Obama supports Chavez ally

The Obama administration has reached a deal to bring the no-good Marxist Manuel Zelaya back to power in Honduras.

Some Honduran political and business leaders have argued that the military coup that ousted Mr. Zelaya on June 28 was a legal response to his attempts to rewrite the Constitution and seek re-election. But that constituency was also concerned by his deepening alliance with Venezuela’s leftist president, Hugo Chávez.

It was not a military coup. Zelaya had violated the Honduras constitution by taking steps to retain power beyond his elected term, and he was lawfully removed by the legislature and the court in Honduras. Why is Obama helping an America-hating democracy-hating leftist regain power?

Scozzafava bows out of NY 23 race

Republican Dede Scozzafava announced Saturday that she is suspending her campaign in the Nov. 3 House special election in New York, a dramatic development that increases the GOP's chances of winning the contentious and closely-watched race.

"In recent days, polls have indicated that my chances of winning this election are not as strong as we would like them to be. The reality that I've come to accept is that in today's political arena, you must be able to back up your message with money—and as I've been outspent on both sides, I've been unable to effectively address many of the charges that have been made about my record,” she said in a statement.

“It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so. I am and have always been a proud Republican.”

Her decision came as a Siena Research Institute poll released Saturday confirmed that her support has all but collapsed over the last month. In her statement, Scozzafava acknowledged that while her name will continue to appear on the ballot, “victory is unlikely.”

The Siena poll showed Democrat Bill Owens holding a razor-thin lead over Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, 36 percent to 35 percent.

Scozzafava trailed far behind at 20 percent, with 9 percent of voters still undecided.
Read more here.

Eagle Forum takes to the radio for Hoffman

"Barack Obama's Socialist agenda is bankrupting America. Can he be stopped? That's a question that north country and Central New York will answer on Election Day - because the only way to stop Obama is to elect someone who will stand up to him. And that's Doug Hoffman.

Read article, and listen to radio spot here

Preschool Promises Don't Add UP

The political momentum behind establishing preschool programs is tremendous, but existing programs and proposals are both ineffective and very expensive. Preschool can provide small short-term gains for low-income children who don't have two parents in the home, but these gains fade very quickly and become insignificant even in later primary grades. There simply is little evidence to support the belief that large-scale government preschool programs can do the job of improving long-term student outcomes.

Nevertheless, many states have already instituted pre-Kindergarten programs, and many or are committed to doing so. 38 states now fund preschool for more than a million children. More than 30 governors have called for additional preschool funding. Oklahoma, Georgia and Florida now offer preschool for all four-year-olds; Illinois, New York and West Virginia have multi-year plans to eventually offer preschool for all four-year-olds; and California, New Jersey and Kansas have targeted preschool initiatives for low-income children. President Obama has declared his intention to "give all Americans a complete and competitive education from the cradle up through a career," and is about to spend $5 billion on these projects.

Since there are so many preschool programs already in use, why don't we see good results, better test scores as the kids who have had preschool advantages move along in school, and higher graduation rates? The answer is, we don't. The good results that some brag about are very limited high-cost programs that involved intensive individualized education and social intervention from infancy through age five, often including home visitations in addition to preschool, something that is not practical for very many children.

I suggest that parents skip preschool and teach their children to read at home using my First Reader system.

Audio version of this commentary.

Harrycare Buckles to Government Option

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced yesterday that his “Harrycare” bill will include a government option. Looking a great deal like a man who can see the end of his political career looming over the horizon, Reid buckled to the far left ideologues in the White House and his caucus to go over the political cliff.

“We intend to include it [a government option] in the bill that will be submitted to the Senate,” Reid said at the presser. “We’ve spent countless hours over the past few days in consultation with Senators who’ve shown and share a desire to reform the health care system, and I believe there is a strong consensus to move forward in this direction.”

Oops, thought this was about reforming “insurance” not the “health care system,” Sen. Reid. Must be a misspeak after all those long hours.

Reid also said his bill will include an “opt out” at the state level which is a façade. Can individuals “opt out” of the penalties and the mandatory coverage? Can individuals “opt out” of paying for government-run health care for everyone else in the country in the form of higher premiums, higher taxes, and Medicare cuts? Can small business owners “opt out” of the higher payroll taxes?

Who decides what a state does? The legislature? The governor? A state referendum? It’s not clear. Also unclear is what exactly happens in Reid’s “opt out” scenario between passage and the drop dead of 2014 for the state “opt out” date, if you’ll pardon the unfortunate juxtaposition.

Reid also said yesterday that he was sending, “… within the next few hours, to CBO…[a] proposal that we’re sending to them for scoring will make us a step closer to achieving a bill this year that lowers costs, preserves choice, creates competition and improves quality of care.”
Read more here.

Democrat senators exempt home states from Baucus healthcare bill

Senate Democrats, who think healthcare "reform" is so important that we shouldn't take time to read the legislation, are now scurrying to exempt their home states from its costly provisions. In a Wall Street Journal article last Thursday, Kimberly Stassel described the situation:

A central feature of the Baucus bill is the vast expansion of state Medicaid programs. This is necessary, we are told, to cover more of the nation's uninsured. The provision has angered governors, since the federal government will cover only part of the expansion and stick fiscally strapped states with an additional $37 billion in costs.

Majority Leader, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has cut a deal to exempt Nevada from these costs for the next five years. Generous Mr. Reid saw to it that Oregon, Rhode Island and Michigan got the same exclusion, using a formula known only to the Nevada Senator, because "they are suffering more than most."

Sure.

It has nothing to do with Reid's tough battle to retain his seat in the upcoming election cycle. Can't imagine what he got from those other states. Prime real estate? Or maybe just cover.

Read more here.

Feminists Keep Fighting the Same Battles

After Harvard University absorbed Radcliffe College and became coed, Radcliffe was left with valuable buildings in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a pile of left-over funds. The feminists took over the building and money, called it the Radcliffe Institute, and began functioning as a headquarters for feminist ideology, hosting feminist speakers and graduate students who want to study feminism. The Radcliffe Institute publishes a glossy quarterly magazine promoting feminism.

The most recent issue of the Radcliffe Quarterly features an article about Susan Faludi, who made her name as a feminist author with a book called Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. Faludi just completed a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute where she has been working on a new book about why the feminist movement has such trouble sustaining itself from one generation to the next. Faludi described how she attended a mother-daughter feminist event intended to celebrate the passing of the mantle from the older to the younger generation. Faludi found that the older women complained they were sick and tired of being swept into the dustbin of history, and the younger women complained that the older women should relinquish the stage and get out of their way, so they all kept fighting the same battles over and over again. Faludi discovered that most women don't want to call themselves feminists.

If they had asked me why the feminist movement cannot sustain itself from one generation to the next, I would say it's because feminism is based on the silly notion that men are their enemies and that American women are the victims of an oppressive patriarchal society. This ideology makes women bitter and unhappy. In fact, there are no legal or institutional obstacles to women's success in America today, so the feminists continue to cry about women once not having the right to vote, a problem that was solved so long ago that I don't know anybody who can remember those years.

Audio version of this commentary.

ACLU Wants to Ban Abstinence Education

California's sex education standards call for public school students to learn about sex and sexually transmitted diseases beginning in the 5th grade. They learn about condoms and other contraceptives beginning in the 7th grade, as well as other sex ed topics. No public school student in California hears an abstinence only message in public school Now the American Civil Liberties Union (the ACLU) is working to prevent students from hearing anything about abstinence until marriage, even in the context of a so-called comprehensive sex education curriculum. The ACLU has targeted Free to Be, a group that has sent speakers into about 30 middle and high schools in Sonoma County schools for the past 17 years. The group's presenters talk to students about the benefits of abstaining from sex until marriage. They teach that "a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity" and that "sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects."

The ACLU claims that it is illegal for speakers to present that message in California public schools. After threats from the ACLU, the Sonoma County Office of Education told the county's 40 school districts that this group is no longer allowed to present its message to students. The ACLU claims that this group called Free to Be violates state law by not teaching students about contraceptives.

This controversy is not yet resolved and may find its way into the courts. If it does, there are many students and parents who are ready to speak up about the positive effects of abstinence education, but here is no telling what the judges will decide.

Listen to the Audio version of this commentary.

The Attack on Our Standard of Living

The American standard of living is the envy of the world. We live in a country of single-family dwellings, with electricity and indoor plumbing, which are heated in the winter and cooled in the summer. And we all have automobiles that can take us anywhere we want to go. This style of living is unknown in most of the world. Much of the world lacks even clean water and sanitation. But President Obama wants to take away our standard of living. Listen to his own words, and I quote: "We can't drive our SUVs, and eat whatever we want, and keep our homes at 72 [degrees] all the time, ... and keep consuming 25% of the world's resources (with) [when we have] just 4% of the world's population, and expect the rest of the world to say, 'You just go ahead. We'll be fine.' ... That's not going to happen." Obama admitted that this goal is to scale back Americans' consumption, including driving big cars and using air conditioning.

Our answer is, why not? There is no reason why Americans should feel guilty about our success. We in America established a system of government and a free-enterprise economy that produced our high standard of living. If the rest of the world wants to enjoy those same goodies, they can copy our system and build their own country and their economy.

Obama's plan is to use his power of government to change our system, and a major part of this plan is his Cap and Trade bill already passed by the House and now awaiting action in the Senate. Under this bill, every business involved in carbon emissions would be required to buy permits from the government, which would impose huge costs on the economy, change America into a socialist state, and dramatically reduce our standard of living.

Don’t Let the UN Raise Our Children

Tomorrow, some people will be celebrating United Nations Day. I'm going to celebrate today by urging the U.S. Senate never to ratify the UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child. Old UNratified treaties never die. They remain in the bottom drawer of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee so that globalists can resurrect them later. Back in 1995, President Bill Clinton signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, but the U.S. Senate never ratified it. “Convention” is the UN word that means treaty. Our friend, Senator Jesse Helms, kept this bad treaty locked up in the bottom drawer for many years, but now we no longer have Jesse Helms to protect us against the globalists who want to push America into world government, so we must be on the alert to see that the Senate does NOT ratify any UN treaties.

The UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child would give a whole list of so-called rights to children. Let me tell you about some of its ridiculous provisions. Suppose your tell your child to turn off the television and do his homework. Your child can respond: No! I now have my UN right to get information of all kinds through the “media of [my] choice” and from “international sources.” If you try to stop your child from sassing you at the dinner table, he can reply: No! I now have now UN right to express my own views “freely in all matters.” If you tell your child to do some household chores, he can refuse, saying: No! I have my UN right to "rest and leisure." If you tell your child to get dressed to go to church with you on Sunday, he can reply: No! I now have my UN right to “freedom of religion” and I’ve decided to join a cult instead of going to your church, and you can’t stop me.

This UN Treaty also sets up a committee of so-called UN “experts” to monitor
compliance with this outrageous attack on parents’ rights to raise their children. Tell your U.S. Senators that they should never ratify the UN Treaty on the Rights of the Child.

Audio version of this commentary.

Illegal Aliens Gain Congressional Representation

We all know that illegal aliens are not supposed to vote; you must be a U.S. citizen to vote in our elections. But there is a devious way that they can have significant influence on the makeup of the new Congress and in the Electoral College. The 2010 census that is now being taken nationwide will count all persons who physically reside in the United States, whether they are legal or illegal. This system will unconstitutionally give some states greater representation in Congress than they should have, and other states will lose the representation they deserve. California, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas will gain clout in Congress because they have many residents who are not U.S. citizens. States that will lose seats in Congress are Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and perhaps also Minnesota and Missouri.

This means that California will have 57 Members in the newly reapportioned U.S. House of Representatives instead of the 48 Congressmen that California ought to have. Texas will have 38 House Members instead of the 34 Texas would be entitled to if illegal aliens were not counted. States that crack down on illegal immigration and try to enforce U.S. immigration laws will be punished with a smaller voice in Congress and in U.S. presidential elections. States that welcome illegal aliens will be rewarded with a bigger voice in Congress and a bigger say in our presidential election.

One of the worrisome aspects of this matter is that ACORN has signed on as an official partner with the U.S. Census Bureau to assist in the census recount by recruiting temporary workers to go door-to-door to count every person. ACORN is working on the census count and is sure to make certain that every illegal alien is counted in the 2010 census. While all the illegal aliens will be counted, it is likely that some 6 million Americans living and working abroad, including religious missionaries, will not be counted.

Audio version of this commentary.

Most powerful octogenarians

Phyllis Schlafly is on Slate's list of the 80 most influential Americans over the age of 80.

Traditional History Courses in Decline

The teaching of history in schools and colleges has changed significantly since the 1960s. History courses now deemphasize great people and events, often ridiculing them as DWEMs. That stands for Dead White European Males. Instead, current college courses in history focus on social trends, and there is a lot more attention paid to feelings than to facts. Apparently, professors in the 1960s made a decision that history had ended and was starting over. The number of college history professors has doubled, but the growth has been in newer specialties such as women's or gender history. Most history departments now boast at least one faculty member who concentrates on women's history, and most colleges today have an entire department devoted to women's studies. Some historians in these trendy fields express genuine disdain toward the study of international relations. Traditional students complain that being a young historian today is a lonely experience.

Since college professors write most of the textbooks for high schools, this bypassing of history extends to the high schools. Some principals and teachers openly express contempt for any need to study history. Many public schools start their American history courses with the Civil War, so students never learn about the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, or the U.S. Constitution. One high school principal told one of my friends, "We teach history starting from today and going backwards. So if we don't get to all that dead stuff, it really doesn't matter."

If we fail to teach students about the founding of America, they will never understand why our country has built a land of the greatest liberty and prosperity in the history of the world. Failing to learn what went before would be like driving down the interstate highway without a rear-view mirror. That's not only dumb; it's very unsafe. American students should be taught how we got where we are.

Audio version of this commentary.

All Cookies Aren't Chocolate Chip

Not all cookies are chocolate chip or oatmeal. Some cookies are bits of personal information that spy on your activities. These cookies can be embedded in computers and used to track people who visit certain websites. The Obama Administration has announced that it wants to track people who visit government websites and potentially collect their personal data through imbedded "spy cookies." This kind of spying by the federal government on internet users has been banned since the year 2000, but the White House Office of Management and Budget now wants to lift the ban.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center reports that federal agencies have already negotiated contracts with social networking sites including Google, YouTube, SlideShare, and Facebook, to collect information on visitors to federal web sites. The public has never seen those agreements. The Electronic Privacy Information Center says it obtained documents showing that several federal agencies have negotiated these contracts in violation of existing privacy laws. When White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was recently asked by a Fox News reporter why Americans who had not signed up to receive any emails from the White House are now receiving emails from White House adviser David Axelrod promoting Obama's health care plan, Gibbs refused to answer the question. Many people fear that the Obama Administration is compiling an enemies list of gun owners, pro-lifers, tea-party participants, those opposed to illegal immigration, and those opposed to the Administration's health care plan.

Spy cookies can be used to track, retrieve and report selected movements that anyone makes on the internet. That gives the government the power to create an individual profile, possibly including online purchases, race, gender and income level, of anyone who visits a government website.

Audio version of this commentary.

Courageous Students Express Their Faith

High school students painted religious slogans on their bodies after Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School announced that the cheerleaders could no longer write scripture on motivational signs for the football players.

"I'm just kind of unnerved about it," said 18-year-old Cassandra Cooksey, a recent graduate. "It seems like the majority of people in our community want this and they don't have a problem with it, so I think they should be allowed to have the signs if they want to."

"When you get a whole bunch of teenagers mad, this is what happens. We stand up for what believe in," 16-year-old Shelby Rouse.

See pictures and read full article at ajc.com.

Stimulus Money Pushes Student Databases

President Obama's nearly trillion-dollar Stimulus law passed earlier this year designated $128 billion for education and job training. When the government gives away all that money, it's no surprise that plenty of strings are attached, and the strings are very demanding and specific. Some of the bureaucratic regulations might be considered reasonable, but hidden among them is an ominous requirement that will take our country a giant step closer to national electronic databasing of students, and then probably of all Americans.

Any state that wants to receive education funds must "establish a longitudinal data system that includes the elements described in ... the America COMPETES Act." That law passed a couple of years ago sets out a vision for statewide, longitudinal databasing of "student-level enrollment, demographic, and program participation information" for all students from preschool through postsecondary education. These electronic databases are to contain "yearly test records of individual students," "a teacher identifier system with the ability to match teachers to students," "student-level transcript information, including information on courses completed and grades earned," and "student-level college readiness test scores." The Stimulus law makes this databasing mandatory for all states that receive stimulus money for education.

The ostensible purpose of all this computer entry of specific information is so federal and state governments can "use the data in the system to ... inform education policy and practice in order to better align state academic content standards, and curricula, with the demands of postsecondary education, [and] the 21st century workforce..." Privacy advocates believe that this creation of a database on all students is the sort of thing that totalitarian governments do and should not be allowed done in a free society. It's scary to think of government bureaucrats having control of all that personal information on American citizens.

Audio version of this commentary.

Well Done, Ed Martin!

Eagle Forum congratulates Ed Martin, candidate for MO's 3rd District seat, for raising $201,535 in the 3rd quarter--$40, 000 more than his incumbent opponent Rep. Russ Carnahan.

Over 600 individual contributors, more than twice the individual contributes to Carnahan's campaign in a single quarter, helped reach this record-breaking amount.

While the district has been represented by a democrat over the last 60 years, Rep. Carnahan vote to raise energy prices and support for Obamacare are fueling a movement for real change in the 3rd District.

Great work, Ed!

Taxpayer Spending for College Attendance

President Obama wants everybody to go to college, so he has a new plan to spend taxpayers' money called Graduation Initiative. He wants to increase the number of college graduates by 5 million over the next 12 years by getting Congress to send $12 billion to community colleges all over the country. Obama wants to give $9 billion in grants to community colleges to develop new programs, give them $2.5 billion for construction and renovation, and another $500 million for development of online courses. If Congress passes the President's proposal, the grants will become available early next year.

Congress is also considering legislation that would involve the government even further in the business of handing out student loans directly from the federal government instead of having students apply to private lenders.

Most conservatives are very skeptical that spending more and more taxpayers money on colleges will improve education or help students. We also believe that putting more taxpayers' money into colleges will skyrocket tuition prices for everyone. Some are comparing Obama's college spending proposal with the recent housing bubble and collapse. The government under both the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations pushed people to buy homes they could not afford by giving them tax and mortgage incentives. The purchase of homes that people could not afford was a major cause of our current depression.

The same thing could happen with college loans to students. 18-year-old students will be given excessive loans for college that will saddle them with a huge debt they can never pay off. It's not clear that anyone benefits from this spending of taxpayers' money. Many students are not prepared to do college work, and many more will find that the jobs they may get after graduation are not worth the big debt they incurred.

Audio version of this commentary.

'Gardasil Guards Against Almost Nothing'

Here is an excellent review by Joan Robinson and Steven W. Mosher of a recent lecture by Dr. Diane Harper, the leading international developer of the HPV vaccines.

Joan Robinson reports on how Dr. Harper admits that “There have been no efficacy trials in girls under 15 years” and “If you vaccinate a child, she won’t keep immunity in puberty and you do nothing to prevent cervical cancer.”

Then why put young girls as risk for the adverse side effects from Gardasil?

Robinson research shows that "To date, 15,037 girls have officially reported adverse side effects from Gardasil to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). These adverse effects include Guilliane Barre, lupus, seizures, paralysis, blood clots, brain inflammation and many others. The CDC acknowledges that there have been 44 reported deaths.7"

Dr. Harper admitted on ABC News report that “The rate of serious adverse events is greater than the incidence rate of cervical cancer.”8

Read the entire review titled: Merck Researcher Admits: Gardasil Guards Against Almost Nothing

The Government "Death Book"

The Obama Administration claims that a health care takeover by government won't restrict access to care, but at the same time the health care plan will cost less money. Of course, something has to give. The most likely target for reducing costs is rationing care for old and sick Americans. This is what the government is implying in a government manual that has come to light known as the "Death Book." That's a nickname given to an advice manual published by the Department of Veterans Affairs. It instructs veterans "how to prepare a personalized living will. The manual is officially entitled "Your Life, Your Choices."

On page 21, this Death Book tells a government bureaucrat to read this list of statements to veterans: "I can no longer contribute to my family's well-being," "I am a severe financial burden on my family," "I cannot seem to 'shake the blues,'" and "I rely on a kidney dialysis machine to keep me alive." The veteran is told to respond with one of three choices: life would be "difficult, but acceptable," life would be "worth living, but just barely," or life is "not worth living." Every situation is phrased in the most negative terms. If the veteran responds with one of these negative answers, he is asked if this means he "would rather die than be kept alive." There is no attempt to ask the veterans "what would it take for you to want to live?"

This depressing book was put together by the Clinton Administration, but then discarded by the George W. Bush Administration. It's been resurrected by the Obama Administration as a way to cut health care costs. After a controversy developed, the Obama Administration says the Death Book is being revised. Our veterans who were severely wounded while defending our country deserve better treatment than this Death Book.

Audio version of this commentary.

Recapturing Three Blocs of Voters

In order for conservatives to win Congress next year, we must recapture the three important voting blocs that abandoned conservative candidates in 2008: Reagan Democrats, unmarried women, and young people.

We lost the Reagan Democrats by fumbling the jobs issue. Millions of well-paying blue-collar jobs have gone overseas where workers are paid only 30 cents an hour. We must make clear that conservatives stand for maintaining middle-class jobs that support a family. We must rewrite the unfair trade agreements that our government has signed.

We lost 70% of unmarried women because the Democrats are the party of generous handouts to unmarried mothers. Conservatives must stand up for marriage as the basic institution of society and must not allow the liberals to undermine marriage by using taxpayer-financed incentives in the multi-billion-dollar welfare, child-support, and domestic-violence agencies to promote divorce, fatherless children, and the matriarchy sought by the feminists. Mothers should look to husbands for financial support, not depend on Big Brother Government to be the provider. The liberals will always be the party of bigger taxpayer handouts.

We lost the majority of young people largely because of what they are taught in the public schools, which 89 percent of kids attend. We must demand that public schools teach respect for patriotism, the Constitution, moral standards, and Western civilization instead of multiculturalism (all cultures are equal), diversity (all behaviors are OK), and "social justice" (the false notion that students are victims of an unjust, oppressive and racist America, which makes them ripe targets for community organizers to mobilize them to vote for socialist candidates).

If conservatives deal with these challenges, they can be the Comeback Kids in 2010.

Audio version of this commentary.

Health care: Lowering costs for old could raise them for young

Reinventing Conservatism

Conservatives bounced back strong after the elections of Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and we'll do likewise again in 2010. The Gallup Poll just reported that self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states, and the trend is up. Barack Obama is really aiding our task of reinvigorating conservatives.

