American Pie

By Henry J. Reske and Kathleen Walter

President Barack Obama won’t warn the American public about the dangers that Islamic extremism poses because he’s afraid of offending Muslims, former Reagan Cabinet member Bill Bennett tells Newsmax.TV.

Bennett: “The main responsibility of the president of the United States is to keep the country safe and to identify the threats we have and make plain to the citizenry what we must do to protect ourselves.” (AP Photo)

Bennett, co-author of a new book on Muslim extremism entitled “The Fight of Our Lives,” contends that Obama’s strategy against radical Islam is confused and hesitant — contrasted with President Ronald Reagan’s clear and firm strategy against communism.

“The main responsibility of the president of the United States is to keep the country safe and to identify the threats we have and make plain to the citizenry what we must do to protect ourselves,” Bennett said. “There’s been a failure of this administration to describe the nature of this threat . . . There’s a reluctance to talk about Islamic extremism.”

For the rest of this story, go to: newsmax.com

Source: FULL STORY

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker succeeded Friday in taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from the vast majority of the state’s public employees, quietly capping weeks of contentious debate and delivering an epic defeat to the labor movement with a private bill signing.

Walker planned to hold a public ceremonial signing later in the day.

The proposal has touched off a national debate over labor rights for public employees, and its implementation is a key victory for Republicans who have targeted unions in nationwide efforts to slash government spending. But labor leaders said they plan to use the setback to fire up their members nationwide and mount a major counterattack against Republicans at the ballot box in 2012.

The measure passed the state’s Assembly on Thursday following more than three weeks of protests that drew tens of thousands of people to the Capitol in opposition. The Senate cleared the way for passage with a surprise move Wednesday that allowed them to move the measure forward without 14 Democratic senators present.

Walker told unions last week that he would have to lay off 1,500 workers if the bill didn’t pass. He rescinded those layoff notices Friday.

For the rest of this story, go to:

Wisconsin Gov Signs Labor
Bill, Rescinds Pink Slips

Source: foxnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — NPR’s interim president and CEO said Thursday that she had full confidence in the organization’s leadership team and said those who think NPR’s news coverage is biased would change their minds simply by listening to its programming.

Joyce Slocum’s comments Thursday afternoon in an interview with The Associated Press came just before conservative actvist James O’Keefe posted a follow-up video as part of his undercover investigation of NPR. A video posted Tuesday included a former NPR executive calling the tea party movement racist and led to Vivian Schiller’s resignation as NPR’s president and CEO.

The new video includes recordings of phone conversations between NPR executive Betsy Liley and an activist posing as a member of a phony group with ties to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. The two discuss the logistics of a potential $5 million donation from the group to NPR and the ways in which it could be kept anonymous and shielded from government scrutiny.

For video of this story, go to: New NPR Video Includes Islamist Funding Sting

Source: newsmax.com

By Hiram Reisner

South Dakota GOP Rep. Kristi Noem calls Senate budget proposals “ridiculous,” because suggested spending cuts do not even cover the amount of money the government spends in a week. Noem Thursday also told Fox News’ Neal Cavuto, however, she is willing to continue voting for short-term resolutions to keep the government going.
“We are waiting for the Senate and the president to come to the table and make sure that we finish fiscal year 2011 by addressing our spending problems,” Noem said. “That’s a good beginning before we start on our [2012] budget.

“When you look at February’s deficit spending alone, and the fact that it was larger than what our total deficit spending was in 2007, the proposals that the Senate is sending us simply are ridiculous, because it’s not even a solution,” she said. “It doesn’t address the amount of spending that we have in a week’s time. We need to get serious.”

For more of this story, go to: Rep. Noem: Senate Budget Proposals ‘Ridiculous’

Source: newsmax.com

Fred Grandy, the former “Love Boat” star who served several terms in Congress before landing a gig as a radio host, resigned from his show this week after he was pressured to stop talking so much about radical Islam, his wife, Catherine, told FoxNews.com.

Catherine Mann-Grandy, who spoke with FoxNews.com extensively about the details of their split with WMAL management, confirmed that the couple’s critical commentary on radical Islam was the driving factor behind Grandy’s resignation.

“You’re not allowed to talk about what’s happening in your country,” she said.

Fred Grandy, best known for his role as Gopher in “The Love Boat,” had been on air as a host at Washington, D.C.’s WMAL since 2003. He worked most recently as host of “The Grandy Group” — his wife made regular appearances on that show under the nickname “Mrs. Fred.”

For the rest of this story, go to: Wife: ‘You’re not allowed to talk about what’s happening in your country’

Source: foxnews.com

By Jim Meyers and Ashley Martella

Rep. Michele Bachmann tells Newsmax that President Barack Obama, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi should apologize to the American people for the $105 billion appropriation they “deceitfully” hid in the healthcare reform legislation.

The Minnesota Republican declares that the “stunning revelation” of the expenditure points to “one of the biggest lies we have ever seen.”

Bachmann, founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, also asserts that Obama wants $8-a-gallon gasoline to drive America toward green energy, says Republicans should hire their own lawyer to represent the Defense of Marriage Act in court, and warns that a second Obama term would be “even worse” than a second Jimmy Carter term would have been.

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, Bachmann expressed her anger over the $105 billion appropriation that has only now come to light in an updated Congressional Research Service report on the Obamacare legislation.

“What we need to do is defund Obamacare,” she says. “The House has the power of the purse.

“But we’ve just found out startling information, and I am calling on President Obama, Majority Leader Harry Reid and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to apologize to the American people and explain why in the bill known as Obamacare they put in over $105 billion in appropriations.

“The funny thing is, they forgot to tell the members of the Senate that there was $105 billion in spending in that bill. They forgot to tell members of the House.

“Since when do we pass a transformative piece of legislation like the government takeover of healthcare and just happen to drop in $105 billion in appropriations, the purpose of which will be to implement this massive new bill? No one knew. We have just found out in the last week or so.

“This is a stunning revelation. It’s shocking. We’ve been fighting to cut $100 billion out of the budget and then we find out that the Democrats led by President Obama have already spent $105 billion and didn’t bother to tell Congress.

For the rest of this story, go to: Bachmann: Dems Hid $105 Billion in Obamacare

Source: newsmax.com

© 2011 WorldNetDaily

State Sen. Kent Sorenson

Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson (R-Indianola) has brought the number of states having presidential-ballot eligibility requirements introduced in the current state legislative sessions to an even dozen.

Sorenson’s SF368 requires candidates for president or vice president to file a certified copy of their birth certificate along with their affadavit of candidacy. Both documents would be available for public inspection. The bill reads:

Filing of birth certificates – presidential and vice presidential candidates.

1. A candidate for president or vice president shall attach to and file with the affidavit of candidacy a copy of the candidate’s birth certificate certified by the appropriate official in the candidate’s state of birth. The certified copy shall be made part of the affidavit of candidacy and shall be made available for public inspection in the same manner as the affidavit of candidacy.

2. A candidate for president or vice president who does not comply with the requirements of this section shall not be eligible for placement on the ballot as a candidate for president or vice president anywhere in the state.

For the rest of this story, go to:Iowa lawmaker’s show-me-the-birth-certificate bill makes dozen states viewing eligibility

Source: wnd.com

By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WorldNetDaily

An advocate for explicit sex education who is attached to the National Education Association has told a hearing at the United Nations that mandatory classes need to teach orgasm, oral sex and masturbation to students in order to free them from the “binary” definition provided by “religion.”

The comments by Diane Schneider were reported by Lauren Funk of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute.

They came at a recent meeting of the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women, where Schneider said “oral sex, masturbation, and orgasms need to be taught in education.”

And mandatory comprehensive sex education is “the only way to combat heterosexism and gender conformity,” she told the panel meeting to discuss how to combat homophobia and transphobia.

For the rest of this story, go to: Advocate mandatory classes to free students from ‘religion’

Source: wnd.com

By Joe Kovacs
© 2011 WorldNetDaily

A U.S. congresswoman who once demanded that hurricanes be given names that sounded more “black” is now in the spotlight for allegedly being the queen of mean girls to her staff, including calling one aide a “stupid mother—-er” on numerous occasions.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas

Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, is said to go far beyond the typical nicknames politicians give their workers.

According to a scathing report in the Daily Caller, the Houston lawmaker addressed one of her employees with the emphatic M.F.-bomb “constantly … like, all the time.”

Why is America so obsessed with race? Find out in this autographed book that pulls no punches

Another Jackson Lee aide recounted the time her parents came to Washington to visit: “They were really excited to come to the congressional office. They’re small town people, so for them it was a huge deal. They were actually sitting in the main lobby waiting area….[Jackson Lee] came out screaming at me over a scheduling change. Called me a ’stupid idiot. Don’t be a moron, you foolish girl’ and actually did this in front of my parents, of all things.”

According to the report, another staffer remembers requesting a meeting to ask how best to serve the congresswoman.

Jackson Lee’s response: “What? What did you say to me? Who are you, the congresswoman? You haven’t been elected. You don’t set up meetings with me! I tell you! You know what? You are the most unprofessional person I have ever met in my life,” as she then hung up the phone.

The same staffer claims Jackson Lee “would always say, ‘What am I a prostitute? Am I your prostitute? You can’t prostitute me.’”

The story says even by Washington’s tough standards, Jackson Lee may be the worst boss in Washington.

For more of this story, go to: ‘Finally I slammed on the brakes and told her to get the hell out of my car’

Source: wnd.com