Barney Frank: Republicans Didn’t Applaud Obama for Fear of Limbaugh and Hannity

What a piece of work this guy is. He's partly responsible for the housing problems.  And I suppose there was no Democratic 'iron hand' that kept democrats from applauding George W. Bush? Somehow, i don't remember a lot of Democrats standin up and applauding GW.


from CNSNews.com

By Josiah Ryan, Staff Writer

(CNSNews.com) - Mindless Republicans are heeding the iron discipline of conservative talk radio hosts Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told reporters after President Barack Obama’s address to the nation on Tuesday.


“I don’t think we found any Republican minds today,” Frank told a reporter minutes after the president had finished his speech. “They shut their minds down. They are so afraid of being yelled at by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity they won’t even clap for him [Obama] even when they agree with him.”

“They are literally afraid to deal with him,” said Frank. “Outside of Arlen Specter and the Maine senators, and a handful of others, they are all terrified of the iron discipline of the radio talk show hosts.”

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Sen. Susan Collins (D-Maine), and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) were the only three Republicans to support the Democrats’ $787-billion stimulus package.

“I think they are frustrated by how effective he [Obama] is that they are not open to him,” said Frank.

'Wrong Way' Obama

Otis A. Glazebrook IV
Last night, with his faux State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama lifted off on a flight of dramatic rhetoric that will attempt to take America in exactly the wrong direction. His speech was reminiscent of an experimental flight made by Douglas Corrigan on the foggy night of July 18th, 1938.

Douglas Corrigan became a legendary aviator, not because of his accomplishments as a pilot but rather because of a supposed navigational error. In 1938, Corrigan "mistakenly" flew from New York to Ireland -- when he was supposed to be flying from New York to California -- because he seemingly misread his compass.[i]

Like wise, President Obama is misreading his compass and charts as he stakes his Presidency and Americas future on three fundamentally flawed economic concepts: (1) a government run “green energy - cap and trade” system, (2) a government run “single payer” universal healthcare and (3) a government run National Bank will, when all three are up and running, pull us out of our government induced economic malaise. (Full story at American Thinker)

Influential Chicago priest: Benedict’s theology contributes to Holocaust controversy

 Please, don't take the word 'Influential' seriously.

Father John Pawlikowski, director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at the Catholic Theological Union, says that Pope Benedict’s “ahistorical ecclesiology” has contributed to the controversy surrounding the lifting of the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson.

“Pawlikowski isn’t so sure Benedict fully comprehends the concerns of Jews who suspect Pius XII ignored their plight,” writes Chicago Tribune religion reporter Manya Brachear. Father Pawlikowski adds that the pontiff “views the Holocaust as a pagan, anti-human phenomenon but doesn’t really want to deal very clearly and explicitly with the Christian complicity that was also there … His vision of the church is very ahistorical. Really, the essence of the church is not within history. It’s transcendental and is not really impacted as such by the realities of human history ... He sees the church primarily as a victim of the Nazis and not in any way a collaborator.” (Full story at Catholic Culture)

Homeland Security Chief Avoids Mention of 9/11, Terrorism in Remarks to Congress

No mention of terrorism from a Homeland Security briefing?  For some reason I don't feel any safer, do you?

By Eileen Sullivan and Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press

Washington (AP) - As Janet Napolitano heads to Capitol Hill for the first time as homeland security secretary, she is leaving behind the tough terrorism talk of her predecessors.

She is the first security chief to leave out the words "terror" and "vulnerability" from remarks prepared for delivery to the House Homeland Security Committee, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

Tom Ridge, who headed the agency when it was launched in 2003, mentioned terrorism 11 times in his prepared statement at his debut before the oversight committee. And in 2005 Michael Chertoff, the second secretary, mentioned terrorism seven times, according to an AP analysis of the prepared testimonies.

Brisbane's archbishop feels the squeeze

by Phil Lawler

Feb. 24, 2009 (CWNews.com) -

There's a fascinating undercurrent running through the story from Brisbane, Australia, in which a pastor is defying his archbishop's authority. On the surface the conflict appears to be a struggle between the pastor, Father Peter Kennedy, and Archbishop John Bathersby. But Kennedy and his supporters are sending a slightly different message.

When the archbishop engaged a mediator to resolve the dispute, Father Kennedy rejected the idea as another "bullying tactic." The defiant pastor went on to say, "you see bullies never get enough of bullying and Rome bullies the bishops and the bishops bully us."

So now the distant, faceless power of "Rome" has been brought into the discussion. Father Kennedy is hinting broadly that Archbishop Bathersby would not have taken disciplinary action if the archbishop himself hadn't been under pressure from the Vatican. (Full story at Catholic Culture)

Media Credibility, Not Ice Caps, In Meltdown

By Peter C Glover

Eco-warriors and media hype aside, the fact is, as we head into 2009, that the world's ice mass has been expanding not contracting. Which will surprise evening news junkies fed a diet of polar bears floating about on ice floes and snow shelves falling into the oceans. But if a whole series of reports on ice growth in the Arctic, the Antarctic and among glaciers are right, then it is truth in the mainstream media (MSM) that's in meltdown not the polar ice caps.

The problem for the MSM is that it long ago nailed its colors to the climate alarmist mast. No ice cap meltdown, no rising waters. No disappearing islands, no reason for alarm. No alarm, no story. Worst of all having called yet another global apocalypse wrong: No credibility. So the MSM has a significant stake in running highly selective warm-mongering headlines. Not to mention disparaging those scientists who have the temerity to disagree as 'holocaust deniers' and 'pseudo-scientists'.

There's nothing more the climate alarmist media loves than a 'melting Arctic' ice cap story. So why not stories from the far larger expanse of ice that is the 'melting' Antarctic? Well it might have something to do with the fact that the Antarctic ice grew to record levels in 2007 - and continues to grow. (Full story at American Thinker)

Congress Should Cut Military Spending, Says Democrat Barney Frank

CNSNews.com) – Congress should cut U.S. military spending by $160 billion, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, proposed at a press conference Tuesday.

That same day, however, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who controls the House floor schedule, distanced himself and the majority leadership from Frank’s proposal -- and both the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services declined to endorse Frank’s plan. (Full story at CNSNews.com)

Gitmo in Conformity with Geneva Convention, Obama-Ordered Report Confirms

CNSNews.com) – The Guantanamo Bay prison where terror suspects are held was examined by a special task force ordered by President Barack Obama. In its 81-page report, released Monday, the task force concluded: “After considerable deliberation and a comprehensive review, it is our judgment that the conditions of confinement in Guantanamo are in conformity with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.”

The report also noted that the prison, popularly referred to as Gitmo, keeps its thermostat set between 75 and 80 degrees, provides art classes to the prisoners, and holds a library of 13,000 books, 900 magazines, 300 DVDs and regular TV programs. Also, there is a “detainee newsletter.”  (Full story at CNSNewws.com)