You want some brie with that whine?
One of the comments in response to certain racists commenters at the Washington Post’s article on today’s 9/12 march on Washington, D.C.:
“All you Commiecrats who whine that so many of the protesters were white. Of course, you freaking morons, what’d you expect? THEY’RE PAYING THE BILLS!!!
Do you think you’re gonna see all the welfare honkies and illegal blood suckers there, HMMM?”
According to various estimates, at least a million Americans from every corner of the United States took a little trip to the Mall:
Sky-view of the 9/12/09 D.C. Tea Party (Mary Katharine Ham)
Here’s a great time-lapse view of the march (3-1/2 hours in 40 seconds):
C-SPAN coverage of the whole rally can be seen HERE.
I think almost everyone in America remembers where they were the morning of September 11, 2001, a day that will forever be known simply as “9/11”. Whether in an office, our home, our car, our school – anywhere we were – the horrors of that day are forever etched in America’s collective memory.
What is thought of less often, though, is where we were on the morning of September 12th. That day dawned just like any other day, yet even though that dawning came with a sun covered by the deep, ugly shadows of what so many had always thought of as the impossible, America awakened stronger than she had been in some 200-odd years. By that dark and smoldering dawn’s early light She was deeply united, resolute and firm in Her resolve against the enemies of freedom.
It has only been a few years yet, unbelievably, politicians are starting to dumb down what happened on those two critical days. The current administration is blatantly attempting to usurp its reality and the need for remembrance and turn it into some weird distortion of “service”, solely in furtherance of its dangerous ideologies.
I find this not only audaciously crass, but abhorrant. It is through reverent remembrance of the reality of 9/11 that we honor those who started out that fateful day – just like they started any other day – without realizing it would be their last. Through reverent remembrance of the reality of 9/11 we honor those who willingly sacrificed their lives trying to save others as buildings collapsed and planes crashed; whether they wore a uniform or not, each and every one of them is forever a hero.
By remembering the reality of 9/11 – that America was attacked in blind hate by those who would destroy Her simply because of Her freedoms – we honor every one of the 2,966 people who died that day. And as we work our way through the memories, at the end we will find ourselves back once more at the morning of 9/12, the morning when we stood together in our tears and our pained confusion but certain of one thing: America was still standing and we, the people, would not let her go down without a united fight.
Remember, America. Remember.
The 9 Principles
| 1. | America Is Good. |
| 2. | I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life. |
| God “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” from George Washington’s first Inaugural address. | |
| 3. | I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday. |
| Honesty “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” George Washington | |
| 4. | The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government. |
| Marriage/Family “It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” Thomas Jefferson | |
| 5. | If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it. |
| Justice “I deem one of the essential principles of our government… equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.” Thomas Jefferson | |
| 6. | I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results. |
| Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness “Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence.” Thomas Jefferson | |
| 7. | I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable. |
| Charity “It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer.” George Washington | |
| 8. | It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. |
| On your right to disagree “In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” George Washington | |
| 9. | The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me. |
| Who works for whom? “I consider the people who constitute a society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation.” Thomas Jefferson |
The 12 Values
* Honesty
* Reverence
* Hope
* Thrift
* Humility
* Charity
* Sincerity
* Moderation
* Hard Work
* Courage
* Personal Responsibility
* Gratitude
Courtesy of the ever-astute Victor Davis Hanson:
“What do they teach at Yale (and Harvard) law school? Is admission there synonymous with graduation?”
According to England’s Tory work and pensions spokesman Theresa May, “The reality is that … there has been a steady growth in welfare ghettos – unemployment did not disappear during the boom years. It was merely disguised, renamed, and hidden away in ever-growing pockets of poverty.” It is further stated that “most of those covered in the statistics do not appear in official unemployment figures,” and that “at least five million people of working age have not done a day’s work since Labour came to power” (in 1997).
For those who aren’t good at subtlety, in America the English Labour party’s counterpart are the Democrats.
