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October 11, 2011

Occupy Wall Street is No Tea Party!

The mainstream media is attempting to portray the “Occupy Wall Street” protestors as the left’s version of the Tea Party.  In truth, they have little in common, with the exception of their legitimate objections to “Crony Capitalism” and “Wall Street Bailouts” (see Tea Party attacks could damage GE). I speak from experience when I characterize Tea Party participants as people who want to see change occur, but do so through a peaceful, gracious, and low profile approach, unlike the boisterous, high-profile and obnoxious “Occupy Wall Street” approach, now seen nightly on the networks and cable television.  This past week I had the distinct pleasure to speak in front of the Palm Beach County, Florida Tea Party, the Palm Beach County, Florida Republican Club, and the Madison, Indiana Tea Party. Those in attendance were attentive, respectful and thoughtful. They were patriots concerned about the direction and future of this great country and the future of their children and grandchildren. This is markedly different from “Occupy Wall Street” and similar protests held around the country this past week, which are only self-serving, as illustrated by demands to eliminate mortgage and other debt.
“Occupy Wall Street” is not the voice of the people. It is part of a grand scheme concoted by labor unions to serve their agenda (see Former SEIU Official Reveals Secret Plan to Destroy JP Morgan, Crash the Stock Market and Redistribute Wealth in America?). As you view the videos of the protest, you will see numerous SEIU and AFL-CIO participants in the crowd. This is clearly an organization attempt by labor unions, despite SEIU President Mary Kay Henry’s attempt to distance SEIU involvement in “Occupy Wall Street” in a duplicitous article Why Labor Backs ‘Occupy Wall Street’. Interestingly enough, the AFL-CIO was very up front in its involvement as reported in the Indianapolis Star article Occupying Indy.
As I spoke to the Tea Party groups, it was apparent to me that the attitude was not “What is in it for me?”, but rather “What is best to preserve this democracy, and this republic?” The debate and questions were animated, but thoughtful much as I envision were those of our Founding Fathers. They understood the problems on both ends of the spectrum, from “Crony Capitalism” on one end to “big labor” corruption on the other.  Their true goal was to work to discover what needed to be done to fix the system and preserve our future. Never did self indulgence, class warfare, religion or race enter the picture.  Does anyone believe the “Occupy Wall Street” protestors can say the same?
In the Tea Party groups I met and listened to great Americans such as General Paul Vallely (Stand Up America), Thomas and Deneen Borelli (The National Center for Public Policy and Project 21), Rick Berry, Rick Reuss & Lisa Seng (Sons and Daughters of Liberty), Les Naiman (Louisville talk Show Host), Jim Coyle (Radio Personality), Randy Frye (Indiana State Senator), Anita Carbone (Tea Party Coordinator) , Marie Davis ( Republican Club President), Brian Mudd & Joel Malkin (Radio personalities, WJNO), and many others who spoke with obvious passion about preserving this great nation and American Exceptionalism. These are people who work for a living, ask for no entitlements, defend this great country and look to preserve the God given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, without government intervention. They realize that Individual choice, not government, fuels prosperity. This is in contrast to a group which had no answer when asked “why are you here?” They are nothing more than union stooges.  It is time to understand America, We are at War! Armageddon is at Hand! Please Wake up!

President Obama, Uphold the Law and Unleash an Iranian Spring

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

For Immediate Release: Priority

President Obama, Uphold the Law and Unleash an Iranian Spring

By Paul E. Vallely - MG US Army (ret)

Member of the Iran Policy Committee

It is this time of the year again and the “tiny tyrant of the desert,” the Iranian regime’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is in town to get the world media interested in his denial of everybody’s rights and destruction of a country, a nation, or the main Iranian opposition.

But the world attention should not be on him, as the era for the dictators is over. Instead the world should pay attention to what the Iranian people have to say and to the suffering and ideals of a nation which has been suppressed by the ruthless Ayatollahs for over three decades.

Both the United Nations and the heads of state who travel to New York as well as our own president must focus on the plight of a population who, with unmatched passion for democracy, may be slaughtered if the world does not fulfill its responsibility. As a citizen of the world and as a physician, I feel obligated to speak up.

Halfway across the world, in a dusty, besieged Iraqi outpost known as Camp Ashraf, the lives of 3400 Iranian refugees, members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), rest in America's hands.  A legitimate and highly effective democratic resistance movement, the MEK were wrongly designated as a terrorist organization during past U.S. Administrations.  The Iranian regime and the government of Iraq that we helped to establish take this "terrorist" designation of the MEK as a license to kill.  As a result, scores of unarmed men, women, and children are being murdered with impunity.  Keeping MEK on the list is literally a green light for Iran and Iraq to massacre all of the people in  Camp Ashraf.

President Obama has been strangely mum on the topic. While both the UK and the European Union have removed the MEK from terrorism lists, the American President has ignored the unfolding humanitarian crisis. He may be correct to think that this problem is something he inherited from previous administrations and is not his doing. He may subscribe to the view of past administrations and not wish to "provoke" the tyrannical regime in Tehran by de-listing their mortal foes in the MEK.  But President Obama can no longer avoid the legal responsibility the US bears for protecting these people. 

As Iran's main opposition group, the MEK has been based in Iraq since the 1980's. After the MEK surrendered their weapons and renounced violence following the 2001 invasion of Iraq and took refuge in Camp Ashraf, they were deemed “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention and were to be shielded by the U.S. military. 

With this bond of trust, the residents of Camp Ashraf became dedicated partners of the US who provide critical intelligence on Iran's nuclear program and promote a popularly-supported representative republic in Iran.  Indeed, the MEK ardently support democracy, freedom, gender and ethnic equality and human rights. Despite these commitments and the promise of protection by America, they die at the hands of pro-Iranian death squads.

The MEK does not meet and has never met the statutory criteria for being designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in the US. A nonviolent, disarmed group cannot as a matter of law be an FTO (the use of violence is the fundamental criterion for such a designation).

A federal appeals court in July 2010 ordered the department to reconsider its position. However, no decision has been made or even signaled by the Obama administration, and with each passing day, the danger increases.

On April 8, 36 innocent civilians lost their lives in a massacre at the hands of the Iraqi Army, which is now receiving materiel and financial support from Iran. 

So, will President Obama uphold the law and direct the US State Department to avert the impending humanitarian crisis?

From a legal and humanitarian standpoint, delisting the MEK should seem a cut and dried case. However, there is an intensive disinformation campaign underway in Washington that supports Tehran's position of marginalizing and ultimately destroying the MEK.  The MEK has in recent weeks been branded a "cult", a group with no basis of support in Iran, and more. These charges have no basis in reality, and even if they had, they would not constitute grounds for the FTO designation.

President Obama has an opportunity to be on the right side of the law and on the right side of history. Let us hope this opportunity is not squandered.

MG Vallely – Chairman Stand Up America US and Founding Member of the Iran Policy Committee.

Paul E. Vallely MG, US Army (Ret)

Chairman – Stand Up America

CEO – NEMO LLC ( New Evolution Military Ordnance)

E-Mail: standupamericausa1@gmail.com; pvallely@nemoarms.com

www.standupamericaus.org; www.soldiersmemorialfund.org

Fax: 406 837 0996

American Exceptionalism

Working a speech for the October 6, 2011 Tea Party event in Madison on "Restoring American Exceptionalism."  Not sure where this guy's blog is but his words are worth putting here:
BLOG POST BY R.D. WALKER:
"WHEN PARISIANS STORMED THE BASTILLE IGNITING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, THEY WEREN'T DEMANDING LESS FROM THE STATE.  WHEN RIOTERS ATTACKED THE WINTER PALACE IN ST. PETERSBURG IN 1917, THEY MOST CERTAINLY WERE NOT DEMANDING LESS GOVERNMENT SPENDING.  THE CROWDS THROWING STONES AND SETTING FIRES IN THE STREETS OF GREECE THIS SPRING WERE NOT ASKING FOR INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY AND LESS INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT.  IN FACT, THROUGHOUT HISTORY WHEN PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN TO THE STREETS, IT IS VIRTUALLY ALWAYS TO DEMAND MORE FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

AMERICA IS THE EXCEPTION TO THAT RULE. ONLY IN AMERICA DO PEOPLE TAKE TO THE STREETS WITH SIGNS DEMANDING LESS FROM THE GOVERNMENT.  ONLY IN AMERICA DO PROTESTERS INSIST THE GOVERNMENT GET OUT OF THEIR WAY SO THAT THEY MAY GO ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF CREATING PROSPERITY.  THIS IS THE CORE OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM.  THIS IS THE AMERICAN DREAM.

THE AMERICAN DREAM IS UNIQUE. THERE IS NO PORTUGUESE DREAM, DANISH DREAM OR BELGIAN DREAM. THE AMERICAN DREAM IS HOPE AND BELIEF IN A BETTER FUTURE. IT IS THE INDIVIDUALISM, INDEPENDENCE AND SELF RELIANCE THAT SETS AMERICA APART. IT IS WHAT MAKES AMERICA SPECIAL."

Blaming the Tea Party - Not so according to Cavuto

Neil Cavuto on July 22:

Fact One -- Tea Partiers' opposition to tax hikes didn't bring us to this brink. Washington's indifference to spending did.
Fact Two -- Tea Partiers didn't create these deficits. Washington did.
Fact Three -- Tea Partiers didn't wreck the budget this year. Try Democrats, who had total control of Washington, not even offering a budget at all... last year.
Fact Four -- Tea Partiers aren't the reason we're up against another debt limit. Washington is.
Fact Five -- Tea Partiers aren't suddenly to blame for the credit ratings agencies now putting this country's credit on watch. Credit ratings agencies first warned about this years ago.
Fact Six -- Tea Partiers have been consistently opposed to the gimmicks that created this mess. Washington's consistently offered only more gimmicks to allegedly fix this mess.
Fact Seven -- Tea Partiers aren't the only ones saying a debt hike without meaningful spending cuts is a waste. Standard and Poor's itself warned such a deal would be a travesty.
Fact Eight -- Tea Partiers aren't the crazy ones for saying it's time to stop this nonsense. Those who call them crazy for dare speaking the obvious are the ones who make "no" sense.
Fact Nine -- Tea Partiers resisting business as usual aren't the problem right now. Self-serving politicians still practicing business as usual are.
Fact Ten -- Tea Partiers demanding accountability isn't the stuff that brought us to this brink. Washington's continued failure to "be" accountable has us at the brink.

Is there no shame?!

    Well folks, we are now being deluged from the dominant media culture as well as outlets which we used to depend on being "fair and balanced," that the debt bill is the "best we can get."  I am so livid that sparks should be coming out of my typing digits, but no, let me tell you about the latest indignity which has been heaped on you and I, Tea Party Patriots.
     Today (August 1) while watching "The Five" (which replaced Glenn Beck on Fox News Channel), Bob Beckel (yes, the same Bob Beckel who managed Walter Mondale's campaign in 1984 and later was involved in a sex extortion scheme in 2004) referred to the Tea Party as "Tea Terrorists"!  This bully joins Democrat Congressman  Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) who, at a two-hour, closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting this weekend, said:  "We have negotiated with terrorists.  This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money."
    Not to be outdone, but Vice President Joe "Plugs" Biden said: "They have acted like terrorists," according to several sources in the room.
    Where have we heard this before?  Oh yeah, it was our own (former) Congressman Baron Hill.  The Baron said that he would have not have town hall meetings in 2009 because (in Washington Post and Indianapolis Channel TV 6 interviews) he was afraid that those who disagreed with him on socialized medicine (he called it "health care reform") "political terrorists" he called them, might "blow up the meetings."
    Mr. Hill was wrong (and thankfully shown the electoral door) and so are Mr. Becket, Biden and Doyle.  We, The People (many of us are Tea Partiers) are not terrorists!  Terrorists right now and for the past 30 years or so are Islamofascists who fly into buildings killing 3,000 of our countrymen; terrorists strap bombs on their bodies killing innocents; terrorists are those people who are dedicated to the destruction of our country and our way of life.  How dare you?  Have you no shame?  Your comparison is absolutely disgusting and I hope you are all shown the door.  The lack of shame from Mr. Beckel's colleagues on the panel is deafening.  The lack of shame of the Democrats for Biden and Doyle is almost expected.  More's the pity.
  Oh yeah, the debt limit ... we're being hosed again.  Obama gets an additional $2 trillion slush fund to help himself get re-elected.  We get the promises of another blue-ribbon panel (didn't we just have one last year whose recommendations were ignored?) to make recommendations about debt reduction; the promise of a dollar for dollar expense reduction (which doesn't start until 2014); and, what should amount to a total of $17 TRILLION dollars debt owed the Chinese and the Japanese.
  Watching the current spirit of "bipartisanship" on the floor of the House makes me throw up a little in my mouth and reminds me of P.J. O'Rourke's classic book about Congress: A Parliament of Whores.  The title was right then and it certainly fits now.  This capitulation of Congressional leadership is deplorable, particularly on the Republican side.  They say "this is the best deal we can get," until the GOP can control the White House and Senate in 2012.  I pray we still have a country in 2012.