Frank Salvato

Barack Obama - Budget - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Frank Salvato - GOP - Government - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - Scott Walker - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

Oh, There’s Something Going On, But It’s Not ‘Union Busting’

March 6, 2011 by

-By Frank Salvato

I was driving into Annapolis the other day when it struck me. I now understand why the Progressive Left is adamant about pushing the artificial inflation of our children’s self-esteem. To paraphrase Col. Kurtz, a character from the film Apocalypse Now, “It struck me like a diamond bullet right between the eyes. I thought ‘The brilliance!’” And then I thought, “The horror!…The horror.” It was at that exact moment that my steadfast confidence that our Republic would endure was rocked. It was at that split second that any question about our nation being under siege from an ideological movement, so well planned; so potent and so destructive, disappeared forever. So, what does the artificial elevation of self-esteem have to do with the destruction of the nation? Everything.

When we falsely elevate the self-esteem of a child, of a group of children; when we teach them that “everyone’s a winner” and “there are no losers,” we are teaching them a lie. Any honest person must have the courage to admit that in life, no one ever gets everything that they want, ergo, it is impossible for someone to always win and to never lose.

Imagine the bitter dose of reality experienced by a little leaguer who has been allowed to play the game where no score is kept and everyone was deemed “a winner” when he played in his first organized league where the score did matter. It is happening today.
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Oh, There’s Something Going On, But It’s Not ‘Union Busting’”

Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Government - Liberals

Hatred: The Hallmark of the Progressive-Left

March 1, 2011 by

-By Frank Salvato

Just over a month ago, President Obama took to a stage in Arizona to decry what he perceived as the caustic nature of political discourse in our country. On this issue, and very few others, we agree. But Mr. Obama was delinquent in pointing out the individuals and organizations – the factions – responsible for stoking the fires of discontent and, dare I say, hatred. The unspoken reason for this omission is because most – if not all – of the caustic rhetoric – the unbridled hatred – comes from the Progressive Left and there are myriad examples to prove the point beyond argument.

Truth be told, the Progressive-Left in the United States, as they exist today, are not unlike the arrogant, defiant, naïve teenager; so full of self-righteousness yet so incredibly oblivious to the fact that there are consequences to each and every action. And just like that rebellious teenager, when it comes time to reap the pains of what their actions sowed, they become bitter, angry and sometimes violent in their defiance. The troubles created by their lack of vision and their selfishness, however, remain for others to rectify. And just like the defiant teenager, those of the Progressive-Left would rather blame everyone else for the problems they face; the problems society faces because of the obstinacy and narcissism.

The mainstreaming of the Progress-Left’s insolence has manifested in the evolution of malcontents who once bombed government buildings and killed law enforcement officers, who rioted in the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, into many who have now achieved elected office, including the status of US Representatives, Senators and, yes, even the Presidency of the United States. The difference between yesterday and today is that today the consequences of their actions – the cost for their lack of vision and their arrogance – is much higher.

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Hatred: The Hallmark of the Progressive-Left”

9/11 - Africa - al Qaeda - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Egypt - Frank Salvato - Iran - Iraq - Islam - Islamofascism - Liberals - Military - President - Religion - Society/Culture - Taliban - Terrorism - Western Civilization

The Middle East, The World, at a Crossroads

February 12, 2011 by

-By Frank Salvato

In 2008, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, was quoted as saying, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” As stunningly opportunistic as that statement was to many, it was, at least, a transparently honest statement that defined the tactics used by the White House during the first two years of the Obama Administration. And while those of us who are politically aware here in the United States came to see that tactic bring to fruition a sea-change of initiatives, our political and ideological trials and tribulations pale in comparison to what is happening in the Middle East today.

I bring up Mr. Emanuel’s admission regarding crisis because it is cogent to the events happening in Tunisia, Jordan and, especially, Egypt. With pro-democracy and anti-dictatorial movements taking to the streets in protest of what they see as heavy-handed totalitarianism – albeit to a much lesser extent in Jordan than in the other locales, the world is witnessing a level of chaos that can only exist where there is a void in national cohesion; a void of accepted leadership. It is this void that serves as the opportunity for nefarious forces to exploit the “crisis.”

Perhaps most notably in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is calculating its actions carefully; waiting in the wings but for their call to take to the streets in support of the protesters. The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the quintessential organizations within the realm of radical Islam, was the organization that gave birth to al Qaeda. In fact, al Qaeda’s number two, Ayman al Zawahiri, was a high-level member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood before embarking on a reign of terror, murder and oppression with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.
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The Middle East, The World, at a Crossroads”

Anita MonCrief - Barack Obama - Censorship - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Frank Salvato - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Republicans

Civility? What Channel

February 7, 2011 by

-By Frank Salvato

What’s all this talk about civility taking hold in the American political arena? Evidently, Progressive talker Stephanie Miller, who, I guess, has a syndicated radio show – amazing what passes for talent these days on talk radio – didn’t get that memo…strange, too, as her leader, Pres. Obama took to the airwaves after the Tucson tragedy to admonish everyone who was throwing rhetorical bombs under the guise of “political debate.” Yet, for Ms. Miller, it’s full speed ahead with the name-calling and the deprecating jokes.

