I woke up this morning with something on my mind…and that is usually when I have something to write on this blog. Today I would like to discuss what an ethics waiver is. After maintaining that his administration would have the highest ethical standards, the president has given this “ethics waiver” to many of his cabinet members and other aides in his administration.
Waiver states: After consultation with the Counsel to the President, I hereby waive the requirements of paragraph 2 of the Ethics Pledge of Ms. Valerie Jarrett with respect to her former relationship with Chicago 2016. I have determined that it is in the public interest to grant the waiver because Ms. Jarrett’s knowledge and expertise on the United States’ sole Olympic bid for 2016 make her an ideal person to lead Administration efforts in support of this bid. I understand that Ms. Jarrett will otherwise comply with the remainder of the pledge and with all preexisting government ethics rules.”
Editor: The public’s interest was at stake to get the Olympics to Chicago? Hmmm…I think Chicago’s interests were at stake and not the U.S. public and I pretty sure the American “public” would agree with me.
Just what are ethics? My Webster’s dictionary defines them as the rules or standards of conduct governing the members of a profession, the principles of right and good behavior, a system of moral principles or values. So from this, I deduce that ethics are good. The term ethics waiver seems to be a conundrum in and of itself.
If ethics are the principles of right and good behavior or the rules and standards of conduct governing the member of a profession, then an ethics waiver no longer requires that right and good behavior, correct? This just smacks me too much like giving someone…oh, let’s say…a stealing waiver. Stealing is wrong conduct…except…what was it he said…unless “there is a compelling public interest in allowing it”. (Higher taxation comes to mind and plenty of politicians will make the case for it.) What about a “murder waiver”, if it’s in the public interest, i.e…so and so should die, so that so and so can live. Ethics waivers sound too much like the slippery slope we call moral relativism. And that means there really are no standards if they can be “waived” because there is a compelling public interest or some other such nonsense decided by the political party in power at the moment.
In my world, taking something that is not yours is always wrong behavior, no matter what the reason and murder is always wrong behavior, no matter what the reason. I grant you that there is always compassion for the person in the case of great need or accidents. But the act itself must always be judged by society as a bad one…the standard needs to be kept so that society can depend on it and always know what is expected of them. Ethics waivers are for those who don’t believe in or want true standards of morality. It reminds me of another new saying we have today in 2009…”Too big to fail”. Will that become our norm too? And look where THAT’s getting us.
Since Barack Obama was inaugurated I have been closely watching his every move to see what kind of president he would prove to be. He has proven to be one who doesn’t like the Constitution and the freedoms it grants, EVEN THOUGH he put his hand on Abraham Lincoln’s bible and, not once, but twice, SWORE to uphold the Constitution of the United States, to uphold, defend and protect it. He has also proven to be a liar and I say that freely, because upholding, defending and protecting is not what he is doing. He is shredding it and trampling on the blood of those who have given and are giving their lives to uphold and defend it.
As I watched, I have said that he is behaving as if there are no more elections, as if he’s not worried about re-election. I found that quite amazing and interesting. After learning of the aid and corruption of unions such as SEIU, led by Andy Stern, and ACORN, with its voter fraud allegations and, with whistleblowers coming out and confirming these things, I began to see how it is that one party could quite conceivably steal an election. The Minnesota Senate race was another good example of this. The more they counted the votes, the more the results changed. (I am an election judge…how in the world did they possibly think that ballots found in someone’s trunk away from the other ballots could even be legal?)
But last Tuesday’s elections show me that the people who want to steal elections don’t have everything quite sewn up, in other words….it looks like the wheels on their chariots are coming off. I’ll explain…
In the book of Exodus in the Christian bible, the Pharaoh of Egypt has decided to oppress the people of God to keep them in bondage to him and his system. He wants to own them, provide their healthcare, tax them as he pleases and decide their every move. (Is this sounding familiar to anyone yet?) After taking some extremely devastating hits from nature, ending with the death of the firstborn son of every Egyptian, Pharaoh finally relents and says that the people of God can GO FREE. But after they are gone, he changes his mind and sets his army off after them. And as they are going…
“He (God) made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”- Exodus 14.25 New International Version
Man cannot outsmart God…If you purport evil against the people of this country, you will have a reckoning with God.
Keep praying…I think their chariot wheels ARE starting to come off.
Oh my. Does it get any stranger than this? The NEA, that’s the National Education Association, funded by YOUR taxpayer $$, has endorsed two books by Saul Alinsky, radical Marxist/socialist mentor to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. One is Rules for Radicals and the other is the Reveille For Radicals and there are links on their site to where to buy it. America just gets weirder and weirder by the day. Here’s the link to the page on the NEA website, again, paid for by YOUR tax dollars. If you need more information about Saul Alinsky, I have written extensively about him on this blog…there’s a whole category devoted to this man.
