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UPDATE JUNE 2!  The Washington Times‘ Rowan Scarborough reveals “Military chiefs split with Mullen on gays | Deal rushes repeal of ban.”

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Last Thursday, the House of Representatives approved an amendment authored by Democrat Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania to H.R. 5136—FY 2011 National Defense Authorization Act,  that, according to the Republican Study Committee - -

. . . repeals 10 U.S.C. Section 654 (the law that corresponds with the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy) despite a pending Pentagon review to determine impacts to military readiness, effectiveness, and unit cohesion, recruiting/retention, and family readiness as a result of the repeal. While the amendment allows for the continuation and completion of the review, it still repeals the law regardless of the results of the review. Per the amendment, the results of the review will have no influence on this policy, and our troops and officers currently serving in the military will have had no say in whether or not they approve of the repeal. As House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) recently stated in a press release; “My position on this issue has been clear – I support the current policy and I will oppose any amendment to repeal ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. I hope my colleagues will avoid jumping the gun and wait for DOD to complete its work.” (Republican Study Committee explanation amendment #79.)

House Republicans Stand Fast

If there is any bright side here, it is that nearly all House Republicans and 26 Democrats, including veteran House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton, opposed the Patrick amendment. 

Maryland’s Roscoe Bartlett was particularly outspoken - -

“A vote for the National Defense Authorization Act as amended with the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell amendment abdicates Congress’ Constitutional authority under Article I, Section 8 ‘Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces.’ It rejects the recommendations of the unanimously approved 59-0 bill by members of the House Armed Services Committee.”

while the Free State’s pretend centrist Frank Kratovil of cap-and-tax fame was, not unexpectedly, a supporter of major Obama-Pelosi priorities such as the Patrick amendment. Nor would Virginia’s Gerry Connolly miss a beat supporting a key Obama objective.

A Silence in the Conservative Blogosphere?

But seasoned investigator Cliff Kincaid points to a serious problem in the conservative blogosphere relating to gays in the military. As he states in his Culture Warriors Head for the Hills on Memorial Day - -

“The general silence of ‘conservative’ columnists, commentators and publications during the gays in the military debate has been astounding. In an extraordinary column, ‘Conservative Media Fiddle While the Military Burns,‘ veteran conservative journalist Robert Knight comments that ‘…homosexual activists and their allies are muscling . . . their agenda [through Congress], with nary a peep from the nation’s conservative talking heads,’ and that ‘many conservative opinion leaders have run for the tall grass.’

Knight names names, saying that Erick Erickson’s Red State, which describes itself as the leading conservative news blog for right of center online activists, has been AWOL in the battle. I’ll name another—Hotair.com, which is owned by a Christian company, Salem Communications, is actually supporting repeal of the homosexual exclusion policy.

Into this void has stepped Senator John McCain, who has not been a favorite of conservatives on many occasions in the past and is facing a conservative challenger in the Republican Senate primary in Arizona. Perhaps for this reason—but also because he is a decorated war veteran who understands combat conditions — McCain has opposed repeal of the Pentagon’s homosexual exclusion policy, known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ McCain points out that the troops were promised a comprehensive review before any legislative change was made and it is not due until December.”

Here is Kincaid’s take on this conservative silence:

“My suspicion is that they are afraid of getting flak from the vocal and militant homosexuals in the media. The gays who run and staff such organizations as Media Matters viciously and savagely attack anybody who stands in the way of their agenda. Plus, most major media organizations, including Fox News, contribute financially to such groups as the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA). So there is internal pressure to stay away from the issue or even favorably report on the gay agenda.”

Readers are encouraged to look at the details of Kincaid’s post on the possible dangers to the military blood supply from gays as well as Kincaid’s “executive summary” of a report by Dale O’Leary “Asking for Trouble” which Kincaid posts. 

Kincaid points out - -

“Soldiers on the battlefield have to rely on their fellow soldiers for blood transfusions.  The need for battlefield blood transfusions presents many different problems, many of them logistical.  But what if that blood is disease-laden? What if that blood has a disease that hasn’t yet been identified and isolated and can’t be screened through various blood tests?”

Readers should take some time to look at Kincaid’s post in its entirety as well as that of Robert Knight.

The Current Law

Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness has long been fighting to maintain the current law “Section 654, Title 10, stat[ing] that homosexuals are not eligible for military service.” Last October she warned in her “Roadmap for railroading the military” about the plans of the “California-based Michael D. Palm Center, an academic gay activist group . . . recommend[ing] coercive strategies to get military leaders on board.  ‘The President should not ask military leaders if they support lifting the ban,’ said the Palm ‘Roadmap Report’.  ‘Any consultation with uniformed leaders should take the form of a clear mandate to give the President input about how, not whether, to make this transition.’”

“Zero Tolerance”

Another chilling aspect of the consequences of repealing the current law has been highlighted by a group of retired generals and admirals - -

“‘Zero Tolerance’ = Intolerance of Dissent

Advocates for homosexuals in the military are trying to invoke the military’s proud history of mandating civil rights for racial minorities.  Extension of that concept to homosexuals as a special class would require corollary policies enforcing ‘zero tolerance’ of anyone who disagrees, for any reason.

