While Space Shuttle Atlantis circles the globe on its final mission…
My friend Marylou and I used to work at Kennedy Space Center. She sent these photos with the following note:
“A friend of mine sent these to me….AWESOME photos of Shuttle Discovery’s landing and move to its hangar for prep to be sent on to DC! Gives you a great perspective of the size of the darling. Check out the burned and missing tiles on the shuttle. Most folks don’t get to take or see photos like these. Enjoy!“
In an article published Tuesday entitled Casey Anthony: The Candidates Respond, Salon Magazine smeared Sarah Palin and several Republican presidential candidates with faked quotes reacting to the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial. The faked quotes, especially those falsely attributed to Michele Bachmann and Palin, made their way around the Internet this week, adding to the media-driven campaign of hatred against leading Republican women.
Palin was smeared as a separation-of-powers ditz, accusing President Barack Obama of not getting involved in the Anthony case: “Once again we see, with our nation in crisis, President Obama stands by and does idly nothing while an injustice is committed here in this glorious nation of ours….Why the strange silence, Mr. President?”
Bachmann was smeared as a racist and anti-Muslim kook in a faked Sean Hannity interview: “… people all over the place are asking me, why, in Barack Obama’s America, someone who murders a baby who happens to be white doesn’t get punished…they’re worried about the Muslim Brotherhood, which has clear ties to terror groups dedicated to creating a worldwide Islamic caliphate, and they’re worried that Eric Holder’s Justice Department isn’t going to do anything about it if the Brotherhood or another group comes for their children.“
Alex Pareene, who is described at the end of the article as “Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon,” made up the quotes in apparent frustration that Republican candidates had not waded into the Anthony murder trial controversy. The new media standard now seems to be if a Republican won’t say something outrageously foolish, the media will make up the quotes they want and destroy the candidate anyway.
The article is written in a manner that does not make clear to readers that the quotes are intended as satire. They are presented as sourced quotes and transcripts.
Pareene described the quotes: “Because the Casey Anthony story was the only thing that happened in the news today, and because this is ostensibly “a blog about politics,” I have rounded up (or possibly invented) the reactions of all the 2012 Republican contenders to the news of Casey Anthony’s “not guilty” verdict. Mark Halperin said this trial could end up being a real game-changer that could also give or take away a given candidate’s momentum, so it’s important that we know where the candidates stand.”
AllGov and Death and Taxes reported the comments as straight news. Only later did Death and Taxes post and update, recognizing the quotes were faked by Pareene.
FreakOutNation posted their article with the headline, “Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann on Casey Anthony Verdict: It’s Obama’s Fault” and the lede: “Republican talking points, which state that everything is President Obama’s fault – even encompasses the Casey Anthony trial. No, really.”
The article includes the faked Salon quotes. At the end, an update appears that notes Pareene “may have invented this.”
But the damage was done. The article was liked by over 2500 Facebook users and spread to Twitter.
Thursday evening, Pareene took to Twitter to own up to the faked quotes: “I was really, really wrong about how obvious the satirical intent of my silly “candidates talk about Casey Anthony” thing was, it turns out” and “To set the record straight: jokes, bruv”.
Here are the faked quotes in order. Note that after suggesting some of the quotes are real, Pareene does not differentiate between real and faked quotes. In fact he presents each of them as real even though all them were faked, ending with a note that he was unable to get a quote from Tim Pawlenty.
Mitt Romney
“Governor Romney offers his prayers to all victims of child abuse. The tragedy of the death of a small child shocks all decent Americans.”
– Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom, in an email to Ben Smith.
Sarah Palin
Once again we see, with our nation in crisis, President Obama stands by and does idly nothing while an injustice is committed here in this glorious nation of ours. It’s almost strange that the president has not yet made one statement on the issue of the death of young Caylee Anthony. Why the strange silence, Mr. President?
– Sarah Palin
12,429 people like this.
Newt Gingrich
@newtgingrich
tragic to see justice not served. now is a great time to screen my and @CallyGingrich film Rediscovering God in America http://bit.ly/padmWP
51 minutes ago via web
Herman Cain
“I can promise you Casey Anthony and anyone else who I think might’ve killed their children will have no business in a Herman Cain administration. President Cain would look her right in the eyes and ask her point blank if she killed that little girl, we’d get right to the bottom of it.”
– Cain, addressing a Tea Party group in Iowa.
Michele Bachmann
BACHMANN: Well, I’ve been visiting all the primary states, and I’ve been talking to people, and people all over the place are asking me, why, in Barack Obama’s America, someone who murders a baby who happens to be white doesn’t get punished. And Sean, I’ve been on the front lines, and I know people are afraid not just of the massive debt created by the Pelosi-Reid government, they’re worried about the Muslim Brotherhood, which has clear ties to terror groups dedicated to creating a worldwide Islamic caliphate, and they’re worried that Eric Holder’s Justice Department isn’t going to do anything about it if the Brotherhood or another group comes for their children.
HANNITY: Very interesting stuff. Thanks for coming on, Congresswoman. We always appreciate it.
“Of course she is running. She just is refusing to play by the “rules” the establishment and the media have set. There isn’t the slightest reason to announce yet, all that would do is give the enemy a fixed target. It would force every aspect of every thing she does to fit into campaign law.
The bus tour would have been impossible.
If this was the 1980 election, Reagan’s announcement would still be several months away. November 13th.
She is Sun Tsu, refusing to march onto a battlefield that her enemy is standing on, fully prepared, in a location they chose. And she is attacking elsewhere.
It is driving them bats*^t insane. They are running this cover to goad her. They exclude her from every poll to goad her (“see, we excluded her until she announces”… Guliani is in some polls but not Sarah)
Meanwhile, she is touring the primary states in the NE, Touring Iowa… etc
Oh yes, she is running. But she is employing asymmetrical warfare.”
Public protest. Middle: Katharina Sandizell-Smith. Bottom: Fairfax council meeting. PHOTOS BY TIM PORTER – Marin Magazine
A growing number of citizens are taking action against the encroachment of totalitarianism here in America. GE is playing a major role in monitoring your every move while you’re INSIDE your home. How are they doing it? Ask the folks in California. Or better yet, read this piece by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton at Noisy Room.
Coming soon to your home unless you stop them – and you may never even get a choice – the insidious Smart Meter and the end of privacy as we know it. People don’t want these Big Brother devices installed and watching/recording their every move. Things are about to get ‘real’ between the government/Agenda 21 pushers and We The People. And if a fight comes, my money is on the Tea Party – they are a scrappy bunch and freedom lovers to boot.
The dance has already begun in certain places around the nation. In Marin, California, residents are slugging it out with PG&E and the FCC, UCLA’s epidemiology department and the California Public Utilities Commission. Looks like the Nanny State spared no expense in the fight to control Americans and I do mean ‘control.’ From Marin Magazine:
“Smart” gas and electricity meters, so called because they use wireless signals to transmit up-to-the-minute usage data rather than requiring visits from meter readers, have been a source of controversy in California since PG&E began installing them in late 2009. Concerns about privacy and accuracy have created an upswell of opposition from Bakersfield to Santa Cruz, but perhaps none as forceful as that in Marin. Here, educated and experienced activists—many of whom have been fighting against cell phone towers and other sources of electromagnetic radiation for a decade or more—have made smart meters the latest cause célèbre. And their message, which hinges on both health and individual autonomy, is catching on. Cotati, Bolinas and Novato have joined Fairfax in opposing the meters, as have the Marin Association of Realtors and the county Board of Supervisors.
Yet PG&E doesn’t need permission from communities to install the meters. In fact, 100,000 of the 216,000 smart meters slated for Marin are already in place. Statewide, PG&E has installed nearly 8 million of 10 million meters planned and expects to wrap up the project by early 2012. Similar rollouts are happening nationwide, with PG&E leading the way.
So much for getting your permission. They are going to cram Agenda 21 and Smart Meters right down America’s throat whether they want it or not. But before you think these were conservatives objecting, look again. It was primarily liberals. I do believe that we have found a meeting place in the middle – both sides hate big, controlling government. Notice I did not use the word Progressive, as the very definition of Progressivism is a love for big government. And while the liberal residents in California are concerned for their bodily health, conservatives are concerned for their Constitutional health, rights and freedoms. Both want their privacy. Agenda 21 and Smart Meters are bad for either cause. Here is a great video that explains more about Smart Meters:
From The American Dream:
Jerry Day, an electronics and media expert from Burbank California, recently detailed many of the ways that smart meters act as surveillance devices when they are installed in our homes….
They individually identify electrical devices inside the home and record when they are operated causing invasion of privacy.
They monitor household activity and occupancy in violation of rights and domestic security.
They transmit wireless signals which may be intercepted by unauthorized and unknown parties. Those signals can be used to monitor behavior and occupancy and they can be used by criminals to aid criminal activity against the occupants.
Data about occupant’s daily habits and activities are collected, recorded and stored in permanent databases which are accessed by parties not authorized or invited to know and share that private data.
Those with access to the smart meter databases can review a permanent history of household activities complete with calendar and time-of-day metrics to gain a highly invasive and detailed view of the lives of the occupants.
Those databases may be shared with, or fall into the hands of criminals, blackmailers, law enforcement, private hackers of wireless transmissions, power company employees, and other unidentified parties who may act against the interests of the occupants under metered surveillance.
“Smart Meters” are, by definition, surveillance devices which violate Federal and State wiretapping laws by recording and storing databases of private and personal activities and behaviors without the consent or knowledge of those people who are monitored.
It is possible for example, with analysis of certain “Smart Meter” data, for unauthorized and distant parties to determine medical conditions, sexual activities, physical locations of persons within the home, vacancy patterns and personal information and habits of the occupants.
Saddle up boys and girls… Things are about to get very interesting in these United States of America. In a fascist sort of way that is.
Here we are at ‘opposites’ day again… In the name of reducing energy costs, the government wants to replace all meters with these creepy Smart Meters. The meters will cause energy bills to ‘necessarily skyrocket’ (wait, where have I heard that before?) and have a whole set of nifty nasty side effects such as failing systems and the opening of your personal information to hackers. The Feds are spending a ton of money on this conversion process and ask yourself, why is that? It’s obviously not to save money as the costs are astronomical. It’s also not to save the environment as it virtually does nothing to help it. But it does give government control over you – when and for how long to shut down your power, how much you have to pay for said power, usage monitoring, etc. This is all being done in part to catch the smallest of entrepreneurs who work from home to force them to get business licenses and submit to oversight by the government, with the added bennie of forcing many of them out of business. This is the Progressive groundwork to drastically raise the cost of energy, raise taxes and fees and to box Americans in, corralling them with judgments over their income, credit ratings, habits, etc. It’s a Marxist’s dream come true and the ultimate nightmare for freedom-loving Americans. How do you like Obama now America? Time for a do-over in 2012 – if we get that far.
Once installed, these meters will record a plethora of data concerning your personal lives and it will be stored in databases that you and I will never get access to. And the data could be wrong or flawed, but you will have little recourse to correct it. Literally life and death decisions will be made by our overlords using that data. Count on it. And unless you want to live entirely off the grid (and many are moving in that direction), you will submit. The data will be used by law enforcement and the government to ‘protect’ you. Do you really think your Constitutional rights will even figure into the equation down the road?
Please watch the KHOU TV video and read the rest at The Noisy Room. This is your first step in taking action against the federal government and its crony capitalists.
Greetings to our constituents, fellow Floridians, and to all Americans, it is once again time for our weekly update. I hope this newsletter finds you well. In this new format, I’m going to share more information with you, including videos, pictures, my favorite news articles, profiles of our local men and women in uniform, our small businesses and other notable news from District 22. This will all be in addition to my weekly wrap-up of my work as your Representative.
This was a short D.C. week coming off the 4th of July weekend, which I hope everyone enjoyed. It was the 235th celebration of our Declaration of Independence. I can attest to you that the House Democrat Caucus enjoyed the 4th of July so much that the following day they invited avowed Communist, Van Jones, to address their caucus…now ain’t that a doozy!
Even though the legislative business of this week was the FY 2012 Defense Appropriations bill, the debt ceiling issue was really the looming focus. This weekend we are having some “negotiations” about what I believe is the 93rd raising of the debt limit since its inception. Why do we have negotiations or talks when the viable solution is clear? We have to cut federal government spending. This is not about a revenue issue, it is a spending issue. We must also cut the corporate/business tax rate of 35% to 20-22%, eliminate all loopholes and subsidies and allow the free market to work by setting conditions for long-term sustainable growth. We must cap federal government spending as per the GDP between 18-20%, instead of the insane 25% where we find it now….particularly with the looming potential of federal government spending per GDP to rise to 32% by 2017 under Democrat plans. I find it reprehensible that there are liberals who say the stimulus failed because it did not spend enough.
Finally, we must have a balanced budget amendment for the federal government to align revenues with outlays. These are the simple and viable solutions to the pressing debt limit issue; it is about finally creating fiscal discipline in the federal government.
The inane and insidious class warfare rhetoric of raising taxes and “corporate jets” reflects the incompetence of the one professing such. If we were to raise taxes, you are talking about a $300-$350B tax burden upon our small businesses. Furthermore, the “corporate jet loophole” only accounts for some $300M, hardly a major impact. The focus has to be on increasing confidence, providing better access to capital, and returning certainty with sound economic, taxation and regulatory policies.
We should be talking about stimulating the economy by eliminating capital gains, dividends, and estate taxes and you will instill confidence and certainty.
When one considers the abysmal June jobs report of 9.2% unemployment, 16.2% in the black community, and only 18K new jobs created, we are teetering on a precipice. To grow our economy out of this fragile recovery, we require some 250K jobs/month.
When polled, 70% of small businesses stated they are not projecting hiring for the next year. Unfortunately, we have David Plouffe, President Obama’s campaign advisor, stating that unemployment is not an issue in the 2012 election. If this is the position of the campaign advisor, one has to suppose it is the President’s position, after all, the President has said the jobs numbers are just a “bump in the road.”
This brings me to another observation, the end of the era of American space exploration exceptionalism. We watched the final launch of American manned space exploration, the last Shuttle launch. Now the greatest nation the world has ever known, the country who landed a man on the moon, will be hitching a ride. It is estimated that this foolhardy decision will result in some 23K jobs lost (9K direct, and 14K indirect) to the Florida Space Coast community. Appalling. The one thing which brings me comfort is a quote from Sir Winston Churchill, “Americans seem to always right themselves after they have exhausted all other means.”
Truly, “Hope and Change” has turned out to be “Hype and Chaotic Calamity.”
In closing, this past week President Obama held a Twitter town hall meeting and made a statement that Republicans are “holding a gun to the heads of Americans keeping them hostage over this debt crisis.” Funny, I thought we were supposed to temper this type of incendiary rhetoric after the shooting of our colleague Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. If anything, it has only increased, and from one side.
I suppose liberal activist groups will run ads against the President now that he has stated Social Security and MEDICARE are part of the debt limit negotiations. Will he be seen pushing a senior in a wheelchair off a cliff? Steadfast and Loyal,
Allen
http://west.house.gov/
Legislative Lowdown
– FY2012 Department of Defense Appropriations – On Friday, July 8, the House approved H.R. 2219, the 2012 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, by a vote of 336-87, I voted Yes. The base budget of the bill would provide $530.5 billion in discretionary budget authority for defense activities, which is an increase of $17.2 billion over last year’s level. The overseas contingency operations recommendation for emergency spending for Defense activities related to the Global War on Terror is $118.7 billion, which is $842 million above the President’s FY2012 budget request. Non-emergency DoD budget authority contained in H.R. 2219 would contribute to an overall level of discretionary budget authority of $1.019 trillion for FY 2012, a reduction of $30.3 billion below FY 2011.
- During the amendments process, I voted for several cuts to funding Pakistan and also ending funding to combat operations in Libya. The world is a volatile place and we must never forget the federal government’s preeminent essential function is to “provide for the common defense.” Our men and women in uniform deserve the resources to enable them to be trained and equipped to crush our enemies, and care for their families. It is incumbent upon us as Members of Congress to ensure the right strategic employment criteria and engagement guidance is provided for our force – a mission which I take very seriously.
Sgt. Alfredo Miranda, Jr
is our soldier of the week
Age: 29 years old Hometown: Port St. Lucie Family: Married, father of 3 MOS: Military Police Officer/ 724th Army Reserve Unit/ Ft. Lauderdale Stationed: Gardez, Afghanistan, training Afghan Army police officers Deployed: March 2011, 15 month tour, second tour of duty Fun Facts: Loves to work on cars Sacrifice: Deployed when son was 4 months old. “He’s watching him grow up through webcam and pictures,” his wife Kimberly said. “It’s a difficult job but somebody has got to do it. I’m so proud of him.”
Have you ever seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy? You haven’t? omg. You are missing a fabulous depiction of J.R. R. Tolkien’s classic, with a lesson for the times in which we find ourselves. Bill Whittle uses the dark place of Mordor to describe today’s dark place: Hollywood.
From the Facebook page, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy won 17 Oscars:
Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is an epic adventure of good against evil, the power of friendship and individual courage. The saga centers around an unassuming Hobbit named Frodo Baggins who inherits a Ring that would give a dark and powerful lord the power to enslave the world. With a loyal fellowship of elves, dwarves, men and a wizard, Frodo embarks on a heroic quest to destroy the One Ring and pave the way for the emergence of mankind.
Greetings to our constituents, fellow Floridians, and to all Americans, it is once again time for our weekly update. I hope this newsletter finds you well. In this new format, I’m going to share more information with you, including videos, pictures, my favorite news articles, profiles of our local men and women in uniform, our small businesses and other notable news from District 22. This will all be in addition to my weekly wrap-up of my work as your Representative.
