Department of Offense

Coming August 31: ‘Direct Access’ Stimulus Grants for the Muslim Brotherhood
Posted by Christine Brim Aug 29th 2010 at 4:55 am

Think of it as ACORN reborn, with a slice of Jihad on the side.

On August 31, this coming Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood-associated “Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations” (CCMO) will bring 25-30 Muslim leaders of 20 national Muslim groups to attend a special workshop presented by the White House and U.S. Government agencies (Agriculture, Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services etc.) to provide the groups “funding, government assistance and resources.” The workshop will apparently provide special access for these Muslim Brotherhood organizations: the organizers pledge to provide “direct access” and “cut through red tape.” Government and Muslim groups will hold an Iftar dinner (breaking the fast of Ramadan) after the workshop.

The event was announced in an email newsletter sent August 27 by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial, long associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, the global Islamist network (great backgrounder here from Hudson Institute). Here are three key paragraphs from the email (the entire article on the August 31 event from the ISNA email is pasted below this post as reference):

This year, a phenomenal next step has been made where government iftars become coupled with workshops to provide resources and benefit the Muslim community. The US Department of Agriculture (DOA) and the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations (CCMO) have paired the first of such events, scheduled for August 31, 2010.

…Leaders from Muslim organizations around the nation, particularly social service organizations, are invited to a workshop with representatives from the DOA, Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Health and Human Services, the White House, Department of Education, the Department of Homeland Security, and more. Twenty five to thirty Muslim leaders representing 20 Muslim organizations are expected to attend the workshop.

According to a representative of CCMO, this workshop is designed to clarify how Muslim nonprofits, mosques, Islamic centers, and social service organizations can strengthen their communities through more direct access to opportunities provided to social service agencies at the Federal level. “It will hopefully help cut through some of the red tape and shine light on the many opportunities for funding, government assistance, and resources that we just don’t know about at the local level,” said Elsanousi.

The Problem: Your Money, redistributed to the Muslim Brotherhood

This workshop constitutes an abdication of their professional responsibility by all government participants – and a taxpayer-funded government stimulus program for the attending Muslim Brotherhood-associated groups. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928, is a global Islamist political movement dedicated to imposing Shariah law on all nations and institutions. Their credo is “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

Why do we think some of these groups attending, possibly all, may be associated with the Muslim Brotherhood?

Because the sponsoring organization – the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations (CCMO), co-sponsoring with the Department of Agriculture – has a long history of associations with the Muslim Brotherhood. They also signed a 2009 American Muslim Task Force statement threatening to “suspend” relations with the FBI, because the FBI was investigating possible links to homegrown terrorism in mosques and other Muslim organizations.

Not so evident on the current website, of course. This happens all the time with groups associated with the Muslim Brotherhood – the current CCMO website has a LOT less information than the older ones preserved at archive.org (aka “The Wayback Machine”). Here are the previous websites for the CCMO from 2004-2008. The pre-whitewashed CCMO websites are highly revealing. They expose the degree to which this Administration intends to direct taxpayer money (and “reduced red tape”) to Muslim Brotherhood-associated organizations in the U.S.

The Administration has not revealed which 20 groups and 25-30 leaders will attend the special workshop, but if they include the 41 CCMO members listed in 2007, the attendees could include the following groups , which I’ve linked to descriptions published by The Investigative Project (please support their work):

The Islamic Society of North America, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Terrorism Finance trial, and the source of Friday’s email promoting this CCMO/Department of Agriculture Event;

The Council on American Islamic Relations, shunned by the FBI, several of its leaders indicted or convicted for terrorism, a possible violator of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, sued for fraud by Muslim, Hispanic and African-American families, named as an unindicted co-conspirator (CAIR fundraiser advertised at the CCMO site);

The International Institute of Islamic Thought , the “think tank” of the Muslim Brotherhood, described at that link by The Grand Jihad author and former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy. One of the current and longest serving officers of CCMO is Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, founder of the educational arm of IIIT, the Fairfax Institute and the Director of Outreach Program for Dar-ul Hijrah “Terror” Mosque – more on him below.

The Muslim Public Affairs Committee , exposed in that linked 88-page IPT report particularly for their defense of terrorists and terrorist financers. MPAC advertised here at the CCMO site for an event co-sponsored by Islamic Free Market Institute, the latter described in Paul Sperry’s pathbreaking book Infiltration)

The Dar al Hijrah Mosque (known as the “Terror Mosque” in Northern Virginia for its links to imprisoned, indicted or wanted terrorists as vividly described by Frank Gaffney), advertised here at the CCMO site.

The Muslim American Society “Freedom Foundation” run by three-time felon Mahdi Bray (MASFF Fundraiser advertised at the CCMO site). The Muslim American Society was originally founded as the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. MAS leader Mahdi Bray was elected on September 7, 2003 to the Executive Committee by over 40 CCMO member organizations.

I suggest that the Administration knows these groups are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. They think that’s a good thing.

This isn’t incompetence; it’s intentional.

In just six months, on January 1, 2011, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.
They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves.
On January 1, 2011, here’s what happens… (read it to the end, so you see all three waves)…

 First Wave:

Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief
In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business owners, and families.
These will all expire on January 1, 2011.

Personal income tax rates will rise.
The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed).  
The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent.  
All the rates in between will also rise.  
Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same mathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates.  

The full list of marginal rate hikes is below:

• The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
•  
• The 25% bracket rises to 28%
•  
• The 28% bracket rises to 31%
•  
• The 33% bracket rises to 36%
•  
• The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

Higher taxes on marriage and family.  
The “marriage penalty” (narrower tax brackets for married couples) will return from the first dollar of income.  
The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child.  
The standard deduction will no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level.  
The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.
The return of the Death Tax.

This year only, there is no death tax.  (It’s a quirk!) For those dying on or after January 1, 2011, there is a 55 percent
top death tax rate on estates over $1 million.  A person leaving behind two homes, a business, a retirement account, could easily pass along a death tax bill to their loved ones.  Think of the farmers who don’t make much money, but their land, which they purchased years ago with after-tax dollars, is now worth a lot of money.  Their children will have to sell the farm, which may be their livelihood, just to pay the estate tax if they don’t have the cash sitting around to pay the tax.  Think about your own family’s assets.  Maybe your family owns real estate, or a business that doesn’t make much money, but the building and equipment are worth $1 million.  Upon their death, you can inherit the $1 million business tax free, but if they own a home, stock, cash worth $500K on top of the $1 million business, then you will owe the government $275,000 cash!  That’s 55% of the value of the assets over $1 million!  Do you have that kind of cash sitting around waiting to pay the estate tax?

Higher tax rates on savers and investors.
The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011.  
The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011.
These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.


Second Wave:

Obamacare
There are over twenty new or higher taxes in Obamacare. Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011.  They include:
The “Medicine Cabinet Tax”
Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).

The “Special Needs Kids Tax”
This provision of Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit). There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children.  
There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education.
Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington , D.C. ( National Child Research Center ) can easily exceed $14,000 per year.

Under tax rules, FSA dollars can not be used to pay for this type of special needs education.

The HSA (Health Savings Account) Withdrawal Tax Hike. This provision of Obamacare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.

Third Wave:

The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and Employer Tax Hikes
When Americans prepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they’ll be in for a nasty surprise-the AMT won’t be held harmless, and many tax relief provisions will have expired.

The major items include:
The AMT will ensnare over 28 million families, up from 4 million last year.
According to the left-leaning Tax Policy Center, Congress’ failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosion of AMT taxpaying families-rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million.  These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes at the higher level.  The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful of taxpayers.
Small business expensing will be slashed and 50% expensing will disappear.
Small businesses can normally expense (rather than slowly-deduct, or “depreciate”) equipment purchases up to $250,000.  
This will be cut all the way down to $25,000.  Larger businesses can currently expense half of their purchases of equipment.  
In January of 2011, all of it will have to be “depreciated.”
Taxes will be raised on all types of businesses.
There are literally scores of tax hikes on business that will take place.  The biggest is the loss of the “research and experimentation tax credit,” but there are many, many others. Combining high marginal tax rates with the loss of this tax relief will cost jobs.

Tax Benefits for Education and Teaching Reduced.

The deduction for tuition and fees will not be available.

Tax credits for education will be limited.  

Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses.

Coverdell Education Savings Accounts will be cut.

Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed.  

The student loan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands of families.

Charitable Contributions from IRAs no longer allowed.

Under current law, a retired person with an IRA can contribute up to $100,000 per year directly to a charity from their IRA.  

This contribution also counts toward an annual “required minimum distribution.”  This ability will no longer be there.

PDF  Version  Read more: <http://www.atr.org/six-months-untilbr-largest-tax-hikes-a5171>; http://www.atr.org/six-months-untilbr-largest-tax-hikes-a5171#%23ixzz0sY8waPq1

And worse yet?

Now, your insurance will be INCOME on your W2’s!

One of the surprises we’ll find come next year, is what follows – - a little “surprise” that 99% of us had no idea was included in the “new and improved” healthcare legislation . . . the dupes, er, dopes, who backed this administration will be astonished!

Starting in 2011, (next year folks), your W-2 tax form sent by your employer will be increased to show the value of whatever health insurance you are given by the company. It does not matter if that’s a private concern or governmental body of some sort.  

If you’re retired?  So what… your gross will go up by the amount of insurance you get.

You will be required to pay taxes on a large sum of money that you have never seen.  Take your tax form you just finished and see what $15,000 or $20,000 additional gross does to your tax debt.  That’s what you’ll pay next year.  

For many, it also puts you into a new higher bracket so it’s even worse.

This is how the government is going to buy insurance for the15% that don’t have insurance and it’s only part of the tax increases.

Not believing this???  Here is a research of the summaries…..

On page 25 of 29: TITLE IX REVENUE PROVISIONS- SUBTITLE A: REVENUE OFFSET PROVISIONS-(sec. 9001,
as modified by sec. 10901) Sec.9002  ”requires employers to include in the W-2 form of each employee the aggregate cost of applicable employer sponsored group health coverage that is excludable from the employees gross income.”

- Joan Pryde is the senior tax editor for the Kiplinger letters.
- Go to Kiplingers and read about 13 tax changes that could affect you.  Number 3 is what is above.

Why am I sending you this?  The same reason I hope you forward this to every single person in your address book.

People have the right to know the truth because an election is coming in November!

A list of seventy alleged American Socialist Party members has been winging its way around the internet.

Unfortunately, while most of those listed are indeed socialists, there is no such organization as the American Socialist Party. There is a small Socialist Party USA and the U.S.’s largest Marxist organization Democratic Socialists of America – which works largely inside the Democratic Party.

The list actually appears to be a membership roster of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

This organization was formed in 1991 by openly socialist independent Congressman Bernie Sanders, the far left Institute for Policy Studies, and Democratic Socialists of America.

Because the Progressive Caucus was hosted for many years on the D.S.A. website, some have claimed that all Progressive Caucus membership D.S.A. membership are synonymous. That may possibly have been the case, in the early years, but I have seen no evidence that it still applies.

What is beyond doubt is that most Progressive Caucus members are indeed socialists. In a European country, most would be comfortable in either the Socialist, Communist or green parties.

Several current or former Progressive Caucus members appear to have been members of D.S.A. including Neil Abercrombie, Danny K. Davis, Ron Dellums, Jerry Nadler and Major Owens.

Some members like Barbara Lee and Luis Gutierrez have been involved in Marxist-Leninist parties.

Many others have ties to D.S.A., the Communist Party USA, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, the Institute for Policy Studies, or other far left groups.

Many also have maintained ties to Cuba, Venezuela, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or other anti U.S. regimes.

Prominent recent former members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus include Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Obama’s Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Obama Transition Team member and former Democratic Party whip, David Bonior. Since leaving the house, David Bonior has formally joined D.S.A.

At more than 70 members, the Progressive Caucus is the most powerful bloc in the U.S. Congress, leading several powerful committees, including Judiciary (John Conyers) and until recently, Ways & Means (Charles Rangel).

It is also important to note that many far left Senators and Congressmen and NOT members of the Progressive Caucus – Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa and Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy (one time D.S.A. member) from Ohio being good examples.

If you follow the blue links on this page it will lead you to biographies of all those listed on this post, from our sister site KeyWiki – our online encyclopedia of the American left. The KeyWiki Congressional Progressive Caucus page also lists former members of the organization.

Many profiles are still only only “stubs”, but some are comprehensive. We welcome contributions from readers to “flesh them out”. We also welcome more volunteer KeyWiki editors and contributors. Contact details here

Check out the socialists in your Congress!

The current members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are as follows:

Co-Chairs

•Raul Grijalva (AZ-07)
•Lynn Woolsey (CA-06)
Vice Chairs

•Diane Watson (CA-33)
•Keith Ellison (MN-05)
•Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18)
•Mazie Hirono (HI-02)
•Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
•Donna Edwards (MD-04)
•Alan Grayson (FL-08)
Senate Members

•Bernie Sanders (VT)
•Tom Udall (NM)
•Roland Burris (IL)
House Members

•Tammy Baldwin (WI-02)
•Xavier Becerra (CA-31)
•Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
•Robert Brady (PA-01)
•Corrine Brown (FL-03)
•Michael Capuano (MA-08)
•André Carson (IN-07)
•Donna Christensen (VI-AL)
•Yvette Clarke (NY-11)
•William (Lacy) Clay (MO-01)
•Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
•Steve Cohen (TN-09)
•John Conyers (MI-14)
•Elijah Cummings (MD-07)
•Danny Davis (IL-07)
•Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
•Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)
•Sam Farr (CA-17)
•Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
•Bob Filner (CA-51)
•Barney Frank (MA-04)
•Marcia Fudge (OH-11)
•Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)
•John Hall (NY-19)
•Phil Hare (IL-17)
•Alcee Hastings (FL-23)
•Maurice Hinchey (NY-22)
•Michael Honda (CA-15)
•Jesse Jackson Jr (IL-02)
•Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)
•Hank Johnson (GA-04)
•Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
•Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI-13)
•Barbara Lee (CA-09)
•John Lewis (GA-05)
•David Loebsack (IA-02)
•Ben Lujan (NM-3)
•Carolyn Maloney (NY-14)
•Edward Markey (MA-07)
•Jim McDermott (WA-07)
•James McGovern (MA-03)
•George Miller (CA-07)
•Gwen Moore (WI-04)
•Jim Moran (VA-08)
•Jerrold Nadler (NY-08)
•Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL)
•John Olver (MA-01)
•Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
•Ed Pastor (AZ-04)
•Donald Payne (NJ-10)
•Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
•Jared Polis (CO-02)
•Charles Rangel (NY-15)
•Laura Richardson (CA-37)
•Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34)
•Bobby Rush (IL-01)
•Linda Sanchez (CA-47)
•Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)
•José Serrano (NY-16)
•Louise Slaughter (NY-28)
•Pete Stark (CA-13)
•Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
•John Tierney (MA-06)
•Nydia Velazquez (NY-12)
•Maxine Waters (CA-35)
•Mel Watt (NC-12)
•Henry Waxman (CA-30)
•Peter Welch (VT-AL)

Every effort should be made to vote out as many as possible CPCers in the November mid term elections.

The Ground Zero Mosque controversy continues to stir up new revelations.

Now we learn that tax dollars have been used to build mosques around the world

And yesterday, Fox News reported that the Ground Zero Mosque imam has rejected an offer by New York Governor David Paterson to help move the mosque to another location. What does this tell us about the imam’s alleged commitment to interfaith bridge building? About his “sensitivity”?

A CNN poll this week revealed that 68% of American voters now oppose the Ground Zero Mosque! Driven by new revelations and increasing media coverage, this is an increase of nearly 10 points in the past 30 days. For example, since April Brigitte Gabriel has conducted nearly 200 radio and TV interviews about the Ground Zero Mosque! The rising opposition of public opinion certainly contributed to Paterson’s decision to try to mediate a solution and get the mosque moved.

You can help fuel this rising opposition by signing our petition if you haven’t yet done so AND forwarding this email to everyone you know!

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, executive director of the Cordoba Initiative, addresses a gathering as groups planning a proposed mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan to be named Cordoba House showed and spoke about their plans for the center at a community board meeting in New York Tuesday, May 25, 2010. Community members both for and against the plan spoke during the meeting. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

The State Department is sending Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf – the mastermind of the Ground Zero Mosque – on a trip through the Middle East to foster “greater understanding” about Islam and Muslim communities in the United States. However, important questions are being raised about whether this is simply a taxpayer-funded fundraising jaunt to underwrite his reviled project, which is moving ahead in Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Rauf is scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar, the usual stops for Gulf-based fundraising. The State Department defends the five-country tour saying that Mr. Rauf is “a distinguished Muslim cleric,” but surely the government could find another such figure in the United States who is not seeking millions of dollars to fund a construction project that has so strongly divided America.

By funding the trip so soon after New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission gave the go-ahead to demolish the building on the proposed mosque site, the State Department is creating the appearance that the U.S. government is facilitating the construction of this shameful structure. It gives Mr. Rauf not only access but imprimatur to gather up foreign cash. And because Mr. Rauf has refused to reveal how he plans to finance his costly venture, the American public is left with the impression it will be a wholly foreign enterprise. This contradicts the argument that a mosque is needed in that part of New York City to provide services for a burgeoning Muslim population. If so many people need the mosque so badly, presumably they could figure out a way to pay for it themselves.

Americans also may be surprised to learn that the United States has been an active participant in mosque construction projects overseas. In April, U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Alfonso E. Lenhardt helped cut the ribbon at the 12th-century Kizimkazi Mosque, which was refurbished with assistance from the United States under a program to preserve culturally significant buildings. The U.S. government also helped save the Amr Ebn El Aas Mosque in Cairo, which dates back to 642. The mosque’s namesake was the Muslim conqueror of Christian Egypt, who built the structure on the site where he had pitched his tent before doing battle with the country’s Byzantine rulers. For those who think the Ground Zero Mosque is an example of “Muslim triumphalism” glorifying conquest, the Amr Ebn El Aas Mosque is an example of such a monument – and one paid for with U.S. taxpayer funds.

The mosques being rebuilt by the United States are used for religious worship, which raises important First Amendment questions. U.S. taxpayer money should not be used to preserve and promote Islam, even abroad. In July 2009, the Office of the Inspector General published an audit of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) faith-based and community initiatives that examined whether government funds were being used for religious activities. The auditors found that while USAID was funding some religious activities, officials were “uncertain of whether such uses of Agency funding violate Agency regulations or the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution” when balanced against foreign-policy objectives.

For example, our government rebuilt the Al Shuhada Mosque in Fallujah, Iraq, expecting such benefits as “stimulating the economy, enhancing a sense of pride in the community, reducing opposition to international relief organizations operating in Fallujah, and reducing incentives among young men to participate in violence or insurgent groups.” But Section 205.1(d) of title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations prohibits USAID funds from being used for the rehabilitation of structures to the extent that those structures are used for “inherently religious activities.” It is impossible to separate religion from a mosque; any such projects will necessarily support Islam.

The State Department is either wittingly or unwittingly using tax money to support Mr. Rauf’s efforts to realize his dream of a supersized mosque blocks away from the sacred ground of the former World Trade Center, which was destroyed by Islamic fanaticism. This ill-considered decision will raise the ire of millions of Americans and illustrates the limits of what the denizens of Foggy Bottom know about diplomacy.