Thanks to Democrats Obamacare Stands for Inequality

How do you receive an exemption to the job-killing health care law? It's simple: all you have to do is become politically connected. ...

Some of the administration's closest allies — including 43 unions — were quickly told that they didn't have to comply with the law. The latest count is that 222 unions and corporations have been granted waivers to portions of the health care law by President Obama's health secretary. The list includes names like the Service Employees International Union and McDonald's. ...

Families in Michigan are still asking "how does the health care law impact me?" Well, the unfortunate truth is that by 2014, every American will be required by law to carry government-designed health insurance plans that will cost at least $2,100 more than current plans. Choice and competition in health insurance will be severely limited. Doctors and hospitals will be handcuffed by new federal mandates. And without a waiver from every new mandate included in the law, most Americans will find that government-run health care is not "reform."

-- US Representative Mike Rogers, Republican, Brighton, representing Michigan’s 8th District.

Read his full opinion in The Detroit News here.

Hutaree Militia Release In Almost Comic Limbo

The Detroit News is reporting an almost comical series of developments involving the bond proceedings for the Hutaree militia members who thought they were going to be freed this week pending trial.

Prosecutors appear to be so upset with U. S. District Judge Victoria Roberts, who decided the Hutaree could be free with conditions, that Assistant U. S. Attorney Ronald Waterstreet seems to have misrepresented those conditions in his appeal of the release ruling to the U. S. 6th Circuit Court Of Appeals.

One defense attorney is quoted as saying, "Obviously, Waterstreet has completely misrepresented what was discussed with pretrial services."

Read all about it, here.

Hutaree To Stay In Slammer At Least Until Friday

As reported by The Detroit News:

A federal appeals court temporarily halted the release of nine Hutaree militia defendants today, just moments before they were scheduled to be set free.

"The order of revocation is temporarily stayed pending further review and order of the court," the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said in response to an emergency motion from federal prosecutors in Detroit.

The effect of the order is that none of the defendants will be released before Friday. The court said lawyers for the defendants are to file briefs opposing the stay by 5 p.m. today.

Read the whole thing here.

The Hutaree: Something About This Story Does Not Smell Right

Down in the middle of the report from The Detroit News about the arrested militia members was this little narrative:

"According to federal authorities, the group had identified a Michigan law enforcement officer as a potential target. Their idea was to kill that officer and when law enforcement officials from around the country came to the area for the funeral, they would attack the procession with improvised explosive devices and 'explosively formed projectiles.' They hoped the attack would serve as a 'catalyst for a more wide-spread uprising against the government.'"

No one who's been paying attention to what's been happening in this country since 2008 believes for one minute that there has been any feeling of animosity whatsover toward law enforcement officers in any of the groups opposed to what "government" has been shoving down the throats of the American people.

Law enforcement does not represent "the government" in the minds of Tea Partiers, Republicans, militiamen and the millions of Americans who are opposed to Obama's policies. In fact, police groups such as the Oath Keepers have formed along with this groundswell of opposition, pledging their loyalty to the rule of law and the constitution.

If members of the Hutaree believed their actions would be a catalyst to incite violence against the police, I'll believe it when I hear it from their lips in testimony, and chalk it up to the deluded thinking so characteristic of religious fanatics. But right now this story is nothing more than the narrative of the Feds. On the contrary, part of what frustrates rank and file Americans so much, quite apart from the votes of Congress, is the waiting for November 2, 2010, when the target will finally be in the crosshairs.

The timing of the raid comes hot on the heels of the healthcare vote circus and weeks before a so-called recon mission planned by the Hutaree was to take place.

After Obama and the Democrats have pushed everything to the far limits of the law for over a year we're actually supposed to believe their explanation?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Feds Send A Message To The Seditious, Hot On The Heels Of You Know What

In "Indictment: Militia Members Sought To 'Levy War' Against US," which appeared here, Paul Egan and Mike Wilkinson for The Detroit News report that nine Hutaree militia members were arrested because they planned to "oppose by force" the national government of the United States:

The five-count indictment alleges that between August 2008 and the present, the defendants were trying to use bombs and other weapons to oppose the U.S. government. ...

"This is an example of radical and extremist fringe groups which can be found throughout our society," said Andrew Arena, FBI special agent in charge. "The FBI takes such extremist groups seriously, especially those who would target innocent citizens and the law enforcement officers who protect the citizens of the United States."

The eight men and one woman are members of the Hutaree, identified as an "anti-government extremist organization" in the indictment, and each faces three to five charges, including sedition, attempts to use weapons of mass destruction, teaching/demonstrating use of explosive materials and two counts of carrying weapons in relation to a crime of violence. ...

Accused are: David Brian Stone, 45; his wife, Tina Stone, 44; his son, Joshua Matthew Stone, 21, all three of Clayton; and his other son, David Brian Stone Jr., 19, of Adrian. Also accused are Joshua Clough, 28, of Blissfield; Michael Meeks, 40 of Manchester; Thomas Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind.; Kristopher Sickles, 27, of Sandusky, Ohio; and Jacob Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio. ...

"Because the Hutaree had planned a covert reconnaissance operation for April which had the potential of placing an unsuspecting member of the public at risk, the safety of the public and of the law enforcement community demanded intervention at this time," she said in a prepared statement.

There is much more at the link.

Militia Failure Friday Number One

The FBI's m/o is similar to the one used by the Feds to seize failing banks, except that the FBI uses military roadblocks and helicopter air support when it swoops in on the weekend. I'm going to call this Militia Failure Friday number one, because there will be more.

Jennifer Chambers, writing for The Detroit News in the story "Seven Arrested in FBI Raids Linked to Christian Militia Group," which appeared here, reports that:

seven people, including some from Michigan, have been arrested in raids by a FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana as part of an investigation into an Adrian-based Christian militia group, a person familiar with the matter said. ...

Sources have said the FBI was in the second day of raids around the southeastern Michigan city of Adrian that are connected to a militia group, known as the Hutaree, an Adrian-based group whose members describe themselves as Christian soldiers preparing for the arrival and battle with the anti-Christ.

WXYZ-TV reports that helicopters were spotted in the sky for much of Saturday night, and agents set up checkpoints throughout the area. Witnesses told the station that it was like a small army had descended on the area. The Department of Homeland Security and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are also involved in the raids. ...

The Associated Press is reporting that FBI spokesman Scott Wilson in Cleveland said agents arrested two people Saturday in northwest Ohio. A third arrest was made in Illinois on Sunday, a day after raids in northwest Indiana.

There is much more at the link.

"Obama's Policies Risk Another Depression"

Scott S. Powell and Ron Laurent, in "Obama's Policies Risk Another Depression" for The Detroit News, ask:

Light at the end of the tunnel or an oncoming train wreck?

In the panic following the insolvency of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the American taxpayer was stampeded into bailing out AIG and Wall Street. We were told that $700 billion was needed to establish the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) because the country faced nothing less than a collapse of its financial system.

Inexplicably after Congress passed it -- almost like a bait and switch -- TARP was directed at banks rather than troubled assets. A little more than a year later, TARP Inspector Neil Barofsky reports that AIG's $1.5 trillion in credit fault swaps did not, after all, pose systemic risk. So if we were misled about the TARP bailout, it seems appropriate to question other aspects of government intervention since unemployment, foreclosures and bank failures have risen. ...

Scott S. Powell is managing director of AlphaQuest LLC and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. Ron Laurent is the managing partner and chief investment strategist of Veritas Partners LLC.


There's much more at the link.