Video: Dem Congressman Booted From House Floor For Hoodie Stunt
March 28, 2012 at 1:35 pm	(Bobby Rush, Congress, George Zimmerman, Hoodie, House Floor, Trayvon Martin)
There is no tragedy that politicians aren't willing to exploit for their own personal agenda. Democrats repeatedly showing up in government buildings wearing hoodies is disgraceful. And before you go bashing me about 'what's wrong with showing support?', ask yourself this:
How many of these clowns are wearing hoodies when there isn't a camera around them?
Exploitation – pure and simple.
From Breitbart:
Congressman Bobby Rush had a melt down on the house floor as he donned a hoodie and recited the Bible. He was removed from the house floor.
Racism Alert – Photo IDs Required for SAT Testing
March 28, 2012 at 7:58 am	(College, Congressional Black Caucus, Democrats, Identification, Minorities, SAT, Voter Fraud, Voter ID)
Wait, doesn't this discriminate against illegal aliens which in turn hurts Democrats and President Obama in the elections? Where's the Congressional Black Caucus? In January, here's what they had to say about voter ID:
The Congressional Black Caucus on Monday night took to the House floor to charge that voter ID laws popping up around the country are aimed at dissuading minority voters from voting, and making it harder for President Obama to win re-election.
Wouldn't IDs for SAT testing then dissuade minority students? Oh those racist educators.
Mental Recession reader Brian states that, "Ironically, students are one of the groups mentioned when it comes to not having the ID required to vote."
But progressives clearly aren't actually concerned about identification being used as a racist tool, they're only concerned about using the perception of racism as a tool.
Brian adds:
I am not sure if the irony hammer hits harder than it does when people yell out loud about photo ID for voting, and whisper about it for taking the SATs…
Anyway, via CBS News:
Students taking college entrance exams this fall will have to submit photo IDs with their applications — a key security upgrade following a widespread cheating scandal at a number of high schools on New York's Long Island, a prosecutor and testing officials announced Tuesday…
… The new testing requirements include making students upload a photograph of themselves when they register for the SAT or ACT. Those unable to upload a photo will be permitted to mail in a photo, which will be scanned by the testing agency.
Then, an admission ticket into the testing site, containing the scanned photo, will be mailed to the student.
The photo will not only be printed on the admission ticket, but on the test site roster, and can be checked against the photo ID a student provides at the test center. That photo will be attached to students' scores as they are reported to high schools and colleges.
Other changes include checking student IDs more frequently at test centers; IDs will be checked when students enter a test site, and whenever they re-enter the test room after breaks, and again when the answer sheets are collected.
Oops… Trayvon Shooter an Hispanic Registered Democrat
March 27, 2012 at 1:36 pm	(Democrat, Florida, George Zimmerman, Hispanic, Race Baiting, Seminole County, Trayvon Martin)
But, but, I thought this was a white and black issue. Well, surely he's a right-wing, gun-toting conservative. Right?
Via Free Beacon:
The individual at the center of the controversial Trayvon Martin shooting is a registered Democrat.
George Michael Zimmerman, born Oct. 5, 1983, registered as a Democrat in Seminole County, Fla., in August 2002, according to state voter registration documents.
It is unclear whether he voted for President Barack Obama in 2008.
Some in the media have sought to blame Republican politicians and conservative activists for Martin's death.
"[Republican politicians] reinforce and validate old stereotypes that associate the poor and welfare as criminal behavior with African-Americans and people of color, calling us lazy, undeserving recipients of public assistance. In the case of Trayvon, those festering stereotypes had lethal consequences," said MSNBC political analyst and Democratic fundraiser Karen Finney.
According to the document, Zimmerman's race is officially listed as Hispanic. The son of a white father and Peruvian mother, he has been described as a "white Hispanic" in most media reports.
The entire media collective should be doing a facepalm right now.