• Men and women who try to avoid or want to complain about inappropriate actions in close quarters could face questions asking whether their own attitudes are in compliance with the new ‘zero tolerance’ policy. Many will not complain, even in cases of actual assault or abuse of rank, due to fear of career repercussions.
• In the military, denied promotions end careers. Chaplains whose values are suddenly in conflict with official Pentagon policy may feel compelled to leave. The ensuing climate of real or perceived injustice would undermine trust and unit cohesion.

• To change attitudes and make the new policy ‘work,’ the military will have to implement ‘diversity training’ programs designed by homosexual advocates. Mandatory sessions will attempt to overcome the normal human desire for modesty and privacy in sexual matters–a quest that is inappropriate for the military and unlikely to succeed.”
  

A Platoon Leader’s View

William Buchanan, however, is one strong voice from the blogosphere writing today in Human Events - - 

“My service with the United States Marine Corps in the 1960’s included deployment to Vietnam as a platoon commander. The crucible of combat taught me that unit integrity depends to a large degree on respect, confidence, trust in leaders, and teamwork. Prevailing over determined and well-armed Viet Cong and North Vietnamese units demanded total focus.

For instance, it is not difficult for me to envision the truckload of problems that would have ensued had one of my squad leaders in Vietnam been gay and had an intimate relationship with one of his fire team leaders. Would he hesitate to commit his lover’s team to a flanking maneuver during a firefight? Would passion in the fighting hole at night distract his vigilance?

What if he came down with AIDS or some SDT during a search and destroy mission? What effect on morale would ensue if he cited his lover for a Bronze Star when it wasn’t deserved? Would he be so shattered emotionally by his lover’s wounding or death in battle that he became ineffective as a leader? Knowing he was gay, would other Marines, fearing contamination, hesitate to treat him if he was wounded?

Would violence ensue if he hit on a subordinate Marine? If a junior enlisted man rejected a gay senior NCO’s sexual advances, would he invite undesirable assignments, or lower fitness reports?”

This legislative threat to our fighting men and men now is in the lap of the United States Senate.  We need to do all we can to encourage the Senate Republican leadership to be as “obstructionist” as possible and to keep reminding them of the high stakes in play.

A well-educated highly-trained volunteer force with so many of its members following traditional values is not going to flourish in an emerging atmosphere of “zero tolerance” for anything but an all-embracing secularism.  This Obama initiative is a poison-pill for our military.

GOP primary candidate for governor of Maryland Brian Murphy declared this morning - -

“Maryland Gubernatorial Candidate Supports
Arizona’s Immigration Bill”

“Brian Murphy Supports Similar Law in Maryland”

“CROFTON, MARYLAND – Brian Murphy, Republican candidate for governor of Maryland, said today that he supports the new Arizona immigration bill and the enforcement of immigration laws in Maryland. ‘Immigration is a sacred part of the American journey. But becoming an American citizen is a process,’ Murphy explained. ‘No one is above the law. In Maryland, illegal immigration poses a law enforcement issue, a safety issue, and a budget issue. This is not a race issue. And I will not allow this to become a race issue. ‘Illegal’ is not a race. Whether the issue is securing our finances, or securing our borders, Americans are tired of government officials who avoid confronting difficult choices. Maryland deserves real leadership.’” (Underscoring Forum’s.)

Apparently candidate Murphy has read the Arizona law.

By contrast, early last month, while criticizing the Arizona law, the governor of neighboring Virginia admitted that he had not read it.

Thanks to RedState’s Lori Ziganto, however, we can hear Arizona Sing-A-Long: Read Immigration Law!

The No-New-Taxes Pledge

Businessman Murphy has also signed the gubernatorial no-new-taxes pledge. 

Will the other GOP candidate, former governor Bob Ehrlich, finally sign the gubernatorial no-new-taxes pledge as well? 

He failed to do so before, or during, his time as governor.

Here is a partial list of the lamentable consequences.

Tea Partiers and grass-roots voices who wish to advance conservative policies in Maryland should insist that both candidates explain their specific solutions on pressing state and local government issues, such as the state and local public-pension gorilla here and here. As we wrote last year- - we urged essentially plain vanilla conservative objectives, nothing exotic:

• opposing new state and local taxes;
  
• opposing state and local spending in excess of inflation and population;
  
• minimizing Republican pork, and all state spending that has the scent of pork;
  
• privatizing state and local government activities where possible;
  
• diminishing, and continually reviewing state and local regulation;
  
• supporting the Second Amendment in Maryland;
  
• protecting private property from eminent-domain abuse;
  
• blocking Green statism;
  
• thoughtfully opposing menacing “hate crimes” legislation;
• keeping our taxpayer-supported schools from tearing down the American heritage.

Jobs.

Richmond’s Bob Marcellus rightly urged the abolition of Virginia’s corporate tax which would have given the Commonwealth a significant competitive advantage over many states.  Investor Marcellus had explained - -

“Countries and regions that have cut the corporate income tax have experienced impressive increases in the rate of new jobs, corporate relocations, economic competition, and new investment. The evidence is overwhelming.

Abolishing this tax, with a date certain 12 to 24 months in the future, creates a ‘wow’ factor for growth while still building tax revenue until the actual implementation. This window buffers state revenue while building the base that culminates in a sustained growth of revenue created by an ensuing 0.5 percentage point to 1 percentage point expansion in the annual growth rate of Virginia’s GDP. This roughly translates (on the low end of expectations) to creating new jobs for the entire city of Bristol — population 17,000 — every year.”

