Although Mitt Romney has defended RomneyCare as a fitting solution to the medical insurance problem in Massachusetts, he has yet to face another issue which may very well be his Achilles' heel and make his nomination impossible. That is his support of gay marriage and the gay agenda in the schools of Massachusetts. Amy Contrada, a conservative activist in Massachusetts, has written a 600-page book, Mitt Romney’s Deception, documenting the former Governor’s stealth support of gay rights and gay marriage. She shows how he has worked closely with gay activists and pro-gay rights advisors in his administration. She excoriates him for implementing the controversial gay marriage decision handed down by the Massachusetts Supreme Court, ignoring the call to remove the judges who voted for it. Contrada carefully documents the pro-homosexual and pro-transgender actions of Romney’s Department of Social Services (DSS). But apparently this trend started before Romney became Governor, which will no doubt be his defense. Contrada writes:

Plantation, Florida has just voted to NOT renew its ICLEI contract. That's the eighth community in eight months to take such action. Plantation joins the growing list that includes Carroll County, MD; Amador County, CA; Edmond, OK; Las Cruces, NM; Spartanburg, SC and Albemarle, VA. This is wonderful, positive news, indicating that more and more elected officials are starting to hear our arguments against this wrenching transformation of our country. For the first time I'm getting calls and letters from elected officials asking for more information. I am getting invitations to appear on new radio shows that have never aired this issue before. In June, I was contacted by the Glenn Beck show as he prepared an entire program on Agenda 21. He even linked APC information to his blog. I've now been contacted by one leading presidential candidate, along with a possible major donor who is considering helping us fund the fight. In addition to all of that, daily I hear from an ever growing list of activists working in their communities to stop Agenda 21. A revolution is certainly under way across the country. However, as we are gaining success, we are also beginning to face stiffer resistance from the proponents of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development.

The Associated Press "fact-checked" President Obama’s combative proclamation that "middle-class families shouldn’t pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires." In broadcasting his new "Buffett Rule" for millionaires — his so-called "revenue" vehicle for the American Jobs Act — Obama tossed a class-warfare grenade, claiming that the wealthy are not covering enough of the tax burden. The President demanded in a bellicose speech Monday that individuals earning over $1 million a year must "pay their fair share" to help slash the soaring federal deficit. Obama also vowed to veto any Republican bill that does not adopt a "balanced" approach to reducing the deficit, meaning if the bill does not include tax increases on high-earners he will axe the proposal. "I will not support any plan that puts all the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary Americans," he pledged. "And I will veto any bill that changes benefits for those who rely on Medicare but does not raise serious revenues by asking the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share."

Ron Paul’s remarkable showing in the California Republican straw poll is beginning to make many conservatives think the unthinkable: that Ron Paul could win the Republican nomination for President and even be elected in November 2012 in a kind of once-in-a-century upset. He achieved a statistical tie to win the Iowa straw poll, and his overwhelming victory in the California straw poll has made him a major contender for the nomination. He also won the straw poll in Texas, his home state, by forfeiture. In a compelling article in the Daily Capitalist (9/17/11), Robin Koerner, an economist, muses that the United States may be on the brink of a “phase change” which can produce an abrupt radical political upheaval. That’s how he reads the nation’s increasing favor with the kind of radical change that Paul has advocated in the debates. Koerner writes:

Funny, isn't it? Whenever we see Republicans pinning a tale of profligate spending on the Democratic donkeys, we find the Grand Old Party with its elephant trunks buried deep in the same money trough. Republicans both in and out of Congress have been quite vocal in lambasting the Obama administration over a Department of Energy guarantee for a $535 million loan to Solyndra, Inc., a California company producing solar panels. The loan, approved the under the President's $790 billion economic stimulus program two years ago, was praised by Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as the kind of investment in clean, green energy that will create jobs and keep America a leader in the global marketplace. But early this month, Solyndra filed for bankruptcy, leaving Uncle Sam and the U.S. Taxpayers on the hook for roughly $528 million. The company is now under investigation by the both the FBI and the U.S. Congress.

