Carson: White House wanted me to apologize for 'offending' Obama

FILE: March 8, 2014: Possible GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson at the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Oxon Hill, Md.REUTERS

Conservative sage Dr. Ben Carson is claiming the White House was offended by his now-famous keynote address at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast and asked at the time for an apology call to President Obama -- which he didn’t make.
The anecdote is found in Carson’s upcoming book “One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future.”
Carson, who became a conservative sensation after the address, was highly critical of the direction of the country though he never blamed the president, who was sitting just a few feet away.
“He did not appear to be hostile or angry,” Carson wrote in the book. 
“But within a matter of minutes after the conclusion of the program, I received a call from some of the prayer breakfast organizers saying that the White House was upset and requesting that I call the president and apologize for offending him. I said that I did not think that he was offended and that I didn’t think that such a call was warranted.” 
The passage was verified Tuesday by publisher Sentinel, a division of Penguin Group (USA). 
Carson, a former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, also suggests in the book he has no plans to run for president in 2016 unless called by God. However, he has placed third in two recent straw polls and is being courted by the well-funded National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee.

How much will ObamaCare cost you in taxes?

On this April 15, filers and accountants alike are finding a new array of taxes resulting from the president’s health care legislation. These include at least 20 ObamaCare-related tax increases totaling  $409 billion over the next ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
The new taxes are especially irksome to ObamaCare opponents, because they are imposed by a law that passed on a straight party-line vote and are being enforced by an agency that some accuse of party favoritism.
"I think it's rather unfortunate that the IRS has this huge role in the Affordable Care Act because it's always controversial," said Mark Everson, a former IRS Commissioner. "Then, to tie it up with this very controversial domestic law, it just makes the job tougher," he said.
"I think you can take issue with the way ACA was paid for. But, the fact of the matter is, it’s sustainable over the long run," said Yvette Fontenot , a former Senior Policy Director at the White House Office of Health Reform.
 "It slows health care cost growth for people. And it reduces the deficit, and it was in fact paid for. The Medicare prescription drug benefit that was passed by the Republicans added $400 billon to the deficit and not a dime of it was paid for," she said.
Among  the new taxes:
- A Medicare Tax Increase of .9 percent for individuals earning over $200,000 or married couples earning $250,000
-A net investment income tax of 3.8 percent tax on individuals, estates, and trusts worth more $200,000 or $250,000 for joint filers.
- And an increase in the threshold for itemized deductions for medical expenses from 7.5 percent  to 10 percent of gross income.
There are also new taxes on insurance companies, drug makers, and medical device manufacturers. Architects of the Affordable Care Act say those businesses can afford it, given the millions of new customers they'll be serving. "More people will have health insurance and be able to use their product more effectively," said Fontenot.
But one skeptic said the projected 10-year tax increases from ObamaCare are more than twice what the Joint Committee on Taxation forecasts. "It raises the costs of these things," said Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. "One of the promises of ObamaCare is that it will reduce costs.  These more than a trillion dollars in tax increases on health care raise the cost of health care and that's why you're seeing the price of health care, the cost of insurance, going up, not down,"  he said.
One study  by AdvaMed, a trade association, finds the medical device tax alone may put 45,000 jobs at risk. The National Federation of Independent Businesses  projects that new taxes on insurance companies may jeopardize another 125,000 to 249,000 jobs.
That figure does not include the man-hour costs of complying  with 20,000 pages of regulations.
The Fox News Taxpayer Calculator  breaks down the tax burden over the next 10 years by income level. If you make under $15,000:  it's just over $59.00. If you make between $50,000 and $100,000, it's $6,069.90. And if you make between $200,000 and $250,000, it's $38,200.66
Those  numbers appear to confirm  the observation  of Cato Institute Senior Fellow Michael Tanner that ObamaCare is "a wealth-transfer program with health insurance attached."

