Attack on Libya is legal and does not require Congressional approval.

The President cannot send US forces into war with Congress approval? right?

Wrong.

The President CAN send in forces if there is an eminent threat against the US or its citizens.

But Libya was not a threat to us so this doesn't fall under that rule right? Correct!

But...

In 1945, when the vote to join the U.N. was before the Senate, Senators Wheeler and Willis offered an amendment that "sought to require the President to obtain specific Congressional authorization before he could make armed forces available to the UNO Security Council to halt an aggression or to maintain peace. "

This amendment was voted down 65 - 9.

Because this amendment was voted down by the Senate, it allows the President, when acting with U.N. approval, has the right to use American military forces.


United Nations Participatory Act

The President shall not be deemed to require the authorization of the Congress to make available to the Security Council on its call in order to take action under article 42 of said Charter and pursuant to such special agreement or agreements the armed forces, facilities, or assistance provided for therein

Additionally, according to United Nations peacekeeping : the effectiveness of the legal framework : hearing before the Legislation and National Security Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, second session, March 3, 1994 (1994)

Preventive or enforcement action by these forces upon the order of the Security Council would not be an act of war but would be international action for the preservation of the peace and for the purpose of preventing war. Consequently, the provisions of the Charter do not affect the exclusive power of the Congress to declare war.

So, regardless of how we feel about this latest military incursion into yet another country, the President is legally "making those forces available" to the U.N. Security Council, which is in full accordance with the laws of the United States.

Follow John Galts Example!

My one wish: Followers of Rand would follow Rand and quit. Follow the example of John Galt. Just quit. The world will not stop. The world will not crumble. The machine will continue without you.

But you won't quit. Because you know the entire philosophy is laid on a false foundation. YOU will crumble, not the world.

I’m not an angry listener, but I play one on radio!

This was brought to my attention a few days ago.

You're driving home from work listening to a pundit on your radio, pissed that the car in front of you won't JUST GO! The pundit is rambling on and on and opens up the phones to callers. Just then a man named Don gets on agreeing with the pundit and offering personal experience to back up the pundits views!

Wow, you think. That guys story is exactly what the pundit said was happening. The screener really found the right person to put on didn't they?

We all know about screeners, who talk to the phone ins before they actually go on the air so it's never been a surprise when someone who agrees with the host gets through and those that do not agree seem to be people who don't really know what they are talking about. But it seems the truth is much much stranger and even more devious.

Enter Premiere On Call

“Premiere On Call is our new custom caller service,” read the service’s website, which disappeared as this story was being reported . “We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes or deliver your scripts. Using our simple online booking tool, specify the kind of voice you need, and we’ll get your the right person fast. Unless you request it, you won’t hear that same voice again for at least two months, ensuring the authenticity of your programming for avid listeners.”

In other words, you can pay this service to call up your radio program and deliver any scripted or non scripted dialogue you wish. That's right, these are paid plants posing as callers for radio programs. This way you can get exactly the message you want out to the people you want to hear it, in just the voice you want it delivered.

And who is Premiere On Call? Why it's none other than Premiere Radio Networks, the largest syndication company in the United States and a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications.

Fox News handles all the "news" for Clear Channel Communications more than 100 of Clear Channel’s news/talk stations.

* Reaches more than 154 million people, or 75% of the 18+ U.S. population.
* Operates over 800 radio stations reaching more than 97 million listeners every week.



So the next time that caller gives you the anecdotal fodder you need for your next political discussion. Keep in mind, they just might be paid to deliver the message.

- source

Don't have the votes? Remove the voter, says GOP

When the Ohio senate took Senate bill 5 into committee, they were facing a deadlock for the committee vote 6-6. But that isn't a problem for Republicans.

If the vote isn't going to go their way, they simply remove the Senator casting the vote and replace him with someone who will vote in their favor.