Authorities in the United Kingdom have arrested seven suspects in connection with a terror plot. British intelligence raided more than a dozen homes and collared six men and a woman between midnight and about 7 a.m. Monday, according to news reports. They are connected, the New York Times reported, to “Islamic militancy,” which describes yet another plot by “British citizens” who are really "Asians" or of another nationality. Typically, those words are media code for Muslims. No Surprise: The Name Is Mohammed Police raided five neighborhoods in Birmingham to net the half-dozen suspects, who ranged in age from 25 to 32. The woman is 22. According to the Times: A West Midlands police official, who requested anonymity because he was discussing an unfolding operation, said initial speculation that the arrests were linked to Irish republicanism was unfounded. The official declined to confirm the BBC report that those arrested were Islamic extremists, but said the operation was “linked to international cases as much as local.”

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a stopgap spending bill that would have funded the federal government through mid-November while also providing $3.7 billion for disaster relief. Conservative House members rejected the bill in a shocking 230 to 195 defeat. While Democrats rejected the bill because of the spending cuts to a government loan program to help car companies build fuel-efficient vehicles, conservatives in the GOP felt that the bill in fact cut too little and spent too much. The failed stopgap bill would have funded the federal government through November 18, permitting lawmakers yet more time to reach an agreement for the 2012 budget year. GOP leadership in the House forged ahead with the vote on Wednesday, uncertain of the outcome. When it became clear during the roll call vote that the bill would fail, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy approached three leading Republican conservatives in the chamber in the hopes of convincing them to switch their votes in support of the measure.

In what appeared to be a political maneuver timed to coincide with a UN address by its president, Iran freed two Americans it had held for the last two years. Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, and a third American, Sarah Shourd, had been arrested in 2009 while reportedly hiking along the Iran-Iraq border. Bauer and Fattal were later convicted of espionage, a move designed to set up an ultimate swap of the pair — with payment of $500,000 “bail” for each man. ForeignPolicy.com reported that Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 22, “and the release of Bauer and Fattal may have been a gesture of goodwill before the speech.” Foreign Policy explained that “Ahmadinejad had signaled last week that Bauer and Fattal would be granted a pardon, but the Americans’ release was delayed by Iranian political infighting and the fact that one of the judges in their case was on vacation. The government of Oman reportedly paid $1 million in bail for the hikers.”  

Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Richard N. Palmer, part of a 4-3 majority in a controversial ruling that upheld the taking of the homes of several New London residents to make room for a private commercial development, apologized years later to the woman who led the fight against it. In a September 18 article in the Hartford Courant, Jeff Benedict, author of  a book about the case, called Little Pink House, recalled witnessing the apology after a talk he gave on the subject at a dinner honoring the Connecticut Supreme Court at the New Haven Lawn Club in May 2010. Benedict was talking with Susette Kelo, the lead plaintiff in Kelo v. New London, when Judge Palmer approached.    "Had I known all of what you just told us, I would have voted differently," he said. "I was speechless," Benedict recalled. "So was Susette. One more vote in her favor by the Connecticut Supreme Court would have changed history. The case probably would not have advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Susette and her neighbors might still be in their homes." Then the judge took Kelo's hand and offered his apology.

The centuries-old ban on homosexuals in the U.S. military officially ended at 12:01 a.m., September 20, with celebration and jubilation in the “gay” community, and sadness among the millions of Americans who opposed the repeal as destructive to their nation’s defense and security. “At a San Diego bar, current and former troops danced and counted down to midnight,” reported the Associated Press. “‘You are all heroes,’ Sean Sala, a former Navy operations specialist, said. ‘The days of your faces being blacked out on the news — no more.’” As reported by the Los Angeles Times, when the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) became official, Air Force Staff Sergeant Jonathan Mills logged in to his Facebook page and posted this message for all to read: “I. Am. Gay. That is all…. as you were.” Mills later told the Times: “When I woke up this morning I felt extremely relieved and very free. Free to be able to live openly without worrying what I say or do will affect my career.”