Media Distorts Romney's Olympics History to Invent 'Gaffe'

by Ron Futrell 28 Jul 2012

 

 Like any political campaign, you are told to attack your opponent's strengths. Make no doubt about it, the Activist Old Media is Barack Obama's most powerful SuperPAC, and they are out to attack Mitt Romney on his strength. Take the Olympics.

Mitt Romney speaks his opinion based on what he and others have seen about the 2012 Games while in London. And the media, wanting so hard to proclaim a "Romney gaffe," go into full attack mode on the Republican candidate. Everybody seemed to jump on this; ABC's David Muir said, "So many Brits are boiling... a rough first stop." "Boy, it sure was," added George Stephanopoulos. Hey guys, you wanna see rough? Let's check out rough. Let's compare actual Olympic experience.

The media has created this battle, clear and simple. It wasn't like Romney attacked everybody who had ever built a business in America (who was it who did that?); he simply gave his opinion that it was a bit "disconcerting" to see lack of preparation in some areas in London. Many observers in Great Britain have said the same thing. Now, an Olympics expert giving his opinion is called a "gaffe" by the media.
ABC's Rick Klein can't wait to declare that Romney is falling into a "long term pattern" of gaffes. You want gaffes? Go to Europe and talk to people in Austria about speaking "Austrian." Obama did that, and the media ignored it, as well as many other gaffes made by this President (and don't get us started on Biden and gaffes).

As a reporter, I covered the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City that Mitt Romney saved. I challenge ABC and the other networks to do extensive research on what Romney did to save those Games that were facing financial ruin and were held at a time following 9/11, when security questions in this country were at their highest level. The Games were virtually flawless. Mitt Romney knows of what he speaks. The international negotiations that Romney had to go through to change Olympic protocol by allowing the American flag found in the ruins of the World Trade Center to be displayed at the Salt Lake Olympics was nothing short of historic. Flags of any individual nation are not to be "singled out" during the Games, but Romney went through intense international negotiations to make one of the great moment in our lifetimes happen. Watch the video and tell me it doesn't give you chills to see this again and be reminded of this moment in time.

Also ignored is Barack Obama's Olympic experience. Does the media remember the trip he made to Europe to try to win the Games for his hometown, Chicago, as president in 2009? How did that turn out? What is Obama's history with the Olympics? Like with so many things in his administration, it is a history of failure. Obama boldly proclaimed he was going to Copenhagen to bring the Games to Chicago, and the International Olympic Committee laughed at him. Chicago didn't make it out of the First Round. "I urge you to choose Chicago," Obama told the IOC. Wow, quite a pitch there, Barack. Let's see how often the media mentions Obama's Olympic experience.

In spite of actual performance, the Activist Old Media is dead set on changing history to create a template where Romney is seen as a failure and Obama's numerous gaffes and policy failures are ignored. The Olympics are just the media's latest vehicle for this tactic.

Big Journalism

ADF Scores First Victory Against Obama's Unconstitutional HHS Mandate

by Ken Klukowski 28 Jul 2012
 

 On August 1, Obamacare’s latest outrage goes into effect as the “HHS Mandate” takes effect, and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) just scored the first victory in religious liberty against this authoritarian decree days before its implementation. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a regulation under Obamacare requiring almost all employers to cover abortion, birth control, and sterilization services. There are exemptions for nonprofit “religious employers,” but this term’s definition in the regulation is so ridiculously narrow that it would include churches and synagogues, by likely exclude a school, clinic, or hospital run by that house of worship.

Several states and religious institutions filed challenges to this mandate, which requires Catholics and adherents of various other faiths—such as some Evangelicals—to violate their religious faiths. Those cases have all been dismissed, because the plaintiffs have been unable to prove as this point that they will fall outside any interpretation of the religious exemption or otherwise be excluded from the scope of this governmental command. These courts haven’t ruled against the plaintiffs on the merits; they’ve instead held that litigation is premature at this point.

ADF designed a case that gets around that issue. The plaintiffs here are members of the Newland family, and the business they own, Hercules Industries, is an air conditioning business (pictured above). The Newlands are devout Catholics trying to live out the teachings of their faith through their business policies, yet they are a secular, for-profit business, thus outside any interpretation of the religious exemption to the HHS Mandate.
ADF filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the U.S. District Court in Colorado to order the mandate cannot be enforced against the Newlands and Hercules while this litigation is ongoing. Judge John Kane issued that injunction on July 27, finding that the plaintiffs have a “substantial likelihood” of final success on the merits of their lawsuit.

Kane explained that this injunction is to preserve the status quo until the lawsuit can run its course to a final ruling of whether the HHS mandate is invalid as applied to Americans who religiously object to it. The administration argued that granting the injunction would thwart Congress’ goal of improving healthcare. But Kane responded that even if true, “These interests are countered, and indeed outweighed, by the public interest in the free exercise of religion.”

So Newland satisfied the legal standard of showing that here, “questions going to the [legal] merits [are] so serious, substantial, difficult, and doubtful as to make the issue ripe for litigation and deserving of more deliberate investigation.”

Judge Kane also found it unnecessary to examine the constitutional claims here because this regulation likely violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which makes it illegal for regulations to “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from” laws that generally apply to everyone regardless of religion. Under RFRA, such burdens are allowed only if it achieves a compelling public interest and if it is the least restrictive means of doing so.

This victory is by no means final, but it’s the first of its kind. As ADF’s lawyer on this case, Matt Bowman, said today, “Every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith. Hercules Industries will be able to do just that.” He’s right, and now we’ll see if the courts continue to agree.

Breitbart News legal contributor Ken Klukowski is a senior fellow for religious liberty at the Family Research Council. 

Big Government

'Go Time' for Conservatives in Texas

by David Bossie 28 Jul 2012

 

 This coming Tuesday will mark the culmination of one of the most watched, most expensive, and most important primary elections for U.S. Senate in recent memory. On July 31^st, Republican voters in Texas will go to the polls to choose between conservative change agent Ted Cruz and moderate establishment candidate David Dewhurst. A headline from a recent article by The Associated Press said it all:  “David Dewhurst, Texas Senate candidate, Leans On GOP Establishment In Runoff.” Not only is the old-fashioned, longtime politician Dewhurst a man of the establishment, now he’s in a situation where he’ll be beholden to the establishment as well. The stakes could not be higher. This is a battle between enacting sweeping reforms to curtail our debt crisis and choosing more of the same status quo failures. If you are an eligible voter in the state of Texas for this red hot run-off election, it is absolutely essential that you go to the polls and pull the lever for Cruz – the man who is on a mission to change Washington and push for meaningful reforms for future generations.

Ted Cruz is not running to join the club in the United State Senate; he’s running to challenge the club and its dismal record on financial matters. Cruz believes in his core that our $15.8 trillion national debt is unsustainable and will need to be dealt with in the early days of the 113^th Congress, regardless of who controls the legislative and executive branches of our federal government. It’s hard to imagine Mr. Dewhurst telling the establishment he is currently leaning on to change its ways anytime soon. That’s a sobering fact everyone reading needs to focus on and consider before they go to the polls on Tuesday in the Lone Star State.

One thing the current 112^th Congress has proven beyond a reasonable doubt is that it’s not enough to simply send more Republicans to the U.S. Senate and U.S. House. It is imperative that we send courageous conservatives to these hallowed chambers who possess the political guts to lead on these issues and convince others that these fiscal reforms are absolutely necessary. Ted Cruz is one of those leaders – if you live in Texas, please turn out to vote for him. If you have family and friends in the Lone Star State, tell them to vote for conservative change agent Ted Cruz. It’s “go time” for conservatives in Texas; the eyes of America are upon you.

Big Government

Chick-fil-A sandwiches become a political symbol

28 Jul 2012

All of a sudden, biting into a fried chicken sandwich has become a political statement.

Chick-fil-A, the fast-food chain known for putting faith ahead of profits by closing on Sundays, is standing firm in its opposition to gay marriage after touching off a furor earlier this month.

Gay rights groups have called for a boycott, the Jim Henson Co. pulled its Muppet toys from kids' meals, and politicians in Boston and Chicago told the chain it is not welcome there.

Across the Bible Belt, where most of the 1,600 restaurants are situated, Christian conservatives have thrown their support behind the Atlanta-based company, promising to buy chicken sandwiches and waffle fries next week on "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day."

The latest skirmish in the nation's culture wars began when Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press that the company was "guilty as charged" for backing "the biblical definition of a family." In a later radio interview, he ratcheted up the rhetoric: "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, `We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.'"

That fired up gay rights advocates, including a group that waged a campaign against the company in recent years by publicizing $3 million in contributions that the Cathy family foundation has made to conservative organizations such as the Family Research Council.

"This solidifies Chick-fil-A as being closely aligned with some of the most vicious anti-gay voices in the country," said Carlos Maza of Equality Matters.

A Chicago alderman vowed to block a Chick-fil-A proposed in his district, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel supported him, saying, "Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values." Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wrote in a letter to Cathy: "There is no place for discrimination on Boston's Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it."

In announcing it was pulling its toys, the Jim Henson company said it has "celebrated and embraced diversity for over 50 years." It directed its revenue from the Chick-fil-A toys to GLAAD, a leading gay rights organization.

On the other side of the debate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared next Wednesday "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" to support a business "whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values." Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who like Huckabee ran for president as a darling of social conservatives, joined the cause along with religious leaders.

"As the son of a dairy farmer who milked many a cow, I plan to `Eat Mor Chikin' and show my support by visiting Chick-fil-A next Wednesday," the Rev. Billy Graham said in a statement, referring to the slogan in the company's ads, which feature cows urging people to eat poultry.

