Libya vs. Iraq

Muslim Brotherhood a Rising Force in a New Egypt

◼ Muslim Brotherhood a Rising Force in a New Egypt - nytimes

CAIRO — In post-revolutionary Egypt, where hope and confusion collide in the daily struggle to build a new nation, religion has emerged as a powerful political force, following an uprising that was based on secular ideals. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group once banned by the state, is at the forefront, transformed into a tacit partner with the military government that many fear will thwart fundamental changes.

It is also clear that the young, educated secular activists who initially propelled the nonideological revolution are no longer the driving political force — at least not at the moment.

◼ Women protesters forced to have 'virginity checks' after being arrested - dailymail

Women arrested by the Egyptian police during protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square were subjected to forced 'virginity tests', according to Amnesty International...

Amnesty today said that the women had been beaten, given electric shocks and then subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers.
They were then given 'virginity checks' and threatened with prostitution charges if medics ruled they had had sex, according to the charity....

Meanwhile Rasha Azeb, a female journalist who arrested in Tahrir Square at the same time, claims that she was handcuffed and beaten by security forces.

She described being taken to a building within the Cairo Musuem complex where she could witnessed other women being tortured with electric shocks to the chest and legs.

Ironically, the Democrats claimed to love redevelopment, but voted to end the agencies as a way to save money. Republicans often criticized the redevelopment process, but then rallied the troops to save it.

◼ CA GOP Saves Eminent Domain! - calwatchdog.com

California Republicans love to talk about limiting government, fighting bureaucracy and keeping taxes low, but on Thursday they proved that this is nothing more than a rhetorical device. Given the opportunity to rein in the size and power of government in a tangible way, Assembly Republicans – with one sole exception – punted. They rallied to save some of the most abusive and wastrel government agencies around.

As the California GOP (just held) its convention in Sacramento... party members ought to at least understand where its Assembly members stand...

Where do we stand? Where do our elected representatives stand? Are we in sync? What can be done for California?

The First 2012 Debate Approaches.

◼ The First 2012 Debate Approaches. Or Does it?

The 2012 presidential campaign is finally getting underway, in fits and starts.

But the election season really arrives on May 2, when the Republican candidates gather in Simi Valley, Calif., for a televised debate at the library of their collective hero, Ronald Reagan.

Or, maybe they won’t.

In the political world, the first presidential debate is a signal that the game has begun. But the fate of this year’s first debate, co-sponsored by Politico and NBC, appears to be a bit uncertain....

Conversations with Republican operatives this week suggest that there is deep skepticism in the camps of several potential candidates about jumping into a televised debate so soon after getting into the race. And several Republicans said they were nervous about committing to a debate hosted by NBC if the moderator ends up being a television host with an acknowledged liberal bias, like Rachel Maddow or Chris Matthews.

Michele Bachmann moves closer to presidential bid

◼ Bachmann Tells ABC News, "I'm In!" - abcnews
◼ Michele Bachmann moves closer to presidential bid - latimes

Today, Hillary took command

◼ White House: Nope, sorry, no Oval Office address from Obama on Libya



But apparently, if you don't call it WAR, you don't have to get approval from Congress, thus we have "kinetic military action."

Solving Your Aching Back

◼ Solving Your Aching Back By Peter Hannaford on 3.7.11 at The American Spectator

After the common cold, back pain is the most frequent ailment of Americans seeking medical advice. It has been conservatively estimated that 10 to 30 percent of the U.S. population suffers from back pain at any given moment. That would be about 30 million people at a minimum. Several thousand of them are experiencing it for the first time.

What is done about it? Too often surgery, contends Paul Altrocchi, MD, MPH, in an eye-opening , well-argued book, Stop Harmful Surgery: Back Pain, a New Approach at Last, published by Xlibris Corporation.

ObamaCare One Year Later

◼ Boehner Vows to Euthanize Obamacare; Dem and White House Life Support Unplugged - NewsMax

Republicans in the House will hold hearings and more votes "to take this law apart, step by step," Boehner said. "A fundamental promise was broken when this government takeover of health care was pushed through. That day, that week, the people said one thing, and their government did another.”

Meanwhile, the Health Information Campaign, which Democrats began in June with high hopes, is dissolving, Politico reports. The group, meant to support Obamacare, was created by Wal-Mart Watch founder Andrew Grossman. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy's widow, Vicki, were supposed to lead the charge. And Grossman sought $125 million in funding over five years.

But nine months later, the group it pretty much toast. Its website hasn't been updated since Dec. 31. Its executive director and communications director have flown the coop. It is bereft of funds, and neither Daschle nor Dunn returned Politico’s calls to discuss it. Grossman wouldn’t speak about the campaign on the record.

In addition, the White House Office of Health Reform shut down this month. The office was intended to coordinate communication between pro-Obamacare groups.

◼ Obamcare: they don't like the dog food - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner
◼ What a difference a year has made for Obamacare - Examiner Editorial

For one thing, solid majorities of the public favor repeal of Obamacare, which helps explain why Pelosi -- who famously said Congress had to pass Obamacare so the American people could find out what it contained -- no longer commands a Democratic House majority. Running with repeal of Obamacare among their most visible promises, Republicans in 2010 enjoyed their biggest congressional victory since 1938, picking up 63 House seats and replacing Pelosi with John Boehner as speaker. On the legal front, 26 states have joined in two separate suits seeking to have Obamacare declared unconstitutional. Two federal judges have agreed with them, with one of the jurists challenging the Justice Department to request an expedited appeal that is certain to reach the Supreme Court in the near future. Two other federal judges upheld the law, but neither sought to expedite appeals of their rulings.

Perhaps the most revealing change in the year past, however, is the reaction of the employers who face mandates under Obamacare that impose massive new costs and mountains of red tape. As a result, more than a thousand employers, including Fortune 500 corporations, nonprofits, labor unions and small businesses, have requested and received one-year waivers to buy them some time to figure out how to cope with Obamacare's demands. Those demands are so severe that even previously enthusiastic Obamacare advocates in the business community, like Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, are stepping back. "I think as the bill is currently written and if it was going to land in 2014 under the current guidelines, the pressure on small businesses, because of the mandate, is too great," Schultz recently told the Seattle Times.

Listen, and share

◼ REVEALED — THE LEFT’S ECONOMIC TERRORISM PLAYBOOK: THE CHASE CAMPAIGN BY A COALITION OF UNIONS, COMMUNITY GROUPS, LAWMAKERS AND STUDENTS TO TAKE DOWN US CAPITALISM AND REDISTRIBUTE WEALTH & POWER

Armed Beauty Queen Kills Florida Home Invader

Meghan Brown and Bobby Planthaber Jr., (note his 2 black eyes) shown with their dog, Vixen, at their Tierra Verde home. Image source: tampabay.com (link below)

◼ Armed Beauty Queen Kills Florida Home Invader FOX
◼ Couple recount fatal fray at their Tierra Verde home tampabay.com
◼ Hello Kitty and pink paintwork: How gun manufacturers are targeting female market with girly 'purse pistols' - dailymail

The soaring demand for firearms for women follows the endorsement of celebrities like Rhianna, who has gun tattoos, and Angelina Jolie, who admitted to buying real versions of the props she wielded as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider.

And when Sarah Palin admitted to being a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, membership soared by 20 per cent.

The First Casualty of War

◼ The First Casualty of War - Robert Stacy McCain/American Spectator

Shortly after the first U.S. cruise missiles hit their targets Saturday, the collateral damage became apparent -- not in Libya, but on the home front, where liberal credibility was shattered by President Obama's sudden resort to military action against Moammar Gaddafi's regime. Those who had hailed Obama's ascent as the dawn of a new age of peace, an end to the alleged "cowboy" belligerence of the Bush years, exploded with a mixture of outrage, confusion and chagrin as their hero flung the country into war in North Africa.

None was more indignant than Michael Moore....

◼ ‘Too Good a Pleasure to Forego’ - The Other McCain
◼ Obama Goes to War - W. James Antle, III/American Spectator

..."Beam me up, Scotty."...Obama allowed that Saddam Hussein was a "brutal man," a "ruthless man," a "man who butchers his own people to secure his own power," a "bad guy" even. But that did not make Saddam's ramshackle military capability a threat to the United States, Obama argued, and thus did not offer sufficient grounds for war on a country that had not attacked us.

How then can these Nobel Peace prize-winning words be squared with the president's decision to bomb Libya? The case for military intervention was based entirely on Muammar Gaddafi being a ruthless man, a bad guy, a man who threatened to butcher his own people to secure his own power.

◼ Bolivian President Evo Morales has called for US President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize to be revoked following his decision to attack Libya. - skynews

Senator Doug LaMalfa Responds to questions about Spending Cuts and Spending Cap

Senator Doug LaMalfa - 3/16/2011 from CA Senate Republican Caucus on Vimeo.

◼ Senator LaMalfa's blog and website
◼ Money Train American Spectator

Lamalfa is quoted in this american Spectator piece on the state's proposed high-speed rail system... perfect example of the gap between the promise of transformational liberalism and the reality of big government.... The project will rise or fall based on federal commitments, a reality that spurred California state senator Doug LaMalfa to visit Washington in early January to make a rather unusual request for a state legislator.

"I know they're not used to this, but I asked them to stop sending us money," LaMalfa, a Republican, said. "Please stop sending us money....When they send us money, it actually costs us money."

NewsBusted

A church we didn't know about

Report: Pawlenty to announce

◼ Report: Pawlenty to announce presidential exploratory committee - HotAir
Tim Pawlenty’s Facebook site asks people to drop by at 3 ET for “a special message exclusive to Facebook supporters.” CNN reports that the former Minnesota governor will announce his first official step into the 2012 presidential race and become the third Republican to launch an exploratory committee...
◼ Tim Pawlenty to form presidential exploratory committee - Chris Cillizza/Washington Post

Nationally, or only in Wisconsin, there is a very sizable majority in favor of Governor Walker

◼ E-mailers Strongly Support Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

...Of all e-mails, the split was 62-32 in support. While JSOnline correctly characterized the support of Wisconsin e-mailers as "closer," the support still was quite strongly in favor of the Governor:

"When the Center looked only at emails from Wisconsin, the margin was much slimmer, with 55 percent favoring his bill and 42 percent opposed."

So whether you look nationally or only in Wisconsin, there is a very sizable majority in favor of the Governor....

Local: Know Your Zone -- how to find out if you are at risk of a tsunami

◼ Know Your Zone -- how to find out if you are at risk of a tsunami - Lori Dengler/For the Times-Standard

...The California Geological Survey has taken the lead for mapping tsunami hazards in California.... The state maps are posted online at ◼ www.quake.ca.gov/gmaps/tsunami/tsunami_maps.htm.

We've gone one step further and have taken the inundation maps to produce a set of evacuation maps to be used to plan the best way to get to safe areas.

You can download fliers that include Humboldt and Del Norte County maps at ◼ www.humboldt.edu/rctwg/ (select the download Tsunami Maps and Flyers on the right).

You can also find out if you are in a tsunami zone at ◼ http://myhazards.calema.ca.gov/. Just enter your address, and you can learn not only about tsunamis but earthquake and flood hazards as well. read the rest

Leading Republican Sarah Palin toured Jerusalem's Western Wall on Sunday as she began a two-day, private visit to Israel.

◼ Leading Republican Sarah Palin toured Jerusalem's Western Wall on Sunday as she began a two-day, private visit to Israel. - Reuters

◼ Sarah Palin Visits The Kotel (Western Wall) Video - Yid With Lid

◼ Sarah Palin visits the Western Wall Tunnels in Israel. Will meet with PM Netanyahu. - cubachi

“Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.”
...........Robert A. Heinlein quotes (American science-fiction Writer, 1907-1988)

A miracle tale of survival: Grandmother and boy pulled from rubble NINE DAYS after tsunami smashed city

◼ Extraordinary news emerged from the tsunami coast today when police reported they had found an 80-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy still alive under rubble in a tsunami-smashed city...

The GOP state convention in Sacramento

AP photo: Debbie Walker, of Eureka, relaxes Saturday 

at the GOP state convention in Sacramento.

◼ Republicans try to find common ground at convention

SACRAMENTO - Millions of registered Republicans in Inland Southern California and around the state someday could receive mail ballots to choose who the party nominates for the Legislature and other partisan posts.

The proposal emerged Saturday at the state GOP's three-day spring convention here as a potential solution to a rift about how the party should endorse candidates when Prop. 14, the state's top-two primary law, goes into effect next year.

"One thing everyone agrees on is that Prop. 14 is a disaster." said Chris Mann, the former treasurer of the Riverside County GOP. "We can't do nothing, but how best do we respond?"

The debate was the dominant issue at a gathering that comes as the state GOP tries to chart a way forward after no statewide wins last fall and seeing its share of the California electorate fall below 31 percent....

Allen West forms 'Guardian Leadership PAC'

◼ Allen West forms 'Guardian Leadership PAC' - cubachi

Florida US Representative Allen West announced that he formed the federal “Guardian Leadership PAC.”

...According to West’s spokesman, the Guardian Leadership PAC is to support other conservative candidates across the country.

◼ Rep. Allen West forms federal ‘leadership PAC’ - thestatecolumn
◼ Allen West, Other GOP Freshmen Form New PACs

His House GOP colleagues in PAC formation include freshman Reps. Steve Womack of Florida (Razor PAC), Kristi Noem of South Dakota (Kristi PAC), and Jeff Denham of California (Jeff PAC). Their counterparts in the Senate are Republican newcomers Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire (Kelly PAC) and John Hoeven of North Dakota (Dakota PAC).