Mediateite.com reports that while discussing House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH):
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Civility? What Channel”

9/11 - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Government - Islam - Islamofascism - Liberals - Military - President - Society/Culture - Terrorism - Western Civilization

About the ‘Muslim Problem’

January 29, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Frank Salvato

Five years ago when my organization BasicsProject.org partnered in producing the first national symposium series on the threat of radical Islam, the issue was not in the mainstream. In fact, our publication, NewMediaJournal.us was banned from Google News for what they called “hate speech,” simply because several of our writers dared to broach the subject of jihad and the violent tenets of Islamist fundamentalism. To be sure, we have come a very long way from those days. Today, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity both talk regularly about the issue with Mr. O’Reilly calling it “the Muslim problem.” This is a good thing, but it isn’t nearly enough.

As President Obama does everything in his power, using every resource and every propaganda ploy to diminish the “Muslim problem” that exists, not only in the United States, but around the world, the truth remains, fundamentalist Islam is a problem that is growing, not diminishing. Many on the Left and in the Progressive camp insist that the number of people within the Islamic religion who practice fundamentalist Islam – radical Islam; those who, when asked, champion the violent element within their religion, are but a scant ten percent. But when we put that percentage in realistic terms, realizing that nearly one-fourth of the world’s population is Muslim (1.57 billion adherents) and that the number of those following the Islamic religion grows by 1.84% annually, we can divine that ten percent of the Muslim population – those who subscribe to fundamentalist Islam and violent jihad – amounts to 157,000,000 people and growing. That number, to equate it to something tangible, is over one-third of the population of the United States of America.
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About the ‘Muslim Problem’”

Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Government - Liberals - President

Addressing One of the Casualties of the 111th Congress

January 11, 2011 by

-By Frank Salvato

If you were to list all of the things that fell victim to the tyranny of Progressive leadership in the 111th Congress of the United States, chief on the list, in addition to ethics and constitutional process, is honesty. While it is true that honesty in politics – throughout the history of man – has always been wanting, it can be said with a high degree of confidence that not since the Wilson Administration has there been such a crisis in honesty in the United States government.

There is a tremendous difference between honesty in politics and honesty in government. We the People, to our own discredit, have become tolerant of dishonesty in the political process. Election cycle after election cycle we listen to the candidates – from both sides of the aisle – pontificate on what they will do if elected to office only to be showered with myriad excuses once they do get elected about how it is the corruption of the inside-the-beltway establishment that keeps them from delivering on their campaign promises and not a waning desire to achieve them, even as they literally become part of the very corrupt inside-the-beltway establishment they condemn. This is the “benefit” that We the People reap for allowing honesty to be abdicated by political candidates in the first place.

But honesty in government is quite another story. The American people may have a high tolerance for bastardized honesty in the political process, but we have always taken great offense – often to the point of anger and action – when dishonesty, often in the form of corruption, egregiously unethical behavior and/or illegal activity, is employed by our government.
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Addressing One of the Casualties of the 111th Congress”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Frank Salvato - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Senate - Taxes

Those Damn Rich People

December 26, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

Throughout the debate over the extension of the tax rates, aka the Bush tax cuts, we have witnessed a concerted effort by Democrats and Progressives to demonize the wealthy. This demonization has crossed over into the on-going argument over the Estate Tax, aka the Death Tax. At every turn we are made to feel that the wealthy have no right to “monopolize” all of their riches when government could use a goodly portion of that wealth to “help” the down-trodden, the disenfranchised and the less fortunate. Truth be told, the government can’t do anything equal to what the wealthy in the private sector do to “help” those individuals.

Before we get into the issue of the rich and their wealth, let’s dispense with the myth that government can create jobs. Oh sure, the government can create employment through expanding the reach of government; by expanding government as an entity, but those jobs require an increase in taxation on the rank-and-file citizenry in order to cover the paychecks issued to those government workers. Government – aside from the blood-money interest produced by TARP and the ill-gotten gains of government through the hostile takeover of General Motors – cannot create wealth, ergo; it does not have the ability to amass wealth in order to expand; in order to create jobs. Simply put, when government creates a job, that employee is paid by the taxpayer, not the government; that employee is paid by the private sector.

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Those Damn Rich People”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Capitalism - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Founders - Frank Salvato - Government - Liberals - Money - Taxes

To Be Clear, It’s Not the Government’s Money

December 18, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
– James Madison, Fourth President of the United States and considered the Father of the United States Constitution.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion in Washington DC, especially on the Left side of the aisle, about the revenue surrendered to the federal government through taxation. For some reason, many Democrats – and all Progressives – seem to believe that they have a right to the citizens’ money, for whatever cause, whatever initiative and/or whatever programs they deem necessary. Not only isn’t this even close to the truth, but to believe so is to have a non-functional understanding of the Constitution and the proper limits of government.

If this needs to be said once it needs to be said a thousand times; it is not the right of the federal government to do with tax revenue what it pleases. Tax revenue, privately earned money that is surrendered to the federal government under law, is meant to fund the vital processes of the federal government as outlined in the enumerated powers of the US Constitution and the whole of the Charters of Freedom.
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To Be Clear, It’s Not the Government’s Money”

Barack Obama - Budget - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Constitution - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Frank Salvato - GOP - Government - History - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Socialism - Taxes - Tea Party

Tea Party, Don’t Let Your Opposition Define You

November 20, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

With the mid-term elections now literally in the history books, the powers that be on both the Left side of the aisle and the Right, inside the beltway and out, have finally come to understand the power and appeal of the citizen movement commonly referred to as the Tea Party Movement. But, along with this recognition of power and appeal comes the wont of these groups to rationalize away the catalyst and the chemistry that gave birth to the movement. If the Tea Party Movement is to keep its potency it must avoid several pitfalls common to well-intentioned movements. Chief among these pitfalls is allowing your opposition to define who you are; or what we are.

Make no mistake, the establishment political apparatus does not – repeat, does not – celebrate the Tea Party Movement. In fact, they are extremely threatened, both on the Left and the Right, by this pure grassroots movement; this phoenix that has ascended from the ashes of a grotesque governmental system centered on political opportunism and self-preservation. They are threatened – not they feel threatened, but they are threatened – because their status quo is threatened; because the very apparatus they have assembled is about to be junked. And just like a feral cat that has been cornered, they are willing to do and say anything to protect their status quo.

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Tea Party, Don’t Let Your Opposition Define You”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Republicans - Saul Alinsky - Senate - Socialism - Taxes - Tea Party

The Next Missions…If the Tea Party Will Accept Them

November 5, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

The overwhelming, message-sending, victory that Republican candidates scored in the 2010 mid-term elections was nothing less than historic. With six pick-ups in the US Senate, 61* pick-ups in the US House and 7* pick-ups in governorships – not to mention myriad pick-ups in state, county and municipal elections across the country – a sea change took place unlike any seen since 1938 when the Democrats lost 72 seats.

To be certain – and without any doubt – the motivating factor, the catalyst for this march away from Progressivism was the advent of the Tea Party Movement. Loyal to the founding tenets of limited government, limited taxation, a strong national defense, sovereignty, self-reliance, fiscal responsibility and a jealous adherence to the US Constitution and the whole of the Charters of Freedom (which, by the way constituted the original platform of the Republican Party circa 1856), the Tea Party exploded onto the scene empowering a new breed of citizen legislator, citizen legislators who were not only ushered into office almost everywhere they existed on a ballot, but who have shaken the very foundation of the good-old-boy, inside-the-beltway status quo in both political parties.
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The Next Missions…If the Tea Party Will Accept Them”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Frank Salvato - Free Trade - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Republicans - Taxes

This Election Cycle Is About…Revolution

October 29, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

The midterm elections coming up this November 2nd are perhaps the most important election since the US Civil War. Where the 1864 election came in the midst of a war that tore families apart, saw brothers fighting brothers and the fate of the Union and the issue of slavery hanging in the balance, among other pressing questions (slavery was not the only catalyst for the US Civil War), the 2010 midterm elections are just as critical as again we see the very well-being of our country hanging in the balance.

There really is no singular issue that makes this election more important than the one before it. While many rail about the transformative healthcare bill or the threat of Cap-and-Trade or the bankrupting of our country or any number of irresponsible policies of this Congress and the current administration, the truth is that the critical issue of this election – of this moment in time – is much simpler and much more complex, all at the same time.

The issue that sets this election cycle apart from almost all others is a question of – dare I say it – rebellion; of revolution.
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This Election Cycle Is About…Revolution”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Frank Salvato - Government - Liberals - Taxes

And While the Bright Shiny Thing Sparkled…

October 25, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

While the rest of the media – both new and decrepit – was distracted by the firing of Juan Williams by NPR, another story, with implications that affected each and every American, went virtually unnoticed. As is the standard operating procedure for the decrepit and, now, verifiably corrupt mainstream media, this alarming story received no coverage because it painted President Obama in a bad, nay, an honest light. I am at a quandary as to why the new media neglected the issue.

Don’t get me wrong, the Juan Williams firing is a legitimate story. Anyone concerned with the First Amendment right to free speech should be outraged that National Public Radio, a taxpayer funded media entity– funding derived from both charitable giving and government endowment, would exact a litmus test based on Progressive ideology on its employees. Truth be told, Mr. Williams said nothing that well over half the American population has been suppressing for almost ten years.
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And While the Bright Shiny Thing Sparkled…”

Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Frank Salvato - Government - House of Representatives - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Republicans - Taxes

Campaign Donations, ‘Shady Sources’ & The Lies of the Left

October 22, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

Many people will insist that the subject of the Democratic National Committee’s attack ad – the one that takes pot-shots at Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie, the US Chamber of Commerce and the GOP in general – is a dead issue; that the moment in time to “slice and dice” this most egregious media hatchet job has come and gone. Nothing could be further from the truth and here’s why: This attack ad by the DNC – and John Podesta, via the Center for American Progress – makes honesty an issue in this election cycle.

Pardon me for saying so, but it is well past time that we expect honesty from not only our elected officials but from those running for office, those raising money for those running for office, the political parties – and their surrogates, and the media, the total of the media, both the new and the decrepit. We Americans have tolerated dishonest “spin” for decades and, quite honestly, we have only ourselves to blame. If we weren’t buying it, they wouldn’t be selling it.

Case in point…
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Campaign Donations, ‘Shady Sources’ & The Lies of the Left”

Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Frank Salvato - Government - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - Senate - Taxes

Cloward, Piven & Obamacare

October 14, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

By now everyone has heard that the Obama Administration is granting waivers to what are being termed “low-wage” employers, corporations that employ minimum wage and/or near minimum wage employees, where the restrictive and anti-free market Obamacare health insurance law is concerned. While top-tier corporations like McDonald’s take advantage of their size, reach and the pre-election political climate to protect the well-being of their ability to exist as free-standing corporate enterprises – something that any responsible corporation would do, this isn’t the case for tens of thousands of small businesses and those who must attain health insurance as individuals.

Who says that Progressives and Liberal Democrats aren’t “in bed” with corporate America?

But these waivers, which could be issued to a number of corporations who employ “mini-med” plans – which offer limited benefits to over 1.4 million Americans, could be short-lived. While companies like Home Depot, Disney Worldwide Services, CVS Caremark, Staples and Blockbuster, seem to be on the receiving end of a reprieve from the Progressives’ march toward universal healthcare, this reprieve will last about as long as the election cycle, and then about as long as it takes to collapse the individual policy health insurance market.
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Cloward, Piven & Obamacare”

Barack Obama - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - Government - Liberals - Socialism

Constructing the Buzzword ‘Extreme’: Alinsky Rules 11 & 13

October 7, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

If you are paying attention to the politics surrounding the midterm elections – and, for the good of the country, you should be – then you have, no doubt, heard almost everyone from the Left side of the aisle using the word “extreme” where the Tea Party is concerned. To a lesser extent they use it to describe the Conservative movement as a whole but without doubt, it is the descriptor of choice when anyone of the Liberal or Progressive persuasion talks about the Tea Party. This tactic comes straight from the Progressive playbook.

I have been saying since before Barack Obama was elected president that if you want to understand the tactics being used by the Progressive Left you have to read two books: Boss by Mike Royko and Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky.

The first, Boss, examines the genesis of the Chicago Machine – Mayor Richard J. “The King Maker” Daley’s Chicago Democrat Machine – and Chicago style politics. It is important because it not only sheds light on how “The Machine” came to be, but how it operates. Barack Obama, Dick Durbin, Rahm Emanuel, Luis Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky, to name but a few, are all products of “The Machine.” “The Machine” has been responsible for the election of every Democrat president since John F. Kennedy.
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Constructing the Buzzword ‘Extreme’: Alinsky Rules 11 & 13″

Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Tea Party

The Issues vs. The Mainstream Media

October 2, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

Did you know that the Tea Party-backed Republican candidate for US Congress in VIllinois’ 27th congressional district attends a church where they worship transgender goats? Additionally, he once allowed a parking meter to expire without surrendering himself to be fined. A local merchant, who once saw him on vacation in Zanzibar, said she believes he has a Barbie doll collection. There have even been reports that he once shared a Kit-Kat bar with Charles Manson at a Grateful Dead concert.

There isn’t an iota of truth to the above statement. It is all false. There isn’t even a 27th congressional district in Illinois. But, I can just about guarantee you that someone reading this in any one of the plethora of mainstream media newsrooms has taken to the Internet to research “the facts” of this stunning breaking news report.

If I had opened this article by saying, the Tea Party-backed Republican candidate in Delaware’s US Senate race has been campaigning on a platform that includes limiting the reach of government into your personal lives, reforming the tax code, defunding and repealing the newly enacted healthcare insurance reform bill and vowing to oppose any piece of legislation that comes before her that isn’t constitutionally sound, do you think the same “journalists” would have even finished reading the paragraph? If you said no, give yourself a gold star.
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The Issues vs. The Mainstream Media”

Congress - Conservatives - Elections - Frank Salvato - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Republicans - Tea Party

The GOP: Locked, Loaded & Aiming for Its Own Foot…Again

September 23, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

“Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”
– Ronald Reagan, The Eleventh Commandment of Republican Politics

And so it begins. The establishment Republican Party has loaded the gun and is now pointing the barrel directly at its own foot; a situation all too familiar for those of us who, in the past, have watched the Republican Party snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. How they are handling the Tea Party movement – or, rather, how they are trying to man-handle the Tea Party movement – is a perfect example. In the end, victory or defeat will hinge on whether or not the establishment GOP party leaders shake-off the stench of arrogance and elitism.
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The GOP: Locked, Loaded & Aiming for Its Own Foot…Again”

9/11 - Anti-Americanism - Frank Salvato - History - Islamofascism - Liberals - President - Terrorism

September 11, 2001: Nine Years On

September 16, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

The subject of the attacks of September 11, 2001, seems to validate the notion that the American public has an attention span issue. How else can we explain the “tolerance” argument being foisted upon the citizenry by proponents of the Islamic Center and mosque slated for construction just 500 feet from the epicenter of Ground Zero? How else can we explain the abundance of Wahabbist literature in Saudi funded mosques all over the United States? And how else can we explain the fact that a grotesquely overwhelming number of violent acts are committed, daily, in the name of Islam?

Can anyone possibly believe these issues would have been embraced with apathy and conciliation on September 12, 2001; just one day after Americans watched their countrymen leaping from jet-fuel infused infernos only to partially disintegrate as they impacted with the ground below?

Can anyone imagine any family member of anyone killed by the bloodthirsty and barbaric Islamist ideologues on that fateful day rationalizing the construction of an Islamic center and mosque on what is literally the graveyard for 2,977 souls; souls dispatched in the name of Allah and Muhammad?
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September 11, 2001: Nine Years On”

9/11 - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias

The Ground Zero Mosque & The War of Ideas

September 1, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

The controversy surrounding the Park 51/Cordoba House project – promoted by the Cordoba Initiative and headed by Feisal Abdul Rauf – is one that illustrates the full range of the ideological clash between the Islamic culture and the culture of the West. Whether Liberals, Progressives and apologists care to admit it or not the fundamentalist Islamist factions of the Arab world are actively attempting to advance their influence on the world; in every nation and every culture. In their attempt at establishing an elevated influence around the world this fundamentalist faction seeks not to be accepted as equals or to assimilate, but to enter into foreign cultures as a privileged and exempt class. The issue of the Park 51 Project – from this point forward referred to by its original label, the Cordoba House – is a perfect example of one particular battle theater in this culture clash: the war of ideas.

The West’s current conflict with expanding fundamentalist Islam is taking place on four different fronts, at least at the hand of the Islamists: militarily, diplomatically, economically and ideologically.

Militarily, the West is fully engaged on the internationally recognized battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan and, to a lesser extent in the undefined battle theaters around the world, and especially throughout the Middle East, the Asian South Pacific, Africa and most recently, South America.

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The Ground Zero Mosque & The War of Ideas”

Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Government - House of Representatives - Islam - Islamofascism - Liberals - Nancy Pelosi - Religion - Terrorism

By All Means, Ms. Pelosi, Let’s Examine the Funding Sources

August 25, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Progressive-Leftist from San Francisco, said when asked for her opinion on the construction of an Islamic Center and mosque just 500 feet from the footprint of the World Trade Center – Ground Zero – that the controversy had been “ginned up” for political purposes and that she would support an examination of the funding behind the “opposition movement.”

Said the Speaker :

“There is no question that there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some…And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque (is) being funded.”

We, here in the United States, don’t persecute people for their religious beliefs, although the Progressives do seem to be on an ongoing crusade to expunge all religion from the public square sans Islam. This is due to the undeniable fact that the Framers and Founders knew full well that there would be a time when a tyrant like Ms. Pelosi would be ascended to power by an uninformed and disengaged electorate. It is for this reason that the rights to Free Speech and Freedom of Religion were enshrined in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.
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By All Means, Ms. Pelosi, Let’s Examine the Funding Sources”

9/11 - Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Flight 93 - Frank Salvato - Government - History - Islamofascism - Liberals - New York - Terrorism

The Consequences of Park51: The Cordoba House

August 12, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

In light of the decision by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to allow for the construction of a mosque and Islamic center just 500 feet from Ground Zero, it can be successfully argued that political correctness has replaced history as a basis for knowledge in the United States of America. If it holds true that history does repeat itself – and I have no reason to believe it won’t – then the culture of ignorant arrogance, so prevalent in the nation today, will prove to be a contributing factor to the subjugation of the great American experiment.

To summarize, radical American Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder, CEO and Executive Director of Cordoba Initiative, has won approval – and support from the self-deprecating Progressives elected and appointed to office in New York City – to construct a $100 million, 13-story Islamic center, including a mosque that would accommodate up to 2,000, just 500 feet from Ground Zero. Abdul Rauf – who after the slaughter of innocents on September 11, 2001, said, “”I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened, but the United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened,” and who has refused to recognize Hamas or Hezbollah as terrorist organizations – is refusing to divulge the revenue sources for the project. Abdul Rauf’s wife, “Daisy” Kahn, is quoted as saying of the construction of a mosque in the shadow of 2,976 souls, “No big deal.”

Aside from the fact that the Abdul Rauf’s insistence in building a mosque 500 feet from hallowed ground, consecrated by the massacre of almost 3,000 innocents by 19 Muslim barbarians, is, simply put, insensitive to every other demographic but fundamentalist Islamists, self-deprecating Progressives and the evil, it is callous, rude and ignorant. But most importantly, it is antagonistic.

In order to understand just how deliberately abrasive the construction of Park51 – or, as originally intended, The Cordoba House – in the shadow of Ground Zero actually is, we must come to understand its inferred meaning and to do that we must understand a period of violent Muslim aggression, circa 711AD, that established the Emirate and Caliphate of Cordoba. Remember, the mosque project at Ground Zero was originally meant to be called “The Cordoba House .”

History

In 711AD, during the first attempt at global conquest by Muslim leaders, Tariq ibn-Ziyad, under the orders of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I, brought most of the Iberian Peninsula (what is now Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar) under Muslim occupation in a campaign that lasted approximately seven years. The Iberian Peninsula, for the most part, became part of the expanding Umayyad Empire, under the name of al-Andalus.

The turning-point battle that brought the Muslims to power in Cordoba, the Battle of Guadalete, was not a singular Muslim attack, rather, it was the culminating event in a series of raids across the straits from North Africa. During the initial raids, several southern Iberian towns, predominantly Christian in nature, were pillaged by the Islamist forces, which had been harassing the peninsula by sea since approximately 705AD. But during the Battle of Guadalete, whole cities were razed and a grotesque number of people were slaughtered in a general destruction that sent non-Muslim civilians fleeing to the hill countries.

At first, al-Andalus was ruled by appointees of the Caliph, most holding power for periods of approximately three years. But after a series of civil wars between Muslim factions, exiled Umayyad prince Abd-ar-Rahman I established himself as the Emir of Córdoba. He refused to submit to the authority of the Abbasid Caliph, who now held power, as forces under his control had butchered many members of his family. Over a thirty year reign, he established a tenuous rule over much of al-Andalus.

For the next century and a half, his descendants continued as emirs of Córdoba, with nominal control over the rest of al-Andalus. Abd-al-Rahman III, who came to power in 912AD, not only tightened his authoritative grip on al-Andalus but extended it into western North Africa as well. In 929AD he proclaimed himself Caliph, elevating the emirate to a prestigious position competing with the Abbasid Caliph and the Shi’ite Caliph in Tunis—with whom he was competing for control of North Africa.

