Mychal Massie: “Has Obama had an epiphany, or is he still dazed from his shellacking from the American people in the November elections? From the beginning, he was a free-spending Keynesian. Now he’s talking about capping spending and ending earmarks. It’s inconsistent with his advocacy thus far. It’s too much like when Bill Clinton declared that the ‘era of big government’ was over back in his 1996 address. Changing the language without changing the behavior is nothing more than obfuscation, and would signal that the only one Obama seeks to benefit is himself.” (Mychal Massie is the chairman of the Project 21 black leadership network.)

Coby W. Dillard: “President Obama tried to convince us tonight that the state of the union needs additional and new ‘investment’ to be strong. One only needs to look at the investment that was the stimulus to see how spending borrowed money and blowing up the national debt was no solution. The new Congress was elected to stop the blank checks and to rein in a government operating in a manner that would destroy households or businesses. Only when President Obama makes the tough choices regarding removing the barriers to job growth, controlling entitlements and embracing fiscal responsibility will we see out union grow stronger.” (Coby W. Dillard is a member of Project 21 and a founder of the Hampton Roads Tea Party in southeastern Virginia.)

Lisa Fritsch: “If we are really serious about having American students ‘Race to the Top’ to be innovative and compete with the likes of China and India, then we’d better get serious about focusing on teaching math and science like China and India rather than sex education, diversity initiatives and healthy eating habits. And let’s do away with talk of the DREAM Act and wake up to the reality that legal immigration and citizenship is a prerequisite to our innovation and sovereignty. Not until we get serious about protecting our borders and defending our American values can we truly educate, prepare and utilize those who desire to be productive American citizens.” (Lisa Fritsch is a member of Project 21 and a freelance writer and talk show host in Austin, Texas.)

Cherylyn Harley LeBon: “After two years in office and a steady rise in unemployment, Americans are still waiting for a plan for job growth from this president. ‘Innovation,’ ‘education’ and ‘infrastructure’ are wonderful words which are meaningless unless they translate into jobs TODAY. The American people need to get back to work, pay their mortgages and put food on the table. At the moment, we are less concerned about initiatives which will come to fruition in 25 years.” (Cherylyn Harley LeBon is a member of Project 21 and a former senior counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee.)

Deneen Borelli: “President Obama’s energy agenda, as detailed in tonight’s address, is essentially tilting at windmills. He can dream all he wants about alternative energy sources, but Obama will stifle innovations for tomorrow if he hobbles fossil fuels today. Demonizing the oil companies and hampering their ability to produce is going to raise costs, destroy jobs and hurt our fragile economy. Like it our not, our nation needs fossil fuels.” (Deneen Borelli is a fellow with Project 21.)

Bishop E.W. Jackson: “There was no pivot in Obama’s speech this evening. Sure, it sounded good, but the first step in winning the future is not government encouraging innovation. The American people have been innovating since our country was formed. We need to stop the crushing burdens of debt and regulation which inhibit productivity. Only our American entrepreneurs can solve the dilemma we are now in. In order to do that, the government must get out of the way. To quote Ronald Reagan: ‘Government is not the solution. Government is the problem.’” (Bishop E.W. Jackson is a member of Project 21 and the founder of Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Virginia.)

Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement by David A. Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research:

Now that both Turkey and Iran are on the record supporting the violation of another nation’s waters so long as the ships doing so are providing humanitarian relief, a huge impediment to two ideas of mine – the Free Turkey Movement and the Free Iran Movement – has now been lifted.

The main project of both groups would be “Free Minds Flotillas,” collections of ships loaded with sufficient servers and broadcast equipment to ensure that the citizens of Turkey and Iran have full access to Google, YouTube and Facebook.

Both countries have been running blockades of these services. Earlier this week – and with the “Freedom Flotilla” incident still fresh in our minds – Turkey banned YouTube and blocked access to more than 30 Google websites.

Iran permanently suspended Google’s email service this past February and YouTube and Facebook have frequently been filtered or blocked by the Iranian regime.

Unfettered communication between people is a basic human right and people of Turkey and Iran are crying out for the world’s help.

The “Free Minds Flotilla” can now respond now that both Turkey and Iran have given the green light for such operations.

We’ll need substantial funding for these two projects, of course, if we’re to be successful. And it is unlikely we’ll be able to count on the kind of support Weather Underground leaders William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, Code Pink founder Jodie Evans and Noam Chomsky provided to the Free Gaza Movement.

But plenty of support should be forthcoming…

To the executives of Google, Facebook, and YouTube: I await your calls.

Note: David A. Ridenour most recently commented on Israel, Gaza, Turkey and the Freedom Flotilla in “Turkey Responsible for Flotilla Deaths” on June 1.

Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement by David A. Ridenour, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy Research:

The international community should be denouncing Turkey, not Israel, for the loss of life on the so-called “Freedom Flotilla.”

That’s because Turkey, the flag state of the ship, had an obligation to ensure that the ships making up the flotilla adhered to international law.

It didn’t.

Though neither Turkey nor Israel are parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea, the treaty presumably spells out what the states ratifying the treaty believe to be acceptable rules of behavior. Many of those countries are now, rather hypocritically, denouncing Israel.

The Free Gaza Movement announced its intention to breach Israel’s barricade of Gaza – requiring it to violate Israel’s territorial waters.

Article 19 of the Law of the Sea Treaty specifies that “any act of propaganda aimed at affecting the defence or security of the coastal state” or “the loading or unloading of any commodity, currency or person contrary to the customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws or regulations of the coastal state” are deemed “prejudicial to the peace, good order or security” of that state. This flotilla – as with ones before it – would have done both if allowed to proceed.

While Article 19 only gives the coastal state the authority to act within its territorial waters, the bloodshed may well have been greater had Israel waited until then. If reports are accurate that some activists carried arms, Israeli commandos would have lost the element of surprise.

It also appears that Israel may have been within international norms in boarding the ship as all states have an obligation under Articles 109 and 110 of the treaty to stop unauthorized broadcasts (those intended for the general public, but not distress calls), including in international waters. The so-called “Freedom Flotilla” was broadcasting their voyage live.

Blood is on Turkey’s hands.

President Obama should do the right thing and recall the U.S. ambassador.

Note: David A. Ridenour is the author of “Ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty: A Not-So-Innocent Passage.“

I’m sure it began long before our obsession with self-esteem. So consumed we became with making sure our kids’ feelings were never hurt, we lost all reason and understanding and began teaching that exceptionalism wasn’t “fair”. (Oh, there’s the four-letter word that should be banned.)

Was it diversity? We were being indoctrinated that diversity was admirable, that some was good and more was better. Lost in all this was the importance of retaining identity, for without identity how can a child’s self-esteem have a foundation?

I’m afraid it all began a long time ago. Little by little we lost the focus of what made America great.

Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Elbridge Gerry, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison and Edward Rutledge, are only a few of the exceptional people who signed our Declaration of Independence. One trait that made them exceptional was their desire for and understanding of freedom. They didn’t want to be like England or any other. They wanted to be like America.

John Adams at a very young age wrote of his dreams that someday America would be the greatest nation on earth, not to look down on others but to draw them up unto this country’s greatness. Adams’ dream came true. America did become the greatest nation on earth, doing more to help other people than any other nation. It came from liberty, the freedom to excel, the desire to be the best of the best. It was called exceptionalism. It is what made America a magnet that draws others to come here. Why do we want to extinguish the magnetism?

As I sat yesterday and watched the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderone, stand at the stage of the greatest legislative conclave on earth, the symbol of liberty and everything great, and ridicule America while members of that Congress stood in applause for such treasonous, anti-American sentiments, I wondered if the above mentioned exceptional men had been sitting in that audience, what their reaction would have been.

As President Barack Obama stood outside the White House with Calderone, in what certainly appeared to be an affirmation from our President of his hatred toward America, I pictured George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson gathered amongst the bushes of the Rose Garden, standing in utter disbelief.

Tom Remington

Read the editorial here.