ObamaCare Passes: We may have lost the battle, but we haven't lost the war !

Talk Show America 3/22/2010

Talk Show America

Dear Friends of Freedom Alliance:

This week, false and malicious allegations about Freedom Alliance were posted on the Internet and we want to address them with you. We don?t know the motivation for these vicious smears, but we will not allow them to go unanswered.

False Accusations

1. The blog posting accuses our friend Sean Hannity of personally benefiting from Freedom Alliance. This is FALSE. Freedom Alliance has never provided planes, hotels, cars, limos, or anything else to Sean. Sean gets nothing from Freedom Alliance except our gratitude for his personal generosity and for all he has done to help the troops and our organization. We have never had to ask Sean for anything, he always generously offers his help before we have a chance to ask him. But to be clear Sean pays for all his own transportation, hotels, and all related expenses for himself and his family and friends and staff, which over the years has added up to tens of thousands of dollars. He does not use any Freedom Alliance Funds or Concert funds in any way, period.
2. Sean Hannity has contributed $100,000 to the Wounded Warriors Foundation, over $200,000 to the Freedom Alliance, and over tens of thousands of dollars to other military charities and individuals. We only make this information public because of the outrageous slander against him. Sean has no management or operational involvement in, or control over, Freedom Alliance. He has been a selfless patriot in his efforts to raise funds for the education of children of armed services personnel.

3. The blog posting accuses Freedom Alliance of spending less than 20% of money raised on program activities. This is FALSE. Listed below are the amounts that Freedom Alliance spent for each of the past three years and the categories on which they were spent. The figures are taken from our Federal Form 990 which is filed with the Internal Revenue Service and posted on our web site and audited by an independent auditor using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. This financial record not only meets, but exceeds standards of program efficiency set by most charity evaluators.

4. In 2008, Freedom Alliance spent a total of $6,745,717. Of that:

? ? ?

79 percent ($5,317,970) was spent on Program Activities 14 percent ($945,950) was spent on Fundraising 7 percent ($481,797) was spent on Management

In 2007, Freedom Alliance spent a total of $7,461,350. Of that:

? 81.5 percent ($6,084,474) was spent on Program Activities ? 13.5 percent ($1,011,501) was spent on Fundraising ? 5 percent ($365,375) was spent on Management

In 2006, Freedom Alliance spent a total of $7,064,839. Of that:

? 77 percent ($5,434,538) was spent on Program Activities ? 18.5 percent ($1,308,414) was spent on Fundraising ? 4.5 percent ($321,887) was spent on Management

5. The blog posting accuses Freedom Alliance of spending money intended for student scholarships on other expenses. This is FALSE. Freedom Alliance has distributed $3.4 million in Scholarships and created a Scholarship Trust Fund with the additional money that we have raised for that program. That fund now contains $15 million, over $10 million of which has been raised by Hannity and the concerts. Our scholarship program is managed with the understanding that it will be needed for at least the next 20 years as there are children who will ultimately receive a scholarship who are now only a few years old. As indicated on our Federal Form 990, these funds are restricted and used only for future scholarships.

6. Our Scholarship Fund is one of four programs operated by Freedom Alliance. Supporters may donate to a specific program or for general operating purposes. In 2008, Freedom Alliance received $2.1 million in scholarship donations. The same year, we awarded $802,250 in scholarships and applied $1.3 million to our Scholarship Trust Fund. The funds donated by Sean Hannity directly ? or through the proceeds of the Freedom Concerts ? and the support of thousands of Americans are used for these purposes:

? Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund: Providing scholarships to those whose parents have been killed or severely injured in their service to our Country. There is now over $15 million in the scholarship fund for the students as they come of age.

? Support our Troops: Many events each year are planned and executed by our staff to show appreciation and provide special opportunities for those actively serving in the military.

? Leadership Academy: A program for high school students in which they are encouraged and trained to serve their country.

These programs would not be possible without the support of Mr. Hannity and many others.

We are proud of our work and numerous accomplishments. We are grateful to our supporters whose voluntary contributions make it possible and we thank you. While it is discouraging to have our record misrepresented in such a malicious way, our work is important and, with your support, it will continue.

Respectfully,

Thomas P. Kilgannon, President

Oliver L. North, Founder & Honorary Chairman

? Of the 64, just seven -- Reps. Brian Baird (Wash.) John Boccieri (Ohio), Rick Boucher (Va.), Suzanne Kosmas (Fla.), Scott Murphy (N.Y.), Glenn Nye (Va.) and John Tanner (Tenn.) -- voted "no" on the first health care bill last November.

? Eighteen of the 64 Democratic fence-sitters represent districts carried by Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in 2008. The worst performing district for Obama among that group was Boucher's 9th district -- located in southwestern Virginia -- where the president took just 40 percent in 2008. Obama took 49 percent in Kosmas' 24th district as well as Reps. Kathy Dahlkemper's (Pa.) 3rd district and Baron Hill's (Ind.) 9th district.

? There are just four retiring Democrats among the undecideds. That includes Baird and Tanner who previously voted no as well as Reps. Marion Berry (Ark.) and Dennis Moore (Kan.).

? The states with the most undecided members are Ohio (8), New York (6), Illinois (5) and Pennsylvania (4). Both of West Virginia's Democratic members -- Reps. Alan Mollohan and Nick Rahall -- are on the fence.

50 percent would "vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including your own representative."

72 percent would do this even if it meant the Democrats would retain control of Congress.

73 percent would do this even if it meant the Republicans would control the majority in Congress.

· Six in ten Americans (60%) agree that a current Democrat proposal to send the Senate health care bill to the president without voting up or down on it is ?unfair.?


· Most Americans oppose (81%) health care reforms that would increase insurance premiums for healthy people to offset premiums of people who wait until they are diagnosed with an illness to purchase insurance.

· Eight Americans in ten (81%) oppose allowing the government to decide what kind of health care coverage Americans are able to purchase.

· Most Americans (87%) oppose having a government panel recommend or decide what medical procedures or medical advances your doctor or health plan can or cannot use.

· More than eight Americans in ten (84%) support reforms that would allow people to buy health insurance where it is the least expensive, such as across state lines.

· Three in four Americans (76%) oppose health care reforms that would raise taxes and cut Medicare benefits to pay for health care subsidies for expanded coverage for those currently insured.

· Eight Americans in ten (78%) support health care reforms that would let people buy less costly health plans and save and invest for health care needs in the future on a tax-free basis.

· Half of Americans (51%) oppose health care reforms that would let people lock-in premiums by paying more for their insurance.

· Most Americans (85%) support health care reforms that would let people get lower premiums for getting or staying healthy.

· Eight Americans in ten (82%) support the idea that more money should be invested in the development of cures for the most devastating diseases.

The national poll also found that Americans are split on whether they support or oppose increasing Medicare payroll taxes for high wage earners (46% support, 47% oppose), or on reducing what doctors and hospitals are paid for their services (45% support, 48% oppose). Americans are also evenly split on whether or not they think it is credible that the new health care proposal will increase taxes and insurance premiums for 73 million Americans, as estimated by the Joint Committee on Taxation (47% say this is credible, 44% say it is not).

When asked directly about the process for passing the health care reform bill, 65% of Americans prefer the ?usual process? to budget reconciliation, and 60% believe it is unfair for House leadership to have the option to introduce a procedural rule that would ?deem? the Senate health care reform bill as being passed without actually voting on the legislation itself.

'Iran will deliver telling blow to global powers on Feb. 11'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the nation will deliver a harsh blow to the "global arrogance" on this year's anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran rose Monday after the Obama Administration quietly increased the capability of land and sea-based missile defenses in several Gulf nations to protect American allies against a potential Iranian strike.

Administration officials said over the weekend that the U.S. was speeding up arms sales to a number of Gulf Arab states and that it had also deployed warships capable of knocking down hostile missiles in flight to the region.

NOTE: This is not a scientific poll. The results above are for information purposes only, and should not be confused with the results of the scientific polls conducted by CBS News.

On Thursday, in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court struck down a law that had been used to stop the advertising or showing of "Hillary: The Movie" during the 2008 presidential campaign. No one doubts that the movie was critical of Hillary Clinton and that its release was timed precisely to hurt her presidential campaign. What the court couldn't abide was letting the government decide when a movie crossed the line and became too political. The ruling eliminates bans that corporations and unions have faced in trying to influence elections 30 days before a primary election or nominating convention, or within 60 days before a general election.

When President Obama's Deputy Solicitor General, Malcolm Stewart, first argued the case "Hillary: The Movie" before the Supreme Court last March, Justice Samuel Alito asked him if the government could prohibit companies from publishing books. Stewart said that was indeed possible. "That's pretty incredible," Alito responded, and then he pointed out that most book publishers are corporations.

"If [the book] has one name, one use of a candidate's name, it could be covered?" Chief Justice John Roberts then asked. And Stewart replied: "That's correct." "It's a 500-page book, and at the end it says, so vote for X. The government could ban that?" Roberts asked. Again, Stewart said yes.

When the case was re argued before the Supreme Court in September, Stewart was replaced by Solicitor General Elena Kagan. Kagan, realizing that the court was shocked by Stewart's statements, said that pamphlets, not books, could be banned. When Chief Justice John Roberts asked her about pamphlets, here's what she said: "A pamphlet would be different. A pamphlet is pretty classic electioneering." But Kagan's answer is hardly comforting. Is the government going to have a word limit that lets bureaucrats decide when something goes from being a "pamphlet" to a book? How long would that last?

"I am instructing my administration to get to work immediately with Congress on this issue. We are going to talk with bipartisan Congressional leaders to develop a forceful response to this decision,"

"If you send me to the Senate, I will be guided by those values," she said. "It's not about me anymore. It ...never was. It's what Martin Luther King stood for. It?s what Ted Kennedy stood for."

"I'm running for the United States Senate because Dr. King's work is unfinished; his dream is unrealized," she said."Tomorrow we act on the dream and we make sure that we allow me to continue that work," Coakley said. "We remember the dream tomorrow and we will act on the dream tomorrow."

"I certainly did not realize that this was a rally for Martha and I thought it was inappropriate that she starting asking for people's votes when we are trying to remember Martin Luther King Jr."