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Updated: The Uncloaking the Kochs Street Protest is On in Rancho Mirage; Arrests Made
The first photo from the Koch Conference Street protest this afternoon.
Will there by violence/arrests – like the LEFT is predicting?Rally will begin at 1:00pm in front of the Koch summit (at the entrance to Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage). At 2:30pm, 2000 protesters will take an oath “To return our great nation to government of, by and for the people, not government of, bought and paid for by powerful corporate interests.” Then hundreds of protesters in HazMat suits and badges will try to encircle the summit with giant caution tape to “Quarantine the Kochs.” Scores of protesters are considering peaceful civil disobedience.
Update:
The answer is yes on the arrests:
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The Uncloaking the Kochs Street Protest is On in Rancho Mirage
The first photo from the Koch Conference Street protest this afternoon.
Will there by violence/arrests – like the LEFT is predicting?Rally will begin at 1:00pm in front of the Koch summit (at the entrance to Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage). At 2:30pm, 2000 protesters will take an oath “To return our great nation to government of, by and for the people, not government of, bought and paid for by powerful corporate interests.” Then hundreds of protesters in HazMat suits and badges will try to encircle the summit with giant caution tape to “Quarantine the Kochs.” Scores of protesters are considering peaceful civil disobedience.
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Day By Day January 30, 2011 – Jimmeh II
Day By Day by Chris MuirThe idea of losing Egypt to Islamic Fundamentalist leaders much like President Jimmy Carter lost Iran is much discussed the past few days. Egypt is at a FLASHPOINT.Egyptian air force fighter planes buzzed low over Cairo, helicopters hovered above and extra troop trucks appeared in a central square where protesters were demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
State television said that a curfew has been imposed in the capital and the military urged the protesters to go home.
But the thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square choosed to stay on Sunday.
The show of defiance came as Egypt entered another turbulent day following a night of deadly unrest, when looters roamed the streets in the absence of police.
Opposition groups in the country have called for national unity, and Mohamed Elbaradei, a leading opposition figure, has arrived at Tahrir Square to join the protests.
The National Coalition for Change, which groups several opposition movements including the Muslim Brotherhood, appointed ElBaradei with negotiating with Mubarak’s government.
The Obama Administration appears to be indecisive as to who to support – the protesters in the street or the 3 decades old strong man dictator, Hosni Mubarak.
The Obama administration struggled to maintain a careful balance on its response to the crisis in Egypt on Sunday, which continued to spiral out of control as armed gangs broke hundreds of militants out of Egyptian jails and the U.S. Embassy warned citizens to consider leaving the country as soon as possible.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made the rounds on all five Sunday shows, advocating that the people’s voice be heard while taking care not to call for a departure of President Hosni Mubarak.
The steps Mubarak has taken to address his people’s grievances against the government haven’t been enough, Clinton said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“I don’t think anyone is satisfied, least of all the Egyptian people,” Clinton said.
But when asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether the U.S. was taking the side of government or the protesters, Clinton stressed that the U.S. had been “on the side of the people” as it had been for more than 30 years of cooperation with Cairo while advocating greater democratic and civil rights.
“We’re not advocating any specific outcome,” she said.
She said that the U.S. is trying to “keep on the message we’ve been on, convey it publicly and privately, and stand ready to help.”
In other words, the State Department under Obama and Hillary Clinton does not know what to do. Looks like when the call came in at 3 AM, they both have failed to answer.
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links for 2011-01-28
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Meanwhile, politicians fiddle at the edges of the tax system. Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, for instance, has re-introduced legislation to tax Internet sales, seeking a way around the federal rule that Internet sellers without a physical presence in a state cannot be compelled to collect sales taxes.
However, it may be unconstitutional – New York has a similar law that's now being tested in the courts – and even if implemented would generate only a relatively tiny amount of money.
If California is to truly tame its budget beast, its politicians and voters must bite the bullet and realign its tax system with the 21st century economy.
Increasing tax rates or trying to tax Internet sales are at best short-term, feel-good remedies for California's endemic fiscal crisis, and such tinkering won't suffice in the long run.
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The State of California needs to cut social welfare and university spending.
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Instead, the signs are that the Egyptian authorities have taken a very careful and well-planned method to screen off Internet addresses at every level, from users inside the country trying to get out and from the rest of the world trying to get in.
“It looks like they’re taking action at two levels,” Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro told me. “First at the DNS level, so any attempt to resolve any address in .eg will fail — but also, in case you’re trying to get directly to an address, they are also using the Border Gateway Protocol, the system through which ISPs advertise their Internet protocol addresses to the network. Many ISPs have basically stopped advertising any internet addresses at all.”
Essentially, we’re talking about a system that no longer knows where anything is. Outsiders can’t find Egyptian websites, and insiders can’t find anything at all.
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Read it all
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Far-Left Hot Air Flying Above the Koch Conference
Greenpeace is flying a blimp over Rancho Mirage, California this morningThe far left theater of the absurd continues today with the lead up to the Uncloaking the Kochs street protest on Sunday.Wonder how much this HOT AIR cost the radical environmental organization Greenpeace?
And, a better question is: who funded it?
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UT-Sen: Tea Party Express Won’t Challenge Sen. Orrin Hatch in GOP Primary – Club for Growth Won’t Ease Off
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, right, accompanied by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011, to discuss the introduction of a balanced budget amendment
I suppose it will depend upon whether Utah Republicans can field a good candidate to do battle with Hatch.The Tea Party Express announced Thursday that it would not campaign against Sen. Orrin Hatch, but the Club for Growth is not letting the six-term Utah Republican off the hook that easily.
Tea Party Express chief strategist Sal Russo told the National Review that Hatch is an “original tea partyer,” having supported Ronald Reagan early in his 1976 presidential campaign.But Club for Growth President Chris Chocola, a former Congressman, took issue with that reasoning and said his group would not follow the tea party’s lead.
“While Senator Hatch’s activity in the 1976 presidential campaign is commendable, a lot can change in 35 years,” Chocola said in a statement. “Senator Hatch has a lower lifetime average on the Club for Growth’s Congressional Scorecard than his former colleague Bob Bennett for a reason. … Orrin Hatch has done some good things over the decades, but six term incumbents who vote for [the Troubled Asset Relief Program], the Bridge to Nowhere, the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout, [the State Children’s Health Insurance Program], and higher taxes are quite clearly not ‘as good as it gets.’”It might be time for Orrin Hatch to go.
If Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz decides to run against Hatch, the primary battle will be brutal.
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Poll Watch: Most Voters OPPOSE States Declaring Bankruptcy
This is a very bad idea.States are currently not allowed by law to file for bankruptcy, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others have argued that bankruptcy might be the least painful alternative for taxpayers in heavily debt-ridden states like California, Illinois and New York. Voters aren’t thrilled with the idea, but they like it better than higher taxes, and they’re even more supportive if told government employees might have their pensions reduced in the process.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 17% of Likely U.S. Voters believe states should be allowed to file for bankruptcy if they are unable to pay their financial obligations. Fifty-four percent (54%) oppose bankruptcy for states, and another 29% are undecided.
But voter support nearly doubles to 32% when the question is phrased to include the possibility that government employees might have their pensions reduced if their state filed for bankruptcy. Fifty-one percent (51%) are still opposed to allowing states to declare bankruptcy, but only 17% remain undecided.
Twenty-seven percent (27%) of voters are willing to pay significantly higher taxes to keep their state out of bankruptcy, but 44% are not and prefer bankruptcy instead. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are not sure which course they like better.
State governments are sovereign and must be held responsible for their own fiscal mismanagement. California can solve its own financial crisis without a federal bailout or bankruptcy. Governor Brown and the California Legislature must exert the political will to do so.
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Day By Day January 28, 2011 – Latest Fashion
Day By Day by Chris Muir
The sad part, Chris, is that Americans ARE focused on Michelle Obama AT ALL – you know with Egypt blowing up with riots, the government turning off their internet access and cracking down militarily with its people. In the meantime, Michelle’s husband, the President of the United States is talking about WTF moments = Winning The Future.The President has been doing better in the polls for now but I think it may very well be short lived.
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More Americans than forecast filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance payments last week, indicating it will take time for the labor market to mend.
Applications for jobless benefits increased by 51,000 to 454,000 in the week ended Jan. 22, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 405,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls rose, while those collecting extended payments fell.
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Not a good sign for "Winning the Future" as per President Obama
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A week after Republicans announced plans to investigate waivers granted to organizations for healthcare reform provisions, President Obama’s health department made public new waivers for more than more than 500 groups.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is granting temporary waivers to organizations that would not be able to meet the reform law’s new requirement for annual coverage limits.
As of last week, HHS had granted waivers to 222 organizations covering 1.5 million individuals. Though the number of groups receiving waivers has now more than tripled, the number of individuals covered by the waivers increased just 600,000 to 2.1 million.
The law gives HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the flexibility to grant waivers to avoid disruption in the insurance market, but Republicans say the waivers are either gifts to Democratic allies or proof that the reform law isn’t working. However, a large number of businesses, in addition to unions, have received waivers.
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Audio: Common Cause Holds Teleconference to Bash Weekend Koch Sponsored Conference – Uncloaking the Kochs?
Common Cause Teleconference regarding the “Uncloak the Kochs” Protest, January 27, 2011The teleconference wasn’t much because the “Uncloaking Kochs” protest isn’t very much.
You remember the information on the Saul Alinsky type street protest which will protest the Koch brothers right to free speech and assembly this weekend in the Palm Springs area of California.So, you ask, what is the big deal?
Guess who’s holding a super secret, ill-intentioned meeting this weekend in Palm Springs, California? The nefarious Koch brothers – nefarious because they donate to conservative causes, of course.
Already, leftist groups are beginning to fulminate (against what, it’s not quite clear), insisting that there’s something inherently corrupt in the free assembly of the Koch brothers and their cohorts.
Take today’s conference call on the subject, conducted by Common Cause, featuring such liberal luminaries as former Clinton Labor secretary Robert Reich, disgraced former Obama official and Center for American Progress scholar Van Jones and his colleague Lee Fang, and DeAnn McKewan, co-president of California Nurses Association (yeah, I hadn’t heard of her either).
Reich sounded the Koch alarm: “their ongoing biannual meetings epitomize the problems that our democracy are facing right now,” he told the participants on the conference call. These meetings, he said, are a “perfect storm for democracy,” because the Koch brothers are rich and can participate in politics, “and we have secrecy – it’s all in secret.”
So, the Koch brothers hold private assemblies, participate in politics, and are, therefore, a threat to our democracy. Got it?
OK, I get it. The Koch brothers have a lot of money, donate to conservative causes, think tanks and candidates (all within the law) and the FAR LEFT and BIG LABOR don’t like it.
Listen to the entire audio above and smile as to how stupid and ridiculous the LEFT can be. They REALLY are.
This weekend conference is NO different than countless others that are held every weekend and with folks who meet to represent their industry or political ideology within the American political process. I have been to plenty through my career for organized dentistry, for example.
If you even listen hard enough to the audio above, you will hear two of the speakers try to answer the question as to why this conference is any different than any other?
The answer: The Kochs have more money.
Wow!
It is not any different, yet organized Labor will send its minions into the streets with idiotic signs to make asses out of themselves, protesting people in suits, listening to speakers talking about limited government. Real dangerous stuff here.
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Who is Sponsoring the “Uncloaking the Kochs” Protest?
The LEFT ala Saul Alinsky Protest Koch Brothers Conference