Report: Trayvon Martin Tried to Grab Zimmerman's Gun While Attacking Him, Witnesses Corroborate Story
March 27, 2012 at 10:43 am	(Assault, Florida, George Zimmerman, Gun, Media, Orlando Sentinel, Race Baiting, Trayvon Martin, Violence)
The liberal media will never let the facts stand in the way of a really good race-baiting story…
Via WTAM-1100:
The neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin said the Florida teen physically attacked him and tried to get his gun, ABC News reported.
The Orlando Sentinel reported Monday authorities said on the night of the Feb. 26 incident and in subsequent meetings George Zimmerman described and re-enacted what he said happened. He told police he had followed the youth because he was behaving suspiciously but turned around after losing sight of him…
… Zimmerman told authorities he was walking back to his sport utility vehicle when the 17-year-old approached him from behind. The two exchanged words, with the teen asking the Zimmerman volunteer if he had a problem and when the man replied no, allegedly said something to the effect "Well, you do now," the Sentinel said.
Zimmerman said Martin knocked him to the ground with one punch, then jumped on him and slammed his head into the sidewalk several times so hard he was bloodied and battered, the Sentinel said. He said he then shot Martin, who was unarmed, once in the chest from close range in self-defense.
ABC News reported a police source quoted Zimmerman as saying the youth had tried to get his gun.
And then, there's this…
Authorities told the newspaper much of Zimmerman's account has been corroborated by witnesses.
EPA Set to Limit Greenhouse Gases From Power Plants
March 27, 2012 at 9:47 am	(Carbon Dioxide, Coal, Economy, Environment, EPA, Global Warming, Ideology, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Power Plant, Regulations)
The biggest result won't be a stemming of alleged man made global warming, it will be the rise in unemployment in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Via Free Enterprise:
The Environmental Protection Agency is close to issuing the first limits to cut U.S. greenhouse gases from power plants, with an announcement possible as soon as today, according to people familiar with the matter.
The rules from President Barack Obama's administration would set emissions for all power plants at the level established for a natural-gas plant, or about half what is released from a coal-burning facility. Any new coal plants would need expensive carbon-capture equipment, according to the people, who declined to be identified before an announcement.
The proposed nationwide standards would be the first by the EPA for carbon-dioxide from power plants, the largest source of those emissions in the U.S. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club are pressing the Obama administration to issue tight standards to head off an increase in global warming that they warn could be catastrophic."It will make it nearly impossible to build a new coal plant," Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in an interview. "The market has been moving in this direction already" so the rule "captures the end of an era."
This comes as no surprise to anybody who paid attention to the President's intentions prior to his election, in which he promised to bankrupt the coal industry.
Obama, January 2008: "So, if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can — it's just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."
When Obama talks of having a laser focus on the economy, what he means is having a laser focus on putting ideology above economy.
Earlier this month, Sean Hackbarth reported on the effects that the administration's extreme environmental agenda is having, with the announcement of more plany closings:
Yesterday, GenOn Energy, the third-largest U.S. independent power producer, announced they were shutting down power plants, because "forecasted returns on investments necessary to comply with environmental regulations are insufficient." That's financial-speak for "Regulations make it too costly to keep them running."
From Bloomberg:
Shutdowns will begin in June at the units, which don't generate enough profit to cover the costs of complying with the rules, Houston-based GenOn said today in a statement. The plants, located at eight sites in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey, generate 3,140 megawatts in the wholesale market overseen by PJM Interconnection. Except for one unit, all of the plants burn coal, according to GenOn's website.
Jeff Ostermayer at Shopfloor.org reminds us that "These closings will again result in the loss of jobs and have a negative impact on the local communities. Often we forget about the ripple effect of these regulations and how it can impact a small town and community."
Read the rest here…
Pennsylvania Democrat: Pro-Life Women are Just "Men With Breasts"
March 27, 2012 at 8:04 am	(Abortion, Babette Josephs, Democrats, Kathy Rapp, Men With Breasts, Pro Life, Republican, War on Children, Women)
No, that would be Alan Grayson…
What Democrats like this don't understand is that women are fighting for not only their rights – but the right of an unborn child, the right to life. Democrats meanwhile continue their War on Children…
From Weasel Zippers:
Pennsylvania State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, picked up the political hand grenade that is the state's ultrasound bill today when she wondered aloud at a Capitol rally if Republican women who had co-sponsored the bill are "men with breasts."
Josephs' remarks came in a speech about what she perceived as a series of Republican-led attacks on a woman's right to have an abortion, in the guise of a new law tightening regulations on clinics that perform abortions; the bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound at least 24 hours before an abortion; and a proposal to bar health care exchanges from providing insurance coverage for abortions.
During her remarks, she blasted women lawmakers who co-sponsored the ultrasound bill, asking rhetorically, "What are they? Women, or are they men with breasts?" according to supporters of the bill who watched the rally.
Josephs stood by her words after the rally, arguing that the women lawmakers on the bill – sponsored by Rep. Kathy Rapp of Warren County — are acting like women only in the sense "that they will do what the men tell them."
"They must believe that they are not capable of making their own health care choices, but they are capable of voting on bills that control all of our behavior," Josephs continued. "I don't understand it. . .
"I don't believe they're really women. . . . I believe they're men with breasts."
Why is the U.S. Charging Robert Bales With the Murder of an Unborn Child, But Didn't Charge Nidal Hasan?
March 26, 2012 at 1:50 pm	(16 Villagers, Afghan Police, Afghanistan, Fort Hood, Francheska Velez, Life, Military, Nidal Hasan, Robert Bales, Unborn Child)
This is a legtimate question… Robert Bales has been charged by the United States military with 17 counts of murder, one being for an unborn child. Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood gunman, was not.
Via the New York Times:
One of the 17 murder counts that the United States military filed against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is for the death of the unborn baby of one of his victims, a senior Afghan police official said on Monday.
Sergeant Bales was formally charged Friday with 17 counts of murder and 6 counts of assault and attempted murder. Afghan officials have said, however, that 16 villagers were killed in the March 11 massacre in a rural area of Kandahar Province.
An additional murder count for an unborn baby would explain the discrepancy between American and Afghan officials over the number of dead.
"The Americans are right and one of the females was pregnant, which is why they are saying 17," said the Afghan police official, Brig. Gen. Abdul Raziq, the police chief in Kandahar Province.
By contrast, Nidal Malik Hasan was only charged by the military with 13 counts of murder after his shooting rampage.
Michelle Malkin reported:
At Hasan's Article 32 trial yesterday, a witness testified about Velez's searing last words before succumbing to gunshot wounds during the attack:
A pregnant soldier shot during a rampage at a Texas Army post last year cried out, "My baby! My baby!" as others crawled under desks, dodged bullets that pierced walls and rushed to help their bleeding comrades, a military court heard Monday.
A soldier had just told Spc. Jonathan Sims that she was expecting a baby and was preparing to go home, when the first volley of gunfire rang out Nov. 5 in a Fort Hood building where soldiers get medical tests before and after deploying.
"The female soldier that was sitting next to me was in the fetal position. She was screaming: 'My baby! My baby!'" Sims said.
Pvt. Francheska Velez, a 21-year-old from Chicago, had become pregnant while serving in Iraq. She was among the 13 killed in the worst mass shooting on an American military base.
Should have been 14. Not 13.
A 14th charge of murder could have been levied against Hasan based on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and Article 919a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This is the same code cited in the New York Times article on Robert Bales.
Charging Sergeant Bales with the death of a fetus would explain the discrepancy and under a seldom-used section of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the death of an unborn baby could be considered murder whether or not the killer was aware that a victim was pregnant and whether or not he had intended to kill the fetus.
Section 919a of the code, which also mirrors a similar United States federal law, states, "Any person subject to this chapter who engages in conduct that violates any of the provisions of law listed in subsection (b) and thereby causes the death of, or bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of title 18) to a child who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place, is guilty of a separate offense under this section."
Why was the seldom used section of the code invoked for Sergeant Bales, and not Major Hasan?