Sen. Bill Seitz, of Cincinnati, who opposes the bill, has been removed from the committee and replaced with Sen. Cliff Hite, of Findlay. The switch was made to ensure the Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee passes the bill, said Sen. Kevin Bacon, chairman of the committee.

Then the bill moved on to a second committee where again it faced a deadlocked vote.

No problem for the Republicans who simply removed yet another elected representative and replaced him with someone who would vote in their favor again!

It took the removal of two -- count 'em -- union-sympathetic Republicans from Ohio state Senate committees, but supporters of Gov. John Kasich's (R) plan to limit collective bargaining rights for state workers were able to move their plan one step closer to Kasich's desk today.



In order to ensure a vote that would go Kasich's way, the leader of the GOP-controlled state Senate removed Sen. Bill Seitz (R) from the Insurance and Labor Committee and Sen. Scott Oelslager (R) from the Rules Committee. Both Republicans are opposed to Kasich's collective bargaining plan, and their votes against it would have deadlocked their respective committees, thus keeping the bill from moving ahead.

So there you have our Representative government at work. There you have the Republican response to "You don't have the votes." There you have the Republican response to the "will of the people." And there you see the depths of deceit and corruption of the Republican agenda.

Elected officials, elected Republican officials, removed from their committees in order to insure the vote goes in their favor.

They just spit on the voters who elected these two Republican State Senators to represent them. This is beyond the pale.

A binding promise, a broken pledge

On September 23, 2010, the Republicans unveiled their Pledge to America. It's number one priority was job creation. John Boehner keeps the press release on his own website, a reminder of the priorities of this Pledge.

What is a pledge? Websters defines it as a binding promise. So,the Republicans made a binding promise to the American people to put job creation as their number one priority. In their own words:

Joblessness is the single most important challenge facing America today. A plan to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America more competitive must be the first and most urgent domestic priority of our government.

In the words of John Boehner:

And if some of those jobs are lost in this, so be it.

So be it.

And now, as the Republicans cut the budget, we are seeing more and more experts speak out. Today, Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke said that House GOP’s 2011 spending plan would likely cost “a couple hundred thousand jobs."



A couple hundred thousand more people out of work. A couple hundred thousand more families on unemployment. A couple hundred thousand more people competing for the few jobs that are out there. A couple hundred thousand more families uncertain about their future. A couple hundred thousand more paychecks not being spent to stimulate the economy.

Bernake went on to say,“Our sense is that the 60 billion dollars cut spread out in the normal way would reduce growth. But we think given the size it’s one to two tenths [of a percentage point reduction to gross domestic product], about a couple hundred thousand jobs.It’s not trivial.”

We have all broken promises in our lives. It doesn't make us bad people, it makes us people. But, most of us don't have so many people's well being in our hands, their very future depends on this promise being kept. A couple hundreds thousand families are now going to bear the burden of a broken promise. They are the casualties of the shattered pledge.

And it's not trivial.

Cry Freedom and let loose the soldiers of the cyber-war

If you have any knowledge of cyberspace at all, then you know the one group you don;t want to cross is not a government agency or a certain think tank or a news organization or even some business conglomerate. Its a group called Anonymous.

When the U.S. went after Wikileaks, Anonymous announced its support of the archive site and launched a series of DDoS attacks against Amazon, PayPal, MasterCard, Visa and the Swiss bank PostFinance, in retaliation for perceived anti-WikiLeaks behavior.

After allegations of election rigging surfaced in Iran, Anonymous created and launched a website called Anonymous Iran. The site has drawn over 22,000 supporters world wide and allows for information exchange between the world and Iran, despite attempts by the Iranian government to censor news about the riots on the internet. The site provides resources and support to Iranians who are protesting.

Anonymous is one of the most secretive and most well known hacker groups in history. They are the mujaheddin of the internet, the freedom fighters of world wide web and cyber terrorists all rolled into one nifty highly marketable package. They are a nameless ( sort of ), faceless group that inspires praise, hate, respect, fear and anger.

And now they have announced their next target: The Koch Brothers.



