The Latest On The AmeriCorps Scandal

Naturally, Glenn Beck is all over the story.

Byron York, who has been working on this story, and the fired Inspector General, Gerald Walpin appeared on his show, yesterday:

Beck takes a looks at the chain of command on today’s show, with Byron York, once again:

Some blogs that reacted to the story, today:

Yid With Lid:

Because he was investigating the president’s friends, Walpin, whose position as an inspector general is supposed to be protected from political appointees and the White House, was fired.

Ironically it was the President who, along with Senator Sen. Claire McCaskill, sponsored the 2008 Inspectors General Reform Act, which requires the president to give Congress 30 days’ notice, plus an explanation of cause, before firing an inspector general.

Ace:

Huh: Key Democratic Ally Claire McCaskill Admits Obama “Didn’t Follow Law” on Firing AmericaCorps IG

Actually, she says he failed to follow proper procedure, which is a nice way of saying “did not follow the law,” which in turn is a nice way of saying “broke the law.”

Gateway Pundit:

Weird? Lib McCaskill Questions Obama Over Firing of Inspector General …Update: White House Smears Walpin

Michelle Malkin took a look at Americorp’s  grant winners of millions of stimulus dollars.

The Corporation for National and Community Service’s announcement today of the winners of the 2009 grant competition brings the number of AmeriCorps members who should be in place by the fall to almost 88,000, corporation officials said.

The largest grant among new and recompete grantees recommended by state commissions – a total of $41.6 million in grants – is $4.66 million to the Washington State Employment Security Department for the Washington Service Corps. The largest total for a single program brand was $6.9 million that went to City Year locations in Boston ($1.76 million), Chicago (@1.1 million), Cleveland ($598,000), Louisiana ($738,000), Philadelphia ($2.3 million) and San Antonio ($403,200).

Other grants to state commissions that topped $1 million went to: Bay Area Community Resources/ BAYAC Americorps, $1.36 million; the Minnesota Literary Council for the Minnesota Reading Corps, $1.8 million; the Montana Conservation Corps, $1.5 million; and New York’s Harlem’s Children’s Zone for its Peacemaker Program, $1.35 million.

City Year’s Boston headquarters received the largest new national direct grant: $3.1 million of the total $19.7 million awarded in that category. Other $1 million plus grants went to: Public Allies’ Wisconsin headquarters, $2.7 million; Habitat for Humanity, $2.96 million; Massachusetts’ Jumpstart for Young Children, $1.96 million; and Washington. D.C.-based National Association for Public Interest Law for its Equal Justice Works, $1.16 million.

Public Allies is the Americorps-funded non-profit tied to both Barack and Michelle Obama.

Does “Public Allies” ring a bell? It should. Remember the IBD piece from last September,  Michelle’s Bootcamp For Radicals?:

Barack Obama was a founding member of the board of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife became executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies in 1993. Obama plans to use the nonprofit group, which he features on his campaign Web site, as the model for a national service corps. He calls his Orwellian program, “Universal Voluntary Public Service.”

Big Brother had nothing on the Obamas. They plan to herd American youth into government-funded reeducation camps where they’ll be brainwashed into thinking America is a racist, oppressive place in need of “social change.”

The pitch Public Allies makes on its Web site doesn’t seem all that radical. It promises to place young adults (18-30) in paid one-year “community leadership” positions with nonprofit or government agencies. They’ll also be required to attend weekly training workshops and three retreats.

In exchange, they’ll get a monthly stipend of up to $1,800, plus paid health and child care. They also get a post-service education award of $4,725 that can be used to pay off past student loans or fund future education.

But its real mission is to radicalize American youth and use them to bring about “social change” through threats, pressure, tension and confrontation — the tactics used by the father of community organizing, Saul “The Red” Alinsky.

“Our alumni are more than twice as likely as 18-34 year olds to . . . engage in protest activities,” Public Allies boasts in a document found with its tax filings. It has already deployed an army of 2,200 community organizers like Obama to agitate for “justice” and “equality” in his hometown of Chicago and other U.S. cities, including Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Washington. “I get to practice being an activist,” and get paid for it, gushed Cincinnati recruit Amy Vincent.

Keep reading….the prescient conclusion:

The gall of it: The Obamas want to create a boot camp for radicals who hate the military — and stick American taxpayers with the bill.

And now they have a hand picked crony overseeing all allegations of fraud, stolen and misspent money.

UPDATE: (June 17):

The American Spectator with more:

AmeriCorps and ACORN Go Way Back

Eric Cantor Decries Democrat Abuse of Power

Melissa Tweets on Twitter linked to this intriguing post  from Eric Cantor’s website:

In a completely unprecedented fashion, House Democrats have used their power as the majority party to shut out floor amendments from the minority party on spending legislation.

Right at the beginning of the debate, House Democrats decided to go to the Rules Committee, to report out a Structured Rule and shut the House GOP out of the process.

This is an unprecedented abuse of power by the House Democrats.  Every American – every American of either political party or of no party at all – ought to be deeply concerned over this action.

There are no other details…that’s the entire post. Is he talking about the war funding bill?