For whatever reason, the new GOP administration in Virginia did not push the proposal.  But a parallel Maryland approach could be equally useful for job creation in the Old Line State.

The root of the matter for too many Maryland lawmakers is understanding that governments do not create solid employment, entrepreneurs do. In Maryland in particular, state and local governments should systematically review the regulatory (stealth tax) burden on entrepreneurs to be sure that only publicly defensible health and safety regulations based on sound science remain in force.  And state and local regulations should never be used to stifle competition as they too frequently are.

Jane Jamison, our CPAC blogger* colleague from the East Side of San Francisco Bay, wrote today in her “California: If Tea Party Goes Third Party, You Elect Democrats” - -

“After all, this is California.  Since when does anything here make any sense? Why should I expect a year of  tea party voter unrest  to produce any positive change or result? Why should I expect California Republicans will be able to recapture the state?

This is the state, after all, where it is apparently more important to ‘look’ good than to ‘be’ good.Unemployment is 4th highest in the nation at 12.6%, budget deficit is at $20-billion (let’s say 20 billion-’ish’ because no one really wants to bother about how bad it is). We are paying $100k/year  to retired teachers and we have to lay off ‘live’ teachers in the class room to do so. 

But hey, your weather sucks and ours doesn’t! So, I’m constantly told, it’s all worth it.

Let me unwind what is happening in these two prominent California races and what MIGHT happen:”

Lessons for Maryland and Virginia?

First of all, California, our most populous state, is still the eighth-largest economy on the planet and has been a trend-setter for our chattering classes and for many other (younger) Americans as well.

Second, conservatives may be able to learn from the missteps of Tea Partiers and grass-roots conservatives in the Golden State — while there is still time at home in the mid-Atlantic.

Blogger Jamison elaborates - -

“The Tea Party in the Bay area has been very active all year on the health care reform issue.  In recent months, many of the local tea parties in the San Francisco bay area appear to be ‘morphing’ into campaign structures for the six (and a few others) independent, or ‘fringe’ Republican candidates. There have also been an unknown number who have peeled off to register in various third parties.  There is a candidate asking to be written in by Tea party members.  There is another candidate who is pulling between 1 and 2% who is still actively campaigning, and asking for money. If these various and sundry ‘fringe candidates’ pull the rest of the undecided vote, then as much as 20% of the voters, many of them tea party members, will split their vote among many hopeless candidates and will assure that Meg Whitman, the more ‘liberal candidate’ in the campaign, will become the nominee. That will happen because the conservatives in the state are too proud to cooperate.”

But Jamison who publishes Uncoverage.Net emphasizes - -

“What I am saying is, Tea Party nation, you have worked all year standing on street corners with signs, writing emails, faxing, and going to meetings.  Much effort has been expended. At the end of it all….now…you are choosing to stay ‘divided’ and by doing so, will ensure that a Democrat will be governor of California this fall.”

You will profit from reading her entire post.

The Really Heavy Lifting Begins After November

We would add yet another lesson for Tea Partiers and conservatives in every state:  our work has only just begun next November when our candidates are elected or re-elected to the Congress and state legislatures.  If we realistically expect a conservative performance from these elected or re-elected members, we must work right along with them in the next Congress or the next session of the General Assembly in shoulder-to-shoulder ways that organized conservatives have not done before.  Otherwise we are ceding our conservative agenda entirely to the GOP leadership in the Congress and the General Assemblies of Maryland and Virginia.  And we know how well they have done with that over the last decade. 

Message to Republicans lawmakers:  expect to have a continuing exchange with your Tea Partiers and your grass-roots conservative base after your election or re-election in November. 

Message to Tea Partiers and the grass-roots conservative base:  your leisure time can never be the same during the Obama Administration if you want to stay free in any traditional meaning of the word. Give up any fantasy of finally sending a “good man” or “good woman” to the Congress, Annapolis, or Richmond — then leaving all the law-making and oversight “details” up to them while you go off to the golf course or tennis court or cultivate your garden, resuming a “normal” not-very-political life. 

Without your continuing counsel and support, these lawmakers will be swallowed up, to a greater or less degree, by the Beltway Establishment.

Here, and here (h/t John Berlau) are stories about a fellow named Scott Brown from Massachusetts illustrating our point.

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Today in Warrenton, the Virginia Tenth Congressional District Republican Convention elected a new chairman Howie Lind to replace retiring long-time incumbent Jim Rich who had vexed local conservatives over the last few years.

Lind decisively defeated GOP Establishment contender David Schmidt for the chairmanship.

In an email we received from him last evening, food-industry voice Schmidt had declared:

“Congressman Wolf asked my opponent to withdraw from the race in January,and he refused. Congressman Wolf told me directly he would vote for me but would not make a public endorsement.”

Is Lind’s victory more significant than just the outcome of a local Republican Party dust up?

We would say yes, for at least two reasons.

The Lind team worked closely with area Tea Partiers to bring many new people into the GOP fold.

And the local conservative grass-roots base was fully energized in time to act effectively.

As we wrote about the race last February, Lind

        . . . urged ways to increase the accountability of elected officials. 

“Develop and maintain a GOP ’scorecard’ on every political jurisdiction in the 10th Congressional District. This ’scorecard’ would list every single elective office holder at every level of government. School Boards. Town, City and County Councils. City and County Treasurers. Board of Supervisors. City and County Attorneys. State Delegates and Senators.”

Among the key Virginia figures in Lind’s brains trust are Jo-Ann Chase and former Reagan appointee Michael Giere. Activist Chase is a member of the state central committee from the 10th Congressional District, and former Reagan appointee Giere a member of the state central committee from the 8th Congressional District.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli spoke in person at the Warrenton meeting for defense-expert and Navy veteran Lind.  He also had the endorsement of national conservative voice Morton Blackwell who is a Virginia Republican National Committeeman.

Our take is that, ironically, Tenth District U. S. Representative Frank Wolf (and House appropriations committee “cardinal”) may be better served and better counseled - - during this perilous Obama administration - - by the new team, than he would have been by a more traditional GOP circle.

Americans for Prosperity Maryland’s project called Get Maryland Moving Again will sponsor Town Halls in Hagerstown, Baltimore, and Annapolis.

The Hagerstown Town Hall will gather on June 1:

Hagerstown
Location - Dimensions Dining and Catering
Time - 7pm
Date - Tuesday, June 1st
Speakers - Christopher Summers, Del. Steve Schuh, Joan Warner

The cover letter for this event declares - -

“Our expert panelists will discuss how YOU can help make Maryland more competitive.”

Tea partiers can be a mixed group.  Tea Partiers we know about include Reagan Republicans, Reagan Democrats, and Independents, the latter ranging to the strong right.

AFP Maryland has done essential work in organizing, and chapters like Steve Bailey’s Baltimore County group have developed their own take on pension reform.

But there are as many experts in the Tea Party ranks as on AFP’s Town Hall platforms.

Perhaps on certain issues, such as property rights and illegal immigration (a major fiscal matter), there might be considerably more experts in Town Hall audiences than on the stage.

Let’s take pension reform: one would want to discuss specific ways to start fixing Maryland’s crushing public-employee pension burden and explore how to curtail the power of public-employee unions to keep them from ramping up their benefit packages. 

Nor would one want to overlook the fact that in 2006 in Maryland - -

No member of either chamber of the Maryland General Assembly voted against the State Employees’ and Teachers’ Retirement Enhancement Benefit Act of 2006 which increased state pension liabilities by $1.9 billion.- - HB 1737.

If one goal is to make Maryland a kind of opportunity society - - a low-tax, smaller-state-and-local-government polity with only essential health and safety regulations  - - we are puzzled that AFP’s Hagerstown panel showcases delegate Steven Schuh.

Mr. Schuh has a record of voting for two out of the last four operating budgets, and for three out of four of the last capital budgets. There’s a lot of pork mixed in with some necessities in those capital budgets. Yes, delegate Schuh’s public-spending record is probably in line with a number of General Assembly Republicans.  But if he is to be a paladin of making Maryland competitive, we should hold him to a higher standard on fiscal matters. 

And delegate Schuh is a Republican supporter of Green Statism, including taxation by regulatory stealth.

As we wrote in 2009 - -

“The Maryland House of Delegates passed here the “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act of 2009 with 29 Republican delegates and two Democrat delegates in opposition.  Six Republican delegates, however, Aumann, Eckardt, Elmore, Frank, Haddaway, and Schuh voted to reinforce the official Maryland position that anthropogenic global warming requires serious Annapolis intervention. Read the bill’s entire Fiscal and Policy Note here to see exactly what costly and intrusive mischief lies in the fine print.”

And last month we noted - -

“Marylanders should remember all their legislators [including Mr. Schuh] who voted here and here for the Clean Cars Act of 2007 — which allowed linking Maryland’s air-quality requirements to those of California, and which ensured that model 2011 cars sold in Maryland will be more expensive.”

This is not the place to debate Mr. Schuh’s political perspective. We believe him to be a high-minded fellow. But it important to point out that since his 2006 election, he has not been in the forefront of fighting spending, and has embraced stealth taxation through regulation. Surely these issues play a part in decisions by owners of independent businesses and their families on whether they should remain in Maryland or leave it.

A Fundamental Reason Why Maryland Is Not Competitive 

What causes Maryland’s lack of competitiveness? Maryland Economists Steve H. Hanke and Stephen Walters, declare in their Hard Line State - 

“Thanks to the federal tax dollars collected from the rest of the country and spent in Maryland, the prevailing view of economic reality is inverted: The public sector is seen as the engine of prosperity, with the private one along for the ride. Reflecting this culture, our legislators often behave as if business is a problem to be solved.” [Bear in mind that Maryland, in 2005 for example, was receiving $1.30 in Federal spending for every dollar paid in Federal taxes. -ed]

Brian Murphy: Seek a Businessman’s Recommendations for A Competitive Maryland

Brian Murphy “is a successful Maryland businessman with a B.A. in economics from the University of Maryland and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He is founder of the Plimhimmon Group, whose first investment, the Smith Island Baking Company, has been featured in The Washington Post, the Wharton Magazine, the Baltimore Sun, and other publications for its principled approach to job creation in Maryland. In addition, a Business Week article on the baking company is scheduled to run this Friday.”

Yes, Mr. Murphy has already filed as a Republican candidate for governor of Maryland. 

But if former governor (and all-but-filed candidate) Bob Ehrlich joined Mr. Murphy at the Hagerstown gathering to discuss how to make Maryland economically competitive, it would draw record crowds and coverage. More important, it would help illuminate the disciplined paths we need to follow to make Maryland an opportunity, not a dependency society. Now that kind of exchange truly would be in the spirit of Tea Parties.

And if AFP organizers are absolutely determined to serve up an “expert” incumbent politician, let them play governor Chris Christie’s videos between acts.

 “Republicans are justified in hoping for big gains in November, but they must not let Obama’s weakness make them complacent. If they do not bring real hope of change to the campaign trail this fall, the voters’ disappointment will become theirs on Election Day.” - - Michael Barone today in the Twilight of the Establishment.

Yesterday Ben Pershing in a Washington Post article, “Herrity airs his first ad in 11th District contest,” reported - -

“Herrity and Fimian are locked in what appears to be a tight contest for the right to take on freshman Rep. Gerald Connolly (D) in November. Fimian went on the air last month, and now Herrity is up on local cable stations with a spot — “Proven Record” — that will run through the June 8 primary . . . ”

In addition to the tax and spending issues covered in his ad, we believe the good Mr. Herrity should also tell us more about his position on homeland security - - specifically the reasoning behind his “proven record” in behalf of the Islamic Saudi Academy whose lease he voted to renew in May 2008.

Last Saturday, we urged both Republican Eleventh District primary candidates for the House of Representatives, Pat Herrity and Keith Fimian, to give us their thinking on Islamist concerns within their own Congressional district.

As we also noted, last Friday former Federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy in National Review on Line (NRO) revealed in his post entitled “The State Department Doubles Down on the Islamist Mosque”  - -

“Yesterday I noted the State Department’s showcasing of the Dar al-Hijra Islamic Center in a film about Muslim life in America — despite the mosque’s longstanding ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, its virulent Islamist ideology, its support for the murderous Hamas organization, its notorious Islamist imams and elders (including al Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki), and the ties of some of its worshippers to the 9/11 attacks and the Fort Hood massacre. Then, we learned that the federal government has struck a deal to pay Dar al-Hijra a whopping $582K just for this year (i.e., about one-tenth what it cost the Saudis to build the place), purportedly because the Census Bureau needs work space — y’know, because there are like no federal facilities anywhere near Falls Church, Virginia.”

McCarthy had pointed us to Steve Emerson’s revelations “Government Outreach with Terror-tied Mosque Continues” from the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

But you first, Mr. Herrity, on Islamist concerns in northern Virginia, since you raised the matter of proven records and you have one of supporting the renewal of the ISA lease.

 

Yesterday morning the Washington Post’s Ben Pershing gave us his take on the Republican primary race between Pat Herrity and Keith Fimian  in Virginia’s Eleventh Congressional District - -

“The battle has been fought almost exclusively on economic issues. Both say they would crack down on illegal immigration and repeal Obama’s health-care plan.” (Underscoring Forum’s.)

According to reporter Pershing - -

“Some national party strategists say privately they prefer Herrity because they think he would be more competitive in the fall, but the National Republican Congressional Committee is neutral. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) endorsed Fimian before Herrity entered the race but has since done nothing substantive to aid Fimian’s campaign.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), who is popular among conservative activists, announced his endorsement of Fimian Wednesday; McDonnell has so far stayed out of the race. Nearly all of the district’s GOP elected officials who have picked a side are with Herrity.

How About the Elephant in the Republican Living Room?

But the Eleventh Congressional District has seen several years of uproar over the Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors renewing the lease of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in May 2008, as well as the Board’s approval of the ISA’s subsequent expansion in August 2009.

Supervisor Pat Herrity, for example, approved continuing the ISA’s lease although he voted against the subsequent expansion of the controversial school because of what he called “transportation issues created by rural, shoulderless, hilly, winding, and narrow Popes Head Road – a road I occasionally travel on.”

Readers can refresh their understanding of the significance of this controversy and now-incumbent Representative Gerry Connolly’s earlier role in the extension of the ISA’s lease by reviewing our posts here and here.

Author Paul Sperry’s post “The Saudis’ New Man in Congress” in Front Page Magazine of December 5, 2008 declared - -

“When the Saudi Embassy earlier this year [2008] asked officials to renew the lease of a radical school it runs in Alexandria, Va., local residents strenuously objected. They argued the school teaches hatred toward Jews and Christians, and has become a breeding ground for terrorists.

Gerry Connolly, at the time the Democrat chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, gave a full-throated defense of the Islamic Saudi Academy, even smearing protesters as anti-Islamic ‘bigots.’”

“All ancient history” - - a “one-time” stumble - - Herrity voices might respond. 

But the Islamist issues won’t go away. Yesterday former Federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy in National Review on Line (NRO) reports in his post entitled “The State Department Doubles Down on the Islamist Mosque”  - -

“Yesterday I noted the State Department’s showcasing of the Dar al-Hijra Islamic Center in a film about Muslim life in America — despite the mosque’s longstanding ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, its virulent Islamist ideology, its support for the murderous Hamas organization, its notorious Islamist imams and elders (including al Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki), and the ties of some of its worshippers to the 9/11 attacks and the Fort Hood massacre. Then, we learned that the federal government has struck a deal to pay Dar al-Hijra a whopping $582K just for this year (i.e., about one-tenth what it cost the Saudis to build the place), purportedly because the Census Bureau needs work space — y’know, because there are like no federal facilities anywhere near Falls Church, Virginia.”

