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"The Obama administration suffered a bit of a legal setback this afternoon: a federal judge in California rejected the administration's assertion of the state secrets privilege in the civil suit brought by an Islamic charity that was allegedly subjected to illegal NSA surveillance." Case of Al-Haramain v. Bush

Hundreds of tea-bag-toting protesters staged a "tea party" at the state Capitol on Wednesday evening to express outrage over soaring federal government spending, bailouts and a sour economy. "Our message is simple," said Sue Jeffers, rally mistress of ceremonies. "Repeal the pork, cut the taxes, stop the out-of-control spending and get government out of lives."

The Tenth Amendment is a guarantee of the covenant between the states whose representatives framed and ratified the Constitution and the new central government created by the Constitution. The Constitution is the covenant which contains that solemn agreement. The agreement between the several states and the new central government created by the Constitution was really much more than a “deal” as it has sometimes been called. For those civil governments were governments which saw themselves as under God’s authority, as subject to His providential blessings or chastisements for their faithful obedience or unfaithful disobedience to His eternal standards of rightness...

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the...

ROCHESTER, Pa. -- On the first Friday of Lent, an elderly female parishioner of St. Cecilia Catholic Church began unwrapping pies at the church. That's when the trouble started. A state inspector, there for an annual checkup on the church's kitchen, spied the desserts. After it was determined that the pies were home-baked, the inspector decreed they couldn't be sold.

A free fall in tax revenue is driving more state lawmakers to turn to broad-based tax increases in a bid to close widening budget gaps. At least 10 states are considering some kind of major increase in sales or income taxes: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. California and New York lawmakers already have agreed on multibillion-dollar tax increases that went into effect earlier this year. Fiscal experts say more states are likely to try to raise tax revenue in coming months, especially once they tally the latest shortfalls from April 15 income-tax filings,...

Interesting State Symbols So we have all heard of states having a state bird, a state flag, a state flower, even a state gemstone. But since those declarations are left up to the individual state, the categories can be as obscure as any state will allow them to be. Here are some of the stranger ones: State Beverages 19 states have declared milk as the official state beverage. How original. However, in addition to milk, Nebraska has Kool-Aid because the beverage was invented in its town of Hastings in 1927. Florida’s orange juice should come as no surprise, but what...

State is wrongly seizing private fundsBy CHARLES M. ARLINGHAUS 7 hours, 30 minutes ago New Hampshire's budget is being balanced this year in part by turning private insurance funds into government money and appropriating the funds for government use. The raid illustrates how fiscal problems can tempt a government to limit property rights and rationalize behavior it would never consider otherwise. The state's current financial crisis is well known. During the governor's budget address, he announced his intention to use $110 million from a little-known medical malpractice fund to balance the budget. His announcement immediately sent policy makers scrambling to...

The Radical Polarization of Law Enforcement by Patrick Wood, Editor March 18, 2009 Patriots, Christians and concerned citizens are increasingly in the cross hairs of the U.S. intelligence community, and battle lines are being quietly drawn that could soon pit our own law enforcement and military forces against us. A February 20 report entitled "The Modern Militia Movement" was issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) that paints mainstream patriotic Americans as dangerous threats to law enforcement and to the country. Operating under the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the MIAC is listed as a Fusion Center that was established...

Outside Edge: The book that’s in and out of fashion By Jonathan Guthrie Published: March 13 2009 22:08 | Last updated: March 13 2009 22:08 Who is Ayn Rand? The answer is critical to understanding Atlas Shrugged, the libertarian blockbuster written by this Russian-American author. A book of big ideas first published in 1957, it is selling strongly again. Its depiction of a US enervated by interventionism has struck a chord as Washington spends billions on bailing out banks and businesses. The literary device that underpins a plot Wagner would have considered over-elaborate is the question: “Who is John Galt?”...

Lawmakers ask: Can we tap college fund? By Amy Hollyfield, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau Published Sunday, March 8, 2009 TALLAHASSEE — They are desperate for money. Hurting for ideas. And it has come to this: What about the money the Florida Prepaid College Board is sitting on? The popular family program benefits one out of every 10 children in the state. Parents invest tens of thousands of dollars — sometimes in small monthly installments over 18 years — to lock in present-day tuition rates for their future college students. More than 1.3 million contracts have been sold since it started in...

Four people arrested in a raid involving tax evasion and weapons charges appeared in federal court Friday afternoon. Authoritites say the men are suspected of being leaders of an anti-government movement called Soverign Movement. The FBI tells Eyewitness News that this raid goes beyond just Las Vegas. Federal agents raided seven different locations in Nevada, Idaho and also Arizona and this was the result of a three-year investigation. The scene in a neighborhood near Charleston and Cimarron was chaotic Thursday morning as federal agents from the FBi and ATF targeted a home on Gunther Circle and began removing items, including...

(02-26) 20:00 PST San Francisco -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is sending strong signals that President Obama - who as a candidate said states should be allowed to make their own rules on medical marijuana - will end raids on pot dispensaries in California. Asked at a Washington news conference Wednesday about Drug Enforcement Administration raids in California since Obama took office last month, Holder said the administration has changed its policy.

Court rules for state in American Indian land case I. – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the federal government's authority to hold land in trust for Indian tribes, a victory for Rhode Island and other states seeking to impose local laws and control over development on Indian lands. The court's ruling applies to tribes recognized by the federal government after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. The U.S. government argued that the law allows it to take land into trust for tribes regardless of when they were recognized, but Justice Clarence Thomas said in his majority opinion that the...

It is time for the states of this country to reclaim their rightful role in solving the problems of the people for which they stand. As Barry Goldwater noted in 1960 in Conscience of a Conservative: “Nothing could so far advance the cause of freedom as for state officials throughout the land to assert their rightful claims to lost state power; and for the federal government to withdraw promptly and totally from every jurisdiction which the Constitution reserved to the states.” Today, as we watch the federal government leviathan engage in social engineering and economic wealth redistribution on a massive...

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO ALL AMERICANS - THIS IS NOT A DRILL! Good information to pass on to the sleeping public. It is preaching to the choir for most of you. Redistribute to the sleepers. 9+ States have now declared sovereignty... Add Washington to the list. In case you didn’t hear about it on the mainstream media (which you haven’t because they want to keep us asleep), numerous states are currently declaring or have already declared sovereignty, including: Washington http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2009&bill=4009 New Hampshire http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2009/HCR0006.html Arizona http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/49leg/1r/bills/hcr2024p.htm Montana http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billhtml/HB0246.htm Michigan http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2009-HCR-0004 Missouri http://www.house.mo.gov/content.aspx?info=/bills091/bills/HR212.HTM Oklahoma http://axiomamuse.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/state-legislator-charles-key-wants-to-limit-federal-power California http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/93-94/bill/sen/sb_0001-0050/sjr_44_bill_940829_chaptered Georgia http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/1995_96/leg/fulltext/sr308.htm Possibly: Colorado, Hawaii, Pennsylvania,...

Friday, January 23, 2009 Collapsing States can't pay UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE! People STARVING! Kentucky: Overloaded phones bring long lines to state unemployment offices LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The unemployment lines continue to stretch in Kentucky with people calling WAVE 3 to talk about it. So many people needed help it jammed the state's 400 phone lines and overloaded the website. WAVE 3's Shayla Reaves tells us where they ended up going for help. No matter what time they arrived just about everybody expected a wait at the unemployment office Monday morning. So many people tried to call or go online for...

Little blog points out the newly svelte and civil Madame Secretary Clinton.

Texas State Board of Education Votes To Require Students to Analyze and Evaluate Evolution By: Staff Discovery Institute January 22, 2009 AUSTIN, TX--The Texas State Board of Education today voted to require students to analyze and evaluate common ancestry and natural selection, both key components of modern evolutionary theory. The surprising vote came after the Board failed to reinstate language in the overall science standards explicitly requiring coverage of the "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific theories. "The Texas Board of Education took one step back and two steps forward today," said Dr. John West of the Discovery Institute. "While we...

HRC: Thank you. Thank you all so much. Well, I am absolutely honored and thrilled beyond words to be here with you as our nation's 67th Secretary of State. And I believe, with all of my heart, that this is a new era for America. (Applause.) She does believe it’s a new era. The ultra liberal faction of the democrat party OWNs the government right now. From a President whose only senate election was won by using legal maneuvers to DISQUALIFY his opponent to the “Change we can believe in” by hiring one of the most dangerous and self-serving politicians...

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota said it will file suit today against a publicly funded charter school, alleging that it is promoting the Muslim religion and that its directors are using a holding company to illegally funnel taxpayer dollars to a Muslim organization. The suit was to be filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, known as TIZA, and the Minnesota Department of Education, which the ACLU says is at fault for failing to uncover and stop the alleged transgressions. The suit names the department and Alice Seagren, the state education commissioner, as...

Hillary Clinton as the US Secretary of State will not change anything. The color of the skin does not change the essence of aggressive politics. She definitely enjoys great respect in the United States as a woman who returned to big politics after the infamous scandal with her husband. Unlike Condoleezza Rice, Clinton has a more subtle perception of the moment. She realizes that life is not based on the American dream but follows a completely different motto: “We either swim or drown.”

County police collecting DNA samples County police say a new state law that requires booking officers to collect DNA from suspects in burglaries and violent crimes will help them to solve more cases. Beginning Jan. 1, anyone taken into custody for burglary and serious crimes such as arson, child abuse, abduction, and rape, is now required to submit a DNA sample upon arrest and charging. In the past, DNA samples had only been drawn from those convicted of violent crimes, said Elena Russo, a state police spokesman. Capt. David Waltemeyer, commander of the county police Criminal Investigations Unit, anticipates the...

What's behind Jefferson's "wall"? Godless liberals often misapply the “wall” quote from Thomas Jefferson to further the goal of eliminating God from the public square. This is a position based in ignorance. Some even think the wall quote is part of the First Amendment’s establishment clause which merely reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” It should be noted that the noble collection of Framers who hammered out the First Amendment in the summer of 1789 did NOT include Jefferson who was in France. And neither their discussions nor the...

Midwest News Illinois Prison Inmate's Family Wins $13 Million Settlement January 6, 2009 An Illinois prison inmate who killed his cellmate after apparently warning guards three times that's what he planned to do must pay the dead inmate's mother $13 million. A federal judge in Springfield ordered the award for Sherree Daczewitz in her 2006 lawsuit against Corey Fox and prison officials over her son Joshua Daczewitz's strangling in February 2004. She alleged that the state Department of Corrections and officials at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester should have known the risk Fox posed but didn't prevent the killing....

Five Democratic governors are asking the federal government for a $1 trillion bailout package, including $250 billion for education and $150 billion in middle class tax cuts. The governors from Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio on Friday said they have presented their plan to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team as well as congressional leaders. They said that level of federal aid is needed to deal with unprecedented state budget shortfalls in 41 states and Washington, D.C., that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pegged at $42 billion for the current fiscal year alone. Wisconsin Gov. Jim...

U.S. pledges Palestinian aid WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The United States will contribute $85 million to the United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinian refugees. The State Department announced Tuesday that $25 million of the funds would go to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East's Emergency Appeal for the West Bank and Gaza. Those funds will be used for "urgently needed food, medicines, and other critical humanitarian assistance," according to a statement. The other $60 million will be given to UNRWA's General Fund, which "will support the provision of basic and vocational education, primary...

Photo Ticket Cameras to Track Drivers Nationwide Vendors plan to add spy technology to existing red light camera and speed camera installations. Private companies in the US are hoping to use red light cameras and speed cameras as the basis for a nationwide surveillance network similar to one that will be active next year in the UK. Redflex and American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the top two photo enforcement providers in the US, are quietly shopping new motorist tracking options to prospective state and local government clients. Redflex explained the company's latest developments in an August 7 meeting with Homestead, Florida...

Two people who served as top aides in the Clinton administration are expected to join the State Department when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes secretary of state. James Steinberg, a deputy national security adviser under President Bill Clinton, will be nominated for deputy secretary of state. Jacob J. Lew, the budget director under Clinton, will oversee management and budget issues. People familiar with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team confirmed the appointments on condition of anonymity because the decisions were not yet public. In a unique division of authority, Steinberg is expected to focus on foreign policy issues while Lew will...

Clinton for sale By posting this am I saying that Bill Clinton is different from any other powerful politician, in taking money from foreign donors who obviously hope to influence the political process? No, in this Bill Clinton is not singular. But look at this list: $10 million to $25 million from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Between $1 million and $5 million each from Saudi businessman Nasser Al-Rashid, Friends of Saudi Arabia, the Dubai Foundation, and the governments of Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei and Oman. And the New York Post here is worried about money from India keeping Hillary from...

There’s no “change” when it comes to politics as usual in The Empire State, in fact the Emperor’s latest edict is not being well-received. Gov. Paterson’s proposed $121 billion budget hits New Yorkers in their iPods - and nickels-and-dimes them in lots of other places, too. Trying to close a $15.4 billion budget gap, Paterson called for 88 new fees and a host of other taxes, including an “iPod tax” that taxes the sale of downloaded music and other “digitally delivered entertainment services.” “We’re going to have to take some extreme measures,” Paterson said Tuesday after unveiling the slash-and-burn budget....

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson released a $121 billion slash-and-burn budget Tuesday morning that slams New Yorkers with 88 new fees and taxes - even on their iPods. Calling the budget the "greatest economic and fiscal challenge of our lifetimes," Paterson acknowledged his spending plan cuts deep. But he said the pain must be shared to deal with the fallout from the Wall Street collapse. The budget will cost the city an estimated $650 million in aid. But it's the $4 billion in new fees and taxes that are sure to aggravate everyday New Yorkers, who would be

Throwing our constitutional rights of free speech and freedom of association down the drain, the State Bar of Arizona is considering a revision to the attorneys' oath of office that would silence conservative viewpoints on gay issues. The oath would be revised to add the language in red as follows:“I will not permit considerations of gender, race, religion, age, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, or social standing to influence my duty of care.� The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a Christian constitutional rights organization, has expressed its opposition in a letter signed by several attorneys including myself. They point out that the language is so...

Political Junkie: Which State Is Most Corrupt?Tell us about corruption in your state. Obama Distances Himself From Blagojevich Scandalby Liz Halloran Barack Obama stands behind Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in June 2005. Obama advised and endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006. AP Talk of the Nation, December 10, 2008 · Chicago FBI chief Robert Grant says that if Illinois isn't the most corrupt state in the U.S., it's "one hell of a competitor." So which other states compete for that title? Also, NPR's political editor Ken Rudin talks about some unlikely contenders vying for New York's vacant Senate seat. NPR.org,...

The first sign of cracks in President-elect Barack Obama's foreign policy team of rivals emerged on Monday as his choices for secretary of state and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations visited the State Department. As Secretary of State-pick Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.N. envoy-choice Susan Rice separately visited the diplomatic agency's headquarters in Washington's Foggy Bottom neighborhood, persons familiar with the transition said that Rice wants to install her own transition team inside the department. Such a move by an incoming U.N. ambassador is rare, if not unprecedented, because the job is based at the United Nations in New...

More States are becoming Transparent and as Texas is finding the usefulness is not only for the taxpayer but also for the state agencies. Internally, because the information was easily available they were able to identify $8.7 million dollars of savings. Sometimes it was for something as simple as buying toner cartridges, which net a $73,000 savings.

Faith Matters Religion's Role in Public Life By Father John Flynn, LCROME, NOV. 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- We need to resist attempts to exclude religion from public life. This is the central message of a couple of recently published books that reflect on increasing pressures to reject any role for faith in the public square.The radical secularism that wishes to deny faith any role outside of its private dimension dangerously weakens Western civilization, according to Herbert London, president of the Hudson Institute, based in Washington, D.C.In his book "America's Secular Challenge: The Rise of a New National Religion" (Encounter Books), London...

Will a clause in the Constitution prevent Sen. Hillary Clinton from being secretary of state? Jeffrey Toobin reports.

President-elect Barack Obama plans to nominate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state on Monday. Hillary's nomination will be made in the face of the Constitutional prohibition in the Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 6, clause 2): -------------------------------------------------------- No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time: and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during...

The upcoming battle over what public science textbooks should teach promises to be no less contentious than the battles of the past. The Texas State Board of Education held a public hearing Wednesday, November 19, 2008, about the state’s science standards, which Board members will vote on early next year. Some interest groups are outraged that certain individuals still do not believe that particles developed into people all by themselves, and they are gathering their arguments to influence the Board, whose decision will affect millions of schoolchildren’s science curricula. One such group—Texas Freedom Network (TFN), billing itself as “A Mainstream...

