Holy war over health care law? Obama angers Catholic leaders

While President Obama will deliver another speech on the economy Wednesday in Northern Virginia to keep the focus on jobs, Catholic leaders across the country are warning another issue may blow up in his face come November.

Catholics are fired up over new rules implementing Obama's health care reform law forcing Catholic universities, hospitals, and charities to provide insurance for their employees covering contraception -- even though that violates church teachings.

"When you push people of faith and you tell them the government is going to knock down the wall of separation of church and state and overreach like the Obama administration, you've got a war on your hands," Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, told Fox News.

In an extraordinary move this past weekend, New York Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan and other archbishops throughout the nation had their priests read letters denouncing the Obama administration policy from the pulpit at Sunday Mass.

"Never before has the government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience," Dolan said in a web video that takes the battle online. "This shouldn't happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights. How about letting our elected leaders know that we want religious liberty and rights of consciences restored and the administration's mandate rescinded? We can't afford to strike out on this one."

Pressed on the matter at his daily briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney repeated several times the administration believes it struck an "appropriate balance" in crafting the policy.

"The administration believes that this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious beliefs and increasing access to important preventive services," said Carney. "We will continue to work closely with religious groups during this transitional period to discuss their concerns."

Even some Catholic Democrats are not buying that claim, however, with liberal columnist E.J. Dionne ripping the policy in a Washington Post column. Dionne charged Monday that the president "utterly botched" the issue and "threw his progressive Catholic allies under the bus."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/31/holy-war-over-health-care-law-obama-angers-catholic-leaders/#ixzz1l6iUh34F

VIDEO: Newt Gingrich Florida Primary Night Speech "46 States To Go"

Newt Gingrich: It’s Clear That This is Now a Two-Person Race

Newt vows to stay in the remaining 46 state primary races.

How Obama Repaid Notre Dame by Sarah Palin

Back in May 2009, during the controversy over Notre Dame’s decision to have President Obama as their commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient, I gave a short statement to the Boston Herald: “My favorite grandpa, Clem James Sheeran, was Catholic. Irish to the core, his favorite place (other than church) was Notre Dame. I can’t imagine what he would think as the university recognizes someone who contradicts the core values of the Catholic faith by promoting an anti-life agenda.”

In his latest Washington Post column, Michael Gerson writes about the Obama administration’s war on Catholic institutions with President Obama's decision to strip conscience protections from Catholic universities, hospitals and charities.

As Gershon points out, the timing of Obama's most recent slap won't go unnoticed by the faithful: "In politics, the timing is often the message. On Jan. 20 — three days before the annual March for Life — the Obama administration announced its final decision that Catholic universities, hospitals and charities will be compelled to pay for health insurance that covers sterilization, contraceptives and abortifacients. Preparing for the march, Catholic students gathered for Mass at Verizon Center. The faithful held vigil at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Knights of Columbus and bishops arrived to trudge in the cold along the Mall. All came to Washington in time for their mocking.”

And in this we see how the faithful at Notre Dame got snookered and how Obama has shamefully repaid their faith in him:

Both radicalism and maliciousness are at work in Obama’s decision — an edict delivered with a sneer...

The implications of Obama’s choice will take years to sort through. The immediate impact can be measured on three men:

Consider Catholicism’s most prominent academic leader, the Rev. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame. Jenkins took a serious risk in sponsoring Obama’s 2009 honorary degree and commencement address — which promised a “sensible” approach to the conscience clause. Jenkins now complains, “This is not the kind of ‘sensible’ approach the president had in mind when he spoke here.” Obama has made Jenkins — and other progressive Catholic allies — look easily duped.

- Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin Talks to Napolitano 1/30/2012

White House refuses to condemn 'Occupy Oakland' riots

Should administration take a stance on protests ???

QUESTION:

Occupy Wall Street protesters are making headlines again as you know over the weekend 400 protesters were arrested in Oakland and now today the national park services is expected to clear out protesters potentially as we speak from a site here in DC.

What is your reaction, is the administration concerned that some of these protesters are taking things too far?