Update: Found this on the page and thought quoting it might be enlightening…
Alinski practiced what he preached. He said, “Tactics means doing what you can with what you have … tactics is the art of how to take and how to give.”
He uses eyes, ears and nose for examples…
Eyes “If you have a vast organization, parade it before the enemy, openly show your power.”
Editor’s Translation: Intimidation is good.The enemy is the average American taxpayer.
Ears
“If your organization is small, do what Gideon did: conceal the members in the dark but raise a clamor that will make the listener believe that your organization numbers many more that it does.”
Editor: This one reminds me of ACORN. ACORN has previously been “concealed in the dark”. I take it Saul Alinsky is not into “transparency”, but rather into concealment. And the Gideon he speaks of is the Gideon of the Bible who was called out by God to take on the enemies of the nation. It’s too bad Saul didn’t believe the rest of the Bibleand use it too.Since the mortgage and banking crisis has happened, we now see and hear the “clamor” of ACORN and its tactics have been openly revealed.
Nose
“If your organization is too tiny even for noise, stink up the place.”
Editor: Yes, I think ACORN and its corrupt elements have indeed been “stinking up the place”.Of course, that’s all with the gracious help of our illustrious and resourceful Federal government and elected representatives.
I found this quote from David in today’s NewsReal Blog. I think it is an enlightening view of the mindset of Progressives and their goals. Of course, it is just his opinion. But since David is a former liberal Progressive, I believe he has significant insight that should not be ignored. I am reprinting the entire post here.
“But Bill Clinton is not like those who worship him, corrupting himself and others for a higher cause. Unlike them, he betrays principles because he has none. He will even betray his country, but without the slightest need to betray it for something else – for an idea, a party, a cause. He is a narcissist who sacrifices principle for power because his vision is so filled up with himself that he cannot tell the difference.
But the idealists who serve him — the Stephanopoulos’s, the Ickes’s, the feminists, the progressives and Hillary — can tell the difference. Their cyncism flows from the very perception they have of right and wrong. They do it for noble ends. They do it for the progressive faith. They do it because they see themselves as gods, as having the power — through correct politics — to redeem the world. It is that terrifyingly exalted ambition that fuels their spiritual arrogance and justifies their means.
And that is why they hate conservatives. They hate you because you are killers of their dream. You are defenders of a Constitution that thwarts their cause. They hate you because your “reactionary” commitment to individual rights, to a single standard and to a neutral and limited state obstructs their progressive designs. They hate you because you are believers in property and its rights as the cornerstones of prosperity and human freedom; because you do not see the market economy as a mere instrument for acquiring personal wealth and stocking political war chests, but as both means and end.
Conservatives who think progressives are misinformed idealists will always be blind-sided by the sheer malice of the left — by the cynicism of those who pride themselves on their principles; by the viciousness of those who champion sensitivity; by the intolerance of those who call themselves liberal; and by the ruthless disregard for the well-being of the poor on the part of those who preen themselves as their champions.
Conservatives are surprised because they see progressives as merely misguided, when they are, in fact, morally – and ontologically — misdirected. They are the messianists of a false religious faith. Since the redeemed future that justifies their existence and rationalizes their hypocrisy can never be realized, what really motivates progressives is a modern idolatry: their limitless passion for the continuance of Them.
After you recover from ROTFLYAO from reading the prior post (FYI, that means rolling on the floor laughing your #@& off), then you must zip on over here and read this report on the H1N1 flu progress.
It seems that sometime last night, in the night, or whenever, Barack Obama issued a national emergency report about the swine flu, declaring that it is now a national emergency. I have been wondering when he would get around to that and I find it intensely interesting that he did it last night, in the night, or whenever. You know what they say about those Friday afternoon news releases….well, they just don’t get much notice. I mean this sounds really big and scary. Most of the reporting I have heard this morning is that this is really just preparatory to bypass some Federal requirements so that things can run smoother and quicker.
But if you go read the item I linked to above…CBS news and the CDC are contradicting each other. Huh? I find this to be an interesting little conundrum. You read it…then you decide. Who do we believe? I’d like to know what is really going on.
I followed a tweet on Twitter to find this article at Flopping Aces (and they said the same thing my title says):
Democrats Allow ACORN To Have Authority Over Financial Institutions
“During consideration of H.R. 3126, legislation to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass an amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that will make ACORN eligible to play a role in setting regulations for financial institutions.
The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of “consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages” to join Federal banking regulators in advising the Director on the consistency of proposed regulations, and strategies and policies that the Director should undertake to enforce its rules.” Continue reading...and full article here at tradingmarkets.com.
Is this the most intensely insane Democrat congress we have ever seen in our lives?ACORN, with investigations going on in I don’t know how many states for corruption and voter fraud, will actually be given advisory status alongside of banking institutions with this amendment. Of course, if one looks at all the investigations into Democrat congressman that the Dems DON’T want to do (think Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel, Countrywide Mortgage and all their VIP friends in Congress), this is nothing. Our Congress is a laughingstock. Last Thursday, Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee were poised to force a vote on subpoenas at a committee mark-up meeting. Countrywide Mortgage will release records, but only with a subpoena. Democrat congressmen (and women) sneaked out the back door and didn’t show up for the meeting, not wanting to issue subpoenason their fellow Democrats, no matter how despicable their unethical behavior might be. What are they afraid of? I’ll tell you…they are afraid of the truth…and you, the taxpayers, finding it out.
Watch this punchy little video that was recorded of the Dems sneaking out a back door.
This video hitting the internet is what prompted these same committee Dems to subsequently lock the Republicans out of the room. Oh that’s mature.
Feel free to spread this one around. It’s a great story.
Everyone needs to see this. Barack Obama is poised to sign a treaty and it sounds like it will give away the whole country.
From mnmajoritydotorg
“On October 14, Lord Christopher Monckton, a noted climate change skeptic, gave a presentation at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. In this 4 minute excerpt from his speech, he issues a dire warning to all Americans regarding the United Nations Climate Change Treaty, scheduled to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009. A draft of the petition can be read here: http://www.globalclimatescam.com/docu…
Lord Monckton served as a policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher. He has repeatedly challenged Al Gore to a debate to which Gore has refused. Monckton sued to stop Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” from being shown in British schools due to its inaccuracies. The judge found in-favor of Monckton, ordering 9 serious errors in the film to be corrected. Lord Monckton travels internationally in an attempt to educating the public about the myth of global warming.”
Huh? The Telegraph U.K. has report of an interview with BO’s adviser on Muslim affairs. Read it and weep here. Can we really say the president’s sympathies don’t lean in a Muslim direction? Let’s hope his daughters don’t ever have to go through female genital mutilation as a result of their daddy’s policies.
I have no problem with reaching out to Muslims and being inclusive. I do have a problem with moving into their camp of radical laws and proclaiming them good, then forcing that on the rest of the country. We already have a Constitution of laws in our country that no one seems to be paying attention to any more…at least not in Washington, D.C.
Is there any doubt that our own elected representatives want to hide things from the American people? Watch this video as Michelle Bachman, representative from Minnesota exposes their newest con job concerning defunding and the re-funding of ACORN with taxpayer money. This is outrageous.
I welcome your comments. I want to know what you think and I welcome the debate. However, I do require that it be civil. Since I can't say it any better, I'm going to use the words of my dear friend at The Conservative Pup...
"No profanity please. Posts which are just name-calling vitriol will be edited, deleted, made fun of, and/or sent to your mother." I love that statement.
John Adams
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.----John Adams
Patrick Henry
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." ---Patrick Henry
Thomas Jefferson
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. ---Thomas Jefferson
The First Amendment
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
The Tenth Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Samuel Adams
"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men."---Samuel Adams
From The Gipper
Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.---
Ronald Reagan
40th President of the United States
Norman Thomas
"The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."--Norman Thomas, presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America, 1928-1948
What did he mean by this?
“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.” --Rahm Emmanuel, chief of staff for President-elect Barack Obama, 2008
From Aristocracy Reborn, Barack Obama’s Columbia college thesis
"... the Constitution allows for many things, but what it does not allow is the most revealing. The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned. While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy."
Editor's Note: There is word today that this may be a hoax. We will await final verification.
Excerpts from Reuters story: EPA C02 endangerment finding to White House By Tom Doggett WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sent its final proposal on whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to human health and welfare to the White House for review, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Reut […]
Guest post by Erl Happ What follows is a general theory of natural climate variation supported by observation of the changing temperature of the atmosphere and the sea between 1948 and September 2009. This work suggests that strong warming after 1978 is an entirely natural phenomenon. Imagine a small planet about the size of the Earth [...]
Here’s the plot from RSS – October is 0.282°C The RSS (Remote Sensing Systems of Santa Rosa, CA) Microwave Sounder Unit (MSU) lower troposphere global temperature anomaly data for March 2009 was published yesterday and has dropped after peaking in January. The change from September with a value of 0.476°C to October’s 0.282°C is a (∆T) [...] […]
Judith Layzer says there’s no easy way out when it comes to climate change — but that geo-engineering might be a last-ditch solution. From David Chandler, MIT News Office In the middle of a day filled with a stream of information-packed PowerPoint displays and alarming projections of what the future holds for our planet and our civilization, [...]
From Roger Pielke Sr. A very good news article titled Expanding cities contribute to global warming by Doyle Rice has been published on USA Today. The article is based on our paper Fall, S., D. Niyogi, A. Gluhovsky, R. A. Pielke Sr., E. Kalnay, and G. Rochon, 2009: Impacts of land use land cover on temperature trends over [...]
