Patriot Update - A Free Press for the Conservative Revolution

Politics:

Park Service: Dissing Christians just dandy

The National Park Service is suggesting apparent mistakes about the historical record of the Founding Fathers presented by a tour guide to visitors to the Independence Hall National Historical Park in Philadelphia are just part of the "multiple points of view" that are designed to let visitors "draw their own conclusions." That apparently includes the performance of a guide who "mimicked and mocked [a Christian] carrying and swinging an oversized Bible ... ." "Even if I said the founders were Christians, how could we really know? Just because people carry a big ol' Bible in their hand, they can still be atheists!" said the guide.

Source: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=235361

Politics:

WikiLeaks sold classified intel, claims website's co-founder - Selling secrets 'lucrative,' but 'usually cloaked in some kind of public benefit'

One of the early members and co-founders of the tight-knit, secretive WikiLeaks operation charged today that the website and its co-founder, Julian Assange, sold intelligence information the site had obtained. John Young, whose name was listed as the public face of WikiLeaks in the site's original domain registration, also alleged that the website is a lucrative business. Young said he left the site in 2007 due to concerns over its finances and that WikiLeaks was engaged in the selling of documents. Young was speaking today to WND senior reporter Aaron Klein on Klein's radio program on New York's WABC Radio. "I think it is a money-making operation, no doubt," Young said of WikiLeaks. "It follows the model of a number of other business intelligence operations. Selling intelligence information is a very lucrative field, and so they are following that model, usually cloaked in some kind of public benefit," he told Klein.

Source: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=236345

Politics:

U.S. Cables: Arab Allies Fund Terror Groups

Saudi Arabia has made "important progress" in aggressively trying to curtail the flow of funds to terrorist groups, but the oil rich kingdom and its Gulf Arab neighbors still remain major sources of financing for militant movements like Al Qaeda and the Taliban, according to leaked U.S. government documents. The findings, detailed in a series of internal U.S. diplomatic cables spanning a period of several years, paint a stark picture of Washington's challenges in convincing key allies of the need to clamp down on terror funding, much of which is believed to stem from private donors in those nations. But the cables, obtained and released by WikiLeaks, also offer a window into the delicate balancing act Gulf governments must perform in cracking down on extremist sympathizers while not running afoul of religious charitable duties and casting themselves as U.S. stooges before an increasingly skeptical populace.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/05/leaked-documents-hig...

Politics:

Obama, Congress Maneuver to Extend Unemployment Benefits in Exchange for Current Tax Rates

After Senate Republicans, with the help of a few Democrats, refused to cave on extending tax rates for the wealthy next year, a deal to extend unemployment benefits in exchange for White House agreement on continuing everyone's current rate appears to be gaining traction. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday that it's clear to him taxes will not be raised for anyone next year -- and that unemployment compensation for those jobless beyond 99 weeks could be extended. McConnell did not say how long tax rates would be extended though unemployment compensation could last another year.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/05/mcconnell-confide...

Politics:

Administration to Fed Workers: Don't Read WikiLeaks

In a case of closing the barn door after the horses are out, federal employees are being warned not to look at documents leaked by WikiLeaks website, noting that despite their wide release, the hundreds of thousands of stolen papers are still classified by the U.S. government. An internal memo sent late last week from the Office of Management and Budget and obtained by Fox News says that federal employees and contractors are "obligated to protect classified information pursuant to all applicable laws, and to use government information technology systems in accordance with agency procedures so that the integrity of such systems is not compromised."

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/05/administration-fe...

Politics:

Senate Kills Obama's Tax Plan

The Senate blocked President Obama's and Democratic leaders' tax cut plans Saturday in a foreordained symbolic vote that now sends both sides back to the negotiating table to work out a viable deal. A bipartisan filibuster, led by unified Republicans and joined by four Democrats and one independent, proved there isn't enough support to back Mr. Obama's preferred option to extend income tax cuts for couples making less than $250,000 and tax increases for those making more than that. With that vote out of the way, attention turns back to the high-level working group Mr. Obama and congressional leaders set up this week to try to work out a solution. That group met three times already, but Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican and one of the negotiators, said it was clear to him that Democrats weren't going to negotiate until they had gone through the votes to prove to their political base that raising taxes on the wealthy wasn't viable.

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/4/senate-blocks...

Politics:

Top Democrats defect, join unified GOP

The Senate on Saturday rejected President Obama’s proposal to let tax rates rise for the highest-income Americans, as Republicans held firm in their push to continue all of the expiring Bush-era tax cuts. The White House and Congressional leaders are now discussing a deal to extend the reduced tax rates at all income levels, at least temporarily, perhaps for two years. But with Senate Democrats and the White House badly splintered, and some lawmakers increasingly angry at the idea of sustaining President George W. Bush’s economic policies, the prospects of a compromise remained uncertain.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/politics/05cong.html?_r...

Politics:

Texan calls for jail time for enforcing Obamacare

Texans take their rights seriously. A bill that has been prefiled for the 2011 state legislative session creates penalties of up to $5,000 in fines and up to five years in jail for anyone guilty of the "felony" of attempting "to enforce an act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation" of Obamacare, the president's plan that effectively nationalizes the health-care decision making process. The plan by Texas Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, effectively would nullify the federal health care legislation in his state. At least, that is what the bill that "relates to federal health care legislation" says

Source: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=235757

Politics:

Arguments set on courts' 'hostile takeover of marriage'

Arguments are scheduled Monday before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal court challenge to the decision (made twice) by voters in California to define marriage in their state constitution as being between one man and one woman, only. And lawyers say that the issue is far bigger than just a single state law affecting benefits, rights and the advance of a regional homosexual social agenda. "What's at stake in this case is bigger than California and bigger even than marriage," said Brian Raum, a senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which is part of the team arguing on behalf of traditional marriage.

Source: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=235725