Social services 'set up CCTV camera in couple's bedroom' Social workers set up a CCTV camera in the bedroom of a couple with learning difficulties in order to monitor their behaviour, a new report claims. By Martin Beckford, Social Affairs CorrespondentCouncil staff are said to have spied on the young parents at night as part of a plan to see if they were fit to look after their baby, who was sleeping in another room. The mother and father were forced to cite the (Human Rights Act), which protects the right to a private life, before the social services team...

Is the government's observance of Thanksgiving a violation of the separation of church and state? This past week, a Newsweek/Washington Post editorial labeled presidential Thanksgiving Day proclamations as "cracks in the wall of separation." The author explained, "The problem with these proclamations, it seems to me, is that they pave the way for public acceptance of gross violations of the constitutional separation of church and state." What?! Forget for a moment that nearly every president since George Washington (and the Continental Congress before him) has given Judeo-Christian proclamations for Thanksgiving (except between 1816 and 1861) and also has declared other...

In Hillary Clinton's lust to be remembered as something other than the most cheated on First Lady ever, she has made a deal with the Devil, an odd sale of her soul where she doesn't even get to be President. I guess you have to take whatever you can get for your soul nowadays, what with the post-Obama market collapse we're going through. And what she could get was a job as Secretary of State, a job that would seem perfect for the woman who guaranteed that if the phone should ever ring at 3 in the morning, she would...

As Administrative Professional of State, Hillary will be expected to take dictation. The Obama administration said that an initial offer to tap Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State has been rebuffed... with prejudice. Loretta Partridge, spokeswomyn for Hillary Clinton, said that a title change would be necessary before she would consider the job. According to Partridge, the term, "secretary." is demeaning to women and men who look like women. "We'll bargain with Columbia," said Partridge. "But we aren't going to make Obama's coffee." Clinton would consider a "Administrative Professional of State" position, or even an "Executive Assistant of State" gig.

TUSCALOOSA | Don't tell Bill Maher, but the vote among the white electorate in Alabama for president elect Barack Obama was the lowest in the county at only 10 percent. From an analysis by MSNBC: "We took a look at Obama's performance with white voters in all 50 states. In 13 of them, Obama received less than 35% of the white vote. His three lowest performing states: Alabama (10%), Mississippi (11%), and Louisiana (14%). The other 10: GA (23%), SC (26%), TX (26%), OK (29%), AR (30%), UT (31%), AK (32%), WY (32%), ID (33%), and TN (34%). On the...

AQABA, Jordan (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday Palestinians should soon have their own state, though she has made it clear she does not expect a breakthrough before Barack Obama moves into the White House. "They are dignified people and I am certain the day is coming soon when they have a state that will be in accordance with that great national dignity," she said after meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah, the West Bank's political capital, before heading later to Jordan. Rice has nevertheless tacitly admitted that Israel and the Palestinians were unlikely...

I remember researching, in the last presidential election, the multi-national (foreign) ties that Kerry has. Kerry as S o S is preliminary to the USA joining the EU. Donate our defense budget to the UN and save the administrative costs.

LAS VEGAS -- A record number of Nevada voters approved one of the most controversial ballot questions was approved Tuesday. Question No. 2. dealt with the restriction of eminent domain. Under the new law, state and city governments can only take possession of private land for real public use, such as roads and schools -- not casinos. If the government did gain control of someone's property, then the person losing his or her property must get the highest price that property would bring on the open market, the proposal said. It would also allow landowners to go to court to...

A couple of months ago, Barack Obama stated that he wanted to create a “national security force” equal in size and funding to the military....What does this mean? ..."Create a Civilian Assistance Corps (CAC): An Obama administration will set a goal of creating a national CAC of 25,000 personnel. This corps of civilian volunteers with special skill, sets (doctors, lawyers, engineers, city planners, agriculture specialists, police, etc.) would be organized to provide each federal agency with a pool of volunteer experts willing to deploy in times of need at home and abroad." ...

The Golden State, which recently scrambled to fill a $15 billion budget gap, still may not be able to meet its payroll without help. California is going to Washington, D.C., to ask for $7 billion to cover its budget shortfall. Otherwise it won't be able to pay for its teachers, cops, firemen, and other essential services. Unfortunately, California won't be alone. A number of other states are experiencing a huge dive in tax revenue and could be going cap in hand to Uncle Sam alarmingly soon. How bad could it get? The potential cost for all the 31 states facing...