The Rev. Roger Oldham, spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention, said many Christians want to support businesses owned by fellow believers, and the loyalty intensifies "when Christians see a fellow Christian being persecuted."

"They will come out of the woodwork when a theologically based position is being politicized by individuals for their own purposes," he said.

The Cathy family has never hid its Southern Baptist faith. Since Dan Cathy's father, Truett, opened the first Chick-fil-A in 1967, the restaurants have been closed on Sundays, and the company refused to reconsider during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, sacrificing profits. It also boasts that the Chick-fil-A Bowl is the only college football bowl game with an invocation.

Chick-fil-A posted more than $4.1 billion in sales last year, most of it below the Mason-Dixon Line. Just 14 of its restaurants are in the six states and the District of Columbia where gay marriage is legal. Massachusetts has just two locations, both more than 10 miles from Boston. Illinois, which does not have same-sex marriage, has around a dozen, though only one in Chicago.

The company is well-positioned to come through the criticism relatively unscathed, even if it loses new markets in the North and elsewhere, University of Georgia marketing professor Sundar Bharadwaj said. He said that is because Chick-fil-A basically reflects the politics of its customers.

At a downtown Atlanta Chick-fil-A on Thursday, customers were divided over the company's stance.

"If you're a Christian, you believe in the Bible. The Bible says homosexuality is wrong. (Cathy's) absolutely right," Marci Troutman said over her breakfast.

Her business partner, Steve Timpson, said he chose not to eat at Chick-fil-A: "You've got to be more tolerant if you're going to operate in the wider market in this country."

Nearby, Dustin Keller offered another view of Cathy: "It's his opinion. He's entitled to it. I'm just here to eat."

Big Government

It's Official: The Arms Trade Treaty is Dead

by AWR Hawkins 28 Jul 2012

 The threat of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is over, for now. On July 27, the U.S. joined Russia, Indonesia, and India in saying they needed more time to think about the pact before going forward, thus negotiations ended. And although this won't keep the treaty from coming back up should Obama be re-elected, it does means that gun owners can breath a sigh of relief for the next 6 months. Following the suspension of negotiations, gun control groups which had been silently waiting in the shadows for the ATT to be ratified, lashed out at Obama for lacking "political courage" on this particular issue. And it says something about the real intent of the treaty that some of its strongest supporters were groups like the the Arms Control Association.

Credit for ending negotiations goes to conservative Senators, who had already made it clear they would not ratify the treaty, to the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, and Tea Partiers throughout the country.

The Arms Trade Treaty is dead for now, and we are free.

Big Government

The Liberal Media’s History of Falsely Blaming Conservatives for Massacres

Warner Todd Huston 

The media does not “report,” it invents the “news.”
Want a few examples?
Let’s go to the tape…



It seems every time there is a violent attack in the United States the liberal media’s first act is to blame conservatives or the Tea Party. It is time that the liberal media quit lying and learned to tell the truth.

Video courtesy of the Media Research Center.

Canada Free Press

Border patrol agents incensed at Obama DREAM policy

July 27, 2012
Rick Moran

This is pretty incredible. The union representing border patrol agents is castigating the Obama administration over the exploitation of the president's new DREAM policy by some illegal immigrants.

Fox News:

Union heads representing thousands of America's immigration agents slammed the Obama administration Thursday over a policy they claim is forcing officials to ignore the law and allowing illegal immigrants to exploit the system. 

In a startling allegation, the president of the union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers claimed illegal immigrants are "taking advantage" of a new directive allowing some undocumented residents who came to the U.S. as children to stay in the country.

Union boss Chris Crane said the policy ends up allowing illegal immigrants to avoid detention without any proof -- particularly so-called "dreamers," or those illegal immigrants who would benefit under the "DREAM Act" proposal, which Congress has not passed but the administration  has partially implemented. 

"Prosecutorial discretion for dreamers is solely based on the individual's claims. Our orders are if an alien says they went to high school, then let them go," he said at a press conference with GOP senators. "Officers have been told that there is no burden for the alien to prove anything. ... At this point we don't even know why DHS has criteria at all, as there is no requirement or burden to prove anything on the part of the alien. 

"We believe that significant numbers of people who are not dreamers are taking advantage of this practice to avoid arrest," he said. 

Crane cited one case in which, he said, an immigrant facing criminal charges was let go under the policy. Further, he complained that officers are "under threat of losing their jobs" if they defy the policy. 

Lose their jobs for doing their jobs? Amazing. If anything shows that this policy is politically driven, its how the administration is implementing it. It's clear that the Obama administration is pandering to the radical open borders crowd with this policy and to put those brave men and women who place their lives on the line every time they go to work in such an untenable position is simply unconscionable.

American Thinker