Archive for January 2009
ACORN Gets Money from Neighborhood Stabilization Programs in Stimulus Bill!
Via(Newsmax)
Obama’s Bill Hands ACORN $5.2 Billion Bailout
A rising chorus of GOP leaders are protesting that the blockbuster Democratic stimulus package would provide up to a whopping $5.2 billion for ACORN, the left-leaning nonprofit group under federal investigation for massive voter fraud.
Most of the money is secreted away under an item in the now $836 billion package titled “Neighborhood Stabilization Programs.”
Ordinarily, neighborhood stabilization funds are distributed to local governments. But revised language in the stimulus bill would make the funds available directly to non-profit entities such as ACORN, the low-income housing organization whose pro-Democrat voter-registration activities have been blasted by Republicans. ACORN is cited by some for tipping the scales in the Democrats’ favor in November.
According to Fox news, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., could appear to be a “payoff” for community groups’ partisan political activities in the last election cycle.
“It is of great concern to me,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., tells Newsmax. “I think our government has stayed strong because we’ve had a two-party system, we have had robust debate, people have felt that it was one man-one vote. They are privileged and grateful that they have that ability to cast that vote. And when something is done to belittle or diminish that, it is of great concern to me.”
Regarding ACORN, Blackburn added, “Additional funds going to these organizations that have tried to skew that system, it causes me great concern and I believe that it causes many of my colleagues great concern.”
The three-term congressman stopped short of suggesting the “neighborhood stabilization” money is a power grab by Democrats seeking partisan political advantage. But radio talk giant Rush Limbaugh did not.
Limbaugh warned his listeners Tuesday: “I’ll tell you what’s going on here: We, ladies & gentlemen, we’re funding Obama and the Democrats’ army on the street. We are funding the forces of the Democrat party’s re-election.”
Blackburn echoed the concerns of Republican leaders who object that the bloated package lacks the short-term stimulus a cut in payroll or sales taxes would provide.
According to Matthew Vadum of the Capitol Research Center, the stimulus package now under consideration includes:
- $1 billion stashed away in Community Development Block Grant money that ACORN often vies for successfully.
- $10 million to develop or refurbish low-income housing, a specialty of ACORN’s.
- $4.19 billion to stave off foreclosures via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Vadum states the current version of the bill would allow nonprofits to compete with cities and states for $3.44 billion of the money. Some $750 million, however, would be exclusively reserved for nonprofits such as ACORN, which is actually an umbrella organization for over 100 progressive organizations.
Regarding the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Vadum writes in American Spectator: “Although ACORN operatives usually get their hands on such funds only after they have first passed through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or state and local governments, the new spending bill largely eliminates these dawdling middle men, making it easier to get Uncle Sam’s largess directly into the hands of the same people who run ACORN’s various vote fraud and extortion rackets. And the legislative package provides these funds without the usual prohibition on using government money for lobbying or political activities.”
The charges of partisan political payback appear to be resonating in part due to Obama’s longstanding association with partisan get-out-the-vote operations. He was endorsed by ACORN, and during the campaign paid an ACORN affiliate $832,600 to get-out-the-vote assistance. Early in his career, he led a voter drive for an ACORN-affiliated group called Project Vote.
It’s not the first time ACORN has been entangled in a bailout controversy. In September, House Republicans objected that the original $700 billion bailout package included $100 million for ACORN – a tiny fraction of the sums for ACORN now being considered in the stimulus package.
God Bless, The Truth Tracker Jason R. BootieU.S. Secret Files Sold at Auction!!
Via(Foxnews)
U.S. Consulate Mistakenly Sells Secret Files in Jerusalem
FOX News obtained hundreds of sensitive files mistakenly sold by the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem at a public auction.
EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of files — with social security numbers, bank account numbers and other sensitive U.S. government information — were found in a filing cabinet purchased from the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem through a local auction.
“We couldn’t believe what we found,” said Paula, who purchased the cabinets and asked that her last name not be published. “We thought of calling the American consulate right away, and then we thought, you know they’ll just hide it and say, ‘Oh, we made a mistake.’”
The consulate was unaware of the missing files until FOX News contacted U.S. officials. Initially they said that no filing cabinets were sold in the auction, but later they acknowledged the sale. The State Department has now launched an investigation.
• Click here to see some of the secret documents.
The files contained social security numbers of U.S. Marines and State Department employees stationed in Israel, and documentation of how U.S. government money is allocated to fund sensitive programs in the region. Among the papers was also a report labeled “secret” that documented an encounter a U.S. Marine had with an Israeli woman at a bar in Jerusalem.
Robert Baer, a former CIA agent who spent years working in the Middle East, calls the incident a serious security failure.
“It’s a major breach because the government, at all cost, wants to keep these records out of foreign hands, whether Israeli or any other country,” Baer says. “We spy on Israel; they spy on us. The Marines are vulnerable because they are young, and they are inevitably single. You’re looking at what is called a honey trap. You run a girl into an employee. You actually get him to fall in love and then you get them to break the security clearance and go and steal documents or whatever.”
• Click here to see more on the security breach.
The head of security at the U.S. consulate approached Paula asking for the documents to be returned. When she refused to turn them in the consulate asked Israeli police to intervene. After she was threatened with criminal charges, she returned the files, but not before FOX News had a thorough look at them.
The American consulate in Jerusalem routinely holds furniture auctions to dispose of unwanted items. The woman purchased the cabinets in December of 2005 but decided to come forward with the files after hearing about a Sept. 22, 2008 incident in which a Palestinian teenager crashed a BMW into a group of Israeli soldiers.
Paula, whose son’s unit was the one that was struck by the car, says she was angered when she heard that the car was purchased from an auction held by the consulate.
U.S. officials insist the car was never linked to them. A FOX News investigation also found there was no connection.
Paula, an Israeli who also holds U.S. citizenship, says she wanted to expose the incident because her loyalty is to the state of Israel.
God Bless, The Truth Tracker Jason R. BootieBritain is Warned by Al-Qaeda!!
Via (Homeland Security News)
Al-Qaeda YouTube Warning To Britain
AL-Qaeda last night issued a chilling video threat to Britain — on YouTube.
Rants by key henchmen of Osama bin Laden are accompanied by footage of a black-clad gunman riddling the Union Flag with bullets.
The Stars and Stripes is also peppered — along with Israel’s flag.
Fanatic Abu Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi — a former Guantanamo Bay inmate — vents his fury at the West while fondling an automatic rifle and brandishing a grenade.
The recording was posted on YouTube, which attracts up to 100million visits a day.
It was also downloaded to a number of extremist websites with hundreds of thousands of members.
Analysts said last night the message meant Britain is a revenge target for Israel’s war in Gaza.
Terror expert Chris Dobson warned: “Al-Qaeda is clearly taking aim at Britain. This makes it obvious, if there was any doubt, we rank alongside the US and Israel at the top of their hate list.”
Online terror investigator Neil Doyle added: “There has been a noticeable increase in chatter about attacks at the UK.”
God Bless, The Truth Tracker Jason R. BootiePassengers Can be Frisked!!!!
US Supreme Court says Passenger Stopped for Traffic Violation Can Be Frisked
Washington (AP) - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police officers have leeway to frisk a passenger in a car stopped for a traffic violation even if nothing indicates the passenger has committed a crime or is about to do so.
The court on Monday unanimously overruled an Arizona appeals court that threw out evidence found during such an encounter.
The case involved a 2002 pat-down search of an Eloy, Ariz., man by an Oro Valley police officer, who found a gun and marijuana.
The justices accepted Arizona’s argument that traffic stops are inherently dangerous for police and that pat-downs are permissible when an officer has a reasonable suspicion that the passenger may be armed and dangerous.
The pat-down is allowed if the police “harbor reasonable suspicion that a person subjected to the frisk is armed, and therefore dangerous to the safety of the police and public,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said.
God Bless, The Truth Tracker Jason R. BootieClose Guantanamo Bay then Reopen Alcatraz!!!
Pelosi Shrugs off Alcatraz as Possible Terror Detention Facility
Republicans opposing an Obama administration order to close Guantanamo Bay prison facility within a year suggest sending terror detainees to House Speaker Pelosi’s district.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday shrugged off Republican suggestions that the federal government reopen Alcatraz prison in her San Francisco district to house detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
President Obama this week signed an executive order calling for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo within the year. Republican Rep. Bill Young then suggested to White House counsel Greg Craig that the prisoners who could not be released back to their home countries or sent to a third country be put up in “the Rock,” the famous military installation and prison that closed down in 1963 and is now part of the National Park Service.
Asked whether that was a serious proposal, Pelosi said, “It is — no.”
“Perhaps he’s not visited Alcatraz,” Pelosi said of Young while displaying little sense of humor. “Alcatraz is a tourist attraction. It’s a prison that is now sort of like a — it’s a national park.”
That explanation didn’t stop House Minority Leader John Boehner from repeating the suggestion on Sunday, making that point that closing down Guantanamo by year’s end may not be the best plan considering the recidivism rate of terrorist detainees is about 12 percent.
“If liberals believe they ought to go, maybe we ought to open Alcatraz,” Boehner, R-Ohio, told NBC “Meet the Press.” Being reminded that Alcatraz is a national park, Boehner responded, “It’s very secure.”
The argument is just the latest iteration in an ongoing dispute over what to do with the remaining 245 enemy combatants who were to be tried in military commissions until a stay was ordered by the president last week in one of his first official acts.
Boehner said the promise to close Guantanamo by year’s end is impractical.
“Unilaterally saying it without knowing how were going to deal with them…keeps a campaign promise, but may be irresponsible,” he said.
But Pelosi called the plan to use the next year to review the case of each detainee is “brilliant.”
“What the president put forth was very wise. He said he’s going to close Guantanamo, take the time to do it. You can’t just go down there today and say, ‘Everybody out,’ and lock the door. They’re going to review the cases, narrow it down and then go from there. … It’s brilliant,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Vice President Biden, speaking on CBS’ ”Face the Nation,” said the prison must be closed because the symbolism of Guantanamo around the world has resulted in the growth of terrorist organizations, not their reduction.
“There’s no question it has to be closed. And we don’t think it’s inconsistent to deal with our national security and our Constitution. … That’s why we have the White House counsel — Mr. Craig is now going through this meticulously, deciding what we’re going to do with each and every prisoner,” he said.
Biden added that if the detainees went through the civilian court system and were somehow released, they still would not be sent out into the United States because all but one is an American citizen
“If they are not a U.S. citizen or if they are not here legally, then, even if they were released by a federal judge, they would not be able to stay here in the United States. They would be sent back to their country of origin. They would not stay here,” Biden said.
“They have no legal status to stay here, I don’t anticipate that happening. What I anticipate happening is that those people who are in a situation where it is either the evidence is in question or it’s going to be hard to make a case, we will most likely be rendering them back to their countries of origin or another country,” he continued, adding that some countries have already agreed to establish prison facilities for the detainees.
God Bless, The Truth Tracker Jason R. BootieMiss America 2009 Singing Via Delorosa!
A great blog about Miss Indiana in the talent competition of the Miss America 2009 Pageant Via (OneAngryman.com)
Then they called up Miss Indiana in the talent competition.
She is a 22-year-old University of Indianapolis student that battled a throat infection and laryngitis throughout the week. Katie Stam walked to the microphone with her proud parents looking on and sang Via Doloroso the way of suffering.
Video here:
