Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Strike on Iran could prompt Hezbollah attack within U.S. -- Reuters Investigates
Strike on Iran could prompt Hezbollah attack within U.S. -- Reuters Investigates
Reuters investigative correspondent Mark Hosenball reports that the intelligence community believes the Islamic militant group Hezbollah stands ready to hit civilian targets in the United States if Iran is attacked. (April 5, 2012)
‘REAL NEWS FROM THE BLAZE’: KITCHEN TABLE ECONOMICS AND BRING-HOME PAY
‘REAL NEWS FROM THE BLAZE’: KITCHEN TABLE ECONOMICS AND BRING-HOME PAY
The Senate Budget Office notes that during Obama’s first term, the nation has run four consecutive trillion-dollar deficits, and under his budget, we would see another trillion-dollar deficit for FY 2013. The SBC writes in a statement:
The U.S.’ per-person government debt is now worse than that of Greece. Using the Administration’s own numbers:
In just four years, President Obama’s policies will have added $6.4 trillion in new gross debt, for a total debt of $16.4 trillion by the end of this year.
Per-household debt will have risen from $85,500 at the end of 2008 to $135,100 by the end of 2012.
Average spending under the Obama Administration will be 33 percent higher than the four years preceding his term.
Spending in 2012 will be $800 billion higher than 2008.
Per-household spending in 2012 will be $7,000 greater than 2008—a 23 percent increase.
Per-household spending in 2022 under the president’s budget will be $44,000, nearly $20,000 higher than in 2008.
Per-household debt in 2022 under the president’s budget will be $195,000, more than double what it was in 2008.
In critiquing Republican Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, Obama characterized the House Budget Committee Chairman’s cost-cutting measures as “thinly veiled social Darwinism” that is “antithetical to our entire history.”
MA SCHOOL REMOVES ‘GOD’ FROM LEE GREENWOOD‘S ’GOD BLESS THE U.S.A’ DURING ASSEMBLY
MA SCHOOL REMOVES ‘GOD’ FROM LEE GREENWOOD‘S ’GOD BLESS THE U.S.A’ DURING ASSEMBLY
Should schools violate intellectual property rights by removing "God" from a commercially released song? Should references to God be removed from songs at all?
School changes lyrics from 'God Bless the USA' to 'We love the USA' : MyFoxBOSTON.com
Greenwood went on to say that “we can’t take God out of the song, we can’t take God out of The Pledge of Allegiance, we can’t take God off of the American currency.”
School changes lyrics from 'God Bless the USA' to 'We love the USA' : MyFoxBOSTON.com
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Uncivilized Tactics at UC Irvine (Rough Cut)
A six-man, six-woman jury found members of the Muslim Brotherhood group, the Muslim Student Union, guilty on all counts of misdemeanor disturbing a public meeting and conspiracy in connection with the Feb. 8, 2010.
They deliberately broke the law. They deliberately disrupted and shut down Ambassador to Israel Michael Oren's, speech, knowing full well that they risked arrest. The stealth jihadists use freedom of speech to shut down freedom of speech. There is no freedom of speech under the sharia. Today American law triumphed over the sharia.
Atlas readers and others are to be applauded for urging the DA to prosecute the Muslim Brotherhood supremacist group. The Irvine 11 are the MSU students at UC Irvine who are accused of disrupting Ambassador Oren's speech. This was an orchestrated attack on free speech. Please take a minute to email Tony Rackauckas, the Orange County DA, letting him know you support his decision to prosecute these MSU students. Muslim Brotherhood-tied CAIR pushed for an aggressive plan to stop this prosecution. Both groups were named as Brotherhood proxies and unindicted co-conspirators in the largest Hamas funding trial in American history.
No modern phenomenon has impacted college campuses today more than the Muslim Student Association/Union. Founded in 1963 by the Muslim Brotherhood — the same radical Sunni organization that spawned the terror group Hamas — the MSU has since made headlines around the country due to its militant and controversial rhetoric. The MSU, especially that of University of California at Irvine, is infamous for attracting charges of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism, as well as for sparking the 2007 investigation of UCI for anti-Semitism. The MSU is no stranger to the First Amendment. Come May every year, the organizations hides behind it so its members can spout anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic remarks on college campuses. And just last February, MSU members at UCI attempted to use their right to free speech in order to deny Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren his own free speech. (more here.)
The Brotherhood thugs:
Atlas Shrugs, Feb 2010: Oren was interrupted 10 times while trying to give his speech before 500 people at the UCI Student Center, where there was heavy security. Oren took a 20 minute break after the fourth protest, asked for hospitality and resumed his speech, only to be interrupted again by young men yelling at him every few minutes. Many members of the audience also applauded Oren.
After the 10th interruption, several dozens students who opposed Oren’s talk got up and walked out and staged a protest outside. It is not clear whether they were members of the UCI Muslim Student Union, which issued an email earlier in the day condemning Oren’s appearance on campus.
They invoke freedom of speech to to kill freedom of speech. There is no free speech under the sharia. Today American law triumphed over the sharia.
UC Muslim students guilty of disturbing speech (hat tip Laurie R)
SANTA ANA – A jury Thursday found 10 Muslim university students guilty of disrupting a speech by an Israeli diplomat at UC Irvine last year, in a case that focused on free speech.
The six-man, six-woman jury found the students guilty on all counts of misdemeanor disturbing a public meeting and conspiracy in connection with the Feb. 8, 2010, talk by Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States.
We're delighted the jury saw this the same way we saw it," said Assistant District Attorney Dan Wagner.
The prosecution said the defendants used a "heckler's veto" to thwart the free speech rights of the speaker and others in the audience, while the defense countered what the protesters did was a lawful expression of their free speech.
Defense attorney Dan Stormer said he was honored to represent the students, but disappointed in the verdict.
The jurors left the courtroom without comment immediately after the verdict was announced.
Court will reconvene at 1:30 this afternoon for a possible sentencing.
After months of pretrial motion, the trial lasted eight days, including about two days spent on closing arguments by one prosecutor and six defense attorneys earlier this week.
Wagner told jurors the protesters actions amounted to censorship when they planned to disrupt Oren and tried to cover it up.
The right to free speech is not absolute, he said, and it does not include canceling out the speech of others.
"If heckler's veto was allowed, then no one would have the right to free speech," he said. "Freedom does not mean that no one can tell me what I can do. That's not freedom; that's anarchy."
The prosecutor urged jurors not to buy into the "alternate reality" created by the defense, saying the defendants "convicted themselves."
Defense attorneys for the students – seven from UC Irvine and three from UC Riverside – said their clients intentionally disrupted the speech, but they believed they were conducting a peaceful protest that did not break any laws.
University officials' zero tolerance for protest kept students from exercising their rights to free speech, defense attorneys argued.
And, it they told jurors in Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson's court officials were prohibiting the content of the protesters' statements at a controversial political speech and not simply their conduct.
One of the elements the prosecution needed to prove for the jury to find the students guilty was the students' conduct and not the content of their message disrupted the speaker.
"It was the message that was being targeted by administrators," defense attorney Lisa Holder said, "The university was prohibiting (the students') unpopular pro-Palestinian message."
[...]
The "intent of the conspiracy was to rob the speaker of his free speech rights," Wagner told jurors, adding that a planned Q&A would have given students ample opportunity to have their say, not yelling out "something non-responsive that violates the rules we all live with."
When in an emailed "game plan" before the event students expressed willingness to disrupt regardless of what the university officials and police would do, that Wagner said was proof of conspiracy and the unlawfulness of the plan.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
IMAM CALLING FOR WAR AGAINST FRANCE, MUSLIMS MARCH SCREAMING "DEATH TO THE JEWS!"
We have just released a new and very shocking video, made in Paris last Friday, September 16th, in the islamized district of Barbès (18th district of Paris).
Days before this Friday, the French Interior Minister (Claude Guéant) had said publicly, on TV, that all the public Muslim prayers are for now on forbidden in France.
So, we sent a special reporter in the streets where, each Friday, for 15 years, the Muslims had been praying illegally on the ground. Our reporter videotaped a salafist preacher calling for war against France, in front of the Polonceau mosque (in the 18th district of Paris), and calling for the death of the French police and the French people "pigs".
Then, he videotaped pro-Hamas extremists marching in the streets of Paris with a big Hamas flag, and screaming "Death to the Jews!" And, then, he videotaped the Muslims praying on the ground in front of a barracks that had been renovated by the French authorities for them (of course, this renovation was illegal, since it is forbidden to give public funds to a religion).
The guy with the long hair and keffiyeh is basically warning of an uprising in at least 5 boroughs.
He clearly states "It will explode" a number of times.
Usual threat of violence... what else is new...
He accuses France of supporting Israel and alleges that the Le Pen led FN (far right party) is the most pro Israel in France (totally false, Jean Marie Le Pen minimized the holocaust and was known as a fascist racist)
The man then attacks France claims that prayer is their right as citizens and that because they pay taxes, they have the right to pray in public (I guess he never went to school in France because no other country makes the faith-state separation more clear than France).
Then the Hamas marchers come and chant the usual, Kill the Jews and Allah Akbar ....
The film maker notices that there are no women in the Muslim crowds and that this was the "first day without street prayers in Paris" sarcastically.
As from Friday, September 16, 2011, the collective prayers and illegal street is prohibited in France. This large first (which is illegal ban ...) was it acted upon? The two mosques of the 18th arrondissement of Paris were closed to the "faithful", and signs the new place of worship, located at Inside the barracks of the Rue de la Porte des Poissonniers, offered to the Muslims of the Republic "secular." front of the mosque from the street Polonceau, we filmed the imprecations of a hateful and racist Salafi, prompting until armed revolt against France, punctuated the roar repeated that "Allah is great", followed by applause. Then we went to the barracks, surrounded by groups of Muslims shouting hate speech, such as "Death to the Jews "certainly objects of future lawsuits ruthless SOS-Racism and other leagues usual ... Minor clashes, fortunately not serious, occurred between the security service, consisting of relatively older workers, and some Salafist colors Hamas, calling the scandal and inciting violence. The calm restored, and prayer in the open (and therefore illegal) of several hundred participants completed, all things have passed away without further violence and spoken. According to testimonies, prayer and banned illegal street took place at the same time outside the mosque closed the street Myrha. There was, at least, no visible police presence wherever we went. wait for the next Friday for the rest of the experience.
Obama Donations - Anyone, Anywhere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UzRzsWc0Kds
The Obama campaign does not have the universal 3-digit security code feature for credit card transactions on their website. It appears that anyone, anywhere can donate to President Obama's re-election campaign, all you need is a credit card number. Watch me put Obama's donation system, as well as his opponents, to the test.
Should anyone, anywhere in the world be able to donate to the Obama re-election campaign? Why or why not?
Here we go again: Obama website accepting contributions from phony donors.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/04/02/here-we-go-again-obama-website-accepting-contributions-from-phony-donors/
The Wall Street Journal Details how President Obama is trying to Destroy the Coal Industry in America
The Wall Street Journal Details how President Obama is trying to Destroy the Coal Industry in America
Editorial board member Joe Rago on the EPA's de facto coal ban.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Netanyahu's U.N. Address (9.23.11)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imJFnqi5rEs&feature=player_embedded
IS OBAMA USING ‘I AM MY BROTHER’S KEEPER’ TO PEDDLE REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH?
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-calls-more-redistribution-wealth-declaring-i-am-my-brother-s-keeper
On 30 March 2012, Obama appeared in a campaign speech in Vermont where he spoke about helping others and the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. In his address, Obama condemned what he sees as “you’re-on-your-own economics” and argued, as CNS News alleges, for policies that would transfer wealth from one group to another.
In Genesis, Adam and Eve’s first-born son is Cain and their second-born son is Abel. Cain becomes a farmer and Abel becomes a shepherd. When Cain offers the fruit of his farming to God and Abel offers a lamb, God is pleased with Abel’s offering but not Cain’s. Cain then kills Abel. When God asks Cain where Abel is, Cain says: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
But Obama’s focus on that particular episode in the book of Genesis is instructive. This use of the Cain and Abel story is classic liberation theology, the tasty slurry of Christian teachings and Marxist class struggle that was characteristic of the Church the Obama family attended in Chicago for 20 years. The story of Cain and Abel has a special meaning to liberation theology that sets it apart from most mainstream Christian denominations. In most Christian churches, the idea of original sin is usually associated with the narrative of Adam and Eve, who disobeyed God when they fell to temptation and ate the forbidden fruit. In Liberation theology, on the other hand, Adam and Eve’s original sin is largely abandoned and replaced by an increased significance on Cain’s betrayal of his brother.
Further explanation of this significance comes from Christopher Rowland and Mark Corner’s 1989 book Liberating Exegesis: The Challenge of Liberation Theology to Biblical Studies:
The story of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4) is read as an example of the kind of struggle which goes on in society between the landed and the landless, the farmers and the shepherds…The cause of Abel’s death is the division of labour, which creates social classes and the ensuing struggle for land.
As a central theme of the class-struggle preached at church while Obama attended, the liberation theology of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, he’s clearly drawing from a familiar well.
HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER HEARD BILL CLINTON SAY OBAMA INELIGIBLE
Bettina Viviano – who started her own film production company in 1990 after serving as vice president of production for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment – stated that it was common knowledge among delegates committed to Hillary that the Clintons believed Obama was constitutionally ineligible and that Bill Clinton would eventually disclose his belief to the public.
Jerome R. Corsi, a Harvard Ph.D., is a WND senior staff reporter. He has authored many books, including No. 1 N.Y. Times best-sellers "The Obama Nation" and "Unfit for Command." Corsi's latest book is "Where's the REAL Birth Certificate?"
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Employment and Unemployment, History Degrees: Penn and Harvard
Education matters
Paul Harrington, professor and director of the Center for Labor Markets & Policy at Drexel University explains the correlation between unemployment and education level.
Mal-employment hurts earnings
Laura Wesolowski has applied for more than 200 jobs. She holds a master's degree in public policy from University of Pennsylvania.
Harvard and Penn history graduates
http://www.philly.com/philly/video/BC1530987322001.html
Debunking the Palestine Lie
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has launched an international campaign to achieve recognition by the United Nations for an independent Palestinian state. Abbas and his international supporters claim that only Israel (with the United States) stands in the way of this act of historical justice, which would finally bring about peace in the Middle East.
This video debunks the Palestinians' claim and shows that Abbas has been lying about the origins and history of the conflict. Palestinian leaders have rejected partition plans that would have given them much more land for their independent state than the Jews were offered for theirs. Rather than being the innocent victims of a "dispossession" at the hands of the Israelis, the Palestinians rejected reasonable compromises and instead pursued their aim of getting rid of the only Jewish state in the world.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Religious Liberty HHS Mandate
Religious Liberty HHS Mandate
What do you understand Richard Thompson to be describing? How do you plan on responding to the current challenge against the religious liberty of the Roman Catholic Church?
Richard Thompson's Stand Up Detroit Excerpt
RT speech at Stand Up Detroit rally, March 23, 2012
Is this a reasonable policy or is this governmental bullying? Why do you think so?
Eric Metaxas debated Donna Crane, policy director at NARAL Pro-Choice America, about Obama's decision to force Catholic institutions to ensure insurance coverage of contraception on MSNBC's "Jansing & Co."
Father Sammie Maletta's Sermon on Obama's Assault on Religious Liberty
On February 5, 2012 Father Sammie Maletta delivered a Homily at St. John the Evangelist Parish in St. John, Indiana. This Homily addressed how Obama is threatening Religious Freedom and declaring war with the Catholic Church. Go to http://bit.ly/zPdgpw to fight the HHS Mandate.
SPOTTED: Contraceptives near Georgetown law school
Are contraceptives readily available, and inexpensive or free, adjacent to Georgetown University, without a government mandate compromising religious liberty?
Religious Liberty: Obamacare's First Casualty
Should the government determine how religions operate? Why or why not?
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/22/morning-bell-religious-liberty-under-attack/
The controversy over the Obama Administration's anti-conscience mandate and the fight for religious liberty only serves to highlight the inherent flaws in Obamacare.
Sermon of Father Jay Scott Newman - Tyrannical Government Decrees and the Religious Liberty Crisis
St. Mary's Catholic Church, Greenville, South Carolina, February 5, 2012
CATHOLIC BISHOPS CALL OBAMACARE AN ‘UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY’
The group is accusing the government of religious discrimination.
Obama's abortion absolutism and the 1st Amendment
Dick Retta is "not deterred by . . . by a civil lawsuit the Justice Department filed against him in July."
"This President, as a State Senator, voted against a bill requiring doctors to care for babies born after failed abortions (and then misled the media on the matter). As a candidate, he promised his first act would be signing the sweeping "Freedom of Choice Act," which would wipe out nearly all limitations on abortion and abortion subsidies. And then during the budget debates we saw him draw nearly his only line in the sand over Planned Parenthood subsidies.
It's abortion absolutism. Everything else -- free assembly, free speech, conscience protection, and his party's other interests -- they all take a back seat to protecting abortion."
Catholics, during the current regime, are restricted in exercising their civil rights of religious liberty and free speech under the First Amendment.
References from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on Religious Liberty
‘REAL NEWS FROM THE BLAZE’: WORLD POWERS UNITING AGAINST THE WEST
BRICS-Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa
‘REAL NEWS FROM THE BLAZE’: WORLD POWERS UNITING AGAINST THE WEST
Friday, March 30, 2012
Ian Hunter Band members, RICKY BYRD & MARK BOSCH - HIT SQUAD NYC 3/28/2012
Mark Bosch, the current guitarist in Ian Hunter band joins Ricky Byrd (a former Ian Hunter guitarist) onstage with some of the other members of the NYC Hit Squad (Muddy Shews and Liberty DeVitto) for a classic Ian Hunter/Mott The Hoople song.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Not Even At $10 A Gallon? Gasoline Prices
Feb 29, 2012
Chu: Energy Dept Working To Wean U.S. Off Oil, Not Lower Gas Prices
In 2009, Mitch McConnell asked that the Senate consider a bill to allow offshore drilling if gas prices rise but then Sen. Ken Salazar objected to the proposal. McConnell then asked if the bill could be triggered when gas reaches $4.50 per gallon, then $5 per gallon, then $7.50 per gallon, and finally $10 per gallon. All the prices were objected to. Then Senator Salazar was subsequently promoted to the position of Secretary of the Interior.
Not Even At $10 A Gallon?
Brazil Petrobras gets permit for U.S. deep waters in Gulf of Mexico
March. 18, 2011
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/03/18/Petrobras-gets-permit-for-US-deep-waters/UPI-87891300453143/
Dilma Rousseff, a former guerrilla leader, and current Brazilian president, spent nearly three years in jail in the early 1970s.
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/features/09/24/special-report-dilma-rousseff-brazil%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98automatic-pilot%E2%80%99/
19,000 Jobs Worth $1.1 Billion in Wages Lost Nationally Since Offshore Drilling Moratorium Imposed
http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Mason-Economic_Cost_of_Offshore_Moratorium.pdf
OMSA: End the De Facto Gulf Drilling Moratorium Now
The Offshore Marine Services Association is calling on the Obama Administration to end its de facto moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Watch this video to learn how the President and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are defying the courts, sidelining Gulf oil workers and harming the American economy.
U.S. in Contempt Over Gulf Drill Ban, Judge Rules, 2011
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-03/u-s-administration-in-contempt-over-gulf-drill-ban-judge-rules.html
JUDICIAL #FAILS: ‘REAL NEWS’ PANEL ON FEDERAL CASE AGAINST MICHIGAN MILITIA
JUDICIAL #FAILS: ‘REAL NEWS’ PANEL ON FEDERAL CASE AGAINST MICHIGAN MILITIA
What difference is there in the government prosecuting Christians, as opposed to Islamists?
ESPN ALLEGEDLY PULLS NASCAR AD OVER RELIGIOUS UNDERTONES ON DRIVER’S PERSONAL WEB SITE
ESPN ALLEGEDLY PULLS NASCAR AD OVER RELIGIOUS UNDERTONES ON DRIVER’S PERSONAL WEB SITE
What is your reaction to ESPN pulling a pro-voting spot? Did they do the right thing? Why or why not?
1st Amendment Preaching at the DMV?
In February 2011, Mark Mackey, a member of a local Calvary Chapel in Hemet, California and Pastor Bret Coronado — a faith leader at the church – were arrested after they showed up at a DMV office to read and preach from the Bible.
After Mackey began preaching, a California Highway Patrolman arrested him for preaching to a “captive audience.” Now, more than a year later, the case has made its way to trial court in Riverside County, California.
California Penal Code Section 602.1
(a) Any person who intentionally interferes with any lawful
business or occupation carried on by the owner or agent of a business
establishment open to the public, by obstructing or intimidating
those attempting to carry on business, or their customers, and who
refuses to leave the premises of the business establishment after
being requested to leave by the owner or the owner's agent, or by a
peace officer acting at the request of the owner or owner's agent, is
guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail
for up to 90 days, or by a fine of up to four hundred dollars
($400), or by both that imprisonment and fine.
(b) Any person who intentionally interferes with any lawful
business carried on by the employees of a public agency open to the
public, by obstructing or intimidating those attempting to carry on
business, or those persons there to transact business with the public
agency, and who refuses to leave the premises of the public agency
after being requested to leave by the office manager or a supervisor
of the public agency, or by a peace officer acting at the request of
the office manager or a supervisor of the public agency, is guilty of
a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for up to
90 days, or by a fine of up to four hundred dollars ($400), or by
both that imprisonment and fine.
(c) This section shall not apply to any of the following persons:
(1) Any person engaged in lawful labor union activities that are
permitted to be carried out on the property by state or federal law.
(2) Any person on the premises who is engaging in activities
protected by the California Constitution or the United States
Constitution.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to supersede the
application of any other law.
Did the preacher interfere, obstruct, or intimidate any one? Certainly he refused to leave. However, is this free speech protected by the Constitution?
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech . . . "
First Amendment
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
I Can Get Your Kid into an Ivy
95% of her teenage clients are accepted by their first-choice school. Her price: As much as $40,000 a student.
Hiring help is not the privilege of only the wealthy, of course. According to the Independent Educational Consultants Assn., 22% of first-year students at private colleges—perhaps as many as 58,000 kids—had worked with some kind of consultant.
The leading coach has run application boot camps in Manhattan and Santa Monica, Calif., which this summer cost $9,500.
She wrote: A Is for Admission: The Insider's Guide to Getting Into the Ivy League and Other Top Colleges, and then to build a thriving business that helps people game the system. As she says to parents: "You don't want to pay $180,000 for some piddling school when, by spending a little extra, your kid could get into Yale."
Ivy League schools weren't being truthful about how they reviewed students' applications. "We were forced to misrepresent things," she says. "Parents kept asking if there was an equation we used. There was." Privately, the schools referred to it as the Academic Index, a formula based on test scores and academic standing used to rank applicants.
She selects classes for students, reviews their homework, and prods them to make an impression on teachers. She checks on the students' grades, scores, rankings. She tells parents when to hire tutors and then makes sure the kids do the extra work. She vets their vacation schedules. She plans their summers.
Hernandez rarely speaks with high school counselors. She never calls a college on a student's behalf. And she is especially careful not to leave any fingerprints on the application essays, even as she edits seven, eight, sometimes 10 drafts.
First she writes a 12-to-18 page report for each new student, based on transcripts, test scores, and other accomplishments, that gives the likelihood of their gaining admission to the schools they are interested in. "I have written: 'You have 0% chance of getting into Harvard early decision. Don't apply,'" she says. "People pay for accuracy. I know exactly what it takes to get into Harvard."
as she does with most of her clients, she worked with him by e-mail and over the phone, occasionally in person. She helped him navigate the International Baccalaureate curriculum, advising him to sign up for classes that U.S. colleges would recognize as difficult.
Then she suggested he write his main application essay about something else altogether. "The Habitat for Humanity theme, the tug on your heartstrings, sounded too common," says Andrew. So he tried another topic that would reveal more about his intellectual enthusiasms: how running helped him understand the existentialist philosophy he was reading about. "She gave me specific suggestions about the essay to form one cogent image of who I am," says Andrew.
Crafting that singular, convincing portrait of the student is central to Hernandez' approach. She considers sentimental pursuits a distraction and those done out of obligation misguided.
(Almost all of her clients apply early somewhere because the acceptance rate is higher than during regular admission.)
Today, Hernandez has 80 clients.
The summer program for students was for 15 spaces. In 2006 and 2007, Hernandez and Doe raised the price, first to $8,200 and then to $9,500, and still filled one session in Manhattan and another at the Shutters Hotel in Santa Monica. Next year they may hire others to help edit the essays so they can open the program to more students. They will charge $12,500.
Religious Freedom, Liberty
Richard Thompson's Stand Up Detroit Excerpt
RT speech at Stand Up Detroit rally, March 23, 2012
Father Sammie Maletta's Sermon on Obama's Assault on Religious Liberty
On February 5, 2012 Father Sammie Maletta delivered a Homily at St. John the Evangelist Parish in St. John, Indiana. This Homily addressed how Obama is threatening our Religious Freedom and declaring war with the Catholic Church. Please take a few moments to listen. No one sums it up quite like Father Maletta. Go to http://bit.ly/zPdgpw to fight the HHS Mandate.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Head Buddhist Monk, the Novice, a River, and a Beautiful Lady
One day the head Buddhist monk was walking along with the novice and they came across a beautiful lady. The lady had no way to cross the rushing river but immediately the head monk swept her up and carried her across the river. He dropped her safely and dry on the other side of the raging river. The novice was shocked by the action of the head monk for his master had told him that to touch a woman was against the rules and they were sworn to a life of denial and chastity. For some time the novice held his tongue out of respect for his master until he could no longer stand it and he stopped the head monk and demanded an explanation.
"Master, have you forgotten what you have told me!," the novice exclaimed. "We are monks sworn to chastity and we are not to touch any woman but you just did! Why did you carry her so?"
Calmly, the master replied, "Oh, that, it was necessary to help her in such a way and I dropped her on the other side of the river. Tell me, my son, why is it that you are still carrying her?"
"Master, have you forgotten what you have told me!," the novice exclaimed. "We are monks sworn to chastity and we are not to touch any woman but you just did! Why did you carry her so?"
Calmly, the master replied, "Oh, that, it was necessary to help her in such a way and I dropped her on the other side of the river. Tell me, my son, why is it that you are still carrying her?"
BuzzFeed: Obama on the Mandate in 2008
Obama, speaking in 2007 and 2008, explains why he very much against an individual mandate.
REVEALED: INSIDE OBAMA’S INDIVIDUAL MANDATE MEMO AND WHY HE CHANGED HIS MIND
Obama Winks at Russian, Promises More Nuclear Cuts After Re-election
Obama's mic left on while speaking to Russian
This is a short clip but what do you make of the body language between the two? Are they "chummy?"