The Gettysburg Address, Esquire Political Blog, and Sean Hannity.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

(Bailey) There is a Blogger named Charles P. Pierce
 
  that works at Esquire Magazines political, that slams Fox news and Sean Hannity for covering the story of the Government showing armed force against one of it's own citizens, Cliven Bundy .

    Maybe Mr. Pierce should read the Gettysburg Address before he blogs his mouth off next time. If people like Sean Hannity & Fox News had not been there to cover this story, it would probably have ended much worst.

Eric Holder and the Race Card: The issue the media can't resist

April 8, 2014: Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

When Eric Holder became attorney general in 2009, he declared that when it comes to discussing race, we have become “a nation of cowards.”
Now there’s plenty of discussion of race, some of it swirling around Holder himself.
In recent days, conservative critics have accused Holder of playing the race card to deflect criticism—while his liberal allies believe some of that criticism is racially motivated. It reflects a classic cultural divide in this country and in the media establishment.
Just days ago, I was questioning whether New York Magazine went too far in proclaiming that everything about the Obama presidency was somehow colored by race. The argument this time is over who’s responsible.
What set off the racial fireworks was a Hill confrontation between the nation’s first black attorney general and Rep. Louie Gohmert, who cited the House holding him in contempt two years ago over the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal.
“I realize that contempt is not a big deal to our attorney general but it is important that we have proper oversight,” Gohmert said.
“You don't want to go there, buddy,” Holder shot back.
Holder was steamed, and in a speech the next day to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, it showed.
Decrying “unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity,” Holder said: “If you don`t believe that, you look at the way -- forget about me, forget about me. You look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a house committee. Have nothing to do with me. What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? What president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?”
Holder never mentioned race. He didn’t have to. Since the AG and his boss are black, and he was speaking to a largely African-American audience, it’s surely not a wild inference to say that he was implying the attacks are racially motivated.
Factually speaking, Congress gave other attorneys general—Alberto Gonzalez, John Ashcroft, Janet Reno—a very hard time. John Mitchell went to jail. Ed Meese was investigated three times by special prosecutors. But Holder seems convinced that he has been singled out.
There is something about Eric Holder that gets under the skin of his detractors, who point to the IRS investigation, Benghazi and a litany of other cases. This lit the fuse.
“He should have been fired a long time ago,” Fox’s Bill O’Reilly said. “And I don't know what -- I don't care what color he is. Do you think that the House committee called him in and say, ‘Let's get the black guy today’? Is that what they did? Does anybody believe that?”
Karl Rove, a top Bush lieutenant, called Holder’s remarks “very unattractive whining and self-pity.”
But the view from the left part of the spectrum is very different.
Sharpton, on his MSNBC show, agreed with the AG’s assessment, saying that “a strategic reason that they`re going after Holder is he`s on the line dealing with voting rights, which a lot of them want to, in my opinion, suppress the vote. I think that this is the man what is holding his finger in the dike, protecting the rights of voters and that`s why I think a lot of the venom is going against him.”
President Obama, in his own address to the Sharpton gathering, blamed Republicans as “people who try to deny our rights” through bogus claims of voter fraud.
Charlie Rangel also chimed in: “If there’s anyone that believes the color of the president is not an issue, they’re not realistic.”
Are at least some people who can’t stand Obama and Holder influenced by the color of their skin? That’s hard to deny. But there are plenty of folks who are just unhappy with their policies and the way they do their jobs. Turning every round into a litmus test—“He played the race card!” “No, they’re prejudiced against him!”—isn’t terribly helpful.

Another Democrat suggests racism within GOP, drawing another sharp response

In this Sept. 3, 2013 file photo, Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington.AP/File

New York Rep. Steve Israel said Sunday a significant part of the Republican Party is “animated by racism,” marking the third time in recent days that a leading Democrat has appeared to make race an issue and drawn a sharp response from Republicans.
Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, whose major role is the get his House members re-elected, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that not all of his Republican colleagues are racist.
“Not all of them, of course not,” he said. “But to a significant extent, the Republican base does have elements that are animated by racism.”
Israel made his comments after Attorney General Eric Holder testified Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee, then suggested the next day at a forum on civil rights that the past five years in Washington have been marked by "unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity."
"If you don't believe that … you look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a House committee," Holder continued.
The comment drew a sharp response from House Speaker John Boehner, who on Thursday told reporters: “There's no issue of race here. The frustration is that the American people have not been told the truth about what happened at the IRS.
“The American people have not been told the truth about what happened in Fast and Furious. The administration has not told the American people the truth about Benghazi. We've been going through all of these hearings, having to hold people in contempt because they've made it impossible to get to the documents. They have not been forthcoming.”
On Sunday, Washington Republicans suggested Democrats, at risk in November of losing more House seats and their control of the Senate, in large part over problems with ObamaCare, are trying to change the topic of public discussion.
“Dems are desperate to try to discredit conservatives because they don’t have the facts on their side,” the Republican National Committee said in a statement. “Holder tried to play the same racism card. … This must be the Dems’ latest strategy to distract from ObamaCare. Like their previous attempts, though, this one won’t work either.”
On Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appeared to suggest race is playing a part in why congressional Republicans do not want to act on comprehensive immigration reform.
“I think race has something to do with the fact that they’re not bringing up an immigration bill,” the California Democrat said. “I’ve heard them say to the Irish, ‘If it were just you, this would be easy.’ ”

Federal agency vows to continue legal action after ending Nevada ranch standoff

(Bailey) Everyone knows that the battle will never be over, as there's nothing more sure in this world then death and taxes. 
The Bureau of Land Management vowed Saturday that it would continue its legal fight to remove illegal cattle from a rural Nevada range after ending a tense weeklong standoff with a rancher and his supporters.
"After 20 years and multiple court orders to remove the trespass cattle, [rancher Cliven] Bundy owes the American taxpayers in excess of $1 million. The BLM will continue to work to resolve the matter administratively and judicially," a statement from the bureau said. "We ask that all parties in the area remain peaceful and law-abiding as the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service work to end the operation in an orderly manner."
The BLM also announced that it was wrapping up its month-long operation to seize the 900 cattle roaming on federally owned land approximately 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas and would release the 400 head of Bundy's cattle it had already seized "in order to avoid violence and help restore order."  
"Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public," the statement read.," the statement read.
Bureau officials had dismantled designated protest areas supporting Bundy, who they say refuses to comply with the "same laws that 16,000 public land ranchers do every year."
A group of about 1,000 supporting Bundy cheered and sang "The Star Spangled Banner" when BLM made its announcement.
The standoff at the ranch became increasingly tense the longer it lasted, prompting elected officials in several states to weigh in, militia members to mobilize and federal land managers to reshape elements of the operation. The Las Vegas Sun reported that some protesters were carrying handguns and rifles, but there were no reports of shots fired or injuries
The roundup started last Saturday after the BLM and National Park Service shut down an area half the size of Delaware to let cowhands using helicopters and vehicles gather about 900 cattle that officials say are trespassing.
Bundy, 67, and his large family cast their resistance to the roundup as a constitutional stand. He says he doesn't recognize federal authority over state land.
The dispute that triggered the roundup dates to 1993, when the BLM cited concern for the federally protected tortoise. The agency later revoked Bundy's grazing rights.
Bundy claimed ancestral rights to graze his cattle on lands his Mormon family settled in the 19th century. He stopped paying grazing fees and disregarded several court orders to remove his animals.
BLM officials, however, say Bundy owes more than $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees.
BLM faced criticism when police used stun guns on one of Bundy's adult sons during a Wednesday confrontation on a state highway near the Bundy melon farm in the Gold Butte area.
Video of that confrontation spread on the Internet, along with blog commentary claiming excessive government force and calls to arms from self-described militia leaders. Some have invoked references to deadly confrontations with federal authorities, including a siege of a ranch home in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992 and the fiery destruction of a religious compound near Waco, Texas, that killed 76 people in 1993.
"Our mission here is to protect the protestors and the American citizens from the violence that the federal government is dishing out,” Jim Landy, a member of the West Mountain Rangers, who made the journey from Montana to Nevada, told Fox News Channel. “People here are scared."
Arizona state Rep. Bob Thorpe of Flagstaff said he and state legislators weren't arguing whether Bundy broke laws or violated grazing agreements. Thorpe said the Arizona lawmakers were upset the BLM initially restricted protesters to so-called free speech zones.
Sen. Dean Heller and Gov. Brian Sandoval, both Republicans, have also said they were upset with the way the BLM was conducting the roundup. After the areas were removed Thursday, Sandoval issued a new statement.
"Although tensions remain high, escalation of current events could have negative, long lasting consequences that can be avoided," it said.
Amy Lueders, BLM state director in Nevada, said Friday that two protesters were detained, cited for failure to comply with officers at a barricade on Thursday and released.
That brought the number of arrests to three. Bundy's son, Dave Bundy, was arrested Sunday on State Route 170 and released Monday with citations accusing him of refusing to disperse and resisting arrest.
Lueders said 380 cows were collected by Thursday. She declined to provide a cost estimate for the herding operation.
Fox News' Edmund DeMarche, Matt Finn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Asian American group tries to reconnect with GOP, citing shared core values

FILE: 2013:REUTERS

A group of Asian Americans is starting a grassroots effort to garner support for the Republican Party and its candidates, saying the GOP most closely aligns with their core values including family, education and entrepreneurship.
The group, the Asian Republican Coalition, is co-founded by international investment banker John Ying, who during the 2012 presidential election cycle served on the Republican National Finance Committee.
“We need a forum, and this first step will go a long way,” Ying told FoxNews.com earlier this week.
He hopes the effort, which will include a May 6 kickoff event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., will provide a “friendly front door” for both potential voters and Republican lawmakers and officials.
While much of the Republican Party’s focus has recently been to trying to connect with Hispanic voters, considering Democratic President Obama won 71 percent of their vote in his re-election victory, Asians are the country’s fastest-growing ethnic group, according to a 2012 U.S. Census report.
However, over the past three presidential election cycles, Asians have increasingly voted Democrat: 73 percent for Obama compared to 26 percent for GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012; 62 percent for Obama compared to 35 percent for GOP nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008; and 56 percent for Democratic nominee John Kerry compared to 44 percent for GOP winner George W. Bush in 2004.
“How did the Republican Party lose us?” Ying asks.
Part of the problem, he concedes, is that Asian Americans have been “shy” about engaging in this country’s political process and as a race is a “complex,” non-homogenous group speaking lots of different languages.
Though the Asian population in the United States is estimated at roughly 18.9 million, indeed their turnout for presidential election cycles is relatively low.
Just 3 percent voted in 2012, compared to 72 percent for whites, 13 percent for blacks and 10 percent for Latinos. And Asian turnout was a mere 2 percent in the previous two presidential cycles.
With group co-founder Thomas Britt, who specializes in mergers and acquisitions with China, Ying and his group have talked with the Republican National Committee and recently made the rounds on Capitol Hill, trying to connect and reconnect with Republican lawmakers.
"No question, the Asian-American community is one of the fastest growing demographic groups,” said Nevada GOP Sen. Dean Heller. “It is critical that the men and women of this community have their voices heard in the upcoming elections. The ARC will play an important role in ensuring that this community is well represented."
Ying made clear his group is “obviously interested in the 2014 and 2016 elections” but emphasized members, at least for now, want to focus only on “broader issues.”
“We’re step-by-step type of people,” he said.
Ying repeatedly says the group is focused on family, education, entrepreneurship, personal freedom and “merit- and work-ethic driven opportunity.
The group -- a 501 (c) 4 tax-exempt nonprofit -- is also trying to make clear it is open to all Americans, including those who might be married to an Asian or do business in Asian markets.
“We want to broaden the footprint beyond bloodlines,” Ying said.