According to Glenn Thrush at the Politico:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing back on GOP charges that she knew about waterboarding for years and did nothing.

Pelosi says she was briefed by Bush administration officials on the legal justification for using waterboarding — but that they never followed through on promises to inform her when they actually began using “enhanced” interrogation techniques

So she says she got the legal justification, but they never told her they were actually going through with water boarding.

Well that’s a bit inconsistent with this 2007 Washington Post article:

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA’s overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.

“The briefer was specifically asked if the methods were tough enough,” said a U.S. official who witnessed the exchange.

Way back in 2002, when Nancy Pelosi was actually rooting for us to win the war, she was happy for us to be water boarding terrorists. But in 2006, when she wa more interested in winning back Congress for the Democrats than the U.S. actually winning a war, she decided to throw under the bus all the people who kept us safe.

Recirculating this today for those who might have missed it.

We’ve talked a lot about getting the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy together down in Georgia — either in Macon where I am or an hour north in Atlanta. The interest has been considerable. I’m still not fully sure it is doable, but I imagine that even if a few of us want to meet at a watering hole somewhere, it would be fun to get to know you guys in person.

So, with that in mind, the time frame we discussed was end of July to beginning of August. Which weekend works best for you:

Saturday, July 25th
Saturday, August 1st
Saturday, August 8th

I had embedded a poll, but until Neil can figure out why the code keeps getting stripped, leave your preference in the comments — and yes, it needs to be one of those three weekends. “I can’t make any of those, but September 26th would be awesome,” type responses will be ignored.

I fired up the charcoal grill to eat some delicious meat and . . . oh . . . I breathed, thereby expelling carbon dioxide into the air to contribute to global warming.

That reminds me, now that the Obama administration has decided to regulate CO₂ does that mean we’re going to have to apply to the government to procreate since every new baby is a CO₂ emitter? I’m sure most of the Obamanation would have no problem implementing a force abortion policy like China. I mean, heck, this is the President who supports infanticide.

Consider this an evening open thread.

With a hat tip to my friend David, we know now how Barack Obama intends to turn the Census into a political quagmire without pulling it into the White House. See this from the Washington Times.

President Obama is losing a member of his press shop just shy of his first 100 days in office.

Ellen Moran, White House communications director, will become chief of staff for Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

Mr. Obama issued a statement through the press office commending her service thus far.

The Commerce Department ostensibly controls the census and keeps politics out of it. However, Ellen Moran is a far left radical. She’s the former ED of Emily’s list, worked for DNC, DCCC, and AFL-CIO. Her resume is straight out of left-wing activism, not communications.

Putting a loyal lieutenant standing behind Gary Locke is the perfect way to ensure the Census makes up inaccurate numbers to better help the Democrats in the coming census.

We’ve talked a lot about getting the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy together down in Georgia — either in Macon where I am or an hour north in Atlanta. The interest has been considerable. I’m still not fully sure it is doable, but I imagine that even if a few of us want to meet at a watering hole somewhere, it would be fun to get to know you guys in person.

So, with that in mind, the time frame we discussed was end of July to beginning of August. Which weekend works best for you:

Saturday, July 25th
Saturday, August 1st
Saturday, August 8th

I had embedded a poll, but until Neil can figure out why the code keeps getting stripped, leave your preference in the comments — and yes, it needs to be one of those three weekends. “I can’t make any of those, but September 26th would be awesome,” type responses will be ignored.

I’m not a fan of John McCain. I was not a fan of his campaign for President. I think he tends to be a bully. But in the grand scheme of things, John McCain does not throw his own party under the bus as much as some of his colleagues in the Republican Conference.

2010 is going to be a tough year for Republicans to rebuild in the Senate. One seat shy of a filibuster proof Senate, we cannot afford losses and need resources to make gains.

I know there are a lot of people who think the GOP is no better than the Democrats. That’s fine. But they are full of crap and they should know it, though most of them don’t. And that is not an audience I’m writing for.

There is a difference and we should always work to refine our side to make the contrast with the Democrats better. But given the limited resources we have facing us heading into 2010, there is only so much we can do.

Given the choice between opposing John McCain with Chris Simcox in a primary or opposing Arlen Specter with Pat Toomey, I think our money is much better spent beating Arlen Specter.

We only have so much money, so many volunteers, etc. that we can put on the battlefield. And i believe, looking at the demographics of both Arizona and Pennsylvania, it is far, far more likely that Pat Toomey could win a general election than Chris Simcox.

