United Liberty

Happy Halloween!!! I sort of treat this day like a holiday. I kick back, relax and watch my favorite horror flicks with a six pack of Newcastle and whatever snack I can find. I figured I’d share some of my favorites. Feel free to share yours.

We’ve got a couple more posts coming today, a UL “double feature.” We’ll be taking the weekend off. Have a safe Halloween.

- The Exorcist (1973): Zombies, vampires and ghosts do not scare me. I can handle the undead. Demons and the occult freak me out. This movie, based on William Blatty’s book, about a young girl, Regan, that becomes possessed by “the devil.” Her mother seeks out the help of a local Catholic priest (also a physciatrist) with faith issues. The Church decides to call on the help of the elderly priest to excorcise the demon.

Memorable Quote: “You’re gonna die up there.”

In a surprising development, Dede Scozzafava, the Republican endorsed candidate, has dropped out of the race in NY-23:

Dede Scozzafava, the Republican and Independence parties candidate, announced Saturday that she is suspending her campaign for the 23rd Congressional District and releasing all her supporters.

The state Assemblywoman has not thrown her support to either Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, or Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate.

“Today, I again seek to act for the good of our community,” Ms. Scozzafava wrote in a letter to friends and supporters. “It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so. I am and have always been a proud Republican. It is my hope that with my actions today, my party will emerge stronger and our district and our nation can take an important step towards restoring the enduring strength and economic prosperity that has defined us for generations.”

Scozzafava pointed to another poll in the race showing her in last place while Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate, and Doug Hoffman, the Conservative nominee, are in a statistical tie. She also said her funding had dried up and would not be able to catch up, not to mention the rumors that the NRCC was cutting their losses and pulling out of the district.

Robert Stacy McCain, who has been covering the race from the district, writes that Scozzafava will endorse Doug Hoffman.

Some interesting information was found recently in connection with a raid on a Pakistani terror cell:

SHERWANGAI, Pakistan — Pakistani forces pushing toward a lair of hard-core Taliban fighters found documents this week linked to a member of the Hamburg cell of Al Qaeda that is believed to have planned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In a small village in the dun-colored hills of South Waziristan, soldiers found a German passport belonging to Said Bahaji, a German citizen and associate of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the 9/11 hijackers.

The passport was issued in Hamburg in August 2, 2001 and was accompanied by a Pakistani visa dated August 3, 2001. The documents indicated that Mr. Bahaji landed in Karachi from Istanbul on Sept. 4, 2001.

The apparent presence of Mr. Bahaji in the tribal areas of Pakistan is a clear indication that members of the Qaeda network — including participants in the 9/11 plot — have taken refuge here, as American officials, like Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday, have charged

Not only that, but that they were apparently taking refuge there even before the September 11th attacks, and the subsequent War in Afghanistan, occurred. This seems to be further confirmation that concentrating our efforts in the fight against al Qaeda in Afghanistan doesn’t make sense at all.

As you’ve heard by now, the Obama Administration is claiming that the stimulus bill, funded entirely on the backs of future taxpayers, has created 650,000 jobs. This is obviously a tough sell because we are still losing jobs (unemployment is 9.8%).

In an interview with CBS, Craig Jennings of OMB Watch said the numbers are useless and CBS reporter Chip Reid seemed to agree, telling Katie Couric:

Well, Katie, that report is going to claim that the stimulus has already created or saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, but if the administration`s first effort at counting stimulus jobs is any guide, tomorrow`s numbers could be hard to believe.

Here is video of the CBS report:

It wasn’t really a debate because they didn’t appear together, but Ron Paul appeared on Larry King Live last night after Michael Moore and responded to his diatribe against capitalism:

The folks over at Americans for Tax Reform have indentified 13 tax increases out of the 1,990 page health care bill unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier today. ATR also points out that many of the revenue increasing measures in this bill would break President Barack Obama’s pledge not to raises taxes on Americans making less than $250,000 per year (which he has already broken).

The tax increases include (as provided by ATR):

“An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile hoping it will eat him last.” - Winston Churchill

Recently, I’ve taken some time to think about what many of my friends have said about being apolitical. From what I can tell, they are so frustrated by the heated way that people of a partisan bent go after each other they want to drop out of the discussion entirely. Previously, when people had a disagreement on something they either tried to find common ground or chose to disagree respectfully. Never did it become personal—until recently.

To be sure, many people of good faith can state their views without ruining friendships or coming to blows. But their numbers are shrinking as the political issues of the day hit home and the anger starts to build.

Why then does this growing incivility matter? It should matter to you because your freedoms are being taken away from you by opportunistic politicians who thrive on anger—your anger. This particular group of politicians feels safe in the knowledge they’ll be sent back to congress regardless of what you think of their actions.

Those feelings are well justified: as history proves, if a politician wins once odds are good they’ll win again. And because of this, they don’t fear you because they won’t be voted out. This only makes matters worse for those who have been silenced because of their distaste for the vigorous, sometimes personal debate that passes for American politics.

Take a look at these charts from the Center for Responsive Politics:

The Drudge Report is poing to a couple of videos of people being denied access to today’s unveiling of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s health care bill. Organizations like FreedomWorks were denied access to the presser.

In this video, a Capitol Police Officer is turns away one person, telling him, “You’re not authorized per the Speaker’s staff”:

Here a guy is told by a staffer that unless he is on the RSVP list, he can’t get in…but tells him he “can watch it on C-SPAN”: