Iowans Vote at Church on Sunday Morning

Some Iowans voted at church yesterday during services. I think this is a lot more acceptable than a high school busing students to early voting, after supplying them with sample ballots with only Democrat candidates, and then treating them to ice cream.

 
Iowans vote at Church on Sunday Morning

Thanks to Breitbart

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

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Rachel Maddow Steve Stockman: Stockman Received Prior Notice of OKC Bombing Says Maddow

Rachel Maddow accused a woman now dead, of being a member of a militia, as if that is unlawful and egregious, and then claimed that then-Republican Texas Representative Steve Stockman received written information of the Oklahoma City Bombing prior to the disaster that killed 168 people, including 19 children and babies, and injured hundreds. And worse, she said Stockman faxed the information to the NRA, but not the FBI. See the video below.

Rachel Maddow

...Mr. Stockman actually received advanced notice that the Oklahoma City bombing was going to happen. 

MADDOW: Yes, this has happened to a smaller degree before. In 1994, in the first mid-term election after the last Democratic president was elected, we got a slate of candidates that included Helen Chenoweth of Idaho and Steve Stockman of Texas. These two were so close to the militia movement in this country that Mr. Stockman actually received advance notice that the Oklahoma City bombing was going to happen.

A bit of Internet research showed this by Jim Simmon writing for the Houston Press on June 22, 1995.

Contrary to suggestions in some initial reports, Stockman's office had received the fax after the bombing and promptly passed it on to the FBI (ironically, the initial misunderstanding about the fax was propagated by the National Rifle Association, Stockman's chief patron).

I live in Oklahoma and knew nothing of this story. This intrigued me: according to NewsBuster's Jack Coleman, the fax said this:

According to the Morning News, a hand-written message on the fax read, "First update. Bldg 7 to 10 floors only. Military people on scene -- BATF/FBI. Bomb threat received last week. Perpetrator unknown at this time. Oklahoma." The machine that sent the fax to Stockman stamped "Wolverine" at the top of the page, the Morning News reported. 

 Militias are not everyone's cup of tea, and anarchist militias are certainly not acceptable, but we must remember that militias are a guaranteed right under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - for a very good reason: it is not impossible that our government might seek to take control in an unconstitutional manner. The Second Amendment allows militias to be our guardians.

Having said all that, I don't know about Stockman's militia connections, but it does seem that now, in 2010, trying to tie him to the deaths of those murdered in the Murrah Building in 1995, is a particularly cruel and highly improper thing to do. One thing we is, every word out of Maddow's mouth is calculated and measured. She knew what she was doing.

I'm not sure what the implication of evoking Helen Chenoweth is about. She was a Republican Representative from Idaho from 1995 to January 2001. She died in an automobile accident in 2006, while a passenger in the back seat of a car that flipped and ejected her on a Nevada road. She apparently did have militia connections - but again, there is nothing illegal there. One interesting thing about Chenoweth, in 2003 she attempted to board a flight to her Nevada home. TSA "selected" her for a hand search. She refused and drove a rental car to get to her destination, and made this statement:

"Our borders are wide open and yet they're shaking down a 66-year-old white grandmother they greeted by name," she said of the incident. "It's time the American people say no to this kind of invasion. It's a question of personal privacy. There shouldn't be that kind of search without reasonable cause."

So a defenseless dead woman has been placed in the same company as a person Maddow alleges hid prior knowledge of the Oklahoma City bombing. Is there anything we can expect from MSNBC about this - like a reprimand, an apology to the family of Chenoweth and to Stockman, a firing? No, I don't think so. These are despicable people. Others talking about Maddow's accusations: BlackFive and Political Byline.

 

Rachel Maddow on Steve Stockman

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Steve King Immigration Video: King's I.D.E.A. Act Introduced

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) in this video says he has been in the business of trying embarrass the Bush and Obama administrations into enforcing immigration for a long time. Think Republicans have no ideas? Listen to King as he explains the I.D.E.A Act (Illegal Deduction Employee Act). I.D.E.A will deny a tax deduction to employers for wages paid to illegals. This is the change we've been waiting for. Rumors are that Obama is stroking his veto pen after the close of business, far into the night. See a related video linked below.

Steve King

Republican Congressman Steve King Introduces I.D.E.A. (video)Another great video from Human Events
Related:Video: Steve King - America's in the Abyss of Socialism: Republicans Pledge to Check Bills Against Constitution.
Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Imam Ibrahim Dremali Arrested: Dremali and Safaa Rashad Eissa Arrested

Imam Ibrahim Dremali and his wife Safaa Rashad Eissa were arrested in Texas on charges of Immigration Fraud. Dremali is also known as Ibrahim Abdelrahman Dremali. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent an email plea to American Muslims saying that Dremali is "one of a small handful of people who hold Ph.D.s in the U.S. in Islamic Jurisprudence." In other words, he has a "deep understanding of Sharia - meaning Dremali clearly understands the Islamic mission of Sharia dominance worldwide. 10-19-10 Update below. Another pertinent update 10-20-10 below

Ibrahim Abdelrahman Dremali

 Creeping Sharia reports that CAIR, through the mass email, has asked Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) to have the charges dropped. Harken is likely at his home office while the Senate is in campaign mode. His Iowa office phone in Des Mones: 515-284-4574, Fax: 515-284-4937 and in Washington, D.C. 202-224-3254 and Fax: 202-224-9369. Something we can do is contact Senator Harkin's office and tell him to not even think of dropping the charges against this couple. Read on for good reasons to see this through to the end of a trial. Let their public defender defend them.

From The Iowa Independent:

Imam Ibrahim Dremali and his wife, Safaa Rashad Eissa, were arrested at their Arlington, Texas, home on Oct. 6 by local and federal agents acting on a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. According to the warrant, Dremali and his wife are suspected of conspiracy and fraud in [the] naturalization process, an immigration offense...

Apparently, Safaa Rashad Eissa is not Ibrahim's other wife, Lamyaa Hashim (a.k.a. Um Ahmad), or perhaps she changed her name, or maybe there was an Islamic divorce. From FrontPageMag's The Visiting Jihadist in 2006:

Ibrahim Dremali was educated at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, where the school’s Grand Imam, Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, has issued Fatwas in favor of violent Jihad against America and in support of suicide bombings.  It is at Al-Azhar that Dremali was said to have been indoctrinated into a militant organization.  This gives historical context for an event that happened on July 1, 1996, during which Dremali was detained by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and told that he was not to leave Gazaindefinitely.  Subsequently, on July 5, 1996, against Israeli orders, he arrived in Cairo.

Dremali would soon make his way to sunny Florida, where he resided previous to the IDF incident.

Update 10-19-10: 
Addressing the mass email, this says that Dremali is known to Senator Harkin, who has appeared with Dremali and supported his work in the past.

From The Investigative Project on Terrorism:

Dremali founded the Islamic Center of Boca Raton before becoming an imam in Des Moines. While in Florida, his mosque co-sponsored a rally in 2000 which featured Hizballah flags and chants of "with jihad we'll claim our land. Zionist blood will wet the sand."

In addition, Dremali testified on behalf of Adham Amin Hassoun during a 2002 bond hearing, attesting to Hassoun's "peaceful and generous" character. Hassoun would later be indictedfor "actively recruiting mujahideen fighters and raising funds for violent jihad" and conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim persons in a foreign country," in order to "advance violent jihad," including "murder, kidnapping, and maiming," to establish "Islamic states under Sharia."

Hassoun was convicted in 2007.

The Islamic Center of Boca Raton, which Dremali founded has quite a reputation, according to FrontPageMag:

From October of 1999 through July of 2001, the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR) contained material on its website calling Jews “people of treachery and betrayal” and discussing the murder of Jews. A founding director of ICBR, Syed Khawer Ahmad, who stayed on in his position till the middle of 2002, doubled as a webmaster for the official website of Hamas’s Islamic Association located in Gaza. In October of 2000, the Imam of ICBR, Ibrahim Dremali, amidst burning Israeli flags and shouts that “Zionist blood will wet the sand,” told a crowd not to be sad for “those who were martyred” (i.e., suicide bombers). Despite this history, the ICBR had no trouble securing a zoning permit for a proposed 9,000 square-foot mosque. No one -- not the police department, not the mayor’s office, not the zoning board -- raised an objection.

What transpired after the permit was given is a matter of record. A Hamas-related charity connected to ICBR, the Health Resource Center for Palestine, was shut down; a founding director of ICBR and associate of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Sami Al-Arian, Bassem Alhalabi, was charged by the U.S. government with illegally shipping a $13,000 piece of sensitive military equipment to Syria; the Imam that took the place of Dremali, Munir Arafat, admitted under oath that he himself was a member of PIJ; and a member of the center, Rafiq Sabir, was arrested by the FBI for being an Al-Qaeda operative, to which he is currently awaiting trial.

Apparently, Dremali has spread his jihad to the Austin, Texas area. DiscoverTheNetworks says Dremali was the Director of the Islamic Center of Greater Austin, and a professor at the American Open University.

Call Senator Harkin's office, as well as alert your own Senator and Congressmen that CAIR is once again at work to whitewash a jhadist living in the U.S.

Update 10-20-10: 
Shawn Savage at Savage Infidel via DallasNews
Dremali and Eissa are accused of marrying other people to provide U.S. citizenship. Islamic websites are tsk, tsk, tsking that Dremali is suffering from cancer and should not be moved, but according to this report, it's not cancer, it's hepatitis C. He is awaiting a liver transplant from a red-blooded American's demise.


Linked by The Iowa Independent

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Iowa Billboard Controversy: Conservatives Flogging Conservatives

The North Iowa Tea Party is now the albatross of the Tea Party movement.  Conservatives and Republicans need something to feel guilty about. This week it's the Hitler-Obama-Lenin billboard. You can feel the angst about this wayward group - we are not racist, that billboard should not have gone up! I ask why not?

And who among Democrats cared that Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MI) compared President G. W. Bush to Hitler and said the White House was involved in the 9/11 attacks? There are so many examples of Democrat rallies comparing Bush to Hitler that I'll just refer you to this blog which has many documented photos, links to others and says he/she had a front row seat to these rallies 2003-2008. This particular blog was written in August 2009 and isn't addressing the billboard, but other outcries from Liberals including Nancy Pelosi almost a year ago.

The argument is, just because the Left does it, doesn't make it right for the Right to do it. I agree, but that is not what this billboard did. I see it this way:

The billboard is not racist. It does not compare Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler or Vladimir Lenin, although it would be reasonable to do so now that we've seen the Obama agenda. It highlights three types of socialism and socialists, including Barack Obama, and points out the three are radicals and prey[ed] on the "fearful and naive."

Like, suing Arizonans who are fearful, but no longer naive about their government's failure to protect them from theft, murder, rape, kidnapping and human trafficking, and dirty needles on landowner's property.

Like Philadelphia voters who were threatened at the polls, some not voting because of it - and then slammed by Obama and Holder protecting the New Black Panthers rather than the voter - that protection ranging to simply not prosecuting Blacks who commit voter intimidation and/or fraud because they are Black. It makes me fearful. I fear for my country. It was reported yesterday that the NAACP was working with the DOJ on the dismissal of the Black Panthers case...and they call TEA parties racist!

Like New Yorkers strongly against holding the trial of one of highest-profile Islamic terrorists in the War on Terror in downtown New York. Holder and Obama were determined to do it. Now, the KSM trial just looms. No one knows where it will be. No one wants it in the U.S. If you live in the area of a trial of this magnitude, most might feel some intimidation. Who knows what kind of riff-raff that trial will bring to the neighborhood? Who knows who will prey on the people?

Like forcing all of America to purchased mandated health insurance, except for Congress and Unions, and Obama's new czar over medicaid and medicare, Donald Berwick. He worked his own deal with his own non-profit charity, paid himself $2.3 million, and then bestowed lifetime health care for him and his wife. He's the guy that believes rationing healthcare is "romantic," and he has assured us we will have rationing. But he scams a charity which obviously has significant tax benefits (at least until Obama's tax hikes arrive). I believe many Americans feel intimidated and anxious about their unwanted ObamaCare. I feel fearful about the Court's decision when the constitutionality of the law hits the bench. How could I not?

Just as Hitler and Lenin murdered, Obama is using taxpayer money to fund abortions. One of his first acts as a president was to overturn the Mexico City policy which denied U.S. taxpayer dollars for abortion outside our borders. Instantly you and I were funding abortion. When I think about it...that my money is used for taking the life of the unborn, it chills me. Yesterday we learned that the health care legislation will indeed allow taxpayers to fund abortions inside the U.S. In fact, $160 million is already designated for a Pennsylvania program to put an insurance program in place for abortions. I'm paying for murder.

I feel preyed upon by this predatory president.

We cannot grow our businesses because we know taxes and regulations will be leveled with a brutal hand. We cannot improve our properties, buy a nice car, take that wedding anniversary trip, buy a second home...until we know whats coming next. We think we know a VAT tax is descending. We do know that tax cuts are disappearing. Nothing looks good for our financial futures at this time.

I feel preyed upon by this predatory president.

We believe we are going to be forced to bailout dying liberal rags all over the country. A $10 billion bailout for teachers unions was hidden in a military funding bill, and the administration wants even more for "the teachers union." Today a gigantic financial "reform" bill was passed. The bill will be signed next week, but reform for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the root of the housing meltdown, were nowhere to be found. Jacob Lew, the new czar of Financial Reform said just last year that if the rest of the world didn't adhere to the same reforms, American business' would flee the country. It will be too expensive to stay here, and small business' and small banks will be the hardest hit. The Wall Street Journals says this bill "will hit small business' hard."

Don't you feel preyed upon by this predatory president?

Eminent Domain, Obama, and the little guy

Cross-posted from Faultline USA

Yesterday three minor news stories came together into one story, and then the story really got interesting. Hang in there and read on. Don’t you want to find out why Obama positioned himself in alignment with the rotation of the earth?

(1) Congress was opened for the first time by a Hindu prayer. The Hindu cleric’s prayer to open Congress was disrupted by some Christians. Read three different takes on this from Christian Newswire, Religion Clause, and the lefty Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

(2) Eminent Domain Reform was introduced in U.S. House of Representatives. The Castle Coalition reported yesterday that Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduced the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2007 to stop taxpayer funding of eminent domain abuse. . . “It prevents Americans’ federal tax dollars from being used to kick them off their land for private development, while allowing federal money for traditional public uses like roads and post offices. ” According to Steven Anderson, director of the Castle Coalition, “Unsurprisingly, tax-hungry governments and land-hungry developers prey on those that are less likely to be able to defend themselves.

It is vital that the federal government stop subsidizing this blatant abuse of power.” Eminent Domain reform is desperately needed following the disastrous Kelo vs the City of New London Supreme Court ruling. This reform should have broad bi-partisan support. Lefty groups, however, are a bit too fond of portraying the “little guy” as an inner city minority or a member of a “marginalized” group. In fact, the little guy is just as likely to be a farmer or rancher who will lose family land to the NAFTA highway, to some kind of questionable “city” government, or to big money private development.

Read about the consequences of Kelo vs City of New London. “In Kelo v. City of New London, the U.S. Supreme Court held that anyone’s home or business can be taken if the government thinks someone else can make more money with the land. The floodgates to eminent domain abuse have busted open. However, there is a silver lining.” Also read The Impact of the Kelo Decision from reason.org.

(3) An Iowa farmer is being threatened with Eminent Domain by the Maharishi Vedic City. Bob Palm and his two brothers have 149 acres of farmland that has been in their family for 115 years. After the Palm brothers announced plans to raise hogs on the farm, the Maharishi Vedic City became upset because the city does not allow the sale of any non-organically raised product (that means only vegetarian). The city offered to buy the farm to build a park after appraising the farm’s value at $2,675 per acre. The Palms refused to sell and the “peace-loving” cult threatened to bring Eminent Domain proceedings.

Currently they are at a standoff. I am really curious. Isn’t this America, the land of the free and home of the brave? How did Maharishi Vedic City become a genuine city in Iowa? Aren’t all American cities held to some basic standards of freedom of diversity? Apparently not so! In Maharishi Vedic City no one is allowed to sell non-organic products. The city is vegetarian. The official language is Hindu Sanskrit. Need I go on? So how can this so-called American city even be considered a real city much less bring Eminent Domain proceedings against a neighbor? For some history on the Utopian, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and his Transcendental Meditation cult read Heaven on Earth .

Living in the hope of spending the afterlife in heaven is a definite waste of the glorious gift of human life. So every individual must try to create a heavenly environment on earth, and one Hindu spiritual leader thinks it's very much possible to build heaven on earth! He is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi — the notable Vedic teacher and celebrated guru of transcendental meditation, and the vital force behind such Vedic institutions as the Maharishi University of Management and the Maharishi International University.

According to a 2000 article by Rick Ross it’s all about big money and politics:

Today, amazingly, the Maharishi is still purveying bliss - only to the gentry, not below stairs. He has become a fashion icon. His sly smile no longer looks down from a thousand college notice boards, but he is the pin-up of politicians, accountants, doctors, businessmen and journalists. In this era of anxiety, his New Age message is the antidote to executive stress.

What is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Natural Law party?

According to the Natural Law Party (U.S.) "50-Point Action Plan to Revitalize America," "there are simple, humane, cost-effective, scientifically proven solutions to all of America’s problems. The Natural Law Party was founded to implement these solutions immediately in government." The discussion of their actual policy in their printed material and web site, while quite lofty, is extremely vague. Nowhere in the literature they mail to prospective members do they mention that all of these "solutions" are based on products of one controversial group. But in actuality the Natural Law Party is a global "political" front -- with organizations in 80 countries -- for the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement.

The Maharishi is a Hindu monk who began teaching TM in the 1950s. The public best knows him for his association with the Beatles, who learned TM from him in the late 1960s. It's interesting to note that in 1957, the Maharishi claimed he would bring the world to enlightenment within 10 years -- and would then retire to the caves of the Himalayas to spend the remainder of his days in quiet meditation. Yet, today he governs a world-wide spiritual empire worth over $3.5 billion dollars.More details and source documents. Return to top.

Also read Secrets of the Natural Law Party. Here’s an excerpt from the chapter Unnatural FAQs:

. . .Since the 1970s, the Maharishi has touted TM as a secular form of meditation that does not conflict with any religion, philosophy, or governmental system. But in fact, insiders report that TM is secretly a very fundamental form of Hinduism. According to former Maharishi International University professor Anthony D. DeNaro, the Maharishi once snapped, "When America is ready for Hinduism, I will tell them." The Maharishi incorporated his original movement as a religious organization with himself as its "spiritual head." He has said that he chooses the names of Hindu gods as mantras for his followers. Four U.S. courts have found that TM is religious or a religion. . . .

All the more reason why this city isn’t an American city and should not have the power of Eminent Domain! Obama woos Vedic City, folks! Also see Politico Blog. Here’s an excerpt from with bold added by me.

FAIRFIELD, Iowa-Sen. Barack Obama drew his heartiest welcome of a two-day swing through Iowa in the state's capital of inner peace. . .Obama had positioned himself in alignment with the rotation of the earth, in accordance with the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose followers moved en masse to this small Iowa city more than 30 years ago.The Maharishi’s transcendental meditators, along with vacationing pilgrims from the East Coast, turned out in large numbers in the town’s traditional green square to hear the Illinois senator deliver his stump speech on the night of July 3-more people, Fairfield’s sheriff said, than had come out to greet a sitting president.“I saw him and I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is somebody who could lead us into a new era,’” said Nancy Watkins, an international student adviser at the Maharishi University of Management.

A liberal’s take on the event. Here’s an excerpt. Highlights added by the liberal:

Meditating Iowans At Peace With Obama CBS News, NY turned out in large numbers in the town’s traditional green square to hear the Illinois senator deliver his stump speech on the night of July 3 — more people, Fairfield’s sheriff said, than had come out to greet a sitting president. ..... "Somehow we have lost the capacity to recognize ourselves in each other,"” Obama said, to an intently nodding crowd of at least 1,000. "You know, people talk a lot about the federal deficit, but one of the things that I always talk about is …an empathy deficit," he continued, to applause. ...... Obama spoke as Washington wallows in a summer of intense conflict. Subpoenas are flying from the Hill to the White House. ..... In some of his speeches, he didn't even mention President Bush. .....

This is a central gamble of Obama's campaign for President. The loudest voices in the Democratic Party — from Chairman Howard Dean to former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Hillary Clinton — have been sounding steady notes of confrontation with the White House. Clinton and Edwards argue that they will win the partisan wars. ..... Obama argues that the country, and even partisans, are tired of partisan warfare. .... a suburb — the fist new city incorporated in Iowa in decades — called Maharishi Vedic City, in which all buildings face East.

Now I wonder if the crowd was nodding in agreement with Obama or just head-bobbing in transcendental meditation? No matter. It sure looks like Obama won’t be visiting any farmers facing Eminent Domain these days, now does it? Obama’s got more bread to butter and he knows exactly where to find it! H/T to Iowa Voice “Gurus Love Obama” (from someone living in the midst of these folks) . . .

Oh, by the way…you know what that “Yoga flying” really is? They cross their legs, go into a “trance” (some “herbs” might be involved, if you get my drift), and then proceed to hop/bounce around a gymnasium. They barely get a few inches off the floor, yet they think they’re actually flying. And that’s just stage 1! Pure freakin’ nutjobs. So if they want to be supportive of Obama, more power to ‘em. But I’ll just bet you won’t see any “Endorsed by The Maharishi University” on any campaign flyers anytime soon.

Barack Obama Eminent Domain Christian Hindu Congress politics Iowa Maharishi Vedic City