Should we be concerned about our nuclear defense after Obama's re-election? Why or why?
John Bolton comments on Obama's open mic gaffe to Dmitry Menendev.wmv
Monday, March 26, 2012
What If The National Debt Was Owed By You
What If The National Debt Was Owed By You
Students: Hear Antony Davies live at the Exploring Liberty http://lrnlbty.co/x5Zi3P or Scholarship and a Free Society Seminar http://lrnlbty.co/wz3Ao9 this summer
The U.S. federal government collected $2.2 trillion and spent $3.8 trillion in 2011. At the same time, it was $14.6 trillion in debt. These numbers are too big to comprehend, so what if we scale it down to an average household's income level? If you spent the way the government does, you might be contemplating bankruptcy. What should be done to ensure the government gets its fiscal house in order before it becomes impossible to pay the bills?
Watch more videos: http://lrnlbty.co/GSlE1Z
Obama Administration Gives 1.5 Billion to Muslim Brotherhood
Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) spoke on the House floor and addressed the recent report that the Obama Administration is giving $1.5 billion in military aid to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Obama Flexible on Western Defense After Election
The exchange:
Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.
President Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…
Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.
President Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.
Obama Asks Medvedev for ‘Space’ on Missile Defense — ‘After My Election I Have More Flexibility’: SEOUL, South Korea — At the tail end of his 90 minute meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev Monday, President Obama said that he would have “more flexibility” to deal with controversial issues such as missile defense, but incoming Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to...
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/president-obama-asks-medvedev-for-space-on-missile-defense-after-my-election-i-have-more-flexibility/
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Police Tase, Drag Man Through Airport, Drop Charges
Police Tase, Drag Man Through OKC Airport
Airport Surveillance Apparently Shows Man Dragged Face-Down by Police: Authorities in Oklahoma City are investigating an incident in which surveillance footage shows police officers apparently dragging a man face-down out of the Will Rogers World Airport. The incident occurred on Feb. 20, when James Jay Heidebrecht was arrested following a “disturbance at a security...
Airport Surveillance Apparently Shows Man Dragged Face-Down by Police
Airport Surveillance Apparently Shows Man Dragged Face-Down by Police: Authorities in Oklahoma City are investigating an incident in which surveillance footage shows police officers apparently dragging a man face-down out of the Will Rogers World Airport. The incident occurred on Feb. 20, when James Jay Heidebrecht was arrested following a “disturbance at a security...
The Night James Brown Saved Boston
The Night James Brown Saved Boston 8/1, 9:41
Can leaders pacify angry crowds? How and in what way?
Short James Brown Speech 1968, 1:25
James Brown I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing MDS 1969, 4:06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYNJK5sHHeo
June 30, 1969: JB doin' the tune "I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothing (Open Up The Door I'll Get It Myself)"
The JB'S-You Can Have Watergate,But Gimme Some Bucks (1973), 6:10
"America Is My Home" by James Brown, 3:25
Beginning Speeches, Boston, '68
Israel Palestinian Conflict: The Truth About the Peace Process
Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon explains the historical facts relating to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The video explains that the reason there is no successful peace process is because of decades of Palestinian and Arab recalcitrance and the main reason for the conflict is not Israel's presence in the West Bank, but successive Palestinian leaders resistance to Jewish sovereignty.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
INS DOC FOUND: U.S. CERTIFICATE ISSUED TO ONE EAST AFRICAN-BORN CHILD OF U.S. CITIZEN IN 1961
INS DOC FOUND: U.S. CERTIFICATE ISSUED TO ONE
EAST AFRICAN-BORN CHILD OF U.S. CITIZEN IN 1961
EAST AFRICAN-BORN CHILD OF U.S. CITIZEN IN 1961
These dates not only align with the alleged date of Obama’s birth on August 4, 1961, but also with evidence indicating that Ann Dunham departed from Hawaii beginning in February, 1961, shortly after her undocumented marriage to Obama Sr.
Also supported by this data is the implication of an African trip by the absence of Dunham’s passport information which is known to have existed from the 1960s which was used in at least one occasion for her departure with Obama Jr. to Indonesia where the two lived with Lolo Soetoro, Dunham’s second husband. If Dunham had filed for a “renewal” of an old passport, rather than for a new passport in the mid 1960’s for the Indonesian trip, which would have been the common practice for the life of a passport, this would have been indicated on the missing application which would have been included with the series of documents released by an FOIA request in early 2010.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Obama Turns World Bank on Americans, Supports Soros Candidate
Ever since the Bretton Woods institutions were founded, in the aftermath of the second world war, the Bank has been run by an American, and the International Monetary Fund by a European, under a gentleman's agreement.
America can rest assured, Kim is cool, he can dance and rap which seem to be among his top qualifications, in addition to being a Soros puppet.
Europe Turns Against the Anointed One
OBAMA: All countries are close allies!!
Can you appreciate why the world is mocking our representatives? Does the U.S. exercise diplomatic leadership in the world?
Obama and the US has a lot of close and strong allies in the world. And all small countries punches above their weight according to the president. From the show Detektor, Danish Broadcasting Corporation DR. Host is Thomas Buch-Andersen.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
O’REILLY PRODUCER INTERVIEWS SPRING BREAK STUDENTS ON OBAMA — HILARITY ENSUES
O’REILLY PRODUCER INTERVIEWS SPRING BREAK STUDENTS ON OBAMA — HILARITY ENSUES
Twitter Ideas
Twitter
Equipped with 10 touchscreen computers, 25 laptops, an active response system, and several Smart boards, Legaspi's classroom is the perfect setting for Twitter-oriented teaching.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
MINNESOTA MAN THROWN IN JAIL FOR…FAILING TO PUT UP SIDING ON HIS HOME
MINNESOTA MAN THROWN IN JAIL FOR…FAILING TO PUT UP SIDING ON HIS HOME
Should people be jailed for no siding? Why or why not?