CARNEY:

Well, with regards to Oakland that’s obviously a local law enforcement matter. Here in Washington I would refer you for specifics to the U.S. National Park Services and U.S. Park Police and our position has been and continues to be that we need to balance first Amendment concerns, the right to demonstrate, the right to speak freely with public safety concerns and public health concerns and we understand that local law enforcement as well as National Park Service and U.S. Park Police are weighing these considerations when making these decisions and that’s appropriate.

======================

Over 400 'Occupy Oakland' protesters have been arrested thus far. Occupiers have threatened to"kill the police", weapons have been seized from their campsites, instances of anti-semitism and instances of anti-American sentiments have been well documented. 

======================

Occupy Oakland decries 'illegal' police action after more than 400 arrested

 

Published January 30, 2012 | Associated Press

 

More than 400 people were arrested on charges ranging from failure to disperse to vandalism, police spokesman Sgt. Jeff Thomason said. At least three officers and one protester were injured.

 

On Sunday, Oakland officials vowed to be ready if Occupy protesters try to mount another large-scale demonstration. Protesters, meanwhile, decried Saturday's police tactics as illegal and threatened to sue.

 

Mayor Jean Quan personally inspected damage caused by dozens of people who broke into City Hall. She said she wants a court order to keep Occupy protesters who have been arrested several times out of Oakland, which has been hit repeatedly by demonstrations that have cost the financially troubled city about $5 million.

 

Read more here

Economist Laffer: Gingrich's Tax Plan 'Significantly Better' Than Romney's

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s tax plan is “significantly better” than the one rival Mitt Romney proposes, renowned economist Arthur Laffer writes in an Op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal. 

“Mr. Gingrich has a significantly better plan than does Mr. Romney, and he has twice before been instrumental in implementing a successful tax plan on a national level — once when he served in Congress as a Reagan supporter in the 1980s and again when he was President Clinton's partner as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1990s. During both of these periods the economy prospered incredibly — in good part because of Mr. Gingrich.”

Laffer notes that the best way for government to raise revenue “is a broad-based, low-rate flat tax.”

Such a tax should give individuals and companies the fewest reasons to avoid taxes and the fewest way to do so. He writes that Gingrich’s proposal of an optional 15 percent flat tax for individuals and 12.5 flat tax for business have both been tested.

“Hong Kong, where there has been a 15 percent flat income tax on individuals since 1947, is truly a shining city on the hill and one of the most prosperous cities in history. Ireland's 12.5 percent flat business income tax propelled the Emerald Isle out of two and a half centuries of poverty.”

Meanwhile, former Massachusetts Gov. Romney’s tax proposals — they include eliminating the inheritance tax; reducing the corporate tax rate to 25 percent; and extending the current tax rates on personal income, interest, dividends, and capital gains — “don’t have the boldness or internal integrity of Mr. Gingrich's personal and business flat taxes.”

“Mr. Gingrich's tax proposal is not revenue-neutral, nor should it be,” Laffer writes. “If there's one truism in fiscal policy, it's this: Wasteful spending will always rise to the level of revenues. Whether you're in Greece, Washington, D.C., or California, overspending is a prosperity killer of the first order. Mr. Gingrich's flat tax proposals — along with his proposed balanced budget amendment — would put a quick stop to overspending and return America to fiscal soundness. No other candidate comes close to doing this.”

Read more on Newsmax.com: Economist Laffer: Gingrich Tax Plan 'Significantly Better' Than Romney's
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

CBO projects a fourth year of $1T-plus deficits

A new budget report released Tuesday predicts the U.S. government will run a $1.1 trillion deficit in the fiscal year that ends in September, the fourth year in a row over $1 trillion, though a slight dip from last year.

The Congressional Budget Office report also says that annual deficits will remain in the $1 trillion range for the next several years if Bush-era tax cuts slated to expire in December are extended, as commonly assumed.

The report is yet another reminder of the perilous fiscal situation the government is in, but it is commonly assumed that President Barack Obama and lawmakers in Congress that little will be accomplished on the deficit issue during an election year.

The first wave of statements from lawmakers had a familiar ring as each party cast blame on the other.

"Four straight years of trillion-dollar deficits, no credible plan to lift the crushing burden of debt," said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Republican. "The president and his party's leaders have fallen short in their duty to tackle our generation's most pressing fiscal and economic challenges."

