While Project 21 members see a nation looking for reassurance that the government is acting in its best interest and focusing on the key issues of economic stability and job creation, they do not expect more than rhetoric from President Obama.

“When the polite applause and the partisan demonstrations of loyalty cease in the wake of tonight’s address, will we have seen anything more than the same campaign-style rhetoric we have come to expect from this president? I don’t think so,” said Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie. “Despite his get-tough talk of late on spending and his alleged epiphany on regulations, there is no getting around the fact that Barack Obama’s spending leaves George W. Bush’s disregard for the taxpayers’ burden in the dust. There is no getting around the fact that Obama’s heavy-handed regulatory agenda is set up to continue his agenda where the peoples’ new representatives are being told to hold the line. What I expect is a deceptively stylish speech from a desperate man who hopes to convince a very worried nation that he possesses the leadership they need. Unfortunately, he does not.”

Project 21′s Kevin Martin added: “I don’t believe President Obama’s speech tonight will do much more than instill a short-term aura of confidence in his leadership. And, even then, there are fewer and fewer left who are likely to believe him. I expect the address to be long on new ideas and policies, but short on how they can be funded without further contributing to our exploding national debt. Furthermore, Obama will likely ignore his vote against increasing the debt ceiling from when he was a senator, instead asking for a blank check to tackle our economic woes in the only way he seems to know how — more spending. Supporters hope Obama’s speech will set a course for the remainder of his term. Before he can do that, however, Obama must actually take control of the currently rudderless ship of state.”

Project 21 full-time fellow Deneen Borelli added: “President Obama should end his war on fossil fuels by having the EPA immediately cease his plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and ease drilling restrictions in the Gulf of Mexico. These actions would eliminate the air of uncertainty surrounding businesses who are hesitant to invest in manufacturing facilities and stimulate job creation through exploration of our natural resources. By now, Obama should realize his pledge to make energy prices “skyrocket” is bad for business investment and job creation.”

“Cap-and-trade is a central part of Obama’s war on fossil fuels,” said Borelli. “Obama has partnered with his big business allies including GE, Duke Energy and Johnson and Johnson to advance his global warming policy. Obama may push for a cap-and-trade bill to be passed during the lame duck session of Congress even though this policy is unpopular with Americans and it will harm the economy through high energy prices. The partnership between big government and big businesses threatens our liberty.”

The rally portion of the March on D.C., organized by FreedomWorks, is scheduled to start at 2:00 PM eastern on the West Front Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. The Free Enterprise Project is a program of the National Center for Public Policy Research.

Borelli has taken on some of America’s biggest business leaders — including the heads of General Electric, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, Johnson and Johnson and PG&E — because of their support of a cap-and-trade energy policy.

Most recently, a joint ad campaign undertaken by the National Center for Public Policy Research and FreedomWorks was credited with helping force heavy-equipment manufacturer Deere and Company to withdraw from the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of businesses and radical environmental groups lobbying for cap-and-trade regulations.

The Free Enterprise Project is also calling on the public to sign a petition calling on GE CEO Jeff Immelt to resign due to his lobbying for economically risky Obama Administration initiatives and simultaneously running the MSNBC news network. The petition can be found at http://www.bigbusinesswatch.com.

“Tea party activists are just as mad at corporate America as they are with politicians who are selling out their freedom,” said Borelli. “Tea partiers want CEOs to be held accountable for trying to make a buck at the cost of people’s liberty and economic futures.”

“Dissent was considered patriotic when the progressives were out of power, and the political reality they have wrought on America since then proves that dissent is needed now more than ever,” said Project 21 Fellow Deneen Borelli. “The tea parties are a genuine, diverse and patriotic effort to restore the fundamental principles of limited government and virtue that made our nation great and can make it great once again. Those who sling mud are desperately trying to cling to power.”

There are three major tea party rallies scheduled for Sunday, September 12. Project 21 members will speak at all three.

Project 21 fellow Deneen Borelli will be speaking at the March on DC at the U.S. Capitol that is sponsored by FreedomWorks. Project 21 member Emery McClendon is on the agenda at the “Gateway to November” rally underneath the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. Project 21 member Lisa Fritsch will take part in the “Recycle Government” rally in McClellan Park just outside of Sacramento, California.

“We gather in St. Louis as individuals who share the common purpose of restoring America back to our founding principles,” said Project 21 member Emery McClendon. “We must reject President Obama’s radical change because it is failing, and turning the American Dream into a nightmare.”

Fritsch is also speaking in Washington, D.C. on Friday, September 10 at the Unite for America’s Liberty XPO at the Omni Shoreham hotel. Her speech is titled “Restoring America: Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement.”

