I was just as surprised as you are that the there are enough patriotic Americans in the Bay area to hold a Tea Party. Eric runs a blog called the Tygrrrr Express. It’s a hilarious and entertaining conservative blog that tells it like it is without the nonsense of trying to be politically correct. He was the headliner at the event on April 15th.

The Obama administration has taken the rare step of authorising the killing of a US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric linked to the attempt to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day.

The decision to place Awlaki on a US hit list followed a national security council review because of his status as an American citizen.

Guardian

I have tried to think of a similar order given by a POTUS against and individual American citizen, and have come up with nothing….so this decision appears to set a precedent for sure. The problem lies in the fact that a sitting POTUS had with a few words changed a criminal act to a state of war, and a cowed Congress bought the bill of goods. If one act so drastically changes that dynamic, and the precedence has been set, what is in place to prevent a similar ’state of war’ against other groups….christian militia’s, tea parties who advocate overthrow of the government, violent anti-war protesters…..?

It will probably be held up as Constitutional however. I don’t care if al-Awlaki lives or dies, we simply need to use some visionary application to ensure that this precedent does become abused in the future.

Or just accepted political expediency?

Internal CIA documents reveal a meticulous protocol that was far more brutal than Dick Cheney’s “dunk in the water”

Self-proclaimed waterboarding fan Dick Cheney called it a no-brainer in a 2006 radio interview: Terror suspects should get a “a dunk in the water.” But recently released internal documents reveal the controversial “enhanced interrogation” practice was far more brutal on detainees than Cheney’s description sounds, and was administered with meticulous cruelty.

Interrogators pumped detainees full of so much water that the CIA turned to a special saline solution to minimize the risk of death, the documents show. The agency used a gurney “specially designed” to tilt backwards at a perfect angle to maximize the water entering the prisoner’s nose and mouth, intensifying the sense of choking – and to be lifted upright quickly in the event that a prisoner stopped breathing.

The documents also lay out, in chilling detail, exactly what should occur in each two-hour waterboarding “session.” Interrogators were instructed to start pouring water right after a detainee exhaled, to ensure he inhaled water, not air, in his next breath. They could use their hands to “dam the runoff” and prevent water from spilling out of a detainee’s mouth. They were allowed six separate 40-second “applications” of liquid in each two-hour session – and could dump water over a detainee’s nose and mouth for a total of 12 minutes a day. Finally, to keep detainees alive even if they inhaled their own vomit during a session – a not-uncommon side effect of waterboarding – the prisoners were kept on a liquid diet. The agency recommended Ensure Plus.

Aside from the many…many testimonies and accounts of how ineffective and illegal torture is, here comes another expert knocking down the knee-jerk, fear-mongering leftovers from the last Administration.

Throughout his lecture, Sulick stressed the CIA’s need to uphold the law, while simultaneously protecting the American public.

“We have to find some way to achieve that balance,” he said. “We have to find the common ground between maintaining our values and safeguarding Americans.”

“I don’t think we’ve suffered at all from an intelligence standpoint,” he said, “but I don’t want to talk about [it from] a legal, moral or ethical standpoint.”

Michael Sulick, Ph.D., Director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service

Are the sheep too willing to pave over our own laws in the name of partisanship? Are grave threats such as the ‘War on Christmas” and perpetuating the myth of a ‘liberal media’ too taxing to be able to concentrate on tedious technical annoyances like bring accountability to elected officials? Isn’t that the meme of the teabaggers? If Al Qaeda really wanted to yank our collective chain, they would videotape a waterboarding instead of a beheading…..

There’s a saying we have in Texas about taking away our guns. It involves cold, lifeless bodies as a prerequisite to taking them. In an effort to usurp our Constitution while pretending to not usurp our Constitution, the Obama Administration has taken another step in taking away your and my guns. The first step was allowing international organizations like INTERPOL to operate within our borders unconstrained. The next step is using the United Nations to take away our right to keep and bear arms:

The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every nation a veto.

The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush’s administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national controls were better.
….
The proposed legally binding treaty would tighten regulation of, and set international standards for, the import, export and transfer of conventional weapons.

Supporters say it would give worldwide coverage to close gaps in existing regional and national arms export control systems that allow weapons to pass onto the illicit market.

You can read the entire article here.

I have also used the quote of “You can delegate responsibility, but not accountability” I am thinking I need to send Charlie Rangel the definitions of each and what that quote means. How does the guy keep a straight face when talking to the press and actually say that he should not be held accountable for unethical and illegally funded trips to the Caribbean because it was his staff’s fault for not telling him or whatever reason he gave. I am dumbfounded that he could try to use that defense and expect the American people to believe it. Whatever happen to the “Buck Stops HERE” or “Ignorance is not an excuse” when breaking the law.
Someone needs to bust this piece of crap and throw his fat butt out of office yesterday. He is the poster child of what is wrong with Congress and why we are in the situation we are in here in the greatest country in the world. He is why so many Americans are pissed at Congress. It is because of people just like him that homestead in Congress so long they think they are above the law.

Constituents of Rep. Charlie Rangel, do this country a huge favor and vote him out (if he is not expelled from Congress beforehand). I don’t care what party person you put in there, just not him, not anymore.

Nancy Pelosi is wasting our country’s money at an astonishing rate. Not even on her constituents, but on herself. She should be brought up on Fraud, Waste, and Abuse charges ASAP.

Interestingly enough, over $100,000 of which was for alcohol and food. What is she eating, unicorn steaks?

Go to http://www.blackfive.net/main/2010/01/pelosis-air-force-scandal.html in order to read the whole thing. Don’t forget to check out the links to http://www.theusreport.com/the-us-report/judicial-watch-posts-documents-in-pelosi-air-force-scandal-t.html and http://www.judicialwatch.org/story/2010/jan/nancy-pelosi-air-force-documents

Wow! I’m inspired and motivated!

The best line is by far “You Gore is a jealous Gore…”

In the First Seven Months’ of his term, our President has accomplished a lot, below is a short list. 
Thanks so much for looking out for our welfare. Whadda guy!

1. Offended the Queen of England.
2. Bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia.
3. Praised the Marxist Daniel Ortega.
4. Kissed Socialist Hugo Chavez on the cheek.
5. Endorsed the Socialist Evo Morales of Bolivia.
6. Sided with Hugo Chavez and Communist Fidel Castro against Honduras.
7. Announced we would meet with Iranians with no pre-conditions while they’re building their nuclear weapons.
8. Gave away billions to AIG also without pre-conditions.
9. Expanded the bailouts.
10. Insulted everyone who has ever loved a Special Olympian.
11. Doubled our national debt.
12. Announced the termination of our new missile defense system the day after North Korea launched an ICBM.
13. Released information on U.S. intelligence gathering despite urgings of his own CIA director and the prior four CIA directors.
14. Accepted without comment that five of his cabinet members cheated on their taxes and two other nominees withdrew after they couldn’t take the heat.
15. Appointed a Homeland Security Chief who identified military veterans and abortion opponents as "dangers to the nation."
16. Ordered that the word "terrorism" no longer be used and instead refers to such acts as "man made disasters."
17. Circled the globe to publicly apologize for America’s world leadership.
18. Told the Mexican president that the violence in their country was because of us.
19. Politicized the census by moving it into the White House from the Department of Commerce.
20. Appointed as Attorney General the man who orchestrated the forced removal and expulsion to Cuba of a 9-year-old whose mother died trying to bring him to freedom in the United States.
21. Salutes as heroes three Navy SEALS who took down three terrorists who threatened one American life and the next day announces members of the Bush administration may stand trial for "torturing" three 9/11 terrorists by pouring water up their noses.
22. Low altitude photo shoot of Air Force One over New York City that frightened thousands of New Yorkers.
23. Sent his National Defense Advisor to Europe to assure them that the US will no longer treat Israel in a special manner and they might be on their own with the Muslims.
24. Praised Jimmy Carter’s trip to Gaza where he sided with terrorist Hamas against Israel.
25. Nationalized General Motors and Chrysler while turning shareholder control over to the unions and freezing out retired investors who owned their bonds. Committed unlimited taxpayer billions in the process.
26. Passed a huge energy tax in the House that will make American industry even less competitive while costing homeowners thousands per year.
27. Announced nationalized health care "reform" that will strip seniors of their Medicare, cut pay of physicians, increase taxes yet another $1 trillion, and put everyone on rationed care with government bureaucrats deciding who gets care and who doesn’t.

And worst of all;
Daschle says, Health care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them, while former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm says seniors have "a duty to die.
If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember that the President, Senators and Congressmen have their own special gold plated health care plan which is guaranteed the remainder of their lives and they are not subject to this new law if they pass it.