by Roger Stone

A new poll shows 51% of American are unsure about whether Obama was born in the US. I think Donald Trump is driving this debate and making it acceptable to ask the question "Why can't the President produce a birth certificate"

And then there's this from CNN:

A new survey from Newsweek and The Daily Beast indicates President Obama is ahead of Trump by only two percentage points, 43-41, well within the poll's sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percent. In fact, Trump fares far better against Obama than Sarah Palin, who would lose to Obama by 11 points, 51-40, according to the poll.

The media tries to marginalize anyone who raises this issue. Trump has so much media access he can't be marginalized. It is important to note that Trump hasn't made any charges, he is merely asking a reasonable question. I have no doubt this is striking a chord with a number or Republican primary voters.

I am a Trump supporter with no official role. I was Chairman of Trump's Presidential Exploratory Committee in 2000.

Budget Battle Update!

From Eric Dondero:

Boehner and the mainline GOPers may get the votes from centrist Democrats, but they may also lose votes on their right flank.

From Fox News, "Lots of Talk, But Shutdown Still Looming":

But the big fight will be over Republican proposals to use budget cuts to reach policy aims. Republicans want to cut off National Public Radio, end subsidies for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading abortion provider, and to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of any funding for regulating emissions the Obama administration says are warming the earth’s atmosphere.

These so-called riders are unlikely to be able to pass the Democratic controlled Senate, but without them, Boehner may not be able to keep together enough of his caucus to pass the legislation.

The new Tea Party, libertarian-minded members of the House will oppose the compromise because it is far short of the 6 percent deficit reduction they sought. And social conservatives who might be willing to compromise on dollars, won’t vote for a spending plan that supports an abortion provider.

House Tea Party Caucus members Reps. Sue Myrick (NC) and Tom McClintock (CA).

PC-WHIPPED!

Former Iowa Congressman Fred Grandy was just "canned" from a scheduled speaking engagement in Minneapolis, over his controversial views on Radical Islam. A group of financial industry professionals who originally invited him, gave into fears of an outcry from local special interest groups. Three weeks ago he and his wife were asked to leave as morning hosts for Washington/Baltimore area WMAL AM for criticizing the radical Islamist group CAIR.

From Fox News "'Gopher' Loses Midwest Speaking Gig After Islam Controversy":

[the group] decided it would be too controversial to keep him on the program. The organization, the Minnesota Association for Financial Professionals, was apparently concerned he might talk about Muslims.

It just made sense for us to not have him be a speaker," said Tracy Howard, president of the organization's board of directors.

The event in question was a conference in St. Paul, the state's capital, which has a large Muslim population. Howard made clear that the group was concerned about the issue of radical Islam popping up.

Grandy responded to the firing in a Daily Caller column "Gopher the Infidel":

Due to my comments about the Muslim Brotherhood and Shariah law, I am now too toxic for the greater Twin City area, which has a sizeable Muslim population — a population of people who may actually turn violent if I show up.

See earlier LR story on Grandy, "Political Correctness strikes at Nation's Capitol: Fred Grandy and wife Catherine fired by WMAL for criticizing Radical Islam."

Photos - Muslim Cong. Keith Ellison of Minneapolis, and Somali Muslims praying to Allah at the Minneapolis Airport.

Editor's comment - Time for Trump/Grandy 2012?

Threatens GOPers "You will be killed"

From Eric Dondero:

The 15 Republican State Senators who voted for Governor Scott Walker's government union reform bill received death threats from a 26-year old elementary school teacher via email. Yesterday, she was formally charged.

From the Wisconsin State-Journal:

Katherine R. Windels, 26, of Cross Plains faces two felony bomb scare counts and two misdemeanor counts of sending a computer message threatening injury or harm.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court, Windels sent threatening emails to 15 Republican senators on March 9 that began: "Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your families will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks."

She also sent a separate email to Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, the same day threatening to put "a nice little bullet in your head" and claiming to have placed several bombs in his house and car, as well as at the state Capitol, the complaint states.

Liberal County Prosecutor "dragged his feet"

Reuters reports:

[She] faces a maximum penalty of three and a half years in state prison on each of the two most serious charges -- both felonies -- that she threatened to destroy property with explosives.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne is the prosecutor on the case. According to News Radio 620 WTMJ, Ozanne originally believed that she "did not present an imminent threat."

UndergroundConservative adds:

Apparently the Dane County DA’s office was dragging its heels in issuing charges in the case. Yes, folks, this is the same DA that filed the lawsuit against the budget repair bill.

Note - State Senator Frank Lasee (photo top) of the Green Bay area, one of the 15 GOP Senators threatened, is a longtime libertarian Republican, friend of the Libertarian Party, and advisory board member for the Republican Liberty Caucus.

See related LR article Nov. 2010 - "Big Win in Wisconsin: Frank Lasee elected to State Senate.

Truly Bizarre!

From Eric Dondero:

The story broke yesterday morning. The liberal media had a field day, headlining that a Muslim girl was harassed in school. A classmate, who had a long history of disobedience and taunting girls, reached over and tried to take off her hijab off her head.