"We will not solve this problem unless both sides, Democrats and Republicans, are willing to move off their fixed positions and find common ground," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a Democrat. "Republicans must be willing to put revenue on the table."

The study also predicts modest economic growth of 2 percent this year and forecasts that the unemployment rate will remain above 8 percent this year and next. That is based on an assumption that President Barack Obama will fail to win renewal of payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits by the end of next month.

That jobless rate is higher than the rates that contributed to losses by Presidents Jimmy Carter (7.5 percent) and George H.W. Bush (7.4 percent). The study predicts unemployment to remain above roughly 5 percent -- until 2016. The agency also predicts that unemployment will remain at 7 percent or above through 2015

The new figures also show that last summer's budget and debt pact has barely made a dent in the government's fiscal woes.

The pact imposed $2.1 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, but lawmakers are already talking about easing across-the-board spending cuts required under the agreement. The latest estimates predict $11 trillion in accumulated deficits over the 2013-2022 time frame if the Bush-era cuts in taxes on income, investments, large estates and on families with children are renewed. Obama has proposed largely extending them, but allowing them to expire for upper-income taxpayers.

Last year, Obama and the leader of the House, Republican Speaker John Boehner, tried but failed to reach a "grand bargain" on the deficit, an effort that got hung up over taxes and cuts to major benefit programs. A subsequent attempt by a congressional "supercommittee" to find smaller saving sputtered over the same issues.

What is left is a heap of unfinished business that comes to a head at the end of the year: expiring tax cuts and painful across-the-board cuts to the Pentagon and many domestic programs. To top it off, another politically toxic increase in the debt limit will be needed at some point shortly after the November elections.

The deficit would require the government to borrow 30 cents of every dollar it spends. Put another way, the deficit will reach 7 percent of the size of the economy, a slight dip from last year's 8.7 percent of gross domestic product.

The report shows that the deficit dilemma would largely be solved if the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 -- and renewed in 2010 through the end of this year -- were allowed to lapse. Under that scenario, the deficit would drop to $585 billion in 2013 and to $220 billion in 2017.

But expiration of those tax cuts would slam the economy, the repoort said, bringing growth down to a paltry 1.1 percent next year.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/31/cbo-projects-fourth-year-1t-plus-deficits/#ixzz1l4O9Tpov

First Edition of Twinsie Tuesday!

Hello Everyone!! The lovely Amanda from Amandalandish contacted me and asked me to take part in this adventure dubbed Twinsie Tuesday! I agreed of course! This will be a weekly thing, and there will be a theme every week.  For this first edition, the theme is International.  I am very excited about this and I think this will help me be more creative and think outside the box!! Here are the other bloggers participating in Twinsie Tuesday! Please go check out what they came up with for the International Theme!!

Amanda: http://amandalandish.blogspot.com/
Anne: http://grapefizz.blogspot.com/

Ashley: http://artevolve.blogspot.com/

Chelsea: http://www.nailedblog.com/

Jenn: http://allthatisgorgeous.blogspot.com/

Katherine: http://hauloffame.blogspot.com/

Marisa: http://marijonails.blogspot.com/

Meredith: http://polishandcharms.blogspot.com/

Nory: http://fiercemakeupandnails.blogspot.com/

Rachel: http://topcoatit.wordpress.com/

Sarah: http://seesarahswatch.blogspot.com/

Here's my International polish! I went with Bettina Glamour Chic.  Nory sent this to me recently and I love it! Such a gorgeous and sexy red! I decided to be "in the box" for this post since I was excited that I actually had an international polish to share! This is 3 coats, enjoy!

VIDEO: Newt Gingrich Talks to Hannity on 1/30/2012

VIDEO: Sarah Palin Talks to Hannity on 1/30/2012

Fingers crossed for 6 more weeks of winter...

Hey ya'll. We've been busy discussing groundhogs and hibernation. What fun we've had! Here is a glimpse of some excitement going on in my room. After reading a few non fiction texts and learning about Groundhog day, students made predictions based on Phil seeing his shadow. My kinders made these cute little groundhogs out of brown ellison di cut hearts and placed them under the sun or cloud. The headings for this graph can be found in my FREE mini unit {here}.

One a side note, my unit has been updated because I found a mistake! Make sure to download the unit again if you plan on making this anchor chart! Or just grab that one page {here}. Sorry about that folks. 

Students reported the graph's findings on this printable {here}. Due to the fact that most of my students thought Phil would see his shadow and we'd have 6 more weeks of winter, there weren't enough spaces on our graph. Oops! I think most of  my kinders followed the lead of others when making their prediction (ha, ha)...but they got the point and loved, loved, loved doing this! :)

Students have also been learning all about the gr- blend. We brainstormed gr- words on a BIG circle map (I forgot to snag a pic, eek!) and students had to write 6 words from the chart and highlight the gr sound. Afterwards, we made a sweet little headband. This, too, is included with the graph printable in my friends' FREE mini unit. I just love the resources that are out there! 

I wonder what Phil will say on Thursday? Fingers crossed that he sees his shadow and we're in for 6 more weeks of winter. Sadly, we've not had much of one so I'm anxious for a few snow days! It's been in the 60s here (which is nice...don't get me wrong) but it's January and I live in mountains. It just doesn't feel right. My teacher friend has a sign hanging on her door that says, "Please snow...I'm a teacher!" Can I get an Amen?! ha ha 

Newt: "George Soros is right. I'm the real threat, not Romney"

Read More:
George Soros: there 'isn’t all that much difference' between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama http://barracudabrigade.blogspot.com/2012/01/george-soros-there-isnt-all-that-much.html

A vote tomorrow for Santorum still is a vote for Romney

HT~ LI By William A. Jacobson 

I’m sure this headline drives Santorum supporters wild, and I understand why.  If the roles were reversed, I would feel the same way.

But sometimes reality is what it is.  Both Newt and Santorum have said they will soldier on indefinitely and I don’t doubt their intentions.

But if Romney wins by a commanding margin in Florida — and the polls say that is a strong possibility if not a likelihood — the media narrative and Republican Party pressure will be to stop fighting amongst ourselves in the name of defeating Obama.  Money also will dry up for others.

The reality is that only Newt is within striking distance of Romney tomorrow in Florida, Santorum is the margin of difference, and only Newt tomorrow can derail the narrative of Romney inevitability.

If the narrative of Romney inevitability is derailed, Santorum politically gets to fight on and see if he can stage another Iowa in caucus states or elsewhere.

It’s similar to a general election where a candidate who pulls only high single digits or low teens can result in a plurality for a candidate they do not support.

Unless, of course, the Santorum supporter ultimately would be okay with Romney winning.

And that may be part of the equation.  If a Santorum supporter is okay with Romney as the nominee, really doesn’t want Newt, and wants to vote his or her conscience, then a vote for Santorum makes sense.

Otherwise, it’s wasted.

Update:  Well, they certainly don’t help the situation:

Mitt Romney Wants to Fund Obama Care !!!

In a Speech in Panama City, Florida, Mitt Romney goes on about cutting waist int he Military, and then using the funds to pay for Obama care. This is raw footage, there have been no editing tricks or other things added to this video. Please pass this around everywhere you can. 

Romney’s Federal Disclosures Missed 26 Accounts

The vast fortune of presidential candidate Mitt Romney is putting him under withering fire just one day before the most important vote so far in the Republican primary calendar.

Discrepancies between Romney’s tax returns and the financial disclosure he filed with the Federal Elections Commission when he started his run for the White House last year are raising new questions about whether he has hidden huge sums from the public, claims rival Newt Gingrich.

On federal disclosure documents Romney said he was not aware of such accounts, but his own signed tax return filed with the IRS and released publicly shows that Romney was aware he had more than two dozen foreign accounts.

During his recent CNN debate in Jacksonville, Romney said he was not knowledgeable about the foreign accounts or why his money was deposited there, since he had given control over his investments to a “blind trust.”

“Governor Romney’s taxes are like an onion,” Gingrich’s communications director, Joe DeSantis, charged on Monday, 24 hours before the Florida primary. “The more layers you peel back, the stronger the aroma.

“The people of Florida – indeed, the people of the United States – deserve answers to the questions raised by his secret network of hidden foreign bank accounts and shady tax accounting procedures.” 

Romney’s campaign has claimed the omissions were “trivial.” His spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, called it “a minor discrepancy” and said the former Massachusetts governor would be amending his FEC filing to include the information.