“In this transformative time of finding our way back to America’s true calling, it is an honor to take part in standing together with our American neighbors in the name of love, freedom and patriotism,” said Project 21 member Lisa Fritsch.

Washington, D.C. – Members of the Project 21 black leadership network question the sincerity of establishment civil rights leaders opposing talk show host Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial August 28.

That date is the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

“If this place and time is so sacred, why didn’t Al Sharpton or the NAACP already have a permit to use the Lincoln Memorial that day before Beck ever sought one?” asked Project 21 member Lisa Fritsch. “Beck’s critics will surely fail if their goal is simply to criticize him for celebrating spirituality and love of country. They may be envious of Beck and scratching their heads that they didn’t think of it first, and that’s something they’ll have to look into their own hearts to figure out.”

According its web site, Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally is intended to “celebrate America by honoring our heroes, our heritage and our future” and “pays tribute to America’s service personnel and other upstanding citizens who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honor.” Political signs are discouraged from the event. Beck, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, Dr. Alveda King (niece of Dr. King and a member of Project 21) and decorated Navy veteran Marcus Luttrell are among the scheduled speakers.

While Beck stresses a positive and apolitical message, the civil rights lobby apparently refuses to exhibit the tolerance it demands of others when it comes to the “Restore Honor” rally. This concerns many Project 21 members, who see these special interests as actually harming race relations in the long term.

“Liberals are quick to ask for tolerance when it comes to putting a permanent mosque next to Ground Zero, but they were quick to oppose Beck using the Lincoln Memorial on the King anniversary or possibly ever. It’s a double-standard,” said Project 21 member Jimmie Hollis, who plans to attend the August 28 event.

Project 21 fellow Deneen Borelli, who is also planning to be at the Beck event, added: “During these trying times of economic uncertainty and high unemployment, Americas need to rally behind core principles of truth and honor. We need to break away from the race-baiting antics and grand standing from Al Sharpton. Glenn Beck’s ‘Restoring Honor’ rally is a great way to bring freedom-loving Americans together to instill hope and promote our core values that made America great.”

Washington, D.C. – Black activists with the Project 21 leadership network support the right of talk show host Glenn Beck to hold his “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 2010. Because Beck’s event takes place on the anniversary and at the location of Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1964 “March on Washington” rally, leaders of the establishment civil rights groups oppose the event.

“It’s my understanding from reading the Constitution that the First Amendment applies to all. And nothing better exemplified that than when Dr. King exercised his First Amendment rights nearly 50 years ago,” said Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie. “This isn’t about Dr. King or the day and venue itself. It is about a contempt for the message. It is about those who trade on race as a means of notoriety and income fomenting discord for the sake of keeping those who are loathe to realize they are free imprisoned on a plantation of resentment and bitterness.”

Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally is described on its web site as a way to “celebrate America by honoring our heroes, our heritage and our future.” It also states that it is a “non-political event that pays tribute to America’s service personnel and other upstanding citizens who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honor.” Speakers include Beck, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, Dr. Alveda King (niece of Dr. King and a member of Project 21) and decorated Navy veteran Marcus Luttrell.

Among the restrictions on the event, Beck wants no political signs because “they may deter from the peaceful message we are bringing to Washington.”

Marc Morial of the National Urban League, a fierce critic of the Beck event, calls it “insulting” and a “hijacking of the imagery and symbolism of August 28 and the Lincoln Memorial.” Reverend Al Sharpton is planning a “Reclaim the Dream” rally and march that is supported by the NAACP and NUL that will end at the site of the under-construction King Memorial within several hundred feet of the Lincoln Memorial.

Project 21 members question the goals and wisdom of the Sharpton-led event.

“So, Al Sharpton essentially wants to crash Beck’s event. Has anyone noticed how the left loves to invite themselves to things for the sole purpose of smearing them? Just because the good reverend says he doesn’t plan on confrontation, would he explain the provocation of having his marchers be turned loose within yards of Beck’s rally?” asks Project 21 member Bob Parks. “You might want to ask the families of those who suffered — and died — in the 1991 Crown Heights riot or the Freddy’s Fashion Mart firebombing in Harlem in 1995 about how Sharpton’s brand of non-confrontation is working for them. The only reason for bringing marchers that close to the Glenn Beck rally is to start something.”

“Groups such as the National Urban League must realize that Martin Luther King had no monopoly on the public square — or the Lincoln Memorial. Holidays and special events are shared at various sites and on the same day,” said Project 21 member Emery McClendon. “Check the record. Find out that Glenn Beck is holding his event on this day to honor Dr. King as well as to remind all Americans that God alone can heal our Republic. It is an event aimed at restoring honor.”