Jolly good hope and change and all that rot. Gives a whole new meaning to “nanny”, eh?
Van Jones is history. Ultimately he will be just another ugly little blip on the radar; hoisted firmly onto his own petard by his personal, self-avowed Communist manifesto and his radical socialist organizing and, ultimately, by his own big, foul mouth.
Despite the ready availability of the material record of Jones’ own stupidity, including that he called Republicans “assholes” only one month before Obama appointed him as his “Special Advisor for Green Jobs”, the mainstream media is playing their violins in chorus of his “I was smeared” excuses. Falling right into Obama and his administration’s divisive tactics and once again failing to do their job of reporting facts. It’s a funny switch, this; news op/ed folks bringing to light hard facts while “regular” news reporters and degreed journalists simply drool over every word spun out on the teleprompter and opine derisively about those who hold a differing opinion.
But I digress.
Van Jones is merely one little pawn in a very big game. He is merely a symptom of an attempt to overthrow the United States Constitution; an overthrow long in the planning. To ask serious questions about the eligibility of Van Jones to hold a prominent and unaccountable position in the Obama administration is but the first step in crushing the wolf in sheep’s clothing known as the “progressive movement”.
What must now be asked is exactly WHO KNEW about Jones’ claims to Communism, his arrest record, his creation of STORM (Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, a group explicitly committed to revolutionary Marxist politics) and Color of Change, as well as his many crude public statements? John McCormack explains in a short piece in the Weekly Standard that if Jones had answered their questions truthfully, the FBI would have been fully aware of his less-than-savory…errrr…normal past and (emphasis mine):
… the background report would go to the Counsel’s office (run by Greg Craig), who would then raise the question of whether what the FBI found was disqualifying with the potential employee’s boss. Jones was hired by Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, but he presumably (and ultimately) reports to the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel must have decided that nothing in Jones’s background was alarming enough to prevent his appointment.
So … it’s worth asking: Did Rahm sign off on Jones’s appointment despite what the FBI must have discovered about his background. And, incidentally–did Jones tell the truth to the FBI?
These questions must be asked about ALL of Obama’s appointees and nominees. The President, his administration, and Congress are there by the will of we, the people, to SERVE our interests and to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” and we, the people, are entitled to straight answers about those who make it their life’s work to subvert it.
Michelle Malkin recently posted a piece about Representative Pete Stark (D-CA). In it, she has documented his rude, crude, and socially unacceptable reactions to being questioned.
Just don’t allow the children around when you watch it.
It is this kind of blatant, know-it-all arrogence and contempt for their constituents that has finally awakened the silent and mainly conservative majority, much to the August recess angst of Congress critters of all stripes. They can try to spin it all they want, but as more and more light illuminates the dangerous mindset of the vast majority of our unrepresenting representatives at all levels of government, the more we, the people, realize the need to take matters (back) into our own hands.
Bummer, dudes and dudettes. Or is that, bummer, commies, Marxists, progressives, and socialists? You have no one to blame but yourself. Well, maybe you can blame the mainstream media, who have allowed you to flourish like a poisonous, noxious weed.
After too-long of a long sleep, we’re going to pull you all out by the roots and burn you with the brush pile.
…then pay attention to the White House spin. On George Stephanopoulos’ show, This Week, George and Robert had the following exchange:
GEORGE: “So the president doesn’t endorse in any way the things that Van Jones said before but the president doesn’t want him to go?’
GIBBS: “He doesn’t but he thanks him for his service.”
Folks, that’s like saying “yes” when someone asks you if you want chocolate or vanilla ice cream. It’s a non-answer. A deliberate feint.
In the interests of that Obama-vaunted “transparency”, let’s call ’em clearly. They are weasel words.
What they really tell us is that President Obama knows full well what’s going on in his administration and won’t do anything about it unless his own image becomes tarnished when the views and actions of those he selects to advise him finally become visible to the mainstream, majority, and ultimately rather conservative American public.
