Saturday, January 23, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
A Fix for Windows Media Center "Trapping" the Mouse Pointer In a Dual Screen Set-up
When I had my Media Center maximized in my second screen, the mouse pointer became trapped in that screen.
What I found out is that if you press ALT and then TAB (while holding down ALT) you free the pointer. One thing though, keep one window open, even if it is the Volume Mixer, this will ensure that both windows are accessible.
Obama Seen as Anti-Business by 77% of U.S. Investors
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. investors overwhelmingly see President Barack Obama as anti-business and question his ability to manage a financial crisis, according to a Bloomberg survey.
The global quarterly poll of investors and analysts who are Bloomberg subscribers finds that 77 percent of U.S. respondents believe Obama is too anti-business and four-out-of-five are only somewhat confident or not confident of his ability to handle a financial emergency.
The poll also finds a decline in Obama’s overall favorability rating one year after taking office. He is viewed favorably by 27 percent of U.S. investors. In an October poll, 32 percent in the U.S. held a positive impression. .....
"Not an Onion Headline" -- This is a Weekly Standard Headline, and it is not Funny!
The story is by Daniel Halper (January 21, 2010), and it shows that the Democratic radicals in control right now have no clue or idea on how to protect me and my family. This is asinine and is a big TOLD YOU SO to bloggers like Kimba.
Posted on my site April 09':
....The techniques themselves were used selectively against only a small number of hard-core prisoners who successfully resisted other forms of interrogation, and then only with the explicit authorization of the director of the CIA. Of the thousands of unlawful combatants captured by the U.S., fewer than 100 were detained and questioned in the CIA program. Of those, fewer than one-third were subjected to any of the techniques discussed in these opinions. As already disclosed by Director Hayden, as late as 2006, even with the growing success of other intelligence tools, fully half of the government's knowledge about the structure and activities of al Qaeda came from those interrogations.
....In his book "The Terror Presidency," Jack Goldsmith describes the phenomenon we are now experiencing, and its inevitable effect, referring to what he calls "cycles of timidity and aggression" that have weakened intelligence gathering in the past. Politicians pressure the intelligence community to push to the legal limit, and then cast accusations when aggressiveness goes out of style, thereby encouraging risk aversion, and then, as occurred in the wake of 9/11, criticizing the intelligence community for feckless timidity. He calls these cycles "a terrible problem for our national security." Indeed they are, and the precipitous release of these OLC opinions simply makes the problem worse.
Now consider the Weekly Standard piece (Jan 2010):
Addresses how Christmas Day terrorist was charged in civilian court
....The legislation would address a serious error that occurred in the handling of the so-called Christmas Day terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was charged in civilian criminal court.
At a Homeland Security Committee meeting Wednesday, Senator Collins learned during her questioning of witnesses that none of the three top U.S. intelligence officials had been consulted about that important decision. The determination to place Abdulmutallab into the U.S. civilian court system was made without their input or knowledge.
Senator Collins said this mistake “may have prevented the collection of valuable intelligence about future terrorist threats to the United States. Frankly, I was stunned to learn that the decision to place the captured terrorist into the U.S. civilian criminal court system had been made without the input or the knowledge of any of those three top intelligence officials: the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and the Secretary of Homeland Security.
"These officials were never consulted by the Department of Justice. The decision was made without them.”
....Said Senator Ensign: “The United States is moving in a direction that threatens the national security of our country. The fact that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was read his Miranda rights and was placed under civilian court jurisdiction is as perplexing as it is dangerous....
....[read more].... Red State is even showing the fear in the Dems eyes over this whole progressive debacle:
Top administration officials are getting nervous that they may not be able to proceed with one of their most controversial national-security moves: trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other accused 9/11 conspirators in federal court in New York City. Last November Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. portrayed the trial as a way to showcase the American justice system to the world—and to accelerate President Obama’s stalled plans to shut down the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay. But because of shifting political winds in Congress, the trial is now “potentially in jeopardy,” a senior official, who did not want to be named talking about a sensitive situation, tells NEWSWEEK.
The chief concern: that Republicans will renew attempts to strip funding for the trial and, in the aftermath of the bombing attempt aboard Northwest Flight 253, pick up enough support from moderate Democrats to prevail. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he will force another vote on his amendment to stop the trial (which was defeated 54-45 in November) once Congress reconvenes. “With Detroit and everything else going on, we’ve got a pretty good chance of winning this thing,” says Graham, adding that he’s privately heard from a number of Democrats, saying “they’re with me.” GOP Rep. Frank Wolf says he plans a similar move in the House. “I’m afraid it’s probably going to pass,” says Democratic Rep. Jim Moran, who has strongly backed the administration on the issue.
I said on January 7th that "charging the 'eunuch bomber' as a common criminal has hampered forever the amount of details we can get from this person in regards to his contacts and/or knowledge of terror cells. This is where the Democrats have failed the U.S. citizen the most." When you have Democrats who call our military and administration Nazi's , what do you expect:
- John Kerry calls American troops terrorists
- Durbin Compares U.S. Troops to Nazi's, Soviets, & Pol Pot
- Murtha calls Marines Murderers (of course these Marines were all acquitted becuase they were under fire from these places they fired on. I have to include a response by a Marine to Murtha, and a story on Murtha being sued for slander.)
(May 09')
Aimes Tiedeman wrote in December the following (you should read his whole list, this is number 9):
There’s a continued, unfortunate tendency for everyone in Obamaland to preface every comment about something going wrong with a sideswipe against the Bush administration. On Sunday, Bill Burton, Deputy White House Press Secretary, briefed: “On the Sunday shows, Robert Gibbs and Secretary Napolitano made clear that we are pressing ahead with securing our nation against threats and our aggressive posture in the war with al Qaeda. We are winding down a war in Iraq that took our eye off of the terrorists that attacked us, and have dramatically increased our resources in Afghanistan and Pakistan where those terrorists are.” Why pat yourself on the back for “winding down a war in Iraq that took our eye off of the terrorists that attacked us” when the issue at hand is why the US government under Obama, er, took its eyes off a terrorist who did try to attack us and nearly killed 300 people? It’s bordering on the juvenile. Obama’s been president for a year now. It’s time for him to accept that things that happen as his responsibility, not Bush’s. It’s time for him to echo Ronald Reagan, who said over Iran-Contra: “I take full responsibility for my own actions and for those of my administration.”
Consider these older stories and you can see we are headed to right where we are:
- 10 Out Of 10 Terrorists Agree… They Want the Democrats in Office (April 07')
- The Iraqi Insurgents and Terrorist Leaders Agree – Democrats Good for Business (Aprtil 07')
- The Left Loves Terrorists (But Dislike Christians) (June 07')
- Dems Support Terrorists (Sept 07')
- Radicalism Goes Mainstream.... (Oct 08')
- New York Times: To Be A Terrorist or Not To Be (Dec 08')
They quote the NI Director Blaire first:
Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair on Wednesday criticized the decision by FBI agents last month to question the Christmas Day airline bombing suspect as a criminal and not interrogate him as a terrorist…
The intelligence chief said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab should have been questioned by the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG, a special panel established by President Obama.
“We did not invoke the HIG in this case. We should have. Frankly, we were thinking more of overseas people. And, you know … that’s what we will do now. And so we need to make those decisions more carefully,” Mr. Blair told Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican and ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee.
FBI Director Robert Mueller appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee today and revealed that he was not consulted on the question of whether to handle accused Detroit airline bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a defendant in the civilian justice system or as an enemy combatant. Abdulmutallab, who was trained by al Qaeda — with whom President Obama says the United States is at war — was charged as a civilian and given Miranda rights and a taxpayer-supplied lawyer. At a Judiciary Committee hearing today, ranking Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions asked Mueller, “Who made the decision that Abdulmutallab was going to be treated as a criminal rather than an enemy belligerent?” The answer: the agents on the scene, with no input from the FBI director…
“So the decision was made by agents on the ground based on some protocol or some policy that they understood?” Sessions asked.
“Based on an ongoing, very fluid situation,” Mueller answered, “in which they are trying to gather the facts and determine what culpability this individual had, but as important as determining the culpability of this individual, what other threats were out there that needed to be addressed?”
The Buck definitely stops at Obama
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Air America No-More
I remember a couple of times mentioning that Air America was borrowing money left and right and couldn't pay their bills and persons telling me I was out of my mind. OOoops. Maybe less time talking about how bad SUVs were and how oil companies were conspiring against man-kink (no one wanted to advertise on their shows).
The surprise isn’t that liberal talk radio network Air America announced it is going bankrupt today.
The surprise is that they lasted so long on fumes. Here’s an excerpt of the statement on its website pulling the plug (hat tip: Brian Stelter, who has more here):
....Those companies that remain are facing audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies, are often saddled with crushing debt, and have generally found it difficult to obtain operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding. In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success....
As long-time readers know, Radio Equalizer blogger Brian Maloney and extensively investigated the shady finances of Air America’s Titanic.
....[read more]....
Obama's One Year Anniversary
"It’s hard to believe that President Obama has now been in office for a year and it’s incredible. He took something that was in terrible shape and brought it back from the brink of disaster: the Republican Party."
~ Jay Leno
First Brown, Now This Good News Coming from the Supreme Court
In a stunning reversal of the nation's federal campaign finance laws, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday that free-speech rights permit groups like corporations and labor unions to directly spend on political campaigns, prompting the White House to pledge "forceful" action to undercut the decision....
Sea Dart Missile Firing Gone Wrong
Take note that both the gun in the background and the missile stay on target/horizon when the ship bobs in the water. I know this is very common for NAVY persons to see, but for the common guy like me, its kinda cool.
Osama Bin Olbermann Still a Raving Lunatic
(NewsBusters import)
....The Countdown host repeated a myth promoted by the liberal blog bluemassgroup.com that, in February 2007, then-State Senator Scott "swore at a hall full of high school students" as he appeared before a group at King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, Massachusetts. In reality, Scott was not alleged to have "sworn at" the students, but rather, he angrily responded to and complained about vulgar comments that some students had written about him and one of his daughters – comments which had been posted on the Facebook page of a pro-gay rights teacher at the school – as Scott read the uncensored comments from the site, naming some of the students, in front of the assembly. His actions sparked criticism because he read aloud the profane words as they appeared on the Facebook page, but he was not alleged to have "sworn at" the students.
Olbermann also incorrectly claimed that Brown "never refuted" a vulgar threat made at one of his recent campaign rallies during which one audience member called for a curling iron to be "shoved up the butt" of Brown’s opponent, Attorney General Martha Coakley, because of a controversial case in which Coakley was accused of not being aggressive enough in prosecuting a child rapist who assaulted a baby using a curling iron.
Even though the Boston Herald's Daily Briefing blog and Politico.com both reported on Monday that Brown contended that he had not heard the remarks as he was speaking and went on to denounce the comments as being out of line, Olbermann on Tuesday and Wednesday claimed that Brown had not issued such a repudiation.
Olbermann referred to a video clip released by Democratic activists which shows Brown speaking at a rally, and, as Brown was pausing for audience reaction, one audience member can be heard in the background shouting, "Shove a curling iron up her butt!" Moments later, Brown smiles and says, "We can do this," presumably referring to winning the campaign, though Democrats have charged that he was responding favorably to the audience member’s vulgar suggestion.
On Wednesday’s show, Olbermann contended: "This past Sunday, when a man at a Brown rally shouted they should, quote, ‘shove a curling iron up' Martha Coakley's 'butt,’ Brown responded by answering, ‘We can do this.’ Or, if that remark was unconnected to the shout, he never refuted, condemned, nor disassociated himself from the call to violence and even sexual assault."
But on Monday, January 18, 2010, at Politico.com, in the article "Massachusetts Gets Ugly," Ben Smith reported: "Brown called the supporter's words ‘inappropriate’ and said he hadn't heard them."
And also on Monday, according to the Boston Herald's Daily Briefing blog, in the article, "Brown Denounces Curling Iron Comment," Hillary Chabot reported: "GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown said a supporter's remarks about shoving, 'a curling iron up (Martha Coakley's) butt,' were innapropriate today. 'If I had heard it I would have said something,' said Brown today."....
The US People Are A Very Giving People
Americans are generous people, and they prove it every time a disaster strikes like last week's earthquake in Haiti. They have donated more than $275 million to relief efforts in the Caribbean nation in the week since the quake.
Nearly one-third of that money came from U.S. companies, a point rarely mentioned on the broadcast news. According to the Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC), 203 companies donated a total of $83 million to Haitian relief so far....
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Is Teaching American History Unconstitutional?
The Following is an email sent to me from Wall Builders:
Occasionally, the Secular and Religious Left go beyond their normal anti-religious bigotry to make claims that are just too outrageous to be ignored. This week provided such an example. (While this email is longer than normal, I think you'll find it filled with useful and interesting information.)
Several months ago, I was one of six expert reviewers appointed by the 15-member elected Texas State Board of Education to give input into the drafting of the 2010 history and social studies standards for textbooks. (This is a task I have previously performed in other states.) Although these standards we formulate will initially apply to Texas students, they will soon become the standards used in textbooks across the nation.
Last year, writing teams of Texas teachers drafted the 2010 proposed standards. We, the expert reviewers, were asked to point out where we thought changes should be made; the State Board of Education would then make their decision about which (if any) of our hundreds of proposed suggestions to adopt.
When I reviewed the proposed standards, I found many reasons for concern. The writing teams had recommended the removal of Nathan Hale, Daniel Boone, and General George Patton; they eradicated Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Day, and Christmas (but they did add Diwali as a holiday). They also declared that to say there was "an American love of individualism, inventiveness, and freedom" was to express inappropriate "value language," and they also rejected the concept of identifying specific beliefs that contributed to our "national identity." In fact, they declared that students needed to be shaped "for responsible citizenship in a global society," but not citizenship in American society. And instead of an emphasis on the positive things about America (i.e., American Exceptionalism), America was often shown as fault-ridden – as a global villain.
I made known my opposition to these and other positions in my official reviews and offered suggestions for positive change. My first review (from July, 2009) is posted on the state website, as is my second review (from September 2009).
Those two official reviews were 43,538 words in length, and contained three mentions of Christianity. In the first review, I pointed out how early colonial Christian leaders such as William Penn and Roger Williams insisted on having written constitutions to limit the government; I also showed how American Christians and Jews cooperated together in the American Revolution. In the second review, I noted the current polling on religious affiliation in America to demonstrate that the mention of Christmas should be reinstated in the standards. Those three simple mentions of Christianity caused the Left to explode.
Groups such as the Texas Freedom Network (the state arm of the radical People for the American Way) joined with other radicals in the Religious Left to denounce my mentions of Christianity. They nationally distributed a press release of outrageously false claims that were soon parroted by ABC, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, etc.
On Wednesday, January 13, the Texas State Board of Education met to begin the process of voting on the final recommendations for social studies textbooks; many of the board members know me very well and are very familiar with the lies of the Left (having themselves been subjected to them on many occasions). Hopefully, they will reinstate traditional American heroes and patriotic values, focus on the teaching of history rather than modern pop culture, and include coverage of good characteristics about America. Not surprisingly, however, the anti-religious secularist bigots made known their presence (and their ridiculous claims) at the meeting.
One of those in the Religious Left is Christian secularist, Dr. Derek Davis, Dean of Humanities at Mary Hardin Baylor (a Baptist University) and director of the school's Center for Religious Liberty. Although he heads a department at a major Christian university, he is a national evangelist for a completely secular public square; and based on his previous statements, he apparently wants to see all mentions of Christianity confined, like pornography, to the privacy of one's own personal life.
Dr. Davis amazingly asserts in the Houston Chronicle that a mention of Christianity in American history standards will "violate the Constitution" because it will portray "the United States as a Christian nation in some legal sense."
While there is no such recommendation in the standards, consider the stupidity of what he purports. According to Dr. Davis, it would "violate the Constitution" if the history texts were to include information from the more than 300 court rulings over the past two centuries that have declared America to be a Christian nation. Imagine! He believes it would be unconstitutional to let students know what courts have affirmed for 200 years!
He similarly believes that it would be unconstitutional for students to see the public declarations of American presidents on the same subject – declarations such as:
Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on that God Who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty [i.e., the Civil War]. 1 PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN
No candid observer will deny that whatever of good there may be in our American civilization is the product of Christianity. 2 The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teachings were removed. 3 PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT
America was born a Christian nation – America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture. 4 PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON
American life is builded, and can alone survive, upon . . . the fundamental philosophy announced by the Savior nineteen centuries ago. 5 PRESIDENT HERBERT HOOVER
If the spirit of God is not in us and if we will not prepare to give all that we have and all that we are to preserve Christian civilization in our land, we shall go to destruction. 6 We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a Nation without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. 7 PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
This is a Christian Nation. More than a half century ago that declaration was written into the decrees of the highest court in this land. 8 In this great country of ours has been demonstrated the fundamental unity of Christianity and democracy. 9 PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN
We are Christian nations, deeply conscious that the foundation of all liberty is religious faith. 10 PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
In these last 200 years, we have guided the building of our Nation and our society by those principles and precepts brought to earth nearly 2,000 years ago on that first Christmas. 11 PRESIDENT LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON
Let us remember that as a Christian nation . . . that we have a charge and a destiny. 12 PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON
Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive Nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible. 13 PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN
According to Dr. Davis, it would "violate the Constitution" to present these, or the hundreds of similar statements by our elected presidents, or to tell students what our federal and state courts have repeatedly declared! Amazing!
Apparently, Dr. Davis (and the others among the growing group of militant so-called "Christian" secularists) has not read the Constitution – or even the decisions by modern liberal Supreme Courts that have held that history cannot be censored simply because it is Christian. Nevertheless, Dr. Davis and his cohorts have found it a useful tactic to claim that something with which they disagree is "unconstitutional."
We need to stop the use of this ridiculous tactic. How?
FIRST, begin with the wise recommendation of Founding Father John Jay:
Every member of the State ought diligently to read and to study the constitution of his country. . . . By knowing their rights, they will sooner perceive when they are violated and be the better prepared to defend and assert them. 14
SECOND, the next time the Left claims something is "unconstitutional," insist that they prove it by citing the relevant part of the Constitution.
FINALLY, when the intolerant anti-religious bigots try to intimidate Americans from presenting an accurate view of American history, let's make our voices heard on talk shows and in letters to the editors, denouncing their attempt to rewrite American history and censor expressions of religious faith.
It's time for some new voices to be heard in the debate – the voices of common sense, well-informed citizens who have no agenda but to see the best for our great country. It's time for your voice to be heard!
God Bless!
David Barton
_______________________________________________________
[1] Abraham Lincoln, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Roy P. Basler, editor (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), Vol. IV, p. 271, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.
[2] "Our Nation, A Product of Christianity," Springfield Republican, 1884.
[3] Theodore Roosevelt: The Man as I Knew Him, Ferdinand Cowle Iglehart, D. D. (New York: The Christian Herald, 1919), pp. 307-311.
[4] Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Arthur S. Link, editor (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1977), Vol. 23, p. 20; "An Address in Denver on the Bible, May 7, 1911."
[5] American Presidency Project, "Herbert Hoover: Radio Address to the Nation on Unemployment Relief, October 18, 1931" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=22855).
[6] American Presidency Project, "Franklin D. Roosevelt: Address at Dedication of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, September 2nd, 1940" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=16002).
[7] American Presidency Project, "Franklin D. Roosevelt: Statement on the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the Printing of the English Bible, October 6th, 1935" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=14960).
[8] American Presidency Project, "Harry S. Truman: Exchange of Messages With Pope Pius XII, August 28, 1947" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12746).
[9] American Presidency Project, "Harry S. Truman: Address at the Lighting of the National Community Christmas Tree on the White House Grounds," December 24, 1946" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12569).
[10] American Presidency Project, "Dwight D. Eisenhower: Address Before the Council of the Organization of American States, April 12th, 1953" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9816).
[11] Presidency Project, "Lyndon B. Johnson: Remarks at the Lighting of the Nation's Christmas Tree. December 22, 1963." (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=26587).
[12] American Presidency Project, "Richard Nixon: Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, February 1st, 1972" (at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3597).
[13] American Presidency Project, "Ronald Reagan: Proclamation 5018 – Year of the Bible, 1983, February 3rd, 1983" (http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=40728).
[14] John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, editor (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1890), Vol. I, pp. 163-164, from his Charge to the Grand Jury of Ulster County, September 9, 1777.
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