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Book on Government-Run Health Care to Be Distributed at Rally

Washington, DC: Two members of the National Center for Public Policy Research staff – Project 21 black leadership network fellow Deneen Borelli and Free Enterprise Project director Tom Borelli – are scheduled to speak at approximately 6:00 PM and 7:15 PM, respectively, at the FreedomWorks Foundation’s April 15 “2010 Tax Day Tea Party” on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

National Center Executive Director David Almasi and other staff members also will be on hand to distribute free copies of the National Center book “Shattered Lives: 100 Victims of Government Health Care” by Amy Ridenour and Ryan Balis.

In her prepared remarks, Deneen Borelli addresses the criticism of the Tea Party movement as being “monochromatic” and implicitly racist. She says: “President Obama’s progressive agenda is driving our economy and liberties over a cliff… They expect us to keep quiet, sit down and just pay those taxes. That’s why progressives hate the Tea Party movement – we make too much noise! That’s why they are trying to discredit us by calling us names: If you’re white you’re called a racist and a redneck, and if you’re black you’re a token, ‘Uncle Tom’ or a traitor… Playing the race card is a losing game. It’s old. It’s tired. What else you got?”

Tom Borelli, in his prepared remarks, makes a call to action based on how some corporate chiefs are complicit in promoting a progressive agenda, including ObamaCare and cap-and-trade legislation. He says: “It’s time for us to hold CEOs accountable… It’s time ‘We the People’ let CEOs know that there will be a price to pay for promoting laws that will loot us of our the liberty. Every day, we can vote with our wallets by avoiding products from companies that are selling us out. It makes no sense for us to buy products from companies who will use our money against us!”

The Borellis have spoken at Tea Party rallies in Pennsylvania and New York at the FreedomWorks Foundation’s 9.12 rally in Washington last year. Earlier this week, they spoke about the Tea Party movement at a series of events held at Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont.

The National Center For Public Policy Research is a conservative, free-market non-profit think-tank established in 1982. It is supported by the voluntary gifts of over 100,000 individual recent supporters, and receives less than one percent of its revenue from corporate sources.

FreedomWorks and the National Center for Public Policy Research can be visited online at www.freedomworks.org and www.nationalcenter.org respectively.

Bishop Council Nedd II: “After virtually walking away from the gay community after the election, President Obama is all of a sudden taking up their cause again? Last week’s election shows he has problems with Americans of all political stripes, but he appears to be focusing most intently on quelling the civil war rising against him in the left-wing of his party. One would think that — as his approach to national security is being questioning in the wake of the underwear bomber and his dithering on Afghanistan — that he would think of some other military-related issue to champion than one that could fracture his 2008 base even further. And then there is his post-Obamacare pivot to jobs that seems to be uneducated and aimless. Is 2010 to be consumed with ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ for the military and ‘don’t ask, don’t know’ on jobs?” (Bishop Council Nedd II is the bishop of the Chesapeake and the Northeast for the Episcopal Missionary Church and a member of the national advisory council of the Project 21 black leadership network.)

Mychal Massie (chairman of Project 21): “It is time that President Obama realized his job is more than giving speeches and blaming former President Bush. Instead, from his performance tonight, he continues to show his disconnect with what the American people want and need. With record numbers of people unemployed and home ownership at risk or lost for so many, to point out just two problems, we needed to hear more from him than blaming others. It is time for Obama to own up to this malaise as his own. National security and the economy should have been Obama’s first and primary concerns — not his failed health care plan and a job-killing cap-and-trade policy. I was not inspired by his words nor his passing of blame. I wanted to see him respond in the interest of the people.” (Mychal Massie is chairman of Project 21, a columnist for WorldNetDaily, and a former talk show host and businessman.)

Kevin L. Martin: “Watching President Obama’s State of the Union Address, it felt like he was back on the campaign trail. Like on the trail, tonight’s rhetoric tends to differ from reality. What was on display was a bait-and-switch in which broken promises were rehashed and more pandering was thrown at the middle class as he pledged tax cuts, tax credits and job creation. Last year’s obscene spending and job-killing proposals such as cap-and-trade, however, don’t match the rhetoric. Obama, like all good liberals, believes government can solve all our ills if it’s big enough. He now just has to hope his congressional allies come through with checks that are big enough.” (Kevin L. Martin is a member of the national advisory council of the Project 21 black leadership network.)

R. Dozier Gray: “The President reminds us that one in ten Americans still cannot find work. Hard as I try, I simply cannot think of anything he has done to truly mitigate the problem. Mr. President, if you hated the bank bailouts why did you support them. Own it, sir. Own the whole thing. With your proposed fee on banks to recover money you say belongs to the taxpayer, does that mean I will be receiving a check? Or does that mean you will just recycle the fees into other spending programs? I think I already heard the latter tonight, so please don’t pretend to be recovering money for me.” (Dozier Gray is a member of the national advisory council for the Project 21 black leadership network and a combat veteran.)

