UNCOMMON VELOUR

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

RECLAIM AMERICA: TENSION BUILDS

Larry Klayman Sets out Today to Reclaim America – and Demand all their Resignations

http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/11/larry-klayman-sets-today-reclaim-america-demand-resignations/

I have been writing for years that there would come a point in time when the American people would be so outraged that they would rise up and seek to legally remove their government. This time has come, and with a vengeance.

Notwithstanding the massive NSA spy scandal, where the government, led by President Barack Hussein Obama, has secretly and in contravention of our constitutional rights violated the private Internet, social-network and cellphone records of over 300 million Americans, the growing Obamacare scandal underscores that the government tyranny that must be squelched is bipartisan.

This week, in the wake of revelations that millions of Americans have lost their health insurance as a result of Obamacare, Republicans of all stripes – and in particular their leaders, like House Speaker John Boehner, guided by sleazy political consultants like Karl Rove – appeared on television to gloat over the disaster and predict that they would retake control of the U.S. Senate in 2014 and the White House in 2016. In short, the tragedy of Obamacare, and the suffering it has now caused to cancer patients and others who have lost their coverage and their doctors, brought smiles to Republican faces. This disgusting display was enough to make any thinking and caring human sick to his or her stomach.

Indeed, how is it that Republicans, with all of their corporate connections and "expertise," could not themselves have known that millions of Americans would lose health insurance coverage as a result of a communist-inspired health-care system conceived of and implicated by a Marxist president who latently hates the average white middle- and upper-class American and thinks that they need to pay what in effect are reparations to "his" people? Yes, Obama is a racist despot, and an incompetent one to boot. But the cynical gamesmanship of the Republican leadership – which is bent on political positioning and enriching itself but lacked the courage to kill Obamacare in the cradle – is to blame for empowering Obama and his leftist comrades to rape the nation not only of its wealth but its moral, ethical sense of right and wrong.

These compromised and slimy Republican leaders like Boehner are not the only problem, however. Our so-called tea-party representatives have themselves proven compromised and unwilling to take on leadership. They may enjoy the notoriety of appearing on Fox News and at public events they deem politically safe, but when push comes to shove they are not willing to stick their necks out in any major way. It is no coincidence that not one of them is willing and has the courage to appear with us to demand Obama's and Boehner's resignation in Lafayette Park on Tuesday, despite our having invited several of them. This is telling as it reveals and confirms that we must wage the revolution by ourselves and cannot rely on them to reclaim freedom for the masses.

Take our Reclaim America Coalition, for instance, which is proving to be a big success. For virtually the first time in modern history, we have assembled a host of conservative, libertarian and other public-interest groups and activists to work together for a common goal: to wage a Second American Revolution and peacefully and ultimately remove the tyrant evil fool in the White House, as well as corrupt Republican leaders like Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. This coalition is unique; for years I had been trying to get these groups and activists to work together, but ego and other cynical calculations got in the way. Now that the country is hanging by a thread, in the words of our great Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, we all realize that if we do not all hang together, we will hang separately under the oppressive and dangerous rule of our government leaders, of which Obama is the snake's head.

Beginning at 10 a.m., Nov. 19, in the park just across from the White House, Lafayette Park (it is befitting of this French general who helped us whip Britain to gain our independence) that We the People, armed with courage and moral rectitude, as well as the divine grace of our Creator, will begin to fight back against government tyranny. We will not only serve notice that we will no longer endure tyranny from the corrupt leaders who have driven the nation to near destruction, by reading our renewed declaration of independence, but we will speak the truth about what needs to be done to right the ship of state for ourselves, our loved ones and to preserve the freedoms our Founding Fathers and their patriotic hordes fought and died for.

Coupled with this will be the masses who are being called to Washington for this non-violent uprising; we will serve testament to the onlooking nation and world that the people are in charge, not the likes of Obama and Boehner. If wise, the Mullah in Chief ultimately will retire to his favorite golf course in Tehran and the half-sober House speaker to his tanning salon in Georgetown.

Then, when our Reclaim America Now Coalition fires the first peaceful shots at "Lexington and Concord," we will reconvene some weeks later in Philadelphia, at the City Tavern, which once accommodated the first Continental Congress, the one that gave us the original Declaration of Independence at Constitution Hall. There, delegates of the tea party and other patriots from all 50 states will deliberate, plan for the rest of the revolution and elect a government in waiting, ethically and competently poised to take over the reins of a real government responsive to the people.

The Second American Revolution will succeed, because We the People will have the courage to make it so. And, to this end, I command you to join our forces, come to Washington, D.C., Nov. 19, 2013, attend the start of our Second American Revolution and make your voice heard. The time has come for action. The time is over for talk. Let us put both Obama and Democratic and Republican leaders out to pasture, where they can wallow in the manure they have encased us with, and let us reclaim our own destiny free from their political slime, incompetence and tyranny, so help us God!

For more information, go to www.reclaimamericanow.net or email daj142182@gmail.com.

Help Larry Klayman with his class-action suit against Obama's use of the NSA to violate Americans' rights

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MOB VIOLENCE OVERLOOKED BY MEDIA

SURPRISE! MEDIA FINALLY WAKE UP TO KNOCKOUT GAME

http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/11/surprise-media-finally-wake-up-to-knockout-game/

'It's only new if you have been aggressively ignoring the epidemic of black mob violence'

Published: 9 hours ago

A black mob in Philadelphia, Pa.

(Editor’s note: Colin Flaherty has done more reporting than any other journalist on what appears to be a nationwide trend of skyrocketing black-on-white crime, violence and abuse. WND features these reports to counterbalance the virtual blackout by the rest of the media due to their concerns that reporting such incidents would be inflammatory or even racist. WND considers it racist not to report racial abuse solely because of the skin color of the perpetrators or victims.) Videos linked or embedded may contain foul language and violence.

Ever so slowly, reporters are starting to figure out a version of black mob violence called the Knockout Game.

The first chip in the wall fell in New York, where Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said last week that Orthodox Jews in Crown Heights were the victims of eight episodes of mob violence and vandalism.

He did not see a pattern.

But the New York Post did, reporting: “The way the game is played, one of a number of young blacks decides to show that he can knock down some stranger on the streets, preferably with one punch, as they pass by. Often, some other member of the group records the event so that a video of that ‘achievement’ is put on the Internet to be celebrated.”

The violence, caught on video, was so egregious even the CBS affiliate in New York had trouble ignoring it. The station reported that Rabbi Yaacov Behrman said “he believes the assaults are part of a disturbing game by some African-American teens.”

The same station, however, reported on the Knockout Game in Hoboken just a few days before without mentioning the central organizing feature of the violence: The race of the perpetrators.

In Washington, D.C., the CBS affiliate reported this week that at least two people were recent victims of the Knockout Game. But the station got it wrong on two counts. One was of omission: It did not mention that everyone involved in committing the Knockout Game is black.

The station also did not report that white and Asian people throughout the district are subject to frequent black mob violence on bike trails, on mass transit, in entertainment districts, in “gay” neighborhoods and just about everywhere else, as documented in “White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore it.”

Black mobs routinely terrorize cities across the country, but the media and government are silent. Read the detailed account of rampant racial crime – and get links to videos providing the proof – in “White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It.”

The other error is of commission: They called it “new.”

WND, however, has documented hundreds of examples of the Knockout Game around the country over the last two years. They include several stories from Washington.

“It’s only new if you have been aggressively ignoring the epidemic of black mob violence around the country,” said Sherry Godfrey, of Springfield, Mo. “But it happened to my son and I had no idea it was happening around the country until I researched it and found the book “White Girl Bleed a Lot.”

For reporters willing to look, hundreds of examples are easy to find – though more often the perpetrators are identified as “unruly teens” or “rambunctious” rather than creators of racial violence and mayhem.

A smattering:

In Hoboken, three black people punched a homeless person in September. He died. Not too much different from an earlier episode in Syracuse, where a black mob killed Michael Daniels in May.

In August in Lansing, several black people tried to play the Knockout Game with a twist: They used a taser. It misfired. The victim’s gun did not. He wounded his attacker but stopped firing after the Knockout Artist begged for mercy.

In January, several members of the University of Alabama national championship football team attacked two students in what many call the Knockout Game.

At the University of Illinois in Champaign, the game has a different name: Polar Bear Hunting. But with dozens of examples, including a local TV reporter, the black mobs play by the same rules: Find a defenseless white or Asian person, and punch them in the face until your arms are tired. Or they are knocked out. Or dead.

In Chicago last year, two black people killed a Mexican immigrant and grandfather as he was collecting cans in a downtown alley. The local press had trouble talking about the race of the perpetrators, but Mexican national news did not: Top 100 Black Mob Violence Videos #87: Spanish edition.

CNN however, was eager to report that the families of the black people arrested and later convicted of the crime after posting it on Facebook were good boys who were just playing a “prank that got out of hand.”

In St. Cloud, Minn., a car full of black people came upon a college student in an alley walking two girls home from the library. The car screeched to a stop, one man got out and hit 20-year old Colton Gleason in the face. He died. His attacker was convicted earlier this year after the jury rejected his defense that Colton and the two female college students he was walking home actually hit their car.

In March of this year, six black people were convicted in the stabbing death of Matthew Chew in New London, Conn. The headline tells the story: 25-year-old victim loses Knockout Game.

In Pittsburgh last year, several black people were caught on video punching a teacher in the face as they passed each other in an alley. That happened twice: Earlier that year, another teacher was almost killed as he slipped and fell in traffic while fleeing the Knockout Game, on video.

Last year in Meriden, Conn., DeAndre Felton and his 10 of his friends thought they found an easy mark for a bit of the old Knockout Game. They chose the wrong guy: He pulled a knife and killed DeAndre and wounded one other attacker. The attackers’ parents said their children were innocent, just like Trayvon Martin in Florida.

In St. Louis earlier this year, a black person was sentenced to life for the Knockout Game death of a 72-year old Vietnamese immigrant.

In St. Louis alone, a judge said one person was responsible for 300 episodes of the Knockout Game.

In Oklahoma earlier this year, an accused killer of the Australian college student Chris Lane tweeted that he was “playing golf” and hitting “woods” prior to the murder earlier this month. Woods is short for “peckerwoods:” White people. The Knockout Game.

He said he did that five times since the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin.

Anyone looking at the hundreds and hundreds of examples – many on video – knows this: The victims can be white. Or Asian. Or women. Or homosexual. But this much they have in common: All of attackers in the Knockout Game are black.

A St. Louis writer, activist and boxing coach talks about the Knockout Game in his video blog. He says police ignore many Knockout Game assaults because they make the city look bad.The perpetrators are black and the victims are not, he says. But the boxing coach knows why:

Most of the people who get beat up are vegans, gays, artists, non-violent types. Many are kids from the suburbs or recent immigrants. People who are not prepared to defend themselves. There are white neighborhoods – blue collar, middle class neighborhoods – where these folks will not go because they know that people there are willing to defend themselves.
On Monday, April 23, 2012, an elderly lady was attacked by a group of teenagers at the bus stop on Grand and Page. There has been no media coverage of this event. I have met several victims and the story is always the same going back to 2005.

Finally, this week, it all got to be too much for Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. She did an “off the record” commentary in which she talked about “young African American teenagers viciously and gratuitously attacking a random victim – a teacher – in Pittsburgh, Pa.”

Greta gets points for identifying the attackers, but the victim was not random: He was white.

Greta continued with her description of the Knockout Game, then her commentary took a strange twist: She appealed to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for help in stopping this racial violence.

She totally ignored the role Sharpton had in encouraging racial violence when in 1991 he was involved in three days of black mob violence directed at Jews in Crown Heights.

“I beg of Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and even President Obama to step up right now and speak out,” said Van Susteren.

Maybe they can have a beer summit.

Related commentary:

“Glossing over black thugs’ ‘game’” by Thomas Sowell

See a trailer for “White Girl Bleed a Lot”:

PURGING THE MILITARY

U.S. GENERAL: LET'S MAKE OBAMA RESIGN

WND Exclusive

http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/11/general-lets-make-obama-resign/

Cites Nixon resignation, urges citizens 'to save republic' from Washington leadership

F. Michael Maloof

F. Michael Maloof, staff writer for WND and G2Bulletin, is a former senior security policy analyst in the office of the secretary of defense.

WASHINGTON – A retired Army general is calling for the “forced resignations” of President Obama, other administration officials and the leadership of Congress for the direction they’re taking the nation, his list of grievances including the systematic political purge of hundreds of senior military officers in the U.S. military.

Retired Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely told WND he is calling for nationwide rallies and protests to demand the resignations and added that a peaceful “civil uprising is still not out of question.”

In his capacity as chairman of the organization Stand Up America, Vallely issued what he termed a “National Call to Action” to force the resignations of Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Vallely, formerly the deputy commanding general of Pacific Command, said the current crop of leaders must be forced to resign by the “demand resignation” process, which he explained requires massive grass-roots protests and social networking. As an example, he cited the public and media pressure that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Impeachment, Vallely said, is not a viable option because of “partisan politics.”

“Our federal government continues down the path of destroying America,” he said. “Americans must now stand up and put America back on the right track.”

In issuing his national call to action, Vallely said the federal government has not subsided in “sucking the oxygen” out of America.

“And we call to action all branches of government to do your constitutional duties and not be led astray in the cultural and moral decay of America. We have witnessed far too many lies,” he said, as well as “deception and the corruption of the republic.”

Vallely reminds Americans that the Declaration of Independence itself states that whenever “any Form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem more likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.”

Vallely said the nation he long defended is self-destructing “before our very eyes,” because of “our inept and incompetent leadership in Washington.”

“The battle is on,” he added, “and we shall not retreat.”

Vallely, who has also served as a Fox News military analyst, claimed the Obama administration and leadership of Congress have been leading the nation down a road of “progressive socialism.”

The retired general said the U.S. faces a battle that is unknown to generations of Americans, and that the fate of the nation is “now in our hands” to enforce the Constitution and “severely limit the federal government and its out-of-control spending.”

He said conditions today are approaching those of the time of the inaugural address of President Abraham Lincoln, who said at the time that people have a “right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one.”

“Shake off,” said Vallely, “means replacing government leaders.” He argued America today bears “many similarities to the fall of Rome.” America, he added, is not immune to collapse or even revolution, which he notes “has happened many times in history. … External and internal threats could precipitate this as well as any financial collapse.”

Vallely added that “politics as usual will not be effective or sufficient enough to turn the country around.”

“We are in a war for America,” he told WND, adding that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Dr. Ben Carson, the noted brain surgeon and author of“America the Beautiful” and other bestselling books have made similar observations.

Americans have had enough, he said, and the Obama White House and identifiable members of Congress “must now depart from a progressive socialist and treasonous death march and bankrupting the country beyond expectations.”

“A civil uprising is still not out of the question as ‘pain’ grips the country more each day,” Vallely said, adding that there is time to change the country in a peaceful way.

“This means raising your voice now to your neighbors, family, co-workers and friends,” he said. “Be the captains of your souls. I pray for another George Washington to appear within the year and lead us.”

One of the issues that alarms Vallely is the high number of senior officers in the U.S. military who have been fired under the Obama administration, a toll estimated at one officer per week. Indeed, Vallely has been very outspoken to what he calls a “purge” of the U.S. military by the Obama administration — with a stunning nine generals and flag officers relieved of duty this year alone.

WND has been reporting on the surge of firings, suspensions and dismissals, for which Vallely has assigned a good portion of the blame to Obama’s close adviser, Valerie Jarrett. Rampant “political correctness” due to her influence, Vallely tells WND, is now permeating the military and negatively affecting everyone from top generals to the ranks of the enlisted.

According to Vallely, Obama is “intentionally weakening and gutting our military, Pentagon and reducing the U.S. as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged.”

Vallely equated the current treatment of U.S. senior military officers watching over what is said and done among mid-level officers and enlisted ranks to that of the “political commissars from the Communist era.”

He also told WND that the White House won’t investigate its own officials, but finds it easy to fire military commanders “who have given their lives for their country.”

“Obama will not purge a civilian or political appointee because they have bought into Obama’s ideology,” Vallely said. “The White House protects their own. That’s why they stalled on the investigation into Fast and Furious, Benghazi and Obamacare. He’s intentionally weakening and gutting our military, Pentagon and reducing us as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged.”

He’s far from alone in his concerns about the military purge, as J.D. Gordon, a retired Navy commander and a former Pentagon spokesman in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, says the Obama administration is rushing to unload senior officers whom he believes have become “political pawns” dismissed for questionable reasons.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady, a recipient of the U.S. military’s highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, similarly has told WND that Obama needs to apply the same standards to his political appointees as he does to the military.

“Just when you thought the leadership of this government could not get any worse, it does,” Brady said. “Never in history has an administration spawned another scandal to cover the current one.”

This was a reference to the recent firing of a number of generals to mask “Obama’s serial scandals, all prefaced by lies – Fast and Furious, Benghazi, NSA, IRS,” among others, said Brady, former president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, who was a founding member of Delta Force and later deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence under President George W. Bush, tells WND it is worrying that four-star generals are being retired at the rate that has occurred under Obama.

“Over the past three years, it is unprecedented for the number of four-star generals to be relieved of duty, and not necessarily relieved for cause,” Boykin said. “I believe there is a purging of the military. The problem is worse than we have ever seen.”

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

THE TRUE FACE OF COLLECTIVISM

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/11/m-the_true_face_of_collectivism.html

ORGANIZING REBUTTAL OF THE PRESIDENTS ORGANIZE FOR ACTION

Great exposé!

http://organizingforaction.org/

HISTORY AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF CIVIL RIGHTS

It pays to know history, and NOT just from the media or even classroom textbooks. Careful reading of history as seen from differing angles is imperative to get an accurate view of what truly took place, and even then, there is room for witness error or misinterpretation. Here is a simplistic breakdown as seen through conservative and liberal eyes.

History of the Republican Party

http://www.everythingiknowiswrong.com/2005/02/history_of_the_.html

Many, perhaps even most, ordinary Democrats and Republicans have no idea of the relative histories of their parties. They know only what has been fed to them by a media intent on showing Democrats in only the best light, and by a school system even more biased.

Democrats believe that their party has always been the "party of civil rights"; that theirs was the side that fought against slavery, and for equal rights, citizenship, and the right of blacks to vote, even women's suffrage. In fact, they have been on the wrong side of every single one of these civil rights issues, and more--much more.

The fact that ordinary Democrats believe that their party is the party of civil rights, though incorrect, is grounds for a significant amount of forgiveness. Their hearts are in the right place (on this issue) and they are, after all, being duped by a gigantic system designed to do just that. I myself was once among their number.

The Republican Policy Committee of the United States House of Representatives, to celebrate 150 years since the founding of the Republican Party, have put together a calendar that tracks their achievements in advancing individual freedom.

Al Franken, feeling the need to respond to the calender, yet unable to refute any of the items in the calender by factual means, resorts to childish means: he makes fun of the fact some of the dates of the achievements listed on the calender are old. Why this seems relevant to Franken, in view of the fact that the calender celebrates 150 years of achievements, is not immediately apparent. Franken's intellectual powers seldom seem more limited than they do in this opinion piece. He, unlike the rank and file of his party, is part of the misinformation machine.

Now, it is true that Republicans have been involved in civil rights issues for a century and a half. For the first 100 or so years, they were the party that was "for" civil rights.
Then they switched sides with the Democrats, and for half a century they've been more involved on the "against" side.

The first paragraph is right, the second is what he wants you to believe; there was no switching of sides--the Democrats merely switched their rhetoric. Much like Hillary Clinton is doing today by cynically espousing conservative values in a transparent effort to convince voters that she is not a liberal, but a moderate.