Nope, No Bias Here: 25 Journalists Sign Scott Walker Recall Petition
March 26, 2012 at 10:57 am	(Gannett, Gannett Wisconsin Media, Governor, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Kevin Corrado, Media Bias, Recall, Scott Walker, Wisconsin)
First we had 29 supposedly impartial judges signing the Scott Walker recall petition. Now, we have 25 supposedly impartial journalists.
Twenty-five journalists with the Gannett media group in Wisconsin signed a petition calling for the recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, according to a Green Bay newspaper where some of those journalists work.
Kevin Corrado, publisher of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, disclosed the actions of Gannett Wisconsin Media employees in a recent column and said they are facing disciplinary action.
"It was wrong, and those who signed the petition were in breach of Gannett's principles of ethical conduct," Corrado wrote.
Corrado later added…
"The journalists' instincts, if not their training, should have kicked in, warning them not to get personally involved.
Corrado seems to be confused. It's precisely because of their instincts and training as journalists that they got involved. Such is the state of media today.
Check out the rest here…
Correction Request: Times Union Reports Trayvon Martin Was Shot For Wearing a Hoodie
March 26, 2012 at 9:00 am	(Albany, Florida, George Zimmerman, Hoodie, New York, Shooting, Teenager, Times Union, Trayvon Martin)
Is the Times Union privy to information the rest of the nation isn't aware of yet? In a report titled, Hoods Up In Albany, an image includes the following caption (emphasis mine):
Corrie Terry, left, speaks as four-year-old Aviell Chairs of Schenectady holds a sign in honor of Trayvon Martin during the "Hoodies In the Hood March 4 Justice" in Albany N.Y., Saturday March 24, 2012. On February 26, Trayvon Martin was shot dead in Florida after being confronted by George Zimmerman, who saw the unarmed 17-year-old walking through a gated community. Zimmerman followed and then shot and killed Trayvon because he was wearing a hoodie.
Stating that Trayvon was killed "because he was wearing a hoodie" is mere speculation at this point, and not currently supported by facts. The tragedy is bad enough on its own merit, without the Times Union fanning the flames with shoddy tabloid journalism.
The Mental Recession has sent the following correction request to the Times Union, in the hopes that they will correct this oversight.
Your article, Hoods Up In Albany, includes a picture which incorrectly states that Trayvon Martin was shot 'because he was wearing a hoodie'. It should have included the word 'alleged' or 'believed' at the very least, as no one really knows what happened as of yet.
Furthermore, new witnesses are coming forward to cast doubt on the reasons that Martin was shot:
Frank Taaffe, Zimmerman's neighbor, came forward Saturday to back up the embattled neighborhood watch volunteer. And a new bombshell witness in the case supported Zimmerman's account of the incident, according to Fox 35, who spoke to the witness.
"The guy on the bottom who had a red sweater on was yelling to me: 'Help! Help!' … and I told him to stop and I was calling 911," the witness said.
Trayvon Martin was in a hoodie, and Zimmerman was wearing red. When police found Zimmerman, he was bloodied around the head.
While it certainly sells newspapers, such a statement of fact when no facts have been established only serves to fan the flames of tension this case involves right now.
I look forward to reading the correction.
Again, to be clear, nobody knows the facts in this case on one side or the other. The Times Union should recognize this and report such possibilities as just that – possibilities, not fact.
Poll Results – 92% of Readers Believe the Economy Worse Under Obama
March 26, 2012 at 7:00 am	(Economy, Poll, President Bush, President Obama, Worse)
In the most lopsided poll we've ever conducted here at The Mental Recession, a vast majority of readers believe the economy has gotten worse since President Obama took office. It is clear, that our readers no longer believe the President has the right to continue blaming his predecessor for his economic failures. This is, after all, a man who said that if he can't turn the economy around in three years, then he will be a one-term President.
Let's hope that's at least one prediction that will actually come true.
We asked:
Has the economy under Obama:
Improved – 7%
Worsened – 92%
The readers have spoken…
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