BREAKING NEWS
House Republicans have just countered President Barack Obama’s fiscal cliff proposal of last week with a new offer insisting on more budget cuts and some new revenues. We will delve into the details and share our thoughts tomorrow.
Four Years, $5.7 Trillion
As Washington politicians continue to debate solutions for the fiscal cliff, here’s a startling fact to keep in mind: In just the past four years, the current administration has borrowed as much money as every U.S. president from Washington to the beginning of George W. Bush’s term.
Terry Jeffrey at CNSNews.com writes, “the debt has increased $5,696,206,400,691.90 during Obama’s presidency. On July 2, 2001, more than five months after President George W. Bush entered office, the national debt was $5,693,220,327,798.14, according to the Treasury.”
That is an astonishing amount of money, but that is how big the federal government has become. And it is proof of the fact that we cannot tax our way out of this fiscal mess. According to one 2009 study, tax rates would have to be tripled across the board in order to balance the budget.
Radical Islam On The March
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas returned to the West Bank this weekend a hero after the United Nations General Assembly voted to elevate the status of the Palestinian Authority. Abbas told a cheering crowd, “One day, a young Palestinian will raise the Palestinian flag over Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the state of Palestine!”
Notice that Abbas did not say the Palestinian flag would fly over East Jerusalem. He is demanding that the most significant city to Israelis be turned over to him and his thugs.
There is bi-partisan support in Congress for cutting off the flow of U.S. tax dollars to the Palestinian Authority. It is unconscionable that hard-working American taxpayers are bailing out these Islamic extremists. But what is the administration’s response? Nothing.
Well, not exactly. At a forum on Middle East policy Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Israelis had demonstrated a “lack of generosity” and “the lack of empathy” toward the Palestinians. Seriously, Hillary? The Israeli government goes to extraordinary lengths to protect the lives of innocent Palestinians, including sending text messages to warn of air strikes! Israel provides education, health care and other services to millions of Palestinians living in Israel.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood is tightening its grip on Egypt. Last week, the Islamists drafted a new constitution. According to the Associated Press, Sharia law is new the basis of all Egyptian law, and the new constitution refuses to ban slavery.
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square in protest, demanding protections for religious minorities and equal rights for women. But according to foreign press reports, they are being met by gangs paid by President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood allies. Men protesting the new constitution are being beaten up and women are being gang-raped.
Presumably President Obama will condemn Morsi’s regime now. He spent the last year campaigning against a “war on women” when the main issue was paying for Sandra Fluke’s birth control. Now women are being sexually assaulted in the streets of Cairo for the “offense” of demanding equal rights. How long can the political left stay silent about radical Islam’s very real war on women?
Planned Parenthood’s Abortion Agenda
Last week the board of Planned Parenthood of South Central New York voted unanimously to change its name and sever ties with the national organization, Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The reason: Abortion.
Abortion is critical to Planned Parenthood’s bottom line. In 2010, PPFA mandated that all Planned Parenthood affiliates must perform abortions starting in 2013.
The South Central New York affiliate isn’t taking a pro-life position. It simply saw no reason to duplicate procedures offered by other doctors and clinics in the area. But its decision is a reminder that Planned Parenthood isn’t really about “women’s health.”