While neither party has been even close to perfect in their support for civil rights, the Republican's record is immeasurably better than the Democrat's--long ago and today. In addition to the calendar, Republicans also offer the following history of their party. Because their side is seldom told, it should be read regardless of which party you think you belong to. It begins... at the beginning:

To stop the Democrats’ pro-slavery agenda, anti-slavery activists founded the Republican Party, starting with a few dozen men and women in Ripon, Wisconsin on March 20, 1854. The party spread across the northern and western United States like a prairie fire of freedom. The first Republican state convention was held in Jackson, Michigan in July 1854. The Republican National Committee met for the first time in 1856, followed four months later by the first Republican National Convention.
In the election of 1860, Republicans swept to victory in the White House and won majorities in both houses of Congress. Just six years after the party’s founding, the Governor of every northern state in America was a Republican. That phenomenal progress was possible only because the Republican Party was based on the powerful idea that our nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to equality, must live up to its founding principles.
Despite fierce Democrat opposition, Republicans passed constitutional amendments banning slavery, extending the Bill of Rights to the states, guaranteeing equal protection of the laws and due process to all citizens, and extending the right to vote to persons of all races and backgrounds.
Republicans in Congress also enacted the nation’s first-ever Civil Rights Act, which extended citizenship and equal rights to people of all races, all colors, and all creeds.In 1875, the Republicans expanded these protections to give all citizens the right of equal access to all public accommodations. Struck down by the Supreme Court eight years later, this landmark legislation would be reborn as the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Republicans led the fight for women’s rights, and most suffragists were Republicans. In fact, Susan B. Anthony bragged about how, after voting (illegally) in 1872, she had voted a straight Republican ticket. The suffragists included two African-American women who were also co-founders of the NAACP: Ida Wells and Mary Terrell, great Republicans, both of them.
Republican Senator Aaron Sargent wrote the women’s suffrage amendment in 1878,though it would not be passed by Congress until Republicans again won control of both houses 40 years later. It was in 1916 that the first woman was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Jeannette Rankin. The first woman mayor was elected in 1926, the Honorable Bertha Landes of Seattle, another great Republican.
Democratic opposition to Republican efforts to protect the civil rights of all Americans lasted not only throughout Reconstruction, but well into the 20th century. In the South, those Democrats who most bitterly opposed equality for blacks founded the Ku Klux Klan, which operated as the party’s terrorist wing.
Every single African-American in Congress until 1935 was a Republican. Among the Republican pioneers were South Carolina’s Joseph Rainey, the first black member of the House of Representatives, in 1870. Republican Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first black U. S. Senator the same year. Two years later, Pinckney Pinchback of Louisiana became the nation’s first blac Governor.
Californi was the first state to have a Hispanic governor, Republican Romualdo Pacheco, in 1875. The first Hispanic U. S. Senator, Octaviano Larrazolo, came to Washington from New Mexico as a Republican in 1928. The first Jewish U.S. Senator outside the former Confederacy was a Republican from Oregon, Joseph Simon, and the first Jewish woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives was a California Republican, Florence Kahn.
In 2004, America marked the 50th anniversary of the modern civil rights movement, which began with the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. That landmark decision was written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the three-term Republican Governor of California appointed by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. The author of Brown was also the 1948 Republican vice presidential nominee.
Three years after Brown, President Eisenhower won passage of his landmark Civil Rights Act of 1957. Republican Senator Everett Dirksen authored and introduced the 1960 Civil Rights Act, and saw it through to passage. Republicans supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act overwhelmingly, and by much higher percentages in both House and Senate than the Democrats. Indeed, the 1964 Civil Rights Act became law only after overcoming a Democrat filibuster.
The first Asian-American U.S. Senator was a Republican, Hiram Fong from Hawaii. The first African-American Senator after Reconstruction was a Republican, Ed Brooke from Massachusetts. The first Asian-American federal judge was a Republican, Herbert Choy. The first woman on the Supreme Court was a Republican, Sandra Day O’Connor. The first Hispanic presidential Cabinet member was a Republican, Lauro Cavazos, Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan.
The longest- serving African-American in a leadership position of the U.S. House of Representatives was a Republican, J.C. Watts. The first women elected to the majority Leadership in both the House and the Senate were Republicans, Jennifer Dunn and Kay Bailey Hutchison. The highest-ranking women ever in the majority Leadership in Congress, both currently serving, are Republicans: Kay Bailey Hutchison and Deborah Pryce.
Today, the Republican Party continues its historical commitment to civil rights at home and around the world.

Update: Powerline has two (1, 2) posts on Franken's nonsense article. The first one has an addendum about Hinderaker being interviewed by Franken. I heard tape, on the Northen Alliance Radio Network show, of the interview. Hinderaker is right, it was the worst interview I've ever heard on "professional" radio.

********

A Rebuttal Clarification

By The Guardian

Were Republicans really the party of civil rights in the 1960s?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/28/republicans-party-of-civil-rights

Monday, November 18, 2013

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE INS AND OUTSNOF HOMOSEXUALITY

What About Gays Needs to Change? It may not be what you think!

http://christiananswers.net/q-cross/cross-gaychange.html

I am aware the question in this article's title presupposes a change of some sort is necessary. My presupposition is grounded in the authority of God's Word. Secondary to that—I am a Christian and a former homosexual.

Having now used that inadequate and puzzling term former homosexual, let me try to decipher the lingo and properly answer the question.

Moving the Fridge

A story will help. A man glances out his home window and sees his neighbor. The neighbor has his pick-up truck backed to his side door, both the storm and main doors are propped open and a refrigerator blocks the doorway. Obviously the fridge is being moved and help is needed, so the friendly onlooker rushes to help his red-faced neighbor.

"Need a hand with that refrigerator, Fred?" asks Steven as he throws himself into the task. "Sure do! This thing weighs more than I thought!"

Fred and Steven throw their muscular arms around the appliance. With sweat rolling down their faces, they grunt and strain as the fridge moves a quarter of an inch then stops. They reposition their arms. The fridge barely sways even though both men are winded. After wrestling with the stubborn refrigerator for a full ten minutes, Steven gasps "Fred, I don't believe we're ever going to get this thing in the house." "In the house!" exclaims Fred, "I trying to get it in the truck!"

The point is apparent-without a clear and focused understating of what direction the homosexual needs to go, he will progress no further than the refrigerator.

What Needs to Change?

An illustration will help. Imagine a very thin lady seated at a dinner table. She fidgets with her food, spoons it from one side of her plate to the other, eats little if anything, then excuses herself from the table.

"How can a visibly gaunt woman eat so little or not at all?" we ask. Our observation could lead us to two premises-either she dislikes food or she is not hungry. If we accept the first premise-that she dislikes food—our sympathetic approach might include a variety of recommendations.

We inquire about the type of food she does like—maybe fast food, Mexican or Chinese. If not perhaps the immaculate look of a seven-course meal appeals to her appetite. Perchance she prefers her food prepared a certain way-broiled versus fried, rare versus well done. If none of these recommendations help, she could have sitophobia-a fear of food.

Let's now assume the second premise—that she is not hungry. If this suspicion is true she may be suffering from a malfunctioning metabolism. We make a doctor's appointment for her. The physician suspects a thyroid condition and orders blood work. And it's possible she has hypogeusia-a diminished sense of taste.

But as persistent as we've been, all approaches make little difference in this lady's eating habits, or lack thereof. She eats very little and infrequently! Our methods have been genuine, compassionate, and justifiable. We have devoted considerable time in our quest to correct the dilemma, but to no avail.

The Puzzle Comes Together

However, if we learn this woman is anorexic, our approach changes dramatically and immediately. We realize our initial assumptions and strategies are ludicrous and laughable because they do not bear on the primary issue—a distorted self image.

When this self-starved lady looks in the mirror she sees an obese lady looking back and no amount of persuasion will convince her otherwise.

When this primary issue is addressed, her food intake as well as the frequency of her eating increases. But take note-her increased eating is a byproduct of confronting the main issue-a distorted self-image. And I use the term image not only from a clinical perspective but a biblical one. Genesis 1:26-27 reads,

“And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Emphasis added)

Now the Analogy

How does this illustration apply to the homosexual condition? Just as it is absurd for the anorexic's family and friends to focus on trying to make her eat, so it is absurd for churches to try and make the homosexual heterosexual.