So while Van Jones may be the first casualty of the White House’s socialist agenda, the victory celebrations must necessarily be brief. For there is a lot more rot left to root out.
One down, at least 31 more to go:
“I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality, effective today.
On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.
I have been inundated with calls – from across the political spectrum – urging me to “stay and fight.”
But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.
It has been a great honor to serve my country and my President in this capacity. I thank everyone who has offered support and encouragement. I am proud to have been able to make a contribution to the clean energy future. I will continue to do so, in the months and years ahead.”
Did he sign it, “Love & Commie Kisses, Van”?
It’s really a pity that someone who is apparently so bright went so wrong. First by buying into the victim mentality and then by using that bright mind to push for something that history has proved time and time again will reward no one but a few who pull the real strings.
It’s time for reflection, Van. A time to realize that you, along with so many others, have simply been used to further the ambitions of a few, and to understand that there never was a place for you at their exclusive, elitist table. That was only a carrot dangled in order to get you to be a front man and to take the fall for them should, as has happened, their nefarious tactics come to light.
Knocking down others in order to raise yourself has never worked. Only by supporting the United States Constitution will you find that you may freely pursue your own happiness and, in that pursuit, perhaps even find it.
It is narcissistic at best. Considering the behavior of this administration to date, at worst it smacks of the McCarthy era.
The White House wants to save everything to do with President Obama for his eventual presidential library. This includes information posted by the President on the internet. Not a bad thing, until you read just how this is now being hired out.
Here are the pertinent parts:
1. Purpose
The purpose of this Statement of Objectives (SOO) is to obtain the necessary services to ensure that content published by the Executive Office of the President (EOP) on publicly-accessible web sites is archived in accordance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA), that information posted on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP maintains a presence is archived in accordance with the PRA, and that all archived information is securely stored and provided to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for historical preservation, in accordance with the PRA.
2. Scope
The contractor shall provide the necessary services to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP on publicly-accessible web sites, along with information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP offices under PRA maintains a presence, throughout the term of the contract. The contractor shall if possible, capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP on non-public websites. The contractor shall include in the information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP maintains a presence both comments posted on pages created by EOP and messages sent to EOP accounts on those web sites. Publicly-accessible sites may include, but are not limited to social networking sites. The contractor shall provide a user-friendly way of organizing and searching captured information. The contractor shall properly transfer the captured information, as identified by EOP, to NARA in an acceptable format for both preservation in NARA’s Electronic Records Archive and presentation at the future Presidential Library. The Contractor shall provide a method to separate content posted by other EOP component offices as required.
3. Period of Performance and Place of Performance
The period of performance is for twelve months from date of award and seven one year options for a total of eight years. The work may be performed and stored at the Contractor’s facility as appropriate.
4. Background
In order to comply with the Presidential Records Act, the White House New Media team is looking for a non personal service contractor to crawl and archive PRA content on all third party sites where the EOP has a presence (i.e. Facebook.com/whitehouse, Twitter.com/whitehouse). Currently, the Government team is capturing the data and content both programmatically (via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) from social networks) and manually (through daily screen shots). EOP requires a provider to ensure we automatically capture this content in a scalable, efficient and reliable manner.
5. Performance Objectives
(A) The scope is to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer to NARA all content posted by EOP components subject to the PRA on publicly-accessible websites during each calendar year.
(B) Capture and store content of any kind, including text, graphic, audio, and video, in any existing file format.
(C) Demonstrate an ability to adapt to and archive new file formats that are created after the initiation of this contract.
(D) Capture and store content regardless of whether it is uploaded from the EOP network to the site or created directly on the site.
(E) Capture all created content at regular intervals daily, ensuring the retention of any deltas introduced between captures per day (it is preferable, but not necessary, for vendor to capture content that was added to a site and subsequently removed in the interval between captures). Vendor must capture content at least twice a day, and preferably would have a process to initiate a re-crawling of the content on demand.
(F) Capture (and later display) content in context, as it appeared on a given web page.