Among the new questions raised:

• Why does Romney need to squirrel money away in foreign banks, best known for their ability to hide income from the taxman?

• Why does he claim he provides “services” to his former company, Bain Capital, thus allowing him to pay reduced taxes, at the same time he says he retired from the company more than a decade ago?

• Is the barrage of vicious attack ads that he has launched against Gingrich, in effect, being funded by government bailout money given to his biggest donor, Goldman Sachs?

“Every time he takes a step toward transparency, new questions emerge,” DeSantis said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.

“Why does an American citizen even need a Swiss bank account? There are plenty of banks here in the U.S. He says he pays taxes on everything and that’s great. But why does he need to place this money overseas in the first place?

“We all know that foreign accounts are usually used to obscure something, so we have to ask, what is it he is trying to hide?

“Putting it simply, it looks like he is trying to game the system.”
Questions were first raised by the Los Angeles Times last week, which compared Romney’s tax returns to his filings with the Federal Elections Commission. 

The paper discovered at least 23 overseas accounts on his tax return that were not included on his financial disclosure forms.

Among his assets were funds based in what the Times called “low-tax foreign countries such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.”

Then The Wall Street Journal raised the question of whether Romney should be entitled to pay 15 percent tax on money he earned from “services” to Bain, when he had previously claimed he had retired from the company in 1999.

A Romney campaign official admitted to the Journal that the form was completed using “boilerplate language” and Romney had not actually provided any new services to Bain. The official said that under complex tax laws, “you can have it both ways,” but admitted that “from a consistency standpoint” the situation looked odd.

“In the complex accounting of Mr. Romney's income, that could land him with a bill for back taxes,” the Journal reported.

DeSantis told Newsmax, “If you just look at the failure to disclose foreign bank accounts in his FEC report, you have to wonder why. There seems no good reason why any lawyer worth his salt would think you don’t need to include these assets.”

Romney had already come under attack from the non-profit Sunlight Foundation which advocates for open government. Editorial Director Bill Allison said failing to tell everything defeats the purpose of disclosure reports.

DeSantis said if that omission was the only issue concerning Romney’s finances he could accept his word. However, he said, it was “part of a pattern,” with too many other issues raised, such as whether he is entitled to a lower rate for his work for Bain, and his acceptance of $367,000 in campaign donations from Goldman Sachs, which received billions in bailout money.

“You have this perverse situation where this company received taxpayer money and is now donating to Romney to fund his attack ads.

“This comes at the same time that he is finding clever ways to reduce his own taxes, which in turn raises real suspicions even in such a respected conservative newspaper as The Wall Street Journal,” said DeSantis, who called Goldman Sachs “the poster child for crony capitalism.

“The American people, and Republican voters in particular, know about the grotesqueries of Mitt Romney’s tax situation, his unwillingness to be completely transparent and his general attitude of gamesmanship when it comes to disclosing his sources of income,” added DeSantis.

“He treated the FEC in the same way he treats the taxpayer – looking for every loophole he can.”

Read more on Newsmax.com: Romney’s Federal Disclosures Missed 26 Accounts
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

It's that time again!

Here it is again, another Monday!

PALIN GETS RESULTS !!! >>> InsiderAdvantage Poll: Gingrich Surging, Race 'Tighter Than Expected'

A new InsiderAdvantage poll conducted Sunday night of likely Republican voters in the state of Florida shows a significant surge for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The poll has former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leading with 36 percent of voters, followed by Gingrich at 31 percent.

The Sunday results of 646 likely GOP voters are as follows:

Romney 36 percent
Gingrich 31 percent
Santorum 12 percent
Paul 12 percent
Other/Undecided 9 percent"The race will be tighter than expected," Matt Towery, chief pollster of InsiderAdvantage told Newsmax.

Towery noted that his poll showed a surge for Romney on Wednesday, with him leading Gingrich by 8 points. The InsiderAdvantage poll was among the first to show Romney's resurgence after his dismal showing in the S. Carolina primary.

The InsiderAdvantage poll was also the first to show Gingrich's rise in S. Carolina and accurately forecast his win there.

"The trend is favoring Gingrich," Towery said, noting that while Romney's lead was still outside the margin of error of 3.8 percent, "It's not by much."

