize and utilize our own human resources, instead of perpetually submitting to exploitation by others. Self-discipline, coupled with a respect for self, will enable each of us to be an instrument of Black Progress and a model for Black Youth.

8) Disavowal of the Pursuit of “Middleclassness.” Classic methodology on control of captives teaches that captors must be able to identify the “talented tenth” of those subjugated, especially those who show promise of providing the kind of leadership that might threaten the captor’s control.

Those so identified are separated from the rest of the people by:

** Killing them off directly, and/or fostering a social system that encourages them to kill off one another.

** Placing them in concentration camps, and/or structuring an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons.

** Seducing them into a socioeconomic class system which, while training them to earn more dollars, hypnotizes them into believing they are better than others and teaches them to think in terms of “we” and “they” instead of “us.”

** So, while it is permissible to chase “middleclassness” with all our might, we must avoid the third separation method – the psychological entrapment of Black “middleclassness.” If we avoid this snare, we will also diminish our “voluntary” contributions to methods A and B. And more importantly, Black people no longer will be deprived of their birthright: the leadership, resourcefulness and example of their own talented persons.

9) Pledge to Make the Fruits of All Developing and Acquired Skills Available to the Black Community.

10) Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions.

11)
Pledge Allegiance to All Black Leadership Who Espouse and Embrace the Black Value System.

12) Personal Commitment to Embracement of the Black Value System. To measure the worth and validity of all activity in terms of positive contributions to the general welfare of the Black Community and the Advancement of Black People towards freedom.
Reference Here>>

Not at all as Carter's Second Term White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs put it - President Barack Obama is a "committed, mainstream Christian." All pretty biased and somewhat inflammatory stuff if what we are seeking here is a mainstream Christian culture based on Christian values.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Obama Administration - Green Agenda Push Raises Aviation Safety And Security Vulnerability

Wind turbine farms give fits to air traffic control radar. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Obama Administration - Green Agenda Push Raises Aviation Safety And Security Vulnerability

Funny thing about priorities ... they always have a way of pointing out why the simple approach became the simple approach in the first place.

The Obama Administration, picking up and carrying majority of the water for the (largely socialist) Green Movement through its energy policy, highlights just WHY petroleum based products have become so widely used and continue to be the popular choice for power in the face of other proven alternatives.

The new Chevrolet (not Chevy, ever) Volt ... at only 40 miles per several hour recharge (receptacle shown above) and a list price of around $40,000 dollars ... is poised to place additional strains on an already taxed power grid with little positive benefit. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Take the creation of electricity for the general grid used for powering our homes, streetlights, and if you listen to what one United States Government owned automobile company has to say - automobiles like the Volt, for example. Many years have been invested into wind turbine technology to the point that it has become an economically viable contributor to the electric power that fuels the grid but as more turbine farms pop-up, incited by incentives provided by the Federal Government, an unintended problem is making itself clear.

Wind turbine farms, when located near military facilities, impair security and safety. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Wind turbine farms make the radar systems that keep our aviation traffic informed and secure in the skies above completely compromised. That's right, radar systems become confused when wind turbine blades begin to turn enmasse because the radar signal that returns reads or present themselves in many disturbing ways - heavy storm activity and blackout zones where air traffic and its control disappear completely from the radar screen.



This excerpted and edited from The New York Times -

Wind Turbine Projects Run Into Resistance
By LEORA BROYDO VESTEL - NYT - Published: August 26, 2010

The United States military has found a new menace hiding here in the vast emptiness of the Mojave Desert in California: wind turbines.

The wind turbines pose an unacceptable risk to training, testing and national security in certain regions, Dr. Dorothy Robyn, deputy under secretary of defense, recently told a House Armed Services subcommittee.

Because of its concerns, the Defense Department has emerged as a formidable opponent of wind projects in direct conflict with another branch of the federal government, the Energy Department, which is spending billions of dollars on wind projects as part of President Obama’s broader effort to promote renewable energy.

“I call it the train wreck of the 2000s,” said Gary Seifert, who has been studying the radar-wind energy clash at the Idaho National Laboratory, an Energy Department research facility. “The train wreck is the competing resources for two national needs: energy security and national security.”
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Collisions between the industry and the military have occurred in the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon-Washington border and in the Great Lakes region. But the conflicts now appear to be most frequent in the Mojave, where the Air Force, Navy and Army control 20,000 square miles of airspace and associated land in California and Nevada that they use for bomb tests; low-altitude, high-speed air maneuvers; and radar testing and development.
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The military says that the thousands of existing turbines in the gusty Tehachapi Mountains, to the west of the R-2508 military complex in the Mojave Desert, have already limited its abilities to test airborne radar used for target detection in F/A-18s and other aircraft.

“We cannot test in certain directions because of the presence of wind turbines in the Tehachapi area,” said Tony Parisi, the complex’s sustainability officer. “Our concern is construction in other areas will further limit where we can do this kind of testing.”
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As a result of the military’s opposition, Horizon Wind Energy recently withdrew three project applications in the area. AES Wind Generation said it found out in May, after nine years of planning, that the military had objections to its proposal to build a 82.5-megawatt, 33-turbine wind farm.
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The impact of wind turbines on radar had been a back-burner concern for years, but it heated up in March, when the Defense Department put a last-minute halt to the $2 billion, 338-turbine Shepherds Flat wind project in Oregon out of concern the turbines would impair the effectiveness of long-range surveillance radar.
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Eliminating turbine clutter on radar is complicated. Part of the challenge is that many radar systems in use in the United States date back to the 1950s and have outdated processing capabilities — in some cases, less than those of a modern laptop computer. While there are technology fixes to ease interference on these aging systems, it can be tricky to filter out just the turbines.

On radar, “a wind turbine can look like a 747 on final approach,” said Peter Drake, technical director at Raytheon, a major provider of radar systems. “We don’t want to have the software eliminate a real 747.”
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Mr. Debenham just wants his three individual turbines to win approval. The concerns of the local military have been directed to Washington for review. In the meantime, millions of dollars in financing and renewable energy incentives are, well, twisting in the wind.

“I’m in limbo. My customers are in limbo,” he said. “Can you tell anyone in Obama’s office?”
Reference Here>>

The fact is, and there's plenty of evidence over these last 19 months in office to suggest, no one can tell anyone in Obama's office - or even Back Obama himself - ANYTHING! This crowd is hell bent on placing this country into a full-steam ahead position on every idealistic political agenda they hold no matter how simple the solution or how damaging the alternatives may be.

The Obama Administration is the "Ruling Class" and that is just tough for those who, or what, may be injured from their view and lack of representation of the citizens who supposedly own (Country Class) this country ... remember "by the people, and for the people?"