Late in the day though, the full story came out, thanks to the NY Post:

The Staten Island terror charged with viciously bashing a young female middle-school classmate while demanding to know "Are you a Muslim?" is himself the son of a Muslim woman, his dad revealed today.

"How could a Muslim have another hate crime against a Muslim?" asked Frank Davies, 32, about his son Osman Daramay.

Davies added that while the family does not regularly attend a mosque, they pray at home, and that Osman joins in those Islamic prayers with his Muslim mom, Agnes Daramay.

A woman who identified herself to The Post as Osman's mother last night said, "I know my son is a good boy. He's a kid, he made a mistake.

Osman, who has a history of disciplinary problems at the school, yesterday allegedly began assaulting the Muslim girl just outside the school building with a 13-year-old female accomplice, and tried to rip off the victim's hijab headdress covering her hair while yelling, "Are you a Muslim?" authorities said.

And ironically, the kid called her a "terrorist," while he was hitting her. She suffered a cut lip.

The Post has a photo of the boy being led away in handcuffs.

Trump:

"I happen to think that there's a possibility that he was not born in the United States... If that were true it would be the greatest scam in the history"

He's increasingly "marginalized"

From Eric Dondero:

Both Donald Trump and Karl Rove appeared on O'Reilly last night. Trump pronounced his view that Obama needs to show his birth certificate. After his appearance Rove slammed him over his stance, implying that it's a minority view within the GOP.

Via BusinessInsider.com:

"The right wing base of the Republican party, I'm part of that right wing base, is not in love with the issue of birthers. I mean, there is an element inside the Republican party, and outside the Republican party, that's fallen in love with this but the majority of Republicans and the vast majority of Americans accept is he a U.S. citizen capable of being president.

You know, the troubling thing in the interview tonight was he said as time has gone on here, over the last couple of weeks, he has become more interested and more believing in the issue. You know, when he first brought it up, he said 'of course I accept that he's a citizen. He ought to just release the, release his birth certificate.' Different tone tonight. This is a mistake. It will marginalize him and he's falling into Barack Obama's trap. Barack Obama wants Republicans to fall into this trap because he knows it discredits us with the vast majority of the American people when they do."

42% of Americans now want Obama to prove his eligibility

Yet another survey has come out showing that a majority of Americans want Obama to show his birth certificate.

From Wentzel Strategies, (via WND):

"Half of those surveyed said they believe these questions about Obama's legitimacy as president are either troubling or should be satisfied by Obama. In fact, more people want Obama to prove his legitimacy – 42 percent – than believe that the lingering questions are not valid – 32 percent," Wenzel said.

The survey showed 41.9 percent say Obama should prove his birth story, including 60.9 percent of independents, 58.6 percent of Republicans and 13.2 percent of Democrats.

Another 7.9 percent say the questions are troubling.

Only 26 percent strongly opposed the release of the records. Nearly 50 percent strongly favored release and another 17 percent said the president should release the records.

The poll was conducted March 15 - 17 with "1,095 respondents, was conducted March 15-17 and carries a confidence interval of 95 percent and a margin of error of +/- 2.93 percentage points."

From Eric Dondero:

As regular readers of LR know, we have covered this story extensively here these past couple weeks. In fact, the wife of one of our regular readers Papa Giorgio of RPT blog (LR blog roll), is a Christian Pole Dancer herself.

Cheers Papa! This one's for you and your lovely lady.

DEVELOPING...

From Eric Dondero:

The Hill and the Washington Post both reported late last night that Boehner, Cantor and House GOP leaders have reached a tentative compromise with Senate Democrats on the buget proposal and continuing resolution. They will "split the difference," between $36 billion proposed by the House GOP and $30 billion agreed to by Senate Democrats.

The compromise will most likely avoid any government shut-down.

After weeks of arguing, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill began negotiations Wednesday on a possible budget agreement that would slash federal spending by as much as $33 billion and avert a government shutdown.

If approved, the deal would be the largest single-year budget cut in U.S. history.

Ezra Klein columnist with WaPo reports that among those items on the chopping block:

Planned Parenthood and NPR and hobble health-care reform

Still, some Tea Party-oriented Republicans in both the House and Senate, have vowed to vote against any final package that does not include deeper cuts. Originally, fiscal conservatives wanted $61 billion in overall cuts.

Kasich expected to sign

From Eric Dondero:

Wisconsin redux. Another rustbelt state has gone fiscally conservative.

From the Houston Chronicle (via AP) "Ohio Legislature passes collective bargain limits":

The Ohio Legislature has passed a bill severely limiting union rights for 350,000 public workers amid protests by several hundred demonstrators.

It now goes to Republican Gov. John Kasich (KAY'-sik), who's expected to sign it by the end of the week.

The Ohio Senate voted 17-16 to approve the bill Wednesday. The House earlier cleared the measure cleared on a 53-44 vote.

Ohio has the 6th largest number of public employees of all 50 states, according to Reuters.

Editor's note - This website was an early and enthusiastic supporter of Kasich for Governor.

"My favorite places to perform are Red States"

WARNING: SOME GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

L.A. Comedian Sam Tripoli got his inspiration from Andrew Dice Clay, Sam Kennison, and Richard Pryor, "kind of Rock 'n Roll comedy vibe."