Towery said Gingrich is doing "substantially better" with men than Romney, 38 to 28, but the former House Speaker still faces a "gender gap," as women are still favoring Romney.

"Men are moving in droves to Gingrich and away from Romney," Towery said.

As for Florida's important Latino vote, InsiderAdvantage has Gingrich beating Romney by a large margin, leading 42 percent to 29 percent.



Read more on Newsmax.com: InsiderAdvantage Poll: Gingrich Surging, Race 'Tighter Than Expected'

Sarah Palin: "Vote for Newt. Annoy a liberal. Vote Newt. Keep this process going."

Sarah Palin on Justice With Judge Jeanine 1/28/2012 "Vote Newt"

Sarah Palin: "Rage Against The Machine, Vote For Newt" 

Sarah Palin: "Vote for Newt. Annoy a liberal. Vote Newt. Keep this process going." http://barracudabrigade.blogspot.com/2012/01/sarah-palin-vote-for-newt-annoy-liberal.html

Craig Campbell on Huckabee 1/28/2012

Sarah Palin with Tom Sullivan 1/28/2012 "Be Tough"

Governor Sarah Palin tonight discussed the 2012 Primaries on the Tom Sullivan Show from her home in Wasilla, Alaska.

Video: Divers find large, unexplained object at bottom of Baltic Sea. UFO ???

The Sideshow:

A team of salvage divers has discovered an unexplained object resting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea near Sweden.

“This thing turned up. My first reaction was to tell the guys that we have a UFO here on the bottom,” said Peter Lindberg, the leader of the treasure hunters.

Sonar readings show that the mysterious object is about 60 meters across, or, about the size of a jumbo jet. And it’s not alone. Nearby on the sea floor is another, smaller object with a similar shape. Even more fascinating, both objects have “drag marks” behind them on the sea floor, stretching back more than 400 feet.

“Could this be the Star Wars Millenium Falcon, a plug to an inner world or a marine version of Stonehenge?”

Well, it could just be another shipwreck. Or, mud.

But Lindberg says the ship theory doesn’t really hold up because of the unusually large size of the objects. “Of course it would be something from another ship but it’s quite big,” he told CNN. Lindberg notes that some observers have speculated that the objects may be Russian warships built around the end of the 1800′s. However, Lindberg points out that not only were those ships much smaller, they were not patrolling the Baltic during that era.

The Baltic Sea is a literal treasure trove for salvage teams and a “shipwreck laboratory” for researchers. The sea’s low salinity levels help preserve objects that sink to the bottom. “Right now, we know about 20,000 objects, mostly shipwrecks, in the Baltic Sea. But I think there may be more than 100,000,” said sonar expert Ardreas Olsson, “I’m not sure what you will see when you go down. But I’m excited. It’s going to be interesting to see what it is.”

The Ocean Explorer team first made their find back in August and had no plans to return to the scene. For now, Lindberg is waiting for calmer waters in the Baltic, possibly in May, before taking his salvage team to the bottom for a closer look at the mysterious objects. They originally had no plans to return to the spot, but the spike in interest from the public has led them to begin planning a return trip.

Do the 'Newt Hoot;' Rapping for Gingrich

This is absolutely hysterical. I have been Hootin' for Newt all day !!!

Tampa, Florida (CNN) – Not many people would associate Newt Gingrich with rap music, but now one can, thanks to three enterprising Florida teenagers who wrote "Hoot for Newt."

"Yeah hoot, hoot, hoot. Hey everybody vote for Newt," is the chorus concocted by St. Lucie 18-year-olds Jason Johnson, Franco Hurtado, and Tyler Arcia.

Rev. Wildmon: Palin Is Right, Newt Being 'Crucified'

One of the nation's most influential Christian and family leaders, the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon, says Sarah Palin is right, Newt Gingrich is being "crucified" by the Republican establishment and forces allied with Mitt Romney.
Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association, has strongly endorsed Gingrich for president, and this week has been urging fellow believers to vote in Florida's primary for the former House Speaker.

Wildmon has spent decades on the front-lines of the battle to protect American families and says Gingrich is the best choice for Christian conservatives who want a president to stand against a rising tide of secularism and anti-Christian sentiment.

On Thursday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stated on the Fox Business channel: "Look at Newt Gingrich, what's going on with him via the establishment's attacks. They're trying to crucify this man and rewrite history and rewrite what it is that he has stood for all these years.”

In an interview with Newsmax Friday, Wildmon told Newsmax “That’s very tough language. But I think it’s probably pretty accurate.”

Wildmon said Gingrich is up against entrenched political forces who are “absolutely” trying to dictate who wins the GOP nomination.

“The mainstream media and the established Republicans would rather have anybody than Newt,” Wildmon said. “This is what really worries them. [Thursday] they went on a rampage, got five or six well known people, former colleagues of his, criticizing him. They’re going after him. That’s going to be his biggest obstacle to overcome.”

Asked why he didn’t endorse former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, as have several other Christian leaders, Wildmon replied: “You’re basically going to vote for the man you think can do the best job. I believe that Newt, of all the candidates, can do a better job of getting the country back to where it’s supposed to be.”

Wildmon has also stated that Gingrich passes two key criteria: he's the only candidate who can defeat both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.

Rev. Wildmon is aware that some have criticized Gingrich for his personal life and "baggage."

But Wildmon says he has met privately with Gingrich and believes he is a changed man and has accepted Christ as his savior.

“I think it’s genuine and sincere,” Wildmon told Newsmax, “Only Newt and God know his heart. But by every visible aspect, I think it’s genuine.”

Wildmon also expressed grave doubts about the strength of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s commitment to social issues that Christians care about.

Wildmon asserted that Romney "will not be reliable. Romney is Obama-lite.”

The conservative family advocate said the stakes in the 2012 election are huge. “If we lose this race,” he said, “if Mr. Obama gets a second term, or if Mr. Romney gets in, it’s the end of Western civilization as we know it.”

Wildmon added that he gives the former House Speaker a 50-50 chance of winning the nomination, due to the powerful establishment interests arrayed against him

Read more on Newsmax.com: Rev. Wildmon: Palin Is Right, Newt Being 'Crucified'
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

George Soros: there 'isn’t all that much difference' between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama

Mail Online

This isn't exactly the kind of endorsement the Romney campaign is looking for. It's probably even less welcome than the purported nod for Newt Gingrich from crooked GOP congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham sent from his jail cell.

Speaking in Davos, gathering place for the global elites and upscale chattering classes, billionaire investor George Soros - loathed by conservative activists for his"zillion-dollar left-wing radical agenda machine" - seemed to be pretty much OK with the notion of a Romney presidency.

"Well, look, either you’ll have an extremist conservative, be it Gingrich or Santorum, in which case I think it will make a big difference which of the two comes in," he told Chrystia Freeland of Reuters in a videotaped interview. "If it’s between Obama and Romney, there isn’t all that much difference except for the crowd that they bring with them."

Soros theorised that "Romney would have to take Gingrich or Santorum as a Vice President and you probably have some pretty extreme candidates for the Supreme Court" but the "Obama administration is a bit exhausted" so presumably - he implied - a Romney administration would at least have the advantage of renewed vim.

"So it won't be that great a difference and I think there won't be a great deal of enthusiasm on either side of the battleground. It will be more civilised than the previous elections have been."

Hmm. First of all, I wouldn't hold my breath on Romney choosing Gingrich or Santorum as veep. As I suggested last night, Gingrich is rather more likely to be Romney's Ambassador to the Moon than his number two. Santorum, despite the good campaign he has fought, is unlikely to make the cut, not least because he lost his home state of Pennsyvania, a key swing state, by 18 points in 2006.

And I, er, wouldn't hold my breath about an Obama-Romney general election being "civilised".

As Rush Limbaugh suggests, Soros may well be making mischief here by feeding theRomney as RINO meme. "He's endorsing Romney, 'Romney, that's cool, no difference, I could go either way that way'," Limbaugh said on his radio show today. "Now, Soros knows that he's hated by the Republican base. So if he's playing psychology, he's trying to shtup Romney, if you will."

The Obama campaign views Romney as wounded and Democrats and their union allies are doing their best to hurt him further in Florida. Their thinking is that this might just help Gingrich secure the nomination or make Romney a less formidable candidate in the general election - in their view, a victory for the Left either way.