Society in general and churches in particular mistakenly believe freedom from homosexuality is marrying, having 2.3 children and a dog in the back yard. A 2001 secular study on the possibility of change shows the depth of this ingrained 'doctrine'. Dr Robert Spitzer, a Columbia University professor interviewed men and women who said they used to be homosexual; I was one of many he questioned. As beneficial as his study was and as much as I appreciate the visibility it gave to change, his study measured heterosexual function of the former homosexual—again missing the real issue.

“But” you ask, "don't homosexuals need to become heterosexuals?" No! Scripture never states nor implies all people must be heterosexual; it does say explicitly, however, that we are to avoid all forms of sexual immorality, which includes homosexuality. With that in mind have we not at times given the impression that homosexuals must “convert” to heterosexuality? Jesus did not say "Go and make [heterosexuals]"; He said "go and make disciples."

“But” you ask, "isn't heterosexuality the opposite of homosexuality?" No! The opposite of homosexuality is holiness!

As I wrote earlier, the term former homosexual is inadequate if not inappropriate. We mistakenly think a person who has found freedom from same-sex attractions is now heterosexual. The former homosexual man or woman may now experience heterosexual feelings, but heterosexuality should never be his nor the churches' goal. Heterosexuality is in many cases, but not all, a byproduct of the homosexual's dealing with the primary issues-a distorted self-image and faulty thinking-both of which Satan uses to “gain control.”

The church will do well to remember that singleness is not a sin, immorality is.

What all this means is that most of churches' advice to the homosexual misses the mark entirely!

Advice Well-Meant, but Wrong

Telling an adult gay son "you just need to date more; you haven't met the right girl" is senseless. Suggesting your lesbian friend "marry, settle down and everything will work out" is imprudent. Many gay men and women have married, thinking marriage will “heal” them and in most cases the consequences have been disastrous.

Some, hopefully not Christians, suggest a gay man "find a woman who can make you a man." While I 've never heard a Christian give such advice, I did have a twenty-seven year old gay man share the following with me. He said he was fifteen when his “Christian” father learned of his homosexual struggle. To 'help' his son the father bought him a subscription to Playboy magazine. That's equivalent to serving roast duck to the anorexic.

God does not heal one form of immorality with another form of immorality! How effective is a machine gun against a tidal wave?

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 6:12).

One married struggler told me his well-meaning pastor recommended he have more sex with his wife. Although the Bible does command conjugal rights (I Cor. 7:3-4), the pastor's advice bypassed the real issue.

Another pastor prayed with an unusually handsome and struggling man, then told him "I've got a really nice girl in the church I want you to meet."

A Christian friend who knows my testimony, met my wife Lisa and said "I can see why you left homosexuality; your wife is beautiful." While he is correct that Lisa is beautiful his statement, like so many, represents a global ignorance on the subject. If attractive women were the remedy for male homosexuality, there would be no gay men.

Many gay men ask me how to cultivate a romantic/sexual attraction to women. I tell them that is not the issue; the issue is a distorted/broken image. (I have often thought how devious our adversary is. He not only confuses men and women regarding their sexual identity, he also confuses them and the church as to what healing really is, thus compounding the problem.)

By dealing with the primary issue, gay men begin to see themselves as masculine and lesbians begin to see themselves as feminine; the same-sex attractions diminish and in many cases opposite-sex attractions occur.

Not a Means to an End

During my own journey out of homosexuality I made a significant discovery—Jesus Christ is not a means to an end. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. I did not go to Christ to get something else, namely heterosexuality. I went to Christ to get HIM!

When we learn this truth, we will witness prison doors falling off their hinges and chains disintegrating.

Author: Tim Wilkins, Cross Ministry. Wilkins is a former homosexual and now directs Cross, a speaking ministry headquartered in Wake Forest, NC. www.CrossMinistry.org

Copyright © 2003, Cross Ministry, All Rights Reserved - except as noted on attached “Usage and Copyright” page that grants ChristianAnswers.Net users generous rights for putting this page to work in their homes, personal witnessing, churches and schools.

For further reading

What's wrong with being gay? Answer
What does the Bible say about same sex marriages? Answer
Can a gay person go to Heaven? Answer.
What should be the attitude of the Church toward gays and homosexuality? Answer
Read stories about those who have struggled with homosexuality—GO…

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