Cowardly Dems Hold 'Stealth Care' Meetings

It hasn't been a good week for Congressional Democrats. Wherever they go, "angry mobs" of little old ladies and "mobsters in Brooks Brothers suits" pop up to ask inconvenient questions of them at town hall meetings, questions such as "why haven't you read the bill you're voting for?"

Democracy can be messy, folks, which is probably why most Democrats seem to prefer socialism, where opposition can simply be silenced and crushed.

So it should come as no surprise now that these fearless leaders ready to herd you into a government boondoggle beyond our wildest nightmares have sunk so low as to hold their "town hall meetings" in private and in some cases with no advance notice.

How's that for change, suckers?

New York lawmakers are taking extraordinary steps to make sure their "town hall" meetings on health care don't become angry shouting matches or embarrassing clips on YouTube -- in some cases turning events into private, invitation-only affairs.

A handful of Democratic members of Congress across the country, including Rep. Tim Bishop of Long Island, have gotten booed and shouted down by crowds at meetings with their constituents, in what some charge is a coordinated nationwide effort by opponents.

But several area lawmakers are taking steps to minimize the chance that health-care critics will be able to protest.

* Rep. Steve Israel (D-LI) held a health-care "roundtable" Thursday night, but made the event "invitation only."

An Israel staffer who had been asked in advance about any planned town-hall meetings didn't respond to a Post inquiry until after the event was over.

* Rep. Scott Murphy of the Albany area didn't send out a release about a Tuesday health meeting until the next day, after the event was over.

The release described the event as a "small business roundtable" with business leaders.

The event wasn't included in the public schedule Murphy's office put out in advance.

So here we are in New York, an overwhelmingly blue state, and Democrats are too afraid to even hold public meetings. Do they not stop for even a second and ask why their constituents might not want to be forced into a government-run operation that they themselves aren't fully clear about?

But no, they have their marching orders from Queen Pelosi and King Obama and damn the people who elected them.

This is not the democratic process. Indeed, it's mob rule, the mob reigns from Washington and you peasants better just get out of the way and shut up.

These Democrats who don't want to bother meeting the people who elected them may not have such concerns any longer once the 2010 midterms roll around. They'll have plenty of time on their hands when they're booted from office.

Thanks to Hot Air for the link.

Good News: Vandalism at LI Gay and Lesbian Youth Center Not a 'Hate Crime'

Why is it not a hate crime? Because apparently some gay and lesbian youths perpetrated the violence. So move along, nothing to see here.

While the vandalism is no longer being investigated as a bias crime, we feel that the investigation and the attention paid to these crimes by public officials and media was appropriate. Vandalism of this magnitude is intended to send a message of fear. The Center stands as the most public declaration of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender pride on Long Island. As the most visible symbol of GLBT presence and pride, the vandalism was indeed interpreted and felt as an attack on these already vulnerable communities.

Naturally when the news first broke, people completely overreacted.

Employees and members of the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth Center (LIGALY) found their Bay Shore office vandalized in a vicious act of intolerance as they arrived to work on the morning of Monday, Feb. 2, Suffolk Police say.

Third Precinct police officers responded to the center on Park Avenue and found that vandals had shattered the front door window at the center, then slashed the tires and broke the windows of the LIGALY’s 2003 Ford van, which was parked on the property. Hate Crimes Unit detectives are investigating the case, which is classified as criminal mischief as a hate crime.

“This was not a simple case of vandalism, but an attack on our entire community,” said David Kilmnick, CEO of LIGALY, in a statement on the group's website. “We are thankful that this act happened while the center was closed and therefore no one was physically injured, but this was a clear attempt to instill fear in GLBT people throughout Long Island.”

How much you want to bet the arrest of former clients doesn't get nearly the same amount of attention?

"We were calling it a hate crime investigation because of public perception," said Det. Sgt. Robert Reecks, commanding officer of the Suffolk police hate crimes unit, which pursued the case because of the center's mission.

Four Bay Shore residents - two of whom attended programs at the center - were arrested in connection with the incident. On Feb. 2 staffers of the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth Center reported they found the building's front door smashed, windows broken and the agency van's tires slashed.

Milagro Ruiz, 21, and Gilbert Geigel Jr., 20, of Fifth Avenue, and Kerrond Miller-Jones, 19, and Charles Diaz, 21, of Perkel Street were arraigned on second-degree criminal mischief in First District Court in Central Islip yesterday. An order of protection also was issued for the center's chief executive, David Kilmnick.

Naturally, a Congressional Democrat also overreacted before the facts were in.

Rep. Steve Israel called for a national hate-crimes hotline yesterday after touring a gay and lesbian center where vandals last weekend smashed a glass door and tore up a van.

"The destroyed front door of this center can't be the entrance to more acts of violence," Israel (D-Huntington) told the staff of the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth Center in Bay Shore. "I believe that the federal government woefully minimizes the number of hate crimes that occur in the United States. I want you to know that the U.S. Congress is with you."

Then he paused and offered a caveat: "Some of my colleagues are just as bad as the people who did this."

What the hell does that mean?

Calls to Close 'Terror High'

One of those rare occurrences where I find myself in agreement with Charles Schumer

The academy opened in 1984 and stayed out of the spotlight until the Sept. 11 attacks. Criticisms were revived in 2005, when a former class valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, was charged with joining al-Qaida while attending college in Saudi Arabia. He was convicted on several charges, including plotting to assassinate President Bush, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Most recently, the religious freedom commission—an independent federal agency created by Congress—issued its report, saying it was rebuffed in its efforts to obtain textbooks to verify claims they had been reformed.

The commission recommended that the academy be shut down until it could review the textbooks to ensure they do not promote intolerance.

Since the commission's report, the academy has given copies of its books to the Saudi embassy, which then provided them to the State Department. The commission is waiting to get the books from the State Department.

On Nov. 15, a dozen U.S. senators, including Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., wrote a letter to the State Department urging it to act on the commission's recommendations. And on Tuesday, Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Steve Israel, D-N.Y., introduced legislation to write the commission's recommendations regarding the academy into law.

Michael Cromartie, the commission's chairman, said he does not question the character of the student body or the faculty, most of whom are Christian. The commission is focused specifically on the textbooks, and has legitimate concerns given the problems that have been endemic in the Saudi curriculum, he said.

"It's not about whether the students are civil to their opponents on a ball field. It's about the textbooks," he said.

Of course, since it's a Saudi funded school, the kids are learning hatred of other religions, though they claim to have cleaned it up a bit.

But al-Shabnan said the school significantly modified those textbooks to remove passages deemed intolerant of other religions. Among the changes, officials removed from teachers' versions of first-grade textbooks an excerpt instructing teachers to explain "that all religions, other than Islam, are false, including that of the Jews, Christians and all others."