Crossposted from WorldNetDaily

Posted: May 03, 2010
1:00 am Eastern

© 2010 

Crossposted from CNSNews.com

Wednesday, May 05, 2010
By Matt Cover, Staff Writer

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.)

(CNSNews.com) – Most of the 10 members of the Senate committee who grilled top-ranking employees of Goldman Sachs last month have accepted campaign contributions from either the bank’s political action committee (PAC) or its employees.

Goldman executives – including CEO Lloyd Blankfein – were called before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee’s Permanent Investigations Subcommittee on April 27 to answer questions about the bank’s conduct during the run-up to the 2008 housing crisis.

(continue reading…)

WASHINGTON — The American-led effort to gain control of southern Afghanistan is off to a slow start and the political clock is ticking as U.S. troops head into what could be the bloodiest fight yet in the eight-year war.

The U.S. and its NATO allies last week set a goal of starting to transfer control of Afghanistan to the central government by the end of the year, and President Obama has said U.S. troops must start leaving in 2011.

But the slow pace of progress makes it less likely Obama can meet these tight deadlines, and it’s not clear if he can buy more time: He has struggled to persuade Congress to commit troops based on the current schedule.

The expanded U.S. campaign began in late winter in the small farming hamlets of Marjah, in Helmand Province, and has advanced more slowly than expected, officials said.

Now U.S. and NATO troops face a much more formidable task: securing Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban and the area from which al-Qaida planned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

(continue reading…)

Tea Party Marine Sticks by His Guns in Fight With Government and Obama
April 21, 2010
by Joshua Rhett Miller FOXNews.com

Sgt. Gary Stein

Semper Fi Sgt. Gary Stein

A U.S. Marine whose Facebook posts led to a refresher course last week on the Pentagon’s directives on political activities is not running for cover as he continues to post or support material critical of the government and President Obama.

Sgt. Gary Stein created the Facebook group “Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots” four weeks ago to voice his opposition to Obama’s health care overhaul. Superior officers asked the 24-year-old Marine to review directives on political activities before he was interviewed on TV, and Stein removed the Facebook group — only to see it revived by a civilian member of a local Tea Party group hours later. Stein now serves as an administrator of the group, which has more than 9,100 members, including some soldiers on active duty.

(continue reading…)

Former N.Y. Gov. Pataki Announces Plan To Repeal Health Care Law
April 14, 2010
FOXNews.com

Former New York Gov. George Pataki has joined efforts to repeal the health care overhaul signed into law by President Obama in March.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki announced Wednesday the creation of a national organization that will work to repeal the Democrats’ health care overhaul, which he called a “horrific” and costly bungle.

Pataki said his nonprofit group, Revere America, will develop a grassroots network and highlight national opposition to the health care law, which he believes will impose a $500 billion burden on U.S. taxpayers and tighten government control of the health care system.

“I can’t recall anything remotely like this in my lifetime,” Pataki told FoxNews.com. He said the law was passed in the face of substantial opposition from the public and hastily rammed through Congress by its chief architects, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

(continue reading…)