Politics
5/9/2012 | Politics
North Carolina: 61% vote for biblical marriage
Associated Press
Associated Press video buttonRALEIGH, NC - North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, becoming the latest state to effectively slam the door shut on same-sex "marriages."
With most of the precincts reporting Tuesday, unofficial returns showed the amendment passing with about 61 percent of the vote to 39 percent against. North Carolina is the 30th state to adopt such a ban on "gay marriage."
5/1/2012 | Politics, Presidential Issues
New Obama slogan has long ties to Marxism, socialism
The Washington Times
The Obama campaign apparently didn't look backwards into history when selecting its new campaign slogan, "Forward" — a word with a long and rich association with European Marxism.
Many Communist and radical publications and entities throughout the 19th and 20th centuries had the name "Forward!" or its foreign cognates. Wikipedia has an entire section called "Forward (generic name of socialist publications)."
"The name Forward carries a special meaning in socialist political terminology. It has been frequently used as a name for socialist, communist and other left-wing newspapers and publications," the online encyclopedia explains.
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2/9/2012 | Politics
Occupy D.C. to Protest 'Dastardly Politicians' at Conservative Gathering in Washington
CNS News
The Occupy D.C. movement -- what's left of it, after police routed its rat-infested McPherson Square encampment last weekend -- plans to protest a "who's who of dastardly politicians" at the a major conservative gathering later this week.
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is holding its annual gathering Feb. 9-11 at a Washington hotel. Republican luminaries expected to speak include presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum and former presidential hopefuls Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain. Sarah Palin will deliver the keynote address.
10/28/2011 | Law, Politics
Tea Party to Mayor: Make ‘Occupy Richmond’ Pay Up
CBS Washington
The Richmond Tea Party is accusing Mayor Dwight Jones of taking a soft stance against the “Occupy Richmond” protesters and is demanding that the group pay up.
After nearly three weeks of protests and overnight stays in Kanawha Plaza, the Richmond Tea Party is about to send Jones a bill for about $8,000 on the basis that “Occupy Richmond” has been using the area illegally and for free.
Richmond Tea Party spokeswoman Colleen Owens told CBS Washington that the protesters have been given special treatment and free reign of the park and have not had to comply with the strict liability and security provisions that the city required of a Tea Party Tax Day in 2009.
9/14/2011 | Homosexuality, Politics, Pro-Family
Upset Win: Republican Takes Weiner’s Seat GOP upset win in NY portends challenge for Obama
Associated Press
It sounded improbable on the surface that a New York City congressional district where Democrats have a 3-1 registration edge and have held office for nearly a century could even come close to electing a Republican to the U.S. House.
But voter frustration over the sour economy and President Barack Obama's policies made the improbable a reality, as a Republican political novice, Bob Turner, scored an upset victory in a special election Tuesday over David Weprin, a Democratic assemblyman from a prominent local political family.
The surprising results in the Brooklyn and Queens-area district portend a perilous national environment for Obama as he prepares to seek re-election next year.
Turner said as much when he stepped before cameras to claim victory Tuesday night.
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7/1/2011 | Character and Ethics, Governmental Control, Healthcare, Politics
Citing Evidence They Call 'Contradictory' to Kagan's Confirmation Testimony, 49 Lawmakers Call for Judiciary Committee Investigation
CNS News
Forty-nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives--including the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, the chairman of the Republican Policy Committee and two presidential candidates--are pointing to evidence they say is "contradictory" to Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's confirmation testimony and calling for the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the matter.
The lawmakers also say they believe that evidence already made public shows that Kagan must recuse herself from any court cases involving the health care bill signed into law by President Barack Obama while she was serving as Obama's solicitor general.
"We respectfully call upon the House Judiciary Committee to promptly investigate the extent to which U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was involved in preparing a legal defense of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) during her tenure as Solicitor General," the 49 lawmakers wrote in a letter to Rep. Lamar Smith (R.-Texas), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Rep. John Conyers (D.-Mich.), the ranking member of the committee.
"Contradictory to her 2010 confirmation testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently released Department of Justice (DOJ) documents indicate that Justice Kagan actively participated with her Obama Administration colleagues in formulating a defense of PPACA," the letter said.
The letter pointed to documents released by the Justice Department as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request that was filed by CNSNews.com on May 25, 2010 and that is now the subject of a federal court case pitting the Media Research Center--CNSNews.com's parent organization--and the U.S. Justice Department, which is asking a federal judge to block any further release of documents sought under the FOIA request.
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3/10/2011 | Politics, Radical Islam, Terrorism
Anti-American propaganda is 'real news,' huh?
OneNewsNow
Speaking recently before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lauded the pro-Arab network Al-Jazeera while criticizing U.S. broadcasters.
While defending her department budget before a committee of lawmakers, Clinton said Al-Jazeera is gaining more stature in the U.S. because it offers -- what she called -- "real news." Speaking on C-SPAN, she said:
"In fact viewership of al-Jazeera is going up in the United States because it's real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you're getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners."
Dan Gainor is vice president of business and culture at the Media Research Center.
"She's frustrated that they're out there doing a better job of propaganda, apparently, than the United States is doing," he remarks. "[Did] you hear what she cites? She cites specifically 'state news networks' that propagandize against the United States. And so then she, of course, says Al-Jazeera, that's what people watch. Well, of course -- it's the pro-terrorist network and it's got a lot of attention around the globe."
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2/10/2011 | Foreign Policy, Politics
Egypt's govt resists mounting pressure for change
Reuters
Egypt's government resisted growing pressure on Thursday from key ally the United States and from a still energetic popular protest movement, both demanding radical and immediate political change.
Concern in the business community and the wider population about the economic impact of more than two weeks of disruption is adding to strains facing the cabinet appointed 10 days ago by President Hosni Mubarak to try to stave off the unprecedented challenge to his 30 years of one-man rule.
An outbreak of strikes by Egyptian workers, emboldened by the anti-government protests across the Arab world's most populous nation, is compounding the challenge to Mubarak.
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11/22/2010 | Politics
Gallup Poll: Tea Party support grows; USA divided
USA Today - Washington, D.C.
Just about as many Americans want Tea Party-backed members of Congress to take the lead in setting policy during the next year as choose President Obama, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds. In a survey taken Friday through Sunday, 28% say Obama should have the most influence on government policy next year while 27% say the Tea Party standard-bearers should. GOP congressional leaders are chosen by 23%, Democratic congressional leaders by 16%. The results reflect the strength of the Tea Party movement as the GOP prepares to take control of the House of Representatives in January.
10/25/2010 | Politics
Cities Weigh Letting Noncitizens Vote
Fox News
Like his neighbors, Claude Rwaganje pays taxes on his income and taxes on his cars. His children have gone to Portland's public schools. He's interested in the workings of Maine's largest city, which he has called home for 13 years.
There's one vital difference, though: Rwaganje isn't a U.S. citizen and isn't allowed to vote on those taxes or on school issues. That may soon change.
Portland residents will vote Nov. 2 on a proposal to give legal residents who are not U.S. citizens the right to vote in local elections, joining places like San Francisco and Chicago that have already loosened the rules or are considering it.
Noncitizens hold down jobs, pay taxes, own businesses, volunteer in the community and serve in the military, and it's only fair they be allowed to vote, Rwaganje said.
7/20/2010 | Governmental Control, Politics
Effort to bypass Electoral College gains momentum
One News Now
An author and political analyst reports an effort is afoot by well-funded liberal activists to effectively get rid of the Electoral College in its present form, without having to use the constitutional amendment process.
A group called National Popular Vote (NPV) is pushing state legislatures to enter into a compact that calls for them to allocate their electoral votes in a particular presidential election to the candidate who gets the most votes nationwide rather than to the contender who gets the most votes in their state. NPV argues that the legislation "would reform the Electoral College so that the electoral vote reflects the choice of the nation's voters" for president.
However, Tara Ross, author of Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College, cautions that under such a plan, the 11 largest states -- with a total of 271 electoral votes -- could band together and elect the president.
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6/10/2010 | Politics
Women 'refashioning' GOP
OneNewsNow
A mainstream women's organization that supports the principles of economic liberty, personal responsibility, and political freedom says Tuesday night's primary was a big night for conservative women.
California Republicans picked two highly successful businesswomen on Tuesday to represent the GOP in November. Carly Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, will challenge three-term Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer in the fall, and Republican Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, will run for governor against former Democratic Governor Jerry Brown.
"I think it was a big night for conservative women," comments Sabrina Schaeffer, senior fellow at the Independent Women's Forum (IWF). "These are all candidates who campaigned on a return to limited government, lowering taxes, and increasing individual freedom, and I think that's really the token to take away from the victories."
5/19/2010 | Character and Ethics, Politics
Primary Election Results Reflect Anti-Washington, Anti-Establishment Mood
Associated Press
With the electorate's intense anger reverberating across the country, this is all but certain: It's an anti-Washington, anti-establishment year. And candidates with ties to either better beware.
Any doubt about just how toxic the political environment is for congressional incumbents and candidates hand-picked by national Republican and Democratic leaders disappeared late Tuesday, when voters fired Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, forced Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln into a run-off in Arkansas and chose tea party darling Rand Paul to be the GOP nominee in Kentucky's Senate race.
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1/28/2010 | Politics, Presidential Issues
Obama Touted His Administration’s Anti-Lobbying Pledge, Even Though He’s Violated It
CNS News
In his State of the Union address Wednesday night, President Barack Obama returned to his campaign themes of ethics and transparency, touting his administration as an example of one that is setting new standards.
“That’s what I came to Washington to do,” Obama told a joint session of Congress and the nation Wednesday night. “That’s why – for the first time in history – my administration posts our White House visitors online. And that’s why we’ve excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions.”
However, the Obama administration has come under scrutiny for violating that pledge. The Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-check Web site PolitiFact was quick to call Obama out regarding lobbyists.
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6/19/2009 | Gun Control, Politics
Republican: Will Sotomayor represent 'all of us'?
Associated Press
A GOP senator said Thursday he will use hearings on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court to ask whether she intends to be a justice "for all of us, or just for some of us." With the Judiciary Committee set to open hearings July 13, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Sotomayor must explain whether she believes in colorblind justice in light of a 2001 speech in which she said she hoped a "wise Latina" usually would reach better decisions than a white man without similar life experiences. Cornyn's comments came as Republicans step gingerly in the debate over President Barack Obama's first high court nominee. Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the court.
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6/17/2009 | Iran, Politics
Iran protests "interventionist" U.S. statements
Reuters
Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests in Tehran, on Wednesday to protest at "interventionist" U.S. statements on the country's June 12 election, Fars News Agency reported. The Foreign Ministry communicated Iran's "protest and displeasure" over statements by U.S. government officials about the outcome of the presidential vote, Fars said.
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6/16/2009 | Politics, Iran
Iran Protester Slain
Associated Press
Gunfire from a pro-government militia killed one man and wounded several others Monday after hundreds of thousands of chanting opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marched in central Tehran to support their pro-reform leader in his first public appearance since disputed elections. The outpouring in Azadi, or Freedom, Square for reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi followed a decision by Iran's most powerful figure for an investigation into the vote-rigging allegations. Security forces watched quietly, with shields and batons at their sides. But A group of demonstrators with fuel canisters set a small fire at a compound of a volunteer militia linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard as the crowd dispersed from the square. As some tried to storm the building, people on the roof could be seen firing directly at the demonstrators at the northern edge of the square, away from the heart of the rally.
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4/23/2009 | Politics, Governmental Control, Economy
Obama’s leap to socialism
The Hill
President Obama showed his hand this week when The New York Times wrote that he is considering converting the stock the government owns in our country’s banks from preferred stock, which it now holds, to common stock. This seemingly insignificant change is momentous. It means that the federal government will control all of the major banks and financial institutions in the nation. It means socialism. When the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) intervention was first outlined by the Bush administration, it did not call for any transfer of stock, of any sort, to the government. The Democrats demanded, as a price for their support, that the taxpayers “get something back” for the money they were lending to the banks. House Republicans, wise to what was going on, rejected the administration’s proposal and sought, instead, to provide insurance to banks, rather than outright cash. Their plan would, of course, not involve any transfer of stock. But Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) undercut his own party’s conservatives and went along with the Democratic plan, ensuring its passage. But to avoid the issue of a potential for government control of the banks, everybody agreed that the stock the feds would take back in return for their money would be preferred stock, not common stock. “Preferred” means that these stockholders get the first crack at dividends, but only common stockholders can actually vote on company management or policy. Now, by changing this fundamental element of the TARP plan, Obama will give Washington a voting majority among the common stockholders of these banks and other financial institutions. The almost 500 companies receiving TARP money will be, in effect, run by Washington. And whoever controls the banks controls the credit and, therefore, the economy. That’s called socialism. Obama is dressing up the idea of the switch to common stock by noting that the conversion would provide the banks with capital they could use without a further taxpayer appropriation. While this is true, it flies in the face of the fact that an increasing number of big banks and brokerage houses are clamoring to give back the TARP money. Goldman-Sachs, for example, wants to buy back its freedom, as do many banks. Even AIG is selling off assets to dig its way out from under federal control. The reason, of course, is that company executives do not like the restrictions on executive pay and compensation that come with TARP money. It is for this reason that Chrysler Motors refused TARP funds.
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4/7/2009 | Economy, Politics
The G20 moves the world a step closer to a global currency
Telegraph.co.uk
A single clause in Point 19 of the communiqué issued by the G20 leaders amounts to revolution in the global financial order. "We have agreed to support a general SDR allocation which will inject $250bn (£170bn) into the world economy and increase global liquidity," it said. SDRs are Special Drawing Rights, a synthetic paper currency issued by the International Monetary Fund that has lain dormant for half a century. It has been a good summit for the IMF. Its fighting fund for crises is to be tripled overnight to $750bn. This is real money. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director, said in February that the world was "already in Depression" and risked a slide into social disorder and military conflict unless political leaders resorted to massive stimulus. He has not won everything he wanted. The spending plan was fudged. While Gordon Brown talked of $5 trillion in global stimulus by 2010, this is mostly made up of packages already under way. But Mr Strauss-Kahn at least has resources fit for his own task. He will need them. The IMF is already bailing out Pakistan, Iceland, Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia, Bosnia and Romania. This week Mexico became the first G20 state to ask for help. It has secured a precautionary credit line of $47bn.
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4/7/2009 | Foreign Policy, Politics
Obama Says U.S. Poised for New Chapter of Engagement
In a humble finish to his first foreign trip, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that despite its flaws and imperfections the U.S. is poised for a "new chapter in American engagement" with Muslims and the rest of the world. President Barack Obama speaks during a student roundtable discussion at the Tophane Cultural Centre in Istanbul, Turkey. Addressing college students in Turkey's largest city, Mr. Obama rejected the stereotype that America is selfish and crass. "I'm here to tell you that's not the country I know and not the country I love," the president said. "America, like every other nation, has made mistakes and has its flaws, but for more than two centuries it has strived" to seek a more perfect union. Mr. Obama made those opening remarks before taking questions, telling students he would keep the session short because of the Muslim call to prayer. Mr. Obama repeated his pledge to rebuild relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world. "I am personally committed to a new chapter in American engagement," he said. "We can't afford to talk past one another and focus only on our differences, or to let the walls of mistrust go up around us." The Turkish stop capped an eight-day European trip that senior adviser David Axelrod called "enormously productive," including an economic crisis summit in London and a NATO conclave in France and Germany. ... Mr. Obama told the college students he sees nothing wrong with setting his sights high on goals such as mending relations with Iran and eliminating the world of nuclear options -- two cornerstone issues of his trip.
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