It is also a no brainer that in a limited field, we need to pick off the worse of our side, not the guy who is mostly with us, but feels like poison ivy — we can cover ourselves in caladryl dealing with McCain. With Specter, we need to toss him because preparation-H only does so much.

So don’t expect RedState to get on the Chris Simcox bandwagon. I don’t have the energy to chase that rabbit down a losing hole.

I’m very interested in the number of Republican funders in Georgia all of a sudden getting calls from former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes asking if they might support him in 2010. The calls were happening before Cagle dropped out, but seem to have escalated given the number of people telling me about recent calls all of a sudden.

And some surprising names at that — ballsy Roy and surprising, but not actually as surprising as the number of these guys seriously entertaining your offer.

The GOP just might be surprisingly well and truly screwed in 2010.

Let me say this without reservation, despite the left-wing assault when I twittered it: I do not doubt that more Americans will die at the hands of terrorists under the watch of Barack Obama than under the watch of George W. Bush.

Back on January 8th, I wrote

General Michael Hayden and John O. Brennan are career guys. They are not partisans. I could not tell you if either one was a Republican or Democrat or even if they voted.

They are professionals. But because they are connected to the Bush administration and the War on Terror, Obama is throwing them out.

These are the men who have kept us safe and alive for eight years. It was not Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld forcing policy positions on the intelligence community. It was the intelligence community making recommendations that were embraced by Cheney, Rumsfeld, and ultimately the President.

In Barack Obama’s rush to release memos outlining the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the Bush administration upon recommendation by the intelligence community and approval by the Department of Justice on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others, the Obama administration has curiously refused to release two key details: (1) that the enhanced interrogation techniques were highly effective at revealing crucial, life-saving intelligence and (2) that the techniques were only approved after the events of September 11, 2001.

They want us to know that the Bush administration implemented interrogation techniques Barack Obama disapproves of, the people who allowed those techniques might be subject to prosecution, but will not reveal what data was gathered or the justification for the techniques.

Why? Because the American people might realize just how effective and the enhanced interrogation techniques were. For example, water boarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed revealed enough data to prevent a second wave attack against Los Angeles, California.

Read More →

Barack Obama has nominated Mercedes Marquez to be Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Will Republican Senators ask her about the following:

The Los Angeles Housing Department has paid thousands of dollars to a Zen Buddhist priest from Hawaii for management training that includes teaching breathing with sphincter control, learning “how to stand” and playing with wooden sticks.

Who hired the Zen Buddhist priest? Mercedes Marquez. Marquez was willing to pay Norma Wong, a former legislator from Hawaii, $18,819.00 for the sessions.

Another attendee described how executives were asked to encircle Marquez with their backs to her while holding their sticks, saying they were instructed to imagine that they were shielding their boss from opposing forces such as City Council members or other departments.

According to a letter written by a Los Angeles County Housing Department employee obtained by RedState, “Mercedes hired Norma and after the training was paid for Mercedes became a Priestess. After the next training, Mercedes was elevanted to High Priestess. The whole purpose of the Zen training was to elevate Mercedes’ stature in the Buddhist Temple. After a half hour, the building management sent security guards out to the parking lot to stop the spectacle.”

But more so than the Zen training, there are some serious concerned raised by a former employee that need addressing.

Read More →

Today, hundreds of thousands of people showed up all across the country to protest. They were not protesting Barack Obama — though he was a focal point. They were protesting policies put in place by both Republicans and Democrats that see to make people slaves to government.

The media does not get the tea parties. Some of them are very tempted to buy into the astroturf allegation, wholly forgetting what an astroturf campaign is. As a reminder: an astroturf campaign is one generated surreptitiously by monied interests seeking to advocate a position under the veneer of grassroots sentiment. The key here is that the monied interests start the process.

Nothing could be further from the truth here. While groups like Americans for Prosperity, Freedom Works, American Solutions, etc. saw a good thing and sought to latch on, they did not start them. These groups were organized across the nation by activists who are sick and tired of being sick and tired at out of control government.

Abraham Lincoln said that what makes America great is that every man can make himself. If Barack Obama is successful, that will no longer be the case. Government would, if Obama and the Democrats are successful, make our lives for us.

That is why people protested. People want their freedom first. And they cannot have it if government forces dependence on them or government forces them to work just to keep up with the mounting debt.

Without freedom, we can have nothing else. And with an $11 trillion deficit and growing, freedom is in short supply.

The tea party protests, however, are frankly meaningless. Showing up to protest does nothing. You and I can put meaning into these protests by harnessing the day’s energies for real change — throwing the bums out and restoring freedom in a free market.

Just got off the phone with Roy Blunt. He was calling about the Department of Homeland Security report and called it “stupid.”

He said he is pretty offended by it and we “cannot let the government get away without paying a price in public opinion,” which, he said, is really about all the Obama administration cares about right now.

He said Missouri made the same mistake claiming that Ron Paul and Bob Barr supporters, among others, needed to be monitored. Then, he said, “the feds have now madd the same stupid mistake.”

Missouri’s Governor, like the Obama administration, tried to blame the outgoing Republican administration in Missouri, but just as Congressman Blunt’s son noted, neither he nor George Bush would ever have let something like that get out of government.

This is all the Obama administration.

“People protesting taxing and spending is offensive to taxers and spenders. But it is really outrageous that the taxers and spenders would put people on a watch list because they want to restrain government spending,” Congressman Blunt said.

I totally agree and hope we continuously remind people that the Obama administration believes that people who want the government to operate within the parameters of the constitution are considered extremists.

I’ll be speaking at the Macon, GA tea party at noon today, then driving up to Atlanta to speak at the Atlanta tea party tonight. Then I’ll be on Hannity at 9:30 p.m. Then my wife and I are hopping a flight to Austin, TX where I’ll be speaking at MavPAC. See you around.

Consider this an open thread.

Two years ago this April 19th, Harry Reid declared the war in Iraq “lost.”

“Now I believe, myself, that the secretary of state, the secretary of defense and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows: that this war is lost, that the surge is not accomplishing anything,” Reid, D-Nev., told reporters.

Reid was utterly wrong and has never retracted his remarks. In fact, his remarks were heralded by the Islamofascists we fight and were greeted negatively by the American soldiers and sailors who were and are winning on and off the battlefield in Iraq.

But we should remind Harry Reid of this anniversary. I would encourage each and everyone one of you to send Harry Reid an anniversary card, reminding him of the day, two years ago, he threw our military under the bus for political expedience.

His address is:

Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard
South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101

Hat tip to Jed Babbin for reminding me and egging me on.

Today Barack Obama took to the New Testament when talking about the bleak economic outlook his policies are helping create. Obama said, “There is a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells the story of two men. The first built his house on a pile of sand, and it was soon destroyed when the storm hit. But the second is known as the wise man, for when “…the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house…it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” It was founded upon a rock.”

In fact, the title of the White House blog post is “The House Upon A Rock.” There’s just one problem. That “rock” Christ was talking about is Himself. In fact, while the King James Version of the Bible uses the phrase “a rock”, a more accurate rendering, which other versions of the Bible get right is “the rock.” Here’s the story in Christ’s own words:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

The “rock” is Christ and the Word. The “sand” is this reality — the one where Barack Obama is the secular messiah.

Barack Obama can claim to be a transformative leader. He can even steal Christ’s own words and repackage them for his own purposes. But he will fail. His policies will fail.

Read More →

Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio has gotten a lot of people excited by a potential Senate run. Young, dynamic, and undeniably conservative, Rubio has left a few people hanging by having an exploratory committee. He did not throw himself into the campaign altogether.

Well, let me be the first to report good news: Rubio is all in. No, the campaign has not been willing to confirm it, but my sources are impeccable. Marco Rubio will run for the United States Senate regardless of what Charlie Crist or anyone else does.

Thank God! Rubio is an awesome alternative to Barack Obama’s favorite Republican a/k/a Governor Crist.

Crist will rely on cross-over votes from Democrats to try to get the nomination, which all the more reason Republicans need to rally behind Rubio.

And Rubio is already having great fundraising successes. You might want to give him some cash too.

I hope the guys at Draft Marco Rubio are happy.

This is not surprising, but it is disappointing.

Look, the NRSC does what it has to do. But when I give money to an organization, I want to know it is going to my types of candidates. So I am bypassing the NRSC. Instead, I choose to give to the National Conservative Campaign Fund.

You will not see it spend money to help people like Arlen Specter. It will instead help conservatives run races — even in primaries against other Republicans.

You can learn more at the NCCF’s website. I’ve also started a Facebook group to support the organization.