And true to their word, they began by taking down the Koch Brothers back Americans for Prosperity website several times on the night of Feburary 27th.

Anonymous released this statement:

Dear Citizens of the United States of America,



It has come to our attention that the brothers, David and Charles Koch--the billionaire owners of Koch Industries--have long attempted to usurp American Democracy. Their actions to undermine the legitimate political process in Wisconsin are the final straw. Starting today we fight back.

Koch Industries, and oligarchs like them, have most recently started to manipulate the political agenda in Wisconsin. Governor Walker's union-busting budget plan contains a clause that went nearly un-noticed. This clause would allow the sale of publicly owned utility plants in Wisconsin to private parties (specifically, Koch Industries) at any price, no matter how low, without a public bidding process. The Koch's have helped to fuel the unrest in Wisconsin and the drive behind the bill to eliminate the collective bargaining power of unions in a bid to gain a monopoly over the state's power supplies.

The Koch brothers have made a science of fabricating 'grassroots' organizations and advertising campaigns to support them in an attempt to sway voters based on their falsehoods. Americans for Prosperity, Club for Growth and Citizens United are just a few of these organizations. In a world where corporate money has become the lifeblood of political influence, the labor unions are one of the few ways citizens have to fight against corporate greed. Anonymous cannot ignore the plight of the citizen-workers of Wisconsin, or the opportunity to fight for the people in America's broken political system. For these reasons, we feel that the Koch brothers threaten the United States democratic system and, by extension, all freedom-loving individuals everywhere. As such, we have no choice but to spread the word of the Koch brothers' political manipulation, their single-minded intent and the insidious truth of their actions in Wisconsin, for all to witness.


Anonymous hears the voice of the downtrodden American people, whose rights and liberties are being systematically removed one by one, even when their own government refuses to listen or worse - is complicit in these attacks. We are actively seeking vulnerabilities, but in the mean time we are calling for all supporters of true Democracy, and Freedom of The People, to boycott all Koch Industries' paper products. We welcome unions across the globe to join us in this boycott to show that you will not allow big business to dictate your freedom.

U.S. Product Boycott List

* Vanity Fair
* Quilted Northern
* Angel Soft
* Sparkle
* Brawny
* Mardi Gras
* Dixie

European Product Boycott List

* Demak'Up
* Kitten Soft
* Lotus / Lotus Soft
* Tenderly
* Nouvelle Soft
* Okay Ktchen Towels
* Colhogar
* Delica
* Inversoft
* Tutto

To identify these brands, please look for the following logo anywhere on the packaging:




Anonymous.



We are Legion.

We do not forgive.

We do not forget.

Expect us.

I, for one, welcome Anonymous into the fray. I welcome their particular brand of protest into this arena. Why shouldn't the people have someone on their side for a change?

Freedom must be won. It cannot be given. While the teachers and corrections officers and snowplow drivers and emergency medical technicians and fire departments take to the streets in Wisconsin, we all must fight from our home states and countries by whatever means are left to us. Blogs and boycotts and even cyber attacks against the very people who are trying to buy America's freedom away from it's people.

So, Anonymous, I salute you. You have my support and the support of a great many others. Stay true to the cause and Fight on brothers and sisters! Fight on!

Cutting more jobs? So be it, says Boehner

John "The Crying Man" Boehner makes the false claim that President Obama has added " 200,000 new federal jobs" and then says if those jobs are cut by the Republican budget cuts, "So be it."


In reality, President Obama has added between 20,000 to 52,000 new Federal jobs ( depends on who you ask ) and further as a percent of the total US population the number of Federal jobs is at the lowest point it has been in over fifty years!


There is your Republicans focused on job creation. There is your Right Wing values. Save the tax cuts for the rich, cut the rug out from under the poor and eliminate jobs as they do it!

From Boehners own lie filled mouth. Cut jobs? So be it!


To see the video for yourself, you can find it on YouTube HERE.

Timestamp 10:26 of the video.