‘If I were the devil’: the 1965 warning from Paul Harvey that’s chilling
‘If I were the devil’: the 1965 warning from Paul Harvey that’s chilling
Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009), better known as Paul Harvey, was an American radio broadcaster for the ABC Radio Networks. He broadcast News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays, as well as his famous The Rest of the Story segments. His listening audience was estimated, at its peak, at 24 million people a week. Paul Harvey News was carried on 1,200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network stations and 300 newspapers. His broadcasts and newspaper columns have been reprinted in the Congressional Record more than those of any other commentator.
Peter Johnson Jr on Steven Chu giving himself a A+ on his energy handling
Peter Johnson Jr on Steven Chu giving himself a A+ on his energy handling
Gowdy grills Steven Chu over his 2008 remarks: 'boosting gas prices to European levels'
Gowdy grills Steven Chu over his 2008 remarks: 'boosting gas prices to European levels'
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
MAN ORDERED TO APOLOGIZE TO WIFE DAILY ON FACEBOOK CITES FREE SPEECH VIOLATION & WINS
MAN ORDERED TO APOLOGIZE TO WIFE DAILY ON FACEBOOK CITES FREE SPEECH VIOLATION & WINS
Does compelling speech through a court-written apology raise as many free speech concerns as prohibiting speech? Why or why not?
Arpaio News Conference
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COURT RULES TEACHER MUST REMOVE GOD IN CLASSROOM
Bradley Johnson has been a mathematics teacher in California’s Poway Unified School District for decades. And for much of that time, he has prominently displayed patriotic and faith-themed banners in his classrooms — a move that has drawn intense criticism and removal mandates from school officials.
The banners, which touted messages like “In God We Trust,“ ”God Bless America,“ and ”God Shed His Grace on Thee,” were ordered taken down by a school principal back in 2007 when Johnson transferred to a new high school. But for years, the AP calculus teacher says that nobody saw any problem with them:
“Nobody thought there was anything wrong with them. Administrators, superintendents, school board people who had been in my room.”
After the banners came down, the veteran educator, feeling targeted over the Christian theme of the banners, filed a Free Speech lawsuit. The Los Angeles Times explains the reason for his legal challenge:
To Johnson, the banners were no more an assertion of a religious point of view than the Tibetan prayer flag, Dalai Lama poster and Malcolm X poster that other teachers had in their classrooms.
At first, Johnson was successful in his pursuits. Last year, Federal Judge Roger Benitez sided with him and ruled that his First Amendment rights had been infringed upon. But in a follow-up court ruling on Tuesday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected this claim.
The God-focused banners, which the teacher put back up after his previous court victory, were again ordered to be taken down. In this ruling, the three-judge panel claimed that the principal and the board have the right, just as any employer does, to place limits on employees’ speech. The Times continues:
The size of the banners — some 7 feet wide by 2 feet high — made them “a promotion of a particular viewpoint,” Principal Dawn Kastner is quoted as saying in the court’s 40-page opinion.
The Christian Science Monitor provides more information about the ruling:
The appeals court said Johnson was a government employee hired to teach math, not to “use his public position as a pulpit from which to preach his own views on the role of God in our nation’s history to the captive students in his mathematics classroom.”
In addition to removing the banners, the appeals court ordered Johnson to pay the school board’s legal expenses. Johnson, though, is undeterred. He says he’s willing to take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
Monday, March 19, 2012
‘AN AGENDA FOR ALL HUMANITY’: LABOUR CANDIDATE FOR LONDON MAYOR SEES ISLAM AS BLUEPRINT
Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone Finsbury Park 16.03.2012
CHICAGO COPS ARREST LOCAL JOURNALISTS: ‘YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS CAN BE TERMINATED’
CHICAGO COPS ARREST LOCAL JOURNALISTS: ‘YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS CAN BE TERMINATED’
‘REAL NEWS FROM THE BLAZE’: SUPPLY AND DEMAND POLITICS
‘REAL NEWS FROM THE BLAZE’: SUPPLY AND DEMAND POLITICS
Did the parents of former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers help finance Barack Obama’s Harvard education?
The postal carrier has a sworn affidavit stating that the radical he met as a young man turned out to be none other than Obama.
Postman: Ayers family put 'foreigner' Obama through school
Claims he met young Barack who boasted he would someday be president
Sunday, March 18, 2012
FLORIDA ATHEISTS SCRUB AWAY HIGHWAY BLESSING WITH ‘UNHOLY WATER’ BECAUSE THEY‘RE NOT GOING TO TOLERATE ’BIGOTRY’
FLORIDA ATHEISTS SCRUB AWAY HIGHWAY BLESSING WITH ‘UNHOLY WATER’ BECAUSE THEY‘RE NOT GOING TO TOLERATE ’BIGOTRY’
What is your reaction to activist atheists?
Abed Awad Promotes Islamic Sharia Law in the U.S.
Another person who promotes Islamic sharia law in the U.S. is Abed Awad, who has been listed as practicing Palestinian law (since a inactive web page) in New Jersey: but who, has also been listed as a presidential elector as well as an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University.
List of United States presidential electors, 2004
"8. Abed Awad"
Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_electors,_2004
Muslim-American Apologist Lawyer TRIES to Justify Islamic (Sharia) Laws in American Courts, 4:51
Abed Awad is a lawyer in New Jersey with a specialty in shariah-related cases. Here he tries to explain why Sharia Law should be allowed in American courts, and why it's unconstitutional if it's prohibited from being used.
1. He misinterprets Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U.S. 113 (1895), which was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court in which the court described the factors to be used when considering the application of comity.2. Comity is a courtesy between nations, not individuals, unless he wants to argue that individual Muslims are loyal first and foremost to a foreign power.
3. There is no mention of sharia law in the decision.
“No law has any effect beyond the limits of the sovereignty from which its authority is derived. The extent to which one nation shall be allowed to operate within the dominion of another nation, depends upon the comity of nations. Comity is neither a matter of absolute obligation, nor of mere courtesy and good will. It is a recognition which one nation allows within its territory to the legislative, executive or judicial acts of another nation, having due regard both to international duty and convenience, and to the rights of its own citizens or other persons who are under the protection of its laws. The comity thus extended to other nations is no impeachment of sovereignty. It is the voluntary act of the nation by which it is offered, and is inadmissible when contrary to its policy, or prejudicial to its interests. But it contributes so largely to promote justice between individuals, and to produce a friendly intercourse between the sovereignty to which they belong, that courts of justice have continually acted upon it, as a part of the voluntary law of nations. It is not the comity of the courts, but the comity of the nation, which is administered and ascertained in the same way, and guided by the same reasoning, by which all other principles of municipal law are ascertained and guided."
Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_v._Guyot
COPS ARREST RON PAUL BACKERS IN MISSOURI CAUCUS
St. Charles County Caucus Fraud
Should the people have the right to assemble peaceably to support their candidates without fear of arrest? Why or why not?
Missouri Caucus Rigged Fraud, NO Camera's Allowed Ron Paul Mitt Romney Voters Election St
Eugene Dokes, the Chairman, started the meeting by immediately declaring there would be no video or audio recording allowed, and that if anyone refused to stop, they would be removed by police. The entire room of what has been reported as over 2,500 people began booing and demanding that recording be allowed. It was not just Ron Paul people. There are no rules that filming can not be done. In a caucus, the people make the rules.
Dokes then refused to commence the meeting until everyone stopped recording. The crowd makes multiple attempts to make a point of order, to move a meeting along properly, to address the situation, but Dokes refused to acknowledge the people. Dokes then left the podium, called the police.
The meeting was adjourned.
St. Charles co caucuses adjourned w/o delegates
The meeting was to re-adjourn once order was restored.
Once the meeting was adjourned, according to the Ron Paul supporter who was arrested, he states: "I explained very quickly that we needed to begin collecting a roster, as required, and what that meant. I was immediately approached by 4 or 5 police of unknown jurisdictions who made me step down from the chair and put me into handcuffs. When I asked what I was being arrested for, or if I was being arrested, I was told they would tell me later. Eventually I was booked for trespassing and released."
Brent Stafford, the Ron Paul supporter, Arrest at St. Charles Caucus
Effectively barred from participating, the Ron Paul contingent was eliminated.
The caucus was left with no committed delegates who will attend the national convention.
===== READ DESCRIPTION =====
------ Sorry for volume issues, it was the camera's fault and that's as loud as it can go without being distorted ------
A playlist of other videos
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0DB75548DAB89F66
Other angles, better audio, etc. --^
Brent Stafford on the day: http://www.dailypaul.com/221346/this-is-brent-stafford-from-missouri
http://content.newsinc.com/jpg/499/23599534/1927827.jpg
https://p.twimg.com/AoNET1PCQAAhI52.jpg
Will provide full source video of the entire beginning upon request, audio is bad, but understandable. There is no spin, there is no deception, three men threw out hundreds of delegates knowing that Ron Paul could've easily taken the majority. After agree'ing to split the delegates proportionally, Santorum's crew knew he would've come out with very few and Romney and Paul camps would've taken 40% 40% at least a piece - so they threw out all of the delegates and claimed that it was for the crowd's safety (and not their own).
************** CONTACT THE OTHER CANDIDATES ****************
Eugene Dokes (Temporary Chairman who refused cameras, bent rules, and refused to acknowledge calls for division & point of order)
http://edokes.com/
636-364-8683
He deleted his Facebook minutes after the incident
Picture with Rick Santorum: http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/427033_3051208231821_1011712256_3229...
Matt Ehlen (Santorum Chairman who usurped the position)
http://mattehlen.com/
No Contact Number
http://www.facebook.com/VoteEhlen
Brian Spencer (Teacher at Francis Howell North, where the caucus was held. He introduced new rules and introduced the temporary chair Eugene Dokes)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Citizens-for-Spencer/295922820455899
No Contact Number (un-confirmed, contact me if you have it)
No Official Website (un-confirmed, contact me if you have it, he seems very unorganized)
Brian announced less than a month ago he was running for house - and now he's in the mix of caucus bending. Obviously, he's doing some favors.
******************** CONTACT THE LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENT *******************
St. Peters Police Department (Who arrested Brent for unknown reasons)
stppd@stpetersmo.net
636-278-2222
************ NEWS SPIN ************
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/police-intervene-arrest-ron-paul...
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/gop-caucus-in-st-peters-...
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/hatfields-and-the-mccoys-cops-arrest-ron-paul...
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/disruption-closes-a-missouri-ca...
Cf. Chapter 18: caucus system
How Does A Caucus Work Anyway? (CBS News), 3:37
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