House passes war-funding bill, despite reservations

A divided House of Representatives Tuesday approved by 226 to 202 a $105.9 billion emergency spending bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and help curb flu outbreaks.

But many lawmakers in both parties were uneasy.

Many Democrats wanted President Barack Obama to provide a clearer strategy for Afghanistan. Republicans protested aid to the International Monetary Fund. Members of both parties were skittish about the lack of an explicit ban on releasing terrorist detainee photos.

Democratic leaders – with some heavy lobbying from the White House – won, though, reminding colleagues about the inclusion of some sweeteners such as a “cash for clunkers” auto sales program, funds to help provide air service in rural areas and housing aid for victims of 2005’s hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Video: Rep. Mike Pence’s Statement On Iran Election

Congressman Mike Pence took to the floor to introduce  a resolution supporting the dissidents in Iran.

If the POTUS won’t express the unqualified support of our nation for the dissidents on the streets in Tehran, this Congress must.

Complete text:

“I come to this floor at an extraordinary moment on the global stage.

“According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the official news agency of Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad supposedly won the election over his primary opponent on 12 June, 2009. But from the very moment that that election result was announced, the international community and the international press called it into question. The basis for that, even before the extraordinary demonstrations had begun to take place, was the fact that these were paper ballots.  But the official government results of the election were announced literally within hours of the polls being closed. Various media outlets around the world questioned the authenticity of the results.

“Mr. Mousavi, the defeated candidate, has launched a legal appeal against the election results. On the day of the election, mobile phone communications were interrupted. Western media has reported, ‘heavy electronic jamming, disturbing broadcasts.’ News websites were reportedly blocked by Iranian authorities and the Iranian government has allegedly arrested opposition political figures and journalists. The Iranian government has outlawed any protest following two days of extraordinary unrest.  The BBC recently reported that recent rallies in the streets of Tehran were the biggest demonstrations in the Islamic Republic’s 30-year history.

“The protest, according to news reports, became violent and, according to media reports, pro-government forces attacked demonstrators in the last 24 hours, causing at least one fatality. We are witnessing a Tiananmen in Tehran, and the United States of America must stand in the gap on behalf of those brave Iranian citizens who are standing for free and fair elections, democracy and basic rights.

“Freedom in fact may be flowering in Iran as hundreds of thousands rally for democracy and free elections. While I appreciate President Obama’s comments yesterday at the White House that he was, ‘troubled by the violence,’ and his belief that the voices of the Iranian people should, be ‘heard and respected,’ it seems by my lights that this administration has yet to express the unqualified support of the American people for those who are courageously taking to the streets for free elections and for democracy in Iran.

“Let me say from my heart, the American cause is freedom and in this cause the American people will not be silent, here or abroad. If the President of the United States won’t express the unqualified support of our nation for the dissidents in the streets of Tehran, this Congress must.

“Today I’m introducing a resolution that will do just that. It will express its concern regarding the reported irregularities of the presidential election of 12 June, 2009. It will condemn the violence against demonstrators by pro-government militia in Tehran in the wake of the elections.  It will affirm our belief in the universality of individual rights and the importance of democratic and fair elections. And lastly, and most importantly, it will express the support of the American people for all Iranian citizens who struggle for freedom, civil liberties and the protection of the rule of law.

“Believe it or not in my small town of Columbus, IN, I grew up next door to a Hungarian immigrant who fled Hungary in the wake of the Soviet repression of the Hungarian revolution in 1956. I sat often with Julius Perr, now passed away, and heard of the way the Hungarian people, inspired by our calls for freedom, stood up for their own freedom. And as Brett Stephens recounts in today’s Wall Street Journal we stood by idly. We didn’t want to interfere. And the Soviet tanks rolled.

“We cannot stand idly by, speak of Iran’s sovereignty, speak of her own right to choose her own leadership at a time when hundreds of thousands of Iranians are risking their lives to stand up for free elections and democracy.

“Ronald Reagan said, ‘No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.’  All of us desire a fresh start with Iran and it seems from news reports and the extraordinary images coming from the streets of Iran that millions of Iranians long for a new start in their government.  There is a reformist movement afoot in Iran.

“Today I’ll introduce a resolution.  I urge all my colleagues in both parties to join me in expressing their support for these brave and courageous men and women.”

Att. Sheriff Joe: Here’s What Some Of Us Thought Of The Stimulus Back In February

In trying to explain why the jobless rate was getting worse, instead of better,  as predicted by the Obama administration before the stimulus package was passed, our esteemed Vice President, Joe Biden explained: “everyone guessed wrong” .

Nothing could be further from the truth. Last February, I had to start a new category for my blog – “Teaparty”, because they were springing up all over the country in response to the outrageous spending by the Obama administration. We knew, as every sane person knew, that the massive expansion of government that was in the Stimulus and Omni spending bills, would not stimulate private business.

Here are some hardy Kansas Citians who came out during a friggin’ snow storm, last Feb 28, to express their disapproval, only to be labeled, right wing extremists, later by Janet Napolitano’s DHS.

We knew, Sheriff Joe. We tried to tell you.

Now we all have to live with this:                                                                  And this:

And perhaps soon, something like this: