Jul 03 2009

The Fish takes on the District

Category: Activism, ConservativeMark Dreher @ 8:43 pm

“Taxation without Representation”

One of the many interesting things here in Washington DC, all the license plates in town have it…interesting caveat as we move towards the second major round of teaparties. The American citizens here in DC have no representation in the House, or in the Senate. Taxation without Representation was one of the major grievances of the colonies against the British government. Strikes me as odd in this great town…the silent protest that goes on every day here.

Those who read regularly I am sure have noticed that the Fish has been lacking any recent content. Fear not, I have not abandoned you!! I am however on vacation down here in our nations capitol, taking in the sites and sounds, and celebrating the birth of this great Nation tommorow on the fourth of July.

Tommorow, the Fish will be standing in the shadows of the Capitol building protesting once again a government that has strayed far from the vision of the great patriots that birthed this  nation so many years ago. We will excercise our first ammendment right to peaceably assemble with our grievances. The statement will be a powerful one.

Obviously, there has been alot of news to catch up on. The Honduras situation escalating with President Obama latching on to the ideology of worldwide tyrants. Sarah Palin resigns today, the continuing Iran story (the green revolution  is far from over unlike what you might here from CNN), Helen Thomas slaps down Robert Gibbs (i love this video), health care, cap and trade…ahhh, much to write about.

For now we will celebrate. We will celebrate our independence, we celebrate freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Celebrate America in the best way you know how to this weekend. I will be here in the capital excercising my first ammendment, followed by one serious party on the National mall.

We will see you all next week!!! Happy 4th!!

Check out the updates for the Washington DC teaparty here, or here. If you are in the NOVA, DC, Maryland area, come on out and join us!!

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Jun 29 2009

More from Honduras

Category: Foreign Policy, Honduras, ObamaMark Dreher @ 6:46 pm

Recently the ‘Fish posted an article about the unrest in Honduras, which received a lot of feedback.

All Honduras needs is to become another so called democracy with an elected lifetime dictator.

I am glad to see that the military of Honduras upheld the law and the consitution of Honduras. Apparently, our military, courts and congress do not have the balls to take their oaths seriously.

Another reader states:

I can not belive how the American news media can be so biased and only interview the people on the side of our former currupt president. Congrtess, The Supreme Court, The Attorney General, The Army, The Church both Catholic and Evangelical, where opposed to his undemocratic pretentions and practices. What happened in Honduras is a protection our our democracy, supported by the majority of the nation. If would had left Zelaya to do what he wanted he would stay in power for the next ten years, privitize major industry and taken this already poor country into ruin.

And another…

I am Honduran and I am appalled to see misinformed the international press is. There are about 100 people infront of congress. Theese people belong to a communist party. THE REST OF THE COUNTRY SUPPORTS THE SO CALLED “COUP”. The military responded to Congress and The Supreme Court’s order to arrest and detain the now expresident Manuel Zelaya, after Nicaraguan and Venezuelan soldiers started coming into the country. No Honduran wants to be a part of Hugo Chavez’s regimen. Please try to be accurate. Honduras is literally under threat of attack by the Venezuelan army. Chavez wants to run Central America. We are small countries AND WE NEED THE WORLD TO BE AWARE OF WHAT REALLY IS HAPPENING.

I found it interesting that all the responses received echoes the same sentiments about Manuel Zelaya. So I decided that I must look deeper into this. And as it turns out, the readers (as usual) are correct in their assessments. Zelaya had allied himself with some of Central America’s most leftist leaders, most notable Hugo Chavez, who was among the first to condemn the removal of President Zelaya. What I find disturbing is the fact that Hillary Clinton came out mere hours after this took place and echoed loudly the sentiments of Mr. Chavez.

What really happened is that Manuel Zelaya had willfully snubbed his nose at the Congress, the Supreme Court and the Attorney General of Honduras, in what appeared to have been an attempt at re-election. He was in fact elected to a non-renewable 4 year term, which is set to expire in 2010.

From an American perspective, it should disturb us all that President Obama, Hillary Clinton and the administration have come out in favor of restoring Mr. Zelaya to the presidency, in spite of the fact that he sought to subvert the Constitution, and ignored the rule of law. The military “coup” as was described by the international media was merely protecting the Constitution, and following the orders of the Honduran power structure. It is appalling from an American perspective to have the Department of State, and the President echoing the voices of the like of Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, and Fidel Castro. The Bolivian and Ecuadorean presidents also concurred, while the rest of the world so far has refused to recognize newly sworn in President Roberto Micheletti.

Hugo Chavez and his deeply leftist socialist regime has vowed to intervene militarily, so we will see what the American president has to say about any of that type of action in the near future.

For now, we should stand for liberty, just as we do in Iran. If that includes removing a president who does not believe in freedom, as Mr. Zelaya was making quite clear…then thats what needs to be done.

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Jun 28 2009

Honduras in crisis

Category: HondurasMark Dreher @ 3:00 pm

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped and forced into exile in Costa Rica this morning. The Honduran military surrounded manuel-zelayathe presidential palace in Tecigualpa in the early hours, and according to Zelaya, kidnapped him as he was still wearing his pajamas.

Allegedly the Honduran Supreme court had the military take the President after the president defied the courts ruling on holding a referendum to change the constitution. Zelaya had been elected to a non-renewable four year term in office, but planned on asking Honduran citizens to vote to extend his term. The Supreme Court rejected his calls for a referendum, but Zelaya planned on pushing forward in defiance.

honduras-soldiers

Protesters took to the streets in the capital to protest the coup. Hundreds of protesters pelted the soldiers with rocks, and eventually the crowds were dispersed with tear gas.

Update: Apparently Hugo Chavez is threatening military intervention. Reports that the Venezuelan ambassador was taken hostage and later released. We will see where this goes…

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Jun 27 2009

PersianKiwi allegedly under arrest?

Category: IranMark Dreher @ 8:22 pm

From Nico Pitney at the Huffington Post

7:37 PM ET — “PersianKiwi” reportedly arrested. An Iranian reporter tweeted these two messages in the past hour regarding “PersianKiwi,” one of the most reliable and prolific Iranians on Twitter: “persiankiwi is arrested. … I’m so sorry. I recive [sic] the persiankiwi arrest news from a honest source but I hope it’s been incorrect.”

Nothing has been verified yet, I’ll update as soon as I learn more

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Jun 27 2009

Michelle Bachmann - Cap and Trade

Category: LegislationMark Dreher @ 12:33 pm

Thank God somebody in Washington gets it.

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Jun 26 2009

HR 2454 passes 219-212

Category: Energy Policy, Legislation, UncategorizedMark Dreher @ 8:15 pm

Waxman-Markey Clean Energy and Security Act passed the House of Representatives today by a 219-212 vote. 8 Republicans broke rank and voted in favor of the legislation, while 43 Democrats broke rank with their party voting nay on the bill.

Minority Leader John Boehner scolded the legislative body for not thoroughly debating this bill, taking just over 5 hours for over 1200 pages. I must admit, I have not been able to read the bill myself, especially the 300 page add-on that Chairman Henry Waxman decided to tack on at 3AM.
Democrats were giddy over its passage, as part of their agenda of rushed radical legislation. The people of this country have come alive to understand what is going on in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. It clearly does not represent the people of the United States, as they do not even have the good sense to debate and hash out the details of legislation that will affect each and every American. This administration and this Congress promise transparency, yet they drop a 300 page ammendment overnight, and force the vote the next day? God only knows what radical socialism is contained in that monstrous ammendment.

The bottom line on Cap and Trade is simple. It is the largest tax increase in American history. It will crush the manufacturing sector of this country. It will trickle down to the individual families of this country who will pay for the increases. It will drive business overseas. At which point, the pollution from China will still float over into our neighborhoods.

The US House just sold out every day working middle class Americans. I took notes on the Congressman from my area who voted in favor of this bill. It will become my political mission to remove them from office when they come up for election.

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Jun 26 2009

Electricity Tax aka Cap and Trade

Category: Activism, Conservative, Legislation, ObamaMark Dreher @ 12:29 pm

For those who think this blog is just an alarmist when it comes to the cap and trade scheme, here is a video for you to watch. President Obama tells you that your electricity bills will skyrocket.

Cap and trade goes to the House floor today, call your representatives and demand a NO on this vote. Don’t be complicit in this scheme to levy a backdoor tax on the American people.
A bill that is so sweeping, that will have such enormous effect on the citizens and the businesses of this country appears to be going forward full steam without a whole lot of debate. The rush-rush of this bill should also tell you its no good for America, as your tax dollars will be padding the pockets of the green lobbyists.

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Jun 25 2009

ObamaCare a ratings disaster

Category: Activism, Conservative, Health Care reform, Legislation, ObamaMark Dreher @ 2:05 pm

obamagibsonPresident Obama’s town-hall style takeover of the press delivered on one thing that we are sure of. The ratings were an absolute disaster.

ABC’s “special report” delivered the worst ratings of any network in the 10 oclock time slot. The 4.7 million viewers stuck the special in last place, despite the Good Morning America interview done Wednesday morning attempting to promote the special. It also finished behind some comedy repeats in the 8 oclock hour for total number of viewers.

This should be a strong signal sent to the President. The American people do not want what your trying to force us to take.  The White House still tells us that there are 46 million people in this country who do not have health insurance. A Washington Times editorial today brings into question that number

Fourteen million of the 47 million are already eligible for government insurance, Medicaid, but have not signed up. (Pre-existing conditions do not exclude someone from joining Medicaid.) Those 14 million have not signed up because they do not want to pay the small monthly premium that Medicare charges. As a result, many who are eligible for Medicaid wait until they need care before they register. They are effectively insured at all times even when they are not formally enrolled in the program

What about the uninsured who are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid? Most are not in dire financial straits. After all, 27 million of the uninsured have personal incomes of more than $50,000.

True, there is a group of people who are borderline poor but not eligible for Medicaid, but the group is relatively small and many (if not most) of those people are illegal immigrants. Unfortunately, government surveys never ask respondents if they are legally in the United States

So lets just assume for a second that these statistics are not even close to being accurate. Lets say there really are 46.6 million Americans that are suffering without any type of medical coverage.  Most major urban centers have many free clinics, hospitals cannot and will not turn you down if you need medical care, and if neither of those options suit you, Medicare and Medicaid are available. Why would we need government-run and government paid healthcare. When the government says it pays, it actually means the taxpayer will pay. So myself, I do in fact have health coverage. They plan on taxing that benefit to pay for the benefits of those who as the Times editorial points out, have just been too lazy to go ahead and get their own? Clear redistribution of my wealth (which is meager I might add) to those who really truly could get their own if they wanted to or tried to.

When did we become a full blown nanny-state? Government control of all aspects of our lives simply does not work.

The biggest and most obvious argument against socialized Obama-care is the simple fact that it would be government run. The US government has distinguished itself as being the most inefficient, clumsy beauracratic mess that the world has ever known. They simply are not good at these type of things. So will the American people needlessly suffer through the learning curve and the transition period? Will it ever become efficient? Medicare and Medicaid surely haven’t and they have been around for decades. Speaking of which, they are insolvent government entities. How long will Obama-Care take before it bankrupts itself?

All questions to consider. President Obama, nobody watched your one-night exclusion of the freedom of the press provision of our Constitution. Nobody is buying what your selling. And I say buying because as usual, the American people are going to be on the financial hook for this behemoth program.

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Jun 25 2009

Obama the new Bush??

Category: Iran, ObamaMark Dreher @ 10:01 am

ahmadinejadIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sharply criticised President Obama for his recent statements regarding the crisis in Iran, where Obama stated that he was “appalled and outraged” at the events playing out in Tehran.

“Mr Obama made a mistake to say those things … our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously (former U.S. President George W.) Bush used to say,” the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

“Do you want to speak with this tone? If that is your stance then what is left to talk about … I hope you avoid interfering in Iran’s affairs and express your regret in a way that the Iranian nation is informed of it,” he said.

Ahmadinejad delivered what most administration officials would feel as the ultimate insult when he stated that Obama was acting like President Bush. He also stated that their was not much of a chance of the two nations talking unless the president apologized. Classic Ahmadi propaganda.

Right, wrong, or indifferent I think we can all agree that President Obama has acted nothing like how President Bush would have. Now is not the time for that debate, so save your breath. The bottom line to this post is that no matter what Obama does or doesn’t do, he WILL be used as propaganda and a “political football” to use his term. Its what the Iranian regime and their team of spin-doctors do.

 

 

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Jun 25 2009

Baharastan Square

Category: IranMark Dreher @ 12:28 am

Today in Iran we might have seen some of the worst violence yet. The regime is reportedly arresting people in unbelievable numbers, parading them in front of camera’s with coerced confessions. The beatings at random have increased. The murders are occurring, and quickly being covered up. It seems the country has descended into hell. The Basij has been given carte blanche to run wild and regain control. The government has slowed or completely blocked internet access. When does the world rally together and strongly support the Iranian people? I am growing weary of the restraint shown by world leaders…but what are we to do other than feel helpless as we see and hear horrific news from Iran almost daily?

injured-woman-6-241

6-24-at-night

This is a difficult video to see. Its graphic, so be warned. Maybe this was what PersianKiwi was referring to in her posts.

Lastly, this is a clip from CNN today from a female Iranian woman calling into to Ivan Watson from CNN, telling of the horror at Baharastan Square. Its chilling and heartbreaking all at the same time.

Continue to pray for the people of Iran. This madness must stop. The brutality is growing out of control daily.

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