McCarthy points us to Steve Emerson’s revelations “Government Outreach with Terror-tied Mosque Continues” on the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Wrote investigator Emerson - -

“The State Department wants its next wave of diplomats to learn what Muslims in other countries think of America.

To do that, it is sending a class to Anwar al-Awlaki’s former mosque in Falls Church, Va. this Sunday, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned.

As we reported Tuesday, federal law enforcement officials view the Dar al-Hijrah mosque as home to Hamas operatives and others linked to terrorist financing and “bad orgs.” In addition, it was home for two years to Awlaki, a charismatic, American-born cleric now living in Yemen. He is considered to have been inspirational to the accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, failed airplane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and Times Square bomber Faizal Shahzad. As a result, he may be the only American the CIA is authorized by the President to kill.”

 

Faithful readers will also recall our post about this mosque, “Flash Points 5: “Drilling for Votes” | Dar Al-Hijrah’s Invitees” of last April.

In February in a related post we reported “’Getting’ Jihad: Real Meat in A Non-Celebrity CPAC Panel” - -

“You think we are fighting a war over there.

I think we are fighting a war right here.”

“With this as one of his themes, sometime senior Pentagon analyst Steve Coughlin (together with six other experts) gave a standing-room-only crowd at CPAC last Friday morning chapter and verse on Jihad, Sharia, and our Islamic enemies.”

Perhaps readers will find illuminating this excerpt from the Pakistan American Business Association - -“Fairfax police assures Pakistani Americans: Muslims won’t be targeted in aftermath of Fort Hood” - -

“[A Fairfax County police official] has assured a delegation from the Pakistani American Business Association that the Fairfax Police will provide full protection to members of the Muslim and Pakistani community living in the area in the aftermath of the Fort Hood shootings. The eight-member Pakistani American delegation was led by the Association’s chairman, Siddique Sheikh. [The police officer] told the delegation that as a responsible official of the Fairfax County Police Department, he would ask all members of the community to report any hate crime taking place in the name of the Fort Hood shootings. He said that they were the act of an individual and it would be wrong to link the shootings to any religion or culture, assuring greater protection to the Pakistani Americans living in the county against any hate crimes.” (Underscoring Forum’s.)

The Virginia GOP Candidates and Islamists

One would think each Eleventh District Republican Congressional candidate could declare whether the many public concerns about Sharia and Jihad in northern Virginia were, on the one hand, unfounded, or, on the other, that these concerns had merit and should be promptly addressed.

The fact that their websites here and here say nothing about Sharia and Jihad in northern Virginia, of course, speaks volumes.  In his 2008 campaign for the House, however, Keith Fimian did make reference to the ISA problem, saying “from what I know, the board was wrong to renew the lease.

How will the silence from current District 11 Congressional candidates on these Virginia homeland-defense concerns - - raised by many knowledgeable voices - - sit with Eleventh District conservatives?

This morning on Big Government, prize-winning journalist John Berlau once more sounds the alarm about senator Christopher Dodd’s  Restoring American Financial Stability Act. Berlau, director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, explains in his “Dodd’s Bank Bill: Worse Than ObamaCare. It’s the Nationalization, Stupid!” that - -

“But the most destructive portions of the bill — the one that would in my judgment go beyond even Obamacare in making the American free enterprise system unrecognizable — has been little discussed even by critics of this bill. To put it bluntly but absolutely accurately, this bill sets up a mechanism for the Treasury Secretary, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to nationalize virtually any business they deem to be a threat to American ‘financial stability.’

I include myself among these critics not focusing on this issue and I apologize for not informing readers sooner, but I wanted to be sure the bill would do what I suspected it would do. Many of the bill provisions are interconnected, and what can seem like a mild measure by itself becomes lethal when combined with another sections. As Financial Times columnist Gillian Tett recently wrote: ‘Buried in [the bill’s] pages are numerous clauses and sub-clauses, many of which have been largely ignored until now (partly because they strike most non-financiers as pretty dull). Yet, the fine print could turn out to be crucial in the coming years.’

And after reading and rereading the ‘fine print’ of this 1336-page piece of legislation (which will grow by hundreds more pages when amendments are added),it is clear that the bill’s ‘orderly liquidation authority’ would facilitate outright government seizure of a wide variety of firms with very limited judicial review.“
(Underscoring Forum’s throughout.)

Faithful readers will recall our post of last April 21 All Center-Right Voices: Help Stop Obama-Dodd “Reforms,” where we declared - -

Today Governor McDonnell’s political capital may be somewhat eroded, but he still is in a strong position to lead a band of influential citizens very publicly to urge the Commonwealth’s two senators to stand fast against the Obama-Dodd measure known as the ‘‘Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010’’.

Across the Potomac in Maryland there are (at least) two GOP primary candidates for governor: former governor Bob Ehrlich and Montgomery County business leader Brian Murphy.  Voters in the Old Line State need to hear from both candidates on Obama-Dodd, as we struggle against the imposition of yet another layer of statism leading to fewer real jobs.

