President's dismissal of "phony scandals" reveals his blatant arrogance toward Americans

Since taking office, President Obama’s arrogance, bypassing of Congress, and blatant disregard for both the Constitution and our God-given rights as citizens makes him anything but the kind of leader America deserves. Add to this the intensifying scandals surrounding his presidency and one can’t help but question if he is even fit to hold office.

This was underscored the other day when, rather than acknowledge these scandals in any meaningful way, he downplayed them and even used them against his opponents, accusing Republicans of focusing on "an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals."

Does he really think the scandals are phony? For instance, instead of responsibly addressing the disgusting cover-up surrounding the Benghazi terror attacks which resulted in the murder of four Americans, Obama wants to pretend it doesn’t exist.

Instead of clearly denouncing the IRS scandal, in which the IRS itself admitted to targeting conservative groups and denying their applications to form non-profit groups, Obama downplays and even minimizes the efforts of those trying to bring this abuse of power to light.

Instead of showing an ounce of interest in getting to the bottom of the Fast and Furious issue, in which our own government gave guns to illegal drug cartels in Mexico, which were then used to murder Americans, Obama scoffs at it as though “those silly Republicans are just at it again” trying to cause trouble for the President.

Instead of remotely respecting our religious freedoms of conscience, Obama is backing the HHS mandate which literally forces citizens to choose between violating their faith or violating the law – a clearly unconstitutional choice

And too often it seems that whenever Obama addresses these issues, it is never with an iota of humility, warmth or genuine concern, but rather with blatant, mocking derision that he speaks to us about these things.

This is not leadership. This is a dereliction of duty underscored by the kind of arrogance one only sees in dictators. Yet so many in this country who don’t take the time to keep themselves informed continue to give Obama a pass because he “seems like a nice guy.” Really? In what world is this kind of behavior nice?

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President's comments about Catholic schools border on threatening

President Barack Obama said during his visit to Northern Ireland this week that Catholic schools are a form of division.

To a Belfast audience Obama  said, "If towns remain divided, if Catholics have their schools and buildings, and Protestants have theirs, if we can't see ourselves in one another, if fear or resentment are allowed to harden, that encourages division. It discourages cooperation."

Obama clearly denies - or is probably just unaware of -- the very significant role that religious education — especially Catholic education — has played in ending the strife in Northern Ireland, in particular the role of Catholic educators in helping to raise new generations in Ireland who recognize the importance of cooperation and peace. That's something that should be praised, not denounced.

But the threatening gauntlet has been laid. It just remains to be seen how long it will be before Obama starts spewing his rhetoric here that American Catholic schools are divisivse, a.k.a. intolerant, prejudiced, bigoted...and ultimately outlawed.  And I wonder how many of Obama's blind followers will buy into his rhetoric and start believing and repeating the nonsense that Catholic schools are somehow a bad thing and should be shut down. Inflammatory rhetoric is a powerful tool, and if Obama starts spreading his views in America, Catholic schools here could be in trouble.

We can still hope the president will keep his own intolerance - and destructive agenda - to himself and let the rest of us live our God-given, consitutional rights. We can also hope he'll stop making such foolish comments when representing our country overseas.

The writing, however, is on the wall of what this man is all about. He is not an organizer. He is not one who unites people. In fact, he is more divisive than any president we've ever had and he is certainly more divisive than a Catholic school (which permits people of all faith - or even no faith - by the way). Obama is nothing more than a flame-thrower, and a destroyer of rights, traditions and individualism. But he certainly is effectively doing what he set out to do: transform America from the leader of the world to something less and less recognizable every day.

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Senate votes to move forward on disastrous immigration bill

From the Heritage Foundation...

[The Senate voted yesterday to move forward on the Gang of Eight’s immigration plan—which would grant amnesty  to 11 million illegal immigrants, and cost us trillions of dollars to boot.

Insanity is often defined as doing the same thing over and over yet expecting a different result. As Heritage’s David Inserra points out, “Instead of new ideas, the current bill is essentially just recycling the flawed and failed ideas of the past.”

Once amnesty is granted it can never be taken away. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) took to the Senate floor yesterday to outline several reasons why we may be asking for trouble on this amnesty proposal.

"With this bill, the American people are being sold a product. They’re being asked to accept legalization. And in exchange, they’d be assured through this legislation that the laws are going to be enforced."

But this “product” contains all sorts of hidden agendas and faulty promises, with no guarantees that the promises will come true once the amnesty is in place.

“The Obama Administration has pushed the envelope by waiving welfare laws,” Grassley reminded the Senate, so why should we assume the Administration wouldn’t do it again? “The reality check for the American people is that there are loopholes and the potential for public benefits to go to those who are legalized under the bill.”

The danger of putting too many things in one bill is that you end up having to pass it to see what's in it. But we know one thing: Amnesty for illegal immigrants is the first order of business.

We've tried it before and it didn’t work. This is the wrong way to address a serious issue with trillions in taxpayer dollars at stake. ]

Please help spread the word about what the Senate is doing. This is not a "solution" our country can afford. Perhaps if the government would enforce the laws already on the books that they refuse to enforce, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.

Media more concerned with baby seals than baby humans

After frantic calls last Saturday about a distressed harbor seal pup that was struggling against the surf with its umbilical cord still attached, the three-day-old pup was rescued off Long Island in NY and taken to a marine mammal hospital where it has been cared for and even given a name.

The story is getting a lot of attention because of the emotions evoked by this poor, struggling, abandoned baby seal. Major news outlets have covered the story, including ABC, NBC and the like. After all, it's a huge story: a baby seal was struggling for life.

It's a shame news outlets don't see fit to give the same attention to the human babies struggling for life at the hands of abortionists across America, like Kermit Gosnell, who witnesses testified left a baby "flailing about in a toilet trying to get out" after surviving the abortion attempt Gosnell made on his life.

But then again, in our current culture, human babies aren't on the same level as baby harbor seals. Unlike humans who survive the womb in an abortion attempt and are subject to whatever the nearest adult deems fit, harbor seals are protected under federal law, and it is unlawful to approach, feed or handle them in any way that may harm them. Similar federal protections are extended to things like turtle eggs.

Human lives, however, apparently aren't so worthy. Those helpless, defenseless human babies in the womb are on their own. And you can be certain the media won't cover the story of any child who loses his life during abortion or at the hands of a doctor after surviving the attempted abortion. I guess you'd have to be a seal to warrant that kind of media concern and attention.

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Boy Scouts forfeit rights to appease radical homosexuals

The Boy Scouts of America  (BSA) caved to pressure last week and voted to allow openly gay youths to join the organization. People from all over are celebrating the decision, including some Christians. What the celebrants don't realize though is that the loser in this is America (and ultimately her citizens), because another nail in our country's coffin has just been pounded in.

People are calling this a victory because the BSA's decision purportedly reflects the inclusion and diversity that our country is supposed to represent. Our country does reflect those values, arguably more so than any country on earth. But our country is also supposed to represent freedom. The freedom of association. The freedom of assembly. The freedom of religion.

Pressuring private groups to associate with those who don't reflect their own values - in this case those who practice the sin of homosexuality - is not American. In fact, it is actually denying the rights guaranteed by our Constitution. The BSA - and any private group - has the right to define its membership standards. But somewhere along the line the BSA decided that homosexuals' demands are more important than a private group's freedom to assemble as it sees fit.

Not surprisingly, homosexual activists said the BSA decision is a start, but that it doesn't go far enough. They want the BSA to allow openly gay Boy Scout leaders, too. And of course, the BSA will have to, because how will it justify allowing a youth to join despite his homosexuality, and then deny that same person the right to become a leader because of his homosexuality? The BSA has backed itself into a corner and is now forced to lie in the bed it has made.

Those applauding the BSA decision because "inclusivity is the Christian thing to do" -- as some are saying -- are missing the point. Christians are absolutely called to love the sinner, but reject the sin. The Bible tells Christians homosexuality is a sin. As believers, the Christian thing to do is to lead people away from sin, not encourage a sinful lifestyle in the politically correct, misleading name of inclusion. And forcing people to deny their beliefs in the name of inclusivity is not a loving, Christian thing to do in itself.

The BSA oath pledges fidelity to God, an oath steeped in principles with which many Christians can identify, which may be why so many Christians have historically been drawn to the Boy Scouts of America. That homosexuality is seen as a sin by many Christians, and that the BSA up until now denied membership to those who openly embrace homosexuality, could be seen as based on religious-based principles. That radical homosexuals would force themselves on the BSA in the name of fairness and inclusivity effectively labels religion, by extension, as non-inclusive and non-fair.

Think of the precedent set here by that. The BSA has agreed that certain Christian-based ethics must take a back seat to the sinful lifestyle of homosexuality, as if Christianity itself is in the wrong. How long before every institution will be pressured to forfeit its beliefs to the activists? In fact, how long before they are forced to by law?

Why the sexuality of children should even be brought into play in the first place, by the way, is beyond me. It's just another sign of how far our culture has fallen. The BSA will probably lose membership and financial support because of its decision to play into the hands of this fallen culture, and it deserves to. Had it stood up to the homosexuals it may have lost funding from some corporate and private sponsors, but I firmly believe it would have made up the difference from a resurgent base of support from those who would have appreciated the BSA standing its ground.

Instead one more American institution has fallen by the wayside because, blinded by the glaring light of political correctness, it lost sight of its rights as a private group to assemble freely. As for the homosexuals who are clamoring for tolerance, it would be nice if they practiced some tolerance of their own and allow private citizens to live and let live. After all, nobody is preventing homosexuals from forming their own groups that exclude heterosexuals if they so desire. And to those who will undoubtedly say this issue is about hating homosexuals, I simply say, try again. Wanting to uphold biblical principles and beliefs is not hateful. Accusing someone falsely of hate for the sake of advancing an agenda is what seems hateful.

This issue is not about hate, but about love for and a desire to preserve freedoms for everyone, keeping in mind that forced inclusion is not freedom. We are facing a steadfast encroachment on our freedoms here in America, and unless we protect the freedom of all, then freedom will be lost for all. That is too high a price to pay for the sake of appeasement in the name of political correctness.

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Liberals blame Oklahoma tornado on global warming hoax

While bodies are still being recovered amid thousands of destroyed homes in Moore, Oklahoma, the liberals are taking to heart their mantra about not letting a good crisis go to waste.

As Glenn Thrush of Politico put in a Twitter post shortly after the tornado this week, “It is striking that Oklahoma’s senators are 1) a federal spending skeptic and 2) global warming denier.” And Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor shortly afterward to chastise his Republican colleagues for denying global warming. In fact, he spent 15 minutes mocking those states that seek federal assistance in the wake of natural disasters.

“So, you may have a question for me,” Whitehouse said. “Why do you care? Why do you, Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, care if we Republicans run off the climate cliff like a bunch of proverbial lemmings and disgrace ourselves? I’ll tell you why. We’re stuck in this together. We are stuck in this together. When cyclones tear up Oklahoma and hurricanes swamp Alabama and wildfires scorch Texas, you come to us, the rest of the country, for billions of dollars to recover. And the damage that your polluters and deniers are doing doesn’t just hit Oklahoma and Alabama and Texas. It hits Rhode Island with floods and storms. It hits Oregon with acidified seas, it hits Montana with dying forests. So, like it or not, we’re in this together.”

The only problem with Whitehouse's dramatic posturing is that global warming is not the reason for any of the issues he cited. Even the scientists who were paid lots of money to convince us of global warming exposed in a series of emails a couple years ago that the entire notion of global warming is a hoax.

Yet politicians continue to insist that it's real. They have to, though, because how else can they justify increasing our taxes and controlling our ways of life? And disasters like the Oklahoma tornado or "Hurricane" Sandy (which was not even a category one storm when it hit the shore) are the perfect crises to justify liberal politicians' extremist agenda to oversee everything we do while they travel in their private jets and ride around in their chauffeur-driven SUVs funded by our ever increasing tax dollars.

Besides the fact that hurricane and tornado activity is actually down in comparison to past years, maybe we should look at any such disaster not as a consequence of how we treat the environment, but rather as a reminder that God is ultimately in charge, not us.

No amount of taxes or legislation can ever change that fact, no matter how hard the liberals try to deny it.

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Scandals and denial keep growing on Obama's watch

From the moment then-presidential candidate Barack Obama confessed he felt the Constitution was "out of date", he's proven time and again that the rule of law just doesn't seem to matter. And looking at the growing list of scandals since he's been in office, it seems he has no intention of changing.

From the Fast and Furious supply of U.S. guns to Mexican drug lords which were then used to kill Americans, unconstitutional changes to the Welfare Reform Act, denying citizens' right to practice their religious beliefs and beyond, the list appears to have no end.

For one, we have the cover-up in the deadly attacks on U.S. citizens at our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Not only were requests for more security leading up to the attacks denied, but desperate calls for help during the attacks were turned down by our own government. Still, Obama's administration clung to the pathetic excuse that the attacks were prompted by a stupid YouTube video that purportedly mocked Islam. The creator of that film sits in jail as we speak, while Hilary Clinton is telling us to get over the murders in Benghazi. After all, it was several months ago, she points out.

What she easily sweeps under the rug is the demotion of the military leader who tried to expose the Obama administration's refusal to send aid. Other whistle blowers have received similar scorn by Obama and his ilk. The family members of those murdered, as well as U.S. citizens everywhere, deserve to know why we allowed our own service members and an ambassador to sit in deadly peril while Obama caught a flight to Vegas for a party in his own honor.

Now this week we find that the IRS has been intentionally targeting private citizens because of their political affiliations since at least 2011. It has admitted that it searched applications for tax exemption for words like “Tea Party”, "Constitution" and even “patriot.” Once it found those groups, it made intrusive and unconstitutional inquiries, like requesting their reading lists, donor information, and Facebook posts, and demanded answers “upon penalty of perjury.” The IRS then shared the info they collected with non-government groups, including the George Soros-funded ProPublica. ProPublica then distributed the information to left-leaning (aka mainstream) media outlets who used the information to write stories about the "bigoted, racist, intolerant" right-leaning groups. By the way, in this time period since 2011, every single left-leaning group applying for tax exemption status received it. Over 500 "Tea Party" group applications for tax exemption were denied.

Obama is wagging his finger at the IRS agents guilty of this unconstitutional breach of law, yet seems uncommitted to doing anything about it. Where our president refuses to call for absolute punitive action and denies knowing anything about it, let's hope Congress makes up for it, because we should be very worried when we learn that the Internal Revenue Service, the most feared and powerful of all federal agencies, spies on and harasses conservative organizations with the obvious intention of shutting down their funding so that they can’t speak out against an ever-encroaching federal government. The IRS' actions are putting all our freedoms of association, assembly, expression and speech at stake, making us look increasingly more like a country under Stalin.

Also revealed this week is the unprecedented intrusion of privacy when the Justice Department was caught obtaining records listing outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of Associated Press reporters and various AP offices. In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. Even some Democrats are weighing in on the danger of a government that completely ignores the First Amendment as has been demonstrated by our own Justice Department. But Obama - and his professional lackey Jay Carney - are busy waving this one off as well.

Incredibly, despite these egregious actions under Obama's watch, I am still hearing Obama defenders wave off these serious infractions of law and instead, as always, blame George W. Bush as the author of all things wrong in this country. First of all, that one's getting old to the point of being laughable. But if Obama defenders actually believe Bush should be held accountable for his actions - whatever it is they feel it is Bush did so wrong - then shouldn't they hold Obama to the same standard as president? If it's unacceptable for one president to do something "wrong", then it should be unacceptable for any president to do something wrong. And Obama has clearly overseen so much wrongdoing in our country that it boggles the mind.

So why do liberals continue to give him a pass? One reason is because the media continue to give Obama a pass. The media may be reporting on these incidents, but not in any way I see that condemns Obama for overseeing these infractions. Can you imagine if it were IRS agents under Bush targeting progressive groups for scrutiny? Or if Bush had simply gone to bed upon finding out our consulate in Benghazi was under attack and then headed for Vegas the next day for some fun? The media would have crucified Bush and his detractors would have called for his impeachment over the very things they're giving Obama a pass on. But unless the media tell Obama defenders that his actions are bad, his defenders will go on supporting him no matter how despicable his actions are.

What is happening under Obama's administration is serious and not the place for games. Not only Obama's actions, but the conciliatory dismissal of his actions, are helping to move our country farther and farther away from being a nation of law, and it is the rule of law precisely that has made our nation so great. We need to put blind, media-driven "loyalty politics" aside and we need to do it now before Obama completely squanders our nation's foundation and freedoms.

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