A speech Ronald Reagan gave in 1975 to the Conservative Political Action Conference contains a message worth repeating: "Our people look for a cause to believe in . . . raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people. . . . Let us explore ways to ward off socialism. . . . A political party . . . must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency." Here is our banner of bold colors:

1. Restore fiscal responsibility. Conservatives must call a halt to Obama's reckless borrowing and spending. This means defeating the wildly extravagant health-care bill and the cap-and-trade bill, which should really be called cap-and-tax.

2. Stand tall for American sovereignty. This means rejecting all United Nations treaties including the UN Law of the Sea Treaty, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the UN Treaty on Women. They all invade our sovereignty by creating committees of hostile foreign bureaucrats to monitor our compliance. Standing for American sovereignty also means repudiating all devious ways of erasing our borders by deceitful code words such as "economic integration," "labor mobility," "North American Union," or "Free Trade Area of the Americas."

Tomorrow I'll tell you more about how to restore conservative government.

Audio version of this commentary.

Freedom of Speech celebrated along the I-70 highway. Video courtesy of KCTV 5 in Kansas City:

Why not write a letter to the editor?

With the popularity of blogs, twitter and facebook, it's easy to forget about other ways to publicly discuss how our government officials are doing at representing the public.

Longtime Eagle Forum employee JoAnn Jouett recently expressed her opinion in a letter to the Editor of Alton Telegraph and it was published!

You can easily contact local newspapers in your area through Eagle Forum's Media Guide and share your opinions like JoAnn did.

Why just one Nobel prize?

Aniruddha Vaidya writes this letter to the editor:

Why not give them all to Obama?

Did they not know that President Barack Obama is also an author of two bestselling books, has almost brought back the world from economic abyss and has promised near universal health-care for all Americans? Perhaps physics and chemistry are another thing, but he certainly also deserved the 2009 Nobel Prizes for literature, economics and medicine. With only a little better coordination among the various Nobel Prize committees they could have had a laserlike amplification of their message to the world.

I think that he is onto something. Why isn't anyone talking about how Pres. Obama was snubbed by just getting one Nobel Prize? Maybe they are planning to give him the literature prize in 2010, the economics prize in 2011, and the medicine prize in 2012. The writer does not mention how Obama has given us hope about global warming, so that should be good for a chemistry prize in 2013. The 2014 physics prize could go for Obama's contribution to a paper titled, "The Curvature of Constitutional Space".

The Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina

Today is a national holiday called Columbus Day. A couple of weeks ago, I had a exciting opportunity. Replicas of Christopher Columbus's ships, the Pinta and the Nina, docked close to where I live on the Mississippi River, and I went aboard both of them. To use a favorite word used by the younger generation, it was truly awesome to think about the little band of about 25 men who boarded each of those small sailboats and set out across the Atlantic Ocean for a very dangerous 30-day journey. They all worked and slept without bunks on one small hard deck. That voyage called for real men. Of course, the boats Columbus sailed were long since destroyed, but perfect replicas of the Pinta and the Nina were built in recent years in Brazil, where a few families have maintained the craft of building the kind of sailboats that could cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1492. These replicas travel the Western Hemisphere so that the public can get a taste of what Columbus and his crew braved when they discovered America.

Several years ago, a replica of the Santa Maria, Columbus's third boat, docked at St. Louis, and I went aboard it. Unfortunately, a sudden storm came up and totally destroyed it. But my visit to the Pinta and the Nina was just as interesting, and I hope they continue to travel our waterways so young people can see what brave men did in 1492.

The lie that Columbus didn't know the earth was round when he set sail from Spain to the New World is absolutely ridiculous. All educated people had known that since ancient Greece; they just didn't know how big the world is. Columbus certainly didn't set sail believing that he was going to drop off the edge of the earth into outer space. Columbus was one of the most amazing sailors and leaders in all history.

Audio version of this commentary.

NASA bombs the Moon

The news this morning is that NASA bombed the Moon, and Pres. Barack Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize. Neither story is a joke. When I figure out the connection, I will post it!

Eagle Forum Champions Courageous House Republicans for Opposing Hate Crimes Down to Last Vote

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Eagle Forum, a leading conservative public policy advocacy organization founded by Phyllis Schlafly, commends the 131 Republican Members of Congress who today opposed final passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (FY 2010, H.R. 2647) Conference Report because of the liberal Majority's refusal to remove the highly controversial Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1913) language from the bill. Thirteen Democrats joined in opposing final passage.

Read more

Disorientation at Yale University

At most colleges, the students are expected to attend a day of orientation before classes begin. I recently read a report by a student at Yale University about the freshman orientation to which he was subjected. I found it rather shocking, and I will share it with you.

First, the university president gave a speech in which he stressed our need to interact with other cultures in order to prepare for global citizenship. The Dean then spoke about ways in which students could benefit from diversity. The keynote speaker was law professor Kenji Yoshino. His speech said nothing about education. Instead he discussed his own book about civil rights, which claims that gays and Muslims in America are constantly oppressed and persecuted.

The message of all Yale orientation speakers was to praise diversity, and accusing the students of homophobia and supposed contempt for Islam. Students got the message that Yale is not as interested in intellectual matters and it is in inculcating the current prejudices of leftwing professors for diversity and multiculturalism. More tedious lectures in the evening were straight-out indoctrination. Students were required to attend discussions with their freshman counselor, and Professor Yoshino's speech reiterated the theme that white men are bad, Islam is fabulous, and we need to be vigilant in the face of the male WASP bigots all around us.

This Yale student says that the reigning orthodoxy on college campuses is nihilism; that means there is no truth. The professors teach that all knowledge is political and they devote themselves to reinforcing their own brand of Political Correctness. No wonder the humanities are in disfavor and decline. It is difficult for a university to justify studying the great books of Western civilization, which uphold moral and aesthetic judgment, while still asserting non-judgmentalism as the highest ideal.

Your health records available to millions

Including sensitive details about diseases, prescriptions, addictions, mental illness

Who's Side is the White House On?

The Obama Administration brags that Cash for Clunkers was a success because it revived the suffering auto industry. But who really benefited from this $3 billion program? The majority of cars bought with taxpayer-paid incentives of $3,500 to $4,500 each were foreign cars. Toyota and Honda were the big winners.

For years, Americans have been pursuing the goal of self-sufficiency in oil, a natural resource essential to our standard of living. But the effort to get our government to revoke its ban on drilling for oil in American waters off of our shores has been stopped by the liberals and radical environmentalists. Now we hear that the Obama Administration is letting the U.S. Export-Import Bank lend $2 billion to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to drill for oil in the ocean near Rio de Janeiro. Why Brazil, and why not drill in U.S. waters? We know there is an abundance of oil and natural gas right off of U.S. shores, and that drilling would produce good-paying jobs without any need for Stimulus handouts.

The Obama Administration doesn't like criticism, so maybe that's why it launched a project on August 4 as part of what the White House called its "rapid response" Health Insurance Reform Reality Check. The plan was "to collect and maintain information" on people who criticized the Democrats' health care bill. Obama's friends were instructed to report to the White House email address, flag@whitehouse.gov, any information that they considered "fishy," which everybody understood is a code word to build an Obama political enemies list. That anti-First Amendment project was partly withdrawn as a lawsuit was filed against it by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. They charged that the White House project was to "unlawfully" collect information on political speech that should be constitutionally protected.

Americans are asking, w ho's side is the White House really on?

Audio version of this commentary.

Why Do We Have So Many Czars?

The long list of President Obama's czars, accountable to no one except himself, is one of his most worrisome and expensive notions. The czars' salaries are paid by the U.S. taxpayers but they are not confirmed by the Senate, yet they appear to have the authority to override those who are confirmed. Lack of Senate confirmation means we must rely on Glenn Beck to discover that the Green Jobs Czar, Mr. Van Jones, is or was a communist and a self-described "rowdy black nationalist."

So far, Obama has appointed 34 czars. Just listing them is enough to scare anyone who believes in constitutional and representative government: Afghanistan Czar, AIDS Czar, Border Czar, Car Czar, Climate Czar, Copyright Czar, Cyberspace Czar, Drug Czar, Economic Czar, Education Czar, Energy Czar, Executive Pay Czar, Faith-Based Czar, Great Lakes Czar, Green Jobs Czar, Guantanamo Closure Czar, Health Reform Czar, Infotech Czar, Intelligence Czar, Iran Czar, Middle East Peace Czar, Non-Proliferation Czar, Persian Gulf/SE Asia Czar, Regulatory Czar, Science Czar, Stimulus Accountability Czar, Sudan Czar, TARP Czar, Terrorism Czar, Urban Czar, War Czar, WMD and Terrorism Czar.

The senior Senate Democrat, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, wrote Obama saying that these czar appointments are a power grab by the executive branch and violate the constitutional system of checks and balances and separation of powers. Nobody really knows the extent of their powers.

Rep. Jack Kingston has introduced the Czar Accountability and Reform Act to cut off the salaries of these czars, but it's unlikely that the Democratic Congress will let this bill see the light of day.

Audio version of this commentary.

More Health Care Reforms Needed

One health care reform that we badly need is tort reform, so that doctors won't be chased out of practice by ruinous lawsuits and over-the-top malpractice insurance rates. The Democrats won't do this because the trial lawyers are their biggest source of campaign contributions.

The left has started a nasty attack against John Mackey, founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, because he wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal endorsing these common-sense reforms. He practices what he preaches; his company provides popular Health Savings Accounts for its employees.

The left is attacking Mackey because he not only supports practical reforms but also explained the folly of making health care a new massive, costly entitlement that would create trillions of dollars of unfunded deficits and empower government instead of people. The left is venting its rage on Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere and even organizing a boycott against Whole Foods.

Here are two more health-care reforms that I would add to the list. The Democrats craftily built two loopholes into their 1,000-page bill that must be closed. Nancy Pelosi's bill deceitfully covers abortion at taxpayer expense by refusing to exclude it. The Democrats and the feminists consider abortion merely routine health care like appendectomies. The bill does mention excluding illegal aliens but provides no verification mechanism. Therefore, illegal aliens will be covered by the Democrats' health care bill unless proof of citizenship is specified as a requirement.

Don't let anybody tell you that "co-ops" are an acceptable alternative to "public option." Co-op is just a code word for the government to mandate the benefits that private insurance must provide, so co-ops will rapidly move us to socialist control of the health-care industry just as fast as the public option.

Audio version of this commentary.

Eagle Forum Founder Phyllis Schlafly Endorses Gov. Rick Perry for Re-election

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today received the endorsement of Eagle Forum Founder Phyllis Schlafly for re-election in 2010.

“More than just about any elected leader in our nation, Gov. Perry has fought and delivered on his promises to defend pro-life and pro-family values within the state of Texas,” said Phyllis Schlafly. “In a time where conservative ideals are increasingly under attack, Gov. Perry hasn’t backed away from working to implement policies that defend families, religious freedoms and life. I am proud to offer him my support in his re-election effort.”

Read more

You Call This 'Respect'?

It's called the "Respect" for Marriage Act of 2009, but -- like most bills backed and driven by the far fringe of the Democratic Party -- even the name is a lie.

HR 3567, whatever you want to call it, is a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (which protects every state's right to recognize only marriage between one man and one woman.) Moreover, it provides federal recognition for any marriage recognized in any state.
. . .
Phyllis Schlafly single-handedly killed the ERA. We need a Phyllis Schlafly today, but we don't have the luxury of seven years to work it all out. This bill is in process today. It is not an amendment. It does not require your permission-but it can be stopped by your vocal opposition.

Read more . . .

Berkeley agrees to U.N. rights treaties

Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

(09-29) 23:08 PDT BERKELEY, CALIF. -- Berkeley became the first city in the United States, and possibly the world, to agree to international human rights treaties on Tuesday night, after the City Council approved a measure usually reserved for countries.

After a brief but spirited debate, the City Council voted unanimously to allow unpaid interns to report to the United Nations on how, or whether, Berkeley complies with treaties on civil liberties, racial discrimination and torture.

The council also agreed to take the first step in raising parking revenue by voting unanimously to add 420 meters and increase the parking meter rate 25 cents an hour, to $1.50.

But the decision to comply with the U.N. treaties generated the most energetic response from council members and the public.

"This is extremely important," said Councilman Max Anderson, who represents south Berkeley. "This is the way Berkeley should be talking. This should be an inspiration to other communities."

Councilman Kriss Worthington called the initiative a creative and important way Berkeley can support the values put forth in the U.N. treaties.

"In our small and humble way, we can submit our own record," he said. "I think this is a wonderful thing for us to do."

The treaties contain high standards, and it is possible Berkeley does not meet those standards, backers of the plan said. Read more here.

The Opportunity of a Century

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said one correct thing: health care legislation is our "opportunity, not of a lifetime, but of the century." Passage of the bill she supports would put us forever on the road to trillions of dollars in debt, bankruptcy, and European mistakes. The opportunity of a century is to defeat the Democrats' bill and thereby safeguard the unique American recipe for liberty and prosperity.

Here are some constructive suggestions for the right kind of health care reform. We should eliminate the roadblocks that are built into current law to restrict our use of health savings accounts and high-deductible insurance. Pre-tax money put into Health Savings Accounts by the individual and by the employer can be used for costs not covered and, if not spent, can be saved and grow as a savings account for the individual. This puts the individual in charge of spending for health-care costs up to the deductible limit when insurance coverage kicks in. We should give individually owned health insurance the same tax deduction that has been enjoyed for decades by employer-provided health insurance. This is a matter of fairness.

We should repeal all state laws that forbid insurance companies to compete across state lines, so that individuals can buy health insurance in states other than their own. We should repeal all government mandates on benefits that health insurance is required to cover so individuals can choose the insurance package that fits their needs. The Democrats instead are planning to impose a federal mandate on what benefits health insurance must cover (which will include abortion, mental health, and all sorts of services demanded by special-interest groups). Insurance mandates are how the Democrats expect to control the health-care industry if they can't round up the votes to impose the "public option."

Audio version of this commentary.