Under the Caliphate of Cordoba, non-Muslims were given the status of ahl al-dhimma (or dhimmi, a non-Muslim subject of a sharia law state) and adults paid a jizya (or tax). Then, as today, there were only three choices afforded to dhimmis under sharia law: accept dhimmitude, pay the jizya and exist as second-class citizens to all Muslims; convert to Islam; or die.

And while apologists throughout history have tried to diminish the cruelty of the Islamic culture toward non-Muslims in the many Caliphates, many scholars have argued that it would have been both a “theological as well as a logical absurdity” that Islam would have offered equality or even pretended that it did. [Lewis, Bernard W (1984). The Jews of Islam, p.4.]

Taking into consideration the history surrounding Cordoba where it relates to Islam, the significance of the initial intention to name the Park51 project “The Cordoba House” cannot be ignored. Cordoba infers conquest. In Abdul Rauf’s quest to erect an Islamic center and mosque in the shadow of Ground Zero we can only be led to the conclusion that its existence would signify conquest as well.

Rauf & Co.

In light of the history behind the name of Abdul Rauf’s organization – the Cordoba Initiative – it is legitimate, and, in fact, necessary, to scrutinize not only the intent behind his quest to build a monument to Islamic conquest in the shadow of Ground Zero, but a moral obligation for the non-Islamic world to inquire as to who and/or what organizations are funding the construction of said monument.

For his part, Abdul Rauf says he wants to build the Islamic center and mosque to promote interfaith understanding and tolerance, yet he has shown little tolerance, understanding or sympathy for those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001; for Americans who watched their fellow citizens jump and fall from the soon to collapse Twin Towers only to smash into the concrete below; for the families of first responders who raced to their deaths if only to save one life from the evils that radical Islamists perpetrated on our country.

Truth be told, I suspect that Abdul Rauf, deep down inside, sees his Cordoba House as a mark of conquest over America; a monument to the Islamist quest for a global Caliphate. I suspect that Abdul Rauf, and all those who are helping to fund his “initiative,” would dance with glee at the prospect of the United States Constitution falling prey to sharia law. Of course, this is my opinion, but I am familiar with the Abdul Rauf’s of the world and there is nothing understanding, tolerant or inclusive about them. They are arrogant elitists hell-bent on domination, and in this particular case, the domination of a hallowed site by a monument to radical Islamist aggression surrendered by the ignorant, the uninformed and those possessing a less than noble agenda.

In 2008, at an event in Dallas, Texas, which, in-part, constituted the original symposium series on the root causes of radical Islamist aggression, co-produced by our organization, BasicsProject.org, a young Islamist confronted one of our speakers, Robert Spencer of JihadWatch. I listened as he questioned Mr. Spencer and then again as Mr. Spencer picked-apart his logic with facts, completely dismantling the young Islamist’s argument. In the end, vanquished on the field of factual and ideological battle, the young Islamist declared, “You will all live under sharia before the end of your days.” This is exactly the mentality of Abdul Rauf…that we will all live under sharia before the end of our days. That is why it is obvious, at least to this observer, that his declaration of interfaith understanding rings hollow and that his core intention in constructing The Cordoba House within line-of-sight to Ground Zero is intended to mark the location of a modern day Islamist conquest of “the infidel.”

A Line in the Sand for So-Called Moderate Muslims

To his credit, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a tirelessly campaigner for the eradication of political Islam and the divorce of violence from the religion, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and a gentleman who has always been cordial to me during our few encounters, strongly opposed the construction of The Cordoba House at Ground Zero, saying:

“For us, a mosque was always a place to pray, to be together on holidays—not a way to make an ostentatious architectural statement. Ground zero shouldn’t be about promoting Islam. It’s the place where war was declared on us as Americans.”

And Hossein Kamaly, Fanny Brett de Bary Term Assistant Professor of Asian & Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College, Columbia University, said:

“After all, it was 19 Egyptian and Saudi Arabian thugs calling themselves Muslims who perpetrated this heinous crime on September 11th. They want to send a message of friendship, but building a mosque where there wasn’t one before, is not the most nuanced way of doing that.”

Sadly, these voices of reason are but muted whispers in a wind that howls with the disingenuous voices of the politically correct who ignorantly call for “tolerance” and “understanding” in the face of naked and violent Islamist aggression. Certainly it cannot be denied that the overwhelming majority – and, in fact, almost all – of violent aggression in the name of religion today comes at the hands of Islamists executing their crimes against humanity in the name of “Allah” and “Muhammad.”

And yet, so-called moderate Muslims across the United States and throughout the world respond to outrages such as the construction of a mosque in the shadow of Ground Zero with a deafening silence. So-called moderate Muslims from around the world react to the horrors of terrorism perpetrated in the name of their religion and through the hands of barbarians with grotesque indifference. And, instead of taking the lead in expunging radical elements from within their own religious community, instead of calling for a reformation of the Islamic religion to exclude all violent, anti-Semitic and dominant language in an effort to embrace the peaceful tenets of the Islamic dogma, so-called moderate Muslims do nothing but hide behind the disingenuous spin of organizations run by closeted fundamentalists like the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

It is well past time that the so-called “moderate Muslims” step up to do what they know deep down is correct. It’s time for them to choose sides and live with their choices. Moderate Muslims either condemn the violence and deceit, the subjugation of women and the crusade against all other religions or they side with the aggressor jihadists in their quest for the establishment of a global Caliphate; a quest to rule the world under sharia law. From this day forward their silence must be interpreted as siding with the aggressor Islamists.

There can be no turning back, no further delay. The grace period that began on September 12, 2001, for non-Muslims to exercise understanding and tolerance of the Islamic religion, to explore the meaning behind the aggression, is over. The non-Muslim population of the world has been intensely exposed to Islam for almost a decade now and that is long enough for us to understand that in its current form – especially its current fundamentalist form – Islam is not symbiotic with freedom or liberty, not compatible with the 21st Century, and antithetical to the United States Constitution.

We in the free world, who understand that liberty and freedom come to us as inalienable rights from the Creator, will not acquiesce to an ideology that oppresses its own women, that celebrates the conquest of other cultures, and which is so indignant of other philosophies and ideologies that it would allow for the use and rationalization of “violent jihad” in pursuit of global subjugation.

There is no retreat from this moment in time, this “line in the sand,” as it were. So-called moderate Muslims must choose: peaceful symbiotic co-existence or a confrontation of cultures.

For those truly moderate Muslims who choose to demonstrate a desire to co-exist in peace, standing against the “trophy mosque of conquest” – The Cordoba House – would be an excellent opening gesture.
____________
Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal . He serves at the Executive Director of the Basics Project, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education initiative. His pieces are regularly featured in over 100 publications both nationally and internationally. He has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, and is a regular guest on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent Radio Network, as well as an occasional guest on numerous radio shows coast to coast. He recently partnered in producing the first-ever symposium on the threat of radical Islamist terrorism in Washington, DC. His pieces have been recognized by the House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict. He can be contacted at oped@newmediajournal.us

Anti-Americanism - Arizona - Barack Obama - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Federalism - Frank Salvato - Government - House of Representatives - Immigration/Immigrants - Judges - Law - Liberals - President - Senate - Supreme Court - Taxes - Unions

The United States, 2010: A Rogue Government

August 5, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Frank Salvato

With the recent ruling by US District Judge Susan Bolton, a Clinton appointee, blocking the most contentious parts of Arizona law SB1070, we learn two things: One, that the federal government cannot be forced to enforce federal law, regardless of the fact that the law has been brought to legislation by the constitutional process, and two, that today, opportunistic political ideologues who have schemed their ways to power have all but extinguished good government in the United States of America; government that should be exclusively engaged in serving the best interests of the American people.

To be fair, Judge Bolton’s ruling does not end the issue, not by a long shot. In fact, there is a very good chance that the case surrounding Arizona law SB1070 will make it – and in an expedited manner – to the US Supreme Court. This actually bodes well for the American citizen primarily because today the US Supreme Court has a balance that actually gives an edge – even if ever so slightly – to the US Constitution and, thus, the American people. Judge Bolton’s ruling simply put those sections blocked – or deemed unlikely to withstand a challenge in the judicial system, be it from the ACLU, La Raza or the Holder/Obama Justice Department (which is tantamount to the ACLU and La Raza) – on hold until the courts resolve the issues.
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The United States, 2010: A Rogue Government”

Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Government - Liberals - President

Yes, Mr. Obama, Words Do Matter

August 1, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

During the run up to the 2008 Presidential Election, then-candidate Barack Obama made it very clear that “words matter.” In fact, he thought so much of this notion that he plagiarized from a speech made by one of his friends, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. During a stop in Wisconsin to chat with some of the Democrat Party and Progressive movement faithful, Mr. Obama pilfered Mr. Patrick’s words every so eloquently as he tried to convince potential supporters that he was a candidate that said what he meant and meant what he said. Truth be told, candidate Obama has turned out to be nothing more than a Progressive operative born of the Chicago and a devout Alinskyite.

The high-point of Mr, Obama’s speech to the Wisconsin crowd came in this well-documented rhetorical crescendo:
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Yes, Mr. Obama, Words Do Matter”

Barack Obama - Chicago - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Frank Salvato - Government - Judges - Liberals - Rod Blagojevich

When Justice Serves an Ideology Instead of a Nation

July 25, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

As I was reading about the proceedings in the trial of impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, it struck me as odd that the prosecution was relying so much on the profanity-laced wiretap audio and not going, instead, straight to the source of incriminating information in the many witnesses they could call. Why aren’t they calling Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, David Plouffe, David Axelrod, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Tony Rezko, their staff, relations, acquaintances and business partners to testify instead of relying on sensationalism? The answer could be that they don’t want a conviction and/or a thorough investigation.

The notion that the US Justice Department might opt not to prosecute crimes committed by powerful elected officials isn’t new. Favoritism, in one form or another – and at varying intensities – has existed throughout the history of the United States. The foible of misplaced political loyalty facilitates this weakness in human nature. Just ask anyone who went to prison for actions or inactions taken during Watergate.
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When Justice Serves an Ideology Instead of a Nation”

Barack Obama - Civil Rights - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - DOJ - Frank Salvato - Government - Hate Crimes - Law - Liberals - President - The Law

Holder’s Justice Department Has a Racism Issue

July 16, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

If there was any question as to whether or not there was an ideological agenda infused at the US Justice Department with the arrival of Eric Holder as the US Attorney’s General, all doubt should now be removed. A cursory examination of Mr. Holder’s personal statements and instituted departmental policy reveals, without doubt, that Mr. Holder is in fact executing an “affirmative action” policy towards “justice” in the United States. The major problem with this is that justice wears a blindfold.

From the moment that Mr. Holder ascended to the position of US Attorney’s General he has raised eyebrows. His opening statement to the American people in his new position was overtly caustic and aggressive, describing the United States as a nation, “voluntarily socially segregated.” He continued :
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Holder’s Justice Department Has a Racism Issue”

Barack Obama - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Government - President

The President Is Not Due ‘His Due’

July 6, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

Over the course of the past several administrations we have heard from senators, political activists and media pundits that when a vacancy opens on the United States Supreme Court the Senate Judiciary Committee, and then the Senate as a whole, should allow the sitting president to have his nominee confirmed and seated to the bench. Many say that presidents “are due” the confirmation of their nominees. Truth be told, this is as far from what our Framers intended as can be fathomed.

Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution reads, in part:

“[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law;…”
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The President Is Not Due ‘His Due’”

Afghanistan - Air Force - Army - Family - Foreign Countries - Frank Salvato - Iraq - Islamofascism - Marines - Military - National Guard - Navy - Terrorism

It Should Be Our Honor to Honor

May 31, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

“There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own…but that are necessary for survival. I’ve made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets…who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not. And to think, I volunteered for this…”

These were the words of a young United States Army sergeant, Eddie Jeffers. They are part of a letter that he had sent home to his Father in 2007 while serving in the Iraqi battle theater; Ramadi, to be specific. It remains one of the most powerful pieces of writing – perhaps the most powerful piece of writing – that I have ever laid eyes on. It is pure, raw honesty put to paper.

Although I have become a friend to the Jeffers Family, I was never privileged enough to have met Sgt. Jeffers. Eddie was killed not long after he penned those words, a casualty of war; a war he understood; a war he believed in.

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It Should Be Our Honor to Honor”

Budget - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Frank Salvato - Government - Health - Liberals - President - Regulation - Taxes

It Simply Cannot Return to the Status Quo

May 29, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

If there is one thing that I have learned in my over 30-years of existing within the political realm it is that if the political world aligns to present the Republican Party with an opportunity to advance on Liberal Democrats and Progressives in government, somehow, someway, they always manage to find a way to shoot themselves in the foot. This point in history is no exception.

During the last election cycle, Republicans railed against the Democrats about earmarks, special interest spending and fiscal irresponsibility. Many rolled their eyes in amusement citing the fiscal irresponsibility of the Republican controlled Congress dating back to approximately 2000, just after the “Republican Revolution.” Yet close to half the electorate recognized that a fiscally debauched decade of Republican spending wasn’t comparable to the steady and consistent tax-and-spend policies of the Democrat Party dating back to before the turn of the 20th Century.

Democrats – and Progressives masquerading as Democrats – were forced to feign frugality where their platform was concerned and slightly more than half the electorate ate-up the media spoon-fed “hope and change” canard, thus empowering the most Progressive Executive and Legislative Branches in recent US history.
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It Simply Cannot Return to the Status Quo”

Barack Obama - Capitalism - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - Government - Judges - Law - Liberals - President - Supreme Court - Taxes

We Have to Talk About Elena Kagan

May 16, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

The coverage of President Obama’s most recent nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, has been nothing less than incredible. Of course, the word incredible can be used in several contexts, some good and some bad. To clarify, I am using it in a context meant to mean bad…very bad…incredibly bad.

While the mainstream – or irrelevant – media waxes on about how she is a surprisingly moderate nominee for the president to have chosen, the extent of their critical examination of Ms. Kagan, former and first female Dean of Harvard Law School, consists of yarns about basketball and softball pickup games. As Marcia Kramer of CBS-TV in New York tells us regarding her relationship with the prostitute hustling Eliot Spitzer,

“Spitzer told CBS 2 HD about that time Kagan goaded him into a spaghetti eating contest. Spitzer gave up after eating seven bowls, but Kagan put the picture on the front page of the Princeton paper, no doubt with a ‘saucy’ headline.”

MSNBC’s Gabe Pressman reported on how Ms. Kagan’s nomination was a great victory for the Women’s Movement,
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We Have to Talk About Elena Kagan”

Barack Obama - Chicago - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Salvato - Government - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Socialism

First, He Was a Community Organizer

May 6, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

When Barack Obama entered the 2008 Presidential Election scene, aside from recycling the Clinton mantra of “Hope and Change” (yes, Mr. Obama’s use of the campaign slogan was not original in nature), we were told that his most endearing credential was that he had navigated the “mean streets of Chicago” as a community organizer disseminating “hope”; that he had been successful in making the poverty-stricken neighborhoods of Chicago a better place to live, a safer place to live. As of April 25, 2010, the residents of Chicago have stood witness to 113 homicides. I suppose, for President Obama, all that’s missing is a “Mission Accomplished” banner.

By now, everyone has heard at least one story about the out-of-control violence taking place in the mean-streets of Chicago. Gang crime is so bad in some parts of the city that parents, when there are two existing in the household, routinely remind their children not to play in front of the windows in their houses for fear of being struck by a stray bullet fired from the gun of a gangbanger. The situation is so bad that some lawmakers in Illinois’ capitol, Springfield, have called upon the governor, Pat Quinn (D), to call in the Illinois National Guard to supplement the Chicago Police Department.
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First, He Was a Community Organizer”