Barack Obama did not bow from the waist when he met Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith, Duchess of Edinburgh, Countess of Merioneth, Baroness Greenwich, Duke of Lancaster, Lord of Mann, Duke of Normandy, Sovereign of the Order of Canada, Sovereign of the Order of Australia, Sovereign of the Order of New Zealand, Sovereign of the Order of Barbados, Sovereign of the Order of Valour, Sovereign of the Order of Military Merit, Sovereign of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, Sovereign of the Queen’s Service Order, Sovereign of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of St. Andrew, Sovereign of the Order of Logohu, Sovereign of the Order of the Star of Melanesia, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Sovereign of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, Sovereign of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Sovereign of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order, Sovereign of the Imperial Service Order, Sovereign of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, Sovereign of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, Sovereign of the Order of British India, Sovereign of the Indian Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of Burma, Sovereign of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, Sovereign of the Royal Family Order of King Edward VII, Sovereign of the Order of Mercy, Sovereign of the Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, Sovereign of the Royal Victorian Order, Sovereign of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

Barack Obama did bow when he met King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Commander of the Saudi National Guard, Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council, President of the High Council for Petroleum and Minerals, President of the King Abdulaziz Centre for National Dialogue, Chairman of the Council of Civil Service and Head of the Military Service Council.

In the video he clearly bowed, and bowed from the waist.

The White House says he just stooped down because the King is a short man. Elizabeth II is actually shorter than King Abdullah.

But because the White House said this, the media and the left would rather believe Obama than their own, apparently lying, eyes.

Put it to you this way, were it George Bush and he tried to say he did not bow when he clearly did, the left would speculate that he was back on booze or using coke. Either Barack Obama did bow and is now lying, or he — the guy who admitted using drugs — was tripping and thought he saw a leprechaun.

Barack Obama Bowed to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, but not to the Defender of the Christian Faith.

The 22nd amendment restricts Presidents to two terms in office.

If Republicans had ever introduced legislation to repeal the 22nd Amendment, the media and the Democrats would go absolutely nuts. Even without repealing it, many of the online left predicted George Bush would never surrender power to Barack Obama.

And yet, a proposed amendment to repeal the 22nd Amendment has been introduced into Congress. It’s just that it was done so by a Democrat, Jose Serrano.

Consider this an open thread.

This is un-freakin’-believable. Holy cow.

NPR interviews Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) about the Congressional Black Caucus’s visit to Cuba. Brown’s comments have gotten little play and, in fact, what should have been the money quote is totally ignored by NPR.

At the 2 minute mark in the interview, the reporter Melissa Block asks, “Well, Congressman, you well know that supporters of current Cuba policy, supporters of the embargo, say if you lift sanctions you are going to just aid and justify a repressive regime, you are going to kill any hope of democracy – that regime will just use more resources to become more oppressive than it already is.”

Cleaver: “Well, the world operates at its best when there’s diversity. Every nation does not need to be like the United States. And, frankly, we already have ties to diplomatic nations. And, frankly, if there is repression in Cuba we didn’t see it.”

Block points out that Cleaver did not meet with any Cuban dissidents at all during the entire trip. Cleaver’s response was that “it’s not going to be helpful for us to throw our fingers in the face of the Cuban leadership while we’re saying to them dialogue is possible.”

What makes this more disgusting is that Emanuel Cleaver sits on the Senior Advisory Committee of the National Democratic Institute. On February 10, 2006, then Chairman of the NDI, Madeline K. Albright, sent out a letter which began as follows:

As Chairman of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), I am writing to seek your support for peaceful democratic activists in Cuba. This March will mark the third anniversary of the “Cuban Spring,” when 75 independent journalists, human rights activists and independent trade union members were summarily tried and condemned to prison terms of up to 28 years, solely for seeking the basic freedoms that the Cuban government has long denied them.

Among those that continue to suffer under harsh prison conditions are 45 organizers of the Varela Project, a grassroots movement that draws on a provision in the Cuban constitution that enables citizens to introduce legislation when accompanied by 10,000 signatures. Despite the Cuban government’s illegal rejection and repression of the project, organizers have managed to collect and submit more than 25,000 signatures to the Cuban National Assembly calling for a referendum on establishing a free society with open elections, freedom of speech and assembly, and freedom for political prisoners.

Emanuel sits on the Senior Advisory Committee of an organization that recognizes Cuba lacks “basic freedoms” for its citizens and thinks Cuba “does not need to be like the United States”. He willfully closes his eyes to that which he already knows, telling NPR, “if there is repression in Cuba we didn’t see it.”

The most pertinent question is this: does Emanuel Cleaver think the United States needs to be like the United States?

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.

And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.

This day came ye out in the month Abib.

And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.

Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.

Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.

And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.

Exodus 13:1-10 (KJV)