Tea Partiers vs. Bank of America

In a closely related Big Government post “As Tea Party Activists Protest Dodd’s Big Brother Bill, Bank of America Deploys Security Forces” blogger Liberty Chick relates - -

“In Charlotte, North Carolina, there’s apparently a growing deadly threat to worry about.  It seems that protesters there are getting unruly these days – so unruly that local businesses have brought on extra security detail to help out the local police.That’s what happened when one such group of protesters descended upon the Bank of America headquarters on Saturday, May 8th.  The group showed up around lunchtime, eager to protest the financial reform bill currently making its way through the Senate.  Upon their arrival, not only were they met by three Charlotte police cars and a couple of local officers, but evidently Bank of America had somehow caught wind of the event and sent out another six or so Bank of America paid security staff. As an extra precaution, the bank had also hired at least two Wackenhut security officers to augment their usual staff.  Apparently, Bank of America felt it necessary to prepare for some sort of pending siege – these are Tea Party protesters we’re talking about here.  According to our own members of Congress and their allies, they’ve deemed Tea Partiers, the very constituents they are supposed to represent, a violent, racist bunch of potentially unstable people. Well, when I heard about the incident, I couldn’t wait to get a look at these dangerous rabble-rousers.

Back in the Old Dominion, the Northern Virgina Tea Party held a “small but effective” demonstration May 3 in front of senator Mark Warner’s office in Vienna, Virginia, followed by a long “teleconference” with the senator’s senior staff. Organizer Ron Wilcox termed his group a “force multiplier.”

Surely our state-level GOP politicians in Maryland and Virginia can also speak out against this very dangerous nationalization measure.

Much of the quite proper outrage expressed by many Tea Partiers and conservatives against the Political Class has centered on Democratic politicians fostering an intrusive and grasping government as well as on some prominent members of the GOP Establishment who fail to make a visible and tenacious stand for right-sizing government.

But Tea Partiers and conservative grass-roots are also deeply concerned about an essential role of the Federal government - - the “common defense,” to use the precise phrase from the preamble to the Constitution of the United States.

Consequently Tea Partiers and conservatives urgently need to get the right recommendations about our common defense to members of the Congress promptly and skillfully.

Here are chilling and time-sensitive messages from three defense experts on what we may well face this summer.

Vallely: “We cannot allow Israel to Stand Alone in This”

Former general Paul Vallely’s 12-minute video “Mid East on the Edge 2010″ warns of coming attacks on Israel:

“Gen. Paul Vallely speaks to PJTV exclusively and reveals how Iranian submarines are now equipping Israel’s enemies with Scud missiles armed warheads filled with chemical weapons.”

Don’t miss the Vallely video. This long-time warrior brings home the full force of the imminent threat.

Glick: “Time to Plan for War”

Jerusalem Post columnist, and senior fellow of the Center for Security Policy Caroline Glick puts our situation as baldly as one can here.

“The US’s abdication of its responsibility as the leader of the free world to prevent the most dangerous regimes from acquiring the most dangerous weapons means that the responsibility for preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons has fallen on Israel’s shoulders. Only Israel has the means and the will to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.”

. . . . .

“Syria and Iran have armed Hizbullah with some 40,000 missiles and rockets, including hundreds of Scud missiles and guided surface-to-surface solid fuel M600 missiles with a 250 km range and. This week Hizbullah threatened to attack Israel with non-conventional weapons. Syria itself has a formidable chemical and biological arsenal as well as a massive artillery and missile force at its disposal. 

A sometime embedded journalist with the U.S. Army in Iraq, Glick points out - -

“As for Iran, as its seemingly endless military exercises make clear, the mullocracy has the capacity to use conventional weapons to imperil global oil shipments from the Persian Gulf. So too, this week’s report that Osama Bin Laden may have decamped to Iran in 2003 merely served to underline Iran’s ability to utilize jihadist terror forces throughout the world.” (Underscoring Forum’s throughout.)

“Feathered Cocaine”

Last month, Mid-East expert Ken Timmerman revealed that  - -

“A new documentary film [”Feathered Cocaine”], premiering at the prestigious Tribeca film festival in New York this week presents stunning new evidence that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is living in Iran, where the Iranian regime is sheltering him.”

Also last month, author Timmerman reported - -

“One scenario being floated in national security circles in the event of an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran is a shift by Obama to condemn Israel as an aggressor state at the U.N. Security Council.

Newsmax asked [Florida Representative Ileana] Ros-Lehtinen if Congress would step in to counter such an order from the president.

‘It’s very important for us to give all of the support that Israel needs in terms of financial support, in terms of military support, in terms of the hardware we’re talking about,’ she said.”

Meridor: ““Iran must see there is an iron wall that they cannot cross.”

Timmerman interviewed the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister on Iranian nuclear weapons - -

“Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor views the U.S.-Iran standoff over Iran’s nuclear programs as ‘the most important struggle in the world today.’

Meridor, a member of Israel’s Inner Security Cabinet, made the comment during an exclusive interview with Newsmax after he led Israel’s delegation to this past week’s international nuclear summit in Washington, D.C. His portfolio includes Israel’s intelligence services and atomic energy, putting him at the crossroads of the most sensitive issues facing the Jewish state.”

. . . . .

“‘I look at the way the Arabs look at it. If the Arabs see Iran winning, Iran getting nuclear weapons, they will lose confidence that America can save them from a very negative development. America’s relationship with the Arab regimes has been built on the mutual understanding that America will help them — first, against the communist subversion in its time, and today against radicalism. If they see America can’t do it, some of them will go with Iran; others will go nuclear. And world stability will change.”

Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons is not about Israel,although Israel is certainly on the receiving end of Iranian terror, Meridor said. ‘I think this is understood now by the U.S. administration. This is a very important struggle, and America needs to succeed so that Iran will not go nuclear.’”

What to Do?

We should promptly raise with our friends in the Congress our concerns about the how president Barack Obama is weakening our international leadership and our military strength. 

This administration’s hostility to Israel, for example, is palpable.  The administration’s treatment of long-time allies like the United Kingdom and Poland and the Czech Republic and Honduras is shameful as is the gross neglect of the security of our border with Mexico.

Don’t be put off with glib assurances from politicians ostensibly on our side.

Establishment Republicans who squirm when asked whether they support Arizona’s efforts to survive may not be eager to take a firm line in behalf of “distant” allies.

Understandably, rank-and-file Republican members of the Congress are expecting a substantial turn-around next November. Unfortunately the hope for that consummation - - which we all share - - may tempt some members to avoid taking on any tough national-security battles in the months before the election.

Our friends in the Congress, however, must somehow get this administration to take the lead in acting decisively now against the Iranian regime, and to stop undermining our long-time ally Israel.  Otherwise the administration’s current feckless course will speed a major conflagration.

If there is a serious attack on Israel this summer or fall, the consequences for the U.S. will be grave:  militarily obviously; but also in terms of some activists, immediately.  How, for example, will the Jihadists in our midst act if Israel is fighting hard for its life?  And, if Israel should go down, will the Jihadists among us be doubly energized?

Will our friends in the Congress act while there is still time in the Middle East?

UPDATE MAY 25! Via RedState’s Lori Ziganto here, we can hear
Arizona Sing-A-Long: Read Immigration Law!

Wednesday, the Washington Post’s Anita Kumar’s reported in her “On Cinco de Mayo, Hispanic activist to urge [Virginia governor Bob] McDonnell to act on immigration” that - -

“At least one of the 70 Hispanic business leaders and supporters — longtime activist Daniel Cortez of Stafford County — said he will use his time with McDonnell to encourage the governor to act on the state’s illegal immigration problem.

Cortez said that he has been frustrated that the federal government has failed to pass a bill, and he believes that McDonnell could shame President Obama and Congress into action. He suggests McDonnell develop a Virginia version of the ‘Bracero’ program, which put millions of Hispanics — many Mexican — to work after World War II while allowing them to return to their home countries regularly.”

Crowed the Washington Post report - -

“McDonnell has been critical of the federal government for failing to do more on the issue, and just last week had some choice words about Arizona’s new immigration law.”

We listened to the “choice words” ourselves (from WTOP’s “Ask the Governor” of April 27). In responding to a listener question from Arlington, Virginia governor Bob McDonnell tried to give WTOP listeners his approach to immigration, illegal and legal.  Here are some McDonnell excerpts from the program - -

“I think we need to expand lawful immigration in this country and match it up with the economic development needs of our state and our nation.”

“I think the Federal government has failed to enact a proper immigration laws that protect our borders but also makes sure we have adequate enforcement.”

“I haven’t looked at the Arizona law.”

“I am concerned about the whole idea of carrying papers and always have to be able to prove your citizenship. That brings up shades of some other regimes that were not particularly helpful to democracy and civil rights.”

Somehow the conclusion of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) report “The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Virginians” didn’t make it into the governor’s comments - -

“Virginia’s illegal immigrant population costs the state’s taxpayers nearly $1.7 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. The annual fiscal burden amounts to about $625 per Virginia household headed by a native-born resident.”

“I haven’t looked at the Arizona law.”

Readers can decide for themselves whether there is any real-world connection between the actual Arizona law, and what Mr. McDonnell seemed to be discussing.

Here is the House of Representatives Republican Study Committee’s policy brief “Arizona Immigration Law: Picking up the Slack?”

Here is the fact sheet on the Arizona legislation from the Center for Immigration Studies.

Here is Byron York’s Washington Examiner column “A carefully crafted immigration law in Arizona” - -

“The law clearly says that if someone produces a valid Arizona driver’s license, or other state-issued identification, they are presumed to be here legally. There’s no reasonable suspicion. Is having to produce a driver’s license too burdensome? These days, natural-born U.S. citizens, and everybody else, too, are required to show a driver’s license to get on an airplane, to check into a hotel, even to purchase some over-the-counter allergy medicines. If it’s a burden, it’s a burden on everyone.”

Here and here are analyses of the new law itself by former Federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy.

So what is the good governor’s real message?

Does he believe Virginia has a labor shortage requiring expansion of lawful immigration?

The governor declared the Federal government has failed to enact the right immigration laws. But exactly what kind of changes in Federal law is the governor really proposing?

Or does he just want to show what an all-around politically correct fellow he can be?