(G) Capture of comments and publicly-visible tags posted by users on publicly-accessible websites on which an EOP component subject to the PRA maintains a presence. Vendor must be able to either:
(i) Capture all comments posted to a list of websites provided to vendor; or
(ii) Capture a sample of comments posted to a list of websites provided to vendor, according to a sampling methodology that will be provided to vendor and approved by EOP.
(H) Provide the ability to search and/or organize collections by website, keyword, date and/or filter by file type.
(I) Store and transfer data in a manner that preserves both the record content, associated with comments, and related objects, as they were created and with the relationships they exhibited on the web page at the time of capture creation.
(J) Ability for government employees to tag captures from publicly-accessible websites by arbitrary fields or tags such as office or issue (i.e. OVP or health care).
(K) Provide a web-based tool for government employees to administer and manage this record-keeping. (i.e. add new publicly-accessible websites to the crawl or adjust the crawl frequency). Provide a minimum of 10 simultaneous login accounts.
12. EOP Special Contract Requirements
12.1 Restriction Against Disclosure
12.1.2
The Contractor agrees, in the performance of this task order, to keep the information disclosed to the Contractor, or information contained in the source documents furnished by the EOP or otherwise obtained in the course of its employment in the strictest confidence, said information being the sole property of the EOP. The Contractor also agrees not to publish, reproduce or otherwise divulge such information, in whole or in part, in any manner or form, nor authorize or permit others to do so, taking reasonable measures as are necessary to restrict access to the information, while in his or her possession, to those employees who must have the information to perform the work provided herein on a ?need-to-know basis, and agrees to immediately notify the Contracting Officer in writing in the event the Contractor determines, or has reason to suspect, a breach of this requirement. The Contractor is responsible for ensuring all employees involved in the performance of this task order sign a ?Non-Disclosure Agreement (See Attachment 1). The Contractor shall provide an original copy of each signed statement to the Contracting Officer prior to each employee beginning work.
13. Prohibition of Advertising of Award
13.1
The Contractor shall not refer to this award in commercial advertising, or similar promotions in such a manner as to state or to imply that the product or services provided is endorsed, preferred, or is considered superior to other products or services by the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and any of its components including the White House. This includes advertising, or similar promotions, in all forms or electronic, broadcast, and print media.
13.1.2
In addition, the Contractor is restricted from reproducing the image(s) of the EOP or the White House in any form of commercial advertising, or similar promotion. This includes images of official seals and buildings. The reproduction of official seals and the images of buildings are a matter controlled by regulation and Executive Order. Any proposed usage of such symbols must be brought to the attention of the Contracting Officer (CO).
From the Q&As:
2. Approximately how many sites are controlled by EOP?
Answer: The 7 networks where the EOP currently maintains a presence are:
www.facebook.com/whitehouse
www.twitter.com/whitehouse
www.myspace.com/whitehouse
www.flickr.com/whitehouse
www.youtube.com/whitehouse
www.vimeo.com/whitehouse
www.slideshare.com/whitehouse
4. Is there an incumbent currently performing this work (even manually)?
Answer: There is no incumbent the Government staff does this manually.
9. The Presidential Records Act does not require the storage or archiving of non-EOP content, as such is there a specific reason as to why the content provided on EOP related websites in the form of comments is included in these archiving procedures?
Answer: The PRA includes in its definition of presidential records content “received” by PRA components and personnel. Out of an abundance of caution, we are treating comments made by non-PRA personnel on sites on which a PRA component has a presence as presidential records, requiring them to be captured or sampled.
10. Has NARA’s Electronic Records Archive expressed an interest in public content contributed to EOP websites?
Answer: See the answer to question #9.
Now if all this was just for the sake of posterity and just to be sent to the National Archives, why do government employees need to the ability to sort and search the data for words like “health care”?
I can’t help but wonder if they’ll also be including an archive of the Organizing For America website, particularly when it referred to citizens showing up at townhalls as “Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists“?