"Like, if you go to San Francisco, and start making Obama jokes, making fun of chocolate Jesus, people get all angry, upset, cause they think you are a racist..."

"Let me tell you, some of my favorite places to perform are Red States... Texas can be a lot of fun... people go crazy."

From Eric Dondero:

New term making its rounds through the rightwing blogosphere: PC-Whipped.

1. Do you have troubles getting the words "Islamo-Fascist," "Islamist," or "Radical Islam," out of your lips?

2. Do you believe that the "Religion of Peace," actually believes in Peace?

3. Do you always put on your safety belt in your vehicle, and slap on a safety helmet for your young son or daughter before they ride their bicycle down the street, because the State says so?

4. Do you have any Al Gore movies in your DVD collection, other than ones you may have used for backyard target practice?

5. Do you believe that African-Americans should only be allowed to vote for Democrats, run for office as Democrats and support only liberal causes?

H/t ex-Army blog

Lowest Approvals "ever"

From Eric Dondero:

Quinnipiac has recorded Obama's lowest approvals ever, in their latest poll numbers. He's down to just 42% approval.

American voters disapprove 48 - 42 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing and say 50 - 41 percent he does not deserve to be re-elected in 2012, both all-time lows, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

This compares to a 46 - 46 percent job approval rating and a 45 - 47 percent split on the President's re-election in a March 3 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. In a hypothetical 2012 matchup, President Obama gets 36 percent of the vote to 37 percent for an unnamed Republican challenger.

According to Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute:

"Some reasons for his overall numbers might be that Obama receives negative ratings on his handling of the budget deficit, the economy, foreign policy, health care and energy policy."

Editor's comment - That about sums it up; Obama is failing on everything.

From Eric Dondero:

Amazing poll numbers just coming out from liberal-leaning CNN. Seems Donald Trump may be on to something. 51% of Americans now say that they are unsure whether or not Obama was indeed born in the United States.

CNN/Opinion Research Birther Survey (pdf):

Do you think Barack Obama was definitely born in the United States, probably born in the United States, probably born in another country, or definitely born in another country?

•Definitely born in U.S. 46%
•Probably born in the U.S. 26%
•Probably born in another country 15%
•Definitely born in another country 10%

"Birtherism"; fringe no more?

Editor's comment - Of course, many of us were "Birthers," before being a Birther was cool.

From Eric Dondero:

Columnist Karl Dickey of Broward County reports that SB672 to ban red light cameras passed through a Senate Committee yesterday with a vote of 4 to 2. Though, there is an important caveat; not all Republican legislators support the measure.

From the Naples News:

A bill that would effectively ban all red-light running cameras in Florida – reversing a law passed just last year – cleared its first hurdle Tuesday afternoon.

Senate Bill 672, which is sponsored by Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah [photo], squeaked through the Transportation Committee on a 4 to 2 vote. However, its chances of actually becoming law are far from assured.

At least two of the Republicans on the committee who voted for the bill said they are supportive of the cameras, and only voted to move the bill along because they thought it deserved further hearing.

Vicki Kirkland, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Florida Chair, said this morning:

"We are proud of the hundreds of our members who contacted their state legislators and members of the transportation committee to move this legislation forward. There is a growing wave of opposition to the cameras by citizens for both safety and constitutional reasons and it is inspiring to know we are having a positive impact."

Dickey adds:

The Libertarian Party of Florida does not condone drivers to run red lights at intersections and encourages local governments to make intersections safer by extending the yellow light by one second and increasing the time from red to green for cross traffic.

The Libertarian Party is urging Florida libertarians to contact their legislators. More info LPF.org

I believe in personal freedom, responsibility and accountability. People should be able to say, write, worship, eat, drink and smoke whatever they want as long as they do not harm others and are prepared to accept the full consequences. The government should have no role in dictating personal lives or in compensating persons who willingly [...]

Dear Friends of Liberty, The Libertarian Party of Indiana’s State Convention is coming to La Porte, Indiana on April 30, 2011.The LPIN has a week-end full of events planned at the Best Western Hotel and Conference Center.More than 2000 libertarians have been invited to attend. With the desire for a maximum of freedomand a minimum [...]

It’s often said that WWII was the reason the Great Depression ended. Larry Summers recently proposed that the Japan tragedy would be beneficial to the world economy. (The truth is that oil dropped because they will be using less and many are predicting that the world’s 3rd largest economy will never recover. After any great tragedy that destroys personal [...]

Out of 91 votes: No, the unintended consequences of intervention could be disastrous. – 77%  (73 Votes) I am not sure. It depends on how long we’ll be there. – 11% (10 votes) Yes, we need to help the rebels. – 8% – (8 Votes) Other  – 4% – (4 Votes) I don’t understand what [...]

From IndyLP.org The Libertarian Party of Marion County is pleased to announce plans for the 2011 annual convention.  The convention will be held on Saturday, May 14th at 1pm in the Wilke room of the Indianapolis Athenaeum, located at 401 East Michigan Street, Indianapolis. Nominations will be accepted for the 2011 election which includes mayoral [...]