Lisa Fritsch: “President Obama wonders why there is so much ‘cynicism’ out there. While his speech was full of ironies and folly, this is the worst. It is President Obama who is the cynic, because he doesn’t seem to believe in anything but the government. Though President Obama worked hard to try to connect with Americans, it is clear that his position on some of Americans’ top concerns — taxes, terrorism and health care reform — remain the same. And his idea of change is at odds with the average voter, both middle-class and upper-class. President Obama fails to acknowledge that Americans have changed. Americans have awakened to the truth, and they no longer want his change. Americans are wiser from the wear. Too bad Obama is not.” (Lisa Fritsch is a member of the national advisory council for the Project 21 black leadership network and a community activist, writer, public speaker, and talk radio host in the Austin, Texas area.)

Ellis Washington: “President Obama in his first year raised the spending limit to unsustainable levels ($1.35 trillion); more than GWB did in 8 years and now Obama is championing a freeze on spending?! President Obama’s first State of the Union Address painfully exemplifies that this clear and present danger to America is not Mr. Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man of this ilk with the presidency. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us — lack of common sense and good judgment. To paraphrase a comment on Reuters: Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who despite his promise to ‘fundamentally change America’ is, after all, merely a fool. The failed Marxist policies encapsulated in Obama’s first State of the Union Address makes him less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president. Seemingly remarking on these troublesome times, Etienne de la Boetie said: ‘If without violence the tyrant is simply not obeyed, he becomes naked and undone and as nothing.’” (Ellis Washington is a member of the national advisory council for the Project 21 black leadership network and a former editor of the Michigan Law Review.)

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Washington, DC: As people honor the values and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., members of the Project 21 black leadership network are also taking this time to commend the American people for their quick and generous acts of charity after last week’s devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Deneen Borelli (Project 21 Fellow): “As we remember Dr. King, it is heartwarming to see how the American people have come together to help those in need. As they always do, average Americans of all races, classes and backgrounds opened their wallets and asked what they could do to help long before even the government could respond. Faith-based organizations n which have always been a great help n are picking up the slack where established relief groups and the government are already overwhelmed. Without a political goal in mind, the American people joined as one to offer hope. That is something to be proud of on this holiday.”

Geoffrey Moore: “I want to commend the American people on their response to the earthquake in Haiti. As usual, Americans step up to the plate to help those most in need.”

Darryn ‘Dutch’ Martin: “The fact that the American government and its people are front and center in helping the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquake n and have been from the start n is not surprising. No other sovereign nation is doing more to provide immediate humanitarian and financial assistance to needy countries and peoples with the same passion and on the same scale as the United States of America. At the same time, other jealous, America-hating nations either badmouth us as they sit on their hands or simply ride our coattails. Do we get the credit from the rest of the world that we so richly deserve for this never-ending helping hand? Of course not, and our efforts in Haiti will probably be no exception. But that’s to be expected, and it will not deter American generosity.”

The restriction was announced today outside the Copenhagen conference center after several thousand accredited NGO conference delegates, including three from the National Center for Public Policy Research, waited outside for eight hours or longer in 32-degree F temperatures for admission.

NGOs apparently are being banned because the United Nations accredited 45,000 people for a building with a capacity of 15,000, although the stated reason was “security concerns.” The “security concerns” may be related to the fact that, after waiting several hours in the cold, delegations began to chant, “Let us in! Let us in!”

“To be an “accredited” or “admitted” NGO to a COP conference, NGOs must apply months in advance, and typically only make travel plans to attend after receiving complete credentials from the United Nations,” said Amy Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, an accredited COP-15 NGO organization that is as of now banned from the conference. “To give credentials to 45,000 people while choosing a building that holds 15,000 people is insane, though the United Nations, to be fair, has never been known for competence.”

“What makes this an even greater travesty,” said Ridenour, ” is the COP-15 conference ostensibly is trying to find ways to reduce the burning of fossil fuels. If 30,000 people fly to Copenhagen for no reason, doesn’t that put unnecessary greenhouse gases into the atmosphere?”

Ridenour has formally asked the U.N., which is permitting some NGOs to have many delegates inside while others are permitted none, to limit each NGO to one representative as long as space limitations remain a concern.

“Some of these NGO delegations are from rich countries like our own,” said Ridenour, “but for some NGOs, raising the funds to attend a conference in Copenhagen is a real financial hardship. The least the U.N. can do is let in at least one member of these delegations so all of their money won’t be wasted.”

The National Center for Public Policy Research can be visited online at www.nationalcenter.org.